Spouting Off

Paper Bites Dog Story

The Los Angeles Times editorialized today that mutts should be given a chance at a pilot Santa Monica dog beach. Last week I spoke with editorial writer Carla Hall for 45 minutes on why the dog beach would be a bad idea for public health protection, …
Spouting Off on the LA Times

Rights of Nature in Santa Monica

In the Citizens United case last year, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that corporations have the same rights as citizens. The ruling already has changed the face of electoral politics in America, with unlimited campaign contributions by corporations…
Santa Monica may follow Pittsburgh's footsteps in codifying fundamental rights

Barking Up the Wrong Tree

In Santa Monica, there are two environmental issues that seem to come up every five years like clockwork: fluoridation of drinking water and dog beaches.  A few weeks ago, the Santa Monica City Council decided to mollify the dog beach supporters…
Spouting Off: Santa Monica Dog Beach

Cowell Doesn’t Give a Toss

Thank you Simon Cowell.  An irate Heal the Bay member wrote a scathing e-mail encouraging us to take a stand against your ocean pollution commercial. It’s bad enough that my 12-year-old daughter Natalie is obsessed with his “American Idol”…
Spouting Off on Simon Cowell

Saving For a Rainy Day

L.A. County’s Department of Public Health has just released rainwater harvesting guidelines that could help transform the region’s management of stormwater runoff.  The guidelines apply to rainwater harvesting projects, including rain barrel…
Spouting Off about rainwater harvesting

A Consistent Message at WEFTEC

The WEFTEC water quality conference, with its acres of pumps, filters, water treatment devices and other gizmos, moved out of the L.A. Convention Center last week. But I’m still thinking about what the 20,000-person gathering of H2O nerds means for…
WEFTEC exhibition hall

Stop the Presses! Government Works!

The Los Angeles City Council today took the bold step of supporting unanimously a substantial sewage service fee increase. The household fee will incrementally increase from an average of $29 a month to $53 a month over the next 10 years. The hike wi…
Stop the Presses! Government Works!

The Magic of Mussels

Today’s guest blogger is Matthew King, communications director for Heal the Bay. In my past life as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter, I covered way too many film and TV trade shows. Heavy on the glitz and light on substance, these promotional co…
WESTEC 2011 Mussel water filtration exhibit

A Breach of Faith

Today’s guest blogger is Sarah Sikich, Heal the Bay’s Coastal Resources Director. She’s also a Malibu resident.
A mass die-off of marine life at Surfrider Beach

Reading, Writing ... and Reycling

Unfortunately, discussions about the future of K-12 public education in California typically focus on the state’s massive budget problems.  Talks of educational reform seem to exclusively revolve around teacher accountability and charter schoo…
Spouting Off: Education and the Environment Initiative
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