February 2008 - Transpo - list.sfgreens.org

Reminder: Joint Transpo/Sustainability Meeting Thursday
by Eric Brooks 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

Hi all, Just a reminder of our meeting tonight. I've added the Mayor's solar incentives programs to the proposed agenda. Joint Meeting Transportation & Sustainability Working Groups When: Thursday, 2/28/08, 6:30PM-9:00PM Where: SFGP Office, 1028A Howard St Proposed Discussion Items - New Version Of McGoldrick Elected MTA Board Charter Amendment - Peak Oil Taskforce Update - Maxwell/Peskin SFPUC Charter Amendment - Mayoral Shake Up Of Building Inspection Commission - Update On SFPUC - CCA Update - Mayor's Solar Program - Combustion Turbine Update - Forming an active working group members alert list for the Sustainability WG -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara

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Green Apple Earth Day event on April 20 --canceling tabling plans
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 26 Feb '08

26 Feb '08

Hello Everyone, As I cannot find enough people to guarantee that they can transport us, help us set up, and help table, I am not going to complete the tabling application for the Green Apple Earth Day event on April 20. I'm sorry about this as tabling can be enjoyable. Our next event to plan for will be Pride. Sue -- "susan_e_vaughan(a)juno.com" <susan_e_vaughan(a)juno.com> wrote: Hi Everyone, I'm looking for someone who can transport us from the Green Party office and back on Sunday, April 20. We'd like to table at the Earth Day Festival in Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. I need to submit the application by the middle of this week in order to get the cheaper booth rate. Please let me know if you are available for transportation in the morning or in the late afternoon. Also, please respond to my YAHOO account: susan_e_vaughan(a)yahoo.com Thanks Sue _______________________________________________ Volunteers mailing list Volunteers(a)sfgreens.org https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volunteers

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Joint Transpo/Sustainability Meeting Thursday
by Eric Brooks 25 Feb '08

25 Feb '08

Joint Meeting Transportation & Sustainability Working Groups When: Thursday, 2/28/08, 6:30PM-9:00PM Where: SFGP Office, 1028A Howard St Proposed Discussion Items - New Version Of McGoldrick Elected MTA Board Charter Amendment - Peak Oil Taskforce Update - Maxwell/Peskin SFPUC Charter Amendment - Mayoral Shake Up Of Building Inspection Commission - Update On SFPUC - CCA Update - Combustion Turbine Update - Forming an active working group members alert list for the Sustainability WG -- "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara

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Re: [Transpo] [SFGP CC] [SFGP Volunteers] Green Apple Earth Day event in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, April 20 -- I need transportation
by susan vaughan 25 Feb '08

25 Feb '08

Great. Probably the morning, as it should be easier for me to find someone to take us back in the afternoon. I'll be in touch. Thanks Sue Mario <mario(a)aircargocommunities.com> wrote: I can do either the morning or eve run for you. I have access to SUV or a mini van. Would that work? Mario K. 415-716-3900 -----Original Message----- From: volunteers-bounces(a)sfgreens.org [mailto:volunteers-bounces@sfgreens.org] On Behalf Of susan_e_vaughan(a)juno.com Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 9:23 PM To: pvillano(a)gmail.com; barry(a)hermansons.com; active(a)sfgreens.org; cc(a)sfgreens.org; volunteers(a)sfgreens.org; transpo(a)sfgreens.org Subject: [SFGP Volunteers] Green Apple Earth Day event in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, APril 20 -- I need transportation Hi Everyone, I'm looking for someone who can transport us from the Green Party office and back on Sunday, April 20. We'd like to table at the Earth Day Festival in Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. I need to submit the application by the middle of this week in order to get the cheaper booth rate. Please let me know if you are available for transportation in the morning or in the late afternoon. Also, please respond to my YAHOO account: susan_e_vaughan(a)yahoo.com Thanks Sue _______________________________________________ Volunteers mailing list Volunteers(a)sfgreens.org https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volunteers _______________________________________________ San Francisco Green Party CC mailing list CC(a)sfgreens.org To unsubscribe or change options, go here: https://list.sfgreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cc --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

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Green Apple Earth Day event in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, APril 20 -- I need transportation
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 25 Feb '08

