Oakland is one step closer to living up to its aspiration to be a model green city. Oakland City Council held a special meeting Tuesday night to hear city staff recommendations and public comments concerning the Energy and Climate Action Plan it is working on.

In addition to Living in the O's round-up, summarized by Emilie Raguso here, here's my pick of Oakland happenings this week.

Lies, Damned Lies, and History Books: Yes, your teachers lied to you.  Or at the very least the content that got through was highly selective and biased--mostly because that's how the teachers themselves were taught and that's how the dominant history books are written.  James Loewen, author of  Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong and Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong, is one of our most valuable popular historians who has long sought to rectify such educational gaps.  He is speaking Thursday night at 7:00 pm at the First Unitarian Church on 14th.  I've already got my tickets!