The UN is sponsoring World Water Day. This is important stuff, beautifully presented.
Month: March 2010
May 21 is Endangered Species Day
Endangered Species Coalition wants us to take some time to think about Endangered Species today. Happy to oblige:
Grasses
In response to my post the other day about my favorite bat, one of my wonderful students emailed me to say that she didn’t realize that I had a favorite bat. She, too, it seems, is a bat enthusiast.
Among my other enthusiasm is grass. Yes, grass (no, not that kind of grass. You People). I’m a sucker for ornamental grasses in any landscape. So it was nice to read an op-ed in the New York TImes Olivia Judson, quickly becoming my favorite writer in their stable, on grasses:
Evolution by the Grassroots – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com
I’ve always rather felt a bit guilty about my fondness for grasses, as trying to maintain a Kentucky Bluegrass yard is a pretty big environmental bad in arid southern California. But there are plenty of grasses that don’t need the water, and many of them are beautiful, as well, and as Judson points out, useful as corridors for wildlife.
The oldest (?) man in New York City and its effort to become elder-friendly
HT to Micheal Leddy at Orange Crate Art.
The New York Times has a article about Carl Berner, believed to be the oldest man in New York CIty:
At 108, Still Pulsing With Vigor – City Room Blog – NYTimes.com
If you navigate the page, you’ll find a story from last fall about Bloomberg’s effort to make NYC friendlier for the elderly. The best initiative in my book? The taxi and van voucher. That could really make a big difference in the lives of the seniors as they get somewhat less able to walk in NYC’s crowded streets. I know: bad me, advocating for cars. But taxis are among the most significant and most overlooked services for those without personal cars, as taxis can fill up the gaps in service hours or spaces where transit doesn’t go. And trust me, as a bus rider, taxis gives some relief to walkers and transit riders on bad days.
So much for The Pogues’ claim that New York is “no place for the old.”
The people who say the bus isn’t romantic are wrong!
The Gothamist features this story about a Yeshiva Student Proposes in a Most Unlikely Place. The bus!
Apparently, she said yes! I hope they have every happiness.
Unfortunately, the New York MTA continues to lumber under it’s $850 million dollar operating deficit, has had to agree to restore 11 bus lines but cut the orange V train.
Yikes.
Transit companies around California are facing some pretty staggering deficits, along with Chicago.
A little bubbly while you work
This interview with Robert Searle, illustrator, at age 90 is creativity treat.
“Drinking champagne while you work….the bubbles rise up and give you ideas.”
More data added to the peak oil calculation every day:
This time from Kuwait:
Kuwaiti study: Conventional oil to peak in 2014 — Autoblog Green
and a story on lithium-ion production from Ener-Del.:
EnerDel shows off battery production facility, plans for $237 million expansion — Autoblog Green.
Man that car is, as they say in the Valley, kewt.
Kat Martindale discusses legislative change and elders pet ownership
Pets and the City: The Limits of Living with Companion Animals « Kat Martindale
My only quibble is that there is nothing inherent about the limits of companion animals here…the limit is the framing of the problem among people who shelter elders and who don’t want to deal with an extra set of problems to manage, the mess, or the expense.
Beautiful universe
Zoos as custodians for endangered species
Controversy Erupts Over Captive Endangered Bat Colony | Wired Science | Wired.com
Wired Science has coverages of the controversy surrounding a dying zoo colony of my favorite bat, the Virginia Big-Eared Bat. The story brings up lots of questions about how and whether financially strained urban zoos are good custodians of species.
