Earth Island Institute

Growing Family

Earth Island welcomes two new projects this month:

• The vision and mission of the Living Laboratories Project is to bring ecological rehabilitation to schoolyards and to aid in the creation of natural spaces for learning and play. Through the creation of outdoor classrooms on school grounds Living Laboratories helps students to reconnect with the natural world.
• Solar College Initiative serves as a non-profit partner to colleges and universities helping them to navigate the complex process of bringing grid-tied solar photo-voltaic systems to their campuses at virtually no cost to the institution, via an innovative third party financing mechanism called the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). PPAs enable institutions to benefit from the many advantages of solar PV on campus without shouldering the costs typically associated with such systems.

Thursday March 18, 2010

Khukh Tenger (Blue Sky)

A Mongolian cultural performance is coming up on Sunday, March 28, at Cue Space in Oakland, California. The tickets are $20, and the program will feature throat singing, contortionism, Mongolian traditional music and dance. The folk dances of Mongolia are performed for social, seasonal, and ritualistic moments.

Thursday March 18, 2010

Californians: Vote No on Prop 16, PG&E’s Powergrab

Bay Localize’s Local Clean Energy Alliance is fighting Proposition 16, a statewide initiative on California’s June ballot. Prop 16 is a cynical attempt by one corporation, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), to change California’s constitution to require a two-thirds vote on a local referendum for cities and counties to invest in their own green power. It’s a direct attack on San Francisco and Marin County’s efforts to provide more renewable energy to their customers and invest in local green job creation. On March 17^th the Local Clean Energy Alliance organized a NO on 16 press conference and rally outside the California Public Utilities Commission featuring San Francisco County Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, that was covered by reporters from KGO, Fox News, Channel 32, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Bay Area News Group. Considering PG&E is investing millions of dollars in buying a constitutional amendment to protect its monopoly, we need all the earned media coverage we can get! The Local Clean Energy Alliance is coordinating a Bay Area working group opposing Prop 16. To learn more, see localcleanenergy.org/powergrab, and to get involved email .

Thursday March 18, 2010

Women and Water: Solutions for Community Resistance

A Single Drop, Crabgrass and Women’s Earth Alliance, will launch the 2010 West Africa Women and Water Training Program in Ghana; bringing 15 teams of women community leaders together to gain access to the leadership tools, appropriate water technologies, business development skills and seed capital they need to launch viable water projects in Ghana, Mali, Togo, Liberia, Nigeria, and Cameroon in 2010. Hear first-hand stories about women on the front lines of Africa’s water resiliency movement; learn about the Global Women’s Water Initiative’s West Africa launch, and hear a special address by global women’s movement leader Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of Global Fund for Women. Be sure to come early to enjoy the Water Solutions Salon, a dynamic reception presenting local water solutions, community resiliency projects and live African music! Please RSVP to events at womensearthalliance.org. In the meantime, follow us on our blog from Ghana.

Thursday March 18, 2010

Significant Flaws in Proposed State Bear Hunting Expansion

Today, a leading environmental attorney and wildlife biologist retained by Big Wildlife, Los Padres Forest Watch, and The Humane Society of the United States filed comments with the California Fish and Game Commission citing serious concerns with state proposals to expand bear hunting. In their comments to the Commission, attorney Bill Yeates of Kenyon Yeates LLP and biologist Rick Hopkins, Ph.D said the California Department of Fish and Game’s (CDFG) plans to increase hunting are unscientific and do not meet appropriate legal requirements. Read the full press release here.

Thursday March 18, 2010

Calling all Coffee Lovers!

Come enjoy a cup of sustainably sourced coffee and learn about how you can support local green businesses, help coffee farmers and protect the planet – all while enjoying your favorite cuppa joe. We’ll hear from EII Project Director, Kirstin Henninger, from Green Café Network, about how coffeehouses can role-model environmental responsibility for their communities, and how citizens can support them in that process. Green Café Network is an Earth Island project that is dedicated to bringing sustainability to the mainstream by greening the coffeehouse industry and harnessing café culture for environmental education and action. We hope you’ll join us for this fun and informative "coffee talk" and enjoy learning what you can do to be a conscientious coffee drinker while enriching our Bay Area communities.Join us on Thursday, March 25^th from noon to 1:30 at Green Zebra in the Crocker Galleria (50 Post Street, San Francisco, California).

Thursday March 18, 2010

To Drill or Not to Drill

The Spring 2010 issue of Earth Island Journal is now at newsstands and online! Among other dispatches and reports from around the world, the magazine includes:

• An in-depth feature story from the farmlands of New York and Pennsylvania, where residents are torn over the question of whether to allow natural gas extraction to occur in their quiet communities.
• The debut of our new debate section, +/-, which features opposing arguments from sustainable rancher and author Nicolette Hahn Niman and PETA campaigner Lindsay Rajt over the question, Can you be a ‘good environmentalist’ and still eat meat?
• An interview with Dr. Jane Goodall, the famed chimpanzee researcher and tireless environmental activist.
• A hopeful report from the Klamath River basin in California and Oregon, where farmers, ranchers, fishermen and several Indian tribes have agreed to the largest dam decommissioning in history. Veteran journalist Jacques Leslie uncovers the story behind the recent newspaper headlines in explaining how these diverse communities reached consensus on dam removal.

