The Los Angeles Times has a heckuva team of environmental reporters, including several Pulitzer Prize winners, but as of late, some of the toughest reporting in the paper has come from Neela Banerjee, who in her latest story in politely calls the coal industry and its employees, the miners, liars. It's fascinating to see how sheContinue reading “LA Times calls King Coal a liar”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Dengue fever hits the USA (as seen in “Fevered”)
A few days back I pointed out that Linda Marsa in her new global warming book Fevered dug up a central fact about the Dust Bowl that few others had noticed — that it only took one degree of warming to set that disaster in motion. This concern was echoed in a report on NationalContinue reading “Dengue fever hits the USA (as seen in “Fevered”)”
Lake Mary, painting by Steve Cook
From a new equaintance, Steve Cook, a painting of Lake Mary. Irresistible.
Dust Bowl II? (Linda Marsa connects the dots)
Writing a good book about global warming is a little bit like trying to catch a whale in a butterfly net. Not only is the beast vast almost beyond human comprehension, but will it stay still? No it won't. Captain Ahab himself at least had a harpoon — a writer has nothing but a fewContinue reading “Dust Bowl II? (Linda Marsa connects the dots)”
The continuing (and confounding) story of “Into the Wild”
Two weeks ago a teenager, obsessed with the tragic story of Chris McCandless, who died of apparent starvation in the Alaskan wilderness, died in troublingly similar circumstances in Oregon. Over the past six months, David Croom said, his son had shown a growing interest in the movie and possibly wanted to emulate McCandless' actions. "He'sContinue reading “The continuing (and confounding) story of “Into the Wild””
Fevered: Global warming facts you probably don’t know
Am reviewing expert science reporter Linda Marsa's Fevered, about a hotter planet and what that means for human health. (Spoiler: It's not great news, although "heat adaptation" is possible in many cases.) Though I'm not yet finished, must say I'm impressed with this book. Perhaps the best climate change book I've read since Tim Flannery'sContinue reading “Fevered: Global warming facts you probably don’t know”
The Revenge of the Dinosaurs: Fossil Fuels
Columnist Thomas Friedman is a big picture columnist who drives enviros crazy with his broad strokes pronouncements, but every once in a while he stumbles across a genuine insight. In a column recently, he actually admitted to the stumbling, for which he deserves some credit: I stumbled upon another powerful environmental insight here: the parallel betweenContinue reading “The Revenge of the Dinosaurs: Fossil Fuels”
The Republican response to climate change: Luckovich
It's been unbearably hot and dry this week, as is not unusually the case in this part of Southern California in early September…but could the extreme dryness of the state be contributing to our heat wave? An attribution study — looking at the possible contribution from climate change to extreme weather events –from the AmericanContinue reading “The Republican response to climate change: Luckovich”
What gas attacks in Syria and fossil fuels in US share
Jim Morin of the Miami Herald shows real originality in today's 'toon:
Climate change behind the civil war in Syria: Polk
A half-mile from us, a good friend's well has gone almost dry, and we've heard of others on our street experiencing the same dryness. Our well water is increasingly turbid and sandy at times, even though we live near a creek bottom. The drought outlook for California is not good: In contrast, [writes B. Pugh,Continue reading “Climate change behind the civil war in Syria: Polk”
Kit Stolz 