Billions of barrels of oil lie in the Monterey Shale. The windfall from tapping into that deeply buried cache could be mind-blowing – so could the damage. Originally published in Sunset in collaboration with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. FLECKS OF GOLDEN EVENING LIGHT are starting to bathe California’s San Antonio Valley as Paula […]
The Looming Water Crisis
Originally published in Saturday Evening Post. KYLAN FRYE STEERS HER SUBARU station wagon along the slushy roadways of the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area at the edge of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. It’s a February afternoon, gray and cold, and a layer of snow covers the wetlands that spread for miles around us. The Wasatch […]
Could California’s Salmon Make a Comeback?
After years of decline, the rich human community that depends on California’s salmon runs may at last be rebounding. Originally published in OnEarth. JON ROSENFIELD AND I BUSHWHACK through the scrubby willows that line the American River east of Sacramento. The air is crisp this October morning, and the timing of our visit should be just […]
The Tricky Academics of Eating
Martin Smith’s class poses a simple question: Should I eat fish? But answering it sends students into murky waters. Originally published in Duke Magazine. ON THE FIRST DAY OF HIS MARINE CONSERVATION course this past January, Martin Smith told his eight undergraduates that they would play a game. One student would wait in the hallway. […]
The Organic Food Paradox
As consumers increasingly demand organic produce, and as massive industrial farms rise to meet their needs, will it spell the end of the family-run, lovingly tended, earth-friendly farm? Originally published in The Saturday Evening Post. THE TERRAIN SWOOPS AND RISES AS I DRIVE up North Carolina Route 86 toward the rural crossroads of Cedar Grove. […]
In Desperation, Seafood Workers Sign Away Their Rights
For many of Louisiana’s oyster shuckers, shrimp peelers, and deckhands, survival after the BP oil spill meant accepting one-time payments of $5,000 check and signing away the rest of their rights. Meet Tam Nguyen, who shucked oysters for 30 years before the disaster. Produced by Barry Yeoman and Richard Ziglar for KRVS, Lafayette, Louisiana, and […]
At the Edge of the Gulf, Dulac Re-learns Resilience
The Houma Indians and Cajuns who live in in this South Louisiana fishing village have watched its population drop by more than 50 percent since 1990. Now they’re calling upon their traditional survival skills to help them weather some 21st-century disasters. Produced by Barry Yeoman and Richard Ziglar for KRVS, Lafayette, Louisiana, and the Louisiana […]
MacArthur Genius Says the BP Disaster is Far from Over
The Guardian has described Louisiana chemist Wilma Subra as BP’s “worst nightmare.” A winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant, Subra has spent 30 years giving technical assistance to local groups dealing with environmental problems. She says there’s ample reason for concern about human health and seafood safety on the Gulf Coast. Told entirely in Subra’s […]
For One Cajun Shrimper, a Journey from Despair to Defiance
April 20, 2011 marks the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, and it’s still too early to measure the complete cost of the ensuring disaster. But we do know that the BP oil spill upended lives in ways that defy quantification. Here’s the story of shrimper Darla Rooks, who lost everything but her fighting […]
Grand Bayou, Self-Sufficient and Shrinking, Prepares for a Fisheries Collapse
Members of the Atakapa-Ishak tribe have found a creative use for a high-tech fencing material that has protected soldiers in Iraq and strengthened levees outside New Orleans: They’re building gardens that will keep them fed in the event of a seafood shortage sparked by the BP oil spill. Produced by Barry Yeoman and Richard Ziglar […]
