Saturday, November 10, 2012

Russo and Shwalbe, Energy and Water--Guests and Colder Weather



The friend I had to dinner last night put on her jacket even though I offered to turn on the heat.  I told her about William Schwalbe’s saying that his father (in spite of his wealth) always put on a sweater instead of turning on the heat, which meant that their house was always between freezing and frozen.

And speaking of writers, I’m now “reading” Richard Russo’s Elsewhere on Audible, and he brings up the toxic issue:  Another writer from his town says that if the companies hadn’t hired cheap labor, it would have been corporate suicide.  Richard Russo says that by that token, what they did (abandoning the town when they had the chance to create a place to store their waste ecologically) was corporate murder.  What the companies did, according to Russo, was to say no to the opportunity of building an eco-friendly way of getting rid of their waste, which was polluting the community.  Instead, they chose to take their business elsewhere, so they could get away with polluting another community.

Also in the new:  There may soon be a new water pact between the US and Mexico to add areas south of the border to Colorado River water sharing agreements.  Right now Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are considering this pact. 
                ”The agreement would link Mexican and U.S. water allocations during shortages, and it would let Mexico store water in U.S. reservoirs, including Lake Mead, for the first time.”

Once again I skipped my bath.  I took one yesterday and will take another one tomorrow after I get back from the Y.

Oh, I should mention that there's a good column by a SF Chronicle writer I usually do NOT like, Camille Millner, "Room for everyone in the bicycle lane."  

http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/Bicycling-in-San-Francisco-4024614.php

This is a very good article on how bicyclists create a better city, and she even mentioned the "social and economic reasons" that "density is what we want."  (Building up rather than creating more urban sprawl).

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