California
Back to Place page. See also Redwoods, as well as Sea Level Rise and Water and Fire.
California has long history of taking the lead on green issues. Amber Mace, a leading expert on ocean protection policy, a UC alum, (bio) explains the problems but also why there's great hope because of the scientific work (including at UC) is informing policy here in California and in the White House (fifth Fred Keeley Lecture on Environmental Policy UCSC 2010).
Environment of California wikipedia. Pollution, Superfund toxic sites, Climate Change, CalEPA, CA green activist organizations.
Contents
News
News Sources
California Watch covers the environment See also their data center.
The California Report from KQED radio, includes ClimateWatch. It has series on How water and power interrelate, cap and trade and water supply. food production, Heat and Harvest series(video) see also (audio panel discussion)
Stories
With climate change, Valley fever spreads in California — and this year could be the worst yet 10/18. more.
California’s Wildfire and Climate Change Warnings Are Still Too Conservative, Scientist Says: Another hot, dry year is fueling the state’s deadliest, most destructive wildfire. Scientists say wildfires here are consistently surpassing their projections. 11/18 See Fire.
Californians are now lab rats for the long-term effects of toxic wildfire smoke As air quality hits hazardous levels in the Bay Area, scientists say we’re descending into unknown territory 11/18 see air.
Victorious California Ballot Measure Could Improve the Lives of Farm Animals Nationwide 11/18.
Water world forecast 5/18
Data faked on cleanup Bayview Hunter's Point chem/ radiation (interview audio) 4/18 see Chemicals.
How California's Fires Are Linked to Climate Chaos, Soil Health and Food Choices 1/18.
Californians Are Keeping Dirty Energy Off the Grid via Text Message:When power demand rises, OhmConnect sends out a text to customers: cut your energy use and you'll earn money. It's keeping demand spikes under control. see Green Design
California Reaches Solar Milestone, Electricity Prices Turn Negative Solar power met roughly half of California's electricity demand for the first time on March 11, according to new estimates from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). see Solar.
In Huge Win for Oceans and Wildlife, California Phases Out Plastic Bags 11/16. see Plastic.
Gov. Jerry Brown warns Trump that California won't back down on climate change.
According to the analysis from Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) analysis, CA AB 32 and related climate policies have pumped some $48 billion into the state economy over the past decade while helping create about 500,000 jobs.Assembly Bill 32, also known as AB 32 or the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, requires California to reduce climate-cooking greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 — which meant cutting emissions about 25 percent from where they were at in 2006, when AB 32 was passed by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Nestlé Can Keep Piping Water Out of Drought-Stricken California Despite Permit Expiring in 1988 9/16
When good forests go bad - an obituary for California oak trees 5/16
Ecosystems of California is a new comprehensive reference of California’s ecological abundance featuring contributions from 149 experts including 19 with ties to UC Santa Cruz. Co-edited by Erika Zavaleta and Harold Mooney. 1/16.
CA irrigating our crops with benzene and arsenic laden wastewater left over from fracking 1/16 , 11/16 update see Environmental Justice.
Lax Regulatory Enforcement Leaves Thousands at Risk of Lead Poisoning in California 11/15. See also Flint Michigan.
The Panoche Valley is one of the last refuges for some of our most imperiled wildlife in California,a place to weather the coming threats due to climate change. Right now the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is considering whether to allow a solar project to destroy this crucial habit (endangered species -- the giant kangaroo rat, San Joaquin kit fox and blunt-nosed leopard lizard).11/15 take action. Sierra Club.
The small coastal city of Morro Bay is considering a proposal that would put California's first offshore wind farm about 15 miles from the city's coast. The project would likely take years to pass the state's permitting process, but the project is already raising concerns about its environmental impact. California may soon be debating many such projects as Governor Jerry Brown signed a law last month that requires state utilities to receive half of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. 11/15.
A look at the weak regulations around oil drilling in L.A. 10/15.
World’s Largest Wildlife Corridor to Be Built in California 9/15. See Wildlife.
California Senate Passes Nation’s Strictest Ban on Microbeads 9/15 see Plastic.
Grassroots Pressure Escalates to Shut Down Diablo Canyon Nuke Plant CA. See Nuclear Power.8/15.
“California’s Toxic Fracking Fluids: The Chemical Recipe.” see Fracking 8/15.
California Finds Several Negative Impacts of Fracking, Approves Offshore Frack Jobs Anyway. 7/15
Water wars begin 6/15 see water below
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO A SINKING CALIFORNIA? JUST ASK SAN LUIS OBISPO 6/15.
