Earth Blog

The traditional pairing of white wine with a fish dinner has another relationship aside from your plate and palate.

Biologists at the University of California, Berkeley have found that fish and viticulturists in wine country may be unknowingly competing for one of the state’s most limited resources: water. Take a guess as to who is losing the struggle? There is a fifty/fifty chance you guess correctly. If you guessed the fish and are clutching a bottle of wine you are correct and win that bottle you are holding.

As if California didn’t have enough to worry about in the pest department (Lindsay Lohan is still roaming free, isn’t she?) a new threat has been identified that could cripple the avocado industry if left unchecked.

In 2003 the tiny beetle known as the Tea Shot Hole Borer (Euwallacea fornicatus) which is smaller than the size of a single flaxseed, was first “detected” in Los Angeles County, probably with a magnifying glass or the trained eye of a professional if it was a spotting.

According to the article it wouldn’t be until nine years later that the health of California’s trees was considered at risk when an avocado tree in a Los Angeles backyard was found with a beetle, fungus, and dieback symptoms by Akif Eskalen, a plant pathologist at UC Riverside.  The Agricultural Commissioner of Los Angeles County and the California Food and Drug Administration have both verified the identity of the tiny menace to ensure this isn’t a case of mistaken identity.

We have been following the Los Angeles City Council and their struggle to pass an ordinance banning single use plastic bags and charging a fee for paper bags for months now- since December to be precise.

Earlier this week during a three hour Energy & Environment Committee meeting the ban was revisited as the requested fiscal and community reports pertaining to a bag ban were given. This meeting also included a presentation of the proposed fiscal budget for the Department of Water and Power for the upcoming year by its commissioners.  

The City of Claremont (nickname: “The City of Trees and PhDs”) has been awarded Silver level status by the California Green Communities (CGC) program for their work toward sustainability. Claremont is only one of four cities that have reached Silver status; the others are Monrovia, Riverside, and Santa Clarita.  Seven other cities including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Ventura are using the program’s criteria to better their towns and earn recognition.

"Our City takes its commitment to sustainability seriously," said Mayor Sam Pedroza.  "It is a priority for the City Council and it is a consideration in every project and program we provide. Achieving the Silver level status validates the tremendous work this community has done."

The California Strawberry Commission (CSC) wants to remind you that peak season has arrived! Though strawberries are sold year round the finest examples of one California’s top crops (7th most valuable fruit crop estimated at $2.1 billion) are sold March through August.

Well over 80 percent of our nation’s strawberries are grown in California by a network of more than 500 family owned and operated farms. Together these farms grow strawberries on a combined total of 36,000 acres. This means that 56 square miles of California’s vast size is used for strawberry cultivation or about twice the size of the city of Oxnard, which is considered the “Strawberry Capital of the World.”

All farmers are concerned with sustainability and safety this obviously includes berry farmers. A look at farms and the people working on them in the self-proclaimed capital gives us an idea of the sustainability practices currently in place.

The Halaco site in Oxnard, California, is one of many superfund sites in Southern California currently being cleaned up and studied by the EPA. Some residents of the area are old enough to recall the metal smelter’s havoc on the air and most all have a passing knowledge if not curiosity about the abandoned and fenced-off plant situated so close to the ocean.

Would you like the good news or the bad news first? How would you like to hear news that is both depending on how you feel about snow? Amount of snowfall and snowmelt are important to California’s tourist and agricultural industries. You may hate living in snow but enjoy visiting it to ski or snowboard. California’s mountain streams enjoy snowmelt to boost fishing -it’s important even if you are only aware of it on a cursory level atop the state’s mountain ranges.

A curious climate scientist wondered about the snowfall on California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. Was it decreasing like everyone seemed to think? He found that over 130 years the state has seen neither an increase nor a decrease in snowfall. For once it’s true that the more things change the more they stay the same.

The San Diego car2go electric car sharing program was launched in November of last year as part of the Smart City San Diego initiative. Since then more than 6,000 people have registered to use the service and over 25,000 trips have been taken.

There were only 800 electric vehicles (EVs) in the city and now thanks to car2go there are 300 more EVs on San Diego’s roads-a 40% increase. San Diego is now one of the top cities in the world for electric vehicle drivers with an estimated 7,000 EV users.

“At a time when the cost of fuel is reaching record-high prices, San Diegans are looking for ways to reduce their dependence on fuel and for more cost-efficient modes of transportation; and car2go is a very logical choice for them," said Nicholas Cole, president and CEO of car2go.

This week in bag ban news the idyllic hamlet of Ojai is on course to become the first city in Ventura County to ban single use plastic bags.

The Ventura County Star reported that the Ojai City Council passed the ordinance but it will still require council’s approval later this month to be officially deemed a law.

The sad deaths of 108 dolphins due to stranding along Cape Cod on the east coast isn’t this year’s only news of marine mammals dying in “unprecedented” numbers. The west coast is looking at a dwindling
sea otter population that is for once not due to anything humans have done.

Suzy Amis Cameron knows the right clothes are needed to walk the red carpet. She has had to walk several red carpets as the wife of James Cameron, award-winning director of blockbuster hits like Avatar and Titanic.

In 2009 she founded Red Carpet Green Dress to raise awareness about sustainability and environmental stewardship through design. 

The organization recently announced the winner of their annual gown design contest, Miami’s Valentina Delfino, whose dress concept will be worn by actress Missi Pyle on tonight’s red carpet at the 84th Annual Academy Awards. Pyle is not nominated for an Oscar herself but is part of the cast of the heavily nominated film The Artist.

Students at colleges and universities are generally considered to be short on funds. They famously dine on Ramen noodles and drag their laundry to mom and dad’s because they never have quarters for the laundry mat. Crippled with student loans and debt they enter the workforce and slowly pay down the sometimes astronomical balance. Most of them don’t feel comfortable taking out additional loans to buy a home or start a business. Fingers point in numerous directions when it comes to the death of entrepreneurship and small business- regulations, corporations, the education system itself-but no matter where you think the blame should be placed without money no one can start a business.

California is always in the news for one thing or other. California controversies start on the frivolous side of the scale with celebrities on one end and the difficult side with the socio-political and environmental struggles the state is constantly trying overcome. Clearly, living in the great state of California comes with great responsibility. It’s a big state with varied geography and an even more varied population so there is much to protect.

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. If you participated in the chain-store chaos of Black Friday here’s hoping you had a safe one without being pepper-sprayed over a super deal and went on to shop locally on Small Business Saturday. But now you need to start thinking about the kind of tree you want to buy and it’s not just about whether or not it leans a bit or if it’s a little thin on one side. What are the ornaments you use made of? Unfortunately, the work doesn’t stop there - you should start to think about the materials you are going to wrap your loot in so you can stack that loot gorgeously under your festively decorated tree. Does it sound overwhelming like the joy has just been sucked out of your holiday season? Fear not! A greener Christmas is a lot easier than you think.