We’ve just waded through the “California Water Plan,” 2005 update, which is produced by the California Dept. of Water Resources and is the most comprehensive source available on California’s water.  Some interesting facts pop out immediately:

California has the most extensive system
of water reconveyances in the world.

(1) Here are the overall quantities:  In a normal year, about [...]

Back in 1998 we wondered here how long the boom would last.  In our EcoWorld post “Bulls & Bears” we noted that aggregate public stock multiples were much higher than historical norms, and wondered how they might experience a soft landing.  As it turned out, stocks appreciated for nearly two more years, and the soft landing [...]

Much has been made of “smart growth principles” and “smart energy policy” in California.  But in reality, the assumptions which dominate and drive California’s land use and energy policies are seriously flawed.  Failure to examine the quantitative realities that ought to inform these policies, and adjust accordingly, will condemn Californians to a future much darker than many rational alternatives.
The [...]

The primary environmentalist war of choice, today at least, is against the car.  Environmentalists want to drive us out of our cars, in spite of the fact that cars are green and smart, and they are getting greener and smarter all the time.
The most liberating personal transportation innovation since the discovery of horseback riding must be systematically [...]

Sacramento, California, is arguably the epicenter of the green policy initiatives that are changing the world.  But living here in the center of the storm, watching the impact as these new “enlightened” policies get implemented, is not as blissful an experience as one might think.

According to today’s environmentalist
wisdom, if you have yard that requires
water to grow [...]

First of all, a gigaton is one billion metric tons.  One metric ton (2,200 lbs.) is what a cubic meter of water weighs.  One billion metric tons is what one cubic kilometer (one billion cubic meters) of water weighs, and it is called a gigaton.
Next, remember atmospheric CO2 includes two oxygen atoms, and weighs 3.7x [...]

There is a group in the USA (and elsewhere) known as the International Dark Sky Association who, since 1988, have been advocating not carbon reduction, but lumen reduction.  With over 11,000 members - over 1,500 in California - the International Dark Sky Association has some clout.
Nonetheless, “glare bombs” are still available in bulk and can still [...]