2/15 Convergence emerges: Yellowstone River pipeline spill (after Gulf BP spill) PLUS Torrence refinery explosion (after Richmond CA), PLUS 200 offshore CA fracking well PLUS bomb trains exploding show a pattern we can't ignore. Uprising radio (audio) with Antonia_Juhasz, author of Black Tide and The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry--and What We Must Do to Stop It , video.
Alarming Consequences Of The California Drought You May Not Have Expected 3/15 (hint: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee).
Gov Jerry Brown inaugurated for an unprecedented 4th term, pledges major efforts to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (while on the same day, the new GOP majority Congress doubles down on the XL Keystone pipeline which US #1 climate expert James Hanson says spells "Game Over" for the planet, with no reset button, despite the metaphor). Brown broke ground on CA bullet train. Brown was first governor in mid-70's, which is why CA uses half the electricity per person despite having a strong economy. His dad was also governor, and built our water canal system, probably also our roads, and oh yeah, the UC system. 1/15.
California's New Fracking Rules: Too Little, Too Early? 1/15. See Fracking.
Fracking Flowback From California Oil Wells Contains High Levels Of Carcinogenic Chemicals 2/15.
Fracking Threatens Millions of Californians A new report shows that 5.4 million Californians—more than 14 percent of its 38.3 million population—live within a mile of an oil or gas well, and almost four million of those, or nearly 70 percent, are Hispanic, Asian or African-American, according to a new Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report Drilling in California: Who’s at Risk? Non-whites make up slightly more than 40 percent of California’s total population. See also more 10/14. see Fracking.
California Bans Genetically Engineered Salmon 10/14.
Wyoming and California protect grey wolves 5/14.
California Bans Plastic Bags . The bill, which passed both houses of the California State Legislature now heads to the Governor’s desk. If signed, California will become the first state in the U.S. to ban what advocates call “the most ubiquitous consumer item on the planet.” 9/14 see Plastic.
Bourne, Joel "California's Pipe Dream": A heroic system of dams, pumps, and canals can’t stave off a water crisis.Pipe Dream" National Geographic (video). See Water.
Fracking is Making California's Drought Worse 8/14. See Fracking and Water.
American Rivers has distinguished the San Joaquin River of California with the dubious title of “most endangered” river in the nation. Since 2009 the stream has been celebrated as a path-breaking example of restoration—status that could now be threatened. 8/14
How Morro Bay went from a national disaster to a sustainable success story/model for cooperation. 7/14.
California’s cap-and-trade program will fund environmental justice.
The Goat Brigade: Preventing Wildfires in Southern California 6/14. see Fire.
LOSS OF CALIFORNIA GROUNDWATER TRIGGERING EARTHQUAKES, STUDY.
El Niño May Spell Relief for California's Drought While Wreaking Havoc Elsewhere: Warm waters off the coast of South America might bring needed rains to the Golden State by winter. 5/14.
Pesticides and school report 5/14.
Los Angeles City Council Approves Ban on Fracking 3/14. See Fracking.
California Startup Turns Old Wind Turbines Into Gold 3/14. See Wind.
RE-Volv, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, is working to make solar more financially accessible to local community groups. The organization is building a program that allows community centers to make the switch to clean energy with no upfront costs. see Economics and Solar. Solar is keeping California’s lights on as hydro dries up 2/14
California Has Driest Year Ever -- And It May Get Worse 1/14.
Environmental Groups Bail On California Fracking Bill 9/13.
Napa Wetlands Nearly Restored After 20-Year Sonoma Marsh Restoration Project In California 9/13.
Is Climate Change Driving the Southwest Toward a Dust Bowl? 7/13.
San Onofre nuclear power plant to be closed permanently 6/14.
California, Illinois lawmakers welcome frackers 6/13 see Fracking.
Wildfire season is 2 months longer, more destructive now than in the 1970s due to global warming.
Climate change a death knell for most Californian fish.
California grocery chain turns food waste into electricity straight outta Compton 5/13.
California Fracking Rules Slammed By Environmentalists As Shale Oil Boom Threatens To Remake State 12/12.
California town of Sebastopol will require solar panels on all new homes 5/13
San Francico has gotten to 80% diversion from landfills with composting, heading for 100%. PBS NewsHour 1/13. video
A sluggish start for California carbon auctions? 11/12
Green progress in California could help the poor 11/12
Proposition 39, the California Clean Energy Jobs Act, passed. This measure closes an corporate tax loophole and will bring dollars and jobs back to California. Soda tax lost. GMO labelling 37 lost, both massively outspent by corps.
Restoration of Hetch Hetchy, rematch of the fight that broke John Muir's heart. 10/12
California starts cap and trade; alternative: Carbon tax demystified 9/12.
