Health
Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland Medical Center recently threw a Pediatric Prom for its patients.
Oakland residents gathered this weekend to clean up curbs, creeks and coasts for the 22nd Annual Creek to Bay Day.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several Bay Area-based organizations have planted a vegetation barrier to try to reduce air pollution at an East Oakland elementary school.
On a warm Saturday morning, people began to slowly stroll into the Memorial Tabernacle in Oakland’s Bushrod neighborhood. They were gathered not for a morning service, but for a special kind of lawn party. Trail mix, cookies, apples, and fresh-cut pieces of banana were laid out on colorful bowls on a table, but nothing smelled more fresh than the two 4-foot piles of compost and wood mulch laid out on the road in front of the church.
StopWaste, a public agency dedicated to reducing waste in Alameda County, hosted the lawn party to revitalize the Memorial Tabernacle’s community garden, using this hands-on project to educate volunteers on how to convert a water-thirsty lawn into a fruitful garden.
Last weekend was the 12th National Drug Take Back Day, held at locations across the country, including Oakland. The Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement groups collect unused prescription drugs on this day as part of an effort to fight the opioid overdose crisis. The agency encourages those who buy prescription medications to return old and unused drugs to the DEA, which safely disposes of them, instead of storing them at home. This prevents accidental overdoses and poisoning, as well as environmental contamination that…
Paula Mitchell had to face an unplanned home remodel after the rainy season this year. Her Oakland house flooded and the linoleum floor in the kitchen, damaged by water, started to peel, so she decided to put in new tiles. But what was supposed to be an easy fix turned into a major project when the linoleum was tested for asbestos. “And voila! It was loaded with asbestos,” Mitchell said. Asbestos is cheap, water and fire-resistant and good for insulation….
“Just because it’s imperfect doesn’t mean its bad.”
Every month, homeless and low-income women and girls in the East Bay have to contend with the high cost of feminine hygiene products. For some women, these products are a luxury they just cannot afford.
On March 22, Impossible Foods launched a burger manufacturing facility in East Oakland. All burgers are plant-based, and they’re a bit pricy.