350.org Co-Founder Sides with the Commons

                            COMMONER                             

Boeve encourages us all to step up as a global community to fight climate change

With equal parts poise and resolution, May Boeve fights climate change. Alongside author Bill McKibben and a group of college friends, she spearheaded a campaign called Step It Up in 2007 that organized creative actions across the U.S. and urged political leaders to cut carbon 80% by 2050. The campaign then went international under the name 350.org.

350.org “works hard to organize in a new way—everywhere at once, using online tools to facilitate strategic offline action.” You may have seen aerial shots of the human-made 350’s (the number that stands for the safe level of carbon in the atmosphere), or the climate street art, just two of the many ways 350.org’s organizing efforts have united individuals from around the globe in common cause.

Boeve emphasizes that the climate crisis requires us all to step up as a global community, and, today, 350.org’s initiatives are led by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.

I recently had the opportunity to catch up with Boeve about how the commons connects to the growing global movement against climate change, 350.org’s stance against the fossil fuel industry, and the importance of the commons in her own life.

Boeve calls herself a commoner because she wants “to be part of a movement that’s trying to create something different than what we stand to inherit right now.”
How does the commons influence your work at 350.org?

The way we try to organize at 350.org has been a commons exercise, specifically through the distributed days of action we’ve held five different times. These days are all about bringing communities together on a particular day, with a particular theme, to deliver a message about preserving the climate, which is a global commons. People participate because they understand that their actions link them in a very direct way to thousands of individuals around the world. It’s an experiment in demonstrating how the sum is greater than its individual parts.

When I read Bill McKibben’s piece in Rolling Stone called Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math, I was intrigued by his belief that moral outrage might be what sparks a transformative challenge to fossil fuel. How does 350.org help people see the immorality of the fossil-fuel industry’s actions?

We all know that burning fossil fuels drives the climate to change and warm. That’s not news. It’s not news that the public attitude toward oil industry executives is largely negative. And we all know that those execs are the characters behind the drilling—that’s not news either. But what is new is the link: we have to make it clear that these executives are knowingly taking actions that will make it impossible for the rest of us, including future generations, to live on a healthy planet.

How do we connect the moral aspect? Our particular style of work is to influence public perception through action and global organizing. We find stories and examples of people who are challenging the system, who are seeing things in a new way, and in doing so, are changing the way the public at large understands this problem. Not as a problem about your individual actions and the car you drive and where you buy your food—which all still matters—but that this problem involves a set of actors who are making bad choices and are not being held account- able by our political system.

We must fundamentally change the way the public views the oil industry. Take the apartheid struggle: at a certain point, you had to choose which side you were on, whether you agreed that racial segregation was immoral, or whether you did not. That’s where we are right now with the oil industry.

What do you see as the biggest obstacle to fighting for, and protecting, the climate as a commons?

I think a huge obstacle to building this movement, second only to our opposition, is the ability for any one person to see that he or she can do something about the problem—because it’s really big. Another obstacle is the inspiration factor. How do we inspire people to spend their most valuable resource (their time) working to bring about a solution to climate change? It’s a challenge in an era when there are so many problems, many of which stem from undervaluing the commons. But there are many people doing impressive work for the greater good. In their work I see incredible promise, and that’s what keeps me inspired to work on climate change issues.

At 350.org, specifically, we’ve embraced social media tools as mass storytelling platforms from the beginning, and we’ve had a lot of incredible experiences. When we receive stories via email, we often write back and say, “Hey, we’re inspired by this, and we bet our Facebook followers will be too. Can we post this on our page?” Hundreds of thousands of people “Like” and “Share” the stories we post about individuals from all over the globe who are tackling seemingly insurmountable challenges for their communities.

There’s one specific example that comes to mind. A young woman from Baghdad participated in our first day of action all by herself, because her friends were afraid to cross a security checkpoint. The image of this woman standing alone with her 350 banner rose above the rest, and she wrote us a few months later to report that she had formed a local climate organizing group. The following year we hosted another day of action, and lo and behold, there she was with a group of ten. To me, and I think to many people, these stories show why it’s imperative that we work on climate change as a global community. There’s something special about knowing you’re taking the same action as someone else on the opposite side of the globe. Together we can stand as a peaceful army fighting for a different future.

