October 2007 - Sustainability - list.sfgreens.org

[Sustain] Important Sustainability Meeting Tomorrow!
by Eric Brooks 24 Oct '07

24 Oct '07

Hi all, Just a reminder that the next Sustainability meeting is tomorrow night at the SFGP office at 7:30pm. There is big/important news about the Peak Oil Taskforce, the Community Choice renewable energy project, and the fight to stop the natural gas power plant from being built in the Bayview. See you there! peace Eric -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara

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[Sustain] Our City: Voter Guide, Solar/Wind Powered SF, Stop Fossil Fuel Plant & Pollution In Bayview
by Eric Brooks 23 Oct '07

23 Oct '07

*Our City Update Voter Guide 2007, Solar & Wind Power, Stopping Fossil Fuel Plants & Toxic Waste In SF* * 1 - Voter Guide For November: Critical Votes On Transit & Parking 2 - 50% Solar & Wind Power For San Francisco! 3 - Stopping Another Fossil Fuel Plant In San Francisco 4 - CORE REPORT: Bayview Under Siege - The Toxic Corporate Attack On Our Most Polluted Neighborhood 5 - The Past Year's Election Victories * NOTE: This Update and Voter Guide can be directly accessed online. (Mozilla/Netscape users view PDF version.) - See the Update (PDF version) at http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.pdf or the web version at http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.htm - See the printable half page Voter Guide (PDF) at http://our-city.org/Voteguide-Nov07.pdf or the web version at http://our-city.org/Voteguide-Nov07.htm (If you have trouble with these or any of the links below, go to the Our City home page at http://our-city.org and follow the links on the lefthand side entitled *Voter Guide*, and (under Updates) *Fall 2007: Stopping Fossil Fuel Plants & Toxic Waste In SF*.) *Top Stories **1 - Voter Guide For November: Critical Votes On Transit & Parking* This November, two critical local measures on Mass Transit and Parking are on the Ballot. Proposition H is an extremely bad, pro-automobile measure (sponsored by corporate conservatives) which will vastly increase parking, gridlock, pollution and greenhouse gases in San Francisco. Proposition A is a grassroots initiative that will increase funding for cleaner mass transit, and will strike down Prop H if it passes. *Vote NO on H! and YES on A!** *See our entire 2007 Voter Guide at (PDF) http://our-city.org/Voteguide-Nov07.pdf or (web) http://our-city.org/Voteguide-Nov07.htm *2 - 50% Solar & Wind Power For San Francisco! *In June 2007, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the Community Choice renewable energy project, which will run San Francisco on 50% solar and wind power within the next decade, and will end San Francisco's century long dependence on PG&E's polluting corporate energy monopoly. See the full report at (PDF) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.pdf or (web) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.htm *3 - Stopping Another Fossil Fuel Plant In San Francisco *Even though San Francisco is about to build the largest municipal solar and wind power project on Earth, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) still has plans to allow a private corporation to build another polluting natural gas power plant inside the City! And to make matters worse, the SFPUC plans to let this plant be built in the Bayview Hunters Point, which is already San Francisco's most polluted neighborhood. The SFPUC will vote as early as this week on whether or not to approve the project. Read more about this unacceptable power plant on page 2 of the Update, (PDF) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.pdf or (web) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07_files/page0001.htm Get more detail and *Take Action* to stop the plant at http://our-city.org/campaigns/index.html *4 - CORE REPORT: Bayview Under Siege - The Toxic Corporate Attack On Our Most Polluted Neighborhood *For decades, the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood has suffered terrible toxic pollution because the U.S. Navy, various corporations, and the City itself, have been allowed to emit pollutants (including deadly asbestos) and to dump other toxic and even radioactive wastes in this community; a community which is, in vast majority, people of color and low income. Now the City and its Health department is continuing the toxic assault by allowing Miami based Lennar corporation to further devastate the Bayview and illegally stir those hazardous chemicals back up into the atmosphere, as it builds gentrifying market rate and luxury condos for profit. We, the people of San Francisco, must halt this outrage immediately. Read the full expose on page 3 of the Update at (PDF) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.pdf or (web) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07_files/page0002.htm *5 - The Past Year's Election Victories *Over the past year, progressives have won crucial tenant protections, paid sick days for workers, and mandatory public hearings on chain stores; have stopped dangerous ballot attacks on the environment and reproductive choice; and have won critical victories for progressive education board candidates and Board Supervisors. See our full report on ballot measure victories on page 1 of the Update, (PDF) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.pdf or (web) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.htm See our report on the now majority progressive School Board, and other candidate victories, on page 2 of the Update at (PDF) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07.pdf or (web) http://our-city.org/Update-Oct07_files/page0001.htm As always, thank you for your continued involvement and action. peace Eric Brooks Campaign Coordinator Our City //This update posted by: Our City 1028-A Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94103 415-756-8844 For more information about Our City campaigns go to: http://www.our-city.org info(a)our-city.org <mailto:info@our-city.org> //

