Flood, droughts and rising sea levels and other effects of global climate change are already displacing millions of people around the world, a situation documented in the new film, Climate Refugees.

Documentary filmmaker Michael Nash first screened Climate Refugees at the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen last winter. The film made its domestic debut at Sundance.  And even as he hopes for US commercial distribution to kick in later this fall, Nash says he is fielding requests for showings from a growing number of governmental and church groups.

Climate Refugees is meant to be apolitical, at least in the partisan sense, says Nash (right). And even if the issue he spotlights may be new to many viewers, he observes that it has been building for years.

Nash has said his starting point for making this filnm was a desire to show “the human face of climate change.”  In doing so, he learned that one doesn’t need to go very far to find it.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ULoJYTsrM

Medical marijuana has grown from an “only in California” curiosity into an expanding realm of business opportunities—which some are now calling the Cannabis Industry. Among them is an entrepreneur who sees a niche in training workers for that budding industry.

The Cannabis Training University program will be offered at the Holiday Inn Express  in Santa Rosa July 24-25 (other summer sessions are scheduled in San Jose and Santa Cruz).  Jeffery Zorn outlines the curriculum.

There are further details about the program in this promotional video.

 Zorn is himself a graduate of Oaksterdam University, the Oakland-based school that was established to address many of the same needs and concerns as the Cannabis Training University. But as the founder, owner, CEO and promoter for CTU, Zorn sees comparative benefits in his program.

Cannabis activist and advocate Ed Rosenthal   is among the instructors at the Cannabis Training University, but will not be among the faculty for the Santa Rosa workshop.

Carl Mears has been studying the weather for years. Now he’s trying to do something about it.

Carl Mears will be the featured speaker at a community gathering June 30 at 5:30 pm at the Universalist Unitarian Church in Santa Rosa.  His topic:  “What’s really going on with the Climate? A scientists’ perspective.”

For some, the phrase "climate change" has supplanted "global warming" as this issue is discussed. Mears says he understands the scientific reasoning behind that, but dislikes the political connotations.