A Santa Rosa social activist has returned from the climate summit in Copenhagen eager to implement some new ideas, and with a deeper appreciation for Sonoma County’s actions on the issue.

In addition to the most visible benefits of her trip, Evelina Molina says it also served to reinforce an important message for the youth she works with at the North Bay Institute of Green Technology, which she recently co-founded in Santa Rosa.

Seeing what other nations and local communities around the world are doing to address climate change was inspiring, says Molina. But it also changed her perspective on what is being done here at home.

Evelina Molina, Kevin Danaher,  and Sean Holt will be part of a panel, moderated by Norman Solomon, that will report back to the local community on the experience and outcomes of the Copenhagen Climate Conference. The free public session will be at the Finley Community Center (2060 West College at Stony Point) in Santa Rosa on Saturday, Jan 9, 2-4:30 pm.

Endangered salmon and vineyards vulnerable to frost are both depending on flows in local waterways to protect them, but there isn’t enough water available to serve both competing needs.

 The vines shown at left have been sprayed with water that then freezes around the budding greenery. This protects the vine by holding the enclosed plant material at exactly 32 degrees, when the surrounding air is colder and could damage the new growth.

Frost is usually not a concern to vineyardists in the fall, as the grapes are usually harvested before the weather turns cold. But in the springtime, explains Nick Frey, President of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission, a cold spell can devastate the vines, leaving them looking like this.

Using stream water for vineyard frost protection is  problematic for local fisheries in several areas in California, says Jeff Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity, but the situation is especially acute in the Russian River’s watershed.

A series of presentations are planned over the next two weeks to alert vineyard owners and growers to the possibility of new rules on water use for frost protection, and begin collecting data on water use for that purpose.  They will be held:

• Wednesday,  Jan. 6, 4 p.m., at the Kendall Jackson Wine Center, 5007 Fulton Rd. in Fulton
• Thursday, Jan. 7, 4 p.m., Dutton Pavilion at Santa Rosa Junior College Shone Farm, 7450 Steve Olson Lane, Forestville
• Friday,  Jan. 8, 10 a.m., Knights Valley Fire Department, 16850 Spencer Lane, Calistoga
• Friday  Jan. 8, 4 p.m., Healdsburg Community Center at Foss Creek Elementary School, 1557 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg
• Thursday, Jan. 14, 10 a.m., Dutton Pavilion (see Jan. 7, above)

A summary of the history of this issue, as monitored by the California State Water Resources Control Board, can be found here.

Hunger—now called “food insecurity” in government-speak, is a growing problem across the United States, but one that conflicts with our national self-image

As he was researching Breadline USA, Sacramento-based investigative journalist Sasha Abramsky decided he should experience for himself exactly the sorts of no-win choices that confront someone on a low and limited income. Drafting a budget for a single person working at a full-time job paying $8.23 per hour, Abramsky found he would have only $50 per week to spend on food, unless something went wrong, as inevitably happens. Ultimately, he concluded, it was simply not possible to survive without outside assistance.

One way the government has deflected attention from the growing numbers of underfed families and children in the country, says Abramsky, is by redefining hunger as “food insecurity.”

Read a sample from Breadline USA here.

The largest source of food assistance in the North Bay is the Redwood Empire Food Bank. Click on the links to find out about what they are doing, and how you can get involved.

Last summer, the food bank issued the following press release, citing the dramatically increased demand for food that they have been attempting to serve.

Amount of Food Distributed by REFB Up 32 Percent Since Recession

  SANTA ROSA, July 29 – The amount of food distributed by the Redwood Empire Food Bank has increased more than 32 percent in Sonoma County since the nation’s recession began two years ago.
The increase was even greater in several parts of the county. Food distributions were up 66 percent in Healdsburg, 63 percent in Cloverdale, 43 percent in Rohnert Park/Cotati and 42 percent in Sonoma Valley.

The increase in food distributions is based on year-end calculations made earlier this month at the close of fiscal 2008-09.

The accounting shows that the REFB distributed the equivalent of 8,154,193 meals during fiscal year 2008-09 in Sonoma County, a 32.3 percent increase over the 6,165,415 meals the REFB distributed to people in need during fiscal 2006-07.
 
The increase in need is showing up in all of the hunger relief programs the REFB supports or operates. Two programs for children showed significant increases in just the past year.
 
