STAY INFORMED!

Find us on Facebook by joining the Friends of EDC Group.  You can also get updates and alerts by following us on Twitter.  Not familiar with these services?  Click the links to learn more.

twitterLogo
Follow the EDC Twitter stream!

Join the Friends of the Environmental Defense Center on Facebook!


EDC MESSENGER
April 22, 2009

HAPPY EARTH DAY FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE CENTER

Oil and gas development threaten our coast.  Climate change and ocean acidification are upsetting ecosystems around the globe.  Suburban sprawl development is swallowing farms and open space to the north.

Sometimes the state of the world seems skewed, as though all is not right.  As advocates for the environment, it is often our job to focus on the dismal state of affairs.  But today we are thankful.  We are thankful for the opportunity to fight for what is right and good.  We are thankful for our partners in the effort.  We are thankful for the community that sustains us.  We are thankful for the storytellers and seekers of truth.  We are thankful for understaffed agencies and their overworked staffs.  We are thankful for the governments that do the right thing, and for the officials who listen to the people.

We are thankful for the opportunity to represent the public, and for the opportunity to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.  We are thankful for the variety of important issues that we get to tackle.  Here is just a sampling of what EDC is working on now:

  • addressing the causes & effects of climate change at local, state & federal levels
  • the Mission Creek steelhead restoration and flood control projects
  • preserving open spaces & agriculture on the Gaviota Coast & at Naples
  • enhancing marine reserves in & around the Santa Barbara Channel
  • protecting Ormond Beach in Oxnard
  • recovering steelhead in the Santa Ynez River
  • working to end oil & gas development on & offshore Santa Barbara County
  • developing agricultural discharge regulations
  • reporting on the causes & effects of ocean acidification
  • commenting on the scoping plan for the Bacara Resort & Spa expansion project
  • finding solutions to protect Goleta Beach
  • creating policies to protect agriculture from suburban sprawl

We are thankful to live in a community of leaders.  We embrace responsibility.  We encourage Santa Barbara to claim Earth Day as our own homegrown holiday.  The future starts here, at home.  Progress takes the will of every individual and every collective, in times of optimism and hope, and in times of fear and uncertainty.  We live together in a small corner of paradise, and when the sun is shining, it is hard not to be hopeful and happy.

Happy Earth Day!!

Sincerely,
the EDC staff & board