Happy April! It is time again to think globally and party locally with Earth Day 2013. Celebrated planet-wide on April 22, this year’s theme is “The Face of Climate Change”. With refugees fleeing environmental disasters in nations across the world, arctic and antarctic ice melting at an unprecedented rate, desertification, droughts, and massive storms, now is the moment for us all to focus on the issue of global warming. On the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day, San Luis Obispo will join communities everywhere in their care and praise of Gaia.

- El Chorro Regional Park will hold their annual free event on Sunday, April 21 beginning at 11am. RTA, SCAT and SLO Transit will be running free shuttles all day to the festivities. Climate conscious attendees are encouraged to carpool or ride their bicycles out to the park. This year, the Earth Day Fair will also include a Music Festival with Aaron Och, followed by Burning James & the Funky Flames, Al Millan & the Robots, Natural Incense and Funk in Public on the main stage, and Belly Yellers, SLO Ambassador Bentley Murdock and the Red Willows on the acoustic stage.

An opening ceremony by Pilulaw Khus, Chumash Ceremonial Elder, Medicine Carrier and Clan Mother of the Bear Clan of the Northern Chumash Nation will get the day started. The Fair will include a Clean Energy Zone, Kid’s Area, Eco Marketplace, Health & Well-being Center,Food Court and the Beer & Wine Tents. Special features include Garden Tours, Climate Change slide-show in the Oak Glen Pavilion by Stephen Hansen M.D from the Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project.

- The 7th annual Earth Day Food and Wine Festival will take place starting at 2pm on Saturday, April 20 at Pomar Junction Winery and Vineyard. Over 200 vintners, cheese makers, olive oil producers, growers, and chefs will come together to display the best vittles the Central Coast has to offer. A Winemaker dinner will begin at 6pm with Chef Charles D. Paladin Wayne cooking at the Merrill Family Estate Wine Cellar. The fixed menu is $105 per person ($90 for members). Tunes will be provided by Guy Budd and the Gypsy Souls. Tickets can be bought through their website.

There are two great things that stand out for me as a resident of San Luis Obispo. The first is the incredible natural diversity in the county, and the other is the caliber of the people who live and love the landscape. One evening, I had the pleasure of meeting Mike, one of the gentlemen involved with Orchid Outriggers, a company out of Los Osos that offers tours of the coast by outrigger canoe. What began as a short mention of the wildlife in our backyards became a long conversation over the variety of species that can be seen from the boats, how to identify birds in mid-air, and how it was much easier to photograph animals from the stability and comfort of the outrigger. A printer by trade, he and his fellow boaters take the time and effort to pick up trash from the estuaries, cleaning and caring for the ecosystems they love.

Tours go through the Morro Bay Estuary and are led by naturalists and birders with years of experience under their belts. Gliding through the water with a view of Morro Rock, tons of feathery friends, and the entire coastline, the experience is one that will be remembered for lifetime. The outriggers themselves are 17-4 Koholu’a boats which are small composites of Hawaiian canoes. The modern incarnation of a design refined over hundreds of years are sturdy, fast, and easily maneuverable. No wetsuit is needed for the ride, as the boats are dry and large enough to stow a good amount of gear.

You don’t have to be a tourist to take advantage of the gorgeous place in which we live and make good connections with the locals. Go explore your backyard with some wonderful neighbors with Orchid Outriggers!

Across the US, hydraulic fracturing has been the source of a raging debate over domestic energy policy. While some tout “fracking” as a way to generate local power and provide jobs and money in a time of economic hardship, the act of  shattering shale to extract gas and petroleum have many worried. From exploding wells and flammable tap water to toxic chemicals contaminating aquifers and earthquakes, fracking has major consequences for the environment. California stands as the 4th largest gas and oil producing state, and even though new existing wells are already being exploited by fracking technology, the process is almost completely unregulated.

In response to the exploitation of land and natural resources, the Global Exchange has organized California Communities Rising Against Fracking, a speaking tour of the Golden State that exposes the realities of the extraction technology. The tour will largely target those areas that would most strongly impacted and stops include Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Culver City, and Los Angeles. Each stop will host a day of action preceded by a local media plan and outreach groups. Former Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania councilman Dough Shields will be scheduled to speak as one of the first to enact a “rights-based” ban on fracking in the nation.

The Global Exchange launched the Community Rights Program challenging corporate power five years ago to confront the unjust laws that value big business over the rights of citizens. The have partnered with organizations such as 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, Clean Water Action, EarthWorks, and Transition Towns to fight for the health and well-being of Americans through grassroots efforts. Currently, they are working towards banning fracking in San Luis Obispo county, following the examples of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Mexico who have outlawed the process.

For more information on the tour, contact Shannon Biggs, Community Rights Program Director for the Global Exchange at (415) 575-5540 and shannon@globalexhange.org.