Recipe: How to make a tasty meatloaf without the meat

• February 4, 2025

Nut loaf recipes became popular in the United States during World War I, when meat was scarce. They became popular again when food was rationed during World War II. How can you make a vegetarian dish that is meaty? Oxymoron, you say? Try this recipe. I think you’ll be surprised.

My family and visiting omnivore friends love it. The next day, I like to cut a one-inch slice off the leftover loaf and make sandwiches.

Meaty Nut Loaf

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups walnuts

½ cup unsalted cashews or almonds

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 yellow onion (finely chopped)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1½ cups cooked brown rice (it works with white, but brown is tastier)

2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)

1 tablespoon fresh marjoram (chopped)

2 tablespoons fresh thyme (chopped)

1 teaspoon fresh sage leaves (chopped)

4 eggs (lightly beaten)

8 ounces Gruyere cheese (grated)

1 cup cottage cheese

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan (you can use shortening, cooking oil, or butter). A round 9-inch springform pan works well, also. Set aside.

2. Toast walnuts and cashews on a baking sheet until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Do not burn. Let cool. Finely chop and set aside (I use a blender to chop the nuts). Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees.

3. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until translucent, about three minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and add toasted nuts, rice, parsley, marjoram, thyme, sage, eggs, Gruyere, cottage cheese, salt, and pepper. Mix well.

4. Pour mixture into prepared pan, cover with foil, and bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 50 to 55 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes, gravy, and your favorite side dishes.

Randy Graham is a private chef and author whose cookbooks include “The Ojai Valley Cookbook,” “The Ojai Valley Vegetarian” and the “The Ojai Valley Vegan.” He has been a vegetarian since 1975 and enjoys cooking for friends and family using ingredients from backyard vegetable and herb gardens.

​ Orange County Register 

Rubio says El Salvador’s offer to jail violent American criminals faces ‘legalities’

• February 4, 2025

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that El Salvador’s offer to accept and jail violent American criminals raises clear legal issues but described it as “very generous” and said that President Donald Trump would make a decision on whether to accept it.

A day earlier, Rubio reached an unusual agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to accept U.S. deportees of any nationality, including American citizens who are imprisoned for violent crimes.

“There are obviously legalities involved. We have a Constitution,” Rubio said at a news conference Tuesday in San Jose with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves. “But it’s a very generous offer. No one’s ever made an offer like that. And to outsource, at a fraction of the cost, at least some of the most dangerous and violent criminals that we have in the United States. But obviously, the administration will have to make a decision.”

Rubio met Chaves and discussed immigration — a Trump administration priority — as America’s top diplomat also faces major upheaval at the U.S. Agency for International Development that has left many at the aid agency and the State Department uneasy and fearful for their jobs.

It comes a day after he met with Bukele, who confirmed the offer in a post on X, saying El Salvador has “offered the United States of America the opportunity to outsource part of its prison system.” He said his country would accept only “convicted criminals” and would charge a fee that “would be relatively low for the U.S. but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable.”

The State Department describes El Salvador’s overcrowded prisons as “harsh and dangerous.” Its country information webpage says, “In many facilities, provisions for sanitation, potable water, ventilation, temperature control, and lighting are inadequate or nonexistent.”

El Salvador has lived under a state of emergency since March 2022, when the country’s powerful street gangs went on a killing rampage. Bukele responded by suspending fundamental rights like access to lawyers, and authorities have arrested more than 83,000 people with little to no due process.

In 2023, Bukele opened a massive new prison with capacity for 40,000 gang members and cut prisoners’ meals to twice a day. Prisoners there do not receive visits, and there are no programs preparing them for reinsertion into society after their sentences and no workshops or educational programs.

El Salvador, once one of the most dangerous countries in the world, closed last year with a record low 114 homicides, a newfound security that has propelled Bukele’s soaring popularity in the country of about 6 million residents.

Migration has been the top issue for Rubio’s five-nation Central American tour spanning Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic following stops in Panama and El Salvador.

