Gaia Desert

If the sea level increased by 2 meters, there would be serious problems in Long Beach and other coastal communities. The desert would have a similar problem. ALL of the Eastern Coachella Valley would flood. This is according to a new web resource posted  here:  This is probably based on elevation modeling alone, but is still relevant. What happens in Bangladesh is troubling, but think of what happens at home.  The  Laguna Salada  would be filled by the Sea of Cortez. Everything south of Indio would be in serious trouble. All of the agricultural production in this zone and in Yuma would be in trouble. What are the implications for food supply? I remember this shocking revelation during Katrina in New Orleans. The disadvantaged communities of New Orleans were inconveniently located in the flood zone. The disadvantaged communities of Eastern Coachella and Imperial would be impacted first.

A reporter came to the lab the other day... http://www.kesq.com/news/Reusable-bags-A-danger-to-your-family/-/233092/17186906/-/r38uom/-/index.html

Grey water movements and courses in the Southern California area: The group Greywateraction has an upcoming November conference.  I will be attending this. http://greywateraction.org/workshop/2012/11/15/california-greywater-conference Some news of San Diego movements towards greywater use: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/san-marcos/environment-group-seeks-to-harvest-low-hanging-fruit-for-water/article_9f8f82b4-1d8d-5ae7-be7e-066fad595623.html The Sky Mountain Institute is an active S. Cal group promoting grey water use: http://www.skymountain.org/pdf/Graywater_Harvesting_2012_Flyer.pdf There is also this one at the Solar Living Institute: http://www.solarliving.org/courses/sustainable-living/601/wa-101-install-a-greywater-system/

I'm happy to see that the AQMD has chosen to fund a couple of projects from the attendees to our workshops on the AQMD AB 1318 funds.   Not all of them attended our proposal preparation workshops, but a few of them did and the total funded to some of our workshop attendees is over 3 million! http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/2012/coachellavalleyPR.htm

I just noticed this on the EPA website. It is the initiative to bring back the water fountain   Bottled water is not a substitute. http://water.epa.gov/action/waterfountain.cfm

http://www.inlandvalleynews.com/?p=13623

Help the Southern California homeless population: Identify and report free accessible washing locations! The goal of this effort is to search out and find locations where homeless can wash their hands, face, feet and even a shower if possible. We have included a category for public drinking fountains as an indicator of a place where washing may be possibility. An international effort on this is http://wetap.wordpress.com/ This is a tutorial on how to add the washspot.crowdmap.com  to your phone. This will allow you to submit crowdsourced reports using an app on your smart phone. The website is to help identify the places where urban survivors can take a bath or wash their hands. You can also submit reports by: going online and clicking the " Submit Report " button Using a mobile phone to text a report in If you want to use the app method, then follow the steps below. Download the Ushahidi App to your smart phone from the iphone app store or the android store.