Here’s a thought…
“The competition between Nature and the economy is deep and broad.
In the short term, the economy usually wins. In the long term …?”
BILL APPEL
Barcelona uses its tourist tax to tackle the effects of climate change
||| FROM CBS NEWS ||| After wide scale anti-tourism protests over the summer, Barcelona is trying to turn a negative into a positive by spending some of the money raised from the city's tax on visitors
La Niña has officially arrived. Here’s what that means for western Washington
||| FROM KOMO NEWS ||| After months and months of anticipation, we have officially entered the La Niña climate pattern we've been waiting for. La Niña is the opposing end of the spectrum from El
2025 Marine Naturalist Training Program Opens Registration
||| FROM CONOR AGNEW for THE WHALE MUSEUM ||| The Whale Museum has opened registration for the 2025 spring and summer sessions of the Marine Naturalist Training Program! This hybrid program is an intensive multi-day
It’s tick time again
||| FROM RUSSEL BARSH for KWIAHT ||| Native Blacklegged Ticks are questing again; in fact, they began their search for fresh hosts in the islands nearly a month earlier this year, presumably due to this
Health experts rally for ‘call to arms’ to protect children from toxic chemicals
In new paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, leading researchers to propose action to protect kids ||| FROM THE GUARDIAN ||| Children are suffering and dying from diseases that emerging scientific research has
‘The Santa Anas’ by Joan Didion
||| BY JOAN DIDION ||| There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air this afternoon, some unnatural stillness, some tension. What it means is that tonight a Santa Ana will begin to blow, a
Washington State bans net-pen aquaculture
||| FROM NATIONALFISHERMEN.COM ||| Commercial finfish pen aquaculture appears finished in Washington State, after the Board of Natural Resources voted Jan. 7 to ban the industry. The vote was a victory for Washington State’s Commissioner
Why local power generation is important | Part 1 of 3
||| FROM KRISTA BOUCHEY for ORCAS POWER & LIGHT ||| OPALCO has been providing reliable power to the islands since 1937. Electricity is an essential and critical component to the modern-day lifestyles powering our hospitals,
Gas pains
||| BY LIN MCNULTY, theORCASONIAN EDITOR ||| As of Aug. 10, 2023, it cost $4.056 for regular gasoline in Idaho, according to AAA. In Washington, regular gasoline cost is $5.017. That’s a price difference of
New year brings new vessel distance regulations for Southern Resident Killer Whales
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| As of January 1, 2025, new distance regulations are in effect to better protect the highly endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) in Washington State waters. Boaters are now
New public zone map aims to enhance accuracy of weather warnings in western Washington
||| FROM KOMO TV ||| When severe weather hits western Washington, where you live can make a big difference in the impact to you and your family. To give a more accurate and more detailed
Community Meeting Reminder: Bayhead Creek culvert repair project on Killebrew Lake Rd.
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS ||| San Juan County is hosting a community meeting on Thursday, January 9, at the Orcas Landing to discuss the replacement of the culvert on Bayhead Creek under Killebrew Lake
Renewables won’t save us from climate catastrophe, experts warn; what will?
||| FROM MONGABAY.COM ||| Demand for renewable energy, particularly solar panels, is growing at an exponential rate. But the shift to solar, wind, EVs and other sustainable tech solutions has sparked an environmentally destructive mining
Early bird registration now open for 2025 San Juan Islands Agricultural Summit
||| FROM REBECCA MOORE for WSU EXTENSION ||| Early Bird Registration is now open for the 13th Annual San Juan Islands Agricultural Summit, taking place on February 28 and March 1, 2025, on beautiful Lopez
Tahlequah mourns loss of another calf as Center for Whale Research confirms death of J61
||| FROM KOMO NEWS ||| SEATTLE (KOMO) — The Center for Whale Research said they've received information that as of Wednesday, J35, also commonly referred to as Tahlequah, has been seen carrying the body of the recently
