On June 12, Santa Claus came to Main Beach in Santa Cruz to talk with beach goers about global warming while delievering home the message that, "Santa Doesn't Want To Be Ho-Ho-Homeless."

As soon as next week, the US Senate may vote on the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act. This is a bill that would require polluting industries to make modest cuts in carbon-dioxide emissions, the pollutant that thickens the "carbon blanket" around the planet and leads to global warming. The measure was last voted on in the fall. At that time both Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA) voted for the bill.

"Global warming will have devastating consequences for the economy of California among other things", said Max Boykoff of Duyure Adelante. "It is clear that our Senators here in California recognize that. But we need more Senators on board, so to speak. We are urging all people to call on their Senators to vote for this first step to stop global warming."

The popularity of the new film, "The Day After Tomorrow," has put the issue of global climate change at the forefront of American consciousness. While most movie-goers dismiss the film's doomsday predictions as sci-fi fantasy, some climatologists and concerned citizens are seizing on the opportunity to talk about the realities of global warming.

From Freak Radio Santa Cruz, V-Man Reports. ( 7 minutes / 4.8 megabytes )

Audio: [ Listen to the Stream or Download the mp3 ]

Felton residents are organizing to buy back their water supply from the multinational RWE AG. This corporation, which touts its services as ‘everything you need from one source - electricity, gas, water, recycling� and which also has interests in nuclear energy, bought Felton’s privately owned water in 2002.

But RWE AG is no match for residents like the 86 year old man who is out walking the hills and knocking on doors.

At a recent board meeting, one speaker pointed to the global impact of RWE AG’s acquisitions; her daughter who lives in London has the same water carrier.

Felton residents would like to acquire their water system and put it in public hands, but Cal-Am is trying to undermine these community efforts while pushing to raise rates. When a water main broke last December in Felton, residents phoned an emergency hotline that led to an operator located in Illinois. The company failed to alert some of the residents to boil their water. The company has also interrupted service without notifying customers.

As of August, RWE-Thames had already gotten over $40 million in rate increases from their America's water division and they are pressing for rate increases in almost every one of their state subsidiaries. They have an aggressive expansion strategy and are planning to build a large ocean water desalination plant on the Monterey Coast, at the mouth of the nationally protected estuary, the Elkhorn Slough.

To find out more about the campaign, contact FLOW (Friends of Locally Owned Water) and Public Citizen at 510-663-0888 or California (at) citizen.org

In solidarity with hundreds of activists in SF protesting the Biotech conference, as well as people in the streets of Savannah, GA sending a message to the G8, local activists dropped a "Reclaim the Commons" banner on Hwy. 17.

G8 / Reclaim the Commons Updates from San Francisco:

Jail Solidarity Update from Thursday 6/10
Jail Solidarity Update from Wedday 6/9
Breaking News from Tuesday 6/8
Breaking News from Monday 6/7
Breaking News from Sunday 6/6
Breaking News from Saturday 6/5

Enemy Combatant Radio is providing audio coverage of Reclaim The Commons and is being Broadcast on 104.1FM in San Francisco, 104.9FM in the East Bay and 101.1FM in Santa Cruz.
For in-depth coverage and analysis, see Biotech Indymedia

Thousands of activists and organizers around the Western US will converge on San Francisco from June 3 - 9 to shut down the corporate takeover of basic life needs. While Savannah, Georgia will be the focus of G8 protests on East Coast, the West Coast G8 demonstrations will target the biotech industry's largest meeting of lobbyists and executives happening concurrently in San Francisco. However, this mobilization is much bigger than biotech.

Organizers have put out a call to not only target the meetings, but to reclaim the city of San Francisco from the corporate oligarchs and return it to the people. They plan actions that will create free local food sources and community gathering spaces, as well as actions that will bring together groups working for global, environmental and racial justice.

One focal point of the "Reclaim the Commons" mobilization will be the shut down of the biotech industry meeting. The most widely discussed aspects of biotechnology relate to its incorporation into foods that humans consume and biological weapons. We live in a world where tomatoes can be manipulated to contain anti-freeze genes and every cell of a corn plant can be engineered to contain toxic pesticides. We live in a world where ‘terminator technologies’ can create plants incapable of producing fertile seeds, and where those plants are being shoved down the throats of Developing Nations in order to make them more dependent on buying seeds.

June 8, the opening day of the G8 meetings in Georgia, will be a day of mass action against the corporate empire. Pick your coast, but mobilize!!

[ Reclaim the Commons I RTC Spokescouncil May 2 I West Coast G8 Regional Mobilization I Direct Action to Stop the War ]

The Campus Earth Festival will take place on Saturday, April 24, at 12:00 PM at UCSC's College 8 Plaza. The Festival is a combination of a bonanza music festival, a celebration of the local environmental movement, and an opportunity for the entire community to unite toward the wider purpose of sustainability.

The UCSC Student Environmental Center (SEC) is partnering with College 8 to coordinate the largest Earth Day celebration in campus history (2002 Festival). The "SlugStock" Campus Earth Festival, organized in the spirit of community, will feature the live music of five accomplished bands, who will join students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members in celebration of the university's pioneering sustainability movement.

RadioActive from Spearhead, one of the Bay Area's most popular and socially-conscious musical powerhouses, headlines a diverse line-up of popular artists. Also performing will be San Francisco-based indie pop rockers the Botticellis, Latin hip-hop troupe East L.A. Sabor Factory, Santa Cruz psychedelic rock group illumination, and UCSC "homegrown" Still Searchin'.

Keynote speaker Ocean Robbins, a Santa Cruz native and internationally acclaimed environmental activist, will deliver an address titled "When Hope Takes a Stand," a clarion call to people both young and old to embrace their particular vision for a better world.

On Sunday October 2, I met up with The Progressive Animal Rights Alliance of Santa Cruz at the Food Bin on Mission St. in Santa Cruz. We marched a few blocks to the KFC on Mission St. to call attention to KFC's cruelty to animals.

On October 1, Curtis Reliford, a community organizer and founder of "Brothers Teaching Brothers," held a celebration and informal report back at clock tower in Santa Cruz. The event was a way for Shreveport, Bogalousa and New Orleans, Louisiana to say "Thank You" to Santa Cruz community members for their generous support and donations.

The celebration at the clock tower included food, music and photos of the relief effort from Santa Cruz to Louisiana.

Deadly Aspartame, approved by political clout of Don Rumsfeld may be banned in NM.
See clip: www.soundandfury.tv/pages/rumsfeld2.html

Saturday, September 24, 2005
Rita Update
Updated: Saturday September 24th
Location: Algiers

4:33pm Time to run...sorry for the short update but we have an emergency shipment going to the bayou. I'll add more later. By the way - did you notice I used the word "emergency"? If you are wondering whether you should come down, or send anything.... I think you may have your answer. Peace.

Updated: Wednesday, September 21
Location: Somewhere in history.

INNER THOUGHTS
Tonight, the amazing people of Common Ground took the time to voice hopes and fears. It was an emotional space. So many feelings and experiences running together. Everyone is working 18 hour days. They've seen things that will flicker in the mind's eye forever. And they've done the one thing that FEMA, the Red Cross, and even all the military might assembled here cannot do: create hope.