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

Turn Off That Damn Light!

Well, I laughed.  This also prompted the more serious issue of what our loss of night skies is doing to us and to the living world around us.

During this Solstice holiday, the following LA Times article excerpted below was recommended by friends.

The need for humans to have healthy sleep patterns has been well documented. Anyone of us who has had to work the midnight shift knows the havoc this can play on one's emotions and physical body.

"Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep."

"The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known — the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs — and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world's flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth's ecology would collapse."

The primary point here is that the author, Paul Bogard makes is that we can change this.

"It doesn't have to be this way. Light pollution is readily within our ability to solve, using new lighting technologies and shielding existing lights. Already, many cities and towns across North America and Europe are changing to LED streetlights, which offer dramatic possibilities for controlling wasted light. Other communities are finding success with simply turning off portions of their public lighting after midnight. Even Paris, the famed "city of light," which already turns off its monument lighting after 1 a.m., will this summer start to require its shops, offices and public buildings to turn off lights after 2 a.m. Though primarily designed to save energy, such reductions in light will also go far in addressing light pollution. But we will never truly address the problem of light pollution until we become aware of the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing."

In addition to this informative piece is a companion, Dark Skies (pdf) with some really good illustrations to support the Bogard argument.

This is yet another topic that has often been belittled and mocked as some hippy goofiness or NIMBY fixation, as with the Hall property plans for a Regional Sports Park's extensive exterior lighting. For this reason it seems we should help educate our friends, neighbors and city planners to the realities of night skies to our healthy and prosperity.

Hat Tip to C.J. and Jean Bernard Minster

Update via Encinitas Undercover 12/28/12
Read the letter to the UT Editor from a Cardiff student regarding 90 foot high lights.

Climate 101

Sometimes just keeping it as simple and direct as possible - for our children, our contrary friends/family/neighbors and for ourselves. For that we have the Science Guy, Bill Nye.

Landfill Harmonic Orchestra

The film shows how trash and recycled materials can be transformed into beautiful sounding musical instruments, but more importantly, it brings witness to the transformation of precious human beings.

Landfill Harmonic is an upcoming feature-length documentary about a remarkable musical orchestra in Paraguay, where young musicians play instruments made from trash.

NO on PROP 38

This is the alternative to Prop 30. It is being pushed by Molly Munger.

The biggest criticism of this proposition is that the consequences may be completely unappreciated this many years out.  To lock in funds without knowing the potential nature and degree of change in our future institutions is dangerous guesswork.

It sounds good, but from our reading - Proposition 30 is better balanced.

also . . .
 League of Women Voters of California Education Fund Website

Transition Towns - Alternatives

Going on right now in real time in the real world are people making choices to reject the takeover in their local community of the big money control in banking, energy and food production.

The Transition culture in the UK and around the world now, started about six years ago in Totnes in Devon, UK.  The slow and steady rise of a maturing resilience is building, where neighbors and friends are coming up with alternatives from within their own communities and sharing these ideas for free to the rest of the world. Yea internets.

The Brixton (South London) video below is one of the best in years to capture in a few minutes the essentials of local resilience to the stressor of a failed economy, extractive energy structure and dependency on all the unknowns of agribusiness for food.  It has the added feature of showing a realigned emphasis on people and community over a financialized culture.

It's offered here on Encinitas You Need Us as one of the many alternatives we should be allowed to envision and share with others and with our local government officials.  If we think of twenty years into the future it is easier to come up with ways to empower ourselves, the people, to make change happen at our own pace.

Environment: Who Is Listening? Who Isn't?

Councilwoman Barth hit it on the head yesterday with this cartoon on her Facebook page saying,

"I thought of this cartoon at last nights council meeting when the Deputy Mayor said she never had an Encinitas resident tell her they support "these sustainable living concepts". I guess she hasn't been listening!"

EYNU Editor:

Councilwoman Barth takes the high road and doesn't do more than a mild rebuke to Gaspar and her peers who treated this Beacon Award with such disdain.

Convesely, we would add something stronger. Deputy Mayor Gaspar did a real disservice by not correcting the false information and in fact adding her own misinformation.

This is the stuff of crazy uncles emails filled with capital letters and exclamation points. Or is it?  In fact it isn't from citizen's groups at all. It is highly coordinated astroturf to frighten white suburbanites and create paranoia.

"Bike lanes, transit and higher density are evil because they give people alternatives to cars, and that can never happen in America." 

Fundamentally, that is what is happening here. Big Oil is paying for CFACT and either directly or indirectly the fight against Agenda 21; The Kochs are promoting it like mad, right across the country. Same big companies, same reason: to keep America in its happy motoring ways, to make any alternative just about impossible. And that is how we have to paint them: not concerned citizens worried about the United Nations, but representatives of big oil out to preserve their turf.

