Tag: environment

The new San Diego River mural in Mission Valley.

In mid-April, community volunteers and members of the San Diego River Park Foundation celebrated Earth Day by creating another beautiful mural in Mission Valley!

A wall along the San Diego River Bikeway at Cottonwood Grove, a very short walk west of the Sefton Park Baseball Fields, was painted with colorful flowers and butterflies.

The easiest way to visit the mural is to park at the Sefton Baseball Fields (2508 Hotel Circle Place), which are visible from Interstate 8 at the west end of Mission Valley. A trailhead is located at the west end of the Little League ballfields. The long mural can be spied beyond the sign for Cottonwood Grove. It decorates a low wall that parallels the freeway.

Cottonwood Grove is part of Mission Valley Preserve, whose protected riparian environment is surrounded by sprawling urban development. Here one can find wild natural beauty. Sadly, it’s also a place where one encounters trash and graffiti (including some on the new mural that I didn’t photograph). I also observed evidence of drug activity, so use common sense and be alert if you walk this way.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Our People’s Garden in downtown San Diego.

Over the years, a small garden space south of The New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego has undergone several transformations. Early this morning, during a walk down the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, I noticed it is now called Iipay Nyechewuuw, or Our People’s Garden.

A sign near the wooden planter boxes explains that Our People’s Garden was inspired by the Barona Indian Charter School’s Native Plant Garden, and the Barona Cultural Center + Museum’s Native Plant Seed Library.

The garden is now used by the nearby children’s museum to teach kids about the environment and Kumeyaay culture. The Kumeyaay have traditionally used native plants in our region as food, tools and medicine.

I noticed bits of art scattered about, evidently painted by young hands. I added contrast to my photograph of the sign so it can be more easily read.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Sensuous Environment at the San Diego History Center.

A new exhibit recently opened at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. It’s titled The Sensuous Environment – Sim Bruce Richards, Architect.

San Diego architect Sim Bruce Richards is best known for designing houses that appeal not only to the eyes, but to other human senses as well. The museum exhibit, with its many photographs and drawings, celebrates the unique vision of an architect whose creations feel both rustic and modern. It’s an aesthetic that appeals to an essential human connection with nature.

His houses are truly homes. They are warm and welcoming. They contain natural, textured materials that are pleasant to the senses, like stone, adobe, and beautiful woods, including mahogany, redwood and aromatic cedar. Fireplaces are centerpieces where life gathers. Natural outdoor light shines through large windows. As one display explains: Richards took inspiration from his Cherokee heritage, his apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright, and fondness for the work of San Diegan Irving Gill and other early twentieth century architects…

Reading the fascinating displays, I learned he often collaborated with noted San Diego artist James Hubbell.

Richards also designed commercial and church buildings using the same aesthetic. Did you know the Morley Field Tennis Club building in Balboa Park was one of his projects?

Beautifully inviting furniture that he designed is also part of the exhibit.

The Sensuous Environment – Sim Bruce Richards, Architect presents material from the archives of the San Diego History Center and UC Santa Barbara’s Art, Architecture and Design Museum.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Community composting project in Balboa Park!

Territorio autonomo de lombrices. Autonomous territory of worms.

Hey, San Diego! Did you know there’s a community composting project in Balboa Park? The public is invited to participate!

I met the above super nice people today and learned about this environmentally friendly project.

The message is: Everyone, bring your compostable food scraps and grass clippings to the colorful structure you see in these photographs. The composting operation is located behind the Centro Cultural de la Raza at 2004 Park Boulevard. You can’t miss it!

From time to time, a batch of composted material is ready for use, and the organically rich soil is set out for participants to take home for their plants and gardens.

I learned the best time to come by is Saturday around noon. Smiling project volunteers are usually present around then. They can help you out, and perhaps even convince you to volunteer, too!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Earth Day pledges on C Street.

Today I spotted these Earth Day pledges in downtown San Diego while riding the trolley down C Street. I jumped off to take photos.

Help clean the local communities…

Replenish landscapes with native plants…

Composting and building raised planter beds…

Use less plastic…pick up trash…

Recycle at home…

Enhance the beauty of the environment…

Love life.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Floating lab Gene Chaser visits San Diego.

A very unusual yacht with a very unusual name is visiting San Diego. I saw the research yacht Gene Chaser this morning docked at Broadway Pier.