GMO labelling Prop 37 on November ballot. panel discussion (audio) 9/12. California fights for labels 2/12
Sierra Club urges action on these California bills (9/12): For: SB 1221 (Lieu) - Will prohibit the use of dogs for bear and bobcat hunting while still allowing hunters to take bears and bobcats during open season with the appropriate Department of Fish and Game licenses and tags.
SB 1222 (Leno) - Will establish a cap on permit fees charged by local governments for residential and commercial rooftop solar photovoltaic energy systems.
AB 1589 (Huffman) - Will establish new funding to prevent closures of state parks and provide more clarity on how the Department of State Parks and Recreation selects parks for closures.
AB 1478 (Blumenfield) - Will direct $20 million in special fund money to state parks and strengthen the composition and duties of the State Parks and Recreation Commission.
AB 685 (Eng) - Will establish a right to water for basic human needs as a policy of the state of California.
SB 1464 (Lowenthal) - Will establish safe passing distance and other procedures for motorized vehicles passing bicycles.
Against:
AB 845 (Ma) - Will undermine a 1984 voter-passed initiative to protect sensitive marshes from landfill expansion for imported garbage.
AB 2200 (Ma) - Will increase congestion and pollution by eliminating the HOV lane on eastbound Highway 80 morning traffic between San Francisco and Sacramento.
SB 744 (Wyland) - Will remove the independent, non-biased, third-party county sealer of weights and measures from the accuracy inspection process for water submeters prior to installation.
AB 976 (Hall) - Will make the launch of new Community Choice Aggregation programs virtually impossible by prohibiting any contact by local governments with potential providers of electricity or energy services prior to the commencement of service to customers.
EWG says the 2012 farm bill - the single biggest factor that determines what ends up on your plate - and is a doozy. This bill would feed fewer people, help fewer farmers, do less to promote healthy diets, prevent California from enforcing our own agriculture laws and weaken environmental protections - all while giving hand outs to Big Ag! Weigh in. 7.12
The Sierra Club has questions about the Sacramento Delta water.
Aquafornia water blog.
The nonprofit Urban Logic, is creating GoodBank, which he calls a "high-transparency, impacts-aware bank built in and for the Information Age." Bruce Cahan at Stanford Google talk on green consumers.
Grey Whale and calf in San Francisco Bay. 3/12 Oregon grey Wolf returns to California, first grey wolf in 90 years, and eagles nesting near UCSC and at Big Bear in Southern Ca (found by 3rd graders on a field trip).
California fights for GMO labels 2/12
Battery breakthrough 2/12 Electric car charging stations 3/12
A ruling by a federal court in California threatens to upset a controversial new fishing management plan embraced by environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund and The Nature Conservancy. 3/12
Maps, Interactive and Infographics
Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool (CalEnviroScreen) identifies California communities by census tract that are disproportionately burdened by, and vulnerable to, multiple sources of pollution. ***
Suresh K Lodha, UCSC Computer Science, has contributed to the Atlas of Global Inequality with Ben Crow, and The Atlas of California: Mapping the challenge of a new era (2013). Science & Engineering Library 2 copies , General Collection G1525 .W35 2013 ***
The California Field Atlas , artist-adventurer Obi Kaufmann blends science and art to illuminate the multifaceted array of living, connected systems like no book has done before...road trip companion and love letter to a place.(rewilding) audio interview 5/18. ***
State of CA EPA has a great deal of info, including environmental maps (Wayback archive) on many topics, including toxins (Department of Toxic Substances Control). CARB air maps CA 11/18.
Cal-Adapt was built specifically to address projections about climate change in California, designed by Google, in collaboration with the California Energy Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, several California universities and others. NEW
Google is mapping out air pollution levels on Google Earth 11/17.
Climate Central on drought etc.
Here’s what your city (LA) will look like when the ice sheets melt 12/14.
Reservoir levels see also Drought.gov 11/19.
Clean Energy map 2013 CA rocks!
Plan to break CA into six states 3/14 much sillier than Ecotopia.
Fire Maps
See Fire
Fire Tracker SF Chronicle 11/18.
U.S. Wildfire Interactive Shows Rising Temperatures, Less Snowfall Are Leading To More Fires infographic 7/13.
Global map 11/18
Three realtime maps 11/18
Cal Fire map 11/18.
Energy/Climate Change/Air Quality
Sources
Refinery air monitoring ARB 11/19.
