Articles by Kit Stolz

Wildfires are now in season

Ah, the oncoming of fall in Southern California.

Flakes of ash fall thick, soft, and white as snow. Clouds of smoke bigger than mountains fill the sky. Orange-y sunlight and hazy gray skies last for weeks on end. Thousands of firefighters struggle to contain blazes with flames 20 and 30 feet high. Bulldozers cut firelines. Planes and helicopters water-bomb all through the day. Evacuation orders typically arrive in the dead of night, when the skies are glowing and the traffic is wild.

You are now entering science fiction land …

Sometimes life in the 21st century feels like a weird science fiction movie -- one so unnerving it's difficult to distinguish reality from nightmare.

Here are some science fiction-y nightmares well-known scientists, writers, and bloggers brought forward this week:

A Q&A

The best guide I know to the climatological consensus is soft-spoken Kelly Redmond, who helps lead the influential and wide-ranging Western Regional Climate Center. The WRCC has done a great deal of work for the US Global Change Research Program on climate change issues, such as investigating the possibility that global warming could seriously degrade the Sierra snow pack on which much of California depends for water.

But don't let all that brainpower discourage you! Although a scientist, Redmond mostly speaks in commonsense English, has a bit of the poet in him, and has long worked to help ordinary folks (and reporters) understand climate issues.

For a story on fire in Southern California, I emailed some questions to Redmond. His answers were so helpful and illuminating, I expanded the interview to a wider discussion of how climate in the Western U.S. is changing.

How to be Cary Grant at an enviro party

Want to keep the enviro party going? Tired of being labeled a Gloomy Gus? Need to say something light and charming to keep that blonde giving you sultry looks from walking away?

Here are a couple of charming Cary Grant-ish items to keep the conversation light and frothy: