More Gulf of Mexico Updates

In the case of the BP-Transocean-Haliburton oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the perpetrators and regulators are cooperating in the provision of information. Independent sources should be consulted for analysis, but the cooperative site does seem to be a reliable source of basic information about where the oil is, where it is heading, and the details of the operations and damage.

For example, the map below is a detail from a NOAA-generated prediction of the extent of the plumes expected by Sunday, May 9. See the full map and legend on the US Coast Guard website.

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo just passed -- read about our family's commemoration at Celebrating the States. And yes, we know that Mexico is not a state. In fact, Mexico is itself known as the United States of Mexico.

Coffee and Oil

(Image from Inetours)

The BP oil gusher will have a lot of negative effects for the people, fisheries, and environment of the Gulf Coast, particularly Louisiana, which seems destined for suffering these days (see my recent Louisiana guest blog on Celebrating the States).

The economic impact will be great, and it will not be entirely absorbed by British Petroleum -- the oil industry made sure that its representatives in Congress put caps on its liability after the Exxon-Valdez spill.

In addition to the direct impacts on the shoreline, the interuption of shipping into and out of the Port of New Orleans will affect the availability and price of many products and commodities, tourism throughout the Gul that relies on cruise lines, and perhaps employment in exporting sectors.

More coffee reaches the U.S. through New Orleans than through any other port, and of course the 2,000 ships calling on the port each year bring -- and take -- many other vital commodities. So far, the port remains open at least through May 6, but predictions have not yet been made beyond that time.

Gulf of Mexico updates

The Joint Response Centre provides constant updates on the BP disaster, including this, the latest map (click to enlarge):

A student recently asked a good question, which is whether this would threaten tourism in Mexico. Based on typical currents in the Gulf, it appears very unlikely -- all of the likely motion is toward the coasts of Louisiana and neighboring states to the east. Here is a typical pattern for April-June:

Death by PowerPoint

As I tell my students, colleagues, and anyone who will listen. PowerPoint -- especially when used as intended -- can be the death of useful communication. I learned this -- slowly, I must admit, as I was a real pro at PowerPoint as intended -- from Edward Tufte. I attended a workshop, later got his PowerPoint essay, and now use that as a text in my speaking-intensive classes. Some of the best conversations I have had with students have revolved around his critique, the Cognitive Style of PowerPoint. (At $7 postpaid, this is the best value I know in continuing education and self-improvement for professional people. Pay $7, spend one evening reading it, be a better communicator, and pass it along.)

Elisabeth Bumiller's makes the case even more persuasively in her NY Times article, We Have Met the Enemy and He is PowerPoint. Bad PowerPoints can kill communication. And in a war zone, this cannot be a good thing. Thanks to my friend Brendan for bringing this to my attention. The important thing to notice in the article is that the convoluted diagram shown above, though interesting, is not cited as the main problem.

Lawn Care = Bay Care

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation provides guidance on lawn care for those who live upstream of sensitive waterways. That is just about all of us, actually. For this reason, and to support wildlife habitat, we do our best to think of water and wildlife when managing the landscaping at our house. In fact, our yard is one of the field trips for my course on land management.

Smoke on the Water?

On Marketplace from American Public Media, Tess Vigeland reports on the Hobson's choice faced by environmental officials deciding how to address the April 20 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (News reports on April 29 suggest that the leak from the floor of the Gulf is now about five times greater than was thought at the time of Vigeland's report.)

View a detailed map of the spill and the burn area at the Joint Information Centre operated by BP, the Coast Guard, and other responding agencies.

Not since Capt. Hazelwood's 1989 DUI in Valdez has such a catastrophe threatened U.S. waters, though in 2006 a BP pipeline burst caused the biggest leak to date on Alaska's north slope.

As Vigeland points out, the remedy proposed for the current spill would prevent immediate damage to marine life, but with a significant impact on air quality. (Coincidentally, on the same day as this report aired, I found this collection of air-quality images from the Smithsonian Institution. Accompanying the images is commentary about China as a major source of air pollution.)

Arizona -- again?

In "Arizona's Monstrosity of a Law," veteran journalist Dan Thomasson describes the problem with Arizona's new immigration law better than anything else I have seen. Thomasson is no radical, and his comparison of Arizona to the Third Reich is, sadly, not unwarranted. He suggests that "every American with a suntan to stay the heck out of the state" and in fact a movement is afoot to -- once again -- encourage fair-minded people of all hues to boycott Arizona.

I am not a big fan of boycotts (except for Walmart, of course), but I lived in Arizona during the last round, which did in fact work. In 1992, Arizona became one of the last states (aside from New Hampshire) to have a Martin Luther King holiday, following a boycott. As a resident student at the University of Arizona from 1990 to 1994, I was not really able to participate, but I was glad to see that it worked. I hope another way can be found this time, to avoid economic harm some of the very people who would most likely be victimized by this foolish law.

Thomasson is no radical on the question of immigration; like President Obama, his critique of Arizona's tactics is paired with a fairly conservative position on immigration in general, which is that the border should be "secured." To some degree, this is reasonable, but I cannot help but notice that the degree has become quite unreasonable as the economy of the United States deteriorates. No border in the world separates two countries with a wider gap in prosperity than does the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, the prosperity of the U.S. economy actually depends to some degree on poverty in Mexico and Central America. When hard times hit both sides of the border, the pressure to migrate grows.

Immigration "reform" essentially boils down to this: the United States wants cheap labor -- in fact, needs cheap labor -- but does not want more people. Keep the people on the other side of the border, but send their labor across in the form of cheap stuff. Or bring them over here to cut grass, process meat, and wash cars (remember -- Mitt Romney was caught twice having undocumented workers taking care of his lawn), but not with the rights of citizens. In my view, if we want someone's labor, we should welcome that whole person.

Coffee Shoppe Geography

I just upgraded my Geography of Coffee Shoppes web page to include a link to student reviews on Yelp. I was tired of having the experience of being far from home and thinking, "A student of mine reviewed a coffee shop somewhere around here, but I have no idea where." Now I can look them up. Students in The Secret Life of Coffee now present something in class and post something on Yelp, under an account created for the purpose. Both the student reviews and my own reviews are now mapped in separate little windows on my coffee shop page. Problem solved.

Climate Change on Science Friday

Talk of the Nation is a weekday call-in radio program hosted by Neal Conan. It covers everything from politics to the arts. On Fridays, the show focuses on science, to such an extent that the Science Friday has taken on a life of its own. Science Friday is hosted by Ira Flatow, who recorded his first radio program about science forty years ago -- a college radio production on the original Earth Day.

Flatow's interests in science are wide-ranging, from documenting the human impact on the environment and innovative remedies, to medical ethics and genetics, to simply pondering the marvels of the universe.

His program archives include many stories about climate change, including the following:

Climate Change and Tropical Habitats

Tracking Climate Change through the National Phenology Project

The Earth Day 2005 Climate Change Update includes several interesting stories as well.