Blog
Summer’s here and you’re thirsty! Parched, you walk in to your local convenience or grocery store and buy a bottle of water, a plastic bottle. Right then, you seal your fate. You’re going to plastics hell, where you’ll hear the sound of baby dolphins crying and watch images of struggling sea turtles for all of eternity.
OK, maybe not. But perhaps you should think twice nonetheless. Continue Reading
Today is World Oceans Day. In honor of the vast majority of the earth’s surface, we celebrate all things oceanic. It’s an opportunity to think about why it’s worth protecting — whether it be from pollution or climate change — and how we can do more to keep it healthy. Continue Reading
The San Diego County Water Authority is made up of 24 member agencies, and provides water throughout the county, serving 97 percent of its population. So it’s an understatement to say the agency is powerful. Last week’s post discussed the Water Authority’s Urban Water Management Plan, which outlines available and expected supplies that may be relied upon for future development. It also – without environmental review – invariably ensures those supplies will move forward. Indeed, for a project still in the permitting phase, it becomes a valuable “you already decided to depend on me” shield against opposition. Case in point: desalination. Continue Reading
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (probably even then), you know by now that San Diego is a semi-arid region, with little local water supply. We get most of our water from Northern California or the Colorado River. For years we’ve been told to conserve or face the possibility of running out of water. As the yearly droughts piled up and became another part of our annual experience, water districts imposed mandatory water use restrictions, mostly on outdoor irrigation. These restrictions, coupled with other conservation programs, have proven so far to be successful. Most are now willing to conserve, and San Diegans’ attitudes about conservation and recycling are increasingly positive. Continue Reading
Two months. Exactly two months remain until the 4th of July holiday. We’ll take time off to enjoy the company of our friends and loved ones, fly our American flags and light the barbeque. And then the fireworks. What’s more American than buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of fireworks from China, watching their explosive display, and then sitting in traffic for an hour? Sarcasm aside, 4th of July fireworks are, for most people, synonymous with the holiday. It’s tradition. Continue Reading
Hawaii Supreme Court ruling requires new EIS for Turtle Bay
The open spaces, lush greenery, and blue waters of the northernmost point of Oahu’s North Shore masks the cultural, environmental, and legal controversy that has surrounded the lone resort complex that has existed there for nearly 40 years.
Built and opened in 1972 (as the Kuilima Resort & Country Club), the present day Turtle Bay Resort currently occupies a nearly 900-acre parcel of prime and picturesque oceanfront land in Kahuku. The resort features two golf courses, tennis courts, swimming pools, and over a thousand hotel rooms, luxury suites, private bungalows, and condominiums combined. Oh and yes, there are a couple of pretty decent surf spots right out front as well.
SUNSET CLIFFS — It would be difficult to find a more romantic setting to get married.
Ocean waves crash against the rocks directly below a white, picket fence. A concrete back patio overlooks the water. There is a panoramic view that goes on for miles on a clear day.
It is all part of the wedding package at the Inn at Sunset Cliffs, a tiny hotel on the San Diego coast. There’s just one problem, according to an environmental group. The terrace, they say, was illegally built on a sea wall that is public property.
Now, the issue is going to court.
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The dress code at three California high schools prohibits t-shirts like these.
Temecula, Calif.-based freestyle motocross team Metal Mulisha intends to file legal action against California’s Murrieta Valley Unified School District due to a ban the district has placed on Metal Mulisha apparel.
The dress code for Vista Murrieta High School, one of the three schools in the district that forbid the brand’s clothing, states that it prohibits apparel with “violence or weapons, SRH, Metal Mulisha, Iron Cross or Nazi/neo-Nazi symbols.”
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Describing seaside fireworks displays as wholesome and patriotic, an Orange County legislator wants to prevent the California Coastal Commission from snuffing them out.
State Assemblywoman Diane Harkey (R-Dana Point) introduced a bill last month that would exempt municipal fireworks displays from regulation under the state Coastal Act by declaring they do not constitute “development.”
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