Ojai, California is a little town with a lot of big opinions. This fall an election between a long-standing incumbent and a self-educated water wonk has stirred up a good deal of controversy. Here’s my attempt to report on the issues for the Ventura County Reporter. My focus was to give the candidates a chanceContinue reading “Climate change polarizes an election in Ojai”
Tag Archives: Climate
Why so many old-timers don’t see climate change as a problem
The climate is changing all across the country and around the world, but in traditional communities, people often refuse to accept the evidence of its workings, even if demonstrated by scientists. Along this line a story in The New Yorker — called Tangier, the sinking island in the Chesapeake — profiles Mayor James Eskridge, a long-time crabberContinue reading “Why so many old-timers don’t see climate change as a problem”
President Trump unveils new climate policy
Sierra Nevadas to change this century: UCLA researcher
The snowpack this year in the Sierra Nevada soared to 170% of normal: just two years ago at the annual measuring date at the end of March (attended by Governor Brown) it stood at 5%. This extreme variability of the California climate will become routine this century argues researcher Daniel Swain of UCLA. Here’s myContinue reading “Sierra Nevadas to change this century: UCLA researcher”
The madness of Trump’s “alternative facts”
A tsunami of derision has attached itself to the President Trump’s best explainer/apologizer KellyAnne Conway’s assertion last week that the President’s press secretary was offering alternative facts to explain the President’s obviously wrong belief regarding the (small) size of the crowd at his inauguration. Even some of the best coaches in professional basketball, led byContinue reading “The madness of Trump’s “alternative facts””
Is desalination the answer for drought in Ventura County?
Although climate change was hardly mentioned in the two-hour discussion of desalination led by Ventura County supervisor Steve Bennett last Thursday at the county government center, the question of drought has clearly been very much on the minds of water officials in the county. Even more alarming, possibly, might be an earthquake that could interrupt supplies toContinue reading “Is desalination the answer for drought in Ventura County?”
Climate demonstrations: 2005 and 2015
Ten years ago world leaders and world powers gathered in Montreal in ostensible hopes of hammering out an agreement to reduce emissions and reduce the harms of global warming. Little or nothing came out of the meetings, in part because of the adamant refusal to deal with the issue on the part of the Bush/Cheney administration. That same administrationContinue reading “Climate demonstrations: 2005 and 2015”
A day in Paris for the climate
Where does one start with the news from Paris, from COP21? With the speech from the President? Images from the fantastically imaginative demonstrations from the day before, in defiance of police authority, of shoes left in protest in the Place de la Republique? Or with the fatalism of so many scientists, who agree that theContinue reading “A day in Paris for the climate”
The inevitability of warming: a matter of degrees
In Tales of a Warming Planet in today’s review section of the Sunday NYTimes, Curt Stager makes some central points about climate change well-known and accepted by climate scientists, but still new to most people: Let me cite just three, in byte-sized form: 1) Roughly one-eighth of the carbon in your flesh, hair and bonesContinue reading “The inevitability of warming: a matter of degrees”
Poll: US sees no problem with climate change
Have been struggling a bit with climate “overwhelm” — the volume of bad news is drowning out my efforts to keep up and post, even my own thoughts. I sympathize with a JPL/NASA scientist and publicist named Laura Faye Tenenbaum: The energy it takes to make honest, interesting and informative content for NASA’s climate website,Continue reading “Poll: US sees no problem with climate change”
Kit Stolz 