Author Archives: Kit Stolz

Income inequality: Shocking facts, visualized

According to economic experts, for the first time in at least a hundred years, quite possibly ever, the American middle-class is losing ground. It's not just that the richer are getting richer, it's also "wage stagnation." Meaning that young people today cannot expect to surpass their parents, as young generations in the past could —Continue reading “Income inequality: Shocking facts, visualized”

Two California greats report on the drought: public yawns

On the front page of the LATimes today, news that Californians are not rising to the challenge of the drought. Cumulative water savings since last summer totaled only 8.6% compared with the same 10-month period in 2013, the baseline year for savings calculations. And in March, California residents and businesses used 3.6% less water thanContinue reading “Two California greats report on the drought: public yawns”

Visualizing income inequality

This is a really good visualization of the theory of income inequality, as expounded in Thomas Piketty's best-selling book Capital in the 21st Century. But you don't have to read the book to get it! All you have to do is watch the infographic. From — of all places! — the Wall Street Journal.

Study: The “hollowing out” of the middle-class in CA

From a story in the LATimes business section about income inequality: California's low-wage workers are older and more educated than they were three decades ago — but they earn less, according to new research from UC Berkeley. The study, released Thursday, documented the extensive growth of income inequality in California since the late 1970s. TheContinue reading “Study: The “hollowing out” of the middle-class in CA”

A botannical moment from the Sespe

Went on a tamarisk-removal expedition down a Southern California tributary of the Sespe this past weekend with friends and with support from the Forest Service. Happy to do it and glad for the opportunity but know that the agency would rather us not post any on trips to protected places. So here's my allowable momentContinue reading “A botannical moment from the Sespe”

The usefulness of the random: Astrology

Astrology cannot be taken seriously, and yet I cannot entirely escape my daily sentence (aka "horoscope") in the newspaper. But I'm not the only one with mixed feelings about it. At times, for example, Jung scoffed: Astrology is a naively projected psychology  in which the different attitudes and temperaments of man are represented as gods Continue reading “The usefulness of the random: Astrology”

CA water bureaucrat disses federal weather scientists

How often does one see an outright confrontation between state bureaucrats and federal scientists? In my experience, well — never. But that's what I saw last week at the Chapman Conference on California Drought.  Organized by the American Geophysical Union, at a National Academy of Sciences center at UC Irvine, this conference brought together aContinue reading “CA water bureaucrat disses federal weather scientists”

For Earth Day, Obama goes to Florida

Prez Obama appears to be really trying to reach the public re: climate change. He gave his usual good speech about the subject on Earth Day, but this one suspects his most convincing point on climate change may be a simple recitation of some personal facts.  As he said yesterday: Just last weekend, Michelle andContinue reading “For Earth Day, Obama goes to Florida”