2012 Chevron Richmond Refinery Fire Was Result Of Flawed Safety Culture, Report Finds 1/15. See Environmental Justice.
The California Report is a blog that list a variety of media, including NPR's Climate Connections. Includes coverage of carbon, as well as fire and water issues. See also "fun" stats. as well as food production, Heat and Harvest series.
Climate Central blog has great resources, including extreme weather by region Southwest stats and outlook on wildfires etc. Also lots of multimedia, including interactive maps as well as general info by state, e.g., California.
Stories
Breathless in Bakersfield: is the worst air pollution in the US about to get worse? 2/17.
A look at the weak regulations around oil drilling in L.A. 10/15.
California's Unusual Plan to Cut Greenhouse Gases: The state's metropolitan areas are rearranging themselves so that people drive less by Lee Epstein | Wed Aug. 21, 2013
California utility customers installed a record-breaking 391 megawatts of solar power systems last year. That was a banner year for the nation’s largest photovoltaic rebate scheme, with installations up 26 percent compared with 2011.
California might borrow $500 million from its climate fund
California grocery chain turns food waste into electricity straight outta Compton 5/13.
California’s Fog Is Clearing, and That’s Bad News for Redwoods.
Effects on wine industry. Mark Hertsgaard.
A sluggish start for California carbon auctions? 11/12
California Temperature forecasts 9/12.
California starts cap and trade; alternative: Carbon tax demystified
West Coast Sea Level Rise: 6 Inches Expected In California By 2030, Report Finds 6/12
Emissions in CA The California Air Resources Board has mandated that by 2025, 15 percent of new cars sold in the state must have zero or near-zero emissions. Daniel Sperling, the director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California Davis, tells host Bruce Gellerman how the state is going to achieve this goal. (text and audio 7:45) 7.12
CA water map (reservoir levels)
California at the Tipping Point KQED 4/9
UCTV has a wide range of videos on global warming and its effects.
Climate has enormous impacts on the marine life off California, influencing its major fisheries and the abundance of krill, seabirds and mammals. Join Tony Koslow as he shows how a 60-year ocean observation program, the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (or CalCOFI) is unraveling the impacts of the El Niño/La Niña cycle and human-induced climate. UCTV First Aired: 3/15/2010 52 minutes.
Cal-Adapt was built specifically to address projections about climate change in California, designed by Google, in collaboration with the California Energy Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, several California universities and others. NEW
33x20: California's Clean Power Countdown KQED series.
California - Carbon = A Cleaner World? GOVERNOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER. Recorded Sep 24 2009 Link (free Realplayer download required).
The New Gridlock: Los Angeles may be facing a new kind of gridlock; not on the road, but on the electrical grid. 3/09
Solar Realities: This two-part series explores the issues, opportunities and challenges surrounding solar power in California.
The Big Energy Gamble (Jan. 2009) Can California's ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gases actually succeed? Watch now (50 mins.) PBS Nova.
California status and map 2/12.
California's Top Polluters (map).
Sea Level Rise
What Happens to Silicon Valley When Sea Levels Rise?
Funding, Mitigation & Adaptation in California & Beyond 5/16/2013 | Watch video
Can Superstorm Sandy Happen in San Francisco? 5/16/2013 | Watch video.
Ocean Protection Council has published sea level data from UCSC: Nicole Russell and Dr. Gary Griggs of the University of California, Santa Cruz, recently published a new report titled “Adapting to Sea Level Rise: A Guide for California’s Coastal Communities.” The guidebook is intended to assist state agency staff, and managers and planners in California’s coastal cities and counties in developing sea level rise adaptation plans for coastal communities.
RISE: Part I Sounding the Waters Series: RISE: Climate Change and Coastal Communities. Sea level rise, includes Bay Area. San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Yet it was once much larger – 40% of its waters and wetlands were filled to create real estate. The 29-inch rise of coastal waters predicted by 2050, along with rapid river run-off and flooding due to storm surges, will reclaim some of that land. Among the areas threatened are the airports, Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Financial District. Part 2 on farmers. Part 3: Chuey Cazares has lived all of his 21 years in Alviso, a tiny hamlet jutting into the salt ponds at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay. Part of a close, extended Chicano family, with hundreds of relatives living in town, Chuey works as a deck hand on a shrimp boat off Alviso's shores.
His town's history — and its future — are defined by water. In the 1800's, farmers drained the aquifer, and the land sank thirteen feet below sea level. Then, the conversion of wetlands to salt ponds made the rivers back up during heavy rains and flooded Alviso. Now sea level rise from the Bay and more rain swelling the rivers threaten more frequent flooding. Chuey's family was traumatized by the last big flood in 1983, and although they fear the next one, they don't want to move anywhere else. Meanwhile, Mendel Stuart of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working to save Alviso by restoring wetlands. But who is Alviso being saved for? As the flood risk lessens, property values are increasing, making housing in Alviso unaffordable for Chuey and his relatives. And the wetlands conversion has driven his boss's lucrative shrimping business out of the salt ponds.
