From the Editors of E - The Environmental Magazine

Volkswagen is ponying up $18.2 billion to deal with its emissions cheating scandal, but environmentalists wonder if all the money in the world will be able to save those already negatively affected by the pollution and the wound to consumer confidence. Photo credit: Roddy Scheer.

April 23, 2016 --Dear EarthTalk: What has been the environmental impact of the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal?  -- Emily Warden, Philadelphia, PA

East County News Service

April 21,2016 (Lakeside) – You’re invited to a fun and festive Earth Day celebration and birthday party for the new Triple H Ranch bed and breakfast, 12453 Yerba Valley Road in Lakeside from 1 to 8 p.m.

Activities for the whole family include tours of gardens and the bed and breakfast, a petting zoo, face painting, an open gallery, mosaic making, music, plant and seed exchange and gifts, poster and photo contests, and a pot luck luncheon.

Records also shattered worldwide for third consecutive month

East County News Service

April 19, 2016 (San Diego) – As citizens around the world prepare to commemorate the 36^th anniversary of Earth Day this week, signs of climate change are increasingly evident on a local and national scale.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: McCain Valley in San Diego’s East County, site of Iberdrola’s planned Tule Wind energy project

April 14, 2016 (Sacramento) – California’s Public Utilities Commission announced yesterday that an administrative law judge for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ruled that Iberdrola Renewables LLC and Shell Energy North America defrauded California state officials out of $1.1 billion on the heels of the Enron energy scandal. 

Iberdrola, a Spanish energy corporation, recently won approval from the federal government to build the controversial Tule Wind project in McCain Valley in a federal recreation area.

City builds on last year's success in national campaign with an expanded focus on sustainability

Source: Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the Wyland Foundation, SDG&E

April 1, 2016 (San Diego) - In celebration of San Diego winning the 2015 Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation and after enacting one of the most ambitious climate action plans in the country, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer will be kicking off the 2016 campaign on April 1 by expanding the city’s effort to promote sustainability in all facets of the community.

By Miriam Raftery

March 22, 2016 (San Diego) – Could ratepayers across Southern California be stuck with the bill for Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. to offset the massive greenhouse gas emissions from the Porter Ranch gas leak at Aliso Canyon north of Los Angeles?

Protesters denounce SDG&E appeal over net metering; SDG&E defends its actions

Originally Published on the ECOreport

By Roy L Hales

March 18, 2016 (San Diego) -- There were about 150 protesters on Wednesday, chanting “We will fight corporate greed,” “how do you spell corporate greed? SDG&E” and “solar power is what we need.”

East County News Service

March 9, 2016 (Tierrasanta) - Spring has arrived in Southern California and the green season is here – so the San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action is hosting its very first club outing and hike. What better way to enjoy the blooming benefit of this winter's El Niño rains than by taking a half-day hike in our backyard wilderness bounty, Mission Trails Regional Park? 

From the Editors of E - The Environmental Magazine

March 7, 2016 (San Diego) -- Dear EarthTalk: I’m in the market for a new set of non-stick cookware for my kitchen, and I’m wondering which type is healthiest?  --Rose Castillo, Santa Fe, NM

Expert Panel to Discuss Oak Borer Beetle Tuesday March 8, 6 p.m. at Julian Library.  Public invited free.

Photo, left:  Gold Spotted Oak Borer

By Jim Madaffer

March 4, 2016 (Julian) -- Suspecting we had dead or dying oak trees on our property in Wynola Estates, my wife and I hired an arborist to inspect and inventory our trees.  The verdict: out of 80 trees, 10 oak trees are dead and must come down – all thanks to the Golden Spotted Oak Borer Beetle, or GSOB.

By Miriam Raftery

March 2, 2016 (Ocotillo) – The numbers are in –and for the third straight year, the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility has fallen far short of the 34% capacity factor that Pattern Energy predicted the project would generate in its applications for lucrative federal subsidies.   In 2015, the Ocotillo project generated just 23.06%.  In 2014, it hit 26.4% and in 2013, when it was offline two months for hurling off a multi-ton blade, it produced a scant 15.7%.

We’re not surprised, since our award-winning 2014 investigative article, Was It Fraud? included forecasts by an international wind expert,Nicolas Boccard, who accurately predicted the project’s failure before it was built. He suggested the federal government had grounds for a False Claims Act suit against Pattern Energy.  We again raised questions about the project’s viability last year, in  a second story.

Viejas announces funding for EMF measurements at school

By Miriam Raftery

February 29, 2016 (Alpine) -- The San Diego County Office of Education on Friday released a draft Survey and Exposure Assessment  or electrmagnetic fields (EMF) for Alpine Elementary School.  The study concludes that  the Sunrise Powerlink transmisison line buried on Alpine Blvd.does not pose a significant safety or health risk to the school site." The study further finds that readings in and around buildings at Alpine Elementary "while not representative of a pristine EMF environment, were within a normal range of exposures one could expect in a society with electric power."

The County study examines 94 measurements taken inside and outside the school and  cites several reasons for concluding the site is safe.

Hear our interview, which originally aired on the East County Magazine Radio Show on KNSJ  89.1 FM on December 14, 2015: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au...

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Ice core sample, Creative Commons image from AntarcticGlaciers.org

February 27, 2016 (San Diego’s East County) – Jeffrey Severinghaus, PhD, is one of the world’s top climate scientists.   A professor of geosciences at Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, he was recently appointed to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.   Dr. Severinghaus has pioneered research efforts measuring trapped gas bubbles in ice cores in Antarctica and Greenland to detect past ocean temperature changes – with astonishing results.

Asked about climate skeptics who claim climate change is merely cyclical, he quickly dispels the theory that recent warming is part of an age-old trend.  That’s because molecules from burning fossil fuels are chemically different from carbon naturally seeping from the ocean floor.  The differences are obvious, measurable, and provide clear evidence that man’s actions are rapidly accelerating climate change.

East County News Service

February 27, 2016 (San Diego) -- Join volunteer naturalist Don Endicott in the Visitor Center Theater at Mission Trails Regional Park on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. for a multi-media introduction to the natural history of the mountain lion, our region's seldom seen apex predator. 

His talk will describe the amazing attributes and signature behaviors of our big cats, show how relationships between mountain lions and people changed over time, and outline their key contributions to a healthy wilderness environment.

East County News Service

February 24, 2016 (San Diego) - The Resource Conservation District (RCD) of Greater San Diego County, in conjunction with Altman Plants of Vista, has announced its seventh annual School Plant Giveaway. Interested elementary schools throughout San Diego County may sign up to receive a mixed flat of twelve vegetable and herb seedlings, just in time for spring planting.