In practical terms some will never be able to hear the facts of who is paying for this and their financial stakes.  Passion and groupthink can swamp judgement (and that is counted on by these groups).  But it is completely unacceptable for a public servant like Kristin Gaspar to claim support of environmental goals on the one hand and promote lies regarding sustainability on the other.

Quote of the Day

I think every year:

-every driver should have to spend two weeks as a cyclist, and
-every customer should have to spend two weeks as a restaurant server.

Tongue-in-cheek comment at post on an innovative idea for including bike riding proficiency as part of a drivers license test. It's all about empathy and perspective.

Tuesday is Dues-day: Public Health / Public Safety

Today is Dues-day, but what are the dues?

Paying attention . . . Yes, by simply schooling yourself on how our local governance is organized, who are the players, what are the screw-ups, where is the money and what things get reported you can legitimately call yourself a citizen, an advocate for democracy.

For most people local politics only becomes a reality when you are afraid for your home, your property or your neighborhood. Fears can be physical, financial and cultural.  Fears can be great motivators, as so many activists' stories of initial involvement attest.

Citizen Tip = Public Health / Public Safety and Trust

Who do we trust when it comes to the world around us? How aware are most people of the deep erosion in regulatory responsibilities by federal, state and county agencies when it comes to our air, soil, water & public utilities?  Since the hard fought protections legalized in the 1970's it is easy to be lulled into complacence and assume those who protest have been accurately scapegoated by the media as hippies and hotheads.  Instead, alarm bells should be going off.

Here is a huge threat far too close to home, the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant.  Initially the news was about possible increases in electrical costs to consumers and outage possibilities because the San Onolfe had been taken offline since January.  There have been news stories recently like here, here, here and here which expanded this to the very real danger to life within this 50 mile radius that includes Encinitas.  Thanks go to Councilwoman Teresa Barth's inclusion of all these stories in her weekly newsletter.

The video below a different way of reporting by having a scientist to help us visualize what exactly is going on in the reported faulty tube design.  Big thanks to scientists who make the complex issues more clear for us. (That deserves a whole post as this community is filled with accomplished scientists.)

On June 13th at city council, speakers protesting the safety issues at San Onefre sat through the whole meeting to voice their concerns. Patch reported, At the behest of concerned citizens, Encinitas City Council will examine safety concerns associated with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on a future agenda. (This is yet to have been scheduled.)

“Even though it’s shut down right at this point in time, we’re in great danger with the amount of nuclear fuel sitting there,” resident Harold Johnston said. Some residents questioned whether Encinitas has an adequate evacuation plan in place should San Onofre have problems; several brought up the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station disaster.

We know how devastating nuclear disasters and their aftermath can be because of Fukushima, Japan's nuclear catastrophe.  Lying to the public only compounded the problem in Japan.  We dig for truth even when our public servants and local media don't. 

Hat tip to Crooks & Liars. For a complete story go here.

Streets from Kids Eye View

Summer Fun on the 101

This weekend of music, sunshine, beach clean up and just walking around on the Leucadia portion of Highway 101 should be some fun.  It might be fun to imagine what it would be like without any cars.  That is exactly what the kindergarten children were asked in the following video.  What would you like to do if there were no cars?



And since Leucadia claim the distintion of Art and Soul. What if we joined with kids and painted the highway? Or at least all around the Roadside Park and Leucadia Blvd where it is so dangerous?

Tuesday is Dues-day: Don't Give Up

Today is Dues-day, but what are the dues?

Paying attention . . . Yes, by simply schooling yourself on how our local governance is organized, who are the players, what are the screw-ups, where is the money and what things get reported you can legitimately call yourself a citizen, an advocate for democracy.

For most people local politics only becomes a reality when you are afraid for your home, your property or your neighborhood. Fears can be physical, financial and cultural.  Fears can be great motivators, as so many activists' stories of initial involvement attest.

Citizen Tip = "Don't Give Up"

This month's look at  the worldwide, nationwide changes and the connection to our local reality, local scene is linked to activists not giving up.

From the video clip description:
"A surprise Arab drive for freedom, the West's structural crisis and new hope coming from Latin America. That's the modern world in the eyes of Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali, two prominent thinkers and this week's guests on Julian Assange's show on RT."  

There is a secondary tip about dues here and in last month's Assange interview, the BBC's Century of Self Series last week and that tip is - you need to search for information that can be trusted.  

US media is now controlled by about four owners who have clear agendas for their own direction and prosperity.  On top of that, our social and educational culture is being dumbed down to the point that young people aren't learning history, civics or humanities.  The things discussed in this video from men who have been active for over 60 years each are known by fewer and fewer people. Recently I read the following description:

American's Core Beliefs
Don't make me feel bad about the way I live, and
It will all work out, we're Americans
This is it really.  This is our worldview these days.

