The word “nuclear” is often associated with gigantic, terrifying bombs, or the neon-green sludge that contributes to the erratic behavior of Homer Simpson. And yes, it earned that reputation with infamous mistakes, such as the horrifying incidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. However, one must keep in mind that these mistakes were made by […]
Tag: California climate change
The Moral Ambiguity of Carbon Capture
Californians are well aware by now that the world is in the thralls of climate change. The state feels the effects often—every year we deal with fires, earthquakes, and dramatic natural disasters that devastate community after community. And what can we do? The California state government says that we need to cut back on carbon […]
California’s Support for Tesla is a One-Way Street
A Puzzling Return Elon Musk’s decision to open a new Tesla global engineering headquarters in Palo Alto at the former site of Hewlett Packard in February 2023 may have raised some eyebrows. After all, just 16 months before, the controversial tech billionaire moved the headquarters of the California-founded company to Austin, Texas. That move came […]
Prescribed Burns As The Solution To California’s Increasingly Incendiary Forests
The weather has been a running joke for residents of San Francisco. Karl, the name they have given their fog, blankets their sky year-round. There is no snow season (it has snowed six times in the last 150 years.) And, due to California’s historic drought, residents of The City are losing their rainy season. But […]
Paradise Lost: Agriculture, Water, and the Future of the Golden State
When the first forty-niners began to trickle into California in search of gold, the Central Valley was a fertile expanse of grasslands and marshes home to thousands of deer, tule elk, and grizzly bears — an American Serengeti. Within a century, the region radically transformed into a cornucopia of industrial agriculture to feed the state’s […]
CA Isn’t Ready to Close Its Last Nuclear Power Plant— But It Can’t Stay Open
On the first of February, 79 top energy experts signed an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, urging him to halt the decommission of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, California’s very last operational source of nuclear power. The group behind this letter includes dozens of prominent energy executives, professors from Berkeley, MIT, Stanford and more, […]
Weathering the Storm: How California Needs to Adapt to Sea Level Rise
The classic postcard image of beautiful wide, sandy beaches in California is under threat by climate change. Climate change is irrevocably changing the California coastline and will soon have a resounding impact on local economies, housing, and quality of life. Clashes between municipal governments and state governments have led to a stalemate over what beach […]
Farmworkers: Victims of COVID-19 and Climate Change
Farmworkers are a crucial sector of the labor force who often go without praise. Despite the harsh working conditions, low wages and the increasing threat of climate change, farmworkers are putting their lives even more at risk during the global pandemic. Farmworkers serve an essential purpose in our society as the backbone of our food […]