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When Ideology Trumps Facts In the ongoing, fractious city council election, Lagunans have been jolted by Jon Madison’s inability to validate implausible, phony academic achievements. Lagunans received another jolt at the Firebrand Media-organized candidate forum on Oct. 14 when...

  Don’t drive a Tesla . . . unless you’re prepared to be utterly smitten by its features and performance and sticker-shocked at the $100,000 plus price tag. I drove the Model S recently and experienced both shock and awe. As a proud, Volvo-driving, tree-hugger living on the...

  For those of us who like hiking, south Laguna offers a labyrinth of scruffy, scenic trails.  Thanks to the County of Orange, the South Laguna Civic Association (full disclosure: I’m a board member), and other environmentally minded groups and citizens, public access to...

For those of us who like hiking, south Laguna offers a labyrinth of scruffy, scenic trails.  Thanks to the County of Orange, the South Laguna Civic Association (full disclosure: I’m a board member), and other environmentally minded groups and citizens, public access to these...

  Sustainable Tourism on the Coasts of Southeast Asia My family’s recent tour of countries and coastlines in Southeast Asia yielded good and bad news. The bad news is that beaches bordering the Andaman Sea are being overrun, ironically, by folks like me.  The good news is...

“Beauty will save the world,” said a character in a novel written in the late 1800s by Feodor Dostoevsky, one of the most revered authors in modern literature. Seemingly inspired by this insight, the MacGillivray family in town has long been making film documentaries that have...

Reportedly, on average 3 million gallons of pollutants empty into Aliso Beach daily–rain or no rain.  Motor oil, fertilizers, animal dung, and more contaminate this much-used public beach and the waterway that flows into it.  Imagine the impact of this on public health; put...

  Library Hosts Local Author   Thomas Osborne, local author and columnist for Laguna Beach Independent, will be at Laguna Beach Library on Monday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. He will answer questions and sign copies of his most recent work, “Pacific Eldorado,” which...

Recently I spent two 10-12-hour days at the California Coastal Commission meeting in Long Beach’s City Council Chambers.  Had my schedule permitted, I would have attended the third and final day of that meeting. I attended because of my growing interest in protecting the Golden...

Recently I spent two 10-12-hour days at the California Coastal Commission meeting in Long Beach’s City Council Chambers.  Had my schedule permitted, I would have attended the third and final day of that meeting. I attended because of my growing interest in protecting the Golden...

Our kids grow up and one day leave Laguna.  Laguna, however, seldom leaves them.  They go off to college armed with their wits, often our credit card (yikes!), and whatever stuck from their upbringing.  Many are equipped with something else as well, an attachment to their coastal...

Preserving the California coast and its historic cottages is a big job.  Often it requires the partnering of citizen activists and their groups, the California Coastal Commission, and generous donors.  Such has been the case locally at Crystal Cove, nestled along the shoreline...

Governing as if Environmental Factors Matter Do we replace our aging roof, or refurbish the entrance gate to our home?  We’re not always able to do both simultaneously. Naturally, we’ll prioritize and eventually finish both tasks.  Our city government, similarly, has to make a...

I’m a booklover.  I love the feel, the look, the smell of books.  I’m drawn to others who share this passion—librarians, collectors, and independent booksellers (particularly sellers of used volumes).  A trip to Portland always entails many hours at Powell’s Books, and similarly...

If you’re like I am, when you travel abroad, on returning home you may see Laguna Beach through a slightly different set of eyes.  Comparisons, contrasts, and spatial connections–all involving Laguna and the wider world–that I had not seen before embarking on trips to...