- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The recent rise in gas prices has many folks thinking about biofuels. In fact, in the last week, the Associated Press reported that the push from Congress and the White House for hugh increases in biofuels is prompting the oil industry to scale back it plans for refinery expansions -- which could keep gas prices high for years to come. (AP stories appear in many media outlets and Web sites. Use the seven-day free search with the keyword "biofuel" to find this story.) The article, by H. Josef Hebert, says oil industry executives no longer believe there will be the demand for gasoline over the next decade to warrant billions of dollars in refinery expansions.
As politicians and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Just today I learned of an extremely helpful article that ran in the Sacramento Bee a week ago which includes "nagging points" for parents who are dealing with teenagers this summer. As the mother of two adolescents, I feel empowered by the story and can now more comfortably justify my parenting actions.
For the first section of the article, reporter Alison apRoberts (yes, that's the spelling given for her last name), went to Katherine Heck, specialist at the 4-H Center for Youth Development at UC Davis. (apRoberts identified Heck as a "survey researcher.")
Heck told the newspaper that the vast majority of teens in one recent...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Orange County Register ran a 1,200-word story this week on a demonstration project at the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine. The project was created to show homeowners how they can control urban runoff, which can wash pesticides, fertilizer and other contaminants into coastal waters and cause unwanted algae blooms.
The article, by reporter Pat Brennan, describes three small buildings made to look like homes centered on three different landscapes -- one that is "typical," which shows the problems with many residential landscapes, one that is "retrofitted," which...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
After California’s dry 2006-07 “rainy season,” ways to soothe water worries are turning up in the media. On the Web site insidebayarea.com, reporter Joan Morris reported that the East Bay Municipal Utility District expects a 15,000 acre-feet water shortfall this summer. The district asked its residential customers to limit irrigation to three non-consecutive days a week. (insidebayarea.com is the Web page for the Oakland Tribune and other local papers in the in the Bay Area.)
Morris went to UC Cooperative Extension horticulturist Bethallyn Black to get advice for Bay Area residents on how to cope with water restrictions. Although making changes in the garden to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The news media has used quite a bit of ink in recent weeks covering the actions of regulatory agencies charged with cleaning the state's air. The California Air Resources Board voted 20-23 last week to delay cleaning up San Joaquin Valley air 11 years past the current deadline of 2012, according to news reports such as this one on the CBS news affiliate in Fresno. Many newspapers have editorialized against the decision. The Sacramento Bee called it "pitiful." The