Recently in Environment
West Is Eden:
It is true that picking up trash for a few hours won't realign the Earth's axis. But it is also true that it is a fine place to start.
Where We Are:
Remaking the Los Angeles landscape balances risks and benefits. That balance has been part of the Los Angeles River revitalization plan. Can it be achieved for the Long Beach breakwater?
Where We Are:
On a patch of gravel and dirt the color of the full moon, shorebirds, crows, and a "native" meet ambiguously.
Where We Are:
CEQA - the state's increasingly beleaguered environmental review process - empowers neighborhood residents to question development plans. Will a question of parking put new teeth in the law at the expense of streamlining the process?
West Is Eden:
One percent for the dinosaurs and all the other creatures scurrying to stay out from underfoot. One percent for seven billion people. And counting.
West Is Eden:
There is hope. It's a narrow window, but the breeze of possibility blows through it. I like to think our island fox has shown us the way.
Where We Are:
That the Los Angeles region is pretty dense already is the counter-intuitive finding of a new Census Bureau report.
LA as Subject:
Wildflowers once blanketed hillsides and plains throughout the Los Angeles area where strip malls, suburban homes, and industrial warehouses prevail today.
LA as Subject:
Spreading giants imported from Australia, Moreton Bay fig trees have become a cherished part of Southern California's arboreal heritage.
Where We Are:
The Sahara mustard -- a fast-growing invasive weed -- has begun to crowd out desert wildflowers. Ecologies and economies are at risk.
West Is Eden:
We all know what happened to New England cod and, before that, the great whales. The oceans are not what they used to be.
Commentary:
The Interior Department says Southern California can expect to get a lot less water out of the Colorado River in the next 50 years.
LA as Subject:
Southern Californians have long maintained a complicated relationship with the Santa Ana River, accepting its life-giving water but fearing its wrath.
Where We Are:
Less outdoor lighting is the goal of a new county ordinance and the aim of those who see darker night skies as benefiting both people and wildlife.
Where We Are:
Light and air are substances in the Los Angeles basin, as material as the mountains that frame our horizon. What goes up in the air of L.A. stays there - the minimum is three days - and its presence both harms and delights us.
Commentary:
A tiny threatened fish wins in court against 12 Southern California water agencies.
Where We Are:
Waking up to a passing electrical storm leads to an encounter with ephemeral nature and persistent memory.
Commentary:
Donald Trump calls the San Gorgonio Pass windmills "like a sad person's version of Disneyland."
Where We Are:
The downtown stadium gets a coat of "greenwash." AEG gets a pass. And CEQA gets sacked.
Where We Are:
September is the cruelest month, suggesting autumn but delivering a month of hot days. You can buy relief or remember when the basin bred its own air conditioning.
SoCal Focus is a blog about the people, places, and issues in and around Southern California.
I Am Los Angeles: Strings of Success
Sasha is content just to be living his life on his own terms, doing something he thoroughly enjoys: building and playing guitars.
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