—JESSICA CONRAD

Editor: Another chapter in Celebrating the Commons: People Stories and Ideas for the New Year from Commons Magazine being presented each Sunday at EYNU.

According to Mary: Anderson's Stationer's - Shop Local

Speaking of good people . . .

Artist Mary Fleener had this to say on her Facebook page,

"This week's cartoon for The Coast News: Every copy, every self published book of mine, and all the ink I've ever drawn with has come from this little shop since 1984."

I Have A Dream - I Have A Drone

captured on the internet . . .

If M.L. King Jr.'s assassination knocked the wind out of the human movements of his lifetime, let's think about going directly "back" to him for the most effective way forward. Below comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s last book of essays, “The Trumpet of Conscience,” 1968: This from “Nonviolence and Social Change”:

"…Of course, by now it is obvious that new laws are not enough. The emergency we now face is economic, and it is a desperate and worsening situation. For the 35 million poor people in America—not even to mention, just yet, the poor in other nations—there is a kind of strangulation in the air. In our society it is murder, psychologically, to deprive a man of a job or an income. You are in substance saying to that man that he has no right to exist. You are in a real way depriving him of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, denying in his case the very creed of his society. Now, millions of people are being strangled that way. The problem is international in scope. And it is getting worse, as the gap between the poor and the ‘affluent society’ increases.

The question that now divides the people who want radically to change that situation is: can a program of nonviolence—even if it envisions massive civil disobedience—realistically expect to deal with such an enormous, entrenched evil?

…I intend to show that nonviolence will be effective, but not until it has achieved the massive dimensions, the disciplined planning, and the intense commitment of a sustained, direct-action movement of civil disobedience on the national scale….

…The only real revolutionary, people say, is a man who has nothing to lose. There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life.

Beginning in the New Year, we will be recruiting three thousand of the poorest citizens from ten different urban and rural areas to initiate and lead a sustained, massive, direct-action movement in Washington, D.C. Those who choose to join this initial three thousand, this nonviolent army, this ‘freedom church’ of the poor, will work with us for three months to develop nonviolent action skills. Then we will move on Washington, determined to stay there until the legislative and executive branches of the government take serious and adequate action on jobs and income.

A delegation of poor people can walk into a high official’s office with a carefully, collectively prepared list of demands. (If you’re poor, if you’re unemployed anyway, you can choose to stay in Washington as long as the struggle needs you.) And if that official says, ‘But Congress would have to approve this,’ or, ‘But the President would have to be consulted on that,’ you can say, ‘All right, we’ll wait.’ And you can settle down in his office for as long a stay as necessary.

If you are, let’s say, from rural Mississippi, and have never had medical attention, and your children are undernourished and unhealthy, you can take those little children into the Washington hospitals and stay with them there until the medical workers cope with their needs, and in showing it your children, you will have shown this country a sight that will make it stop in its busy tracks and think hard about what it has done.

The many people who will come and join this three thousand, from all groups in the country’s life, will play a supportive role, deciding to be poor for a time along with the dispossessed who are asking for their right to jobs or income—jobs, income, the demolition of slums, and the rebuilding by the people who live there of new communities in their place; in fact, a new economic deal for the poor.

…I have said that the problem, the crisis we face, is international in scope. In fact, it is inseparable from an international emergency that involves the poor, the dispossessed, and the exploited of the whole world.

Can a nonviolent, direct-action movement find application on the international level, to confront economic and political problems? I believe it can. It is clear to me that the next stage of the movement is to become international.

National movements within the developed countries—forces that focus on London, or Paris, or Washington, or Ottawa—must help to make it politically feasible for their governments to undertake the kind of massive aid that the developing countries need if they are to break the chains of poverty. We in the West must bear in mind that the poor countries are poor primarily because we have exploited them through political or economic colonialism. Americans in particular must help their nation repent of her modern economic imperialism.

But movements in our countries alone will not be enough….So many of Latin America’s problems have roots in the United States of America that we need to form a solid, united movement, nonviolently conceived and carried through, so that pressure can be brought to bear on the capital and government power structures concerned, from both sides of the problem at once. I think that may be the only hope for a nonviolent solution in Latin America today; and one of the most powerful expressions of nonviolence may come out of that international coalition of socially aware forces, operating outside governmental frameworks.

