The recent rains have me thinking about the permaculture water mantra, “slow it. Spread it. Sink it.” I’m in awe of the capacity of my gutters and our stormwater systems to whisk water away. Still, I fear we may be doing our community and environment a disservice with this approach. By concentrating all water from… Continue reading Slow it, spread it, sink it
Tag: wildfire
My beloved Oregon is in drought
My beloved Oregon is in drought. 71% of Oregon is in severe drought, 26% extreme drought, and 4% “exceptional” drought (the dark patch in the middle). Basically, the spring rains never came. Oregon, despite our reputation actually gets very little rain in the summer. Prescribed burning over the last 6 months, and the scars of… Continue reading My beloved Oregon is in drought
A Skosh Better’s Most Read Articles of 2018
Hi All, if you’re reading this, thank you for visiting askoshbetter.com. 🤗 This article is a countdown of the most read articles of the last year according to Google Analytics*. In late 2017 I launched “oakfive” on blogspot (this website is now called a skosh better. In March 2018 I made the switch to WordPress.com… Continue reading A Skosh Better’s Most Read Articles of 2018
Bike Commute in Wildfire Smoke
Air quality in Portland has now hit the unhealthy range due to wildfire smoke from fires raging in Washington and British Columbia. More smoke is on the way tonight, this time from north central and eastern Washington and British Columbia. Expect to wake up to even more smoke on Monday morning. For the latest air… Continue reading Bike Commute in Wildfire Smoke
Fight Fire with Fire: The Radical Success of Oregon’s Prescribed Burn Program (Fiction)
Introduction This fictional narrative is largely inspired by by the ecological debate on the importance of fire for environmental well being. Great places to learn more about this coversation are Dr. Paul Hessberg’s TedX talk, Era of Megafires, and Outside Magazines podcast on an actual story of this issue in action: The latest @outsidemagazine podcast… Continue reading Fight Fire with Fire: The Radical Success of Oregon’s Prescribed Burn Program (Fiction)