While Rubio was out of the U.S. this week, USAID staffers and Democratic lawmakers were blocked from its Washington headquarters Monday after Elon Musk, which is running a budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency, announced Trump had agreed with him to shut the aid agency.

Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programs worldwide shut down. Rubio told reporters in San Salvador that he was now the acting administrator of USAID but had delegated that authority so he would not be running its day-to-day operations.

In a letter Rubio sent to lawmakers that was obtained by The Associated Press, he said the State Department would work with Congress “to reorganize and absorb certain bureaus, offices and missions of USAID.”

He said the processes at the agency, which has been hit by Trump’s freeze on all foreign assistance, are not well coordinated and that “undermines the President’s ability to carry out foreign relations.”

“In consultation with Congress, USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law,” Rubio wrote.

AP reporters Christopher Sherman in Mexico City and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Recovery work resumes at the site of the deadly plane and chopper collision near Washington

• February 4, 2025

By SERKAN GURBUZ and MARYCLAIRE DALE

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Crews worked Tuesday to try to recover the plane’s cockpit and the rest of the remains of the 67 people who died in last week’s midair collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter near the nation’s capital.

They said their work might depend upon the wind and tidal conditions in the Potomac River, where the aircraft crashed last Wednesday night after colliding as the American Airlines flight was about to land at nearby Ronald Reagan National Airport. All 67 people on both aircraft were killed.

By midday, they were working to raise another large piece of the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board said it didn’t plan to provide further updates from the scene.

Authorities have recovered and identified the remains of 55 of the 67 people and have said they are confident they will find all of the victims. They are focusing first on the jet and hope to recover the Black Hawk helicopter later this week.

Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said salvage crews on Monday were able to pull one of the two jet engines from the river, along with large pieces of the plane’s exterior. They were also working to recover a wing of the plane, which had flown out of Wichita, Kansas.

Sixty passengers and four crew were on the American Airlines flight, including figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.

The Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were aboard.

Federal investigators are trying to piece together the events that led to the collision. Full investigations typically take a year or more, but investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.

Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.

Dale reported from Philadelphia.

​ Orange County Register 

Are deposits at the bank protected by the FDIC? Ask the Lawyer

• February 4, 2025

Q: Two questions: First, if the bank fails, how much of my deposits are actually covered by the FDIC?

A. G., Manhattan Beach

A: If your federally insured bank fails, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seeks to keep your money safe. Specifically, the FDIC insures up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution, which covers deposit accounts as well as other official items (such as cashier’s checks and money orders). If you have a question, ask the bank if it is the kind of account that is insured. Also, confirm that your funds are in a federally insured institution. If the bank is federally insured, it should have the FDIC logo on its website. In addition, the online link referenced at the end of this column is instructive.

The FDIC insurance has worked. In 2023, for example, a number of banks sadly failed: Signature Bank (New York), Citizens Bank (Iowa) and Silicon Valley Bank (California). Research indicates none of the insured deposits were lost.

Q: Next, how does it work, how does the FDIC protect me if the bank goes under?

A.G., Manhattan Beach

A: When a bank actually fails — which means it loses the ability to pay back debts, or to return deposits to its customers — a bank regulator closes the institution. The FDIC comes forward to protect customer funds in two basic ways: (1) Paying or providing access to funds to the impacted customers, up to the insurance limit, and (2) taking over control of the assets and the debts of the bank. The FDIC in effect becomes the “receiver” of the bank that has failed. Its tasks include selling or collecting assets, settling debts, and managing the insured deposits.

One additional goal, if possible, is for the FDIC to arrange for a healthy bank to acquire the failed bank.

Online resource: The following link has useful information that explains FDIC insurance, including how it works, what is covered, and what is not covered. You may well find this link of value: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/understanding-deposit-insurance

Ron Sokol has been a practicing attorney for more than 40 years, and has also served many times as a judge pro tem, mediator, and arbitrator. It is important to keep in mind that this column presents a summary of the law, and is not to be treated or considered legal advice, let alone a substitute for actual consultation with a qualified professional.

