Tag archives: environment
Remember the 2018 devastating debris flow that changed Montecito forever? Those of us who lived here at the time do. Like it happened yesterday, with all the pain and loss and destruction it brought. But for those who made Montecito their home post-debris flow (or PDF as I like to call it), the knowledge of […]
It’s a big honor for Explore Ecology to be receiving Santa Barbara Permaculture Network’s Local Food Hero Award at the 14th Annual Santa Barbara Community Seed Swap this weekend. It’s also a well-earned recognition of the nonprofit’s School Gardens Program and its Garden Educators, who teach garden-based lesson plans in upwards of 30 local schools […]
Last summer, just a couple of months before Montecito Journal’s 2nd annual The Giving List book was published, Clean Coalition’s work to stage a Community Microgrid in Montecito – a first step toward establishing renewables-driven energy resilience for the vulnerable area – was still largely in the planning stage. The goal to establish individual Solar […]
Regenerative agriculture incorporates a variety of pre-modern farming techniques like no-till farming and intensive grazing to help revitalize the surrounding ecology, increase biodiversity, and counteract climate change through carbon sequestration, among many other benefits. While these practices have a noticeable impact on the land, there is still a need for more educational programs and formal […]
Dear Mr. Brutoco, You certainly are an inventive person. You begin your “perspectives” column early by whining that the defense counsel for acquitted shooter Kyle Rittenhouse was “allowed” to refer to the two men killed by Mr. Rittenhouse as “rioters and looters,” and then claim, “they weren’t.” Do you have some secret knowledge as to […]
The removal of salt from seawater (desalination) is bitterly opposed by the California environmental community and its supporters in academia, government, and the press. Los Angeles Times editorial columnist Steve Lopez, a four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, grudgingly acknowledges that “Desalination may have a role to play in addressing California’s long-running water shortage; after all we […]
We’re all familiar with major names in philanthropic giving like MacArthur, Rockefeller, or Ford, but there are hundreds of lesser-known foundations that are making innovative solutions a reality through small-scale funding programs. One of these is Invoking the Pause (ITP), an organization focused on implementing tangible trailblazing climate solutions in the 21st century. In their […]
Today, local superheroes pick up 600 pounds of trash — and how! Sixteen-year-old brothers Ramon and Noah Wang are quickly becoming known in local circles for their tremendous cleanup efforts. The pair have dedicated their summer to keeping Santa Barbara green, and we couldn’t ask for better representatives as they prepare to step out into […]
“Improbable, but not impossible.” It became a rallying cry that the Foothills Forever campaign team leaned on since February 25, the day a lawsuit was negotiated to allow the community to rise and purchase 101 acres on the West Mesa of the San Marcos Foothills. Ninety days. $18 million. Quite improbable, but activists such as […]
Earth Day, which started in Santa Barbara after a disastrous oil spill of more than four million gallons in 1969 which killed thousands of seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions, has certainly been celebrated by Jennifer Smith, the publisher of Santa Barbara Magazine and C Magazine. Jennifer, daughter of Anne Towbes, tells me they have […]
Wow! Hard to believe we’ve celebrated 51 Earth Days and the environmental battles we are fighting are worse than ever. Looking back, we delight in the history of Earth Day, in part catalyzed by the Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969. Earth Day was officially launched in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson and Congressman Pete […]
In reference to the recent Montecito Association meeting held on April 13, I was deeply disappointed to see that our esteemed, highly respected former senator, Hannah-Beth Jackson, has agreed to represent the anti-growth side of the discussion regarding California State Bills 9 and 10, or SB-9 and SB-10. The legislation proffered by Governor Newsom will […]
Summerland boasts an array of natural beauty. The sea is the most obvious asset, but gently rolling hills dotted with wild mustard, when rains and Mother Nature have cooperated, and other spots beckon nature lovers and wildlife, including Brandt’s cormorants, which I will get to in a moment. The landscape has long lured artists with […]
By Charles C. Read & Eileen White Read The Montecito “water wars,” circa 2015-2020, brought ugly, big-city political shenanigans that shattered the peaceful commonweal of our village. We all remember the misleading mailings that implied Montecito was unlawfully dumping sewage in the ocean. The $100,000 campaign budgets amassed to get a seat on a water […]
The perpetual northwest winds were up, grooming the exposed foredunes of a windswept Ormond Beach in southern Oxnard. The well-manicured dunes constantly shifted with the winds, buffering a sliver of coastal wetland still hanging on in Southern California. The wetlands at Ormond Beach are one of the last remaining coastal wetlands in the entire state. […]
Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA, is the recipient of the Santa Barbara’s Community Environmental Council’s 2021 Environmental Hero Award. “Her work exemplifies what it means to build the broad, boots-on-the-ground base of activism that we need to go all in together on the climate crisis,” says the CEC executive director Sigrid Wright, who […]
A recent series of letters in the Montecito Journal has questioned the wisdom of the Montecito Water Board and the Montecito Sanitary Board’s studying the issue of consolidation. Jeff Kerns, a respected former Sanitary Director, has raised an important issue. He suggests that the first step is to define the problem you want to solve; only […]
Tesla led the world in electric vehicle (“EV”) sales during 2020 with a total of 499,511 (pure electric vehicles) followed by Volkswagen at 424,729 (if you count plug-in electrics) sold. The three closest competitors after that, all legacy car manufacturers, were in the low 200,000 to 250,000 range of units sold. In the U.S., the […]
Julie Cordero-Lamb is an ethnobotanist and a member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation. She joined the effort to protect San Marcos Foothills nearly twenty years ago. She has a unique perspective on the site, which is important to her and to the Chumash community. “We have a connection to that place that […]
My great Aunt Betty laughed when I bought my house in Summerland in the early 1980s. She told me that her husband, my great uncle Heywood, used to work on those wells when they lived in Summerland in the 1930s. Little did I know at the time that the very oil wells he worked on […]
