By Tom Frantz More than obesity and poverty, polluted air is shortening the lives of Central Valley residents. The marginal cost of our early deaths and degraded quality of life is around $6 billion [...] Continue Reading
Environment
Clearing the Air: The Valley Mind-set / Air, Water and Land
By Kevin Hall The Valley Mind-set “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”—Albert Einstein Each January, the Valley Air Board—that tea-guzzling bunch of local [...] Continue Reading
Last of the Wild West, Part 2: Madera County Planning
By Gary Lasky Last month, we compared the reasonable land-use planning policies of the City of Fresno with the contrasting situation in Tulare County, just 45 minutes to the south, where the Board [...] Continue Reading
Opponents of Garbage Privatization File Suit in Fresno Court
By Gary Lasky Opponents of the City of Fresno’s residential garbage privatization contract with Mid-Valley Disposal filed a lawsuit in Fresno Superior Court on Jan. 22, alleging that the contract [...] Continue Reading
The Really Free Market
By Eme Gerle and Josh Cranston Fresno’s Really Free Market was born out of a hope to bring the community together for an exchange of things, ideas and conversations. We live in a culture of such [...] Continue Reading
Climate Change—Will Superstorm Sandy Be the Tipping Point?
By George B. Kauffman The scientific debate is over! Of 13,950 peer-reviewed climate change articles, only 24 deny it’s happening. That’s 0.17% for those of you keeping score. Check out “The Most [...] Continue Reading
Sustainable North Fork
By Chip Ashley Long before it was called North Fork, it was called Wa-up by the Mono people that inhabited the area and used what nature provided with respect for the Earth—they used it sustainably. [...] Continue Reading
Is Cemex’s Bid to Mine Jesse Morrow Mountain Truly Over?
By Chip Ashley Several stories in the Fresno Bee and online have concluded that Cemex is giving up on its plans for an aggregate mine on Jesse Morrow Mountain, known as Wa-ha-lish to the Choinumni [...] Continue Reading
Under Pressure: California Drafts Regulations on Fracking
By Vic Bedoian The State of California has released draft rules on the hydraulic fracturing process to produce oil and gas. The practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, injects a mix of [...] Continue Reading
Last of the “Wild West”: Tulare County Planning
By Gary Lasky Fresno County Los Angeles Times press clippings from Mark Arax’s investigative reporting recall the days—just 15 years ago—when the FBI conducted a sting operation in Fresno. Operation [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air – January 2013
By Kevin Hall Clean Air Acting How many Valley Air Board members does it take to violate the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law for government agencies? Eight, if the full 15-member board is [...] Continue Reading
EPA Allows More Pesticide Air Pollution
From a press release from the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment San Joaquin Valley and Ventura County community groups filed a lawsuit on Dec. 12, 2012, against the U.S. Environmental [...] Continue Reading