​ Orange County Register 

Angels sign lefty Victor Gonzalez to minor league deal

• February 4, 2025

The Angels signed left-handed reliever Victor Gonzalez to a minor league deal, according to the Baseball America minor league transactions page.

Gonzalez, 29, has pitched parts of four seasons in the majors, with the Dodgers and New York Yankees. He has a 3.36 ERA in the majors, including a 3.86 ERA in 23 ⅓ innings with the Yankees last season.

Gonzalez, however, has steadily seen his strikeout rate decline throughout his time in the majors. He struck out just 4.2 per nine innings last season, well below the major league average. He also walked 5.0 batters per nine innings. His fastball velocity (93.3 mph) and his whiff rate (18.1%) were also below major league average last season.

The Angels’ bullpen remains relatively inexperienced, so plenty of jobs are open for pitchers who perform well in the spring. The top lefty relievers the Angels will have in camp are Brock Burke and José Quijada. They also have José Suarez and Garrett McDaniels, a Rule 5 pick.

​ Orange County Register 

President Trump and Gov. Newsom shake hands, promise to work together on wildfire relief

• January 25, 2025

President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom traded their war of words for a few handshakes Friday afternoon.

The two leaders, both vociferous critics of each other, met on the tarmac at LAX around 3 p.m. Friday as Trump touched down to survey the catastrophic damage caused by the spate of wildfires in Southern California this year.

Newsom, dressed in a casual button-up, was the first to greet a black MAGA hat-wearing Trump as he descended the stairs from this plane. The two clasped hands and exchanged some words — there were no microphones but Newsom often gesticulated at the president — before they and first lady Melania Trump walked over to where reporters and cameras waited.

Trump and Newsom, at least in front of the cameras, were cordial.

Trump didn’t refer to the governor as “Newscum” as he is wont to do on social media. And Newsom didn’t call the president an “idiot” as he has done in the past.

“I appreciate the governor coming out and meeting me,” Trump said, reaching for another handshake. “We’ll be talking in a little bit. We want to get it fixed.”

“Thank you for being here,” Newsom said. “It means a great deal to all of us, not just the folks in the Palisades (but also) the folks in Altadena that were devastated. We’re going to need your support; we’re going to need your help.”

“You were there for us during COVID, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’re going to work together to get this speedy recovery,” the governor continued.

Earlier Friday, when Trump was still in western North Carolina, where he stopped first to survey recovery efforts from last year’s Hurricane Helene, the president suggested tying future federal relief aid for California to a voter ID law and changes to water management.

“I want to see two things in Los Angeles. Voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and throughout the state,” Trump said then.

Trump has long slammed states that don’t have voter ID, a requirement or request during voting that one proves their identity with specific forms of identification. While California does not require such identification, some first-time voters may be asked to show a form of ID when at the polls.

When asked about it on the tarmac Friday, Newsom said, “I have all the confidence in the world we’ll work that out.”

Trump, in his brief remarks, compared the devastation that he had yet to see firsthand to a “bomb going off” and World War II. He promised to work with Newsom to get a more “permanent fix” in place to prevent future catastrophic destruction.

“We’re looking to get something completed, and the way you get it completed is to work together,” Trump said. “He’s the governor of this state, and we’re going to get it completed.”

“They’re going to need a lot of federal help — unless you don’t need any,” Trump quipped.

“We’re going to need a lot of federal help,” said Newsom, patting Trump’s shoulder.

The three — Trump, Newsom and the first lady, who, clad in a khaki jacket, plain dark cap and aviator-style sunglasses, did not speak — walked toward the helicopter.

The exchange was incredibly cordial, considering the animosity the two men spew at each other, even in the days leading up to the trip. Newsom and Trump have locked horns over how disaster relief, including how the state’s water resources should be allocated.

Newsom had invited Trump, ahead of his inauguration, to come to California to see the destruction, meet with families and thank first responders and firefighters.

“Hundreds of thousands of Americans — displaced from their homes and fearful for the future — deserve to see all of us working in their best interests to ensure a fast recovery and rebuild,” Newsom said in a Jan. 10 letter.

