The Los Angeles Times is quite literally not what it used to be. Just five years ago it employed a thousand or more editors and writers; now it's down to about 600, according to former staffer Kevin Roderick's LA Observed. The daily paper weighs about half, often less, of its older, richer self. One canContinue reading “Richard Halsey: Chaparral is Not for Burning”
Monthly Archives: November 2008
Financial Meltdown of 2008: A Crisis or a Correction?
In an article in The Progressive, Ruth Coniff blames consumerism for the financial meltdown: A front-page story in The New York Times, "To Buy Children's Gifts, Mothers Do Without," describes a trend away from shopping responsible for an 18.2 percent drop in women's clothing sales from a year ago. People are curbing the Christmas binge,Continue reading “Financial Meltdown of 2008: A Crisis or a Correction?”
Bush Irrelevant, World Leaders Agree
Back in September 2002, in a speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations as part of his laborious effort to justify the invasion of Iraq, George Bush asked: Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant? Now the wheel has turned, and the man who wasContinue reading “Bush Irrelevant, World Leaders Agree”
Thanksgiving
We all have many blessings to be thankful for. For myself, family and friends most of all, But today I am going to be thankful for the rain we had over the last couple of days, which has made our property on the creek rich with the smell of the leaves and the land…oaky, damp,Continue reading “Thanksgiving”
Nothing is More Conservative
In l990, Gary Snyder dedicated a new library at UC Davis with a magnificent speech, perhaps the single most eloquent “environmental” speech I’ve ever heard or read. In it he gave us the library as a watershed, of things and thoughts, and found its commonality with the land on which it stands. It’s called “TheContinue reading “Nothing is More Conservative”
Experts Agree on Rain Forecast: It’ll Be Dry. Or Not.
If you talk to the National Weather Service, they will tell you (link) that we're in an "ENSO-neutral" condition, and for that reason they're unwilling to predict the upcoming rain season in our region. But according to this typically excellent story from Rob Krier at the San Diego Union-Tribune, many forecasters who spoke at aContinue reading “Experts Agree on Rain Forecast: It’ll Be Dry. Or Not.”
Your Fine: $101 Million. Payable: Forever
Steven Emory Butcher, the man who while burning trash, set off the longest-burning wildfire in recorded California history, was sentenced Monday to 45 months in Federal prison and fined $101 million. Butcher is not just homeless but mentally ill. It's easy to mock the absurdity of the fine, but in a typically excellent Slate pieceContinue reading “Your Fine: $101 Million. Payable: Forever”
From Asher Durand, courtesy of the New York Historical Society, which has put up what looks like an astounding show of drawings called Drawn By New York: Six Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings. As Christy Weir, Mayor of Ventura, CA., likes to say…"There's nothing greener than a tree."
How You Feel When You Think of the Climate
As the ever-quotable Tom Friedman of the New York Times points out, Bush has left Obama with two ginormous deficits; one economic, the other related to climate. In an interview, Friedman said: We basically did nothing for eight years, and in fairness to Bush we didn't do much in the eight years previous, either, toContinue reading “How You Feel When You Think of the Climate”
Tea Fire Burns Through Westmont College into Montecito
A fire started yesterday afternoon in Santa Barbara has already burned through Westmont College down into Montecito, consuming between 80-100 homes. Initial news reports are fragmentary but not reassuring, and the pictures are alarming. Here's a first-hand account from Ray Ford, of the Santa Barbara Independent, and a picture from a resident, Justin Fox, whoContinue reading “Tea Fire Burns Through Westmont College into Montecito”
Kit Stolz 