SSU Students Developing Tiny Satellite to Monitor Earth’s Ecosystem – September 22, 2016

Some Sonoma State students are building a NASA-funded satellite. Three years ago, some Sonoma State students successfully built and launched a tiny research satellite into space. Now a new team of students is working to get an even smaller satellite into orbit. KRCB’s Tiffany Camhi reports. This story part of KRCB’s North Bay Bountiful initiative. …

Why the Ballot is So Long This Fall – September 21, 2016

Voters in California as a whole, and Sonoma County face a record number of ballot measures this fall, for a complex set of reasons. Although no one will see them all, voters across Sonoma County are being asked to decide 23 separate ballot measures this fall. That’s in addition to the 17 initiatives everyone will …

Marin Rancher Among First Pioneers in Carbon Farming – September 20, 2016

One Marin rancher is taking a chance and exploring new ways to use carbon farming on his land. Near West Marin’s small farming town of Tomales there’s a ranch that is sucking TONS of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The ranch was part of an experimental carbon farming project a few years ago and …

Firewatch at Pole Mountain Lookout – September 19, 2016

Fire lookout towers are waning in California. But a critical one remains active, watching over the coastal mountains above Cazadero. Across California, mountaintop fire lookouts are increasingly rare. Spotters can’t penetrate the smog in the southland, and elsewhere, ubiquitous cell phones have diminished the need for them. But in the remote coastal highlands above and …

Singing The Revolution – September 16, 2016

Social change doesn’t require songs to empower it, but having them has often helped. For much of American history, music has demonstrated a consistent power to unify movements and effect change. But, is this still true? Occupy Sonoma County is hosting David Walls in a teach-in Monday evening at the Peace and Justice Center in …

Marin General Considers Medical Marijuana Use – September 15, 2016

A doctor at Marin General wants it to be the state’s first hospital to openly offer medical marijuana treatment. Earlier this week, Marin General Hospital took a first tentative step toward becoming California’s first public medical center to openly allow patients to use medicinal cannabis. KRCB’s Tiffany Camhi was at the hospital’s governing board meeting …

Audible Evidence of Climate Change – September 14, 2016

Decreasing biodiversity may be hard to see, but in some wild places, even here in Sonoma County, it can clearly be heard. Audio ecologist Bernie Krause has been capturing the sounds of the natural world for decades. But the changes he hears in those recordings now carry a clear and worrisome message. Bernie Krause talks …

Making Local History Entertaining – September 12, 2016

Local history does not have to be a dull, dry presentation, as a polished new video history of Santa Rosa demonstrates. A well-known quote from Luther Burbank provides the title for “Santa Rosa: The Chosen Spot of all the Earth.” And most of the rest of the concise new video history of the city is …

HALTER Honored for Emergency Prep Efforts- September 13, 2016

Not just people but animals, large and small, sometimes need rescuing. And it takes special training to know how to do that. A local group is dedicated to providing that training. HALTER, the Horse And Livestock Team Emergency Response project, got started about three years ago, to provide training to fire and rescue workers on …

Keeping Fiction Stranger Than Reality – September 9, 2016

Carl Hiaasen’s satiric novels of South Florida may be hard to categorize, but they are easy to enjoy. Carl Hiaasen’s latest novel mocks reality TV, restaurant inspection standards, product liability lawyers, and beach restoration opportunists. But it’s all draw from reality in contemporary south Florida. Carl Hiaasen will talk about writing and his latest book …