Not all the news from this election in California is good. Much-loathed anti-environmentalist Congressman Richard Pombo easily defeated GOP legend Pete McCloskey, and now looks to be on a glide path to re-election. But the news from little Santa Paula is incredible. For the third time in recent years, the not-rich voters in this old-fashionedContinue reading “Money Can’t Buy You Love; Or, in Santa Paula, Development”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Another Far-Right Hack Misrepresents Another Researcher
A couple of weeks ago the National Review ran a cover story by Jason Steorts claiming that fears of melting ice at the poles were over-hyped. Following a line of argument laid out by the ExxonMobil-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute, Steorts quoted a study by a scientist named Curt Davis. Davis, director of the Center forContinue reading “Another Far-Right Hack Misrepresents Another Researcher”
Healing the Earth, Inch by Inch
Here’s a wonderful story by Eric Bailey in today’s LATimes about a group of true activists from around the country working to heal scars left on the California desert by trashers and motorcyclists. They labor long days in hot sun east of Barstow, putting just about all of us to shame with their cheerfulness. They’reContinue reading “Healing the Earth, Inch by Inch”
On Our Alleged Energy Policy
Pultizer Prize-winning Tom Toles, the editorial cartoonist most likely to include the planet in his work, has a site at the Washington Post where he publishes not just his latest work, but also a sketch for another…a wonderfully generous gift, I think.
The Reverence Movement
Orion is a bimonthly out of New England passionately in love with our planet; show a little interest and they’ll send you a big gorgeous issue for free. Even when I disagree with one of its essayists, as I sometimes do, I can only respect the adventurousness of their writing, which takes nothing for granted.
So I wish I could link to a Q&A they have in this month’s issue on an activist named Van Jones, who works with Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland. (It’s off-line.) Jones speaks about what it means to be an activist, and, specifically, what he calls "the reverence movement." (His resume gives you some idea of his worth, but not enough: Let me quote some of the Orion interview with him.) If you want to know more, ask Orion for this month’s issue.
A reverence movement is, at the end of the day, taking corrective steps to further enhance the beauty of others and the beauty of yourself.
If you ask people what their actual experience of being on the left is, lots of people say, "Oh, we’re saving the world, blah, blah, blah. I say: "No, no, no, what’s your experience–like, Thursday?" They say: "Oh, it was horrible." It’s like the difference between using diesel versus solar as your energy source. Anger is a messy fuel that eventually causes more problems than it can solve.
Using Innovation to Reduce Emissions
Back in l968, the Golden Gate Bridge eliminated tolls on northbound traffic, and doubled the toll on southbound traffic. This brilliantly simple change greatly sped up traffic through the toll booths, but had no great effect on toll collection. Since then, it’s an idea that has been copied around the world. For me, it’s aContinue reading “Using Innovation to Reduce Emissions”
Sunday Morning on the Planet
Well, the town is still in shock, stunned by the dynamic debut of three new superheroines. Even this Sunday morning, these three are on our minds, since we saw them at the Theatre 150 show in Ojai known as Saving the World: One Story at a Time. It’s a full night of original short plays,Continue reading “Sunday Morning on the Planet”
“Cannot Reject What It Has Not Seen”
Regarding attempts to negotiate nuclear issues with Iran, on Friday the White House’s newly-appointed Press Secretary Tony Snow declared that "Iran cannot reject [a new proposal] it has not seen." Nice try, Mr. Snow, but your boss has already rejected Al Gore’s presentation on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, by refusing to see it againstContinue reading ““Cannot Reject What It Has Not Seen””
“Stupid” Thinking on Climate Change at Yale
Over at Gristmill, David Roberts has been trying to drum up interest in a new report on a conference organized by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies focused on "closing the gap between science and action" on climate change (Download americans_and_climate_change.pdf). It’s a big report, and along the way mentions that Americans areContinue reading ““Stupid” Thinking on Climate Change at Yale”
74 Degrees at the North Pole
Probably you’ve already seen this disturbing story by Andrew Revkin in the NYTimes about a huge study demonstrating the existence of a "tropical Arctic" fifty million years ago, with waters at the North Pole as warm as Florida, about 74 degrees. As a short item in the Nature newswire put it: Not only did theContinue reading “74 Degrees at the North Pole”
Kit Stolz 