Month: January 2005

A natural, low-tech solution to tsunamis: mangroves | csmonitor.com:

MADRAS, INDIA – As nations around the Indian Ocean discuss plans for a tsunami early-warning system, environmental scientists here point to an existent, natural form of disaster minimization: mangrove forests.

The coastal trees and shrubs saved the lives of hundreds of people last month, and could save thousands more in the future if further cultivated.

Turns out that their presence on the shoreline of many places — the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico have them as well — is not just for their benefit. But they have been stripped away in a lot of places for firewood: sounds like a development project waiting to be funded. If it takes just 5 years to establish a grove, we could see a very reasonable form of insurance for people who could use it.

[found in Rebecca’s Pocket]

Now playing: All The Young Dudes by World Party

The Seattle Times: Pacific Northwest Magazine: Nurturing Our Roots:

“Most young men coming out of our community don’t know who they are,” said Huber when we set off after breakfast for a tour of his 76-acre Delta Farm.

“They’re stuck inside watching TV. These young men are the main reason I do this farming. Farming, you see, gives young people an identity.”

“In 1959,” said Huber, “the general budget for this county was somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000. The population was about 33,000; 15 percent of that budget was spent on criminal justice. Last year, the budget was $24 million, and the percentage spent on criminal justice was closer to 65 percent. But the population has only doubled!”

These baffling numbers gradually took on meaning as Huber continued. “We’ve changed our economy,” he explained. “We were once a stable, resource-extracting economy. Now we’re something else.” Fishing and logging interests are gone. With more people and fewer farms, there’s a shortage of jobs, so idle kids are getting into trouble.

So Mr Huber is growing more than carrots (and damn fine they are, too: I bought some last week at PCC): he’s growing farmers as part of the ecosystem as the article notes. I like to read things like this so I can be reminded that conscious living begins at home: one of our dinners last week — at which those carrots were featured — was all organic vegetables — collard greens in a lemon sesame sauce, carrots in orange juice with orange segments, and mashed potatoes, complete with some nice flaky biscuits — and it just felt right. I need to do better at finding these gems: that was just luck, but you can make your own luck.

Now playing: – Langsam. Misterioso by Simon Rattle – Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from the album “Symphony No.2 “Resurrection”” | Get it

<sigh> I need a job so I can grab a Mac Mini and put it to use here. The iPod Shuffle is a neat idea and I can see them flying out the stores . . . woulda been a great stocking stuffer if it been out a month ago.

What I like about both of these is that addressing the old “Apple hardware is too expensive” canard, with it’s corollary “I don’t need all those features”, Apple has managed to design in just the features everyone would find useful — an iPod that holds enough music for your commute/run/workout and a small quiet system that can serve as a wireless base station and internet gateway, without unneeded or duplicated peripherals — at great price points.

I look forward to seeing AAPL trading at that US$100 target real soon.