It is human nature — more or less — to pay attention to imminent risks and risks with which we have experience. On the natural disaster ledger this includes tornadoes in Kansas, hurricanes in Florida, flooding in Pennsylvania, Nor’easters in New England, and forest fires in California (or, gasp, New Jersey). This Thanksgiving, “Lake Effect” snow in five states joined the …

Like some of you, perhaps, I turned down my media dial as the 2024 Presidential election reached its climax. I ignored the polls. I avoided the news beyond scanning headlines. I encouraged friends to count on the youth vote to carry Harris to victory. I quelled my fears with hope. Post-election, I continued to look the other way. I refrained …

The doorbell to Martinho de Almada Pimentel’s house in Sintra, Portugal is hard to find, and he likes it that way. It’s a long rope that, when pulled, rings a literal bell on the roof that lets him know someone is outside the mountainside mansion that his great-grandfather built in 1914 as a monument to privacy. There’s been precious little …

This is not our world with trees in it. It’s a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.― Richard Powers, The Overstory Ancient — and not so ancient — trees are precious in ways we never knew, today’s forest scientists tell us. They communicate. They migrate. They protect. They heal.  The novelist Richard Powers, in his award-winning The Overstory, shares some of …

Four years after the Almeda Fire tore through Talent, Oregon and its sister town, Phoenix, the sense of both terror and loss are still palpable. Here in Ashland, five miles to the south, “being firewise” has become a mantra. At a recent “fire preparedness” meeting at Grange Hall down the road from where I live, Kelly Burns, Ashland’s Emergency Management …

The persistent heat here in Southern Oregon this summer, combined with wildfire smoke, has created its own peculiar lockdown for local residents. Come early afternoon, it’s best to hibernate indoors as the heat and smoke reach their crescendo. Night offers little respite. The peak temperatures of late afternoon linger well into the evening.  This past Sunday, the lockdown began early …

1964 In the summer of 1964, as I drove my family’s Rambler to the Santa Monica beach club where I’d snagged a job entertaining preschoolers, I’d blast the radio whenever Martha and the Vandellas showed up singing “Dancing in the Street.” Callin’ out around the worldAre you ready for a brand new beatSummer’s here and the time is rightFor dancing …