While on the trail in early November, had a chance to read a fascinating essay in The New Yorker plumbing the depths of the informational world we live in today — what smartphones and related technologies mean (or don't) and how they should be regulated (or not). Included in the discussion was a new bookContinue reading “An environmental movement around “the Ambient””
Category Archives: the land
Tear down Hetch-Hetchy dam? Release a new Yosemite?
Two former attorney generals for the state of California, Dan Lungren, a Republican, and John Van de Kamp, a Democrat, together last week published an editorial calling for Congress to revise the Raker Act that allowed, back in l910, the flooding of a priceless valley called Hetch-Hetchy in Yosemite National Park. Hetch-Hetchy was deeply belovedContinue reading “Tear down Hetch-Hetchy dam? Release a new Yosemite?”
A leaf tells us: Prehistoric ice melting in Italian Alps
Great story from AGU. Officially this is a press release from Ohio State University. But really it's just a great story from Pam Frost Gorder, and deserves attention in its own right. SAN FRANCISCO—Less than 20 miles from the site where melting ice exposed the 5,000-year-old body of Ötzi the Iceman, scientists have discovered newContinue reading “A leaf tells us: Prehistoric ice melting in Italian Alps”
“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”
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″
What’s it like to be followed by the US government?
Never thought I'd say anything like this, but I kind of enjoy…. …being followed by the US Department of the Interior. [pic of Rocky Mountain National Park, tweeted by the agency]
“Sheepwrecked” in Yosemite, Santa Cruz I., and the UK
140 years ago sheep were devastating the slopes and meadows of the Sierras and John Muir launched an effort — which took decades — to remove them. He wrote: It is impossible to conceive of a devastation more universal than is produced among the plants of the Sierra by sheep…The greass is eaten close andContinue reading ““Sheepwrecked” in Yosemite, Santa Cruz I., and the UK”
Driest year in the state’s instrumental record: California
Versions of this story now appear every couple of weeks in newspapers in California. This one comes from the SF Chronicle: Thirsty California may get a smidgen of rain this coming week, but it is not likely to change what, so far, has been the driest calendar year in recorded history. No rain at all fellContinue reading “Driest year in the state’s instrumental record: California”
Section F of the PCT: Park off Hwy 58 near Mojave…
While struggling to retrieve images from a balky memory card, here are the writerly version of some lost snapshots from a week ago, setting out on Section F of the Pacific Crest Trail: Section F of the Pacific Crest Trail for the northbound begins at an offramp at Cameron Road off Hwy 58 west ofContinue reading “Section F of the PCT: Park off Hwy 58 near Mojave…”
Kit Stolz 