EcoNews Report

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) warns that when we experience the next Cascadia subduction zone earthquake, land near the coast may rise or fall significantly over a short period of time—think +/-5 feet in five minutes. If it falls, it could significantly expose new parts of our coast to sea level rise and coastal flooding. Check out the coverage...

Melodie Meyer of the Environmental Protection Information Center joins the show this week to talk about a new plan to log 500 acres of the Jackson State Forest by the method known as "group selection."  This forest in Mendocino County is managed by the State of California and has been the subject of much controversy over herbicide spraying, clearcutting, and failure to consult with local...

President's often set a "first 100 days" agenda, when fresh from their inauguration, they have the most political power and influence in their term. The first 100 days is not only a benchmark to measure success but a preview for how they hope to govern for the rest of their four years. We are at day 95, close enough to measure Trump's impact on the environment. Instead of a lon...

Thousands of Humboldt residents rely on the Humboldt Transit Authority to get around. And for a rural transit agency, they do a really good job. But there are gaps: both in locations (good luck getting to Ferndale) and times (sorry if you want to take the bus on a Sunday). And there are other improvements (like more frequent buses) that are needed to make the bus more convenient and attract more r...

Do you like to go to the beach? Do you appreciate having a beach to go to? Are you happier when that beach has clean ocean water, thriving ocean life and isn’t covered by rocks, seawalls or houses intruding on the public sand? If the answer to any/all of those questions is, “Yes!,” that means you’re a fan of the California Coastal Act, a law passed in 1976 following a 1972 public uprising to defen...

The Klamath dams are out; let's celebrate! Goudi’ni Native American Arts Gallery presents Undammed , an exhibition that celebrates the historic removal of dams on the Klamath River. Art has been at the forefront of the struggle by Native communities to bring down the dams, from protest art lampooning corporate executives to bumper stickers expressing solidarity with the cause. Gallery Directo...

Maybe you've heard about biodiesel. Meet its cousin, "renewable diesel." Made from oils and fats, supporters claim that it can simply replace diesel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Humboldt County is banking on renewable diesel to meet its climate obligations in its draft Regional Climate Action Plan. But is this too good to be true? Host Tom Wheeler and Gary Hughes of  Biofuel...

Fossil fuels are bad for us, both to our climate and to our health. These impacts are felt most acutely in fenceline communities immediately adjacent to fossil fuel power plants, which also tend to be lower-income, communities of color. Folks from these communities are banding together to present a new energy future that leans into renewables and battery storage in order to shut down the gas power...

The Trump Administration has taken a large whack at the National Environmental Policy Act (often better known by its acronym, NEPA). NEPA is the federal environmental law that requires that the federal government understand and acknowledge the environmental impacts of its actions and provide an opportunity for public engagement on projects.  While a bedrock federal environmental law, the law itsel...

The Redwood Coast Energy Authority has a sometimes conflicting mission: purchase as much renewable energy as possible, but ideally that power is local, and also it needs to be cheap enough to compete with PGE. And layer onto that state mandates and competition with other power purchasers across the state. Richard Engel of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority joins the show to talk about the difficul...

Filmmakers Dave Feral and Michelle Hernandez talk with The EcoNews Report about their new film about Baduwa’t — a.k.a., the Mad River. PREVIOUSLY: (PREVIEW) The Makers of the New  Baduwa’t  Documentary Want People to Get Mad About the River Support the show

This week on the EcoNews Report our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River talks about the flurry of recent developments on Eel River dam removal. On January 31 PG&E released their final draft license surrender application, a document that outlines some of the logistics of how they plan to remove the two Eel River dams. PG&E is accepting comments on this document until March 3, y...

In Humboldt we are not new to protecting our environment, but have you ever thought about protecting the night sky from pollution? When nighttime light spills outside of areas we want to illuminate, it becomes light pollution. Bright lights left on at night can disrupt the circadian rhythms of people as well as urban-dwelling and migrating birds, bats, and even aquatic animals, particularly in riv...

President Trump has entered his second term with a wave of executive orders and other executive actions. These have pulled the U.S. from international climate accords, blamed Southern California fires on "radical environmentalism"—he means us!—and portended a gutting of federal environmental laws in order to drill, frack, log, graze and mine. Jeff Miller, Senior Conservation Advocate at...

Every year, delegates from across the globe meet to discuss how we can muster an international response to climate change. On November 5th, 2024, voters elected Donald Trump to be President and one of his first actions was to, again, pull the United States from global climate accords. How can we take meaningful action on climate change when an election fundamentally changes American climate policy...

Jimmy Carter: Peanut farmer. Humanitarian. President. Environmentalist? On this week's EcoNews Report, we catalogue the environmental legacy of President Carter with Rich McIntyre, friend and fishing partner of the President. Locally, President Carter signed into law the expansion of Redwood National Park ( against the protest of loggers ). President Carter was also responsible for doubling t...

"All go to one place; all are of the dust, and to dust all return." Ecclesiastes 3:20. That was true, at least until the Civil War era. Then a desire to preserve bodies led to a new way of dealing with the dead: toxic embalming, water-tight coffins and concrete vaults. For many of us who try to live simple, low-impact lives, our deaths present a dilemma. We can't go simply or sustai...

Poet Jerry Martien joins the Green Gang in the studio to read poetry inspired by the natural landscapes of Humboldt County. If you have never heard Jerry read his poetry before, you are in for a treat, as Jerry’s sonorous voice and crisp lyrical poetry inspires and soothes the soul. (Encore from 2021) Support the show

Today's episode is about trespass cannabis production and its impact on the environment. We have two fantastic guests from the Integral Ecology Research Center based in Blue Lake, California -- Greta Wengert and Ivan Medel.  Support the show

Environmentalists have a reputation for being a bit too doom-and-gloom. But what gives us hope? Jen Kalt of Humboldt Waterkeeper, Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River, Colin Fiske of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, and Tom Wheeler of the Environmental Protection Information Center join the show to discuss the things that give them hope.  Need a dose of hope? Public Tr...

What’s the difference between a strike-slip fault and a subduction zone? Can a local 7.0-magnitude earthquake? And what on earth was going on with all that weird footage of Humboldt Bay last week, in the wake of the quake? Jay Patton, of Cal Poly Humboldt’s geology department, is here to talk us through it all. Check out his blog here . Support the show

The industrial legacy of the 20th Century left many contaminated sites around Humboldt Bay. Our second special episode on communities at risk from sea level rise features local residents talking about several of the most vulnerable sites, including Tuluwat Island, Butcher Slough in Arcata, and the nuclear waste storage site above King Salmon. Many thanks to Hilanea Wilkinson, Adam Canter, Jerry Ro...

The Redwood Coast Energy Authority is working to encourage new local generation of renewable energy through their redesigned "Feed-In Tariff" program, which provides about-market pricing and a streamlined contracting process to encourage the development of local renewable energy projects. This means projects like the new solar farm near Hydesville , a project brought forward by renewable...

Join us for episode #1 of our special series on communities at risk from sea level rise featuring local residents who share their thoughts on the challenges and potential solutions facing our region.  Many thanks to Marnie Atkins, Jerry Rohde, Nate Faith, Troy Nicolini, Adam Canter, and to Jessie Eden, who produced this episode with funding provided by the California Coastal Commission Whale Tail...

Elections have consequences. What does four more years of Trump mean for our environment? (Hint: It's baaaaaaaaaad.) But local elections were a lot better.  In Eureka: Measure F failed spectacularly, firmly clarifying that Eureka voters want more housing and approve of the city's parking lots-to-apartments plan. The rejection of Measure F also hints that while money matters in politics,...