…In practice, such a decision would represent such a major reordering of priorities that we should not expect that any movement could bring it about in one year or two. Indeed, although it is obvious that nonviolent movements for social change must internationalize, because of the interlocking nature of the problems they all face, and because otherwise those problems will breed war, we have hardly begun to build the skills and the strategy, or even the commitment, to planetize our movement for social justice.

…In this world, nonviolence is no longer an option for intellectual analysis: it is an imperative for action."

Source: Commenter DrJack37 within Common Dreams post

Editor: 43 years later, the numbers of poor, displaced and exploited have skyrocketed - otherwise little has changed.

The Distress of the Privileged

The temptation to just post the entire piece by Weekly Shift is very strong. But, no, you need to read the whole thing over there. You'll have to settle for some excerpts and the framing device below as described in the original piece.

In a memorable scene from the 1998 film Pleasantville (in which two 1998 teen-agers are transported into the black-and-white world of a 1950s TV show), the father of the TV-perfect Parker family returns from work and says the magic words “Honey, I’m home!”, expecting them to conjure up a smiling wife, adorable children, and dinner on the table. 

This time, though, it doesn’t work. No wife, no kids, no food. Confused, he repeats the invocation, as if he must have said it wrong. After searching the house, he wanders out into the rain and plaintively questions this strangely malfunctioning Universe: “Where’s my dinner?”

George never demanded a privileged role, he just uncritically accepted the role society assigned him and played it to the best of his ability. And now suddenly that society isn’t working for the people he loves, and they’re blaming him. 

It seems so unfair. He doesn’t want anybody to be unhappy. He just wants dinner. 

Levels of distress. But even as we accept the reality of George’s privileged-white-male distress, we need to hold on to the understanding that the less privileged citizens of Pleasantville are distressed in an entirely different way. (Margaret Atwood is supposed to have summed up the gender power-differential like this: “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.”) 

George deserves compassion, but his until-recently-ideal housewife Betty Parker (and the other characters assigned subservient roles) deserves justice. George and Betty’s claims are not equivalent, and if we treat them the same way, we do Betty an injustice.

The author cites the carefully parsed argument of Wayne Self's analysis of the Chick-Fil-A obsessions last summer, a series on the distress of the privileged in this post. Between these two writers' insights, we have a really dynamic opportunity to open up the conversations around privilege, justice and scale. As is the norm of coastal California, Encinitas is a bastion of white privilege. But no community is a monolith.  There is more diversity than what is most visible in the press and the government and the advertising.  What is seldom talked about openly is the fact that changes, like more equitable opportunities, bring distress.  Again, read the whole thing for the whole picture as this is just a glimpse.

Mayor Teresa Arballo Barth provided a link to a Western City (CA League of Cities magazine) article that captured the energy of the Dec. 30 Post, We ALL Can Do It. This is a real thing in the real world, yet it feels more like a Tell-A-Vision opportunity.

Santa Monica has taken a national program, Rosie's Girls and given it a civic twist. This sounds like something Encinitas would be perfect for expanding our growing community building muscles and long term resilience. With a new council of dynamic women leaders, we have an encouraging model for our town's daughters to be able to emulate. And, doesn't this seem an especially good entrée for more diversity in our predominantly white city government and activist ranks?

The City Becomes a Classroom

Each summer, as part of the Rosie’s Girls Santa Monica program, more than 60 girls between the ages of 11 and 13 don hard hats, wield hammers and take blowtorches in hand as they go behind the scenes to find out what it really takes to run a city. Over the course of three intense weeks, the girls actively take part in nearly all city functions from carpentry to plumbing, tree trimming and more. They also sit in the hot seat behind the dais at a mock city council meeting. The combination of creative expression and daily challenges increases leadership capacity, stimulates critical thinking about gender equity and has participants looking forward to more.

“Our program takes the original Rosie’s Girls model one step further by transforming the participants’ hometown into a classroom,” says Julie Rusk, human services manager for the City of Santa Monica and co-founder of Rosie’s Girls Santa Monica. “Learning about a city from the inside out creates an extraordinary opportunity to connect girls with their community, while having lots of fun.”

