Rewilding Santa Monica’s thoroughly artificial beach
In the early 1900s, L.A. County beaches were not yet the tourist destination they would one day become. To draw more tourists, local municipalities wanted the beaches of the Santa Monica Bay to mimic those on the nation’s opposite coast: bigger, flatter, wider. Beach managers decided then, to bend the area’s geology, making Southern California beaches take on a more Floridian aesthetic. It was built by moving sand from one place and dumping it into another, turning the tourist-friendly beach into an ecological wasteland.
50 years ago, Oregon’s beach battle kept sands open to everyone
The Beach Bill gave Oregonians ownership of the state’s beaches, and that’s a rare distinction. Only Hawaii has similar protection, and our unlimited access to the beach has made the Oregon Coast a big tourist destination.
Glaciers Rapidly Shrinking and Disappearing: 50 Years of Glacier Change in Montana
It’s now “inevitable” that the contiguous United States will lose all of its glaciers within a matter of decades, according to scientists who have revealed the precipitous shrinkage of dozens of glaciers in Montana.
Change in a Major Pacific Weather Pattern Will Likely Intensify Warming
The Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), a major atmospheric and meteorological pattern in the mid-Pacific Ocean, is now switching into a positive phase that will likely boost Pacific Ocean temperatures and accelerate global warming, according to new research.