Here’s a favorite story of mine from 2019, for the Ojai magazine, about Glenn Perry, a true hero for what he does for our tiny friends the bees. I really liked the way the magazine laid out this story!
Category Archives: subjects for further research
Precipitous insect decline: collapse of nature?
This week a Dutch cartoonist with beauty dramatized a horrifying new study warning of “the collapse of nature.” Yes, that statement seems extreme, but the art contextualizes it as form of suicide. Or even worse, as a form of ecocide-suicide. First our species exterminates the insects, and then their decline unravels nature. The study, freely available fromContinue reading “Precipitous insect decline: collapse of nature?”
Thomas Fire (one year ago tonight)
The Thomas Fire began about five miles from our home near Thomas Aquinas College near Santa Paula on the night of December 4, 2017, a date Upper Ojai will never forget. In a bad twist of fate documented in my story in the Santa Barbara Independent a couple of weeks later, an electric transformer atContinue reading “Thomas Fire (one year ago tonight)”
Black Friday climate assessment: Katherine Hayhoe vs. Donald Trump on The World
The extraordinary Fourth National Climate Assessment, released by thirteen federal agencies coordinated by the US Global Change Research Program, established by Congress decades ago, came out last Friday. On the day after Thanksgiving, the notorious Black Friday. For some reason. Ironically, if this excellent interview and breaking news segment on the assessment on The WorldContinue reading “Black Friday climate assessment: Katherine Hayhoe vs. Donald Trump on The World”
Fear of (wild) water: is it necessary to filter?
In February a brave writer in Slate published a column arguing that wild water is much over-feared, and that (with reasonable care) hikers in the mountains in places such as the Pacific Northwest need not reflexively filter or treat wild water taken from streams and lakes. To wit: To be clear, there’s no question that Giardia lamblia, CryptosporidiumContinue reading “Fear of (wild) water: is it necessary to filter?”
The deep resilience of the redwood
A friend sent along an amazing and heartening story from the Washington Post, called Decoding the Redwoods. In short, to better understand the long-lived coast redwood, scientists in two different labs have been working to decode the species’ genome, which — astonishingly — is vastly larger than ours. The redwood genome project began in AprilContinue reading “The deep resilience of the redwood”
“Biology we haven’t discovered yet”
Ever stumble across something — even something you’ve not thought much about — and then suddenly see it everywhere around you? This strange stumbling-into-obsession has caught me in the last couple of weeks with the concept of consciousness. What the hell? What is it? When do we have it? When do we have too muchContinue reading ““Biology we haven’t discovered yet””
Trail signs along the PCT: Section Q
Just have to say that the trail signs in Section Q — the Marble Mountains — in the far north of California were the best (that is, most Zen) that I have seen along the length of California. They deserve remembering in their own right, so here goes: Next day I after about 5 orContinue reading “Trail signs along the PCT: Section Q”
The genius of a place: Vaclav Cilek
Mesmerized to have stumbled upon a Czech geologist/climatologist/essayist/philosopher of place, via the great Robert MacFarlane, quoted here. Vaclav Cilek sees the spirit of landscapes, or rather, sees the possibility of seeing the spirit, the true nature, the inner workings of landscapes (an idea with which he’s comfortable, having spent years cataloguing caves in and aroundContinue reading “The genius of a place: Vaclav Cilek”
In Ojai, global warming + summer = heat. But how much?
A week ago New York magazine published a blockbuster climate change story. Here’s the annotated/footnoted version. Highly recommended, because the writer — David Wallace-Wells — finds a way to bring home the urgency, using current science. It’s very simple, really. Instead of focusing on what will happen next year, or next decade, or by 2040,Continue reading “In Ojai, global warming + summer = heat. But how much?”
Kit Stolz 