First of all, sorry to have been absent for a week (plus), but I’ve been wrapping up the end of semester with my great students at NYU, been to a conference (more on that next week), had a house guest with whom I did some local culture, and a few other odds and ends. I’ll be back in the swing much more next week.
For now, here are some items to consider.
You Can’t Win ‘Em All Dept. – I’ve written several times about the extraordinary actions of some brave public officials in the American Midwest in blocking two coal-fired power plants, most recently in “We’re Not in Kansas Anymore.” Well, Governor Kathleen Sebelius left to become US Secretary of Health and Human Services and the new Governor, Mark Parkinson, did a deal in which one plant will be allowed in exchange for more emphasis on windpower. The Kansas legislature jumped in with both feet. See this from Reuters. The Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign was disappointed but says they’ll fight. I’m an old Sierra Club hand and know that when the Club says they’ll fight, you can take that to the bank.
World Oceans Conference – AFP reports here that this is a “first-of-a-kind meeting” to discuss “the oceans’ role in mitigating climate change and on the consequences of higher temperatures such as rising seas, extinctions and food shortages.” The conference of relevant ministers from 70 nations will gather on Monday in Indonesia to work out an agreement that will influence the course of the talks in Copenhagen in December. The conference website has a bunch of information including on what other parallel events and exhibitions will be up and running.
I wrote in January on some great resources if you want to dive deeply (pun intended) into the subject of our oceans and how they’re being effected by climate change. I quoted “The Economist” in an excellent special report they did on the sea: Humans could afford to treat the sea as an infinite resource when they were relatively few in number, capable of only rather inefficient exploitation of the vasty deep and without as yet a taste for fossil fuels. A world of 6.7 billion souls, set to become 9 billion by 2050, can no longer do so. The possibility of widespread catastrophe is simply too great.
Green Roofs – I’ve been noodling an article on green roofs and thought recently that maybe National Geographic Magazine would be a good venue, so I went to see if they’d done anything and, lo and behold, the May issue has a great spread. The venerable Verlyn Klinkenborg beat me to the punch. Characteristically superb photography. See for yourself. (I’ve also written about green roofs here at the blog if you want to see some other coverage, including an informative video on Chicago’s robust program.)