On Thursday, the governor said he had not been in contact with the White House but planned to be at LAX to welcome the president anyway. By Friday morning, an aide for the governor said Newsom planned to greet Trump, a meeting that was “in coordination with the White House.”

It’s a balancing act for Newsom, for sure.

On the one hand, the California Legislature is in the midst of a special session called by the governor to “Trump-proof” the state.

“We will work with the incoming administration, and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom has said. “But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action.”

But on the other, Newsom knows California desperately needs federal aid — aid that Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, have threatened to withhold or tie conditions to. Newsom was one of only a handful of Democratic governors to order flags to be raised on Monday, Trump’s Inauguration Day. They had been lowered in honor of the late President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29.

This was reportedly the first time the two leaders have spoken since Trump left the White House in 2020.

Ahead of the airport assemblage, Newsom met with firefighters from CAL FIRE and the Pasadena Fire Department.

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers reinforce on-court standard while Anthony Davis makes desires known

• January 25, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Before the Lakers’ loss to the Clippers on Sunday night at Intuit Dome, Coach JJ Redick spoke about the team having a discussion about raising their collective standards and expectations.

Four days later, they had a performance that could help reinforce those standards in the second half of the season.

The Lakers had their best win of the season on Thursday night with a dominant 117-96 home victory over the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.

It was one of the Lakers’ rare performances of strong two-way play for nearly the entire game.

“As much as this game could be about reinforcing and establishing those standards that we tried to as a group for 42 games,” Redick said, “Hopefully, there’s some reinforcement, maybe some establishment, [of] some belief that gets reinforced here about what we can be and how good we can be.”

The timing of the victory was also noteworthy, with the Lakers’ star players making their desires for the roster known.

ESPN reported on Wednesday that LeBron James and Anthony Davis want the Lakers to “make moves to contend for a championship,” with the star duo believing the team is “a piece or two” away from being contenders.

The report came after James said on Sunday that the Lakers don’t have much room for error on the court, citing the team’s roster construction.

Davis, essentially, doubled down on the report on the record, telling ESPN’s Shams Charania in an interview that was released ahead of Thursday’s game: “I think we need another big. I feel like I’ve always been at my best when I’m the [power forward].”

Davis elaborated after Thursday’s win on the advantages he believes the Lakers have when he’s the power forward in a double-big lineup.

“Defensively, just bringing another big out there, we’ve seen it with Jaxson [Hayes], we’re a little bit more disruptive,” Davis said. “Offensively, it just allows me to float around a little bit more. I only started playing [center] in 2021. I’d have stretches, but I was primarily a [power forward].

“So my whole career I’ve been playing [power forward]. And we’ve seen how I play. I just feel a little bit more effective [at power forward]. I mean, [playing center] has its advantages and disadvantages. But the front office knows that. I’ve told them that every year I’ve been here. So, it’s nothing new. But I just feel like, personally, I’m a better player at [power forward].”

Davis’ comments came exactly two weeks ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

“No reaction,” Redick said of Davis’ comments. “I mean the reality is that’s not a new report. I got the job [seven] months ago. So I know that. I’ve followed this team since I retired. It’s not a big deal. Those guys wanna win, we wanna win. And again, it’s a challenging environment to just go out and make trades. Feel very fortunate that we’re able to execute and get someone like Dorian Finney-Smith on our team. And we’ll continue to look over the next couple of weeks.”

The Lakers (24-18) will kick off their annual “Grammy” road trip with Saturday’s game against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.

Defensive-minded forward Jarred Vanderbilt could make his return to the floor against the Warriors after being sidelined for nearly a year because of troubles with his feet.

The Lakers’ trip will continue with matchups against the Charlotte Hornets (Monday), Philadelphia 76ers (Tuesday), Washington Wizards (Thursday), New York Knicks (Feb. 1) and then a game against the Clippers (Feb. 4) in Inglewood.

