Lake Merritt is usually an unexpected oasis of life in the midst of downtown Oakland, California. The first protected wildlife refuge in the U.S., it is a tidal slough 3.4 miles around and the largest lake of its kind in an urban setting, according to the City of Oakland.
A fast-growing wildfire, named the McKinney Fire, has grown to more than 52,000 acres in two days, becoming California’s largest wildfire in 2022. Two people have been reported dead and nearly 3,000 residents have been asked to evacuate. It is 0% contained, although heavy smoke helped slow the growth on Sunday even as it kept most aircraft grounded. […]
A wildfire burning in California has spread from a national park into a national forest. The Washburn Fire ignited July 7 in Yosemite National Park and promptly forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from the town of Wawona and the closure of the park’s southern entrance, as The Guardian reported. Since then, it has […]
Could Los Angeles become the largest city yet to ban the construction of new gas stations? The idea might seem improbable. The City of Angels is infamous for its reliance on cars. Its public transit system is considered one of the worst in the world, according to Jalopnik, and the amount of cars on the […]
A California judge has ruled that a state pesticide spraying program must end because it did not fully consider the impacts on public health or warn people of those risks.
What grows up to eight inches long, is dark with a white band, can leap a foot in the air and is the latest threat to California’s forest ecosystems? The answer is the Asian jumping worm (Amynthas agrestis), a uniquely mobile species of earthworm with an impressive appetite that was sighted in the state for […]
A mysterious deep-sea whale washed up on a California beach on Sunday. The 16-foot beaked whale was discovered by a passerby at Mendocino County’s Jug Handle State Natural Reserve near Fort Bragg, which is 3.5 hours north of San Francisco, SFGate reported. Because beaked whales live deep beneath the waves and can dive down as far as 10,000 feet, scientists seldom get a chance to observe them.
Despite being banned since the 1970s, DDT and PCBs are still affecting wildlife today, particularly the California condor, a critically endangered species. The condors feed on dead marine life along the California coast that often contain higher amounts of contaminants compared to marine life elsewhere. Scientists at San Diego State University (SDSU) and San Diego […]
Swedish furniture-giant IKEA wants to bring the power of the sun into U.S. homes. The company announced on May 12 that it was partnering with residential solar provider SunPower to make “home solar solutions” available to its U.S. customers.