San Francisco Chronicle Archives

How Is Climate Change Affecting Oceans? Check The Tide Pools

June 21, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage, Uncategorized /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Nick Rahaim

On a sunny afternoon in mid-April, Professor Eric Sanford crouched in a tide pool off Bodega Bay and turned over algae-covered rocks in search of a chocolate porcelain crab, a dime-size crustacean with blue speckles. The creature has been spotted in small numbers around Bodega Bay for decades. But five years ago a severe marine heat wave, dubbed “the blob,” caused a sharp increase in its numbers north of the Golden Gate, says Sanford, a marine ecologist who researches climate change and coastal ecosystems at UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Lab. “I look at how organisms adapt to climate change,” says Sanford, who regularly publishes articles in scientific journals on how life between the Northern California tides is changing.

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California Takes On An Ocean Of Plastic Waste, Considers Crackdown On Industry

June 12, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Dustin Gardiner

Even in an eco-conscious city like San Francisco, more than 9,000 tons of recyclables are dumped in landfills every year largely due to one culprit: flimsy plastics. Low-grade plastics, such as shopping bags, padded online shipping envelopes and food packaging, are piling up in recycling centers. Part of the reason is that overseas markets such as China and the Philippines — which used to buy America’s trash by the shipload — are turning most plastics away. California lawmakers say the state must act to stop plastics from crowding landfills and polluting the ocean. They’ve proposed sweeping legislation to require manufacturers to reduce the reliance on single-use plastics.

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1 million Californians Use Tainted Water. Will State Pass A Clean-Water Tax?

May 30, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Alexei Koseff

José Hernández has two plastic barrels in his front yard, filled to the brim with water collected during the recent rains. Half a dozen buckets, a trash can and a cooking pot sit close by, nearly overflowing. It should be enough for Hernández to tend to his garden for the next few weeks and slight relief for a water bill that sets him back $130 to $170 each month. A retired farmworker, Hernández, 64, supports his wife and two daughters primarily on a $950 monthly Social Security check.

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Late-Season Snow Gives One Last Chance To Ski Tahoe This Memorial Day Weekend

May 23, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Dave Zook

It’s been a winter for the ages in Tahoe, with barely an end in sight. In February, Squaw Valley recorded its all-time highest snowfall for a single month with 313 inches (read: almost 1 foot per day on average). The region rolled into a wonderfully average March, and then to a quintessentially warm and sunny spring. Summer looked to be on the horizon, with trails beginning to melt out in April. But then a flurry of mid-May storms arrived, and we’re heading into Memorial Day weekend with boot-deep powder on the slopes. Historically, the Tahoe region has seen active weather patterns through May, with 80 of the last 109 years recorded measuring more than a trace of snow in the area.

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Trump Signs Disaster Declaration For Flooded Northern California Counties

May 18, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Rachel Swan

President Trump signed a disaster declaration Saturday for 17 Northern California counties that endured battering rains and landslides this year, making them eligible for federal relief. The move followed three emergency proclamations this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who directed Caltrans to seek federal assistance for a string of brutal February storms that doused rural areas across the state, damaging roads and bridges. Newsom described the devastation in a letter to Trump last month in which he asked for the disaster declaration. “The storms caused widespread flash flooding, erosion, mud and debris flows, power outages, and damage to roadways and other critical infrastructure,” Newsom wrote. “In addition to the precipitation, heavy winds uprooted trees, impacting roads and power lines.”

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A New Water Tax Might Be California’s Best Chance At Clean Water For All

May 13, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicle

At least 1 million Californians don’t have stable access to clean drinking water. That’s a shameful and unacceptable fact in this wealthy state. In his February State of the State address, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the safe drinking water crisis which is centered in lower-income communities ranging from the coasts to the Central Valley “a moral disgrace and a medical emergency.”

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New Dam Proposal In Sierra Nevada Stirs Debate Over California Energy Policy

May 13, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Up a remote canyon in the towering eastern Sierra, a Southern California company has an ambitious plan to dam the area’s cold, rushing waters and build one of the state’s first big hydroelectric facilities in decades. The project, southeast of Yosemite near the town of Bishop (Inyo County), faces long regulatory odds as well as daunting costs. But residents of the Owens Valley downstream and state environmentalists are not taking it lightly. The complex, as proposed in an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last month, is scheduled for mostly federal land at the edge of the Inyo National Forest, partly in the popular John Muir Wilderness.

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OPINION: Eating Organic Can Help Reduce The High Cost of Cheap Food

May 9, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Bob Quinn and Liz Carlisle

As a farmer and researcher dedicated to a healthier and more sustainable food system, we often are asked how good food can be made cheaper and more affordable. Given the staggering rates of food insecurity in wealthy areas such as San Francisco which is struggling to meet its 2020 target for eliminating hunger we understand this interest in making food cheaper.

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OPINION: California Communities Must Act On Climate Resiliency Now

May 8, 2019/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Stephan Dolezalek and Martin Lagod

Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills, didn’t have the budget to clear out brush before the coming fire season, but the city staff also could not afford to wait until public funds were available. So, they created a GoFundMe campaign asking residents to lend the municipality money to rent a herd of goats to do the job.

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Gov. Newsom Issues Executive Order Demanding Drought-Climate Plan

April 29, 2019/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Like many governors before him, Gov. Gavin Newsom is seeking to get his arms around California’s myriad water problems, issuing an executive order Monday that calls for his administration to do nothing less than ensure safe and sufficient water for the next century. The order directs state agencies to review and come up with plans to improve policies addressing such issues as California’s chronic water shortages, contaminated drinking water, unaffordable water rates, and the declining health of rivers and lakes.

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