Resources for the environmental community
Author Posted on Categories Forests
Marisa Endicott, PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County officials announced a seasonal ban on all outdoor burning in the unincorporated county starting Monday.
The residential burn permit suspension was set in response to a similar burn ban set by Cal Fire, according to Permit Sonoma’s Fire Prevention Division.
Burn restrictions will remain in place until Cal Fire declares the end of peak fire season.
Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sonoma-county-cal-fire-burn-permits/
Author Posted on Categories Climate Change & Energy
These ‘warming stripe’ graphics are visual representations of the change in temperature as measured in each country, region or city over the past 100+ years. Each stripe or bar represents the temperature in that country, region or city averaged over a year. The stripes typically start around the year 1900 and finish in 2024, but for many countries, regions and cities the stripes start in the 19th century or sometimes even the 18th century.
For virtually every country, region or city, the stripes turn from mainly blue to mainly red in more recent years, illustrating the rise in average temperatures in that location.
Make stripes for other locations here: https://showyourstripes.info/
Author Posted on Categories Local Organizations
PACIFIC MEDIA WORKERS GUILD
Less than two months after Darius Anderson and Sonoma Media Investments sold The Press Democrat and its sister publications to Media News Group/hedge fund Alden Global Capital, our new owners have already started layoffs.
We are losing two Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers and an award-winning business reporter – all exceptional journalists who bring passion, talent and expertise to their work covering our community every day.
One of those photographers is also our Guild unit leader, who has fought tirelessly for years to protect our newsroom and the very rights and protections we now fear are under threat.
We have not been told why these cuts are necessary.
We love this community and are passionate about covering it thoroughly, but doing so becomes harder when our newsroom loses the dedicated professionals who have expertly covered our community for years.
We need the support of our community now more than ever. If you appreciate our work, don’t cancel your subscriptions, but consider sharing our message and calling for our newsroom to be preserved.
Read more at https://mediaworkers.org/22894-2/
Author Posted on Categories Climate Change & Energy
Damian Carrington, GUARDIAN
False claims obstructing climate action, say researchers, amid calls for climate lies to be criminalised
Rampant climate misinformation is turning the crisis into a catastrophe, according to the authors of a new report.
It found climate action was being obstructed and delayed by false and misleading information stemming from fossil fuel companies, rightwing politicians and some nation states. The report, from the International Panel on the Information Environment (Ipie), systematically reviewed 300 studies.
The researchers found climate denialism has evolved into campaigns focused on discrediting solutions, such as the false claims that renewable energy caused the recent massive blackout in Spain.
Online bots and trolls hugely amplify false narratives, the researchers say, playing a key role in promoting climate lies. The experts also report that political leaders, civil servants and regulatory agencies are increasingly being targeted in order to delay climate action.
Author Posted on Categories Sustainable Living
Madison Smalstig, PRESS DEMOCRAT
The Santa Rosa Fire Department has brought in some unusual help this summer: more than 1,000 goats — and possibly some sheep.
The animals, hired through two contractors, began work June 8 and are expected to munch through about 130 acres of dry grass and weeds across eight city sites. The contractors — Goats R Us of Orinda and CAPRA Environmental Services of Roseville — will manage the herds as they move through the properties.
The “grazing team” will target areas that typically meet city fire maintenance standards but are difficult to clear using equipment because of rocky terrain or steep slopes.
In Upper Brush Creek Park, for example, city crews would normally cut a 30-foot fuel break around the perimeter but leave the hilly interior untouched, Santa Rosa Division Chief Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal said.
Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-goats-wildfire/
Author Posted on Categories Sustainable Living
Max Moritz and Luca Carmignani, LOS ANGELES TIMES
One of the most striking patterns in the aftermath of many urban fires is how much unburned green vegetation remains amid the wreckage of burned neighborhoods.
In some cases, a row of shrubs may be all that separates a surviving house from one that burned just a few feet away.
As scientists who study how vegetation ignites and burns, we aren’t surprised by these images: We recognize that well-maintained plants and trees can help protect homes from windblown embers and slow the spread of fire in some cases. So we are concerned about new wildfire protection regulations being developed by California that would prohibit almost all plants and other combustible material within 5 feet of homes, an area known as “Zone 0.”
