The Campaign to Save India’s Tigers Ignores the Human Cost of Conservation

Saving South Asia’s Regal Cats Has Plunged Thousands of Women Into Poverty and Ignominy

Tigers are for most of us a hypothetical necessity.

Hypothetical in the sense that very few of us spend any time around tigers outside of zoos, though we interact with images of tigers on a daily basis, depending on what type of cereal we eat, sports team we root for, or comic strip we read.

Necessities in the sense that most of us would agree that the world really, really needs tigers; that tigers must remain lurking in the jungle, with their stripes rippling under the dappled light. The existence …

Phoenix Is a Survivor

This City in the Sonoran Desert Is an Old Hand at Grappling with Its Thirst for Water and Electricity

The fact that people question Phoenix’s existence has been good for the city. That was the headline lesson from Tuesday night’s Zócalo/ASU College of Public Service & Community Solutions event, …

The Next John Muir Is Chasing Butterflies in the Heart of L.A.

The Conservationists of the 21st Century Will Be City Kids

The pioneering environmentalist John Muir was no great fan of cities. In 1868, he hightailed it out of San Francisco as fast as he could for the Sierra Nevada. He …

Mommy, Where Does Water Come From?

Too Many Californians Think Water Magically Comes Out of Taps. It Would Be Easy to Make Them Less Clueless.

Our state needs to proclaim a new California Water Awareness Day in every school, so that students, kindergarten through 12th grade, can learn how water works here.

I have worked on …

That’s My Water. No, Mine!

The California Delta Is a Contentious Topic, At Least For Those Who Know About It. Do Current Plans For Its Future Make Sense?

The California Delta is connected to everything in the state, Lois Kazakoff, the deputy editorial page editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, told a crowd at the Fort Mason Center …

My Personal Climate Confusion Disorder

From the Searing Southwest to the Mighty Miss, I’m Experiencing a Personal Climate Change

Like a human divining rod, I came to eastern Iowa from the arid West seeking water. In the West, my eyes were trained mostly on the ground, on the dust …