In his essay, “Brave New L.A.,” Jon Christensen cites what he considers two pivotal and progressive moments in Los Angeles’ quest for sustainability: the July rise of former Los Angeles City Council Member Eric Garcetti to the mayor’s office and the November centenary of the Los Angeles Aqueduct (HCN, 1/20/14). Both occasions can equally be […]
Emily Green
Posted inAugust 5, 2013: Mojave Squeeze
Can we save Mojave desert tortoises by moving them out of harm’s way?
Feds aim to save threatened tortoises by relocating them away from development
Posted inAugust 5, 2013: Mojave Squeeze
A timeline of the desert tortoise’s slow and steady decline
Because the desert tortoise’s Mojave range is largely on federal land, conservationists believe the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) should have better managed the animal’s recovery once it was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1989. Instead, the species has steadily declined. 1976 Bureau of Land Management establishes 40-square-mile Desert Tortoise Natural Area in […]
Posted inDecember 24, 2012: The new Wild, Wild West
Western water, in poetry and policy: A review of Dam Nation
Dam Nation: How Water Shaped the West and WillDetermine its FutureStephen Grace360 pages, hardcover: $24.95.Globe Pequot, 2012. To snatch a moment from the wild and capture it in words that pulse with life is quite a feat. Stephen Grace, author of the 2004 novel Under Cottonwoods, makes it seem effortless. When he describes sandhill cranes […]
Posted inOctober 15, 2012: Are you a local?
The true believer and the skeptic: A review of River Republic and A Ditch in Time
Two optimistic new books exhort Americans to embrace the challenges of their aging water infrastructure, but they provide sharply opposing views. In River Republic: The Fall and Rise of America’s Rivers, political scientist Daniel McCool calls on citizens to undo the damage done to the country’s waterways by the engineers of yore. In contrast, in […]
Posted inAugust 20, 2012: Troubled Taos
Tunneling under California’s Bay Delta water wars
On July 25, California Gov. Jerry Brown announced to an expectant press corps that the state plans to construct a pair of multibillion-dollar tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta in order to modernize and possibly expand the export of Northern California’s water, mostly south to farms and cities. After decades of rancor over what […]
Posted inMay 14, 2012: The sediment dumps of L.A.
L.A. activists try to stop woodlands from becoming sediment dumps
The list price was $1.125 million in August 2011, when Sotheby’s International Realty held the first open house for 1674 Highland Oaks Drive, in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia. Scented candles burned, classical music played and the air conditioner ran as potential buyers milled through the home’s three bedrooms, living room and combination den/dining […]
