The clean energy celebration included education, local food and drinks, a silent auction and more

East County News Service

July  9, 2019 (San Diego) - On June 29, over 250 residents from across San Diego County came together to celebrate and recognize the region’s progress toward its goal of 100 percent clean energy at the largest Energy Independence Day celebration the area has yet to experience. This year’s event, hosted at Brian Malarkey's Farmer & the Seahorse restaurant in Torrey Pines, included complimentary sustainably-sourced food, local craft beer, cleantech organizations, nonprofit advocacy groups and a silent auction. It also featured two Cleantech Talks about community choice energy as well as solar power and energy storage. 

How many massive energy projects are too many for one rural community to absorb?

“They want to put these all out here, because we’re throwaway country people.” – Howard Cook

By Mia Myklebust and Miriam Raftery

February 16, 2012 (Jacumba) – Walking along the shores of Lake Jacumba, it’s clear that Howard Cook has big dreams for his community.  Chairman of the Lake Restoration Committee, he has wrested a pledge from the Audubon Society to restore the once-dry lake.

“We want to have fishing, boating, and recreation,” he says.  Cook is working with others who dream of “making this another Taos—art, wildlife, hiking, Indians and birds.”

But there’s trouble on the horizon.  Multiple industrial-scale wind and solar farms soon stand to surround this tiny town, jeopardizing its most cherished natural treasures. Sites include publicly owned recreation lands, notably a spectacular scenic gorge known to locals as “our Grand Canyon,” Cook points out.

Jacumba is a proverbial canary in the coal mine—a warning of what other publicly-owned preserves and rural communities across America may soon face. 

Senator Boxer to meet with San Diego business leaders today on jobs plan; has support of dozens of technology leaders

July 6, 2010 (San Diego) – Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) has launched a “Fiorina Facts and Fiction” campaign to fight back against misleading statements made by her opponent, Republican Carly Fiorina.

Independent analyses of the facts by nonpartisan groups and major media outlets support claims by Boxer, who chairs the Senate Ethics Committee, that Fiorina has distorted data on jobs, climate change legislation, and impacts of the federal stimulus bill by relying on outdated or biased sources.

View a video of Senator Boxer outlining her jobs plan during a speech at the California Democratic convention.