Environment

In the preface to his book “California: A Fire Survey,” Stephen J. Pyne notes that the “California fire scene” has long shaped the broader American agenda. “For the national narrative the important fact is that what happened in California did not stay in California,” he...

California State Parks has released its recovery plan for Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the oldest one in California. Nearly five years on from the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, which torched over 90% of the park and destroyed more than 900 homes in the area,...

Rolling Hills Middle School 7th-graders and Louise Van Meter Elementary 5th-graders have completed an in-depth water monitoring educational course that highlighted what life as a professional H20 monitor would be like. As part of the Poseidon Education’s Stormwater Quality Leadership Program, the kids took samples,...

A dead rat was spotted Downtown Los Gatos on Monday morning, at North Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street. It was unclear what killed the animal, however, it lay next to a black animal control box containing poison. Per the label, the bait station contains desmethyl...

“April showers bring May flowers” —A proverb meaning unpleasant things can ultimately lead to a positive outcome. One very nice thing about living in “these parts” is the changing of the seasons. And by the way, Los Gatos and Saratoga are designated “tree cities.” Well, OK, a...

Before you pull up any more “weeds” in your garden, you may want to consider what Alrie Middlebrook has to share about native edible plants and trees. This past Saturday and Sunday, 50 or so gardens around the San Francisco Bay participated in the...

Edward Hume, a Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote that the average American throws out three times more trash now than in 1960: “Rethinking waste as our arch-villain isn’t just a word game – it’s the secret sauce that turns anxiety and inertia into hope and...

“One man’s rubbish may be another man’s treasure.” —Hector Urquhart West Valley Recycles (WVR) has an outreach team to help us learn to recycle correctly. Forget what you knew about recycling guidelines. Things have changed, and we have new laws to ensure we recycle in the most...

The inventor and artist Robert Seals has spent the majority of his almost-80 years on Earth transforming junk into desirable objects. His invention (and company) Klean Kanteen became famous for its metallic water bottle. But his finely crafted recycled-metal sculptures are almost invisible. You have...

In Dec. 2022, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District agreed to a $100,000+ deal with Nomad Ecology of Martinez, Calif., to study the population of the “critically imperiled Santa Cruz Kangaroo Rat,” which had just reappeared on the Santa Clara County side of the Santa...