Thursday March 4, 2010

Show Your Support

The California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) has proposed dramatically expanding bear hunting across the state. Last month, the CDFG unveiled plans to: allow an unlimited number of bears to be killed during hunting season; permit the use of high-tech global positioning equipment (GPS) and “tip switches” on hound collars to make it easy to locate and kill bears (a tip switch alerts hunters when hounds have treed a bear); open the first-ever bear hunting season in San Luis Obispo county and expand hunts in Modoc and Lassen counties; and significantly expand the hound training season, allowing hounds to harass bears nearly all year long. The California Fish and Game Commission will ultimately decide to accept or reject the CDFG's proposals. Add your organization to the letter to the Commission. The letter will send an important message that there is strong opposition to the agency’s bear hunting proposals. To add your organization to the sign-on letter, simply send the following information to Brian Vincent at ; your name, title, organization, address, email, and phone number. Deadline to sign on to the letter: Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

Thursday March 4, 2010

DIY Wastewater Systems

On Sunday, March 14, Bob Feinbaum, Director of Hydro Nova will be conducting a workshop dealing with on-site wastewater system operation at the Building Education Center (BEC) on Page Street in West Berkeley from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Anyone who lives beyond the reach of sewer lines (or aspires to) is invited to attend. Call Sydney at BEC at 510 525-7610 for registration information.

Thursday March 4, 2010

Florida Coyote and Fox Penning Suspended

After investigations and public pressure from Project Coyote and other national and local organizations, Florida has temporarily suspended coyote and fox penning – the trapping of foxes and coyotes in pens where they are then chased and often ripped apart by dogs for staged competitions. Two Florida papers published editorials in support of a ban, which you can read on Project Coyote’s homepage along with a campaign update. This is a huge step forward and the result of continued public pressure to prohibit this cruel and heinous practice, but this is far from a done deal. Project Coyote and its allies are asking people to continue to write to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission urging a ban on the practice. In addition, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (INDNR) has issued a staff report in support of a statewide ban on coyote and fox penning. INDNR will hold a public hearing on this issue on March 16th and is accepting public comments on the issue now. Project Coyote is asking people to write to the Indiana Natural Resources Commission.

Thursday March 4, 2010

Living with Coyotes

Camilla Fox, of Project Coyote, and Rob Ruiz, chief park ranger of the Marin County Parks and Open Space Department, will discuss "Living with Coyotes" in a presentation scheduled from 7-9 p.m., April 5th at Christ Presbyterian Church at 620 Del Ganado Road in Terra Linda, CA.

The event is sponsored by the Los Ranchitos Improvement Association, Mont Marin/San Rafael Park Neighborhood Association, North San Rafael Coalition of Residents, Santa Margarita Neighborhood Association, Santa Venetia Neighborhood Association and Terra Linda Homeowners Association.

For information, call 499-9234 or send an e-mail to .

Thursday March 4, 2010

Earth Day and our Future

Sustainable World Coalition (SWC) presents, “Creating a Healthy Future – Where do we go from here?” an inspirational Earth Day kickoff event on Wednesday, April 21 from 7-10 p.m. at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA. Network with colleagues and celebrate the planet with Mark Dubois of the Pachamama Alliance; SWC, which will bring copies of its recent edition of the Sustainable World Sourcebook; and John and Ocean Robbins (John is the author of Diet for a new America, and Ocean is the founder of Youth for Environmental Sanity). Admission to the event is $15 at the door and includes a copy of the sourcebook.

Thursday March 4, 2010

Siberian Pearl

Don’t miss a chance to learn about Lake Baikal, the world’s largest fresh water lake, and the challenges faced by communities working to protect this natural resource. Meet a delegation of Russian environmental leaders from Buryatia, Siberia’s largest indigenous community, who are working to protect Baikal; see a slide presentation by wilderness photographer Boyd Norton; hear stories of Dave Brower’s travels to Lake Baikal in the 1990s; and join a conversation with Gary Cook of Baikal Watch (eii.org/baikal), Melissa Prager of Center for Safe Energy (eii.org/cse), and John Knox of Earth Island Institute. “David Brower and the Pearl of Siberia: Lake Baikal in Conversation and Photographs,” Thursday, February 25th at 7:00 p.m. at the David Brower Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5-$20 and you can purchase tickets in advance (eii.org/cse/baikal) or pay at the door. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday February 18, 2010

Help the Bears

Big Wildlife (bigwildlife.org) is urging California residents to help them in their fight to stop the expansion of bear hunting in California. Every year, hunters legally kill more than 2,000 bears across California, with the most bears killed in Siskiyou, Trinity, Humboldt, Shasta, and Tulare counties. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species (iucnredlist.org), an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 black bears are legally hunted each year in the United States and Canada, while an unknown number are also illegally poached. Shockingly, it is even legal for trophy hunters in California to chase bears with packs of hounds. To make matters worse, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) has proposed dramatically expanding bear hunting (dfg.ca.gov/news/pubnotice) across the state. If these proposals are adopted, bears will have virtually no escape. Please urge the California Fish and Game Commission to reject them! Public meeting on bear hunting proposals: March 3, 2010
Deadline for public comments on proposals: March 13, 2010

Thursday February 18, 2010

Building Solutions in North America, Community by Community

In a climate of economic distress and uncertainty, El Niño and climate change, communities in Mexico and California are addressing global problems with real-world local solutions. The Tamalpais Valley Community District organized a meeting with the Mayor of Mill Valley and Viva Sierra Gorda (vivasierragorda.org) to explore how two communities – one in Marin County and the other in Jalpan de Serra in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, Mexico – can build a partnership around awareness of ecological footprints, simple solutions that are already reducing local impacts, and a plan of action for 2010. If you are interested in learning more and want to participate, contact Laura Pérez-Arce, , of Viva Sierra Gorda.

Thursday February 18, 2010

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