Drought

George Wuerthner is the Ecological Projects Director for the Foundation for Deep Ecology. He is an ecologist and wildlands activist. He has published 38 books on environmental issues and natural history including such environmentally focused books as Welfare Ranching, Wildfire, Thrillcraft, Energy and most recently Protecting the Wild. Today we talk about beetles. The timber industry and the Forest Service portray beetles as a threat to forests, and as yet another reason forests must be cut down. Wuerthner discusses beetles as keystone species, important to forests, and to those who live in them. ...

Cliff Mass is a Professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Department at the University of Washington, and something of a regional weather celebrity. His popular blog is widely read for its accessible explanations of complex local weather events in the southern Salish Sea, and he has been an on-again off-again commentator on local Public Radio stations. He is also a dangerous new breed of climate skeptic. Cliff Mass is convinced that anthropogenic global warming is not a big problem, at least not now. He has made a theme of downplaying the role of global warming in extreme weather events, and in exposing what he calls “overzealousness” in the scientific, media, and activist community. ...

This past weekend, we hosted a shelter-building workshop to work on outdoor skills, grow our connection to Earth, and build community. It was a small event but we had a great time. The photo here shows what we built at the base of a mother Cedar tree. – Editorial note: this poem by our good friend and fellow DGR member William Falk is about the drought affecting California — but Washington State has just experienced it’s warmed winter on record, and now more than half of the state is experiencing official drought conditions. ...