PBS NewsHour on Southern Ca (video) 3/12.
Sea level rise effect on coastal communities, especially San Pedro. 4/12 (audio).
Water/Ocean
(See also main Water page and Fracking)
Sources:
Aquafornia water blog.
KQED Quest coverage (video).
The Pacific Institute is an excellent resource on water issues. Example Peter Glick on Peak Water and Fracking.
The Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood by Lloyd G. Carter, former UPI and Fresno Bee reporter, who has been writing about California water issues for more than 35 years. for example history of water rights. 6/15
Stories:
Water world forecast 5/18.
Drought update, CA water history overview 4/17 ***audio interview with The Atlas of California: Mapping the Challenge of a New Era Richard A. Walker (UCB), Suresh K. Lodha (UCSC).
Frack/ oil waterwater on crops see headlines above 11/16.
The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California by Mark Arax, audio interview 6/19
Killing the Colorado: The Truth Behind the Water Crisis in the West. California’s Drought Is Part of a Much Bigger Water Crisis. Here’s What You Need to Know 3/16.
Global Warming Worsens California Drought as July Becomes Hottest Month on Record: in the absence of global warming, the drought in California would have been somewhere between 8 and 27 percent less severe. 8/15.
96m WATER-SAVING SHADE BALLS RELEASED INTO LA RESERVOIR (VIDEO).
Water wars begin 6/15 see land settling in san luis obispo above).
Cowspiracy: As California Faces Drought, Film Links Meat Industry to Water Scarcity & Climate Change 5/15, 55% of water in CA goes to meat and dairy, major cause of deforestation.
Epic Drought Spurs California to Build Largest Desalination Plant in Western Hemisphere 3/15.
Alarming Consequences Of The California Drought You May Not Have Expected 3/15 (hint: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee).
Fracking Flowback From California Oil Wells Contains High Levels Of Carcinogenic Chemicals 2/15.
U.S. 'Megadroughts' Are Likely Later This Century, Study Finds 2/15.
The Best Reporting on California’s Drought 8/14.
New Dust Bowl 10/14.
10/14 update/overview includes "paper water" in Central Valley..
Satellite images reveal shocking groundwater loss in California 10/14. NASA Bombshell: Global Groundwater Crisis Threatens Our Food Supplies And Our Security 10/14.
Bourne, Joel "California's Pipe Dream": A heroic system of dams, pumps, and canals can’t stave off a water crisis.Pipe Dream" National Geographic (video). See Water.
Fracking is Making California's Drought Worse 8/14. See Fracking and Water.
SF wetlands restoration saves species and fights sea level rise (PBS video) 10/14.
The California Oil Industry Is Now Required To Disclose Its Water Use 9/14.
Fracking and shale water, as well as earthquakes in CA. Monterey County.
40 Million People Depend on the Colorado River. Now It's Drying Up 8/14.
El Niño May Spell Relief for California's Drought While Wreaking Havoc Elsewhere: Warm waters off the coast of South America might bring needed rains to the Golden State by winter. 5/14.
California Has Driest Year Ever -- And It May Get Worse 1/14.
During Drought, Pop-Up Wetlands Give Birds a Break 1/14. see also Birds.
Auburn Dam: The Water Project That Won’t Die 5/14.
Rebels With A Cause a new documentary on protecting seashores, the story of the schemers and dreamers who fought to keep developers from taking over the breathtaking landscape of Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, site. 3/14.
'The Golden Shore' details a love affair with the sea. Marine conservationist David Helvarg lingers at the California coast to study its history and the ties that bind people to the blue, blue Pacific.(book).
Saving the Bay is an amazing four hour PBS KQED documentary. sample on mercury from the Gold Rush. ***
Lake Tahoe clarity 12/13. (video). KQED Quest longer segment.
California fishery stats 2006 pdf.
CA ocean protected areas(map) and more info.
What Happens to Silicon Valley When Sea Levels Rise?
Funding, Mitigation & Adaptation in California & Beyond 5/16/2013 | Watch video.
Can Superstorm Sandy Happen in San Francisco? 5/16/2013 | Watch video.
Controversial California oyster farm fights to stay 12/12.