Gail Atkins, Director of Programs at the REFB, said there was a 21 percent increase in the number of After School Snacks served low-income children throughout the county during fiscal 2008-09. She said the REFB provided 248,050 nutritious snacks – 43,000 more than the year before – to youngsters at Boys and Girls Clubs, recreation centers, schools and other youth centers that criss-cross the county, from Petaluma north to Cloverdale and Sonoma Valley west to Bodega Bay.
 
Atkins also said summer lunches distributed in June through the REFB’s annual Every Child, Every Day – Summer Hunger Initiative jumped 18 percent over the previous June..
 
Economists generally agree the nation slipped into the current recession following the first two quarters of 2007-08.
 
David Goodman, executive director of the REFB, said the numbers don’t come as a big surprise but are nonetheless shocking.
 
“We knew that people needed more help as the economy tanked, jobs were lost, home foreclosures increased,” said Goodman. “So, seeing this huge jump in the numbers was anticipated.”
 
“Nonetheless, we distributed food for almost 2 million more meals than we did two years ago,” he said. “That so many people are under such stress to feed themselves and their families is shocking, but at the same time we’re gratified by the fact that the food bank and other hunger relief programs in the county are able to respond.”
 
Based on annual food distributions, the REFB projected two years ago that the food bank and 133 partner agencies provide food to 60,000 Sonoma County residents each month.
 
“Now, every indication shows that the numbers are significantly larger,” he said. “More people need help.”
 
The REFB is nearing the end of its annual three-month summer food and cash drive.
 
Goodman said the REFB got a big boost in nonperishable food supplies in May when North Bay mail carriers collected more than 150,000 lbs. of canned and packaged food, a third of which went on REFB’s warehouse shelves.
 
“But that food is now gone,” said Goodman. “So, we need all the help the community can give us.”
 
 The REFB is the largest food bank serving the North Coast of California from Sonoma County to Oregon.  
In addition to providing hunger relief in Sonoma County, the REFB is the primary resource for food pantries and other hunger relief agencies in Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
 
 For more information, call David Goodman, 523-7900.

Nature lovers versus breeders. Preservationists versus poachers and smugglers.  A history that goes back eons versus threatened extinctions in the 21^st  century. These are just some of the stories that lie within the dangerous world of....butterflies?

Here on the west coast, we enjoy seeing the annual migration of the brilliant orange monarch butterflies, some of which gather in certain trees at the Bodgea Dunes state park on the Sonoma Coast.  But the Monarchs of eastern North America have a longer and far more remarkable migratory cycle.

Researching and writing this book on butterflies has opened his eyes in unexpected ways, Peter Laufer (left) says, but it also served to fulfill the unarticulated wish behind the impromptu remark that first set him onto that path.

This video compresses the life cycle of the Painted Lady butterfly into less than three minutes of striking time-lapse photography.

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From PeterLaufer.com:

War weary after writing a book about Iraq, Laufer joked before an audience that his next book would be about butterflies. The result: an invitation to a butterfly preserve in Nicaragua. There he stumbled into a theater of intrigue full of strange and nefarious characters-all in pursuit of one of nature's most delicate creatures.

The Dangerous World of Butterflies chronicles Laufer's unexpected discoveries in the butterfly industry and underground. Readers will learn everything there is to know about the beauty and magic of butterflies. But Laufer's narrative takes unpredictable turns into the high-stakes realms of organized crime, ecological devastation, species depletion, natural history museum integrity, and chaos theory. Set in locales throughout the Americas and beyond, this fascinating book takes us into a behind-the-scenes world sure to alter our view the next time we delight in the colorful fluttering of butterflies in our yards.

 Butterflies are enormously popular, and have been for centuries, but not everyone loves them. There is even a website for people who are repelled by them.

The Messenger is a film about war that doesn’t take sides, according to director Oren Moverman, but seeks instead to personalize the losses experienced by the families of the servicemen and women who don’t return.

Oren Moverman (right), writer-director of The Messenger, says there is no political agenda behind it, other than a desire to raise awareness about the human costs and consequences of modern warfare.

The Messenger has drawn generally good reviews, but Moverman is even more pleased that coverage of it has also included his central themes about the people it portrays.

In his private life, actor Woody Harrelson (below right)  is well know for his progressive politics. But in the film, Moverman says Harrelson was entirely in sync with the director’s apolitical stance.

View the trailer for The Messenger below, or go here for a sampling of reviews of the film.

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