Summer 2004
Table of Contents
Mendocino Magic
Two things have become clear since the victory of Mendocino County’s anti-GMO ballot initiative in the March elections: One, that Measure H founders caught only the first wave of what looks to be a tsunami of US efforts to declare particular localities GMO-free, and two, that the wave represents grassroots politics at its most energetic.
Poison with a Promise
This fall, the California Department of Fish & Game will begin poisoning a section of Alpine County’s Silver King Creek, home to the native Paiute cutthroat trout, the rarest trout in America. The idea is to eliminate the nonnative trout that pose dangers to the Paiute of hybridization and competition for food.
Marooned in a Sea of Homes
Meandering creeks, shady canyons, historical sites, and rare species make the rolling foothills of the Black Diamond Mine Regional Preserve an East Bay treasure.
Paradise Found (Almost)
Watching a snowy egret dodge trash along the shore, one finds it hard to imagine that Oakland’s Lake Merritt was once a paradise for fish and birds.
Prescription Rice
The Brave New World of Pharma-Foods.
Farming for Black Gold
Can California sturgeon farms help preserve a species half a world away?
Nothing Beats the Real Thing
Farmers’ Market vendors’ donations connect young palates to local agriculture.
Meat Is a Hot Potato
Making policy can be tough work, especially when those policies affect what we eat.
Garbage Guru
Ever wondered what kind of person it takes to run a recycling program?
Hard Choices
Elsewhere in this magazine, writer Christy Harrison profiles a cafe owner who struggles to provide a socially responsible sandwich. Multiply that quandary by a thousand and you can imagine what it’s like to be Jill Stapleton, who, with the help of EC staffers and volunteers, runs the Ecology Center bookstore on San Pablo Avenue.
Dwellers on the Fringe
Birds—and the meaning of life—take center stage in Mark Bittner’s engaging and bittersweet tale, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
Homesteading in the City
Extreme Simplicity: Homesteading in the City Christopher and Dolores Lynn Nyerges Chelsea Green, 2002 $16.95 The Nyergeses live in LA, in a stucco house on a 150-foot-deep lot. On that lot are also a chicken coop, a house for Otis, their porcine composter; many citrus trees, a plant nursery; beehives, a bamboo grove and other [...]
Agent of Change
Last October, acting as mayor while Willie Brown was out of town, San Francisco supervisor Chris Daly appointed former Sierra Club president Adam Werbach to the city’s Public Utilities Commission, which oversees the city’s drinking water, sewer system, and power production.
Wal-Mart: What a Bargain!
70 million people shop at Wal-Mart each week.
Greenvesting
As you scan the news — Martha, Enron, Tyco — it’s easy to wonder whether anything good has happened on Wall Street since 2000.
Anatomy of a Sandwich
Berkeley’s Nomad Cafe, one of a small but growing number of local eateries to earn a “Green” designation from the Bay Area’s Green Business Program, serves only coffee that is certified organic and fair trade, with only organic milk to dilute it.
The Backyard Lowell Thomas
Slapstick, sweat, sustenance, and science: we garden for food and for beauty—and beauty is more than just decor.
Wild Card
Sneakers, streakers, jacks, and machos furtivos: males of some species have found more than one way to work the game of evolution.