25 Feb '08

Hi Everyone, I'm looking for someone who can transport us from the Green Party office and back on Sunday, April 20. We'd like to table at the Earth Day Festival in Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. I need to submit the application by the middle of this week in order to get the cheaper booth rate. Please let me know if you are available for transportation in the morning or in the late afternoon. Also, please respond to my YAHOO account: susan_e_vaughan(a)yahoo.com Thanks Sue

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Peak Oil on Ch 2 news Sun night
by John-Marc Chandonia 24 Feb '08

24 Feb '08

I saw previews of a story Ch 2 is doing on peak oil; it features an interview with Ross. Should air on the 10 pm news Sun night. JMC -- John-Marc Chandonia (jmc(a)sfgreens.org) http://sfgreens.org/

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Dance Brigade announcement from Krissy Keefer: A Storm of Roses
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 24 Feb '08

24 Feb '08

Dance Brigade presents A Storm of Roses: Women Against War Commemoration & Protest Against the 5th Anniversary of the War in Iraq With Holly Near, Ferron, Anne Bluenthenthal & Dancers, Vicki Noble, Grrrl Brigade, Dance Brigade, Las Que Son SOn, Melanie Demore & Mary Watkins, Al-Juthoor Palestinian Folk Dance Honoring Code Pink, Barbara Lee, Carole Migden, Cindy Sheehan, and Grandmothers Against the War Friday, March 14, 2008, 7:30 pm, Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco Box Office: 415-392-4400 Tickets Online: www.cityboxoffice.com Tickets $20-$50 For more information: www.dancemission.com

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transpo minutes posted
by John-Marc Chandonia 13 Feb '08

13 Feb '08

Hi, If you missed the last transpo meeting, the minutes are posted on the website. Sue, do you know if there's still an effort to get the Board to reject the MTA nominees and suggest a slate of our own? If that effort is still alive, the TWG wants the Mayor to nominate you to the MTA. JMC -- John-Marc Chandonia (jmc(a)sfgreens.org) http://sfgreens.org/

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Fwd: NY Times: Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat
by Eric Brooks 11 Feb '08

