We Dodged a Depression, But Not the Dustbowl

After a vacation, I caught up with two of my primary news sources, the New York Times and The Economist. In the past weeks both have featured articles on a growing issue in America of which I was totally unaware--the severity, extent, and ramifications of the 2012 drought. Initially, I came across this article in The Economist, with its alarming graphic and data. Concerning reports released from the National Weather Service (NWS), United States Drought Reporter, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also prompted extended coverage in the Times. After the initial piece on July 19, further articles addressed the extent to which the drought could affect American food prices, infrastructure, and energy grid. The paper also ran an op-ed piece by Michael E. Webber, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and the associate director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas, Austin. While the inclusion of the above links suggests that I recommend you read them (since they also have statistics and maps and photos and stuff like that), I'll also try to provide a brief synopsis of the situation (which will help me grasp the issue better as well.)

Things I've been reading lately

Over the last month, I've had the opportunity to read an issue of my favorite journals. Here are the best articles from each:

From The Atlantic (which has become a hybrid of The New Yorker and Time ... still not sure how I feel about this):

On the wretched state of dialysis treatment in America (yet another infuriating health care topic):
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/-8220-god-help-you-you-39-re-on-dialysis-8221/8308/

On the development of "clean coal" technology and it necessary role in future energy solutions:
 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/12/dirty-coal-clean-future/8307/




 From The New Yorker:

On bananas, their blight, and how genetic-modification and/or breeding may save them:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_peed (abstract only)

On Belgium, its widening cultural/political rift, and potential separation: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_buruma (abstract only)

On the innocuous toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad in 2003, how it became the iconic image of the Iraq War, and how it was spun to project a false sense of victory:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_maass


From Smithsonian:

On the inner-workings of the Colosseum, now open to visitors:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Secrets-of-the-Colosseum.html

On the rising problem of wild pigs, how they plague Texas, and possibly the rest of the country:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/A-Plague-of-Pigs-in-Texas.html

On the visually playful and rather beautiful portraits of a Renaissance painter:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Arcimboldos-Feast-for-the-Eyes.html (for those of you in or near DC, you should definitely visit this exhibit at the National Gallery)



From National Geographic:

On the advent of world's seven-billionth person (7 billion!), the first article in a series looking at the development of the global population, ensuing problems, and potential solutions in the next century:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/seven-billion/kunzig-text

On a huge f-ing cave just found in Vietnam: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/largest-cave/jenkins-text (with amazing photographs, which I'm sure do no justice to what it's actually like)

On the impressive (and often overlooked) Native American Indian mound city near St. Louis:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/cahokia/hodges-text


And from The Economist:

On the secession referendum vote for South Sudan: http://www.economist.com/node/17851379?story_id=17851379 and http://www.economist.com/node/17851399

On when bad things happen to good people: http://www.economist.com/node/17851369?story_id=17851369 (in Pakistan) and http://www.economist.com/node/17851285?story_id=17851285 (in Russia)

On continuing crises on opposite sides of the Atlantic: http://www.economist.com/node/17851265?story_id=17851265 (Haiti one year after the earthquake) and http://www.economist.com/node/17857371?story_id=17857371 (Cote d'Ivoire and its neighbors)



So, overall, some good news and some bad to start off the year.  Stayed tuned and stay informed.


ps.  Here's an update on the Sudanese referendum vote: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/africa/16juba.html?scp=4&sq=sudan&st=cse

Civil Liberties, Cultural Relevance, and … Picture Books?

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."  

                                                                                                                                      --Abraham Lincoln, 1838

While perusing the Internets during the week, I tend to keep an eye out for articles pertaining to the protection (or, more likely, the violation) of civil liberties or civil rights.  Oh, there’s nothing I like more than a story on Guantanamo Bay detainees, or gay marriage, or oppressed ethnic minorities to get my blood boiling.
This week, however, rather than the subjects of the articles themselves, I took notice of the authors’ arguments and evidence.  Specifically, I twice read an allusion to the same historical event—although to different aspects of the event.  Glen Greenwald (a civil liberties watchdog) and Akhil Reed Amar (a law professor), while addressing the legal and judicial issues surrounding suspected and convicted terrorists, each refer to the trial of British soldiers involved in the 1770 Boston Massacre.