In 2012, wind generators were built in Ocotillo Valley in southern California, an area long known to the Quechan as the Valley of the Dead because of ancestors traveling through en route to the next world. The installation of wind turbines, over the objection of the Quechan and other tribes (as well as non-Native residents), has desecrated sacred sites; disrupted, and even killed, wildlife and vegetation; and oil from the machines has been dripping into the ground.
And the generators seem to be doing little, if anything, to provide alternative energy. There is only enough wind in Ocotillo to keep them active four to five months a year. And when the energy is transported long distances (in this case to San Diego), as much as half gets spent in transmission. Furthermore, turbines require conventional grid energy for their initial start-up and to operate computers inside, which must also be cooled with fans in hot weather.
Much grid energy is also used in maintaining them--and they've required maintenance. One lost a Siemens propeller just over a year after activation (pictured above). Eight months later, another caught on fire.
Story: Greed Energy Update by Ross Plesset, pictures by Jim Pelley
Grants along with a successful crowdfunding campaign have provided Los Angeles based artists Karen Fiorito and Alex Arinsburg the means to secure two 14 foot x 48 foot billboards in the Downtown and Silverlake areas. Ten additional 5 foot x 11 foot billboards are being displayed in Hollywood, Culver City, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey and other locations. These billboards will be on view from November 30 – December 27, 2015.
According to a recent study, 47% of California’s total water is used up by Animal Agriculture. 1300 gallons of water is required to make one hamburger versus 42 gallons for one veggie burger. Consequently, California residents are required to reduce water consumption by 25%; even though residential water use accounts for only 4% of California’s total water footprint.
Story and photos: “Got Drought?”Public Art Project About the California Drought Unveiled on Billboards by Karen Fiorito
An event was held on November 20th at the West Hollywood Library to commemorate those transsexual persons who have been murdered in the last year throughout the globe. The Transgender Day of Remembrance which was started in 1998 has become a call to action in defense of trans people who have suffered immeasurably over the years from negative societal judgment and the violence that will often accompany such views.
Full story and pix: West Hollywood Commemorates The Trans Day of Remembrance 2015 Part 1 of 2 Photosets and Part 2 of 2 Photosets by Robert Stuart Lowden