Amy Kaleita
Agriculture
Solutions for California Water Woes
Last week, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called state legislators into a special session to hammer out the details of proposed water legislation. The proposal could include a bond measure of $9.4 billion or more, and would ideally address the highly contentious water allocations and restrictions in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta. ...
Environment
Big Brother Wants Your Compost – Or Else
In October, San Francisco’s newest garbage management law goes into effect, potentially fining residents up to $100 per violation – businesses up to $500 – for failing to separate compostable garbage from their trash. Fines can also be incurred if garbage collectors notice an individual is not producing enough compost ...
Climate Change
Climate Modeling is Far From a Precise Science
A recent study of paleoclimate, the results of which appear in the August issue of Nature Geoscience, finds that today’s climate models do not accurately predict the most similar previous episode of climate warming in the geologic record. California Republic, August 21, 2009 A recent study of paleoclimate, the results ...
California
California Counts the Cost on Climate Change Legislation
Last week, an investment management and advisory firm comprised of professors from California State University, Sacramento, released a report attempting to estimate the costs to small businesses – and therefore to California’s economy – of implementing Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. While the Varshney & ...
Environment
Taxpayer Cash for Environmental Clunkers
Earlier this month the House approved a measure that would give consumers up to $4500 to dump their gas guzzlers and buy a newer and more fuel efficient vehicle. Despite widespread support, this “cash for clunkers” program has its problems, and so do other environmental regulations coming out of Washington. ...
Climate Change
How Government Botches Biofuels
Within the last five years, concern over both global climate change and the economic and national security implications of U.S. oil consumption has created an interest in alternate sources of liquid fuel, namely, “biofuels” derived from agricultural crops. What began as an exciting possibility has unfortunately become an example of ...
Agriculture
Agriculture and the Environment Are Not Opposing Forces
Recently, thousands of farm workers and their supporters hit the road in California’s Central Valley to raise awareness of water shortages in the region that are threatening the livelihoods and communities that rely heavily on irrigated crops. The farmers’ most controversial target, arguably, is the Delta smelt. This small fish ...
Environment
Get Off the Lawn
A lush green lawn has a certain aesthetic appeal, there’s no denying that. If lawn was counted as a crop, however, it would be one of the nation’s biggest, but it is far from a critical need as far as water use. Yet, watering lawns accounts for nearly 40 percent ...
Climate Change
A New Day for Science?
In his inaugural address, new President Barack Obama said he intended to “restore science to its rightful place” in government. Several days later, Obama again claimed a change in approach, saying, “Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense. Rhetoric has not led to the hard ...
Environment
Will the EPA Have a Cow?
In response to an April, 2007, Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently ended the public comment period on “proposed rulemaking” for regulating greenhouse gases. Buried within the proposal is a controversial measure for regulating ...
Solutions for California Water Woes
Last week, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called state legislators into a special session to hammer out the details of proposed water legislation. The proposal could include a bond measure of $9.4 billion or more, and would ideally address the highly contentious water allocations and restrictions in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta. ...
Big Brother Wants Your Compost – Or Else
In October, San Francisco’s newest garbage management law goes into effect, potentially fining residents up to $100 per violation – businesses up to $500 – for failing to separate compostable garbage from their trash. Fines can also be incurred if garbage collectors notice an individual is not producing enough compost ...
Climate Modeling is Far From a Precise Science
A recent study of paleoclimate, the results of which appear in the August issue of Nature Geoscience, finds that today’s climate models do not accurately predict the most similar previous episode of climate warming in the geologic record. California Republic, August 21, 2009 A recent study of paleoclimate, the results ...
California Counts the Cost on Climate Change Legislation
Last week, an investment management and advisory firm comprised of professors from California State University, Sacramento, released a report attempting to estimate the costs to small businesses – and therefore to California’s economy – of implementing Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. While the Varshney & ...
Taxpayer Cash for Environmental Clunkers
Earlier this month the House approved a measure that would give consumers up to $4500 to dump their gas guzzlers and buy a newer and more fuel efficient vehicle. Despite widespread support, this “cash for clunkers” program has its problems, and so do other environmental regulations coming out of Washington. ...
How Government Botches Biofuels
Within the last five years, concern over both global climate change and the economic and national security implications of U.S. oil consumption has created an interest in alternate sources of liquid fuel, namely, “biofuels” derived from agricultural crops. What began as an exciting possibility has unfortunately become an example of ...
Agriculture and the Environment Are Not Opposing Forces
Recently, thousands of farm workers and their supporters hit the road in California’s Central Valley to raise awareness of water shortages in the region that are threatening the livelihoods and communities that rely heavily on irrigated crops. The farmers’ most controversial target, arguably, is the Delta smelt. This small fish ...
Get Off the Lawn
A lush green lawn has a certain aesthetic appeal, there’s no denying that. If lawn was counted as a crop, however, it would be one of the nation’s biggest, but it is far from a critical need as far as water use. Yet, watering lawns accounts for nearly 40 percent ...
A New Day for Science?
In his inaugural address, new President Barack Obama said he intended to “restore science to its rightful place” in government. Several days later, Obama again claimed a change in approach, saying, “Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense. Rhetoric has not led to the hard ...
Will the EPA Have a Cow?
In response to an April, 2007, Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently ended the public comment period on “proposed rulemaking” for regulating greenhouse gases. Buried within the proposal is a controversial measure for regulating ...