Gene Chaser is essentially a super high tech floating laboratory. I had to search the internet to learn about it. This article explains the ship’s capabilities and the aim of its owner: scientist, inventor and entrepreneur Dr. Jonathan Rothberg.

The yacht is fitted in such a way that technological breakthroughs can be made while traveling the world’s oceans seeking new solutions and knowledge from nature.

The article explains: To support the fast pace of creating and using new technology, GENE CHASER has extensive rapid prototyping capabilities — best in class 3D printing, CNC, laser cutting, and electronics fabrication are all on board. All of which complement the cutting edge molecular biology laboratory and high power computational infrastructure at the heart of the ship.

Comparing my photos with that in the article, it’s apparent major changes have recently been made to the vessel. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Plant trees in Balboa Park on Arbor Day!

Are you in San Diego? Do you love Balboa Park?

Do you want to plant a living legacy that generations will enjoy far into the future?

You can volunteer to help plant new trees in Balboa Park on Arbor Day! The planting event is this coming April 28th!

No special skills required. Simply sign up here.

I helped to plant a pair of young trees in Balboa Park’s USS Bennington Memorial Oak Grove earlier this year. It was a wonderful, satisfying experience. I met cool people, too!

Planting new trees is an ongoing project of Forever Balboa Park.

Sign up here!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Hidden paradise above a Del Mar beach!

Those who visit Dog Beach (also known as North Beach) in Del Mar might wonder about some wooden stairs. They climb up the sandstone bluffs to the north. I ascended them the other day and discovered a hidden paradise!

A sign near the foot of the steps indicates the area above is the James G. Scripps Bluff Preserve. Those who explore the preserve are asked to stay on the paths and carry out trash.

During my adventure, I noticed some of the bottom steps are broken, so one must take care not to stumble.

Here’s a series of photographs that I took as I ascended into the preserve. One can gaze south down upon Dog Beach and east to the Del Mar Racetrack and beyond.

Once I reached the top of the main path, an amazing field of early March flowers and wide views of the Pacific Ocean awaited me.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Tribute to coastal advocate at San Dieguito Lagoon.

As I walked along the Coast to Crest Trail a couple days ago, a bit south of the San Andres Drive trailhead, I came upon a sign that pays tribute to Peter Douglas. He was an important coastal advocate who worked to protect the nearby San Dieguito Lagoon.

I learned that I was walking beside the Peter Douglas Wetlands.

As you gaze at the beauty of the San Dieguito Lagoon, watch birds flying, diving and foraging in the wetlands and wildlife scampering among the scrub and chaparral, you can appreciate the vision that led to the conservation and restoration of this scenic and biologically diverse open space, known as the Peter Douglas Wetlands.

Peter Douglas (1942-2012), one of California’s most visionary and inspirational environmental advocates, led a successful grass roots effort in 1972 that resulted in the creation of the California Coastal Commission…

The support and passion of Peter Douglas significantly influenced the ability…to realize (a) collective dream of preserving these wetlands in perpetuity…

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

River life near a freeway bridge.

Walk the Coast to Crest Trail along the San Dieguito River where it passes under Interstate 5 and you’ll see signs of life.

Indeed, several signs east of the freeway bridge concern river life that can be found nearby!

Walking east in Del Mar along the San Dieguito River, approaching the Interstate 5 bridge. It’s early March and native vegetation is green from recent rains.

About to pass under the concrete freeway bridge.

On the other side, near bush sunflowers, we arrive at a place where one can relax and learn about the San Dieguito Lagoon environment.

Several old signs ahead…

Fish of the San Dieguito Lagoon. Over twenty different fish species have been observed in the lagoon providing evidence that habitats here act as a fish nursery. Species include California Halibut, Giant Kelpfish, Staghorn Sculpin, Kelp Bass and four species of Gobies. Small jumping fish are Mullet.

Pickleweed likes the salty environment in the lagoon. It is also known as sea asparagus, Pacific swampfire, or glasswort!

What’s for dinner for various wetland animals who live here, including raccoons, American kestrels, killdeers and bats?

In one day a Great Blue Heron will eat…

…23 anchovies, 2 mice and a frog. Yummy!

A place near the freeway bridge to rest, gaze at the river and think about life.

In Life, Choose Happiness.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!