Wildfire safety guidelines have long encouraged homeowners to avoid having flammable materials next to their homes. But the state’s plan for an “ember-resistant zone,” being expedited under an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom, goes further by also prohibiting grass, shrubs and many trees in that area.
Author Posted on Categories Climate Change & Energy
Jeff Quackenbush, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
“This is a breakthrough — not just for our team, but for the future of geothermal,” said Rob Klenner, president of GreenFire Energy..”
California’s goal of producing more round-the-clock power from The Geysers may be in reach, as a demonstration there of next-generation geothermal energy technology has become operational and is said to be generating promising early results.
The project is part of a multipronged effort to increase electrical output for the North Bay and throughout California from what’s still the world’s largest geothermal energy field despite declining steam production at the plants in the Mayacamas range between Sonoma and Lake counties.
Oklahoma City-based GreenFire Energy last month announced that its first commercial demonstration system, installed in a low-output well at The Geysers, is now fully operational. The well, previously nearing idle status, is producing sustained flow rates of 300–350 gallons per minute with unexpectedly high-output temperatures of 310 degrees Fahrenheit, all within a closed-loop system.
GreenFire’s patented “GreenLoop” system relies on pipe-enclosed fluid that goes down into the well cool, gets heated then comes back up to release the heat into a electricity-generation system. This fluid has a lower boiling point than water, requiring less heat to produce steam.
Read more at https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/article/greenfire-calpine-geysers-electricity/
Author Posted on Categories Land Use
Lester Black, SFGATE
Sonoma County has been accused of deploying hundreds of drone flights over residents in a “runaway spying operation” that has violated the constitutional rights and privacy of locals, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The North Bay county of Sonoma initially started the 6-year-old drone program to track illegal cannabis cultivation, but the lawsuit alleges that officials have since turned it into a widespread program to catch unrelated code violations at residential properties and levy millions of dollars in fines. The program has captured 5,600 images during more than 700 flights, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is asking Sonoma County Superior Court to halt the county’s use of drones with a warrant. Matt Cagle, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, said in a Wednesday news release that the county “has hidden these unlawful searches from the people they have spied on, the community, and the media.”
Red more at https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/sonoma-county-drone-aclu-lawsuit-20363620.php
Author Posted on Categories Land Use, Transportation
John Reid, PRESS DEMOCRAT
Flying out of Santa Rosa is relaxing. I love it too. But it is like a tiger cub. Cute now, and very likely to get out of hand.
I wasn’t aware of how many planes fly in and out of Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County airport until they started flying over my house.
That happened in 2024 when the Federal Aviation Administration opened a new flight path over the western part of the county. From 2019 to 2024, the number of Santa Rosa airport passengers increased 58% to around 772,000 a year. Traffic increased 20% last year alone. On one recent weekday, there were 19 commercial departures and various private jets — including Ventura Air Services’ 4:37 a.m. flight to Cabo, which woke me up.
Airplanes pollute. No way around it. They account for 2.5% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, and 9% of U.S. transportation emissions, which is our largest category. They emit nitrous oxides and fine particulates. Even gas cars pollute less than planes per passenger. And aircraft dump noise pollution across the landscape. People lose sleep. Bird communication is interrupted. Batteries are too heavy for planes, so the only way to make them “sustainable” is to fly them less.
Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/opinion/sonoma-county-schulz-airport-climate-emissions/
Author Posted on Categories Climate Change & Energy, Transportation
Adrian Rodriguez, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
A fledgling bike-share program in Marin and Sonoma counties has more than doubled in ridership since launching six months ago, and the numbers are projected to keep climbing.
Marin transportation planners said they hope that means the service can extend beyond the two-year pilot period and expand to more cities.
A six-month update on Redwood Bikeshare, which started in October, was presented to the Transportation Authority of Marin recently. The program is funded by a $826,000 grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area’s transportation planning agency.
“I’m so thrilled about this program,” Sausalito Councilmember Melissa Blaustein, a member of the agency board, said at the May 22 meeting. “I love this and it’s so exciting for the community.”
The Transportation Authority of Marin is overseeing the program with the Sonoma County Transportation Authority. Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District — which manages Golden Gate buses and ferries — are also partners on the program.
Read more at https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/article/marin-sonoma-bike-share-program-shows-early-growth/