Our Stories

The Latest by Jessica A. Knoblauch

Senior Staff Writer

Jessica is a former award-winning journalist. She enjoys wild places and dispensing justice, so she considers her job here to be a pretty amazing fit.

January 3, 2013

Friday Finds: Facebook’s Climate Change Status

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Climate change could flood Facebook, Google by 2050 Facebook can’t be brought down by angry fans irritated with its privacy policy and data mining tendencies, but it could be swept away by climate change- induced sea level rise, reports Climate Wire. Though much of the California coastline is at risk, Silicon Valley is especially vulnerable …

December 18, 2012

Poisoning The Well

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  California Office

She was one of 26 mountain lions being studied by National Park Service biologists. Collared back in August along with her brother, Puma-25 had been dead for about a week before hikers found her on an October Sunday in Point Mugu State Park, located in the Santa Monica Mountains. Her death, though, didn’t come at …

December 7, 2012

Friday Finds: Fido’s Chemical Body Burden

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Northeast Office

Your favorite four-legged companion may get a dose of toxic chemicals the next time you throw him/her a chew toy. That’s the conclusion of an as-yet unpublished study, which found that dogs that chew on plastic toys may be exposed to hormone-altering chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates. The new study, conducted at Texas …

October 4, 2012

Friday Finds: Climate Change Leaves Wine Connoisseurs Dry

By Jessica A. Knoblauch  /  Mid-Pacific Office & Washington, D.C. Office

Climate change leaves CA wine lovers with fewer options California’s popular wine varieties may soon be hard to find thanks to drier and hotter temperatures caused by climate change, reports the Center for Investigative Reporting. Though by now farmers are used to Mother Nature’s unpredictability, a slightly wetter or drier season is nothing compared to …

October 1, 2012

Friday Finds: The Extreme Food Edition

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Climate change may ruin BLTs and loaded baked potatoes You know Americans may be a little food-obsessed when the only time we get concerned about climate change is when it affects our favorite meals. According to the USDA, this year’s drought is so bad that it’s expected to negatively impact next year’s pork production, reports …

July 27, 2012

Friday Finds: Greenland’s Meltdown

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Greenland's record ice melt blows scientists' beakers.

July 20, 2012

Friday Finds: The Risky Business of Fracking

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Insurance agency says fracking too risky to cover.

July 13, 2012

Friday Finds: Fracking Causes Ice Cream Headaches

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Extreme gas drilling fracks up ice cream ingredient Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, may cause a worldwide ice-cream headache by eating up supplies of a food additive that’s used in everything from ice cream to cosmetics, drugs and explosives, reports the Houston Chronicle. It turns out that guar gum, a magical white flour-like substance that’s added …

June 28, 2012

Friday Finds: Bumblebees Get Stung By Climate Change

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Bumblebees join honeybees in buzzing off It turns out honeybees aren’t the only pollinators experiencing mysterious, massive die-offs, reports Grist. Bumblebees, those fuzzy, buzzy bees that pollinate everything from alfalfa to apples, are also disappearing. That’s bad news for farmers…and anyone who happens to like eating food. According to research published last year, the abundance …

June 21, 2012

Friday Finds: An Oceanic-Sized Miracle

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

Mexican government saves miracle reef Cabo Pulmo, an ecological treasure and the jewel of California, recently received a stay of execution after the Mexican government announced its decision to cancel a mega-resort development project near the reef in Baja California Sur, reports the LA Times. The cancelled Cabo Cortes resort development was by far the …