Last week The New Yorker in its "Cartoon Issue" ran a two-page spread called "Guide to City Birds." It’s not linkable, unfortunately, because it’s beyond wonderful and into some realm of gloriousness. Okay, okay, I exaggerate. A little. But it was great, honest, and I’m going to bend the rules a little by giving youContinue reading “Field Guide to NYC Birds”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Climate Change Hits Insurance Industry
Yesterday the Washington Post ran a story on climate change and insurance companies. This is not a new subject, but the story by Joel Garreau was unusually well-written and thorough, and does have some genuinely fresh news…such as the fact that Allstate has stopped writing new homeowner policies in the New York area, fearing itContinue reading “Climate Change Hits Insurance Industry”
The Absurdity of Ethanol, Explained
Admit it: everytime someone begins to talk about ethanol, you feel an overpowering desire to lie down. Perhaps take a nice little nap. Well, finally someone–James Surowiecki, of the New Yorker–has found a non snore-inducing way to explain why ethanol is not the answer to American’s fuel needs. It’s actually not that complicated. Two words:Continue reading “The Absurdity of Ethanol, Explained”
Good News for the West
This is the headline we’ve been waiting for. From a story by Blaine Harden in the Washington Post: In West, Conservatives Emphasize the "Conserve" The can’t miss graph: Democratic and Republican politicians from New Mexico to Montana have found common ground with hunters and anglers in opposing widespread energy development on wild public lands, haltingContinue reading “Good News for the West”
Yes, but Slime Molds Will Always Be With Us
From Tom Toles, of course:
LA Times Hints Supremes Will Split Difference on CO2 as Pollutant Ruling
The LA TImes is under tremendous pressure this fall. Circulation fell nearly 9% in the last quarter alone, the publisher and the editor were fired, and its owner, the Tribune Company, itself is on the market and likely to be sold off (in parts or as a whole) before the end of the year. ForContinue reading “LA Times Hints Supremes Will Split Difference on CO2 as Pollutant Ruling”
“Eco-Thug” Loses to Idealist, Helped by President Bush
A charming story yesterday in the LA Times by Faye Fiore looks at how an idealist named Jerry McNerney, unwanted by the Democratic Party, living off his savings, backed by over a thousand volunteers, defeated the "eco-thug" Richard Pombo, the notoriously anti-enviro Congressman from the Tracy area in CA, despite millions of dollars spent inContinue reading ““Eco-Thug” Loses to Idealist, Helped by President Bush”
Betweeness
"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness," wrote John Muir (in a posthumous collection of his notes called John of the Mountains). For years I’ve heard that saying of Muir’s echo in my mind. Only occasionally would the question creep in–yes, but why? Why does a wild forest take us intoContinue reading “Betweeness”
Sunday on the Planet (but not always in the morning)
Who can say what this signal really means? The skies of late have been a little mysterious, but gorgeously so…
The 06-07 El Nino: A Wuss?
A couple of days ago, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center predicted a warmer-than-usual winter, with El Nino conditions bringing a likelihood of increased rainfall to California and the West Coast. But an excellent follow-up story from Rob Krier at the San-Diego Union-Tribune points out that November in San Diego for the last fortyContinue reading “The 06-07 El Nino: A Wuss?”
Kit Stolz 