In Santa Clara County, one increasingly hears the argument that “farming is doomed.” Farmers have told CGF that it isn’t just a matter of them wanting to make windfall profits by selling to developers, but that they can’t make any profits at all being farmers in the County. While this is likely an exaggeration, there...
Category: News
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Environmental cemeteries
CGF’s Executive Director Tom Cronin pointed out another interesting article in Bay Area news: an environmental cemetery in Marin County. The cemetery will come with a permanent conservation easement with guaranteed public access and trails, it will sell “internment rights” on 5% of the land, and it uses the funding to protect the environment through...
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Managing West Nile virus in Santa Clara County
Interesting article in today’s Mercury News, discussing mosquito control in Santa Clara County, done mostly to prevent the West Nile virus from spreading. My biggest fear, that pressure would be placed to drain wetlands, does not seem to be happening. The pesticides being used could be of some concern, although the bacterial control does seem...
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Mercury News Spotlight on Coyote Valley
The Mercury News published a CGF Op-Ed criticizing Coyote Valley development, focusing on the unneeded rush and the excess housing demand that will bring sprawl thoughout the region. We appreciate the Mercury News adding legitimate criticism like this to the news and opinion coverage of Coyote Valley. I can also attest that the San Jose...
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Unfortunate but unsurprising bias in San Jose
The scandal in San Jose over City staff bias in favor of Cisco products is unfortunate but unsurprising to environmentalists. Coyote Valley’s unwise momentum towards development came out of the same pro-Cisco bias. While there is nothing wrong with rooting for the home-team company, San Jose needs to remember that its first priority is its...
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“Sick of Nature” writing
An interesting article by a nature writer in the Boston Globe, bemoaning the current state of nature writing as being too reverent and preaching to the converted. (Hat tip to Conservation News (August 11) for the reference.) A good thing to keep in mind for those of us among the converted. CGF’s newsletters do try...
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Glad-handing the politicians
Just a short observation: I went to a Sierra Club/League of Conservation Voters’ meeting with candidates for political office. Those two organizations kindly offered other groups, like CGF, a chance to set up tables with information. I manned a table, but the politicians were sitting, not circulating. “No use just sitting here,” I thought, grabbed...
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Green Foothills’ Decision Markets
I have been listening to the audio version of a good book recently, The Wisdom of Crowds. The author’s thesis is that groups can arrive at the correct answer to a question more reliably than single individuals, even if the individual is an expert and the group members are not. Larger groups are better decisionmakers...
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It’s here….
West Nile virus, that is. A dead crow in East San Jose has been diagnosed with the disease. This exotic disease may force some unfortunate changes in wetlands management. Environmental groups will have to watch government agencies to make sure they do not cross the line separating reasonable caution in conducting mosquito abatement, from paranoia that...
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Tiger Salamanders finally get protection
The Fish and Wildlife Service has apparently decided to finally grant protection under the Endangered Species Act to California Tiger Salamanders throughout their range. While the government missed its promised May 15 deadline, it at least decided to go ahead with the listing, contrary to the wishes of developers. The timing is also fortuitous for...