AltWeeklies Wire
The Harshest Cut: Brutal Devastation of Clear-Cutting in the Sierra Continuesnew
A decade ago, logging and forestry practices in the Sierra were big news. Media reports, protests, and legislative action focused on Sierra Pacific Industries' practice of slicing through entire large tracts of land, hacking down every tree, bush, and seedling and leaving nothing but devastation behind. But most of the news media have long since moved on to other issues -- and the clear-cutting continues.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Cecile Lepage |
09-10-2009 |
Environment
The Water Wars: San Francisco Bay and the Delta Are Dying and It Might Get Worsenew
Years of massive water diversions are putting the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary at risk. Massive projects that take freshwater from the delta appear linked to declines in bay and delta fisheries, threatening not just endangered species but California's salmon fishing industry, which lost more than $250 million last year as a result of declining salmon runs.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Rebecca Bowe |
09-02-2009 |
Environment
Cleaning the Air Around the Portsnew
The shipping industry hopes to undo California's newest clean-air rule.
East Bay Express |
Eric Klein |
08-05-2009 |
Environment
Tribe Lays Groundwork for Condor's Return to Redwood Countrynew
Under orders from its elders, California's largest Native American tribe, the Yurok, is working to bring back one of redwood country's long-lost inhabitants -- prey-go-neesh, the endangered California condor.
North Coast Journal |
Heidi Walters |
07-16-2009 |
Environment
A Debate on Recyled Wastewaternew
Is reclaimed wastewater too contaminated to use, or is it too valuable to waste? Two PhDs argue two sides of the issue.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Edo McGowan and Barry Keller |
12-22-2008 |
Environment
California Regulators Admit 'Shredder Waste' from Junked Cars is Unsafenew
In September, regulators wrote to auto recyclers saying that the state's 1988 policy on shredder-waste handling would be rescinded. This policy shift largely went unnoticed by the public, but it was momentous.
SF Weekly |
Matt Smith |
12-03-2008 |
Environment
Global Warming in a Time of Economic Meltdownnew
The credit crisis threatens progress on the energy/global warming front, since the needed major research and development on renewable energies, as well as the needed new infrastructure, require credit which has become very scarce. But the world cannot afford a time out.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Walter Kohn, Alan Heeger and Herbert Kroemer |
10-27-2008 |
Environment
Is California's Solar and Clean Energy Act a Critical Tool or Critically Flawed?new
Two environmentalists face off on Proposition 7, which will be voted on by Californians in November.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Tam Hunt and Cliff Chen |
10-20-2008 |
Environment
The Dust Bowl Cometh to Californianew
Will we control climate change in time to save California's crops? "There's a lot of different speculation, and I don't think anybody fully knows what's going to happen," says vintner Richard Sanford.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Sam Kornell |
09-30-2008 |
Environment
How to Harvest Rainwater for the Futurenew
In many developing nations, the need for water and the lack of public supplies has forced the population to capture rainwater and save it for use throughout the year, both for irrigating and for drinking. Incredibly, some states in America prohibit such resourcefulness.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Alastair Bland |
09-15-2008 |
Environment
Thinking Twice About the Big Green Revolutionnew
The same corporate mindset that brought us Big Oil, Big Agriculture, Big Auto, and Big Water and Power is now at work to bring us "Big Green." The problem with "big" is that living large is what got us into this mess.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Patrick Veesart |
08-25-2008 |
Environment
A Sunken Tanker Off the California Coast Will Someday Leak Oil if Nothing is Donenew
There are growing concerns that the Montebello could offer up a second adventure/disaster story, this one of an ecological nature. Researchers are confident that the tanker still entombs its cargo, more than 3 million gallons of Santa Maria crude loaded from the Union Oil facility in Avila Beach.
San Luis Obispo New Times |
Patrick Howe |
07-21-2008 |
Environment
Wind Power Makes Great Strides, but Enviros Complainnew
Environmentalists may have spent a generation arguing for the use of wind and solar energy, but if you think they're OK with this, you're dreaming. In California, they're opposing plans for wind-turbine installations in Riverside County east of Los Angeles. And in San Bernardino County they are opposing the power lines that would bring the output of wind and solar installations in the desert to LA.
Boulder Weekly |
Paul Danish |
06-10-2008 |
Environment
California Shows Us How Not to Fight Global Warmingnew
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown are moving forward with new ways of forcing significantly more density upon L.A. and other cities. But the debate is being dominated by the smart-growth movement, unsettling several top global-warming scientists and researchers, who say the sweeping land-use proposals being considered have little basis in science.
L.A. Weekly |
Jill Stewart |
04-18-2008 |
Environment
Why is it So Hard to Get Solar Power in San Francisco?new
Across California, citizens are jumping at the chance to decrease their carbon output. Yet in San Francisco, where environmental sentiment and high energy costs ought to be driving a major solar boom, there's very little action.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Amanda Witherell and Sarah Phelan |
04-16-2008 |
Environment
