Save the Whales

Grey whales in the eastern Pacific Ocean appear to be in trouble. They’re arriving at their breeding grounds undernourished, according to scientists, who aren’t sure of the reason.

It isn’t clear whether the whales are losing food stocks due to climatic factors or as part of a normal predator-prey cycle. The grey whale population in the eastern Pacific has been in good health and expanding since the 1940s, when whale hunting was stopped.

But Do They Take American Express?

More proof that you get all the justice your money can buy in this country: upscale jails for those who can afford to pay the freight.

Take it Easy, You’ll Live Longer

Here’s something new to worry about: excessive worry may shorten your life, according to a study conducted at Purdue University. The study followed 1,663 middle-aged and older men over a 12-year period beginning in 1988. Regular testing of the subjects showed those men who scored above the 50th percentile for neuroticism and whose neurotic tendencies increased by 20 percentile points over the years, were 40% more likely to die during the study period than the men whose neuroticism was stable.

Although there are benefits to excessive worrying–such as overpreparedness and the success that can go with that–the drawbacks can be far greater. Doctors are even suggesting people seek ways to lower their neuroticism, just as they would lower their cholesterol, to achieve greater health and live longer.

“We all have this concept that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” says geriatric psychiatrist Dr. C. Freeman. “But this study shows that change is possible. It’s never too late to chill.”

The Buzz on the Vanishing Bees

Honeybees are disappearing. In some parts of the country, they’re taking off from their hives and not coming back. Where are they going and why? Scientists have identified a parasitic fungus and a virus as possible causes of the honeybees’ flight, but haven’t confirmed the reason.

Though I’ve never been a huge fan of bees, this article actually gave me a better understanding of their ecological importance and dispelled a few myths about them. We get a lot more benefits from them than just honey. And, according to one gardener/bee hobbyist, “They really are sweet, friendly creatures.”

California Governor Threatens to Sue EPA

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday threatened to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if it fails to act soon on the state’s request for an exemption it needs to impose stricter air quality standards aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars.

The Republican governor says a letter of intent to sue will be sent to EPA if the agency doesn’t act on the exemption request in six months.

California’s plan to tighten standards has been on hold for more than a year. EPA agreed Tuesday to consider the request, a decision EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson says resulted from the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision finding the agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

EPA Head Mute on Global Warming Plans

Stephen Johnson, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, repeatedly refused yesterday to tell a Senate committee when the agency would comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and decide whether to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, the main global warming gas.

His silence on the subject provoked barbed comments from some Democratic committee members.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the committee’s chairman, told Johnson that in light of the high court’s ruling, “There is no excuse for delay.”

Johnson told Boxer, “We will move expeditiously, but we are going to be moving responsibly,” a variation of a phrase he used many times when the senators pressed him for a timetable.

“I don’t hear in your voice a sense of urgency,” Boxer told Johnson.

Republican senators defended Johnson. “You are being pressured . . . to make carbon regulation the central organizing principle of our society. I caution you against it,” Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., told Johnson. Imhofe is considered one of the most vocal global warming skeptics in the Senate.

Later, Johnson told reporters, “I’m not going to be forced into making a snap decision.”

I don’t think that’s ever been EPA’s problem.

George McGovern Speaks Out

Remember George McGovern? I’ll never forget his ill-fated 1972 presidential campaign. The one that reinstated Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon into office by a landslide.

Well, McGovern is still around and still has something to say, about the ‘72 campaign, a couple of controversial wars, the Democratic Party and yet another “Dick,” as in Cheney.

And the former senator from South Dakota doesn’t mince words. To wit: “The Vice President spoke with contempt of my ‘72 campaign, but he might do well to recall that I began that effort with these words: ‘I make one pledge above all others — to seek and speak the truth.’ We made some costly tactical errors after winning the nomination, but I never broke my pledge to speak the truth. That is why I have never felt like a loser since 1972. In contrast, Cheney and Bush have repeatedly lied to the American people.

“It is my firm belief that the Cheney-Bush team has committed offenses that are worse than those that drove Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew and Atty. Gen. John Mitchell from office after 1972. Indeed, as their repeated violations of the Constitution and federal statutes, as well as their repudiation of international law, come under increased consideration, I expect to see Cheney and Bush forced to resign their offices before 2008 is over.”

A Bid for Aging Gracefully

I’m glad there’s somebody else out there who thinks the Botox craze is a bit crazy. And how interesting that Hollywood is running short on actresses who can play “a certain age” because so many of them have had their age lines erased by the toxic injections.

I agree with Meghan Daum when she says “there’s something a little medieval about injecting ‘botulinum toxin’ into our faces because we live in a world where anyone older than 35 is considered medieval. But I also believe in accepting life on life’s terms.”

Obsession with looking young makes it more difficult to come to terms with the inevitable (aging and what comes after . . .) and elevates youth–a time in one’s life that, in retrospect, tends to get highly overrated–to a far more exalted status than it deserves.

Growing older is a part of life we should accept. It beats the alternative.

Praise for the ‘Cloud Atlas’ Sextet

At the risk of sounding like a publisher’s flack, CLOUD ATLAS by David Mitchell is without a doubt one of the most creative, unusual and moving (yes, moving) books I’ve read in a long time.

The book is a collection of six stories that start in the 1800s and end in a post-apocalyptic future. Each story is, in itself, a great yarn, but Mitchell takes things a step further by linking each one to the next, in a way that suggests the protagonists are reincarnations of the one before. With the exception of the sixth story, each one breaks off in the middle, before going to the next, leaving you in suspense about the ultimate fate of the characters until it takes up where it left off, in reverse order until the last (or, really, the first) story is told in full.

I will say that Mitchell’s prose does not always make effortless reading. It is at times thick with description and includes some challenging dialect, as well as words that can be made out in context, but may send the incurably curious on frequent trips to the dictionary. Even so, I think this book is well worth the effort. Mitchell borrows from many genres in this concatenation of tales, including historical, suspense and sci fi, and has a lot to say in the process about the human capacity to do good and evil and how individuals can triumph against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Dismay Over the Bay

The Chesapeake Bay remains in terrible shape, according to two reports issued earlier this week.

A report from the Chesapeake Bay Program, a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and bay watershed states, found degradation in the bay’s water quality, a decline in the blue crab population, contaminated rivers and huge losses in bay grasses.

A report from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, which provides a “report card” on bay quality, gave the bay an overall grade of D+.

Roy Hoagland, the vice president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a non-profit environmental group, says it’s not a matter of knowing what to do about the problem, but having the political will to do it.

Hoagland thinks the Maryland legislature needs to secure federal funds for the bay in this year’s farm bill. David Bancroft, president of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, says the issue of development in the watershed must also be addressed.

“Agriculture is the 800-pound gorilla when you’re looking at nutrient pollution,” Bancroft says. “But population growth is the 8,000-pound gorilla waiting in the wings.”