Monthly Archives: April 2008

London to Zanskar, Tibet: 99 Pounds

I’m not a fan of most web video, which all too often looks crappy, sounds frantic, and desperately wants to be noticed, but for every rule there is an exception, and here’s a great one. A story you’ve never heard, with great video from a journey from London to Tibet…in l958. The three housewives whoContinue reading “London to Zanskar, Tibet: 99 Pounds”

Global Warming Moving Jet Streams Northward, Researchers Suspect

Numerous different researchers at different institutions have found that global warming is altering the nature and strength of the the jetstreams that move weather around the planet. At the Carnegie Institute, based at Stanford, Cristina Archer and Ken Caldeira looked at jetstream trends from the years l979-2001. (Some people have all the luck.) In aContinue reading “Global Warming Moving Jet Streams Northward, Researchers Suspect”

Abolish the Lawn: Plant a Garden

Back in the l990’s, which seem more than ever like the good ol’ days, the great environmental writer Michael Pollan said we should Abolish the White House Lawn. Now he faces the most vexing aspect of greenhouse gas emissions — what’s in it for me? — head on. In The New York Times green issue,Continue reading “Abolish the Lawn: Plant a Garden”

Being with the Trees (Sunday Morning on the Planet)

A commentator on a previous post asked for more poems about trees…here’s one I just found, courtesy of The Atlantic, by somebody named Robert Frost. This one seeps into a person, like its subject…. The Sound of Trees I wonder about the trees: Why do we wish to bear Forever the noise of these MoreContinue reading “Being with the Trees (Sunday Morning on the Planet)”

ABC News: Planet Less Important Than Flag Pin

Today The New York Times introduces a new columnist, and a new idea of a columnist — a graphics columnist. And Charles Blow lives up to the billing by succinctly making an important point that his far-better-paid media peers at ABC and other television networks cannot seem to grasp. (Perhaps living in TV land makesContinue reading “ABC News: Planet Less Important Than Flag Pin”

Fakes Right, Goes Left: Obama’s Favorite Move

Barack Obama became obsessed with basketball at one point in his life, not as a high schooler, surprisingly, but in law school. You can see that love and skill in action if you watch the Bryant Gumbel special below on his game. In the segment, for the first time on television since he was aContinue reading “Fakes Right, Goes Left: Obama’s Favorite Move”

When a Nobel Prize on the Mantle Is Really Useful

When is a Nobel Prize truly useful? When you’re confronted in your field by something you don’t understand, and need to say: I don’t get it. Recently a famous economist named Martin Weitzman of Harvard released a paper on "the economics of catastrophic climate change" that has experts around the world scratching their head inContinue reading “When a Nobel Prize on the Mantle Is Really Useful”

The Massive Courage of Sam I Am

From The Boston-Herald, a story about Sam Cassell as a Celtic:  The Celtics still aren’t quite sure what to make of Sam Cassell. ‘Oh, Sam’s crazy,’ coach Doc Rivers said. ‘No,’ Paul Pierce said through a wide smile, ‘he’s only borderline crazy.’ Watching the 38-year-old point guard strut and gesture — and score 15 ofContinue reading “The Massive Courage of Sam I Am”

“Waves of Extinction” Forecast From Global Warming

From a speech given by John Holdren, the director of the Woods Hole Institute, one of the premier ocean and climate study groups in the world today. In an hour-long talk he called on scientists to tithe 10% of their work to solving the energy/climate problem and warned that if we do not change course:Continue reading ““Waves of Extinction” Forecast From Global Warming”