For a general sense of Rosie's Girls, the following video clip of a Vermont camp captures the excitement these girls and their parents feel about this program.

The week of Jan. 16th our new city council members, including Deputy Mayor Lisa Shaffer will be at a League of Cities training conference.  It would be great (in a continuation of the Tell-A-Vision theme) if she and her councilmen colleagues have a chance to meet someone from Santa Monica to find out first hand about this wonderful program for the young women of Santa Monica.  Having more than a decade of data on their Rosie's Girls Santa Monica, the success rate for their community is impressive.

Empowering and Inspiring Girls 

A recent study of the Rosie’s Girls past and present found that 96 percent of respondents reported increased overall confidence, with 97 percent indicating that the program made them believe they could do and be whatever they wanted. Parents often notice this change in their daughters. Eugene, a Rosie’s Girls father, believed he could see confidence building in his daughter thanks to the program; he was sure it would benefit her throughout her life. [ . . . ]

The program has also created a stronger community. Among past participants, 90 percent reported increased community service and advocacy and 88 percent assumed leadership roles in various settings. 

By exposing young women to civic functions, professional careers and technical trades, Rosie’s Girls Santa Monica encourages them to expand their view of what they can achieve and enhances their sense of community at a particularly vulnerable time in their development. 

The emphasis was mine. Their first participants would be in their twenties now. For anyone interested in personally taking some action, the following information is for you.

Contact: Carla Fantozzi, principal supervisor, community services programs, Human Services Division, Community and Cultural Services Department, City of Santa Monica; phone: (310) 458-8688; email: carla.fantozzi@smgov.net.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Forgive the utter banality of using the old man time, new baby with a top hat iconography to end this year.  The thing is I couldn't get over how dead-on this silly, overused graphic fits the end of 2012.

This was the year we witness the old white men in power spending billions to spread lies, hate and fear for months on end to ensure that the status quo would not be threatened.  It was a catastrophic failure and proof that something new is afoot in the US of A.

These old white guys failed miserably and the staggering missteps and blunders continue. Millions of us want to see them go away, be silent, be shamed and most of all be held accountable for the misery they engender.

The promise of new ways to be within a dying empire will be the way we will be devoting ourselves when that old regime rages no more.  

We ALL Can Do It!

An affirmation for a new year - Making the invisible visible

(and a birthday gift for someone close)

via soirart, via gradient lair

Gleaning

In this season of food drives, here is a challenging idea for Encinitas to consider in all the growing seasons to come. Gleaning. The video below speaks to Ventura County and their Food Share Program.

What do we have in San Diego County? We have Senior Gleaners with an emphasis on grocery store shelves in this coastal area. It would be good to hear what exists now and what might really fit well with our community goals and community future. Sounds like this is a wonderful start. And, boy do we have seniors. Encinitas seniors appear to be a vigorous and involved lot.

"The Senior Gleaners of San Diego County are working to enhance the food-giving capacities of local agencies, most of which run out of food on a monthly basis. Senior Gleaners is divided into three main working groups in the county , South County, North County and the Coastal area. Each area has a team of workers who volunteer to pick, sort, gather and deliver up to 100,000 pounds of food to area agencies monthly. Only agencies that qualify under federal poverty rules (and have a 501-c-3 nonprofit status) are eligible to receive the food. Growers contact team leaders when they have crops that are over-ripe or too costly to pick; certain grocery stores offer edible food that cannot be sold and packing sheds have crates of food that is not suitable for the marketplace but safe to eat."

The Gleaners from Hunger In California on Vimeo.

On another local note, how about gleaning urban neighborhoods where homeowners with more fruit trees than they can manage could contact Encinitas gleaners to harvest and distribute this foraged fruit?  What about involving the young? vets? women in particular? What about future plans to plant many fruit and nut trees in Encinitas Urban Forest for this kind of public use? The right entrepreneurial spirit could do a great deal here.

Waste is our easiest target for eradicating ills - be it insufficient food, energy, money, goods or services - or the existence of litter and pollution.

