Betraying the Planet

A landmark climate change bill comes up for vote in the Congress and what does our local congressman Pete Stark do? Vote against it! Sheesh … yet another DINO in our midst.

As Krugman explains ever so eloquently:

But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases.

And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

Meatless Mondays

Ok … I recognize that folks can’t stop eating meat all of a sudden. Here’s another approach towards a more healthy living for yourself and the rest of us (i.e: the planet)! 🙂

Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. Our goal is to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.

Street Date: Park St

Today’s 96 hours section in the Chronicle features our very own Alameda Marketplace!

Large rectangular and curved windows allow natural light to fill the cavernous red brick building at 1650 Park St. in Alameda. Once housing a car dealership, today it’s home to the Alameda Marketplace, where specialty food proprietors create a culinary community. The feeling here is downright neighborly, thanks to the small-town nature of this island city and the fact that, while very knowledgeable, the people here are unpretentious and welcoming.

The future of journalism?

As is perhaps well known by now,  the Chronicle has launched an Alameda specific website called In Alameda. Congratulations to Lauren and John on this achievement.

While coverage of local issues by the mainstream newspapers continues to shrink as a result of the cutbacks, alternative business models are attempting to fill the gap. For instance, in San Diego:

He launched the San Diego News Network (SDNN) using a “regional aggregation strategy”– akin to a blogging model for news. Those who bring their buckets and shovels get a big slice of the ad pie, if the money arrives. Payroll costs will be minimal, says Senturia, because SDNN reporters are paid an 80% cut of the ad revenue generated by the pages on which their stories appear (they also get a small stipend).

In other words, writers get a percentage of the ad money that their articles generate! Could it be only a question of time before this idea catches on?