A nasty little irony: A first-rate Western writer about water, Emily Green, recounts how her massive five-part newspaper series on a Las Vegas water grab was scooped up and rewritten into a book by a another writer. In other words, her work on a rip-off was in turn ripped off (and she has the quotesContinue reading “Western water reporter recounts being ripped off”
Category Archives: the land
Yosemite deaths in 2011: Couch potato phenomenon?
That's the hint dropped in Matt Weiser's excellent examination of the numerous deaths this year in the Yosemite Valley recently in the Sacramento Bee. He suggests that visitors to the park are just too removed from nature in their minds to recognize the risks of nature when they encounter them in life. Visitorship is upContinue reading “Yosemite deaths in 2011: Couch potato phenomenon?”
Wander here a whole summer, if you can: John Muir
Wander here a whole summer, if you can. Thousands of God’s wild blessings will search you and soak you as if you were sponge, and the big days will go by uncounted. If you are business-tangled, and so burdened with duty that only weeks can be get out of the heavy-laden year, then go toContinue reading “Wander here a whole summer, if you can: John Muir”
La Niña misses SoCal, hits Sun Belt
As we've been discussing over the last few months, this past year's La Niña has been a bust in Southern California. What was expected to be a dry winter with winds and heat turned out to be a wet, blustery winter with massive Sierran snowpack. But not so across the U.S! As the NY Times reportedContinue reading “La Niña misses SoCal, hits Sun Belt”
Off on the Ridgeway
Will be leaving some posts for you fine people, and perhaps with luck will post from the trail, but need to get away for some ancient English history and beauty and who knows, maybe wildness, on the Ridgeway Trail with friends and family. Back July 10th:
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado: l901
From Our National Parks, published in 1901: No matter how far you have wandered hitherto, or how many famous gorges and valleys you have seen, this one, the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, will seem as novel to you, as unearthly in the color and grandeur and quantity of its architecture, as if you hadContinue reading “The Grand Canyon of the Colorado: l901”
Weird CA weather linked to Arctic Oscillation, global warming
Forecaster extraordinaire Bill Patzert makes the connection, in a story in the Sac Bee: This year, the blame [for the weird weather in California] falls on a complex interaction between La Niña and another phenomenon called a negative Arctic oscillation, Patzert and others said. La Niña is marked by a cooling of equatorial waters inContinue reading “Weird CA weather linked to Arctic Oscillation, global warming”
Rachel Carson on how to introduce children to nature
At a lecture attended recently by a thousand or so people at UC Santa Barbara, the great E.O. Wilson was asked an open-ended question about introducing children to nature. Wilson took it as a "how to" question. He mentioned that he was "one of two living persons who worked with Rachel Carson," and made aContinue reading “Rachel Carson on how to introduce children to nature”
La Niña dry winter prediction fails in 2010, experts agree
This fall experts, including the Forest Service, were predicting a strong La Niña condition likely to produce a dry winter, with heat and Santa Ana winds. The oceanic pattern developed, but the prediction? Bzzzttt! Wrong. Here in Ventura County, we're at roughtly 150% of normal, and got pounded by about six inches of rain over theContinue reading “La Niña dry winter prediction fails in 2010, experts agree”
Japan Earthquake: 1000x stronger than Port-au-Prince quake
A couple of striking facts from a briefing on the earthquake in Japan, and the subsequent tsunami: According to Dave Applegate, of the US Geological Survey, this quake, measuring "almost nine" on the Richter scale, substantially ruptured the earth's crust, tearing it up for 150 or more miles. Applegate said the energy released by theContinue reading “Japan Earthquake: 1000x stronger than Port-au-Prince quake”
Kit Stolz 