The Pope’s Encyclical and Climate Change: Two visitors at the Vatican
The Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change is an amazing document. It is poetic, visionary, insightful, pragmatic, beautiful… Addressed to “every living person on this planet” it lays out the interconnected problems facing humanity and calls for urgent dialogue and action. His words will open you…
Philip Duffy: "An insider’s view of climate science and policy"
Thursday, April 30 || 4 p.m. Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center, UC Davis Dr. Philip B. Duffy, president of the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) in Falmouth, Mass., will present a College Distinguished Lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 30, at the Walter A. Buehler…
International Antarctic Expedition 2015
EcoWatch is chronicling the International Antarctic Expedition 2015 led by Robert Swan, a polar explorer and environmentalist. The trip began March 13 and will end March 25. Robert Swan was the first man ever to walk unsupported to both the South Pole (in 1984) and the…
Bolivia Gives Legal Rights To The Earth
(From http://earthweareone.com/bolivia-gives-legal-rights-to-the-earth/) Bolivia is to become the first country in the world to give nature comprehensive legal rights in an effort to halt climate change and the exploitation of the natural world, and to improve quality of life for the Bolivian people. Developed by…
Per Capita Davis: When push comes to shove
This column by John Mott-Smith is republished from the Davis Enterprise. Perhaps this is not true for everyone, but it has been an article of faith (and hope) for me that the consequence of delaying action now to curb emissions would be the necessity for…
Per Capita Davis: News from the Funny Papers
This column by John Mott-Smith is republished from the Davis Enterprise The last column was somewhat sobering, so I thought I’d start this one out with news from the funny papers. A recent cartoon pictured a factory, labeled “U.N. Climate Summit,” with smokestacks spewing what…
Per Capita Davis: Stamp Out Global Warming
This column by John Mott-Smith is republished from the Davis Enterprise. The US Postal Service is making a commitment to sustainability with “Go Green” stamps and practices. I confess: I still go to the library to look things up, have a land line in the…
Meteorological Study Predicts Megadroughts in the U.S. southwest
Everyone is concerned about the third year of drought in California, but things could get worse. A recent study concludes that the chances of a megadrought for the U.S. southwest is now at 50%. A drought lasting 30 years or more could hit southern California,…
Quake Shows need for Resilient Energy Infrastructure
Review of article by Elena Krieger The recent earthquake in the Napa area raises all kinds of concerns for us as we consider the implications of a serious quake closer to home. What if the quake causes a fire? What if the power is knocked…
Per capita Davis: Alarms are meant to alarm
This column by John Mott-Smith is republished from the Davis Enterprise. Two apparently unrelated news articles caught my attention recently. In one, a South Korean ferry sinks with hundreds losing their lives in part because the captain and many of the crew allegedly told passengers…
Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy
This May, the Governments of California, British Colombia, Oregon, and Washington met in San Francisco to sign the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy for their combined population of 53 million. It acknowledges, “the clear and convincing scientific evidence of climate change, ocean…
The Bill McKibben Fungus Gnat
By Lynne Nittler Peter Kerr, a scientist who works for the CA State Collection of Arthropods, of the CA Dept. of Food and Agriculture in Sacramento, usually identifies suspected plant pests, helps enhance the state collection of arthropods, and does biodiversity research. However, he admits…
Pedal Your Bike; Power Cool Davis
Love biking, fine wine, good food, fun company and holidays? Yes we do too! And we have good news as we have a great opportunity where you can combine your passion, get to have a great holiday and also support Cool Davis at the same…
Per Capita Davis: The Pace of Change
(This column is cross-posted from the Davis Enterprise) The term “early adopter” doesn’t apply to me, not by a long shot. I am slow to pick up on new technology, and more than a little choosy when I do adopt a change, gadget or gizmo….
Why conserving water also helps tackle climate change
The recent drought – which is far from over despite recent rains – has brought some public attention to the impact of climate change on California and led to an important renewed focus on water conservation as fear grows that some communities may run out…
Per Capita Davis: Mother Nature and the Red Queen
This article is crossposted from the Davis Enterprise. I’m offering a couple of thoughts for the new year. One involves Mother Nature, and the other Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen. First, Mother Nature. The world’s policymakers sat down in Warsaw in 2013 to talk about climate…
Per capita Davis: Take a look in the mirror
This column by JohnMott-Smith, a member of Cool Davis, is reprinted with thanks to the Davis Enterprise. When we look in the mirror, we see ourselves. Or, more precisely, we see ourselves backwards: my left arm looks like the right arm of the impostor in…
Getting cooler every time: Cool Davis festival 2013
Well, our name is Cool Davis, then early this year we won the California Coolest City award, so getting ‘cooler all the time’ seemed an apt slogan to describe Cool Davis fourth annual festival. The five-hour-long event on Saturday October 12 certainly managed to live…
Will Your Building Keep Its Cool As California Heats Up?
(By Tom Phillips, crossposted from Resilient Design Institute) Floods and ice storms cause some the biggest economic losses in the US, but heat storms are the leading cause of death over the last 10 years among weather events in the US. Heat storms cause 1500…
Climate Change Affecting California's Environment? A new report says yes.
There are a whole lot of opinions on the effects of climate change on our planet and our ecosystems. Climate change has become a focus of discussion in our homes and our communities and has been a focus of scientific study across various disciplines. There…
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I love my LED bulbs and the lower electric bill = more $ for me.