Fracking Comes to California

Fracking being a real danger to water table safety and purity is becoming well known, in part due to Josh Fox's movie Gasland. But, if that isn't threat enough, the process causing earthquakes sounds extremely dangerous to this non-scientist.

Via Salon
The Federal Government auctioned off 18,000 acres of leased land in Central California.

"Eight different groups — including oil companies — bid for the leases involving 15 parcels of land up for auction in rural stretches of Monterey, San Benito and Fresno counties, Bureau of Land Management spokesman David Christy said. The agency plans to announce the winners within 24 hours.

Numerous environmental groups who saw the auction as a sign that California is next in line for an oil and gas boom protested outside the auction in Sacramento, with some activists donning hazmat suits.

The auction attracted a normal turnout of bidders, and about half the parcels went for just $2.50 an acre, much less than the typical price in nearby Kern County, an oil-rich basin along a mountain range north of Los Angeles."

Via Crooks & Liars

 

C&L's Karoli writes of the auction this week,

There were protests, of course, but that didn't really stop anything. Similarly, the regulations around fracking are so loose that having to get an additional permit is just part of the cost of getting richer to these oil barons. Worse, fracking regulations aren't even finalized yet, and were just pushed back yet again. Until demand lessens, they're going to be able to destroy the environment and hasten climate change. This needs to be as high of a priority as Medicare and union membership. The oligarchs will not be satisfied until they have exhausted or stolen every resource on the planet.

Related Story in the Cultural Environment 

Oil and Gas Industry Prepare Smear Campaign Against Matt Damon Flick "Promised Land"

Next month Focus Features releases Matt Damon’s new movie and the oil and gas industry is worried sick about it. The movie, Promised Land , is about a Pennsylvania farm town deciding whether to go forward with shale gas drilling after a team of landmen arrives in the area.

This is a worthy read, both for the orchestrated huge money tactics that are being rolled out by fossil fuel industry and for the story being told by this Hollywood film. (It is still difficult to believe that prisons are not filled with these fossil fuel industry decision makers, bribery agents and hucksters.)

But my primary reason for adding this story about a fictional place is what has the oil and gas industry giants so spooked and what our community is actively pursuing - citizen participation in decision making. This film sounds like a source of inspiration even if there are no shale fields directly under our feet. Whatever the resource or threat to climate change we must be vigilant.

Despite the industry's faux-outrage and attempts to stir up hype, the Damon movie is not anti-fracking or a propaganda piece. The film offers up a clear-eyed look at economic hardships faced in many rural communities. It also makes a simple point: with so much at stake, shouldn't communities have a candid, informed discussion about the risks and benefits of oil and gas drilling?

Encinitas Marketplace

Ravi Shankar Died

Godfather of World Music, he is called in the headline. This world renowned artist chose lovely Encinitas as home. Just listening to the video below of Shankar and his also famous daughter, Anoushka, can transport a baby boomer back to the late 60's and early seventies.

 

Shankar and Harrison playing sitar in Rishikesh, India in 1968:

And The Guardian reports:

Shankar not only transcended culture, race and geography but also had no difficulty with the generation gap and the phenomenon of class. The children of the flower-power generation turned a deaf ear to their elders but listened most intently to the stranger on the shore.

Showered with citations and awards, the Indian republic made him a Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India) and Britain made him an honorary knight. In the US he received several doctorates and was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In later years he divided his time between Encinitas, California, and Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, where the Ravi Shankar Institute of Music and the Performing Arts, fully functional by 2003, was the culmination of his lifelong dream. Housed in an elegant pink granite building, it attracts students from all over the world.

He is survived by his second wife, Sukanya, and their daughter Anoushka who, diligently tutored by her father, is a well-known sitar player. He also leaves a daughter, Norah Jones, the Emmy award-winning singer, from an earlier relationship with the concert producer Sue Jones. Shubhendra, his son from his first marriage, predeceased him.

It's A Wonderful New World

Candace and Cyrus Kamata hosted a party with this theme, It's A Wonderful New World. The idea was to honor publisher Jim Kydd for supporting local voices and encouraging dissent against embedded political power.

The gathering was a rousing success with Pam Slater, retiring San Diego County Supervisor, presenting a proclamation to Jim. Dave Roberts, the newly elected Supervisor gave a speech and posted this photo via Twitter. There were accolades all around and not just for Jim, but for all the people present who contributed time, money, creativity and energy to changing Encinitas political scene.

