Author/ Writer

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - "Santa Monica has been recognized by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) as one of 122 cities and counties across the globe that have attained this best-in-class rating for carbon reduction and disclosure efforts. In 2022, just over one in 10 local governments scored by CDP (12% of such local governments) received an A.

To score an A, among other actions, a local government must disclose publicly through CDP-ICLEI Track, have a community-wide emissions inventory and have published a climate action plan. It must also complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment and have a climate adaptation plan to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards. Many A List cities and counties are also taking a variety of other leadership actions, such as political commitment from a city's Mayor to tackle climate change. Santa Monica takes pride in its commitment to climate action by having all the 'A' list measures accounted for.

Santa Monica is working to implement its Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), which includes goals of 80% greenhouse gas emissions reduction below 1990 levels by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner. The City is focusing on zero net carbon buildings, zero waste initiatives, sustainable transportation, and water self-sufficiency as key sustainability initiatives. Climate adaptation measures focus on increasing community resilience to climate change, retrofitting existing buildings, and preparing for the coastal impacts of climate change through dune restoration projects.

"Santa Monica is proud to be recognized by CDP for its efforts to reduce carbon emissions and create a sustainable community," said Chief Sustainability Officer Shannon Parry. "Collective action by cities is critical to mitigating the global effects of climate change and shows what's possible when leaders share best practices in this space." City of Santa Monica

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A Changing Gut Microbiome May Predict How Well You Age People whose gut bacteria transformed over the decades tended to be healthier and live longer.

Flip the Senate Friends. It’s important that we defeat Trump in 2020, but perhaps nothing is more important than flipping the Senate away from conservative control. It’s truly a national emergency.

"Lynching "was intended to terrorize communities of color, and that's why all black folks in these communities were victims," Stevenson said. "Sometimes they would leave the body hanging on a tree, and the family would come to claim it, and they wouldn't let them. It was the optic of this raised violence that made the threat, the menace even more powerful." Via cnn.com

A new lynching memorial rewrites American history A lynching memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, is opening in April. Created by Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is paired with The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.

Paris Review - Writers, Quotes, Biography, Interviews, Artists The Paris Review is a literary magazine featuring original writing, art, and in-depth interviews with famous writers.

"How do we put together the pieces of our past? How can we rewrite our life story so that pain becomes meaningful and actually promotes growth and transformation? One answer lies in focused journaling. Join award-winning writer and global teacher Catherine Ann Jones in this course." Via Story Below

Heal Yourself with Writing Our lives may be determined less by past events than by the way we remember them. You are invited to come aboard this inner adventure that offers a step by step journey of discovery and re-visioning through focused journaling. Throughout the eight sessions, you will be engaged in exercises designed....

"By lunchtime on that Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, the police had confiscated 23 luxury autos and hundreds of thousands of euros. They also arrested 11 Russians, including the beloved owner of the local soccer team, Alexander Grinberg, charging him with, among other things, membership in a criminal group — specifically Russia’s most powerful mafia, Solntsevskaya Brotherhood, the world’s richest, said to pull in some $9 billion a year." Via Yahoo

Spain's Robert Mueller takes on the Russian mob Spanish special prosecutor José Grinda conducts fearless high-profile raids of Russian organized-crime syndicates, which favor the Spanish economy to recycle the proceeds from drug smuggling, gun running, prostitution and human trafficking.

"One of the essential experiences of war is never being able to escape from disgusting smells of human origin." Via Orwell Foundation

Looking Back on the Spanish War I First of all the physical memories, the sound, the smells and the surfaces of things. It is curious that more vividly than anything that came afterwards in the Spanish war I remember the week of …