The long days of summer are at hand and we hope you’re able to enjoy your favorite places … but we also want to keep you up to date on 350 Humboldt’s local climate action.

Join us at our next General Meeting coming up Thursday, July 18 at 6 PM at El Chipotle, 850 Crescent Way, Arcata! We’ll be looking at local developments in the climate arena and how we can influence them.

In the news, the end of the public review period for Terra-Gen’s proposed wind project hasn’t slowed the back and forth of letters and opinion pieces in local news outlets. A small sample of pro-Terra-Gen writers can be found here and here; some of those opposed are here and here.

The wind project’s next step will be a hearing, yet to be scheduled, before the county’s Planning Commission to consider a permit for its development, then likely on to the Board of Supervisors.

    RCEA board: Boosting renewable energy

Lost in the media coverage of Terra-Gen was the big boost for local renewable energy when the Redwood Coast Energy Authority voted on June 27 to seek a power contract with Terra-Gen, as well as with two other renewable electricity producers in Fresno and Shasta counties. The vote may bolster Terra-Gen’s approval chances, and it also shows the RCEA board meant business when they voted in March to go for all-renewable electricity by 2025 — a big win for climate defenders.

For more on this good-news story, check out the local Unitarian Universalist’s free showing of “Paris to Pittsburgh,” Sunday July 14 at 7 PM, off Jacoby Creek Rd. in Bayside. The documentary covers the switch to renewable energy made by U.S. cities and towns. RCEA board chair Michael Winkler will also speak at the event.

          Climate refugee?

Looking at news farther afield, we’re all too aware of the national convulsion over immigrants from southern lands, from places getting hotter each year and no longer supporting coffee farmers who have lived there for generations, as this article describes. Climate migration isn’t limited to people, of course, as first reported in a Norwegian science journal that described the 2,200-mile travels of an Arctic fox no longer finding a home on Spitsbergen lsland, now gripped by climate change.

Bringing this back to Humboldt, you may be interested in HSU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class, “Climate Refugees, Now and Tomorrow.” The August 3 class focuses on building community resilience. To sign up for it click here.

We hope to see you on Thursday, July 18, 6 PM, at El Chipotle!