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Char Miller driving a student in the L.A. River. | Photo: Allie Comet
Golden Green
We live in places urban, rural, and wild. We hunker down in the desert, press out to the coast, nestle into tight canyons, build atop ridgelines, and sprawl along valley floors. In the process of making these disparate places our home we complicate the natural systems that drew us to these environments in the first place. Exploring these tensions has long been the subject of Pomona College professor Char Miller's teaching and writing, as reflected in his recent books "Cities and Nature in the American West" and "Public Lands, Public Debates: A Century of Controversy." And in two that will appear in 2013 -- "On The Edge: Water, Immigration, and Politics in the Southwest" (which contains essays first written for Golden Green) and "Death Valley National Park: A History."
Golden Green:
The American West has been organized around numbers, from Lewis and Clark to L.A. Freeways.
Will ObamaCorps Become the New Civilian Conservation Corps?
February 6, 2013 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
The CCC built up the nation and the body politic -- can ObamaCorps do the same thing?
Divest Now? A Case for Our Immediate Emancipation from Fossil Fuels
January 28, 2013 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
Divesting ourselves from fossil fuels will not be easy, but we must act now.
'To Act in Our Time': Will President Obama Green America?
January 23, 2013 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
President Obama's inaugural address actually mentioned climate change. It's time to do something about it.
Golden Green:
How Pinnacles National Monument became a National Park -- and why Red Rock still waits its turn
Razed Expectations: Why It Matters that the Army Corps Bulldozed the Sepulveda Sanctuary
January 10, 2013 11:24 AM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
When the Army Corps sent bulldozers crashing through Sepulveda Basin it damaged nature and the civic arena
Shifting Tide: Southern California Sea Otter Ban Lifted
January 2, 2013 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
It is a great start to the new year that the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's has decided to open Southern California's waters to the once-banned sea otters.
O, Tannenbaum! Christmas Trees and Climate Change
December 19, 2012 2:15 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
Buying a real Christmas tree will help reduce your carbon footprint. Here's why.
Circuit Breaker: How Solar Power Came to San Dimas
December 12, 2012 3:33 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
Solar Power is SoCal's future -- but we need need new policies to help it come online
Distress Signal: Hurricane Sandy's Take-Away Message
October 31, 2012 3:25 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
I never meant to be so predictive. In a column I wrote this summer about the extraordinary vulnerability of the Jersey Shore to the erosive force of hurricanes, I suggested it was so vulnerable because of Nature (Mother) and nature (human). Two months later, Hurricane Sandy underscored that claim.
Urban Legend: Earl M. Lewis and the Struggle for Better Government
October 16, 2012 5:05 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
Char Miller remembers the late Trinity University teacher that pushed the campus into a brave new world with his Urban Studies program.
The San Gabriels: A National Forest? A National Park? Does it Matter?
October 10, 2012 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
In the Angeles National Forest. | Photo: puck90/Flickr/Creative Commons License The Angeles National Forest is poised to get the ax. There are a lot of hands gripping that particular handle, too. The National Park Service (NPS) is eager to swing...
The Last Green Republican? Russell E. Train, 1920-2012
September 26, 2012 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
He was deeply engaged with some of the late 20th-century's most pivotal environmental issues, and did so as a Republican stalwart -- Richard Nixon, for example, appointed him as the EPA's second administrator.
Touring Yosemite: Why We See the Things We See There
September 12, 2012 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
Since the mid-19th century, Yosemite has been lauded as America's wonderland, its playground -- beguiling, transformative, divine. It is also a tourist trap. A new exhibit probes the connection between these two sides of Yosemite.
Why the U.S. Forest Service's First Chief Deserves a Cool T-Shirt
August 29, 2012 2:00 PM
by Char Miller
Golden Green:
If during this super-heated summer you have traveled to any of the electoral battleground states, you'll know that the sun-baked temperatures outside are more than matched by the ultra-hot campaign ads saturating the airwaves. And you'll understand why Patricia...
Golden Green:
The Grand Canyon has the unnerving capacity to shut us up and a traveling exhibit has come to Southern California will help us understand why.
Golden Green:
Cape May, NY is a long way from Malibu, but its environmental history contains lessons for beach towns everywhere
Golden Green:
Politicians give lip-service to our need better to protect our place in this place; once in power they tend to ignore legislating on those matters that on the campaign trail they had assured the electorate were of heart-felt concern.
Golden Green:
Democrats -- and President Obama -- must stop Republicans from gutting the Antiquities Act.
Golden Green:
To get toxins out of our bodies, furniture, and clothes is going to take a major fight.
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The Back Forty is opinion and news about environmental, land use, rural, and wildlife issues in California.

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