vol. 22, no. 141, Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2008

ON THE COVER: Probably the scariest thing Sam Kornell learned while researching for this week’s cover story about climate change, he said, was how sharply the Sierra snowpack is projected to diminish. “I grew up in Mission Canyon and vividly remember the drought in the late 1980s and early ’90s. The water issue is particularly scary for farmers,” he said before recalling the words of Santa Barbara ag commissioner Bill Gillette: “If you don’t have water, you’re not growing anything.” Nonetheless, Kornell said it’s good news that California is helping lead the charge to combat climate change. “Hopefully the next presidential administration will be similarly proactive,” he said.