how Vienna became the world’s most livable city
Place marker for this Guardian article on the city owned communal buildings, January 10, 2024. how Vienna became the world’s most livable city
the Anthropocene
The deepest map : the high-stakes race to chart the world’s oceans by Laura Tretheway
Tretheway, like Elizabeth Rush, is a very good nature writer. I had some experience working on mapping vessels back in my youth and it was very interesting to “go back out” albeit in my arm chair with much newer vessels and equipment. She builds up the background of ocean mapping, how little we really know, … [Read more…]
Elizabeth Rush – “The Quickening”
October 23, 2023 I just read Elizabeth Rush’s new book “The Quickening” in which she reports on a research cruise to Thwaites Glacier in 2018/19. Seems the first time the thinning sea ice would let ships get anywhere close was in 2017-2020 so there was some very good data gathered in those years. We are … [Read more…]
“The Blue Machine – How the Ocean Works” by Helen Czerski
Nov 22, 2023 Just finished “The Blue Machine – How the Ocean Works” by Helen Czerski. As you can guess, it is a non-fiction title, another scientist commenting on a topic dear to her and meaningful for most of us, a genre I’m finding attractive in my old age She’s a physicist whose work on … [Read more…]
Loosed upon the world : the Saga anthology of climate fiction edited by John Joseph Adams.
Comment on the genre of “climate fiction,” which now, in late 2023 is pretty well defined, this entry suggests it has been around for centuries but gained momentum around 2010. Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction) The Wikipedia entry for Climate Fiction contains this: “Technologies such as climate engineering or climate adaptation practices often feature prominently in works … [Read more…]
Tribute to the late Rose Gaffney of Bodega Bay – June 1974
Eulogy for Rose (Editor’s Note: Ina Draper DeFoe, Columbia poetess, wrote this tribute to the late Rose Gaffney of Bodega Bay, a unique citizen of the Redwood Empire. It is edited for today’s Medley.) Our family knew Rose Gaffney back before there was anything to threaten her ownership of Bodega Head. One weekend my youngest … [Read more…]
Thousands of salmon escaped an Icelandic fish farm
Thousands of salmon escaped an Icelandic fish farm The Guardian, Sept 30, 2023.
Rose Abramoff was one of two protesters who helped temporarily shut down construction of Mountain Valley pipeline
I wanted to get her name into Commonplaces, she is very brave! US climate scientist risks felony by chaining herself to pipeline drill Rose Abramoff was one of two protesters who helped temporarily shut down construction of Mountain Valley pipeline According to Scientist Rebellion, a coalition of scientists who are actively protesting against climate change, … [Read more…]
Coracle Fishing – How dwindling fish stocks and new regulations are killing off the ancient tradition
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/02/the-last-coracle-fishers-dwindling-fish-stocks-regulations For generations, coracles have been used to fish for salmon and sea trout – known locally as sewin – on three Welsh rivers: the Teifi, Tywi and Taf. Light, nimble and manoeuvrable, each boat is made by hand, using a fabric skin stretched across a lathed wooden frame (although on the Tywi, the skin … [Read more…]
This Is What Big Oil Is Actually Doing
Behind All the Talk, This Is What Big Oil Is Actually Doing Aug. 7, 2023 New York Times In reading a few arguments about the pace of the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, some are saying that “we can’t afford this” and, as in the article above, people won’t buy it. I’m getting … [Read more…]