Songs, music, speeches, gifts and really fantastic food we're told. Congratulations and appreciation all around and well deserved. It takes a community. We invisible but loud bloggers lift a glass in celebration for all and for our own contributions.

Shop Local Saturday (Or Any Day)

Flying Pig Pub & Kitchen near Oceanside (h/t Teresa Barth)

The title is from the corporate (AmEx) sponsored Shop Small Saturday campaign.

Heed the local message or the big business version, if you choose to shop - go local. We want these small local businesses to stick around a long time.  

We Got This

This weekend a bunch of the supporters for Lisa Shaffer responded to her campaign request to bring yard signs to a couple drop off points.  Supporters were also asked to bring food donations for Community Resource Center.

She and others worked with different sources to find a place to sell back the wire sign holders, a place to donate the placticized signs for repurposing, and the paper signs for recycling.

Besides this being a good idea, it yet again shows the importance of a ground organization where people trust each other, follow through on good ideas, spread the work load and have a good time doing it. Lisa and Tony were out of town, yet this effort was handled with enthusiasm. Signs for Shaffer, Kranz & Roberts and a few others were all part of the mix along with the food donations.

This is a segue to a very big national story we posted about yesterday, the growing importance of Inter-Occupy or Occupy Sandy ground operation and organization. It has taken the Occupy movement more than a year and thousands of meetings, conflict resolutions, communication training and unending patience around the country to keep working through the realities of what community really means.  This demonstrates their unbelievable success of being able to do and not just talk.

As Abby Zimet of Common Dreams writes,

With thousands still without power, water and heat in the New York area, Occupy Sandy's ongoing and ever-expanding relief effort has been hailed as Occupy's finest hour and a triumph of doing over talking - one so efficient they're now training National Guard and city representatives of the same administration that not so long ago was hassling and pepper-spraying them. Evolution is real. So is the notion of mutual aid. Cool video.

Kook Gathering of Waving Supporters

Tony Kranz was out and about this week with Lisa Shaffer at meet and greets.  These 2 candidates have been going non-stop.  While in Cardiff on Friday Tony let interested people know that sign waving was going to be happening on Saturday.

Well, Saturday was a gorgeous day and a whole crowd showed up - working to perfect their "wave" routine at the foot of the Kook statue.  Honking brought the expected grins and cheers. The dozens of bikes clubs and crowds walking along 101 were especially fun.

Tomorrow morning and afternoon there will be supporters for Shaffer and Kranz on busy commute routes. See you there!

Along with candidates Shaffer and Kranz, Councilwoman Barth was again waving a giant hand at the people in traffic. The Kook location, her recommendation (Good idea) as she and her husband, Don, are proud of the Cardiffian community character.  Community character has grown in framing what is most important in this election.  Images below from Barths FB page.

Tell-A-Vision: Encinitas Sees Us

Here is a vision for tomorrow.  No, really, tomorrow as in Wednesday, October 24th, the last Encinitas City Council Meeting before the election for a new city council.  Even though activists are usually working on researching the agenda packet to be prepared to speak, another approach just might be timely.

What about our preferred council candidates Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz speaking at Oral Communications about the overwhelming support for change in the council members?  After more than a year of meet-ups, events, canvassing, flyer handouts and campaign writing, filming and every day spontaneous testimonials from voters - they have so many stories to tell.  Picture council commissions filled with some of the best-qualified and most council interactive dialogs.

Similarly, our regular council-viewing community have their own stories from others to share.  In three minutes each can give the idea of the sheer numbers of people contacted listened to, written about and befriended during this election year.

See, the council majority has proven over the last 12 years that Jerome Stocks is not only immune to fact-based criticism, he thrives on retaliation and revenge. Muir is the weighted right hand and Bond is over.  Without these players, Gaspar is . . . alone and pettiness or petulance won't be indulged.

What about describing the long silenced minority running the show? Give examples of innovative ideas - like bioremediation of the contaminated soils - and how a transparent, interested council might treat the subject.  Share your daydream of how the city manager might be effective in removing obstacles and challenging the staff to provide more and better support.

