Category Archives: Ventura County

Yvon gives away the store (Patagonia)

On the morning of September 14, Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia, spoke to several hundred Patagonia employees and former employees at Patagonia’s Brooks campus in Ventura. In an address taped and transmitted to Patagonia stores and employees around the world, Chouinard announced that he and his family, the owners of the votingContinue reading “Yvon gives away the store (Patagonia)”

Patagonia’s environmental activism: a timeline

1960’s:    Yvon Chouinard, a competitive rock climber, takes up blacksmithing to improve the quality of steel pitons and climbing gear. He quickly establishes a reputation for worth and reliability, and begins selling climbing gear to other climbers out of the back of his car.  1970:      Chouinard Equipment is the leading supplier ofContinue reading “Patagonia’s environmental activism: a timeline”

UCSB Scientists See End to “Normal” Climate

From the Independent in Santa Barbara, a story I pulled together on two young scientists exploring the data underlying the megadrought in which SoCal finds itself today: By Kit StolzMon Sep 19, 2022 | 4:49pm In August, Governor Gavin Newsom and officials from the Department of Water Resources released a new Water Supply Strategy, saying that becauseContinue reading “UCSB Scientists See End to “Normal” Climate”

Ventura County heats faster than Lower 48

by Kit Stolz [published in the Ventura County Reporter April 14, 2022] Ventura County is warming faster than any other county in the continental United States, according to data compiled by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (1). The county has warmed 4.75 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, which is about a half a degree warmer than eitherContinue reading “Ventura County heats faster than Lower 48”

Medicinal Herbs of CA

This month the Ojai Quarterly published my “Off the Shelf” feature on Lanny Kaufer’s spectacular and informative new field guide to medicinal herbs in California: Here’s the opening: And below the fold [page 2, below] the full story in a more readable font for the web. Much respect to Lanny, who not only has beenContinue reading “Medicinal Herbs of CA”

County planning mulls wastewater in Santa Paula

Seven years [after the explosion], on Nov 8, a new management group, led by Tom Koziol, CEO of Fontana-based Ri-Nu Services LLC, brought a proposal to expand and reopen the industrial wastewater facility to about 75 people at a community meeting in Santa Paula, hosted by the county of Ventura Planning Division.

Mr Willis Goes to Washington

Not long after the COVID-19 pandemic began, a media attack on masking, epidemiology, and vaccination came in the form of a film called “Plandemic,” made by Ojai resident Mikki Willis, which dropped on May 4th, 2020. Spread by thousands of anti-vax and QAnon followers — according to a follow-up investigation by the Stanford Internet ObservatoryContinue reading “Mr Willis Goes to Washington”