Global Student Embassy, a youth-led grassroots international relations program based in Sebastopol, has branched out this year, both to more schools in Sonoma County, and to a new community in Africa.

GSE was started by brothers Lucas (left) and Jasper Oshun  as an outgrowth of their own experiences visiting and working with other students in Peru and Argentina.  Lucas says the successful conclusion of Global Student Embassy’s first international student visitation in early 2009 helped inspire them to want to expand their horizons.

Even as they continue to reach out internationally, GSE is also working with local students to build community at home. Co-director Yasha Mokaram describes one way that is playing out through their participation at Windsor High School.

This community garden at the Village Park mobile home park in Sebastopol may be the most visible manifestation of what Global Student Embassy is doing, but  it is just one aspect of their efforts. Here, student volunteers from Sonoma County, Zurite Peru and Santa Fe Argenita celebrate their shared accomplishment. Y0u learn support the work of Global Student Embassy here.

From remote cabins crafted of driftwood to stunningly beautiful and unconventional family homes, Bolinas-based writer and photographer Lloyd Kahn collects innovative individual builders up and down the Pacific Coast.

Below are two examples of the buildings featured in the book: The elbaorate temple built by SunRay Kelly at Harbin Hotsprings, and a whimsical gazebo made of driftwood on a Vancouver Island beach.

The farther north he ventured, the more Kahn found projects that had been built in substantial part from found materials—driftwood on the beaches, and fallen timber inland. He says that immersing himself in that world has had an enduring effect in the way he sees potential resources around him now.

Lloyd Kahn's first building experience was with geodesic domes, which led to his first book as well. But  he eventually became disenchanged  the domes, and turned his attention to the more generalized subject of  Shelter, published in 1973. The success of that volume launched his Bolinas-based publishing business,  which concentrates on books about do-it-yourself homebuilding, and health. He'll present a slide show drawn from Builders of the Pacific Coast at Copperfield's Books  in Sebastopol on Thursday night, Oct. 29, at 7  pm.

For his next publishing project, Kahn says he will be narrowing his lens to focus on creative “micro” housing efforts, such as this work in progress.

The intricately ornamented staircase and loft below is yet another of the utterly unique homes Kahn has featured in Builders of the Pacific Coast.

An unpopular plan to privatize the Sonoma County dump has been voted down by county supervisors, rekindling hope that they might still be able to resume operations at the facility, which has been inactive for the past four years.

A sizable crowd was on hand for the meeting Tuesday morning, many of them wearing "Go Green" badges to indicate their opposition to the proposed divestiture deal. Some of them were apparently mobilized by the eight-minute video below, which was posted on YouTube the preceding weekend.

“This agreement does not have a constituency,” observed Supervisor Shirlee Zane, after the parade of speakers unanimously denounced the proposal Tuesday morning. Windsor Town Council member Deborah Fudge (right)  faulted the county for much of that, saying that closed door meetings and a process that assumed any outreach would happen after the divestiture was approved, had backfired on the Board.

One of the repeated messages during public comments on the divestiture proposal was that, even if approved by the board of supervisors, it will still be dependent on the full participation of most of the local municipalities. Yet council members from Santa Rosa, Windsor, and Healdsburg  all expressed reservations. Petaluma, which has already opted out and is now shipping their waste to Novato, might still be open to working with the county, suggested Mayor Pam Torliatt. But none of that seemed to inspire a desire for cooperation in Supervisor Paul Kelley.

Also see these previous North Bay Reports on the Sonoma County landfill issue:

The Deal for the Dump  (Oct. 1, 2009)

Landfill Leak (July 7, 2009)

The Landfill's Future (March 31, 2009)

Sonoma County is far from alone is struggling to deal responsibly and locally with its garbage. This video takes a critical look at the situation in neighboring Marin County.

Some invasive plants in northern California will not tolerate higher temperatures and other habitat changes resulting from global warming. But there are others that can be expected to thrive and spread even further.

Elizabeth Brusati is program manager for the California Invasive Plant Council.  She was among the presenters at the State of the Laguna Conference in Rohnert Park last week, where  one area of emphasis was  strategies for adapting watershed ecosystems to climate change.