ed. note: You have to love the babble. Gov. Schwarzenegger ‘orders’ state agencies to prepare for sea rise…. What a nice headline.  You might even think the speechmaker was an environmentalist….

Not one word, however, about the fact that just two weeks ago he imposed historic budget cuts and involuntary work furloughs on agencies like…. The California Coastal Commission.

Nothing about the fact he has cut budget of Coastal Commission every single year he has been in office.

Nothing about the fact he has imposed a hiring freeze on Coastal Commission, which has lost 20 staff positions this year and now has just a single analyst for three entire counties in central California.

The emperor has no clothes. Just who does AS think is going to do this work?!?

Schwarzenegger orders climate change strategy

Friday, November 14, 2008
(11-14) 18:07 PST Sacramento, CA (AP) –

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered state agencies to begin preparing for the projected impacts of global warming on California’s economy, people and natural resources.

The executive order calls on state officials to develop a “comprehensive climate adaption strategy” to cope with rising sea levels, higher temperatures, increased flooding, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather events. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09gore.html?em=&pagewanted=all

November 9, 2008
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

The Climate for Change

By AL GORE
THE inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for another fateful choice that he — and we — must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.

The electrifying redemption of America’s revolutionary declaration that all human beings are born equal sets the stage for the renewal of United States leadership in a world that desperately needs to protect its primary endowment: the integrity and livability of the planet.

The world authority on the climate crisis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, after 20 years of detailed study and four unanimous reports, now says that the evidence is “unequivocal.” To those who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists around the world, ignore the melting of the north polar ice cap and all of the other apocalyptic warnings from the planet itself, and who roll their eyes at the very mention of this existential threat to the future of the human species, please wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late.

Here is the good news: the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis. Read the rest of this entry »

Groundbreaking at the site of the new Hearthside Homes at the Bolsa Chica wetlands

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

State to consider charge that developer

mishandled Indian remains

On Nov. 13, Hearthside Homes’ officials will defend its development permit for a 300-home project in Huntington Beach.

BY CINDY CARCAMO

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/permit-commission-developer-2216348-remains-site#
HUNTINGTON BEACH — State officials will consider revoking a housing development permit after a group of American Indians complained that the developer mishandled their ancestor’s remains and failed to report 6,000 bags of artifacts and 10 boxes holding fragments of ancient human remains.

On Nov. 13, the California Coastal Commission will hear a request that they revoke the permit for the 300-home Brightwater Hearthside Homes project, which sits atop what is believed to be an ancient burial ground and village once shared by the Gabrielino-Tongva and Juaneño band of Mission Indians. Read the rest of this entry »

The surfer takes it!

Dive Hotel - Dive, small boutique hotel on Coogee Beach, is about 20 minutes drive from Sydney Airport and the City. It’s a door-to-door bus ride away to the City, Opera House, NSW Uni, Randwick Racecourse, Aussie Stadium, and Cricket Ground. And it’s a Frisbee throw away to parks and pools, cliff top walks and Coogee’s thriving restaurant, pub, club and cafe culture. It featured in Travel & Leisure USA, Conde Nast Traveler, NY Times, Time Out, Lonely Planet, London Observer and Guardian. Find out more at Whole Travel, http://www. wholetravel.com/ supplier/dive-hotel.

Blue Sea Stinger, 80 mile Beach, Kimberley, Australia

Ed Note:  On Sept. 22 the Department of Commerce held an appeal hearing on the 241 toll road proposed to bisect San Onofre State Park in San Diego County, California.  TCA, the roads sponsor, sought the hearing in order to try to convince the federal government to ‘overturn’ California’s rejection of the road last February, a determination made by the California Coastal Commission.

As reported, over 6,000 people attended the hearing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and approximately 9 out of 10 opposed the road and supported protecting San Onofre State Park, one of the most popular state parks in the United States.

In the end it was clear that TCA had failed.  Required to show a ‘national interest’ or ‘national security’  element to the road, TCA instead demonstrated that its ‘toll road to nowhere’ is merely a local development project sponsored by Orange County in order to build 14,000 new houses in Orange County’s last backcountry open space.

A decision is expected by the Department of Commerce before January 7, 2009.

Crowds pack hearing on San Onofre toll road proposal

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080922-1559-bn22road2.html

By Terry Rodgers and Mike Lee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
3:59 p.m. September 22, 2008
DEL MAR – Despite repeated warnings to maintain decorum, supporters and opponents of the proposed state Route 241 toll-road extension both cheered and jeered dozens of speakers at a public hearing Monday.

At times, some of those in the crowd of more than 1,000 drowned out the speakers. “Stop the lies,” yelled a woman from the audience. Read the rest of this entry »