Early Wildflower Blooms Help Define our California “Winter”
You know you're a true Californian when you learn to prefer February flowers to snow shovels.
Author Archives: Sue Rosenthal
Book Review: A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California
This book is an unmatched picture--in paintings and words-- of what California might have been like before the arrival of Europeans.
Book Review: California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names
by Erwin G. Gudde (revised by William Bright), UC Press, 2010, 496 pages, $27.50 What’s in a name? Sometimes rich history and intriguing stories. The 40th-anniversary edition of California Place Names animates many local geographic names we take for granted. … Read more
Blowin’ in the Wind
Next time you sneeze, think of it as an homage to pollen, the key to the reproduction of plants all over the world. Look a little closer, and this stuff turns out to be well worth a few sneezes now and then!
Resources for Learning More About the Delta
Are you interested in learning more about the Delta or in exploring it further? Here's an extensive--but by no means complete--listing of resources on the Delta's ecosystem, recreational opportunities in the Delta, organizations that are working to restore and protect it, and the political processes that are shaping its future.
The Presidio’s Miracle Manzanita
A construction site along one of San Francisco’s busiest thoroughfares hardly seems like a good spot to find one of our region’s rarest plants. But that’s just where a passing biologist saw a manzanita thought extinct for decades. And now a whole lot of people are trying to make sure this lone survivor isn’t the last Franciscan manzanita.
Plastic Pollution in the Ocean and What You Can Do About It
An extensive resource list and tips on how to minimize your plastic use and how to keep what plastic you do use from ending up in the ocean.
Turning Back the Plastic Tide
An innovative program uses albatrosses as “winged ambassadors” to help middle school students learn about the distant consequences of plastics that end up in our ocean.
Dinosaur Plants
While living dinosaurs are nowhere to be found in California these days, you can see recognizable descendants of plants that lived with them--right here in the modern Bay Area.
Mulch Madness
Google "mulch" and you'll find university websites from Alaska to Florida touting mulch as one of the most environmentally friendly and effective tools for improving a backyard garden. But that mulch keeps native bees from digging their nests...