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[Sustain] Fwd: Joe Boss 04-AFC-1C Certification of the SFERP - Response to Brightline Defense Project
by Michael Boyd 18 Oct '07

18 Oct '07

Note: forwarded message attached.

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[Sustain] 9/26/07 Meeting Notes and invitation
by Don Eichelberger 18 Oct '07

18 Oct '07

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[Sustain] Fwd: Big Oil Pushing Dems to Vote for Anti-Environment NAFTA Expansion
by Eric Brooks 16 Oct '07

16 Oct '07

/does this e-mail look wrong, or can you not read it at all? *click here* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=41LkIPRDenaSNdNjzmm0…>/ <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZHXDo5gzBgwW%2BYHijF…> *Action Alert --- October 16, 2007* *How _NOT_ to solve global warming: NAFTA for the Amazon!* *Take action to save the Amazon!* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Fzh4tO8IjgvOYDIisDbJ…> Democratic leadership has promised to bring Big Oil's dream trade deal - the Peru NAFTA expansion - up for a vote by the end of October. We've got to stop them. <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Ow5E3L0jsbs9%2FDrmxV…> Dear Supporter, When Big Oil companies are going full steam on a stealth lobbying mission for more access to the Amazon, it doesn't take a geological engineering degree to realize that whatever they are pushing is probably bad for the environment. So, it's more than a little disturbing that Democrats in Congress are scheduling a vote on one of Big Oil's top legislative priorities - an expansion of NAFTA to the South American country of Peru that would give them powerful new rights to ravage the endangered Amazon rainforest. Indigenous leaders from the Peruvian Amazon are in Washington, DC right now urging the U.S. Congress to save their Amazon rainforest home and help stop global warming by defeating the Bush administration's proposed NAFTA expansion.[1] But they need our help! *Please urge your representatives in Congress to save the Amazon from Big Oil's Peru NAFTA scheme - and vote NO on HR 3688, the Peru "free trade" agreement (Peru FTA).* Take action here: *http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=17124* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=o7HLLqUSlq26vShL6Tu8…> Bush's NAFTA expansion to Peru, which would extend NAFTA's most environment-ravaging provisions to cover the upper Amazon basin, is at the top of the agenda for multinational oil companies like Chevron-Texaco, a co-chair of the U.S.-Peru Trade Coalition.[2] The Peru deal includes new rights for Big Oil that extend even beyond NAFTA's awful provisions. The proposed pact would empower multinational oil and gas to drag Peru's government to World Bank tribunals to demand compensation for changes to the corporations' exploration and exploitation contracts that could undermine their "expected future profits." What this means is that the Peru FTA would allow these firms to crush measures Peru's government might take to protect the Amazon rainforest. Big Oil is well aware of this hidden provision in the Peru FTA. In fact, they call it a "significant improvement" over other trade deals in an official report for Bush's energy industry corporate advisory committee on trade.[3] *Locking in Oil Company Leases:* When negotiations on the trade deal started back in 2004, only 13 percent of Peru's Amazon was zoned for oil and gas exploration and exploitation. The last two governments have now opened over 65 percent of the region, including national parks and other ostensibly protected areas. The FTA's new foreign investor protections would help lock in this outrage, even if a new pro-environment government were elected in Peru - granting Big Oil the world's most important rainforest as its private Monopoly board game. Multinational oil companies involved in Peru include *Occidental* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=3g3XZfGCVo1ai7C79Wqa…> and *ConocoPhillips* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=55lAW%2FeEx1C6vShL6T…>, whose political action committees have been layering the campaign donations on to the same members of the U.S. Congress who will be voting on the deal. Click the image for a larger version: <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=FdSW8yhtHRu6vShL6Tu8…> In a *recent letter* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=G%2B5TYT8NhtcmUeO%2F…> to the U.S. Congress, environmental groups that work on protecting the Amazon rainforest wrote: /Given the challenges that the world faces to stem global warming, we simply cannot afford to advance trade agreements that we are certain will result in the deforestation of critical tropical rainforests./ In short, Big Oil's Peru NAFTA push will help heat up the planet and reduce our energy independence. The Peru FTA is slated for a vote before the end of October, so we need to move fast. Please act now to make sure your Representative and both of your Senators know where you stand! Take action here: *http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=17124* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5iS5byzSYzCFCDbeeVK4…> And please, please send this email to all of your friends. If we want to make progress on climate change, we can't let the new Congress cave in to Big Oil by passing trade agreements that help lock in the very policies we know must be changed. Thank you for all that you do, David Edeli Global Trade Watch Division Public Citizen [1] "Los pueblos indigenas no quieren el TLC," <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ITsQ3k1kKdKSNdNjzmm0…> /La Republica/, October 11, 2007, /Seccion Economia/, p.14. [2] See the Latin America Trade Coalition website <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=3tPhUdRc2%2B4W%2BYHi…>. [3] "The U.S. - Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA)," <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qpVLPdo9gI7OYDIisDbJ…> Report of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Energy and Energy Services (ITAC 6), January 2006. (PDF) *About GTW* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=4d7F2fe0jw49%2FDrmxV…> | *Contact Us* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=cxKMYj2pAfcHFsi3g%2F…> | *Write Your Rep* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=w1w4hTdD7V9ai7C79Wqa…> | *Support Us* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=SsZSCrJeYeVI8EonFgan…> Stay informed and speak out when it counts. *Sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=nQwfN5aKM5AL4%2FLHOy…> or other online announcements. If you do not wish to receive e-mail messages from Public Citizen in the future, please *click here* <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=CfRn2h8NdxcmUeO%2Fhz…>. Public Citizen employees are members of SEIU Local 500. We support the rights of workers in the United States and around the world to organize freely. Union Yes! Copyright © 2007 Public Citizen. All Rights Reserved 215 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, 3rd Floor Washington, DC 20003

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[Sustain] Exposing Anti-Environmental Myths Around DDT
by Eric Brooks 12 Oct '07

12 Oct '07

Hi all, This week's Counterspin, has a great installment revealing that the decline in DDT use in malaria hot zones like Africa, happened, not because of environmental laws, but because mosquitoes have developed strong immunities to DDT because of its heavy use; a situation that Silent Spring author Rachel Carson specifically warned against. So increased malaria deaths have largely been the result of irresponsible chemical use, not environmental protections. Read or Listen to the report at: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3198 The audio is shorter but much easier to follow and is in the second half of the program. peace Eric -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara

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[Sustain] Feb Ballot Compromise Off?! No On A/Yes On H Mailer Received
by Eric Brooks 12 Oct '07

12 Oct '07

Jason Henderson, active in non-car circles, has received a No on A/Yes on H mailer from Donald Fisher. It came in the mail the same day that he received his absentee ballot. ANyone know if Mark Sanchez has agreed to do a No on H fundraiser yet? Sue _______________________________________________ San Francisco Green Party Active Members List To unsubscribe or edit your options, go here: https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/active

