Christopher Ketcham writes on our continuing anthropogenic (human-caused) extinction, and the ineffectual and often misguided attempts at appeasement for the destroyers of wilderness and consumers of the Earth’s bounty. E.O. Wilson’s push for parks and wilderness connected by corridors: half for us, half for them, might just be the answer.
Recent Posts
Walking Water: Eastern Sierra Pilgrimage of Healing the Drought
Alexis Slutzky tells the story of a September 2015 pilgrimage through California’s Owens Valley, called Walking Water. This first phase of a much longer journey began at Mono Lake and ended 180 miles south at Owens Dry Lake. For 100 years, Los Angeles has piped water from there over 300 miles further south to sustain the city, draining ancient lakes and groundwater, destroying natural water systems. In the fourth year of an historic drought, Walking Water seeks to create a new narrative regarding this life-giving resource, investigating our common and often conflicting needs, and learning how to live within our means.
Death By Misadventure: Malcolm Lowry’s Gin-Sopped Volcano
Malcolm Lowry’s 1947 masterpiece “Under the Volcano,” about the fervid last hours of an alcoholic ex-diplomat in Mexico, is set to the drumbeat of coming internal and external conflict. Autobiographical and reflective of the expatriated trust-funder in a futile search for an artistic home, the perpetually inebriated master got lost along the road toward his own abyss, and died under suspicious circumstances, out-of-print.
Fluoride Dangers in Drinking Water: Our Daily Dose
Is drinking water fluoridation safe and effective? New science reveals that fluoride is a developmental neurotoxin and an endocrine disruptor. The CDC tells us that drinking fluoride decreases tooth decay, at best, by 25%. Is one less cavity worth risking a child’s long-term brain and thyroid health? Watch the film “Our Daily Dose” and read the critique by Paul Connett.
GMO Herbicide Glyphosate, Toxic to Ecosystems, Carcinogenic to You
Bayer’s multi-billion dollar GMO herbicide is one of the most toxic substances ever launched on the public, responsible for cancers and other diseases, and has significant negative effects on ecosystems across the world. California has agreed to add glyphosate, the main ingredient of Monsanto’s Roundup, to the list of known carcinogens.
Drug Trafficking in Honduras: Corruption a Multinational Affair
In the nightmare of corruption, murder and impunity that is post coup d’état Honduras, many political and economic sectors of the “international community,” foremost the U.S. and Canada, maintain beneficial relations with drug trafficking and related enterprises. Rights Action ?shares Karen Spring’s dissection of a recent U.S. money laundering bust in Miami of the Rosenthals, one of Honduras’ elite families.
L.A. River Must Transform as Watershed, Transportation Corridor
Takeaways from a recent Green Festival Expo discussion on the Los Angeles River Revitalization include that the job of planning for water resiliency belongs to all of us, not Frank Gehry regardless of his recent charge, and we must also consider how public access, parkland, ecosystem restoration, cargo and passenger rail, bicycle greenways, and anti-gentrification environmental justice will fit into the mix. Collaboration is the key.