11 Feb '08

Hi all, This article is even better than the last one. Important Note: Near the end of the article where one of the scientists actually speaks positively about sugar cane for fuel, he is totally failing to account for the realities that most cane farming involves regular -burning- of the fields, and that increased cane fuel production would still cause other land to be cleared increasing global warming and food insecurity. Likewise his statement about 'waste' from crops being used for fuel production is short sighted. Such waste needs to be returned to the -soil- to retain and increase its nutrient value and promote better carbon storage in more secure soil. Here's the article - New York Times Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL Published: February 8, 2008 Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded. The benefits of biofuels have come under increasing attack in recent months, as scientists took a closer look at the global environmental cost of their production. These latest studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, are likely to add to the controversy. These studies for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at the emissions effects of the huge amount of natural land that is being converted to cropland globally to support biofuels development. The destruction of natural ecosystems — whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands in South America — not only releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they are burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions. Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces. Together the two studies offer sweeping conclusions: It does not matter if it is rain forest or scrubland that is cleared, the greenhouse gas contribution is significant. More important, they discovered that, taken globally, the production of almost all biofuels resulted, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not, in new lands being cleared, either for food or fuel. “When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gasses substantially,” said Timothy Searchinger, lead author of one of the studies and a researcher in environment and economics at Princeton University. “Previously there’s been an accounting error: land use change has been left out of prior analysis.” These plant-based fuels were originally billed as better than fossil fuels because the carbon released when they were burned was balanced by the carbon absorbed when the plants grew. But even that equation proved overly simplistic because the process of turning plants into fuels causes its own emissions — for refining and transport, for example. The clearance of grassland releases 93 times the amount of greenhouse gas that would be saved by the fuel made annually on that land, said Joseph Fargione, lead author of the second paper, and a scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “So for the next 93 years you’re making climate change worse, just at the time when we need to be bringing down carbon emissions.” The Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change has said that the world has to reverse the increase of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to avert disastrous environment consequences. In the wake of the new studies, a group of 10 of the United States’s most eminent ecologists and environmental biologists today sent a letter to President Bush and the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, urging a reform of biofuels policies. “We write to call your attention to recent research indicating that many anticipated biofuels will actually exacerbate global warming,” the letter said. The European Union and a number of European countries have recently tried to address the land use issue with proposals stipulating that imported biofuels cannot come from land that was previously rain forest. But even with such restrictions in place, Dr. Searchinger’s study shows, the purchase of biofuels in Europe and the United States leads indirectly to the destruction of natural habitats far afield. For instance, if vegetable oil prices go up globally, as they have because of increased demand for biofuel crops, more new land is inevitably cleared as farmers in developing countries try to get in on the profits. So crops from old plantations go to Europe for biofuels, while new fields are cleared to feed people at home. Likewise, Dr. Fargione said that the dedication of so much cropland in the United States to growing corn for bioethanol had caused indirect land use changes far away. Previously, Midwestern farmers had alternated corn with soy in their fields, one year to the next. Now many grow only corn, meaning that soy has to be grown elsewhere. Increasingly, that elsewhere, Dr. Fargione said, is Brazil, on land that was previously forest or savanna. “Brazilian farmers are planting more of the world’s soybeans — and they’re deforesting the Amazon to do it,” he said. International environmental groups, including the United Nations, responded cautiously to the studies, saying that biofuels could still be useful. “We don’t want a total public backlash that would prevent us from getting the potential benefits,” said Nicholas Nuttall, spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program, who said the United Nations had recently created a new panel to study the evidence. “There was an unfortunate effort to dress up biofuels as the silver bullet of climate change,” he said. “We fully believe that if biofuels are to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, there urgently needs to be better sustainability criterion.” The European Union has set a target that countries use 5.75 percent biofuel for transport by the end of 2008. Proposals in the United States energy package would require that 15 percent of all transport fuels be made from biofuel by 2022. To reach these goals, biofuels production is heavily subsidized at many levels on both continents, supporting a burgeoning global industry. Syngenta, the Swiss agricultural giant, announced Thursday that its annual profits had risen 75 percent in the last year, in part because of rising demand for biofuels. Industry groups, like the Renewable Fuels Association, immediately attacked the new studies as “simplistic,” failing “to put the issue into context.” “While it is important to analyze the climate change consequences of differing energy strategies, we must all remember where we are today, how world demand for liquid fuels is growing, and what the realistic alternatives are to meet those growing demands,” said Bob Dineen, the group’s director, in a statement following the Science reports’ release. “Biofuels like ethanol are the only tool readily available that can begin to address the challenges of energy security and environmental protection,” he said. The European Biodiesel Board says that biodiesel reduces greenhouse gasses by 50 to 95 percent compared to conventional fuel, and has other advantages as well, like providing new income for farmers and energy security for Europe in the face of rising global oil prices and shrinking supply. But the papers published Thursday suggested that, if land use is taken into account, biofuels may not provide all the benefits once anticipated. Dr. Searchinger said the only possible exception he could see for now was sugar cane grown in Brazil, which take relatively little energy to grow and is readily refined into fuel. He added that governments should quickly turn their attention to developing biofuels that did not require cropping, such as those from agricultural waste products. “This land use problem is not just a secondary effect — it was often just a footnote in prior papers,”. “It is major. The comparison with fossil fuels is going to be adverse for virtually all biofuels on cropland.

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Fw: [SFGP-A] The Art of Progressive Politics
by susan_e_vaughan＠juno.com 08 Feb '08

08 Feb '08

---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Enhance our evening of music, art, progressive politics, and San Francisco Green Party fundraising -- with your presence. We will be joined by District 5 Supervisor and founding member of the California Green Party Ross Mirkarimi, Board of Education Commissioner Jane Kim, Board of Education President Mark Sanchez, Board of Education Commissioner and District 1 candidate for supervisor Eric Mar, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Member Andy Thornley, and others for a night of music, art, and politics. On Monday, Feb. 11, 2008 The Bazaar Cafe, 5927 California Street at 22nd Avenue (Take the 38 Geary to 22nd Avenue, get off, walk two blocks north, and turn right -- the Bazaar is in the middle of the block). Starting at 7 p.m. (or earlier -- this is a cafe, get there when you want) Special guests: Ross Mirkarimi, Jane Kim, Mark Sanchez, Eric Mar, SF Bike Coalition representative Andy Thornley, YOU, and others Visual arts provided by Heike Seefeldt and Sue Vaughan Music by YOU (the Bazaar has a piano, but feel free to bring your guitar, your taiko drums, or pots and pans ...) 10 requested donation, but there is NO entrance fee, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Spread the word. Hope to see you there. 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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