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:
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.
Golden Green:
Char Miller remembers the late Trinity University teacher that pushed the campus into a brave new world with his Urban Studies program.
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...
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.
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.
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.
Golden Green:
The Sportsmen's Heritage Act targets our wilderness -- and must be stopped.
Golden Green:
Did Honest Abe help railroad the country with the Homestead and Pacific Railroad Acts?
Golden Green:
Rep. Rob Bishop thinks clearcutting forests will solve devastating bark-beetle infestations. It's not that simple.
Golden Green:
The photographic evidence of Fukushima is so painful it's hard to forget.
Golden Green:
Talk about a Devil's Bargain: Federal money for preserving open space comes from energy production fees.
Golden Green:
It's a sign of the L.A. River's health that we are arguing over what it means.
Golden Green:
Trees are miraculous but they will not solve the riddles of climate change.
Golden Green:
Will the Mojave Desert, which is growing exponentially, have enough water to survive?
Golden Green:
Resource exploitation and environmental injustice have been central to the 450-year long globalization of the Pacific.
'Seeking The Greatest Good' Documents a New Geography of Hope
A new documentary, "Seeking the Greatest Good," identifies key steps we can take to restore the Earth -- and ourselves.
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