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‘Tis the Season (for cold soups and cold showers …)

"It's so hot that the terrorist alert level has been raised to Gazpacho!" -- David Letterman

Several years ago one of my male friends came up to me at a party, leaned down, and whispered in my ear: "You know, sometimes, late at night, I lie awake and think about your ... gazpacho." This particular scenario might have been slightly less annoying if it hadn't happened so many times already.

There seems to be a very strong soup-sex connection in men's souls. My father had a habit of saying mortifying things at the dinner table whenever a boyfriend of mine was visiting from college, and one night he announced to all present, "You know you're getting old when you lie down at night and find yourself thinking about soup instead of sex."

My mom looked furious (you could always tell when she was furious because her lips pressed together to make a completely flat line), but it was hard to tell exactly why she was upset. There were so many possibilities:

Fear preview

I'm busy working on a post, or perhaps a series of posts, on fear and why it is useless for environmentalists. But in my reading around, I came across this delicious bit from John Rogers that I just had to share:

Snake oil

I found this press release from Green Power on the net the other day. Some guy from Germany is trying to sell his system for converting garbage into diesel to small municipalities around the country. I saw a demo on a local news channel a few weeks ago for a community near Seattle. I had to chuckle when I heard that he is hoping to lease land for the facility from a guy whose last name is Turnipseed (seriously). Here's another one released in May of this year:

Spitzauer says that all landfill material and other waste, including liquids can be consumed. Contaminated dirt, rocks, tires, animal carcasses, plant material, batteries, even appliances, will be consumed by the full scale version, thereby eliminating waste and a need for landfills altogether.

Oh brother.

Fishing laws aren’t being enforced

I've often said in order to protect our oceans, we need better laws, but more importantly, we need to enforce the laws we already have. This article by the St. Petersburg Times illustrates this point to a T. Long-lining, a fishing technique that boosts catches, generates enough revenue to allow boat owners to hire contract crews. But contract crews are in such short supply that those that continuously break the law suffer no consequences and have no problem getting hired.

The quote of the day comes from Lawrence Divirgilio, a boat-owner who hired a less-than-reputable captain for his ship. "It's a damn shame we have to break a law to make a living."

It's time the laws protecting our oceans were enforced just like the laws we land-based creatures have to live by. What we need is simple: fishery managers around the world with the courage and will to vigorously enforce the law.

Foreign assistance should include environmental and climate change issues

One of these days, we may diversify our "whack a mole" approach to security. A critical step on the road to a more dynamic strategy is recognizing underlying causes of instability in the developing world.

This week's Economist has a special report on the Horn of Africa that highlights the severe demographic, environmental, and agricultural challenges that undercut stability and exacerbate all manner of tribal, religious, economic, and political divisions. While the language is at times overheated, the dire situation perhaps warrants "the shock them out of their stupor" approach to reporting.

Poll: Do you trust Wal-Mart?

According to these comments and the letters to the editor, there seems to be a bunch of you who don't believe Wal-Mart is actually going to implement their sustainability plans. I think it is time for a Friday poll! (Vote below the fold.)

Gun in 60 Seconds

China to protect rare animals by killing them How do you say “cognitive dissonance” in Chinese? This Sunday, Chinese officials will be auctioning off licenses to kill rare wildlife — including some endangered species — to raise funds for … wildlife conservation. Due to the country’s gun laws, only foreigners can bid for permits at […]

Fuel cells take a blow

Via Engineer-Poet, the European Fuel Cell Forum -- who you'd expect to be pro-fuel cell -- has dealt a major blow to the idea of fuel cell cars powered by hydrogen. Noting that hydrogen will, under any reasonable assumption, continue to be less efficient and more costly than electricity, the EFCF has decided to abandon the most prominent form of automotive fuel cell, the proton exchange membrane. They have not, however, abandoned fuel cells altogether:

Finding hope in the world today

Worried about global warming? The acidification of our oceans? D4 (the highest-known level) droughts in the U.S. today? The idea that palm oil biodiesel might be worse than fossil fuels? A Republican plan to rewrite the Official Secrets Act to make talking to the press about government foul-ups a crime?

Well, you have reason to worry. But not to despair, as environmental writer and hero Barry Lopez points out in a terrific interview with Christian Miller in the latest issue of the Georgia Review:

Dolphin sports speedo in Sarasota Bay

I would be derelict in my oceans blogging duties were I not to mention "Scrappy" -- the 10-year-old dolphin that was recently spotted in a speedo. I wish I had a picture to accompany this post, but I guess you'll just have to use your imagination.

It's the type of story any morning show would be happy to report on, but the truth is the speedo hindered Scrappy's ability to hunt food and avoid predators. After at least 28 days of swimming in the suit, a team of volunteers, biologists, and veterinarians freed the underweight dolphin and found multiple shark bites and wounds on the creature. Don't worry: Scrappy is expected to make a full recovery.

But you have to ask yourself what motivates people to rally and fight for the life of one dolphin, when so many others are needlessly killed every day. Such is the wonder of human nature.