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This Saturday, June 22, experience thousands of years of continuity in the California Indian traditional culture and lifeways at the California Institute for Community, Art, and Nature’s fifth annual California Indian Arts and Culture Festival. The day-long event will feature basket-weaving, canoe-building, bow-making, acorn-processing, storytelling, and more. There will be spectacular artistry on display and for sale from three dozen California Indian artists. California I CAN will also be hosting a book event with Deborah Miranda, author of Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir, and a special panel on the recent victory of the Campaign to Save the West Berkeley Shellmound. The free event will be held at Ohlone Park, Berkeley, CA, starting 10:30 a.m.

Law Students for Climate Accountability’s new 2024 Scorecard, which grades prestigious law firms according to the amount of fossil fuel work each conducts, contains the highest number of “A” firms, ie. firms genuinely committed to climate mitigating work, to date (seven). It also marks a slight collective decrease in transactional work for fossil fuel corporations by the top-100 law firms. Data from these annual scorecards indicate that while the legal industry overall continues to do the bidding of Big Oil, students and young attorneys are increasingly turning the tide. The full report, which for the first time will contain additional data on British and Irish firms, will be launched at London Climate Action Week on June 24.

The urgency of the plastic pollution crisis requires a substantial shift in the way products are designed, manufactured, used, and recirculated. This Plastic Free July, the Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC) will be providing solutions to plastic pollution. These include strong policies and regenerative strategies focused on plastic pollution prevention, along with improved business practices, a shift in societal values and culture, and individual behavior changes. Join PPC on Thursday, July 18, at 5 p.m. ET, for a special webinar featuring an important conversation on how we can design a plastic-free future with regenerative materials, including algae and chitin.

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Earth Island Institute welcomes its newest board director, Regina Harmon, who was voted in on June 1 and is slated to lead the board’s finance and development committee. Harmon is the executive director of the Food Recovery Network, a nonprofit that works with thousands of university student leaders across the country to fight hunger and push for food justice.  She has more than two decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, and is deeply committed to social justice. Harmon also serves on the board of directors for FoodTank and RegenAll.

In May, the Wild Oyster Project donated 1,300 pounds of locally recycled oyster shells in biodegradable bags. These shells will play a vital role in native oyster restoration projects along the central California coast. Oyster shells are the best substrate for oyster restoration, and their use will significantly enhance the biodiversity of the area while also aiding in the overall health of the water.

Project Coyote was encouraged to see the introduction of a bill in the US House of Representatives last month that would ban wildlife killing contests on public lands. The Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2024 (H.R.8492), brought by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and 15 members of the House, would require federal agencies to enact regulations banning wildlife killing contests within one year of the law’s enactment. Project Coyote has created an Action Alert for constituents to send a letter to their representatives encouraging them to support H.R.8492. and to thank those who already have.

Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) has worked at the intersection of gender and climate for 18 years. The breadth and depth of WEA’s work alongside partner organizations around the world allows the group to act as a bridge between journalists and the grassroots leaders. WEA recently hosted a press briefing — Voices Unearthed: Shifting the Narrative on Women Grassroots Leaders in the Climate Movement — to share strategies for ensuring responsible media coverage and perspectives from almost two decades of working in this field. Watch the recording here, and feel free to reach out for more information.