Environment

Earth Hour Tomorrow (and some economics)

~ Cheryl

Yes, this is another one of those international “everyone do something” events. Tomorrow the World Wildlife Fund is asking everyone to turn off their lights (and hopefully most other energy-using appliances as well) for an hour. It will be 8:00pm in California when Earth Hour starts, so there will probably still be some daylight, but our apartment gets so little natural light that we’ll be in the dark anyway. I have no idea how they are planning to monitor the success of this, though electricity output numbers will be interesting, but there is an event for it on Facebook so you can register your intention to participate there. It currently has just short of 800,000 members, which is a drop in the ocean for the world population but not bad for Facebook. More details from the official web site.

Kevin has just commented that various people are blogging about what a sham the whole thing is because it won’t actually do much to reduce energy consumption. Here’s an example. Power station economics is, of course, one of my areas of expertise, so here’s my take.
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Saving the World by Eating

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

Suppose you were an absolute whiz at genetic engineering, what would you set your sights upon making? Unicorns? Domestic cats with tiger markings? Broccoli that tastes like chocolate? Beer that doesn’t give you a hangover? All sorts of ideas come to mind, but if you really wanted to do something good for the world, and you were happy to play with nice, simple little animals, how about this: bacteria that eat CO2 and shit gasoline.

Of course if you are Michael Crichton you’ll be immediately starting work on a book about how evil, genetically-engineered bacteria escape from a lab and almost destroy the world by eating the entire atmosphere until it turns out that they can be killed by spraying them with underarm deodorant (exact brand to be left to the product placement guys). But for the rest of us, hey, it isn’t such a bad idea, especially if it works.

Tentacle Porn

~ Cheryl

The Australian research vessel, Aurora Australis, has been spending the summer conducting a census of marine life in the Antarctic. According to this Guardian report they have discovered some amazing creatures, including a jellyfish with 6-meter-long tentacles (over 18 feet, for metrically-challenged Americans). The mission’s web site contains a lot more photos. The video of the sea floor at 800m is particularly startling – it is like a garden down there.

Tonight’s Menu

~ Cheryl ~ 8 Comments

As many of you will know, tonight is Burns Night. For most of the year haggis is rare in English shops, but around this time of year it is easy to find. I have been out and secured my own wee hairy beastie ready for the pot.

With yesterday’s post on kangaroo fresh in my mind I think it worth noting that the Scots have never expressed much outrage at the thought of eating their national totem animal. Indeed, they don’t even seem to worry much about the habit of Scottish sports fans of wearing the pelts of juvenile haggis as wigs (1). Even the English, whose fondness for animals is legendary, have rarely been known to upbraid their northern neighbors for eating a cute, furry creature. The fact that haggis are pretty scraggy-looking animals, and are possessed of a temper akin to that of a Tasmanian Devil, may have something to do with this.

A word of caution for unwary American visitors is appropriate here. My local Sainsbury’s is selling what they claim to be “vegetarian haggis”. Please do not be fooled. This product is still animal flesh. The haggis exists in two species: the carnivorous haggis (haggis jimmii carnivori) and the herbivorous haggis (haggis jimmii herbivori). The former is actually omnivorous, supplementing its diet of mice, frogs and insects with fruit when in season (2). The latter subsists mainly on root vegetables such as beets and turnips, and since the 17th Century has developed a particular fondness for potatoes. It is this quirk of their diet that caused the herbivorous haggis to be hunted to extinction in Ireland during the mid 19th Century. Food connoisseurs generally agree that the taste of the carnivorous haggis is far superior. However, unscrupulous English supermarkets have used the public’s lack of knowledge about the haggis to sell “vegetarian haggis” to their unsuspecting more soft-hearted customers.

Also please do not be fooled by haggis labeled “organic”. Despite entertaining rumors spread by certain Scottish science fiction fans, the haggis is not a silicon-based life form. All haggis meat is composed of organic molecules, just like beef or pork. Furthermore, haggis are not farmed. The use of the term “organic” with reference to haggis simply means that the animals have been shot with expensive carbon-fiber bullets, the cost of which is passed on to the consumer. Some Scottish hunters, in search of a more authentic and challenging experience, have taken to pursuing their prey with traditional bows and arrows, or even wrestling them to the ground and killing them with a knife. Haggis killed in this way are labeled “naturally culled”.

All that said, however, the fact remains that the haggis is a prime example of a wild creature whose survival is, at least in part, due to its popularity as a food.

