Emmy-award-winning filmmaker and marine scientist David McGuire has not only swum with sharks, he’s swum FOR them. As founder and executive director of the Sausalito-based marine research and advocacy organization Sea Stewards, McGuire started the locally popular fundraisers “Swim for … Read more
Paul Epstein
Water, Water Everywhere…?
In these days of scarce water, the supply of organizations talking about water policy seems to exceed the supply of the precious liquid itself. But alongside the economically powerful giants duking it out for their share of the dwindling supplies, … Read more
Jake Sigg: Nature News’ Passionate Pen
Anyone interested in Bay Area nature and ecology has likely come across Jake Sigg’s Nature News, an indispensable and idiosyncratic email newsletter that goes out to 2,400 subscribers every week. Nature News—a volunteer project Jake does on his own—is much … Read more
Jake Sigg: Why I Fight for Nature
We asked Jake Sigg, the popular and opinionated editor of Nature News, what originally inspired him to become such a passionate advocate for the environment. Here’s what he told us…. Back in the spring of 1966, I went on a … Read more
Tales of a Recovered Arachnophobe
Gwen Heistand hasn’t always loved spiders: In fact, she used to be deathly afraid of them! As resident biologist at Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Martin Griffin Preserve on Bolinas Lagoon, Gwen now helps people overcome their own fears of these creepy-crawlies … Read more
Counting her Chickens
Tracy Fasanella, CEO of CarbonCount, Inc., a green accounting firm, lives in two worlds. When she’s not parsing cap-and-trade regulations for clients, pointing them to money for efficiency research, she tends her garden, nurtures her rabbits, and gets both fertilizer … Read more
Turning Over a New Leaf
“Phenology studies the seasonal cycles in nature, such as when flowers bloom, insects hatch, and birds migrate. In the era of climate change, the science of seasonal observation has taken on a new urgency.” – Jacoba Charles, “The Phenology Project”, … Read more
The “Bat Lady” of Yolo Basin
Corky Quirk is the founder and executive director of Northern California Bats (aka NorCal Bats), a Sacramento-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of bats. NorCal Bats is also deeply committed to dispelling the fears and myths about … Read more
It’s Fun to Share!
San Francisco resident Kelly Jensen is the Interlibrary Loan and Digital Production Assistant at the California Academy of Sciences. One of the perks of her job is a discounted membership in City CarShare (CCS), a program which offers car rentals … Read more
A Clear-Eyed Vision for Clear Lake
Roberta Lyons is a muckraker, though a different sort than her journalist mother. Lyons herself looks past actual muck – the rash-inducing algal blooms that periodically foul the shores of her beloved Clear Lake – to find plentiful natural beauty and wildness. And through … Read more