Vulnerable People and Places Blog

Dwarf Coyote Brush, or simply called 'Pigeon Point', is a native to the Californian coast and central valley and has been receiving attention for a number of reasons: fire hardiness, drought tolerance, and low maintenance. source:  Copyright © GardenSoft 2018 Water saving landscapes offer a break from the heat by spending less time and money on watering and more time spent on enjoying the landscape. Pigeon Point brush, native to California, is making comeback among gardeners after surviving the intense 2017 fire season. However, one does not need to be Californian to take advantage of the water savings associated with native plant species. Keep reading below for some water saving landscaping tips that are easier than you think. A rock, the size an adult can carry comfortably, place on the south or west side of the plant will provide a cool, moist area beside the developing root ball. source: Ojai Valley Land Conservancy The best water-saving landscape...

Source: Kyle Grittot/ CNN.com On December 4, 2017 Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties began to burn in what would become the largest wildfire in California’s recorded history. The wildfire originated at two points. One near Thomas Aquinas College, the name of which the fire was eventually given, and the other in Upper Ojai about 30 minutes after the first began. With help from strong Santa Ana winds that reached speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, the fires merged the same night and quickly spread to Ventura county and beyond. Over a quarter million people lost power because of the fire and in some instances, firefighters could not access water from fire hydrants because the power outages caused a lack of water pressure. Governor Jerry Brown soon declared a state of emergency in Ventura County and some 900 firefighters were deployed to combat the fire, including firefighters from Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The fire ...

Drought and lack of water are problems facing many communities in California in an ever pressing manner. As a small town California native this problem was one I was made acutely aware of growing up. I am from Cambria California, and quite proud. I love my little home town. Cambria is located on Highway 1 in a particularly sparsely populated stretch, somewhere maybe half way between San Fransisco and los Angeles.  In Cambria there is an enormous amount of water , just none that has any use but to look at (the Pacific Ocean). The little fresh water the town manages to extract from the ground comes by way of wells connected to Santa Rosa Creek and San Simeon creek, two creeks that have been known to do a vanishing act during the summer months. As far back as I can remember it has been nearly impossible for someone to build a house in the town. One cannot build on a lot without a water meter being issued. From a quick look around on the internet one can find people compl...

Source: Los Angeles Times, Kent Nishimura Surrounding the theme of vulnerability and hardship, for future implications, first responders mean a great deal to our society, infrastructure, and protection. If it not for the help of first responders, the legacy of the Ojai Valley would have been diminished even more than it already has. This message goes out to all first responders as well as people who have come to the aid of others when it was not in their obligation. Many people believe that they themselves are not first responders but if someone is the first to arrive at the scene, they are the immediate person that can offer help. We all must be first responders in our lives, not just for emergencies, but for social causes. This article also talks about the grievances of the Ojai people who lost a great deal of their livelihoods to these fires. It is important to analyze the causes of these fires and how to prevent future occurrences from happening. Source:  Los Angeles Ti...

Source: Occupy for Animals Across the world communities are facing a water crisis.  You may not realize the dire need for water resources when you have freely flowing water out of all facets.  Children in Angola, walk three miles every morning before school to fetch water.  Children of a small Chinese village have open wounds on their arms because the water is contaminated with arsenic.  There are some primary reasons to why the future of the Earth's water supply is grim. Source: OECD Climate change is forcing areas that are already water deficient to become drier and what used to be a rainy seasons more unpredictable and extreme.  World populations are increasing and the amount of water available is decreasing.  If we look ahead to 2030 we can see that as populations increase, as will the water demand, causing a decrease in the amount of water resource available.  Cities are getting bigger and all at the expense of natural infrastruct...

