Author Archives: Kit Stolz

How it feels when the bird goes splat

A couple of years ago I wrote a story about birds and windows, and learned that millions upon millions of birds die every year after hitting windows. Kevin Prufer noticed, as only a poet can: Something hit the office window hard so now there's a smear that won't be washed away until it rains. RedContinue reading “How it feels when the bird goes splat”

Ojai Chatauqua on fracking: know your CA geology

Part of what the Ojai Chautauqua tries to do every couple of months is bring out information regarding complex topics, which is what I tried to do in part as a moderator this past Sunday for a panel on fracking. What did we learn? Well, here's one item, from Kimberly Rivers story in the OjaiContinue reading “Ojai Chatauqua on fracking: know your CA geology”

Ojai fracking panel agrees: more transparency please!

Over the last four or so months I put together a panel on fracking for the Ojai Chautauqua, a centrist group that holds public forums/discussions on controversial issues at the Ojai Valley Inn. (Think I'm beginning to learn how to do it: This is the third such panel I put together this year, and theContinue reading “Ojai fracking panel agrees: more transparency please!”

Have compassion for everyone you meet: Williams’s

On an election night sure to plunge us into yet more political discord and disputation, tonight might be a good night to mention the record of the year, sez here, Lucinda Williams' Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. The record begins with Williams'  musical version of a poem by a man who happens to beContinue reading “Have compassion for everyone you meet: Williams’s”

Anterra suspected of dumping hazardous waste in Ventura County

As I mentioned in a post in early September, Anterra, a small company with two offices in the Ventura County, was raided back on September 8th by District Attorney Christopher Harman, for a suspected criminal violation of law.   I talked to the District Attorney in a story published in the Santa Barbara Independent, butContinue reading “Anterra suspected of dumping hazardous waste in Ventura County”

Oilco’s spend $9 million to defeat county anti-fracking efforts in CA

According to this excellent story from Reporting on Health fellow Leilani Clark, oil companies such as Aera, Chevron, and Exxon-Mobil have donated more than $1.7 million to efforts to defeat Proposition J in San Benito county, which would ban fracking.  Ever heard of San Benito? True confession: I hadn't. Despite spending most of my lifeContinue reading “Oilco’s spend $9 million to defeat county anti-fracking efforts in CA”

New climate rhetoric: “the least worst of all possible worlds”

What makes a t-shirt about the grim future cool? An even-greater-than usual recent episode of Radiolab focused on this question. It found a route into the question through a bizarre fact: an ultra-obscure philosophical book from Zero Press called In the Dust of this Planet has overnight (well, this past year) become a fashion/cultural icon ofContinue reading “New climate rhetoric: “the least worst of all possible worlds””

“I got trapped on a path”: Charles Bowden

About ten years ago I wrote an essay, perhaps my best to date, about John Muir, that was published in the spectacular nature magazine Wild Earth. (Which sadly no longer publishes, nor can it be found on-line.) I found myself in good company, with the likes of E.O. Wilson, but the best piece in theContinue reading ““I got trapped on a path”: Charles Bowden”