In 2020, the Salton Sea was described by Palm Springs Life Magazine as “the biggest environmental disaster in California history.” With the largest lake in California holding such a bleak title, it’s amazing how obscure its legacy is.
Over spring break, we decided to go on a road trip to visit an eccentric settlement in the middle of the lower Colorado desert, known as a Slab City. This settlement is most well known for being a site of post-apocalyptic garbage art and a home for colorful nomads. Due to its libertarian ethos, it is billed as the “last free place in America.” Slab City also happens to be situated in Niland, a small town just a few miles southeast of the Salton Sea. Before planning our trip, we had never previously heard of the Salton Sea, but as we researched what we were going to do on our trip, we discovered that the sea, peculiarly, was of vastly more interest than the city itself. Unsurprisingly, we actually spent most of our time exploring there instead
U.S. Drought Monitor Downgrades Entire Bay Area and Much of State Into Extreme Drought Conditions
SF may be yellow on the COVID reopening map, but a different map has us in the red. Just two weeks after categorizing the region as being in a severe drought, the U.S. Drought Monitor has updated its map and put the entire Bay Area in the second-worst category for drought conditions.
Based on measurements of precipitation, soil moisture, river levels, and other factors, the federal drought authority said Monday that a large swath of California is now in extreme drought status. While Sacramento County and some parts of Northern California have been in the red-designated extreme category for a number of weeks, the Bay Area had been in the orange or severe category as of April 20. Last week, a lot of the Bay Area entered the red, but parts of Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties were still in the less dry category.
D.C. Statehood is a Voting Rights Issue… and Racial Justice Issue
The disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of D.C. residents is fundamentally un-American and there is no good reason to allow it to continue.
Published 38 mins ago
ByBen Jealous
Washington, D.C. has a higher percentage of Black residents than any state in the country, and they have no voting representation in Congress. This is systemic racism in action. It is long past time to give Washington’s 712,000 residents the representation they deserve by making D.C. our 51st state.
It is shameful that people who live in the nation’s capital have no say in Congress. And it is unacceptable that local laws and budgets passed by D.C. elected officials can be overturned by members of Congress who decide to meddle in local decision-making. That explains why Washington, D.C.’s license plates include the slogan, “End taxation without representation,” a rallying cry by American colonists against the tyranny of B
Published 4 hours ago
By Zack Haber A community kitchen, clinic, toilet and shower made out of cob and wood sit under the 880 Freeway within a homeless community west of Wood Street in West Oakland on April 18.
Members of three organizations – Artists Building Communities, Essential Food and Medicine, and Living Earth Structures – have built a kitchen, clinic, free store, stage, toilet, oven, and shower with and for a homeless community near Wood Street in West Oakland.
Made out of wood covered in brown cob, the structures that house these facilities seem almost as natural extensions of the earth upon which they sit. Empty wine bottles serve as windows, and old discarded clothes serve as insulation. Sculpted images of trees decorate the structures’ surfaces and succulent plants sprout along the perimeters of their roofs.
D.C. Statehood is a Voting Rights Issue… and Racial Justice Issue
The disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of D.C. residents is fundamentally un-American and there is no good reason to allow it to continue.
Published 3 hours ago
ByBen Jealous
Washington, D.C. has a higher percentage of Black residents than any state in the country, and they have no voting representation in Congress. This is systemic racism in action. It is long past time to give Washington’s 712,000 residents the representation they deserve by making D.C. our 51st state.
It is shameful that people who live in the nation’s capital have no say in Congress. And it is unacceptable that local laws and budgets passed by D.C. elected officials can be overturned by members of Congress who decide to meddle in local decision-making. That explains why Washington, D.C.’s license plates include the slogan, “End taxation without representation,” a rallying cry by American colonists against the tyranny of B