Summer 2002
Table of Contents
The Mokelumne
At 8,000 feet in the Sierra, between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley, twin miniature lakes gather the headwaters of the Mokelumne River, which provides the drinking water for the East Bay.
Liquid Solar
The Nation’s Fastest-Growing Alternative Fuel? Vegetable Oil.
When We Bombed the World
The Cold War may be over but its legacy remains hot and deadly.
The Right to Grow Organic
Arnold Taylor and his son farm 3,500 acres south of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Taylors raise organic beef, and grow organic-certified wheat, oats, barley, mustard, lentils, and, until recently, canola.
Desert Water Marketing Plan Nears Key Vote
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) could vote as early as June on Cadiz Inc.’s unprecedented proposal to store water under its privately owned desert land for resale to municipal customers.
Sierra Management Plan under Fire
An innovative Sierra Nevada fire-management plan faces threats from significant loopholes, a logging-intensive federal law, and a Bush administration review, forest ecologists say.
Residents Rally for “Rarest of Mosaics”
Fremont residents have unofficially weighed in against the development of open space next to Coyote Hills Regional Park, which houses gray fox, deer, native willow groves, more than 170 bird species, and a series of Native American burial mounds.
Montezuma Wetlands Suit
Two Bay Area activist groups have filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue to block the Montezuma Wetlands Project, an effort to dump toxic dredge spoils from the Port of Oakland and elsewhere into Solano County marshland for “restoration.”
Clean Water Victory
Working-class communities in the San Gabriel Valley and Pomona areas east of Los Angeles have won a state Supreme Court ruling that allows water users to sue privately owned water suppliers, as well as public water companies, over contamination of the water supply.
The Broken Promised Land
First, the bad news: California’s fruit bowl, the San Joaquin Valley, is being paved or desertified. Why?
Farms with a Face
Now, the good news: As one farm journalist sees it, organic specialty foods will preserve small farms, soils, and a personal tie to city dwellers.
The Next Revolution
On thousands of urban gardens in Cuba, necessity has mothered a successful mix of organic methods, market strategies, and good eating.
In the Heartland, a New Generation
Midwest smallholders like Liz Sarno are finding variations on old-fashioned cooperation to keep themselves on their land.
Sovereignty at Shoshone Mountain
The Shoshone never surrendered, never gave up their land, even amid nuclear tests. The latest trespasser? A proposed wind-energy farm.
From Source To Sink
Following the Mokelumne River, source of the East Bay’s drinking water, as it flows through the wild Sierra landscape — and through us.
Epilogue to Victory
After shutting down the state’s only commercial medical waste incinerator, a coalition kept its broader vision: “not in anybody’s backyard.”
Mutually Inclusive
We’re at the Point Reyes Dance Palace at the end of another Christmas bird count, the 32nd for this territory.
Muck Lovers
We’ve been fighting with the lousy drainage in my backyard for years and not getting results in proportion to the energy we’ve spent — certainly nothing lasting.
Good Companions
The Bay Area is blessed with a mild climate that permits year-round gardening, but many of us don’t get the urge to plant until Spring warms up our soil.
