Fire Danger! Are You Pet-Evacuation Ready?

June 9, 2014

As seen in The Cambrian When the Colby fire near Glendora, Ca. exploded, I watched the sienna-tinted smoke plume darken a bright blue sky. I was about 250 miles north of the January wildfire, returning home on U.S. Route 395.  Cal Fire officials warned that extreme red flag conditions were in effect throughout much of California—in January—usually one California’s wettest months. Little has improved since the Colby fire. As I drive along California State Route 1, the Monterey Pine forest tempts that red […]

From the Last Vestiges of America’s Middle Class

May 14, 2014

The free market, however, is, now, just another quaint and misused phrase funded by uber-billionaires that care-less for you, me, or the woman struggling to feed her family by making and selling popsicles after they took her job and sent it to Pakistan. She’s inconsequential, as are the men, women and children in Pakistan’s sweat factories earning poverty wages making stuff to sell in America and elsewhere.

Unaga, An Elephant Seal Pup, Learns to Swim

May 10, 2014

Northern elephant seal pups born in the winter, spend their first 4 weeks with their mothers in a harem. After 4 weeks and a gain of about 10 pounds per day from a birth weight between 60-80 pounds, the 300 pound pup becomes a weaner when its mother returns to sea. The weaners rest unit about March, a time when most of the adult males and females have returned to sea. In March these youngsters teach themselves how to swim and dive. […]

Scrubbing with Plastic Microbeads

May 6, 2014

Plastics are in everything—including our personal care products like toothpaste, facial scrubs, shaving cream, shower gels, and toilet bowl cleaners. Up to 10% of these products can contain polypropylene microbeads for the “scrubbing” effect.

The tiny, often not visible microbeads are meant to wash down the drain, which eventually winds up in the ocean.

“Invisible Consequences of Mistaking Plastic for Dinner”

April 29, 2014

Now, I’m planning a family barbecue featuring fresh caught tuna. Yum! Healthy, low fat protein. Unfortunately that tuna may still have high levels of BPAs and PCBs (for starters) in its system. It all began with ten lantern fish that ingested plastic debris floating in their fave plankton cafe. A couple of hungry squid dined on the 10 lantern fish. The tuna that I’m covering in a tasty chili rub, ate those two squid.

Solar users, beware! You are the enemy

April 22, 2014

When a business’s sales figures drop on the graph, a savvy business owner seeks ways to reverse the downward trend. As a self employed person and/or business owner for over 35 years, I carefully watched my sales records. Negative impacts to my sales were bigger and better ideas outside of my business’s capacity to match; changing needs and standards in the market; or simply not paying attention to my customers’ needs or providing adequate customer service. For the record, a small business […]

Memoir Writing. Narcissistic or a Gift?

April 7, 2014

Featured in Vibrant Nation “Why do you feel compelled to tell everyone your story?” a friend asked after reading my memoir-in-progress posts. I was unsure if she thought me narcissistic. And when I do finish my story, readers will discover that I’m on the other end of narcissism. So I didn’t know if I should take offense or not. On the other hand, her question forced me to perform some dot connecting. As a young girl who bounced from the good life, […]

Slow Beach Walk Into Plastic Waste

March 18, 2014

What seemed like a landfill of plastic in kelp, catapulted me into photographic obsession (about 200 frames shot). I lost track of time while I stooped and bent my body to find the right way to capture this polyester moment. Eventually several curious people asked “ What are you photographing?”