April 16th, 2010

The Nature Conservancy, which has worked over the years to preserve California’s 278 state parks, wants residents to visit and enjoy these resources, especially as waters warm and flowers bloom this spring and summer.

So this week, the Nature Conservancy presented its picks for the “Ocean Oscars,” highlighting some of the best public beach spots in the state. Here, by category, with descriptions written by the Nature Conservancy, are the winners:

• Best Urban Retreat – Eastshore State Park – San Francisco Bay Area. This seashore is amidst one of the most developed areas in California. Nestled right outside San Francisco, Eastshore State Park is an urban retreat with miles of walking and biking trails and panoramic views of the bay. Tidal wetlands, marshes and sandy beaches are home to thousands of birds, delighting any naturalist or photographer.
  

  Point Lobos Natural Reserve

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July 20th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

This was a week of news that really illustrated the push and pull between green ideals and the realities of life here on Planet X.

The Obama Administration put logging jobs ahead of forest preservation with its decision to allow a road into an undisturbed forest in the Tongass National Forest outside of Ketchikan, Alaska. The forest, a watershed and recreation area, had been left alone under a Clinton-era rule that protects “roadless” forests.

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November 18th, 2008

By Barbara Kessler

If global warming wasn’t so devastatingly tangible, it would sound like part of a doomsday cult. Consider these projections of the future for a swath of the U.S.

First up: Kansas, the American heartland, breadbasket to the world, a place of amber waves of grain…a place we might not recognize by century’s end.

Under projected global warming scenarios, Kansas will become hotter and drier, with more insects and more storms during the next several decades. By century’s end, western Kansas will be so arid, it will need 8 more inches of water to sustain crops there. Eastern Kansas will be wetter, but so warm that evaporation will claim the extra rainfall and southwestern Kansas will be a virtual desert. All this according to a report released last week by University of Kansas scientists Nathaniel Brunsell and Johannes Feddema for the Climate Change and Energy Project based in Salina, Kansas.

But wait, Dorothy, there’s more.

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