The wildfires currently ravaging California are some of the largest and most devastating the area has ever seen. The Woolsey Fire has destroyed almost 1,000 homes, and the Camp Fire is even bigger, spanning 150,000 acres and leaving at least 79 people dead with nearly 1,000 others still missing, earning it the awful distinction of being the deadliest fire in…
Category: Environment
Kim Kardashian’s Private Firefighters Expose America’s Fault Lines
As multiple devastating wildfires raged across California, a private firefighting crew reportedly helped save Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s home in Calabasas, TMZ reported this week. The successful defense of the $50 million mansion is the most prominent example of a trend that’s begun to receive national attention: for-hire firefighters protecting homes, usually on the…
Hurricane Florence Drenches The Carolinas, Leaves At Least 4 Dead
Blowing ashore with howling 90 mph winds, Hurricane Florence splintered buildings, trapped hundreds of people and swamped entire communities along the Carolina coast Friday in what could be just the opening act in a watery, two-part, slow-motion disaster. At least four people were killed. Forecasters warned that drenching rains of anywhere from 1 to 3½…
In Charleston, South Carolina, the Hurricane Parties Continue as Florence Approaches
On Thursday evening, around suppertime, as MSNBC’s Chris Matthews discussed President Trump’s denial of the death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, Nathalie Dupree shook her head in wonder at the television. “How does he get away with it?” she asked. Dupree, a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and a former TV chef, was preparing a meal…
The ‘nightmare’ California flood more dangerous than a huge earthquake
California’s drought-to-deluge cycle can mask the dangers Mother Nature can have in store. During one of the driest March-through-February time periods ever recorded in Southern California, an intense storm dumped so much rain on Montecito in January that mudflows slammed into entire rows of homes. Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed, and at least…
World’s most controversial fruit depends on giant bats for pollination
Durian. Depending on whom you talk to it’s either the most beloved or the most despised fruit on the planet. It suffers no moderation, no wishy-washiness. It is the king of fruits or the worst thing you’ve ever tasted. Due to its potent odour – delicate and sweet to its advocates and sewage-like to its…