(1) Various theories have been advanced to explain the vivid orange coloring of the juvenile haggis. Some biologists believe that it is an evolutionary adaptation to the fact that golden eagles have difficulty seeing the color orange. Others claim that the chemical that provides the orange coloring is a necessary precursor to that which, later in life, provides the characteristic purple and lilac dappling that allows the adult haggis to blend in so perfectly with heather-covered hillsides. A third group believes that the coloring is a reaction to the habit of mother haggis of lining their dens with the molted fur of Aberdeen Angus cows. Whatever the reason, haggis-pelt wigs have been traditional wear for Scots sports fans down the ages. There is now also a thriving export industry supplying the wigs to sports teams around the world who have orange as part of their colors including, of course, the San Francisco Giants. Kevin and I are proud owners of haggis-hair wigs.

(2) Some naturalists have claimed that a family link exists between the carnivorous haggis and the drop bears of Australia. It is certainly true that an adult male haggis is a ferocious fighter. That’s one of the reason why the Scots love to wrestle them. However, drop bears are almost entirely carnivorous and have been known to prey upon kangaroo and sheep as well as their usual diet of unwary tourists. The haggis is a much more gentle eater.

More on Meat

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

Still with today’s Independent, I see that they have finally caught up with the culinary excellence of kangaroo. Not that you get buy it easily in Darkest Somerset, or in California for that matter. But check down the bottom of this article. Bison is the red meat of choice for Kevin and I – we eat it regularly (and elk if I’ve been into San Francisco). And I buy venison when I can over here in the UK. I would cook it more often if it didn’t require a trip into Taunton on a Thursday. Nice to see that I’m in fashion for a change. And nice to see a bit of common sense from the environmentalists.

I’ve also checked out the Osgrow online shop, which looks very tempting (well, except maybe for the crickets and locusts, but you never know…).

Update: those of you who were grossed out by this post might like to check out today’s Economist which has an article about why Africans prefer converting land to agriculture rather than preserving wildlife.

Invaded

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

Today has been yet another beautiful California day – clear blue skies, warm sunshine. Yet it is winter, and that means that it gets a bit cold outside of an evening. Consequently all those multi-legged critters that are quite happy to live outside during the summer tend to impose on the hospitality of us two-legged folks over the winter.

Thus it was that I arrived home from shopping today to find the kitchen floor swarming with ants. I reached into the cupboard for the Terro traps and found – an empty box.

Fortunately for him, Kevin is elsewhere right now, so I can’t strangle him. Furthermore, because he is elsewhere, I’m not faced with cooking him a Thanksgiving dinner in an ant-infested kitchen. And best of all, the nice folks at Dale Hardware across the road were still open when I dashed over there, so hopefully the little beggars will be gone by Friday when I had foolishly promised Kevin I’d baked cookies in time for his return.

A Chance for Change

~ Cheryl

Most of the post-election commentary on the US has focused on the war in Iraq. Much as I would like to see some sanity brought to bear in that area, I think that the Democrats will find it very difficult to effect real change while Dubya is still in office. However, there are other areas where we might see more change. In particular the Democrat control of the Senate means that they will gain control of key committees, including the Environment Committee.

This committee used to be headed by Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, a man who described global warming is, “the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people.” He is being replaced by Barbara Boxer of California whose initial pronouncement on the subject has been, “Time is running out, and we need to move forward on this.” Of course Dubya can still veto legislation, but there is a lot that Congress can on this issue – far more than they can do on foreign policy. Here’s hoping we get some action at last.

Rice Update

~ Cheryl

A futher bulletin for those of you with an interest in the California agriculture industry. According to today’s Guardian, Ebro Puleva, a Spanish company that controls some 30% of the European rice market, has stopped all US rice imports. Tests have shown that nearly 20% of shipments are infected with the illegal GM rice strain, LLRICE 601. I see that this rice is not approved fit for human consumption in the US, let alone in Europe. Not that there is any evidence that it isn’t safe, it just hasn’t been tested so no one knows.

Hurricane Evidence

~ Cheryl

One of the few benefits of having a degree in oceanography is that I sometimes understand what climate scientists are saying. As you doubtless know, there has been much yelling and screaming over whether the current significantly increased level of hurricane activity is a result of global warming, or whether the whole global warming thing is a nefarious invention of commie pinko gay satanist leftist conspirators. Well, a paper published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims to have fairly conclusive proof that the rise in sea surface temperatures that is giving rise to the more vigorous hurricane formation is very likely to have been caused by human activity, specifically increased emission of greenhouses gases. Of course the scientists who wrote the paper are mainly based in California which doubtless proves that they are all leftist dupes.

More details here. Some one pass the message to Stan Robinson, please.

Update: Here’s the BBC’s take on the story, complete with a history of the controversy surrounding the question.