Chinook salmon are abundant this year in one of the best seasons of local fishing memory, with sport and commercial fishermen reeling in easy boatloads of the most prized food and game fish on the Pacific Coast. Still, at least one conservation group warns that all this could change if state officials in Sacramento, now plotting the near future of California’s water-development infrastructure, approve and build a large canal intended to deliver Sacramento River water to Southern California.
Articles by Alastair Bland
Study Lends Some Credence to Wifi Claims
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity is not recognized by any established American medical body. Nevertheless, worldwide, many people are increasingly reporting pain and irritation that they believe is traceable to the presence of wireless devices. In May, the World Health Organization (WHO) determined that enough evidence exists linking brain cancer to the use of cell phones to officially classify “radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans,” giving some credence to claims that SmartMeters and wireless routers are dangerous to human health.
SmartMeter Opponents Step Up Tactics
The wildfire of rebellion against PG&E’s plans to install SmartMeters in households across the state is growing hotter by the day. Before sunrise on Monday, June 27, about 50 demonstrators surrounded the gates of a PG&E yard in Capitola to keep workers from exiting and installing wireless SmartMeters in local neighborhoods, as PG&E had announced would happen that day.
Hamachi-Free at Geisha Sushi
The razor-sharp knife of sushi chef David Graham will probably never slice through the tender flesh of a bluefin tuna again. But Graham, head chef at Geisha Sushi, is cutting new fish and new ground in an effort to curb the plundering of the seas. Geisha, the newly opened sushi bar and teahouse in Capitola, is one of just several sustainable sushi bars in the world. The concept, initiated about four years ago at San Francisco’s Tataki (others followed in Portland, Seattle and New Haven) means no serving toro, hamachi, or unagi—three of the biggest draws in the sushi business but also three of the most unsustainable items on any menu.
SETI Shutdown
The only known intelligent beings in the universe have quit listening for signs of others. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, Institute, headquartered in Mountain View, switched its radio signal receivers into “hibernation mode” on April 15 when funding—mostly from UC– Berkeley—to operate the Lassen County facility ran dry.
Sudden Oak Death’s Fungal Side
Last winter John Brown’s favorite chanterelle patch died. For years, the longtime member of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz had visited a particular cluster of live oak trees during walks in the woods just west of San Jose. Many mushrooms share a symbiotic relationship with particular tree species, and coastal chanterelles usually appear in the close presence of live oak and tanoak trees.
Bungled Shark Tagging Leads to Infighting
Photographs showing a raw festering wound on a shark that was hooked and released by researchers at the Farallon Islands in late 2009 have surfaced, igniting questions about a controversial tagging process and setting the shark research community aflame with accusations and counterattacks.
The Defender: Jackson Browne’s Anti-Plastic Campaign
The ocean may seem endless, but plastic is forever. So appears the world to singer and songwriter Jackson Browne, who, while gearing up for a tour that kicks off Feb. 23 at the Civic Auditorium, has keyed in aggressively to one of the most urgent environmental issues that our planet faces: plastic contamination.
Uncertain Future for The Tannery
The dream has always been for the Tannery Arts Center to become a hub of artistic and economic activity. Salz Tannery, constructed in the 1800s at the confluence of Pogonip Creek and the San Lorenzo River, closed in 2001 and shortly thereafter became the cause celebre for a clutch of city officials and planners who envisioned a thriving community of artist residences, studios, galleries and performance spaces. George Newell, the organization’s project director, says he sees it developing into a state-of-the-art production and performance site for musicians, videographers, dancers, painters, sculptors and actors. He says it could even become a tourist draw.
Health & Fitness: Sheer Hill
Gravity dictates the truest mantra on Earth: What goes up must come down. But give me a bicycle and a mountain and I’ll break that law or die trying. Whether by blessing or curse, I am drawn irresistibly to hills and the roads that go up them. I scorn horizontal distances, thriving instead on elevation gain. And while I do worship the beauty of the high country—its aswnimals, the trout streams staircasing down its canyons, the sun slipping through its peaks every evening—in the end, mine is a world of numbers.
