It's almost impossible to quote this story without snark, but I'm going to try. At Michigan State University, a conservative group sponsored a presentation by a notorious climate change skeptic named Willie Soon, an astrophysicist. A small group of students, 21 in all, showed up to hear him, five of which were affiliated with aContinue reading “Students confront climate change denying scientist”
Category Archives: activism
Fracking in Ventura County: the next oil boom?
Great op-ed from Marianne Ratcliff in today's Star on fracking in Ventura County. How much fracking is going on, and how much more will be going on? Difficult to say. According to her research, most wells in this area have already been fracked — but that's not to say that more couldn't be, or couldn't beContinue reading “Fracking in Ventura County: the next oil boom?”
Obama quails on Keystone XL: Poll shows why
Looks like Obama intends to back down and let Keystone XL bitumen pipeline go through. From the NY Times: SAN FRANCISCO — Appearing at the home of an outspoken critic of the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama on Wednesday night told a group of high-dollar donors that the politics of the environment “are tough.” Mr. Obama appears toContinue reading “Obama quails on Keystone XL: Poll shows why”
Earthquakes and fracking well issue brewing in Upper Ojai
As discussed in this piece from Scientific American, there is good reason to think disposal wells for fracking fluids can cause earthquakes. To wit: Earthquakes have become more than 10 times more common in normally quiescent parts of the U.S., such as Ohio and Oklahoma, in the past few years. Given the simultaneous uptick inContinue reading “Earthquakes and fracking well issue brewing in Upper Ojai”
Fracking in Upper Ojai: the latest
Fracking — which as you all no doubt know is the injection of water and chemicals below ground at pressure, to break up rock formations and release natural gas and/or oil — has come to rural Upper Ojai and Ventura County. In truth, fracking turns out to have been going on in this area for aContinue reading “Fracking in Upper Ojai: the latest”
Whispering in the ear of nature’s secrets: Harriet Monroe
In Nature's Altars, Susan Schrepfer looks at how much it meant to women of the turn of (the 20th) century to go to the mountains. She writes: "High altitudes…released [women], they said, from the requirement of being a consumer, from "clothes and vanities," from the corsseted, perfumed, and coiffured dictates of polite society. Of aContinue reading “Whispering in the ear of nature’s secrets: Harriet Monroe”
What to do about cigarettes, and why: Mayor Bloomberg
Mayor Bloomberg thinks cigarettes are bad for you and should be kept out of sight, like porn: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, fresh off a defeat in his campaign to limit large servings of sugary drinks, proposed legislation Monday requiring stores to put cigarettes out of public sight and to increase penalties on the smuggling and illegal salesContinue reading “What to do about cigarettes, and why: Mayor Bloomberg”
Editorial ‘toons w/facts: illographix from Brodner and Rall
The marvelously talented Steve Brodner, nominated for a prize by the design community, says he is pioneering a semi-new kind of drawing, the "illographix," which involves graphing and charting as well as illustration. Here's one example, worked out with two notables editors, and submitted for a prize: Not sure how new this concept really is.Continue reading “Editorial ‘toons w/facts: illographix from Brodner and Rall”
Why Obama should ask a farmer to lead on climate change
The acerbic Timothy Egan of the NYTimes has an interesting idea, re: the politics of climate change: It’s one thing to persuade hipsters in Portland, Ore., or Brooklyn to grow organic — hey, how cool is an artisan radish — in their rooftop gardens. It’s a much tougher push to get Big Ag, made upContinue reading “Why Obama should ask a farmer to lead on climate change”
The Sierra Club High Trips and why women liked them
In the High Trips, for about thirty years at the start of the 20th century, the Sierra Club as a mountaineering club peaked, surely. On those brilliantly organized journeys, as many as 200 people at time went into the High Sierras, having committed to a walk of a minimum of two hundred miles, over several weeks of hiking. Though theContinue reading “The Sierra Club High Trips and why women liked them”
Kit Stolz 