Author Archives: Kit Stolz

It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel like eating…everything

Dana Goodyear, the editor/poet/reporter (for The New Yorker) has focused in the last couple of years on the weird edges of foodie culture of today. At least from a traditonalist's perspective, the foodie culure of today has evolved from deliciousness, to hipness, to eating what others haven't — and decadence.  Anything that Moves is anContinue reading “It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel like eating…everything”

SoCal 2014 water year forecast: Dryness, but…

For California, the Department of Water Resources releases an "experimental" long-term forecast, based on ocean indices. Lead forecaster Dr. Klaus Wolter of NOAA predicts — as he did last year — dryness, but opens the door to the possibility of an El Nino developing in spring. The forecast's three central predictions for the 2014 waterContinue reading “SoCal 2014 water year forecast: Dryness, but…”

“Beware of any endeavor that requires new clothes”: Patagonia

Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, quotes Thoreau in a new promotional film extolling WornWear. He speaks of the wisdom of keeping old clothes, and not buying new ones, and gets the quote almost perfectly. To be precise, [from chapter one in Walden] the quote reads:  I say, beware of all enterprisesContinue reading ““Beware of any endeavor that requires new clothes”: Patagonia”

A great essay on a great writer: Messud on Camus

A great review will not only change your mind, but make you see — and feel — afresh. Such is Claire Messud's essay on Albert Camus' Algerian Chronicles, in the 50th anniversary issue of the New York Review of Books. Must read! But if you don't, here are some reasons — from Camus — whyContinue reading “A great essay on a great writer: Messud on Camus”

Justice for teen killers in the U.S…and Mexico

In Ventura County in Southern California, Alex Medina, found guilty by a jury of killing another Ojai teenager, Seth Scarminach,for the benefit of a street gang, was sentenced to twenty-six years to life this week.   Eighteen-year-old Alex Medina received the maximum sentence today for the murder of an Ojai teen in 2009. Medina wasContinue reading “Justice for teen killers in the U.S…and Mexico”

Global warming conference in Geneva “fizzles”: LA Times

Sometimes a picture is enough: The AP photo depicts the French president, the Japanese Prime Minister, the American President, and the German Chancellor unable to agree.  An LA Times story tells of how the conference "fizzled to an inconclusive end," but allowed the conferees to avoid the embarrassment of total failure.  Nice puppets, tho. 

The “monstering” of tamarisk: How the government “found” water for a big copper producer in wartime by vilifying a plant

In her recently published book, The Rambunctious Garden, Emma Marris blithely whirled readers through a whole new world of ideas about conservation.  She wants us to give up on the notion of a pristine world untouched by man, and accept nature's half-wild state today — as long as we are half-wild ourselves.  Along the way, she introducesContinue reading “The “monstering” of tamarisk: How the government “found” water for a big copper producer in wartime by vilifying a plant”

Sexy “rock art” in the Sespe wilderness: 2013

While I'm working up a post on "invasion biology," the monstering of tamarisk, and what it means for us to care for our local wilderness in the 21st century, I cannot resist posting this daring "rock art" photographed just this week in the Sespe Wilderness…. I wonder who the anonymous rock artist is — IContinue reading “Sexy “rock art” in the Sespe wilderness: 2013″