Sea otters are terminally cute critters and a delight to view rolling and diving in the kelp canopy of Monterey Bay, where some 3,000 endangered southern otters play an essential role in maintaining the marine kelp forest. But to crabs, clams, abalone, urchins and some fishermen, sea otters are voracious marine weasels that can eat […]
Triage and Transformation Strategies for the Climate Emergency
In 2004, I contributed to Feeling the Heat, a book in which nine journalists traveled the world to report on the impacts of climate change. My chapters covered Australia, Florida, Fiji, and Antarctica. Today, you no longer have to travel to cover climate catastrophes because they’re regularly coming to a neighborhood near you. Despite a few outspoken […]
Will Biden’s new American Climate Corps match the success of the California Conservation Corps?
On Wednesday, President Biden used his executive power to establish the American Climate Corps, which will employ and train 20,000 young people in the work of climate resilience. Similar to but more modest than the famed CCC — the Civilian Conservation Corps established by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 during the Great Depression — the ACC […]
Opinion: Florida’s sea temperature hit 101. What does that mean for the world’s oceans?
“Who hears the fishes when they cry?” — Henry David Thoreau’ Ocean temperatures around the Florida Keys hit an unprecedented 101.1 degrees this July, resulting in the worst coral bleaching in the reef system’s history. There will also likely be an intensification of this year’s hurricane season due to the hot tub like ocean conditions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric […]
The Promise of California’s Climate Roadmap
Ten years ago, I wrote a book called The Golden Shore: California’s Love Affair with the Sea. Back then, I suggested that California, with almost forty million people and the world’s fifth largest economy, was proof that you could grow a progressive society while protecting your coast and ocean—and that the two are intrinsically linked. The San […]