Blog – Page 206 – Ellis Hollow

When Sports Illustrated warns about global warming …

… maybe it’s time to start doing something about it.

I read SI religiously from age 8 until I was intoÂ my 40s — first for the pictures of my favorite quarterbacks, later for the swimsuit issues, and then one day I came to realize that SI has just about the highest quality writing and photography of almost any periodical — jock or non-jock.

I kept getting it long after I stopped reading the timely sports articles because the ‘off-topic’ articles were long and meaty and a joy to read.

I know most readers skip right over them. Â But evenÂ ifÂ theyÂ onlyÂ getÂ toÂ theÂ secondÂ paragraphÂ Â of this cover story, they’llÂ getÂ theÂ message:

Global warming is not coming; it is here. Greenhouse gases — most notably carbon dioxide produced by burning coal, oil and gas — are trapping solar heat that once escaped from the Earth’s atmosphere. As temperatures around the globe increase, oceans are warming, fields are drying up, snow is melting, more rain is falling, and sea levels are rising.

I’ve seen An Inconvenient Truth and read about climate change from political and environmental perspectives. But it was fun to see how SI put a sports spin on the subject. One of the examples they provided about how jocks are taking action:

Two years ago the men’s lacrosse team at Middlebury College calculated its “carbon footprint” (the amount of global-warming carbon dioxide its daily activities generated) and raised money to purchase enough renewable-energy credits (investments in wind power) to offset those emissions. The team thereby became carbon-neutral — a status also claimed by last summer’s soccer World Cup in Germany, cycling’s Team Clif Bar Midwest and the Vermont Frost Heaves, this writer’s American Basketball Association team, which rides in a biodiesel-powered bus.

Long-time activist and author Bill McKibbenÂ (TheÂ EndÂ ofÂ Nature) is quoted in several places. My favorite:

We’re still so used to the idea that we can deal with the forces of nature that we think nothing of naming our teams Hurricanes and Cyclones. In 10 years, that will be like calling a team the Plagues.”

Global warming in SI? I can’t help but think that we’re near the 100th monkey on this issue.

Update: [3/13/2007] MichaelÂ ShawÂ overÂ atÂ BagÂ NewsÂ Notes (he analyzes media images) blogged about the cover, drawing Katina parallels.

In need of atonement

Caltha palustris Previous springs:

DoÂ taxes.
Start seeds.
Set clocks ahead.

But this spring:

Set clocks ahead.
Start seeds.
Do taxes.

Arthur Jensen (Network, 1976):

That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature. And you will atone.

Blowin’ smoke (#1): The Whispering Crane Institute

AfterÂ theÂ kindÂ wordsÂ RickÂ wrote about Ellis Hollow overÂ atÂ Â The Whispering Crane Institute yesterday, I was moved to blow a little smoke up his shorts, as well.

I’llÂ admitÂ thatÂ I’veÂ onlyÂ beenÂ visitingÂ thereÂ forÂ aÂ fewÂ weeks. But Rick hooked me. Â That’s because he does some things well thatÂ IÂ think allÂ usÂ gardenÂ bloggersÂ shouldÂ strive to emulate:

Interesting original content not found anywhere else.
Content that extends far beyond one particular garden, including many posts of historical interest. Â (I wish more bloggers would help sieve through that stuff and glean the best for the rest of us.)
And most importantly: Consistently interesting graphic content. Â (For example, these colorful options for visiting Quito.)

NotÂ treatingÂ graphicÂ contentÂ as an afterthought is especially important for those of us who come to bloggingÂ primarily as writers. Gardening is largely a visual experience. Â Reading online is a chore. Looking at pictures is easy. And Rick’s pictures carry a lot of thought-provoking content. It’s no coincidence that he’s a landscape-design professional.

So when you can’t read any more, head over to the WCI and page through the old posts. (Check out his series, ‘An Appreciation of Stone.’) You’ll find images that make you want to start reading again.

GoÂ explore.

Sunday music: Illumination

More gypsy punk from Gogol Bordello.

No, I’m not angry. I’m hopeful because spring is dropping a few hints around here.

In case Eugene isn’t making himself clear:

Don’t believe them for a moment
For a second, do not believe, my friend
When you are down, them are not coming
With a helping hand
Of course there is no us and them
But them they do not think the same
It’s them who do not think
They never step on spiritual path
They paint their faces so differently from ours
And if you listen closely
That war it never stops
Be them new Romans
Don’t envy them my friend
Be their lives longer
Their longer lives are spent
Without a love or faithful friend
All those things they have to rent
But we who see our destiny
In sound of this same old punk song
Let rest originality for sake of passing it around
Illuminating realization number one:
You are the only light there is
For yourself my friend
There’ll be no saviors any soon coming down
And anyway illuminations
Never come from the crowned
Illuminating realization number one:
You are the only light there is
For yourself my friend

GoÂ buyÂ Gypsy Punks Underdog World StrikeÂ now.

Winter’s back broken

-2F this morning. Â About 6 degrees shy of the record, but plenty cold. Â It’s easier to take this time of the year knowing that we’ve got 40s coming this weekend and 50s next week.

I predicted we’d pay for the warm early winter we had. But in all fairness, I also predicted that we’d seen the last of the below-zero temperature last time we bottomed out.

It should make for a compressed spring where all the early flowers Â cram their show into a short period of time.