350 day

For those who didn't catch Bill McKibben at the Sonoma Country Day School Oct. 2, here's the bottom line: we're screwed. Here's the highest line: we can still do something about climate change, but it involves taking to the streets and activating our rights. The Harvard-educated writer (McKibben went directly from college to the New Yorker magazine and has since written 12 books) is the Michael Pollan of the climate change set: tall, ascetic, brilliantly funny and deeply concerned. He's also on a mission and will have traveled 352 days of this year in support of 350 Day, a day of global-warming protest slated for Oct. 24.

In Sonoma County, the Bicycle Coalition teams up with the Climate Protection Campaign to speak out from 3pm to 5pm at the CHOPS Teen Center, 509 Adams St., Santa Rosa. The Green Sangha plans a day of meditation and letter-writing, while activists in the Sonoma Valley plan a hike up Sugarloaf State Park's Bald Mountain from 10am that morning. (Plan to help spell the numbers 350 out with your body for a photo.) Transition West Marin challenges residents not to use any fossil fuels that day, meeting in downtown Pt. Reyes Station in the afternoon. Sustainable San Rafael urges citizens to don beachfront attire—the coast is coming inland!—and gather at Second and Lindaro streets at 1:30pm. To find more events, go to www.350.org; also, look for our special 350 Day issue on Oct. 21.

low-cost care

While the nabobs natter, regular people still need regular healthcare. Preventative care has been proven to be the most effective way to save money, and since money is what all this hoo-haw is about, there is perhaps no reason to note that preventative care also saves lives. The Sonoma State University nursing department's family nurse practitioner program once again steps to the fore by offering low-cost physical exams and health appraisals to Sonoma County residents each Wednesday, Oct. 14 through Dec. 12. Registered nurses enrolled in the master's nursing program perform the procedures, which range from yearly ob-gyn exams to sports exams for students to blood pressure checks, audiology testing, cholesterol testing, pre-employment physicals, camp physicals and Class II DMV licensing physicals. A regular physical is just $30; a Pap, $45; and a cholesterol check, $25. Hearing tests are no cost. To make an appointment, contact the nursing department at 707.664.2446.

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