In 2016, America celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the National Park Service, a government-sponsored effort to preserve and protect the country’s most amazing national spaces, and ensure that they are never sold or exploited for profit or other short-sighted ends. The National Park Service Centennial Act Just recently, President Obama signed the National Park Service…
Yosemite Valley. It’s long been the mecca for rock climbers across the world, due to its perfect, dazzling granite faces caused by glacial erosion ages ago. The Valley is home to some of the most difficult and unrelenting climbs anywhere on the planet, many of which can take weeks or more to complete. There is one…
On the western limits of the Owens Valley just outside of Bishop, CA, lies a legendary geological and ecological area known as The Buttermilks. You would think that California already had as much awe-inspiring geology as it could handle, considering the state is home to Yosemite Valley, Stoney Point, Tahquitz, and other mind-bogglingly beautiful rock formations.…
Many Californians aren’t aware that the state, by law, is hurtling towards a major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s Executive Order B-30-15, codified into law this month, requires California to be 40 percent below 1990 emissions levels by 2030. Ranchers and farmers aren’t in this alone, however. California has launched…
If you’ve ever been to Yosemite Valley, you’ve no doubt stood and stared in wonder at the unreal vista that greets you as you peer at the sweeping meadows and granite cliffs. There is arguably no place on the entire planet that is as perfectly picturesque, as seemingly well-composed as though it were created with…
Welcome To Stoney Point If you’ve ever cruised up Topanga Canyon or driven west on the 118 freeway, you’ve doubtless dropped your jaw in wonder once or twice at the towering sandstone rock formations known as Stoney Point. Stoney Point is a historic local proving ground for up-and-coming rock climbers in the Los Angeles area, dating back to…
As it enters its fifth year, many people are still asking, “How serious is the California drought?” The answer is very. Though it’s easy for those living elsewhere in the nation to forget the problem as the news segment about California’s drought slowly fades or becomes routine, it’s important to remember that this is still…
Earthquake prediction is concerned with specifying the location, magnitude and time of future earthquakes within some confidence limits. Prediction of earthquakes that cause massive destruction of life and infrastructure is of particular importance. Earthquake prediction is not well-developed science. There are no successful predictions that have been discovered from physical principles. Different research focuses on…
No discussion of the impacts of a drought can be complete without a consideration of the long-term impact. Most people are familiar with the short-term effects of a drought: the loss of surface and groundwater. Long-Term Impacts Some of the long-term impacts are also well-known. As an area becomes increasingly dry, it also becomes more…
