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April, 2008
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Air Travel II: Learning to Fly
Sometime during the afternoon of December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers flew their airship -- by modern standards a matchbox of spruce and muslin -- 120, 175 and 200 feet. The distances seem paltry in comparison to the architecture of modern aircraft, where wingspans regularly extend over 220 feet. But this would be to forget that the Wright brothers' contribution was not flight, but the control of it.
By the time the Wright brothers made their flight in 1903, the record of men who had taken...
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Bargain City Biking
What do you think of the possibility of having an outdoor “subway,” where the only air is fresh air, and the thrill you get down your spine is not from the erratic, bearded fellow crammed next to you, but because of the steady peddling action of your feet? One of The New York Times most emailed stories at the moment is about a bicycle rental program that’s debuting in our nation's capital.
The program, called SmartBike DC, will make 120 bicycles available to rent day or night at ten st...
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Good News, DC Anglers
When I moved from NYC to DC, I knew I wanted to do one thing: fish. Whereas most people are called to DC by a sense of civic duty, I was called, in part at least, by a sense of exploration. The Potomac. The Blue Ridge Mountains. The Shenandoah's. All good water. All filled with fish.
And so it came as a bit of sad news to hear that the Angler's Lie in Alexandria, VA, had closed its doors. It was, I was told, the spot for fishing gear and advice. But when I called the number, good news answere...
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What's a Weekend to Do?
Trying to plan your Earth Day weekend? Me too.
I have some good news: there’s a lot going on. Now, I have some bad news: there’s too much going on. Too much, that is, for any one person to do.
And so, to simplify your choices, I’ve included a number of suggestions below of events going on in the greater DC area. If you go to any of these, respond by letting me know how they were. I know I won’t make it to all of them, and I’d love to hear your feedback.
Events:
National Hanging Ou...
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Are We Losing the Race on Extinction?
When it rains, it floods. But what about our species? When they decline, do they also collapse?
The confluence of a few events has made me worry about this lately.
First, there was my series of posts about the collapse of Chinook salmon. In the Central Valley, only 90,000 adult Chinook returned last year, and scientists predict that as few as 58,000 will return this year. The numbers are even lower on the Klamath. Commercial fishing in these areas has been banned as a result.
Yesterday, there...
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Nicked by Nalgene? Try Stainless Steel
For every age, there is a remedy. And for nearly every remedy, a folly. The Romantic Poets famously had their laudanum, the Victorians their adulterated tea. So bad was the latter that Punch magazine ran a cartoon of a little girl at a grocery counter saying, "If you please, Sir, Mother says, will you let her have a quarter of a pound of your best tea to kill the rats with, and an ounce of chocolate as would get rid of the black beadles."
Could the same thing be true for my Nalgene?
Drink w...
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The Price is Right
For the first time ever, a company is attempting to put a market value on an ecosystem.
At the end of March, reports CNN.com, the UK private equity firm Canopy Capital announced that it bought 371,000 hectares of the Iwokrama Reserve rainforest in Guyana. The company invested because they believe that forests will soon come to be valued for the services they provide—that being rainfall, carbon storage, climate regulation, and biodiversity. Along with investing, the firm also wants to help ...
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A New Generation of Environmental Activists?
I'm usually not one for public speaking -- I get nervous, my hands clam up -- or for shout outs. But here goes.
To the bright kids in Lucia Plumb-Reyes's chemistry class at the Bronx Theater High School, I say: keep it up! We need you now more than ever.
Quickly, here's the story. My good friend Lucia invited me to speak to her class on any topic of my choosing. Having harbored a dream of teaching, and a passion for the environment, I chose to talk about urban environmental issues, and a bit...
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Air Travel I: Warning Sign
Last week U.S. and European officials signed the OpenSkies pact. U.S. officials, ever eager for market rule, saw it as an opportunity to reduce international fares through increased competition, even while fuel prices hit 4 clams a bucket. But as has historically been the case whenever this former colony of ours signs a pact with its former colonizer, confusion followed. It was time for a debate sold as news.
Some newspapers sold the story of low prices. Still others told another story -- of ...
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A Wiser Dryer
Having yet to even consider purchasing my first clothes washer/dryer set, the only thing I can think of that drew me into the world of the Dryer Miser is the fact that it uses an environmentally friendly liquid to dry clothes. Call me a sucker for an oxymoron.
First introduced to the public at the 2008 International Builders’ Show, “the Dryer Miser system uses a specially-engineered fluid in the heat exchange process to reduce energy consumption by up to 50% and cut clothes-drying time by...
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Remember the Chinook
Following my post about the Chinook salmon collapse, I was encouraged to see this AP story. Apparently, the Pacific Fishery Management Council is considering a ban on West Coast salmon fishing to protect rapidly declining Chinook stocks. The article quotes one fisherman as saying:
"There's likely no fish, so what are you going to be fishing for?" asked Duncan MacLean, a fisherman from Half Moon Bay. "I have no problem sitting out to rebuild this resource if that's what's necessary."
The num...
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Lay Lady Lay
Wandering the Union Square farmer's market last Saturday, my prayers for spring were answered. Duck eggs are now on sale.
For anyone who's ever tried them, the difference in taste is dramatic. Where chicken eggs are a blank slate -- essentially a vehicle for other tastes -- duck eggs taste much like the meat themselves: they have a wild, gamey flavor, a bigger yolk, and more body.
Next time you're at the farmer's market, keep your eye out for baskets of eggs. Many farmers who specialize in me...
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End of the Line
Julia Moskin has a good article in today's NY Times Dining section on the hardships of the cod industry -- what there is left of it -- and of efforts to restore the river herring runs on which this, and other, coastal fish stocks depend.
Growing up on the coast of Maine, with a lobsterman for a neighbor, cultivated both a love of seafood and concern for the preservation of our ocean's precious resources. In Maine, it's not just a resource, but a resource that spawned a culture, and a way of ...
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Gore Jumps On The Logjam
Al Gore, not known for working on a small-scale (read: Live Earth), has launched a three-year, $300 million dollar campaign for climate change. He reasons that in order to get moving on the issue, “we” need to alert the public and policy makers, and this is one way to do that. He says to a Washington Post reporter [emphasis added], "The simple algorithm is this: It's important to change the light bulbs, but it's much more important to change the laws.” After attending an environmental l...
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The Hungry Shall Inherit the Earth
As a fisherman, I've come to distrust stories of large, leaping fish. I've simply heard too many to believe them all.
Perhaps this is why, when I read the story of Asian carp invading the Illinois River back in 2002, it didn't stick. But this YouTube video, which has been circulating amongst friends, is one that's difficult to forget. For the most striking image, fast-forward to 2:30.
At the moment they shock the water, what seems like hundreds of carp explode out of the surface and high in...
Behold, The Lord God Bird