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[Sustain] Libertarians for Energy Regulation?
by Dennis Brumm 09 Oct '07

09 Oct '07

An interesting change of pace: http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/3059 [snippet] In an Op-Ed that was published in the Wall Street Journal <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118843421064212958.html>last month (and is available in full to non-subscribers on <http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8678>CATO's website) two CATO economists specialised in deregulation and energy markets provide a breath of fresh air in the debates on energy. Their point is to criticize the poorly thought out deregulation in various US States over the past 15 years, and they explain clearly how energy markets work (something which is rare enough in the mainstream media), and what the consequences of various bits of deregulation are on market behavior and thus on electricity prices. .....

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[Sustain] Myths of Biofuels DVD
by Dennis Brumm 08 Oct '07

08 Oct '07

David Fridley's talk (similar, not quite the same as the one in April) from June 7 to the Post Carbon Santa Clara Valley group is on a DVD now. If anyone on these lists would like a copy, I'm "selling" them at cost (It's $5.35 without postage, $7.00 with by check or $7.50 with paypal for their added charges). You're welcome to copy them to the hilt & distribute to your friends. We had a bit better lighting that night than in April, and stuck a mic on him to help with sound. http://www.sfbayoil.org/sfoa/myths/index.html (main page) Or to acquire a DVD: http://www.sfbayoil.org/sfoa/myths/acquire.html If there's a main Green Party list this should go on and anybody cares to post there, feel free. Another guy has put the whole movie up as a (small window, not the greatest for the slides) video here: http://greatchange.org/othervoices.html Scroll down to "Fridley" It's quicktime & windows (.wmv) both there. Dennis

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[Sustain] Email Today: Stop SFPUC From Destroying Beautiful Sierra River (The Tuolumne)
by Eric Brooks 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

Hi all, The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, in order to provide extra water to wasteful East Bay customers, and developers who want to profit by building out more water hogging sprawl neighborhoods on lands East of San Francisco; has just made plans to drain 25 million more gallons of water from a beautiful scenic river in the Sierra Nevadas - the Tuolumne. This extra water will not be used by residents of San Francisco at all. It will instead largely go to shower the lush lawns of communities outside of San Francisco; communities which should be learning to conserve water, instead of draining more of it from beautiful mountain rivers and watersheds. Today (Monday, October 1, 2007) is the final day for public comment to the San Francisco Planning Department on this matter. You can help stop the theft of the Tuolumne's water by taking a second right now to send a quick email to the Department's Environmental Review Officer. _*What You Can Do*_ Copy the sample letter below and then email it to: wsip.peir.comments(a)gmail.com **SAMPLE LETTER TO SAVE THE TUOLUMNE RIVER** Subject: No More Diversions From The Tuolumne! To: Paul Maltzer, Environmental Review Officer Water System Improvement Program PEIR San Francisco Planning Department Dear Mr. Maltzer: Your environmental review of the SFPUC's plan to take more water from the Tuolumne River does not address all environmental impacts to the River. I strongly urge you to do additional studies of the Tuolumne before finishing the report. I support the alternatives in your draft document that protect the Tuolumne from any new diversions. More water conservation, efficiency, and recycling are the best ways to both protect the River, and provide permanently sustainable water for the San Francisco Bay Area. Only by keeping a healthy water flow in the Tuolumne, can we protect this beautiful river and the diverse watershed and wildlife which depend on it; while at the same time making sure that all future generations in the Bay Area will have access to clean water. Sincerely, [Your Name and Address Here] **END SAMPLE LETTER** To learn more about the Tuolumne River see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuolumne_River For more information on the proposed diversion, see the Sierra Club report at: http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/yodeler/html/2007/09/conservation11.h… Thanks for you action and support! Eric Brooks Campaign Coordinator Our City http://our-city.org

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