Delta:
Sacramento Delta is incredibly important in terms of wildlife and drinking water. The Sierra Club has questions about the Sacramento Delta water. maps. Commonwealth Club(audio) held a panel discussion(video) 10/13.Scientific American on global warming effects 11/11. Sacramento Delta plan (audio) 7/12. See also Aboard the Tugnacious With Dr. Doom. Restoring the San Joaquin River and Recalling Its History 8/13. Peripheral Canal (2007, but has links for background) around the Sacramento Delta.
2/14 Update: interview with journalist Joachim Palamino on history of Westlands Water District and Bay Delta Plan (audio).
Tulare County water contaminated by farms. 11/12.
VERLYN KLINKENBORG Lost in the Geometry of California’s Farms (aquifer groundwater).
Restoration of Hetch Hetchy, rematch of the fight that broke John Muir's heart. 10/12.
Diverting the Missouri River to the West: 'Can' Does Not Mean 'Should' 12/12.
Colorado River Pact Signed Between The U.S. And Mexico 11/12 New Rules for Sharing the Shrinking Colorado River 12/12 (audio).
American Rivers, an advocacy organization, announced their 2013 report of the country's 10 most endangered rivers. The Colorado River is at the top of the list as recreation-based economies, wildlife, and world-renowned canyons continue to be threatened by what American Rivers is calling "outdated water management" policies in the region. We get its water in California (see Cadillac Desert). Two guys paddled and walked for over 1,700 miles, following the Colorado from source to sea. Watch a 3-minute time lapse of the journey below to see how this iconic river begins -- and where it eventually ends up.
CA Desalination plants see also Opponent activist site.
Water wars? 4/12
Clearcutting forests endangers California water supply10/11.
Nitrates in the water from farming. Nitrates in CA drinking water 5/10 can lead to Blue Baby Syndrome.
CA maps including
CA water map (reservoir levels)
Toxic Episode - Imperial Valley 1 In the burning fields of Southern California’s Imperial Valley, the honey bee population is dying, and so are millions of fish in the Salton Sea. Meanwhile, the squatters of Slab City try to live off the grid and hold on to what’s left of the American Wild West. VBS travels to this apocalyptic landscape.
California Drought 60 Minutes segment 12/09
Cadillac Desert is a four-part Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) video series on the remaking of America's West through startling feats of engineering and the consequences that this manipulation of water and nature has wrought. The first three programs are based on Marc Reisner's groundbreaking book "Cadillac Desert," an examination of how water created the modern American West--the most successful "hydrologic society" in history. The series begins with the story of Los Angeles and its unquenchable thirst for water in "Mulholland's Dream." The second program, "An American Nile," tell how the Colorado River became the most regulated river in history. Next in the series is "The Mercy of Nature" which tracks the political and environmental battles that ended in California's Great Central Valley being transformed from a semiarid desert into the richest agricultural region in the world. The fourth and final program is based on the award-winning book, "Last Oasis" by Sandra Postel. It examines the ramifications of the export of America's water development expertise to the rest of the world, and shows how conservation, recycling, and efficiency offer hopeful and sustainable solutions to the world's gathering water crisis. McHenry Library VT4840. Cadillac Desert VT4840 **** History of water in the West based on Reisner's excellent book. online.
Chasing Water: The Colorado River; Flowing Through Conflict is also a book see also [1]. Photographer Peter McBride traveled along the Colorado River from its source high in the Rocky Mountains to its historic mouth at the Sea of Cortez. He follows the natural course of the Colorado by raft, on foot, and overhead in a small plane, telling the story of a river whose water is siphoned off at every turn, leaving it high and dry 80 miles from the sea.
From the Toilet to the Tap Today, cities around the world (including Orange County CA, are shifting away from the historical focus of wastewater management (i.e. the miracle of making the wastewater go away somewhere where we can't see it) and adopting a new paradigm of re-use. David Sedlak, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley, studies wastewater and spoke about water recycling at the 2009 Nobel Conference on water conservation issues.
UC research on CA drought 7/09
California Water video KQED Quest. 10/9 story on mercury in SF Bay
sewage spills April 09 video KQED Quest.
Transitions Santa Cruz water working group
A run-down urban neighborhood finds life in a dead stream. San Diego and LA.
Amber Mace, a leading expert on ocean protection policy, a UC alum, (bio) explains the problems but also why there's great hope because of the scientific work (including at UC) is informing policy here and in the White House (fifth Fred Keeley Lecture on Environmental Policy UCSC 2010).
The Last Stand: Heroes at the Ballona Wetlands.
Suresh K Lodha, UCSC Computer Science, has contributed to the Atlas of Global Inequality with Ben Crow, and The Atlas of California: Mapping the challenge of a new era, includes hopw water runs uphill towards money (2013).
Fluid State: The Future of Water in California panel discussion, audio (1/14/14) - See more at: link.
