That's according to the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism: Global warming gets most of the press that goes to the environment. (When was the last time you saw a headline that mentioned habitat?) But all the environmental news put together adds up to only about 1.5% of the total news in 2009. ToContinue reading “Environment gets 1.5% of news coverage in 2009”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Our galactic neighbor, seen as never before
Science fans and Internet junkies no doubt have been caught glimpses of the latest set of images from NASA's astonishingly far-sighted WISE (Wide Infrared Survey Explorer) mission. Here's my personal fave: our closest galactic neighbor, Andromeda. Although about 2.5 million light years from our sun, this galaxy is actually bigger than the Milky Way, expertsContinue reading “Our galactic neighbor, seen as never before”
Fog fading in NorCal: redwoods threatened?
According to a just-released study by UC Berkeley researchers, based primarily on airport cloudbank measurements, fog in summer is less prevalent in Northern California over the last hundred years, down by about a third, which could threaten the beautiful, iconic redwoods of the northern California Coast. A couple of qualifications; first, as the new studyContinue reading “Fog fading in NorCal: redwoods threatened?”
The world boiled down to a drop
From a nice (if much too short) interview with the great new poet Vera [corrected] Pavlova: There’s a line in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God that reads: “She didn’t realize she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop.” Your poems feel that way to me—tiny verses withContinue reading “The world boiled down to a drop”
Paging Dr. Mamet…Paging Dr. Mamet…
The most dominating dramatist of the last twenty or so years in this country is surely David Mamet, whose most seen work is probably The Untouchables, but whose outpourings fill shelves and theaters around the country and the English-speaking world. This domination may or may not be good news who care more about character thanContinue reading “Paging Dr. Mamet…Paging Dr. Mamet…”
Dianne Feinstein and Westlands: Secret Sweethearts?
Almost two years ago, the tenacious Lloyd Carter — a former reporter turned water law expert — wrote a public letter to Senate Dianne Feinstein, calling her out for her work on behalf of cotton and almond growers of the so-called Westlands water district of the Central Valley. As he commented on his site, inContinue reading “Dianne Feinstein and Westlands: Secret Sweethearts?”
Global warming: the partisan divide, according to polls
According to this graph from well-regarded public policy and polling outfit, PPIC, from a poll taken last summer, most Californians and most Americans believe that global warming has already begun: But it's different among Republicans: one-third believe global warming "will never happen." How do you compromise those two views?
No editors? No problem! Except that…
France's most famous intellectual revealed to be inept Googler. From the Times of London: When France’s most dashing philosopher took aim at Immanuel Kant in his latest book, calling him “raving mad” and a “fake”, his observations were greeted with the usual adulation. To support his attack, Bernard-Henri Lévy — a showman-penseur known simply byContinue reading “No editors? No problem! Except that…”
Sierra butterflies hit by global warming, habitat destruction
A changing climate has hurt butterfly species in the Sierra Nevada, reducing species richness by about fifty percent in the last 35 years. so reports a team at UCDAvis led by Arthur Shapiro, and reported in the PNAS: Compounded effects of climate change and habitat alteration shift patterns of butterfly diversity — PNAS Here we present 35Continue reading “Sierra butterflies hit by global warming, habitat destruction”
Even Sarah Palin’s best friends don’t believe her
From Timothy Egan in his Grifters Tale in The New York Times: If Palin truly believed in the Tea Partiers and their discontent, she would not be charging $100,000 to stoke their fears [at an upcoming convention]. She can do that for free, on Fox. And what policy solutions does she offer the troubled middleContinue reading “Even Sarah Palin’s best friends don’t believe her”
Kit Stolz 