Ecology
Point Reyes National Seashore
A commonly overlooked consequence of rising sea levels due to the greenhouse gas effect is severe coastal erosion– a growing threat for California as most of our population lives in coastal cities. Studies show that 40% of California’s beaches are experiencing long-term (~120 years) erosion of -0.2m/year, while 66% are experiencing short-term (~25 years) erosion of -0.3m/year.
Read MoreThe echoes of a thousand terns reverberate through the morning mist. Overhead, a pelican calls out to its flock. Hummingbirds dive nearby, chattering their war-cries. A Great Egret cries in the distance. This is the dawn symphony at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, a 1,499 acre wetland ecosystem that brims with biodiversity.
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Wild tomato varietal being grown in the Indigenous Community Learning Garden in September of 2021
Over the past few years, land acknowledgements have become commonplace at UC Berkeley. You may see them in email signatures, lecture slides, and introductions to webinars. All too often, once the slide is clicked through or the next guest speaker takes the stage, the land acknowledgment, or any further information regarding Indigenous land and sovereignty, is not brought up again…
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Mount Diablo State Park in the summer of 2021 / Photo by Satchi Thockchom
It has been two years since California overcame its over seven year-long drought, only to digress to an even worse state of drought in 2021. While the state frequently receives low rainfall, this is a cause for concern because of rising temperatures stemming from climate change…
Read MoreClimate change, and the threat of wildfire that accompanies it, is often equated to a great, existential war between the extreme forces of nature and humanity. Much like wartime commendations of the men and women fighting on the frontlines, wildland firefighters are celebrated as the last line of defense on the wilderness frontier…
Illustration by Lia Keener
Nowhere is the impact of the years-long drought and system of dams seen as intensely on the native salmon populations of California. Rising water temperatures in California have wrought enormous damage on salmon populations; some 14,000 of the 16,000 Chinook salmon eggs died around the Sacramento area this year alone.
Read MoreWithin 15 minutes, one can move from a loud, chaotic city to a quiet, scenic lake nestled in the Berkeley Hills. Lake Anza is a natural, spring-fed lake with a sandy beach found in Tilden Regional Park. Surrounded by trees that provide shade and excellent climbing opportunities, Lake Anza has a lot to offer…
Read MoreOn October 1st, residents along the Pacific coast down in southern California sensed the faint smell of petroleum. An oil spill was confirmed the following day, 5 miles off the coast of Newport and Huntington Beach. This environmental devastation equates to an estimated 144,000 gallons.
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At roughly 90,000 pounds, the gray whale roams the shallow coastal waters of the North Pacific Ocean. This marine mammal usually migrates alone or in small pods, and their habitats range from the far western Pacific by east Asia, to the Arctic, and reproduce in the far east by Baja California.
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The COVID-19 virus has taken our economical, societal, and even natural world by storm. Before COVID, tourists and rangers alike shielded at-risk species from being trophy hunted. Now that many areas lack the tourists to monitor any local poachers as well as fund wildlife management, animals all around the world are vulnerable to commodification to an alarming extent.
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Ranging from one to two pounds and roughly a foot long, the Riparian Brush Rabbit is high on the list of endangered species in the state of California. They can be found on the west coast, from Oregon and all the way down to Mexico, scuttling away into burrows and climbing trees in temperate and arid climate zones.
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Original oyster illustration by Lia Keener
East Bay oyster banks are steeped in history rooted in the precolonial lives of Indigenous communities, and they are witnesses to the rise of what is now the modern day East Bay. Recent development projects and infrastructure have fundamentally altered the ecology of the oyster banks and have destroyed several traditional Ohlone shell mounds, formations composed of shell and soil formed by Indigenous groups once living along the coastal East Bay.
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