Category: climate change

Greenpeace floats hot air balloon over Chico farm

Message to governor: Stop fossil fuel extraction
by Karen Laslo | Posted October 11, 2020

photo by Karen Laslo
The Greenpeace protest balloon floats up over the north Chico farm in the early morning light.

If you were driving west on Sacramento Avenue past the CSA GRUB Farm early Oct. 8, you might have seen a big blue and green globe floating above the tall trees on the edge of the farm.

It was a Greenpeace hot air balloon, painted to look like planet Earth and trailing a giant banner with a definite and firm message to the governor of California: “Newsom: Stop fueling the flames.”

The message was in reference to the massive climate change-driven wildfires that have scorched Northern California.

Greenpeace, along with some 750 groups, have formed the Last Chance Alliance that claims that Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t doing enough to facilitate the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. According to the Alliance, Newsom has issued more than 1,500 oil and gas permits in 2020. read more

Chico groups join statewide protest against fossil fuel projects

by ChicoSol staff | Posted September 21, 2020

Steven Marquardt from Sunrise Chico (left) and Mary Kay Benson from 350 Butte County (right) were among activists from around the state protesting at the Capitol today in Sacramento.

Chico residents today joined a coalition of organizations protesting state energy policies that contribute to a carbon footprint fueling climate change.

Organizers of the #WeAreOutOfTime protest said California should immediately end the approval process for new fossil fuel projects and “drop existing fossil fuel production through a managed decline..”

“All over Chico and Butte County, we have seen, we have smelt, we have touched, we have tasted and we have felt the worst effects of the climate crisis,” said Chico’s Steven Marquardt, addressing the protest group.

“I do not want to be here. I’m tired and I’m angry and I’m scared. We’re demanding that you stop talking and start doing something,” Marquardt said, directing his comments to Gov. Gavin Newsom. read more

“The End of Oil?” It’s about time!

by Karen Laslo | Posted September 11, 2020

photo by Karen Laslo
2019: Steve Marquadt from Chico’s Sunrise Movement (left) and Mary Kay Benson from 350 Butte County protesting congressional inaction on climate change at a town hall.

For years, environmental activists have been warning us about the most dire existential crisis of our lives: Climate Change. But despite their best efforts, very little has changed as people on all levels continue to behave as if there is no crisis, including many of the elected officials that we depend on for leadership and protection.

As a result of this inaction, all creatures, human and non-human, on this beautiful planet we call Earth, our only home, are in imminent peril of extinction.

And now, another deadly crisis has come upon us: The (Trump’s) Covid-19 pandemic. Trump, who is supposed to be our nation’s leader, made no plans to control the virus. His lies and absolute refusal to acknowledge the reality of how dangerous the virus would become if left unchecked made it much worse. read more

Chico Flax addresses climate change

Farm produces linen and sequesters carbon
by Katie McCammon | Posted August 5, 2020

Varieties of flax fibers can become wearable threads.

Saving humankind from climate change disaster is an immense challenge, and there will be no silver bullet solution. However, there are many “silver buckshot,” and two of them involve greening our agricultural system and greening how clothing is produced.

Both are found in the farming practices that turn flax plant fibers into linen clothing. According to an article by The World Bank, the fashion industry is responsible for approximately 10% of global carbon emissions.

As an intern with Citizens Climate Lobby Chico Chapter, I joined a group visit to Chico Flax, a small farm that grows flax and produces local linen textiles through regenerative farming practices. We learned a lot in one visit to this farm, including how much work goes into producing material using more sustainable farming initiatives. read more

Hundreds rally at City Plaza on #GlobalClimateStrikeDay

Some 200 students walk out of Chico classrooms
by Leslie Layton | Posted September 21, 2019

photo by Karen Laslo
Students Sar Moch, CORE Butte Charter School, and Maggie Pope, from Inspire, attended the rally.

A couple hundred teen and pre-teen students filed out of classrooms today and marched to City Plaza to join the Chico Climate Strike rally, an event that was both upbeat and insistent as speakers demanded bolder climate action.

The Chico event coincided with demonstrations throughout the world that turned out millions of people demanding action. Together, they made up the largest climate change demonstration in history. The Chico rally was co-sponsored by Sunrise Movement Chico and Butte 350 and drew about 500 people — students, teachers, parents, families — to City Plaza.

“Today we strike school, a gateway to our future, so that we can have a future,” said speaker Serena Kuhn, senior class president at Inspire School of Arts & Sciences. “We’re here to get the attention of our politicians.” read more

Wrestling with the climate threat to human civilization

"Maybe our purpose is not to go gently"
by Anna Blackmon Moore | Posted September 5, 2019

Anna Blackmon Moore

When I was 16, I was watching a sitcom on my 8-inch black and white TV. Outside my bedroom window, the sun had set. At the start of a commercial, it occurred to me that I was wracked with fear and dread. By the commercial’s end, the dread had anchored itself inside my body— my chest, my limbs, my temples.

I wasn’t better the following day; I wasn’t better the following week. Anxiety became incapacitating. Two months later, I was taking a now ancient antidepressant, beginning what would become a lifelong path of medication and treatment.

Over all these decades, therapy has been crucial in my recovering from neglect and abuse and countering a deep sense of failure. The issues and illness I confront require consistent strength and will to overpower the monsters in my brain — but relief has always been accessible. I can take my pill. I can unpack personal despair, understand that feelings can be distortions. I can meditate. In short, I can change. Serenity isn’t easy or always achievable, but the tools are there. It will never be too late to use them. read more