Source:  http://keywordsuggest.org/ California has been dealing with climate change, and water scarcity due to an extensive drought, but March of 2015 marked the date when Governor Jerry Brown mandated water restrictions to combat the effects of the drought from the previous 4 years. We are coming up on nearly a decade of the drought, and the damage is unsurmountable thus far. The drought is not only affecting California, but the entire West Coast as well. There are five key points to understand about the drought in order to continue the process of conserving resources for our future generations. 1) The majority of California's water supply comes from snowpack that melts flowing into lakes, or streams. The climate change causes record breaking temperatures for the winter seasons leading to a decline in storms that replenish the snowpack. The consumption of California's water is at a higher pace than the environment can produce, and causing us to see the effects. 2) Water...

    Source:  MITA-AZ.ORG One of the hottest states in America, Arizona is also a very active state in water conservation and drought management. The Department of Water Resources that manages long term water supplies in Arizona has areas that they designated as being Active Management Areas (AMAs), and these AMAs use water systems that draw water from different sources such as surface, ground, and reclaimed wastewater. These different systems are required and therefore equipped to deal with droughts and system failures. Prescott, Phoenix, Pinal, Tucson, and Santa Cruz which are Arizona’s five AMAs follow the Groundwater Code. And for new developments to be built in these AMAs, the state requires proof of a 100-year renewable supply of water before the construction can begin. Arizona also utilizes long-term storage credit program managed by the Arizona Department of Water Resources where the holder earns credits when their water is stored underground for more...

source: photo by Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin The 2017 fire season was devastating for many residents of the arid California valley who were affected by wildfires. An unusually long period of drought in the Ojai Valley made the area a tinderbox of dry fuels, when combined with high winds and low water levels, many residents struggled with how quickly the fire spread. As the valley recovers from the fires the City of Ojai is working with a number of agencies from around the state to educate homeowners on firescaping, the first line of defense for home during a wildfire. source: University of California Firescaping is a landscaping design technique that specifically incorporates plants that have the best defensibility and survivability in mind while still allowing for aesthetically pleasing green spaces around the property. Firescaping consists of targeting two zones: the home defense zone and the reduced fuel zone. The home defense zone (...

source:  water.org The burden of the water crisis has long term ramifications for women in affected regions, as the need for water bars them from pursuing skills that may allow them to escape poverty. Plenty of countries out there in the world are still suffering from water scarcity. Especially in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda in Africa, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Philippines in Asia, and Brazil, Honduras, and Peru in Latin America. This takes about 40% of the world's population that lacks access to adequate sanitation systems.  Not only lack of water, but also access to safe water and sanitation is difficult for the people in those affected regions. Most of the countries with water scarcity, women are responsible for collecting water, which takes time away from work, school, and caring for family. It also ties with a health  In average, women and girls spend up to 6 hours every day collecting water, carrying 40 pounds of...

Source: J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue During the height of the recent California drought contention arose between local officials and Ojai Valley farmers. With water resources running thin the city approved a triad of water hikes aimed to improve conservation and alleviate the mounting costs of acquiring water in the valley. With the tax rates costing some farmers thousands more on their monthly water bills tempers rose and many farmers feared for their livelihood. Some farmers turned away from the city water supply entirely and dug wells on their properties to harvest ground water directly. Groundwater is a precious resource and the depletion of groundwater can have lasting damage on the underground reservoirs, and the replenishment of groundwater can often take years. Water rate hikes are a tough call to make, but with the drought coming to a relative end in 2017 the Ojai valley will hopefully enter a time of replenishment and regrowth. Everyone can contribute to the...

   Photo: Pedrontheworld Studio       From streets, to shelters, to sleeping bags, and even side-walk camping, they sleep wherever they can in order to feel a little more protected from weather variations and possible nighttime threats--meaning other not well-intentioned homeless people.               I ask Jimmy, a homeless person whom I interviewed a few years ago, and who dreamed about being a journalist, why he wouldn’t go back to school? “Come on, Kid. Look at me. I am old and a homeless person. Society has no place for me, and my time has passed.”   I verbally disagree, but deep down I am surprised by how aware Jimmy is. “It’s as though being   homeless, once you are there,   becomes a stigma and part of who you are,” he finishes.             A survey done by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Deve...

