We’re increasingly aware of how plastic is polluting our environment. Much recent attention has focused on how microplastics – tiny pieces ranging from 5 millimetres down to 100 nanometres in diameter – are filling the seas and working their way into the creatures that live in them. That means these ocean microplastics are entering the food chain and, ultimately, our bodies. But fish and shellfish…
A study released this month ranked San Diego as the greenest city in America, thanks to copious amounts of renewable energy and an overall healthful environment. San Diego was followed by Portland and Honolulu in the ranking by Washington, DC-based WalletHub, a financial information website. The least green of the 100 largest cities in America were three in the Phoenix suburbs: Gilbert, Glendale and Mesa….
If you live in Orange or San Diego County, hopefully you’re aware that San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) has been turned into a nuclear waste dump for the foreseeable future. If you live on planet earth, you’re wise to be tracking domestic and foreign moves to increase reliance on nuclear energy. The United States ushered in the atomic age in 1945 by dropping a…
Like Rodney Dangerfield, sea otters get no respect. Since their reintroduction to the Pacific coast in the 1970s, the sea otters’ rapid recovery and voracious appetite for tasty shellfish such as sea urchins, clams and crabs has brought them into conflict with coastal communities and fishers, who rely on the same valuable fisheries for food and income. But the long-term benefits of sea otter recovery—such…
Escondido Creek Conservancy biological surveyors recently discovered Fairy Shrimp (Branchinecta lindahli) at the Mountain Meadow Preserve near Hidden Meadows. This elusive species is fairly uncommon in San Diego County due to the loss of preferred habitat — vernal pools. And while they won’t grant you three wishes — most vernal pools in San Diego have been destroyed by urban development — making their discovery is…
The City of San Diego’s Public Utilities Department last week took a major step toward completing an innovative project to improve water quality in Lake Hodges. A newly installed oxygenation system, designed by city engineers, will introduce highly oxygenated water to the bottom of the reservoir to reduce the accumulation of excess nutrients and harmful algae growth. The increase of nutrients and algae in the…
For several months in 2019, it seemed wildfires wouldn’t rage across the West as they had in recent years. But then came the dry autumn and California’s Santa Ana and Diablo winds, which can drive the spread of wildfires. Utilities are shutting off power across the state to reduce the risk of damaged equipment or downed trees on wires causing fires. There’s no lack of…
Many invasive species are found along U.S. coasts, including fishes, crabs, mollusks and marsh grasses. Since the general opinion is that invasives are harmful, land managers and communities spend a lot of time and resources attempting to remove them. Often this happens before much is known about their actual effects, either good or bad. The common reed Phragmites australis is a tall perennial grass with…
SDSU researchers examine the effects of shrinking water supplies in the Imperial-Mexicali Valley. Whenever it rained, six-year-old Trent Biggs would get in trouble for digging ditches in the school playground. “I just liked watching water flow around,” he explained. He still does. Now a San Diego State University geography professor, Biggs leads water-use studies from the Himalayan foothills of Nepal to the Amazon rainforests of…
What do beer, oysters, table salt, air & tap water have in common? They’re all ways humans are ingesting microplastics, tiny bits of plastic waste ubiquitous in oceans, lakes and rivers and even soil and air. Wildlife as diverse as whales, seabirds, fish and zooplankton are polluted by ingesting plastic debris. It’s naïve to assume that humans, sharing the same global environment and eating at…