“We always want to have a championship mindset,” Davis said. “We always want it to be attainable. Our front office is, obviously, working. [General Manager] Rob [Pelinka] is working on trying to better the team. But for us, it’s about going out and playing. Whether something happens or not, we have to go out and compete with whatever is in this locker room.

“We’re gonna go on the trip. Not sure what’s gonna happen. I know [Pelinka] is always working on the phones. But at the end of the day, we can’t try to wait on anything. We gotta go out and compete and do what we gotta do to win basketball games.”

LAKERS AT WARRIORS

When: Saturday, 5:30 p.m.

Where: Chase Center, San Francisco

TV/radio: ABC (Ch. 7)/710 AM

​ Orange County Register 

How drought has hurt Southern California, and what it means for the future

• January 25, 2025

Two quick observations about droughts in Southern California: They are common and can be two-faced.

First, Southern Californians know droughts.

We went through a prolonged drought from 2012 to 2016, and before that there were the droughts of 2007-09, 1987-92 and 1976-77. And later we saw two rainy seasons from October to May of 2022-2023 and again in 2023-2024 which left SoCal saturated with above-average amounts of rainfall.

This local climate pattern is frequently referred to as a wet-dry cycle by meteorologists.

“It has been really dry since April/May of 2024. Since that time, there hasn’t been a lot of rain in Southern California. This could be the beginning of another drought,” cautiously summarized Brandon Goshi, water resource group manager for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The (non) rainy season

From June 1, 2024 through Tuesday, Jan. 21, only 3% of the historical average amount of rainfall for this time period has fallen in Los Angeles County — about 0.16 of an inch reported AccuWeather. And just 0.03 inches fell at LAX since Oct. 1, not enough to leave spots on the windshields of cars in the long-term parking lot.

If Goshi is counting on this dry bubble bursting by early spring, he may be wishing on a rain cloud.

That’s because the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), forecasts “drought conditions will persist through the end of April” in Southern California, said Brad Pugh, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center based in College Park, Maryland, on Thursday, Jan. 23.

The mountains and foothills of Los Angeles County are in “extreme drought” conditions, about 36% of the county, explained Pugh. That’s one category shy of hitting the highest level, “exceptional drought,” and three higher than the lowest, “abnormally dry.” The rest of the county is in severe drought.

More than three-fourths of Riverside County is under “extreme drought,” as is 100% of Imperial and San Diego counties. All of Orange County and most of San Bernardino County are listed as “severe drought,” one level less than extreme, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, maintained by another NOAA institution, the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The switch to drought conditions in Los Angeles County — where the devastating Eaton fire in Altadena and Pasadena, and the Palisades fire along the coast — occurred only in the last few weeks, after climate scientists measured rainfall at below the 10% average, and tested soil moisture and stream flows, Pugh said.

If dry winds meet drought plus ignition sources, as we saw with the Eaton and Palisades wildfires and more recently, the Hughes fire in the Castaic area, could mean months of fire alerts with millions of Southern Californians sitting anxiously with go-bags at the very least.

Cracks in the drought wall

But this drought wall — technically not a full drought until 12 dry months have passed — will show some cracks this weekend as rain and mountain snowfall is forecasted from Saturday through Monday.

In short, the drought reveals its other face.

Meteorologist Carol Smith with the National Weather Service said the chance of measurable rain is between 60% and 90%. “Measurable rain is not a trace,” she explained on Jan. 22.

It will hit Southern California and bring one-tenth to one-half an inch of rain over most of the region. Eastern L.A. County, near the Eaton fire, will get more, between one-half an inch to 1.5 inches of rain, Smith said.

The rain will fall at a steady pace. It is not expected to move debris, ash and soot into waterways or turn fire-burned hillsides into mud, the NWS reported.

However, if the 10% to 20% chance of thunderstorms pans out, that could change.

The cold storm is predicted to drop as much as 4 to 8 inches of snow in the San Gabriel Mountains at elevations between 3,500 feet and 4,500 feet, Smith said.

Right after the storm leaves, the area returns to dry conditions, she said.

Paul Pastelok, a long-range forecaster with AccuWeather, said there are minimal chances of rain in the region after this storm exits.