Source: www.harpersbazaar.com Many cities and countries rely on tourism to keep their economies strong. For example, tourism in Bali accounts for 80% of its economy. Additionally, 65% of its water usage is dedicated to tourism. 65% . A Medium Corporation notes that "tourists consume inordinately more water than locals, raising vary valid concerns about water inequities in developing nations." For Bali, that means only  35% of water is utilized or accessible to the locals.   Yet, what happens when there's a push for more tourism when the entire country, city or state is in a water crisis? Well, the government tries to make adjustments so that it can manage the needs of the people as well as the needs of the economy. For example, many hotels have invested in EcoRooms, which are designed with specific water-saving technology such as water-saving shower heads, ultra-flush efficient toilets (known as HET), and sink aerators. OptiShower,...

Source:  thetennistourist.com Ojai, California is a small town located about an hour and a half north from Los Angeles and an hour south of Santa Barbara. It's first inhabitants were the Chumash Indians, who gave it the name of Ojai, which means "Valley of the Moon". Through a grant called the Rancho Ojai Mexican land, Fernando Tico established a cattle ranch in 1837. In 1853, Tico sold the land to those in search of oil, who had little success. The area was settled in 1864 and was eventually laid out by a real estate developer named R.G. Surdam who eventually named it Nordhoff to honor the writer Charles Nordhoff. Due to the anti-German sentiment during World War I, places with German and German-sounding names were changed. Through this, Nordhoff was renamed Ojai once again in 1917. Source:  flickr.com Edward Libbey's interest was instantly peaked once he saw the valley, in which sparked his ideas for the expansion and beautification of the town. Libbey ai...

In the above video, a boy learns the hard way about water conservation. Although this video is obviously comedic in nature, it helps communicate a very important message: even small acts of wastefulness contribute to water scarcity. According to the Appamattox River Water Authority, for an average family of 4, as much as 600 gallons of water a month can be saved by simply turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth. ( http://arwava.org/water-conservation/ ) Now take the population of the Portland Metro area (2,389,228), divide by 4 (2,389,228/4=597307) multiply that by 12 months and 600 gallons (597307*12*600), and just a few simple math problems later you realize that we might be wasting as much as a staggering 4,300,610,400 gallons of water a year, simply by forgetting to turn off the tap! "Portlanders waste 4,300,610,400 gallons/year brushing our teeth" In many parts of our country, peoples lives and livelihoods are at stake due to lack of water. In Oj...

It's no secret that California has periods of drought, a large agricultural industry, and diminishing rainfall annually over the years. Not to mention a steadily growing population, it doesn't take an expert to see the possibility of available resources drying up, one resource in particular that is vital, water. It's a very difficult situation, the state's resources for clean drinking water are drying up and groundwater, which 85% of California residents depend on for drinking water, is being used in many areas of California unsustainably. Farmers in the Central Valley and the Central Coast of California depend heavily on groundwater and without sustainable usage, the groundwater resources could take several years to replenish. As the number one producer of food in the U.S. it goes without saying that the health of California's agricultural industry is very important. As for the residents of the golden state, many are wondering if their quality of life and access ...

Photograph by George Becker | Source snapstock.io The drought from 2011-2017 that caused record levels of dryness in California has brought attention to the seriousness of water scarcity in the Western United States. While the 8-year drought has been proclaimed to be over, many areas of California still suffer from water scarcity. The Ojai Valley, part of the Ventura County, is a popular tourist and agricultural area that is currently dealing with issues of water scarcity and has remained in a serious drought. Lake Casitas in the Ojai Valley is one of the main sources of water for the Ventura County. However, "as of April 2 [2018], Lake Casitas was just 36 percent full. Water in the lake is predicted to last another four years." 1 Without this lake the Valley will face extremely serious water scarcity levels. California's recent drought is a powerful reminder that there are not unlimited water supplies in the Western United States. With such a huge i...