Good News (and Bad) For Salmon

I'm really getting the hang of spring now. You get one nice, sunny Saturday, then 3 weeks of rain. Sweet. I just don't understand why people move to Arizona. Here are some of the things I read about this weekend...

Good News For Salmon? Could global warming have a silver lining for our finned friends? But, just as I read that article this weekend, The News Tribune reported on killer squid, driven mad by global warming, invading waters off our coast and maybe, just maybe, feasting on Pacific salmon...or people!

Your Cheap Polluting Food
Cheap, imported food all the time. we've come to expect it as our right to have grapes, tomatoes, oranges in our produce bin year-round. Countries that are taking leadership on global warming are beginning to take aim at the transport and pollution impacts of the food that's zipping around the world. The results could be more local, or at least less international foods and, if my memories of my Intro to Econ class still serves me well, higher prices, at least for those grapes, tomatoes and oranges.

Retailers in the European Union have got their knickers in a twist over the issue:

Today’s retailers could not survive if they failed to offer such variety, Mr. Moorehouse, the British food consultant, said.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “we’ve educated our customers to expect cheap food, that they can go to the market to get whatever they want, whenever they want it. All year. 24/7.”

Global Warming (and other) Solutions

The first of its kind bicycle sharing program is starting in Washington, DC. With a $40 membership and a swipe card, members will be able to check in and return bikes throughout the city. (earlier free versions in Europe met with predictable problems). The new program is expected to spread to other cities, including Portland, Oregon. Said one DC'er:

“I’d probably use it more in the summer than winter,” said Dewey Archer, a senior. “But for $40? That’s cheaper than gas.”

Right on, brother! Pedal your way to oil independence.

Lets All Save Puget Sound (Part Trois)

I started out as a Puget Sound Partnership skeptic (It's got more sequels than the Police Academy series) and the latest grumbling and hair-grabbing from scientists hasn't convinced me otherwise. Let's rearrange those deck chairs one more time!

State Department of Ecology regulator Bill Moore stunned some participants with his straight-ahead admission that his agency has failed to fix the problem, calling the regulatory system for stormwater "fractured and incomplete and frankly not very effective as a consequence."

Moore, head of Ecology's stormwater unit, said solving the problem "probably means behavioral changes" by citizens, "which the regulatory system is not very well suited to."

Is this Save The Sound effort over before it started?