“The best chance of rain over the next six weeks appears to be Feb. 10-23,” he said in a prepared statement.

Are droughts ‘normal’?

Precipitation won’t be enough to erase the drought or remove dry conditions, said Pugh.

That’s because of La Niña, which brings a cooling of the sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, he said. “During those times, it tends to be drier than normal.”

La Niña pushes the storm tracks to the northern Pacific. When the storms go north, they often miss Southern California, Pugh said. This is the opposite of El Niño, often associated with wetter years.

Metropolitan Water District’s Goshi said the agency, which provides water to 19 million Southern Californians, has been adapting to swings from dry to wet years and to climate change making these swings more intense.

During the last two years of heavy rainfall, it has amassed 3.8 million acre feet of water in storage. One-acre foot equals 325,851 gallons and is enough to supply about three families in Southern California a year, according to the MWD.

MWD’s storage in reservoirs and in underground aquifers is about a two- to three-year supply, even without another drop of water, he said. “We are able to use those investments to make it through multiple dry years,” he said.

Snowpack in the Sierras is at 123% of normal. Sierra snowmelt is a major source of water to Southern California. It’s other outside source, the Colorado River watershed, is at 115% of normal, Goshi reported. So this “drought” is not affecting Southern California’s water supply.

Bob DiPrimio, president of San Gabriel Valley Water Co., which services 290,000 people in 16 cities, said they draw from wells from two vast underground aquifers in L.A. County, called the Main San Gabriel Basin and the Central Basin.

“Now we are in decent shape,” he said. But if the drought goes into a second year, less rainfall means less water flowing into the underground basins. He may have to buy imported water from MWD that comes from Northern California and/or the Colorado River basin, which is standard procedure for augmenting well water supplies.

“We have redundant, reliable water systems in place,” he said on Jan. 24.

Drought, dry brush and fires

“It is normal in Southern California to have extended periods of drought and extended periods of rainfall,” said Rick Halsey, a fire ecologist with the California Chaparral Institute in Escondido on Jan. 23.

Ecosystems are used to this seesaw effect, he said and fire is part of the Mediterranean climate of Southern California. Destruction of habitat, such as the loss of natural flora including chaparral, is a greater factor in wildfires than global warming, he said.

The dwindling chaparral — indigenous plants that are more fire resistant than invasive plants that grow quickly and take their place — has contributed to most wildfires, Halsey said.

But the biggest factor, aside from winds and low humidity, are people, he said. When humans step in, or as Halsey calls this, “stupid people doing stupid things,” disaster often strikes.

Unlike other parts of the world, Southern California rarely gets lightning-caused fires or fires combusting through natural means. Fires here are usually manmade, either by accident or intentionally, he said.

Power lines serving houses in the urban interface can blow down in the wind and spark, and set the grasslands ablaze. This relates to what he calls unproductive brush clearance.

Too often, crews beneath power lines, and people clearing around the base of their home, scrape away the natural chaparral in the name of creating “defensive space” and that leaves room for grasses to spring up, making the fire danger worse. He cited a recent fire in Colorado that burned grasses exclusively and then destroyed many homes.

“Defensible space is pretty irrelevant when a fire’s embers jump for miles,” Halsey said. “Maybe we should try something different, since that it not working.”

He has installed roof and eaves-mounted exterior sprinklers at his home. He recommends all communities invest in these and other home hardening methods. People who have swimming pools should have a pump that supplies water to sprinklers that can douse houses with water.

“When that house is saturated it is not going to ignite,” he said.

He said urban ecosystems near homes in Southern California are not adapting too well to climate change and loss of habitat. But he encourages ordinary citizens to work on plantings, restoration and talking to leaders about climate change as well as his ideas about fire prevention.

A UCLA study found that white-faced male capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica who experienced intense physiological responses to drought conditions could adapt and survive extreme droughts. Studies of how animals adapt to changes in temperature and rainfall can help scientists understand how humans and other species can better adapt to the effects of climate change, the UCLA researchers concluded.

​ Orange County Register