The California-based Community Water Center has spent years trying to shine a spotlight on agriculture runoff and groundwater contamination that has made water undrinkable in the state’s most productive agricultural regions. Yet in a nation where most people believe agriculture is good for the environment, raising awareness of the nuances…
In the last ten years, the state of California launched a big experiment by creating marine protected areas up and down the coast that give ocean creatures a chance to feed, breed and thrive. Like national parks on land, these so-called “underwater parks” are meant to give marine life a…
Alaska Governor Sean Parnell and energy companies are pushing to take away Alaskans’ voice in how oil and gas drilling, mining, road building and other development is balanced with protection for clean water, fish and wildlife. Several bills now being debated in the Alaska Legislature would strip public input and…
As communications consultants working with nonprofits, foundations, mission-minded businesses and community groups on behalf of the environment and public health, we come across a lot of really good ideas and cool tactics. What follows are seven especially cool things that came across our collective desks in 2012. Some we were…
More than 2300 people packed last night’s coal export hearing at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle; about 95 percent of them came to say no to the proposed coal port near Bellingham. Lots more photos here. Officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state Department of…
If you live along the west coast, you may have noticed flooded streets and sidewalks, submerged piers, and disappearing beaches this morning. Today marks the year’s highest tides. Known as “King Tides,” these seasonal high tides can cause the ocean to swell a foot above normal high water levels, providing…
Four years ago, Resource Media conducted a strategic communications training in a big red barn next to the visitor’s center at Point Reyes National Seashore. We discussed a number of challenges threatening the Seashore’s spectacular natural assets, one of which was a brewing controversy over an oyster operation at Drakes…
Here in the Pacific Northwest, you can add rain to death and taxes on the list of life’s certainties. In the Seattle-area we set rainfall records earlier this month, sparking floods and mudslides. And as the region has been paved over, our wastewater and stormwater systems have to absorb more…
In June, Resource Media joined with ocean fans around the world in celebrating the completion of California’s network of marine protected areas. Many years in the making, the United States’ first statewide system of underwater parks came about as the result of the visionary Marine Life Protection Act and the…
That’s ABC News’ headline for its recent investigation into the economic and health costs of toxic blue-green algae that is spreading across the US. The TV segment, which aired first on World News Tonight, is hard-hitting, laying the blame for blooms in the Great Lakes squarely on agricultural runoff. Other…