Dead Pool centers on Lake Powell.
The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow. B. Lynn Ingram (Audio interview), Frances Malamud-Roam (Author).excerpt.
Carle, David. 2009. Introduction to Water in California: Updated with a New Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater, Water Education Foundation, 2003 Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, Water Education Foundation, 2005 Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project, Water Education Foundation, 2008.
Vanished Waters: A History of San Francisco's Mission Bay, by Nancy Olmsted (Mission Creek Conservancy; 134 pages. podcast.
Chemicals
List and map of Superfund sites (chemicals). 11/19
KQED News (NPR) on Pesticides and Chemicals 11/19.
Ecosystems
Ecosystems of California is a new comprehensive reference of California’s ecological abundance featuring contributions from 149 experts including 19 with ties to UC Santa Cruz. Co-edited by Erika Zavaleta and Harold Mooney. 1/16. ***
Wyoming and California protect grey wolves 5/14.
The Redwood Forest: HISTORY, ECOLOGY, AND CONSERVATION OF THE COAST REDWOODS. EDITED BY REED F. NOSS; SAVE-THE-REDWOODS LEAGUE published by Island Prass (go Slugs). See also Redwoods.
Peter Alagona, professor of environmental history at UC Santa Barbara and author of "After the Grizzly: Endangered Species and the Politics of Place in California." excerpt.
Transportation
Buses Are the Electric Vehicle Everyone Should Be Talking About. Here's Why 12/18 see Transportation.
California High Speed Rail video 2007. Audio update and interactive map 11/09. video image gallery
Gov Jerry Brown inaugurated for an unprecedented 4th term, pledges major efforts to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (while on the same day, the new GOP majority Congress doubles down on the XL Keystone pipeline which US #1 climate expert James Hanson says spells "Game Over" for the planet, with no reset button, despite the metaphor). Brown broke ground on CA bullet train. Brown was first governor in mid-70's, which is why CA uses half the electricity per person despite having a strong economy. His dad was also governor, and built our water canal system, probably also our roads, and oh yeah, the UC system. audio debate 1/15.
History
(see also History page)
The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California by Mark Arax, audio interview 6/19
Trees in Paradise: A California History By Jared Farmer review audio interview.
LA's History Lesson on Environmental Justice and Waste 12/12.
CA leads: A decision 90 years ago by the people of Sacramento, Calif. to oust a private electric company and start a government-owned utility has been the unlikely inspiration for Berliners trying to wrest control of Germany's largest grid from a coal-fired utility. While little known in America, the creation of Sacramento's Municipal Utility District was the model for a November referendum to give Berlin a municipal utility that would pump more clean energy into the grid. The 1923 vote in Sacramento helped the California city build a rare, green record—constructing the nation's first big solar plant, voting to shut down a nuclear reactor and approving a goal of slashing climate-changing emissions by 90 percent by 2050 (AB 32).
The Elusive Eden charts the historical development of California, beginning with landscape and climate and the development of Native cultures, and continues through the census of 2010 and the election of Jerry Brown to his third term as governor. It portrays a land of remarkable richness and complexity, settled by waves of people with diverse cultures from around the world. Organized in ten parts, each part develops a major theme or issue in the chronological development of the state. The first chapter in Parts II through IX is an in-depth narrative spotlight of an individual or group at a critical moment of change. In Parts I and X, the first chapter helps to place California's whole story in context.
'The Golden Shore' details a love affair with the sea. Marine conservationist David Helvarg lingers at the California coast to study its history and the ties that bind people to the blue, blue Pacific.(book).
Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America by Richard White at Stanford video)
Steven Erie, a professor of political science at UCSD is author of ‘Beyond Chinatown’ on water; short overview of LA and SF infrastructure.
Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin.
America's last whaling station (shut down in 1973 by Endangered Species Act) was in the San Francisco Bay Area. (video)
Rebecca Solnit is the author of many books, her newest Infinite City, is about San Francisco.
Search Amazon for California history.
Cruzcat UCSC library book search
California Environmental History bibliography.
Ruler and Rebels: A People’s History of Early California, 1769 – 1901, by Larry Shoup, focuses on the dramatic but little known stories of early California history, written from the point of view of rank and file working people.
