Mark Crispin Miller on the importance of voting

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This short clip gives another reason to get out and vote -- the larger the turnout the more difficult to disguise and perpetrate election fraud. This clip will be part of the re-release of Penny Little's Film Electile Dysfunction 2008, and part of the Unconventional Tour 2008, which includes music, film, audience participation. You can see the entire clip from Mark Crispin Miller on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvOjjvtMHGc

4th of July Street Fair

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The Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club displayed their "Green Block" as part of the Ventura Street Fair in Ventura on the 4th of July. The 30th annual street fair is mainly a shopping extraveganza, but the "Green Block" was selling ideas: how to Save the World for Kids, and how to Green the Home. The Ventura City Environmental Department showed kids how to recycle which items and how to win prizes with the correct answers to their quiz. Air Pollution Control District of Ventura had games for kids and prizes, as did the KidsVsGlobalWarming booth run by young teens. The MEChA Club from Oxnard College was requesting help to get rid of toxic waste in their community, and the younger kids painted pictures of what they do to Save The World!
For the adults as well as kids, there were prizes and more prizes for answering correctly the questions about how to save money, energy and reduce global warming - at center stage, hosted by 3 teenagers actively participating in the environment: Eric Fernandez, Shannon McComb and Alec Loorz.
Ladybugs and wonderful aromas brought many landscape enthusiasts to Nature by Design's booth. Free bike parking was provided for all fair goers. It was a great day for the saving energy, saving money and saving the environment!

Computers For Families has a new citizen

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Walter just got his naturalization papers. His co-workers introduce him to "american" foods and deserts, but he seems a little skeptical....

Surfliner to L.A.

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The Pacific Surfliner runs from Central California to points South. I took it from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, with my bike, then took the subway with my bike, then a city bus with my bike, went to visit my friend, and returned home.
It sure as heck beats driving, and I got some exercise!

Dream Act - Santa Barbara

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Dream Act legislation for Callifornia was discussed in Santa Barbara at an event on the library grounds, downtown. A cheerful group of would be college students and supporters talked about the need for the legislation and what it means to all Californians. This law, if passed, would allow undocumented students who have attended schools here for 3 years or more, to apply for loans and scholarships when they go  on to college.

Halaco Educational Event

On the Ormond Beach in Oxnard, California sits the Halaco Company's toxic waste pile which is 4 stories high. It is filled with heavy metals and radioactive materials and many poisonous pollutants. This is what is left over from their metal recycling plant which they begun in the '50's. They were closed down because of their far too frequent safety violations. They have since moved their operation to Tennessee under the name of MagPro, but have left their mess here in Oxnard for the community to deal with. Here's where we are with it now.

Bike Ride to Mercury Lounge

During Bike Week in Santa Barbara, one of the events is to ride from BiCi Centro, the community bike shop to the Mercury Lounge way out in Goleta, to watch....bike movies! We just can't get enough of it.

Whitaker Peak Trash Pickup

Los Padres Forest Watch organized a trip to Whitaker Peak to clean up the Condor feeding site. It was a dynamic day, with the weather changing rapidly. After a few short hours picking up tiny little reflective pieces of glass, fired clay, bullet casings and the like, guess what? It started to snow!! See this 3 minute video about our fun trip to a beautiful site.

PUEBLO Makes Plans

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PUEBLO (People United for Economic justice Building Leadership through Organizing) recently retreated for the weekend in San Ynez to extablish their plans for the year. With new leadership from its Director, Belen Serea, the organization laid out it's plans for the year. It was an arduous  process and came out with great results - our 4 most important things to accomplish this year!