That's a deeply cynical view and my fervent hope is that more US citizens will protest the bar being placed so very low as to be a fantasy.  In order to go on, to not give up we will have to raise that bar and allow some self-criticism and allow some inconvenience and a bit of discomfort.  Oh, and maybe we can stop calling ourselves Americans - which makes all Central Americans and South Americas disappear in that one ethnocentric label.

Hat tip Common Dreams

More . . .

Revolution in Quebec

Press CC for English subtitles . . .

A great inspiration for budding film makers besides being relevant to our California student protests against tuition hikes and a great deal more in the US of A.  And corruption, misuse of police force, lack of humanity and greed are present here and millions of others towns and cities around the world. 


Remember this from last week?  

Citizen Tip = "All movements are born out of grievance." 

"This week the connection between our local reality, local grievance is linked to the worldwide, nationwide changes in full view of the world through live stream.  The corporate press in this country is still mostly absent in this global  story unfolding.  But, the vastness of millions protesting around the world is happening even if the US public is largely unaware of what is going on in this country and abroad." 

 And, sometimes its difficult to keep expectations excruciatingly low.

Via Common Dreams

I blame it on Robin Leach

When did US citizens become so enraptured with acquisition, celebrity idolatry and obsessive fascination with infotainment? My vote goes to “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” the show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes and business moguls hosted by Robin Leach. With the unctuous British accent caricatured by mimics for years, Robin taught a whole generation to faun after the wealthy. Silly US!

What was an amusing distraction in the early 80’s is now the only game in town, if you judge by pop culture. For the record, Leach was an employee and sophisticated sycophant was a job description. Lifestyles was one of a group including; Entertainment Tonight, Star Search and Solid Gold to name the most famous by just one producer. There were many more like him. These programs were the models, now the norm. Bravo programs lead the pack. Plus Fox News and a million cop, FBI, military infotainment television programs continue now to relentlessly keep authority myths and threats alive 24 hours a day, every single day.

Stupid is surging everywhere and the real stories of collusion and corruption all around us are not being heard by the preoccupied populace. On top of that is the terror of financial ruin the vast majority of people feel each and every day at jobs rarely bringing enough fulfillment for the time suck, pay and dwindling health benefits. Full circle to distraction isn’t difficult to understand or how this world view like a hamster wheel became a kind of norm. How “I got mine, screw you” seems to prevail.

What stories can we tell each other to wake ourselves out of the stupor that stops us from paying attention or demanding better? How can we build resilience, flexibility into our lives and community to withstand yet more shocks to come? Robin Leach’s tag line, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" gospel to the greed is good mantra from that era. It lives on.  Do you sometimes want to yell, "snap out of it!" at the screen or at people caught up in this kind of fantasy worldview? It's tax week and realities are all too real for the 99%.

One thing is clear, being lied to with feel-good scenarios and fudged financials isn't what our community needs.  Next week at the City Council Meeting, April 18, Jerome Stocks will be delivering the State of the City address.  Here's one suggestion.  Prior to that meeting we all might compile our questions and publish them in the blogs, the online media, letters to the editor and emails to the mayor. Then we can tally how well he addresses our questions and not just his campaign stump speech material.

 Jerome Stocks
760-633-2622
jstocks@encinitasca.gov

We start by expecting, by demanding accountability.

Preying - on the Young

It's Spring Break! Our Encinitas economy flourishes on Spring Break dollars spent in our community when college kids from across the country flock to the beaches for good times. But this post is about something different. It's no 1960's Annette Funicello movie here. This is about the predatory practices, laws and systemic breakdown that will eat away any future for our young. Student loan debt is in the news with good reason. It is crushing young people, along with their families who co-signed for private student loans.

As a disclaimer of sorts, this is not a subject that our local council members or candidates to the council will be talking about, since this is out of the realm of local governance. I don't know what anyone on the council or running has to say. This is purely offered as editor's choice.

For a detailed look at this problem vexing Encinitas families and a nation of educated individuals who followed all the rules to secure a solid, secure future only to find they are trapped under crushing debt, watch this video report. 

Like the housing bubble bursting and media, politicians all claiming there was no way to have known, don't believe it.  We know where this is going. As the video report makes clear, just like the sub-prime scams, defaulting on student loans is a big profit maker for lenders and the federal government.  Vultures . . . Bubble . . . Bailouts . . . Have we learned anything?

Encinitas You Need Us is primarily focused on our local city council.  This weekend the young, those who'll shoulder whatever is being decided these days in that council feels more important than anything under the sun.  California used to be such a shining star in higher education, a model for the nation.  The long slow descent is a sad testimony to short term predatory thinking and governing.

Sometimes focusing on trying to be an activist by the example of your own life can feel like enough. It is a real sense of control.  A growing number of us are seeing that knowing what is going on in our local community government and participating in an informed way is a giant step forward in attempting to take some control to make a difference.

Championing, supporting the young in this very huge battle ahead will take millions of us to do a few simple things to stop these forces that are eating our young alive. Sounds like hyperbole, but seeing this up close and personal assures me it is not.