The King of California This meticulous narrative of the rise of the cotton magnate James G. Boswell begins in the nineteen-twenties, when his family was driven from Georgia by boll-weevil infestations and brought its plantation ways to California's San Joaquin Valley. Not to be defeated by nature again, the Boswells leveed and dammed Tulare Lake, the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi, to the point of extinction. In its six-hundred-square-mile basin they grew cotton, while in Los Angeles office towers they built one of the country's largest agricultural operations, swallowing small farms and multimillion-dollar subsidies with equal vigor. Arax and Wartzman strive for evenhandedness but acknowledge the costs of Big Ag—such as evaporation ponds with selenium levels so high that ducks are born with corkscrewed beaks and no eyes, and the recurrent "hundred-year floods," stubborn attempts by the old lake to reassert itself.
Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath by Rick Wartzman.
California: A History by Kevin Starr.
Assembling California by John McPhee "takes readers on an intensive geological tour of California... looks at the conjectural science of earthquake prediction and gives an account of a recent San Francisco quake. His leisurely excavation meanders from Mexican explorer Juan Bautista de Anza's settlement of San Francisco in 1776 to 1850s gold-mining camps to the summit of Mount Everest, made of marine limestone lifted from a shelf that once divided India and Tibet. With this volume McPhee concludes his Annals of the Former World series, which he began with Basin and Range (1980).
Towers of Gold is about Isaias Hellman, who was California’s premier financier in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a man whose financial acumen catapulted the state into the modern era and laid the groundwork for one of the world’s most dynamic economies... Hellman was both a builder and financier, a major investor and promoter of eight industries that shaped California—banking, transportation, education, land development, water, electricity, oil, and wine.
Beasts of the Field: A Narrative History of California Farmworkers, 1769-1913 by Richard Steven Street Amazon
Mining California: An Ecological History by Andrew C. Isenberg (see course reader)
The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area by Richard Walker
A history of California counties.
Californiahistory.com is absolutely devoted to the history of California. General and more difficult to search for details about one place.
Links to popular California history sites (e.g., railroads, museums)
History of the county of Los Angeles (not just the city--the entire county)
Land of Sunshine : an environmental history of metropolitan Los Angeles Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, c2005 McH Stacks - GF504.C2 L36 2005
History and nostalgia, for historic minded.
"Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century" is a story of the largest public works project in US history. audio interview. See also PBS Hoover Dam.
The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow. B. Lynn Ingram (Audio interview), Frances Malamud-Roam (Author).excerpt.
Bodie's Gold: Tall Tales & True History From a California Mining Town, Marguerite Sprague, College Eight '82 University of Nevada Press, 2003.
Assembling California by John McPhee "takes readers on an intensive geological tour of California... looks at the conjectural science of earthquake prediction and gives an account of a recent San Francisco quake. His leisurely excavation meanders from Mexican explorer Juan Bautista de Anza's settlement of San Francisco in 1776 to 1850s gold-mining camps to the summit of Mount Everest, made of marine limestone lifted from a shelf that once divided India and Tibet. With this volume McPhee concludes his Annals of the Former World series, which he began with Basin and Range (1980).
When California was an island 4/13. (map story) audio.
The Sempervirens story: a century of preserving California's ancient redwood forest, 1900-2000 : a pictorial and historical narrative of the Sempervirens Club and the Sempervirens Fund / by Denzil & Jennie Verardo, Yaryan, Willie (College 8 instructor). S&E Stacks SD397.R3 Y37 2000 c.2.
The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California By Richard Walker; New York: New Press, 2004.alt link
Carey McWilliams (amazing guy), in his work Factories in the Field (1939), concentrated on the exploitation of migrant laborers on large-scale corporate farms. California, the Great Exception (1949). author bio.
Earthquake Storms: The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault by John Dvorak includes the SF Earthquake and Fire, including Alice Eastwood, the curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, is credited with saving nearly 1,500 specimens, including the entire type specimen collection for a newly discovered and extremely rare species, before the remainder of the largest botanical collection in the western United States was consumed by fire. Also references the story of the heroic guy who rode from UC's Lick Observatory above San Jose all the way to Berkeley to tell them no damage, since the phones were out. audio interview (5/16, 3 pm).
Native Americans (see also Native American page)
Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources by M. Kat Anderson.
Charles Mann, author of 1491(book exploration on how Native Americans used the land) has also written about interactions between colonists and Native peoples. Charles Mann, "Living in the Homogenocene: The First 500 Years" (video) LongNow 2012 talk.
Another account of megafauna extinctions
Nature and the environment in pre-Columbian American life Kowtko, Stacy Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2006 McH Stacks - E98.S67 K69 2006
Millenia of CA ecology, a (LongNow video).
CA Green Organizations
California green groups Wikipedia.
A list of larger environmental groups working in California.
Environmental organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Water organizations. 11.18
Los Angeles list, LA Beaches and Harbor, local agencies and NGO's 11/18.
A portal to environmental organizations in California (older)
