Travelers Stranded by Highway Collapse Begin to Leave Big Sur – the New York Times
About 2,000 motorists, mostly tourists, were stuck in the area on Saturday night after a section of Highway 1 fell into the ocean. No injuries were reported….
California’s Highway 1 road conditions will only get riskier, experts say – the Guardian
Chunk of famed route crumbled into sea causing another closure, and conditions are expected to only worsen with climate crisis…
California’s Pacific highway is beautiful, famous … and collapsing – the Times, UK
2,000 people were stranded recently when a chunk of Highway 1 fell into the sea near Big Sur. The solution may lurk in an unlikely place: Yorkshire…
California’s war on plastic bag use seems to have backfired. Lawmakers are trying again – the Los Angeles Times
According to a report by the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG, 157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California the year the law was passed. By 2022, however, the tonnage of discarded plastic bags had skyrocketed to 231,072 — a 47% jump…The problem, it turns out, was a section of the law that allowed grocery stores and large retailers to provide thicker, heavier-weight plastic bags to customers for the price of a dime….
Here’s How the Next Two Atmospheric Rivers Will Affect California – the New York Times
A “Pineapple Express” hitting California through Thursday will set the stage for another week of unsettled weather across the state…
Can Seawalls Save Us? – the New Yorker
Pacifica, California, just south of San Francisco, is the kind of beachfront community that longtime residents compare to Heaven…Pacifica embodies one of the central disagreements about rising seas. Fight or flight? Stay or go? Flight can seem unimaginable. But, if we try to fight the ocean with rock and concrete, it will cost us—and it may not work…
A California Beach Town Is Desperate to Save Its Vanishing Sand – the New York Times
Sea-level rise and man-made projects have left Oceanside with precious little beach space. That’s a problem if coastal life is part of your city’s identity…
The Not-So-Natural Beach – Ryan Anderson
Growing up, I always imagined the beach to be a natural place. I think it’s safe to say that this sentiment may be pretty common among many beachgoers. It’s easy to think of the beach as being somewhat “natural,” or at least close to that thing some people call “nature.” This is a short piece, so I won’t go down the what is nature!? rabbit hole for now. By natural I mean something along the lines of “not caused or created by human intervention.” So here’s the thing: many beaches are actually far less “natural” than many people assume or know…
The “Octopus Garden” – MBARI
Deep below the ocean’s surface just off the Central California coast, thousands of octopus gather near an extinct underwater volcano. The Octopus Garden is the largest known aggregation of octopus anywhere in the world…