Tag Archives: California

Radioactive Rain

The Partial Nuclear Meltdown That Still Haunts Ventura County Here’s a new story I wrote for Ojai magazine on — believe it or not — a major nuclear accident, a partial nuclear meltdown, that still contaminates part of Ventura County. ‘Woody Guthrie used to say that some men will rob you with a six-gun, andContinue reading “Radioactive Rain”

STATE FINDS CHEMICAL AND RADIOACTIVITY EMERGENCY IN FORMER BURN PIT AT SANTA SUSANA FIELD LAB

From the Ojai Valley News/VCSun At an online Nov. 9 meeting with nearly 60 community members, Jamie Slaughter, a public participation specialist for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, announced plans for soil removal, cleanup and further testing at the former 6-acre burn pit site within the Santa Susana Field Lab site in easternContinue reading “STATE FINDS CHEMICAL AND RADIOACTIVITY EMERGENCY IN FORMER BURN PIT AT SANTA SUSANA FIELD LAB”

Nature’s Revenge: T.C. Boyle on “Blue Skies”

Here’s this quarter’s book feature for Ojai Quarterly, an allusive interview with the delightful-if-doomy T.C. Boyle. (Think that’s part of Boyle’s brilliance: he embeds an awareness of the end of his characters’ lives into the storytelling — so often we see characters up against their uniquely-driven fates. Worse, they know it — which makes usContinue reading “Nature’s Revenge: T.C. Boyle on “Blue Skies””

Hetch-Hetchy Loop 2023

Yours truly took an exploratory journey around a favorite new locale in the Sierra, the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, which is well-known and much-loved, and deservedly so. I wanted to see a little more of what surrounds this spectacular river canyon. And, to be honest, I also wanted to spend a day just hangingContinue reading “Hetch-Hetchy Loop 2023”

Storm vs. Drought: After weeks of flooding, how can CA still be in drought?

Climate scientists who have studied the Southwest largely agree that the vast region — which includes Southern California — has been in drought almost since the beginning of the 21st century. It’s a historic megadrought — meaning a drought of twenty years or more — with the driest soils in the West in at leastContinue reading “Storm vs. Drought: After weeks of flooding, how can CA still be in drought?”

Scientific prophecy in CA: A new kind of heat wave

California stands at “ground zero” in the world of climate change, as the MacArthur grantee/genius Peter Gleick likes to say. This is not good news for forty million or so of us who live here, but for far-sighted scientists, it’s an opportunity. Gleick himself became known when as a graduate student decades ago he wroteContinue reading “Scientific prophecy in CA: A new kind of heat wave”

The fires this time, in Paradise and SoCal

A WSJ video look at the fire that destroyed Paradise a couple of days ago — destroying even big box stores, McDonalds, etc — and another fire that is is now moving through Thousand Oaks towards Malibu, destroying (reportedly) even fire stations. Scary stuff.