Okay, so according to Juliet Elperin, the Wa-Po's top-notch enviro reporter, the Prez is considering designating a vast area of the Pacific, stretching more than 2,000 miles across the Marianas, for "no-take" protection as a "marine monument." Interestingly, Laura Bush likes the idea, and has even requested briefings on the matter from scientists, but —Continue reading “Dick Cheney vs. Laura Bush: Who Will Win Bush’s Vote?”
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Time and the Sea
From Rachel Carson’s notebooks, collected in Lost Woods: Saw tracks of a shore bird — probably a sanderling, and followed them a little, then they turned toward the water and were soon obliterated by the sea. How much it washes away, and makes as though it had never been. Time itself is like the sea,Continue reading “Time and the Sea”
Drought in the Southwest Can Last for Decades — or Centuries
One of the interesting reports coming out of the American Geophysical Union conference this year was on "abrupt" climate change. For a long time the Dust Bowl droughts of the l930's, which were indeed severe, were considered the worst the Southwest could expect. But now, based on tree-ring and pollen "proxy" studies, scientists can withContinue reading “Drought in the Southwest Can Last for Decades — or Centuries”
Why This Global Warming Book is Different: A Review of Dire Predictions
More books on global warming have been published in the last couple of years than anyone in their right mind (or even, anyone in the field) would want to read. Many of them are very good: Australian biologist Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers tells the story from an evolutionist's point of view with great passionContinue reading “Why This Global Warming Book is Different: A Review of Dire Predictions”
Climate Change in CA: What Has Happened Already
From the California Department of Water Resources White Paper, pdf, dated 10/08: While the exact conditions of future climate change remain uncertain, there is no doubt about the changes that have already happened. Analysis of paleoclimatic data (such as tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow and precipitation) indicates a history of naturally and widely varying hydrologic conditionsContinue reading “Climate Change in CA: What Has Happened Already”
It’s Too Late to Turn Back Now (Cheap Oil mix)
From Toles, of course,
“I Used to Have a Really Cool Job”
An interesting thing about the on-coming economic crash is that this is old news for lots of people, some of them impressively articulate, in both the music biz and the music criticism biz. Last year a wonderful magazine about what is now known as Americana music called No Depression gave up its print run. They'veContinue reading ““I Used to Have a Really Cool Job””
Hansen predicts temps to set record in Obama’s first term
At his presentation after his lecture to the scientific masses at the American Geophysical Union, Jim Hansen was asked this week if, given that 2008 was cooler than a couple of recent years, if he would hazard a prediction for the near future of global temps. He jumped at the opportunity to go on the Continue reading “Hansen predicts temps to set record in Obama’s first term”
Methane Time Bomb — Ticking Louder
At a press conference Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, a Russian scientist who has spent the last fifteen years tracking the release of methane from Siberia was asked if a huge surge he and his team detected this summer constituted "a global emergency." Igor Similetov did not say no, and didContinue reading “Methane Time Bomb — Ticking Louder”
Rosemarie Dewitt Will Break Your Heart
And that's a promise. Take a look at her and tell me if it isn't true. This is from the show Mad Men, about which way too much has already been said. It's a good show, but if you want to fall in love again, if just for an hour or two, with a womanContinue reading “Rosemarie Dewitt Will Break Your Heart”
Kit Stolz 