Note: On Sept. 3, the Union, other media outlets and the two incumbent City Council candidates received a letter from former City Councilmember Jason Kirkpatrick. The letter posed a question about city investment policy, which was answered by one of the incumbents. To give all the council aspirants a fair shot, we forwarded it to…
Dakota AndersonSpirit’s Panther Report: Waves of climate change awareness wash over the Plaza
Strikes concerning climate change have swept through the U.S. before, but the Climate Strike is different because it is a global event, dominated almost entirely by students, and inspired mainly by one girl, Greta Thunberg. Greta is a 16 year old teneager from Sweden most noted for beginning a mass strike at her school and…
Arcata declares climate emergency, citizens demand action
Kevin L. Hoover Mad River Union HUMBOLDT – As part of a youth-organized protest spanning 150 countries, citizens gathered en masse on the Arcata Plaza last Friday to demand action on climate change. Speakers decried the gulf between the magnitude of the global warming threat and decisive action by political leaders. Struggling to be heard…
Pat Carr: The climate crisis is upon us – what will our leaders do?
Strike or not, action for the climate takes work and there are lots of everyday choices You may have heard that a group of young people from around the world have called for a strike on behalf of the climate on Friday, Sept. 20. People of all ages, in countries around the globe, will leave…
Humboldt grapples with sea level rise
Daniel Mintz Mad River Union HUMBOLDT – Humboldt County is stepping up its planning for sea level rise in the Humboldt Bay area and is pursuing creation of a multi-jurisdictional agency to deal with it. What was described at the September 3 Board of Supervisors meeting as the “huge implications” of sea level rise is…
Should climate change deniers help make policy?
Daniel Mintz Mad River Union HUMBOLDT – Humboldt County’s interest in forming a Climate Advisory Committee hinges on an initial question – should those who are skeptical be disqualified from its membership? The idea of forming a committee to recommend climate change responses was discussed – and debated – at the August 27 Board of…
Humboldt County, cities join climate pact
Daniel Mintz Mad River Union HUMBOLDT – Humboldt’s county government is joining all seven cities in devising a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is also becoming a member of an international group that promotes global sustainability policies. The county’s Board of Supervisors took several actions to advance the drafting of a Climate Action…
Arcata, county look at ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Freddy Brewster Mad River Union ARCATA – On Monday, May 20 the City of Arcata, along with representatives from the Humboldt County Planning Department, held a public workshop forum to brainstorm ideas to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Arcata. There was one central question posed to the nearly 30 attendants and that was “what…
Climate change talk at Bayside’s HUUF as Sunny Brae solarizes
Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship BAYSIDE – “Toward a New Personal Norm for Our Climate” is the presentation on Sunday, March 3 at both 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. by Connie Roser-Renouf, Ph.D. at the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Bayside. As a scientist working through George Mason University in Washington, D.C., Dr. Renouf has studied how people…
County grapples with ‘monumental’ sea rise issues
Daniel Mintz Mad River Union HUMBOLDT – Words like “huge” and “monumental” were used by county staff as the Planning Commission was briefed on the potential effects of sea level rise and the challenges of responding to it. Policy options for avoiding and dealing with the impacts were outlined as the commission held a fourth…