(video by Alex Grant)
Tag: climate change
Chico commits to a fossil-free future Council declares climate emergency as storm rages
photo by Karen Laslo
Alma Miranda
by Leslie Layton
Pounding hail, bolts of lightning and tornado alarms drowned out plaintive voices of the shyest of the teens who spoke before the Chico City Council Tuesday night.
To many in the chamber, nature had also spoken in a thundering, biblical voice.
To others, of course, the racket was produced by a mere flash flood.
As rain water filled the streets of Chico, trapping a few vehicle passengers and flooding some homes and businesses, the City Council voted 5-1 to pass a resolution declaring a climate emergency. It commits the city to act on climate change and prepare for extreme weather events.
Hundreds gather in Paradise for #ClimateUprising ‘group portrait’ Survivors and supporters link Camp Fire to climate change
video by Guillermo Mash
#ClimateUprising helps Camp Fire survivors tell their stories Group calling for bipartisan climate action
photo courtesy of #ClimateUprising
John Kunst with wife Vicki Redridge-Kunst
by Leslie Layton
Like thousands of Californians, Los Angeles filmmaker Nirvan Mullick spent early November following wildfire news and worrying about friends and family who were in harm’s way.
Then, two developments forced him to think in a larger context: President Donald Trump visited Paradise and advised Californians to rake their forest floors, and Sen. Bernie Sanders announced a national town hall on climate change. The Washington, D.C., town hall would feature well-known experts and activists – climate change stars, so to speak.
Red Cross shelter evacuees struggle with urgent needs A writer asks if Camp Fire changed attitudes toward climate change
photo by Denise Minor
by Denise Minor
The sky was growing dark by the time I checked in at the Red Cross station on a recent afternoon, in front of the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico. Two volunteers in red vests greeted me and welcomed me to the shelter for Camp Fire evacuees.
Red Cross Communications Director Stephen Walsh offered to show me around. On that night there were about 700 people staying at the shelter, with some living in their recreational vehicles in the parking lot, some living in a tent city behind the RVs and some living in the three dormitories. All six of the Red Cross shelters that had been opened right after the fire had by then been consolidated to this one.
“My former neighborhood feels like a cemetery” Fear of fire did not prepare Paradise residents
by Leslie Layton
My childhood home is a pool of ashes contained by a cement foundation. The air in this once-Edenesque place smells almost acrid. The barn my father built from oak planks is a pile of rubble, with trickling aluminum melted into place on the ground.
At some point during the Nov. 8 Camp Fire that destroyed my hometown of Paradise, Calif., the white aluminum streams were trickling downhill as if headed toward the creek. No longer. There are almost no signs of movement on this still Sunday, Dec. 9. My former neighborhood feels like a cemetery.