Link day
Tennessee town is out of water
The severe drought tightening like a vise across the Southeast has threatened the water supply of cities large and small, sending politicians scrambling for solutions. But Orme, about 40 miles west of Chattanooga and 150 miles northwest of Atlanta, is a town where the worst-case scenario has already come to pass: The water has run out.
Raising a family during the war, Mrs Smith learned to use everything she had in her larder - and had to. She says people give no thought to wasting food these days and it is a reflection of today’s “throwaway” culture.
“Back then if you didn’t use every bit of food you’d end up with nothing to eat,” she says.
Ten years ago, I was one of the very few scientists willing to say, in public, to an audience of farmers- “Ethanol from corn is a bad idea.” I made no friends.
Here we are, however- with even the farmers (who have the most to lose) now admitting that ethanol from corn “has limits” regarding how much of a fix it is for anything. And no, I don’t blame the farmers for the ethanol rush- they rely a great deal on “experts” to suggest good directions for them.
We’re already past “Peak Ethanol.
Take a look at this: Arctic sea ice, 2005-2007 (video with short commercial in front). This is either really interesting or really scary.
Interesting site: US Drought Monitor. Every week this is updated with the current conditions.
Overheard quote of the week:
If you’re not going to have any choice in what you buy and from whom, what did the US build all those nuclear weapons for? You may as well have just invited the Russians to land and take over.
– Kyle, Australia
Well, that’s all for today. Hope your weekend goes well.
November 3rd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Awesome quote, what a genius that guy must be
The context is that often in our “free” market we have little choice. Maybe we can only get our power from one company burning coal, we don’t have the choice of a second company with wind. Or maybe we can only drive to work, there’s no bus to take. Or there’s just a McDs, no other restaurants in town.
Sometimes even when there is a choice, we act as though we have no choice, we just can’t imagine another way to do things.
If we have no choices, if we can only get what we want from one company, or if they only offer one kind of product - that’s what happens in communism. No choices, you live the way they want you to. Screw that.
November 4th, 2007 at 6:15 am
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