"When wildfires spread through parts of Northern California wine country in 2017, they melted electronics, combusted cars and exploded propane tanks. The fires sent acrid smoke billowing into the sky, its footprint wafting over the state and extending for 500 miles into the Pacific Ocean."
The complicated interplay between climate change and trauma, poorly understood and little covered, is holding back the response by individuals and communities to the realities of the climate crisis, argues the head of a network of mental health and other organizations. Here’s what he has found when it comes to how climate-generated anguish is blocking climate solutions and what can be done about it.
"Removing two aging Eel River dams known as the Potter Valley Project would benefit salmon, lamprey and people, but what happens next remains unclear."
"The first thing Nalleli Cobo wanted to do when she heard the oil well in her South Los Angeles neighborhood was shutting down was scream. ... Cobo grew up breathing foul-smelling, toxic emissions from an oil production site just 30 feet from her home."
"West Coast fishery managers have officially recommended the cancellation of California salmon fishing season this year. Thursday, the Pacific Fishery Management Council announced its decision to close commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California and most of Oregon until next spring to conserve the dwindling Chinook salmon population."
The push to replace gas-guzzling vehicles with electric-powered alternatives is hitting significant speed bumps. The existing supply of lithium for batteries can’t keep up with demand, and new mining proposals often face opposition from area residents worried about local impacts. Radio reporter David Boraks has been covering one such conflict in North Carolina. He shares his insights and reporting tips.
"California’s wet and wintry start to the year has resulted in perhaps the deepest snowpack recorded in more than 70 years, officials said Monday."
"California lawmakers on Monday approved the nation’s first penalty for price gouging at the pump, voting to give regulators the power to punish oil companies for profiting from the type of gas price spikes that plagued the nation’s most populous state last summer."
"Thousands of acres of cropland have been inundated in this heavily farmed swath of the San Joaquin Valley. And the water just keeps rising."
"First it was the eerie images of barrels leaking on the seafloor not far from Catalina Island. Then the shocking realization that the nation's largest manufacturer of DDT had once used the ocean as a huge dumping ground—and that as many as half a million barrels of its acid waste had been poured straight into the water."
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