How would a council without fear of public discussion of financial strategies and risks envisioned to move back room, highly complex subjects into a series of intelligible forums. There are so many business friendly ideas and insights Lisa and Tony have to share.

All kinds of people have stories they've gathered of an active general population craving more support for walkable streets, more open space enhancement, community gardens, healthy air / oceans / wetlands and our urban forest.  Just standing and reciting lists of things like this - with a big broad smile (and maybe even a blub or two) would bring a glad hearted feeling to the many, many people who are watching from home.

Oh, and what fantastic clips my dears.

Shaffer Quote of the Day

Tony & Lisa at 5K run - One of dozens of events with community.

The quality of a campaign and the likelihood of winning an election, in my view, is not judged by how many large signs one can afford to post. It's by how much of the community is engaged and supportive of the candidates values and positions.

Misinformation seems to be increasing as the election nears. For the record: I have not asked anyone to approach business owners about whose signs they do or do not have on their property. I have consistently told my supporters that I will not put signs where we do not have permission. If folks who have asked for signs for their property I have tried to provide signs for them.

Take a Moment

“There seems to be three ways for a nation to acquire wealth: the first is by war . . . this is robbery; the second by commerce, which is generally cheating; the third by agriculture, the only honest way.” ~ Benjamin Franklin


After a few minutes thought, the above quote seems to speak to this writer's core beliefs.  All people are entitled to food, water and shelter. 

No matter what, we all need to eat.  Take a moment this campaign season to think about your community and your part in shaping it.  Keep what matters most, those essential life moments, in the forefront of your thoughts. Encinitas You Need Us thanks you in advance for being one of those that Encinitas does truly need.

Tonight! Our Way or The Highway or Another Way

In a spectacularly bad scheduling conflict (editor: for which I personally hold Jerome Stocks accountable), Caltrans is presenting at the Community Center, 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive from 6 pm - 8 pm; that is, during the same time frame as the City Council Meeting. 

"The meeting will provide additional information on lagoon studies that were not final during the circulation of the I-5 NCC Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) in 2010." Patch 

The graphic at the opening is to frame this event based on reality.  It shows that across all ideologies and parties the preferred method to reduce traffic is first and foremost public trasit followed by driving less.

This week we got a good laugh out of those Danes - where we know the bicycle riding in Copenhagen is like no other western metropolis.  The clip below isn't about cycling, it's about public transit - riding the bus and it is like no US promotion we have ever seen.

Suggest turning down volume and turning on closed caption (CC at bottom of screen).

For video clips with community members speaking out about the I-5 widening, Stocks and company defending, obscuring and confusing the issues go to encinitasyouneedus YouTube channel where some of the clips for I-5 are grouped.

Expanding Beyond Capacity to Sustain

 ". . . what happens when you force human communities, families, ecosystems to kneel before the dictates of the market."

This is one of the quotes from a profoundly disturbing interview of Chris Hedges by Laura Flanders of Grit TV, titled "The Absurdity of American Empire."

Encinitas is clearly not a part of a sacrifice zone discussed in the book being reviewed, yet we have the same fissures out of sight but threatening our lives.  We do share the nationwide problem of "the invisible - banished from our consciousness." Said another way from another source,

"The fabric of our nation is being torn apart. MANY familiies are struggling so badly, either due to low-income wages (against rising cost of living prices), or a substance dependency issue brought on by the depressing nature of our times, or a health issue. Then there are the families broken up due to the race-based War on Drugs, and the families broken up due to the hunts for "illegal" aliens, and the families headed by overworked single Moms..."

Keeping the larger picture in view, despite the utter lack of conversation in the Encinitas political community of these monstrous national and international problems via empire is one great freedom seized by we bloggers, unfettered by power systems. (And, respectfully, there is a tradition of local elections being non-partisan.) We are a progressive blog with liberal opinions.  That's the point of creating a space where minority voices can be heard and further explored. These voices have been disallowed, marginalized or ignored in our council chambers, the press and existing blogs. Presumably those who are unable to hear or process anything outside his or her world view aren't hanging out here anyway.

Denial, religiosity, fantasy thinking and other ways to anesthetize are all around us. We are soaking in it.