Suggested reading from The Bee’s editorial board.
‘Earth’s nine lives’
by Fred Pearce, New Scientist (March 5)
Interested in tracking science on a weekly basis? Then the British publication New Scientist is an essential read. Last week’s edition includes an article that helps make sense of several “big-picture” trends that are shaping the planet’s future.
The article by the magazine’s senior environmental correspondent, Fred Pearce, examines the status of nine planetary life-support systems deemed vital for human survival.
Some of these you know, and they are close to home – such as fresh water and wildlife diversity. Some are more obscure, such as carbonic acid in the oceans.
Some, such as climate change, have received loads of attention and research. Others, such as the buildup of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, are less studied. As a result, their threat level is less clear.
The magazine’s cover includes a secondary headline – “Why the planet is healthier than you think” – that is catchy but not reflective of Pearce’s bottom line. As the article notes, the risk of ozone depletion has diminished, thanks to international efforts, but the threat remains. The planet is a long way from exhausting its supplies of fresh water – assuming you consider 50 years to be a distant future.
Meanwhile, thanks to chemical fertilizers and human sewage, the planet is releasing more nitrogen into land and water than these systems can safely process.
“However you cut it, our life-support systems are not in good shape,” Pearce concludes. “Three of nine boundaries – climate change, biodiversity and nitrogen fixation – have been exceeded.”
The one ray of hope is the international effort to protect the ozone layer, “which is gradually healing,” he writes.
“At least it shows action is possible – and can be successful.”
– Stuart Leavenworth
‘The Great Grocery Smackdown’
by Corby Kummer, Atlantic magazine (March)
The local food movement is picking up steam across the country and close to home. Organic farmers and chefs are carving out a niche in the Sacramento region.
So my attention was drawn to a piece by the Atlantic’s longtime food editor about how Wal-Mart Stores Inc. – yes, Wal-Mart – is involved in local food sustainability.
Through its Heritage Agriculture program, the retailing behemoth is buying produce from family farms near its huge warehouses. While the program accounts for only about 5 percent of Wal-Mart’s produce sales, the goal is 20 percent – and that would be a huge boost to small and medium farmers, Kummer writes.
Wal-Mart isn’t suddenly neglecting its bottom line, he notes. While it might pay slightly more for locally grown produce, it can come out ahead by saving on transportation and cutting out wholesalers. It’s also positioning itself against the likes of Whole Foods for environmentally conscious shoppers.
For California, particularly the Central Valley’s multibillion-dollar agriculture industry, the program could cause some pain initially. Wal-Mart is the largest buyer of California produce, and it won’t be buying as much if it’s purchasing more from local farmers. And so far, a Wal-Mart spokesman says, since the Heritage projects are focused on areas where agriculture has declined, California is not part of the program.
– Foon Rhee
‘The Pit: A Story of Chicago’
by Frank Norris Doubleday, Page & Co. (1903)
Well-known California writer of “The Octopus” (1901) about the stranglehold of Southern Pacific Railroad tentacles on the economy, Frank Norris wrote a second book in what was to be a trilogy before his untimely death in 1902. That novel, “The Pit” (published posthumously in 1903), is a great psychological study of speculation, worth re-reading today as the United States works it way through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The gambling theme dominates the novel about trying to corner the wheat market in the Chicago Board of Trade: “They call it buying and selling,” says one character. “But it is simply betting.”
Another describes the attraction: “A man gets into this game, and into it, and into it, and before you know he can’t pull out – and he don’t want to.”
After a big win in the market, the main character, Curtis Jadwin, says: “Charlie, this wasn’t speculating. It was a certainty. It was found money. If I had known a certain piece of real estate was going to appreciate in value I would have bought it, wouldn’t I.”
His friend is skeptical: “All the worse, if it made it seem easy and sure to you.”
The irrationality, obsession and selfishness that overtake the characters in “The Pit” give new meaning to the current term “irrational exuberance” coined by former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan during our recent speculative bubble.
– Pia Lopez