Dr. Jeff Masters, best known as a hurricane watcher for Wunderblog, is respected enough across the political spectrum such that it is possible — not likely, but possible — that his warning about the dangers of replicating the PETM will be taken seriously. So it's worth a look. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,Continue reading “Dr. Jeff Masters on the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
The Options Society vs. The Decisions Society, or Endless Search for the Right College
Yet another hilariously true essay/piece by the great Joel Achenbach, perfect for parents with kids about to enter college, called Endless Search for the Right College.
We don't take family vacations anymore, we just make college tours.
Over the past couple of years, my wife and three daughters and I have
mined a thick seam of colleges in the bedrock of the Eastern seaboard,
including William & Mary, Penn, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, U-Mass,
Amherst, U-Vermont, Skidmore, Bard, Cornell, Hamilton, McGill,
Dartmouth, Bates, Bowdoin and SUNY Geneseo. We've also been interested
in Wesleyan, Lafayette, Bucknell, Penn State, Colgate and Hartwick.
Also Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan and Wisconsin. And Colorado, UCSD, UC Santa
Barbara, Reed and Whitman.
And the University of Guam.
And the College of Antarctica.
And Venus A&M (scorching, but a great environmental science program!).
Why, you may ask, did we narrow our list to just 750 colleges and
limit our search to the inner solar system? Because we're Americans,
and more than anything else, Americans like to have a lot of options.
Climate Scientists See a Different Planet On the Way
According to a poll of top climate scientists attending a conference last month in Copenhagen, the world will not succeed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in what James Hansen likes to call "A Different Planet." According to The Guardian: Of more than 250 experts surveyed, more than half said the 2C target could stillContinue reading “Climate Scientists See a Different Planet On the Way”
Torture Shocker: Evangelicals Support It Most of All
Rod Dreher is shocked, shocked to discover that of all groups polled by the highly reputable Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, evangelicals are the most likely to be pro-torture, and the more often you go to church, the more likely you are to support torture. Dreher wonders what evangelicals are hearing from theContinue reading “Torture Shocker: Evangelicals Support It Most of All”
Swine Flu Exposes Media Weakness
As has been reported on Grist last week and in more detail today considerable evidence points to the possibility of a link between a ginormous Smithfield factory pig farm in the Vera Cruz area and the outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico. A couple of examples from Tom Philpott's post today in Grist: OnContinue reading “Swine Flu Exposes Media Weakness”
Big Chicken Equals Chesapeake Pollution
A memorable totem pole from the great Steve Brodner: Based on a Frontline documentary called Poisoned Waters. At a panel in the Festival of Books in Los Angeles over the weekend, Sharon Waxman, a NYTimes reporter now with The Wrap, made the interesting point that a lot of the best investigative reporting these days isContinue reading “Big Chicken Equals Chesapeake Pollution”
The Geography of Hope
Speaking of quotable enviros….from Wallace Stegner's famous "wilderness letter" of l961. Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last virgin forest to be turned into comic books and plastic cigarettes cases; if we drive the few remaining members ofContinue reading “The Geography of Hope”
Why People Hate Conservatives
Devout Rod Dreher, a thoughtful man who posts from considerably to the right of the Catholic Church, hates it when the right sneers at environmentalists for caring about the planet. Interesting to hear this kind of disdain coming from one inclined to dislike environmentalists: This flopped over the transom this morning [he writes]: "The YoungContinue reading “Why People Hate Conservatives”
Link Between Factory Hog Farm and Swine Flu Outbreak?
Tom Philpott, Grist's agriculture writer, writes that media in Mexico has linked the outbreak of a new form of swine flu to a huge hog factory. He writes: Is Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of VeraContinue reading “Link Between Factory Hog Farm and Swine Flu Outbreak?”
All-Time Great Greens Recipe
Some recipes come along that are so great they must never get misfiled, lost, or generally overlooked…until they become embedded in the memory by sheer repetition. This is one that came via a friend, originally from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters, but like all her best work, it's the essence of simplicity. It's especiallyContinue reading “All-Time Great Greens Recipe”
Kit Stolz 