Legal and Deadly: The Water You Drink
In a lengthy article in today's New York Times, Charles Duhigg reports on the state of America's drinking water. The laws regulating our water have remained unchanged since 1974 and are far behind the development of deadly chemicals being dumped into reservoirs and waterways.
Complicating the matter, many citizens object to measures taken by officials to reduce the risk, claiming that if the water is "legal" nothing should be done. In other words, you should have the right to poison yourself—unwittingly—as long as 1) it keeps taxes down (especially for big business) and 2) it allows you to pretend that you are in control of your life.
Currently, we are in a battle to determine whether we trust big government or big and small business. (See the healthcare issue.)
What Should You Be Reading?
As the end of the year rolls around, we start to see reading lists pop up just in time for the holiday buying season. National Public Radio has provided their list, with more than one book that ought to keep you busy for a good portion of the winter, including The Paris Review Interviews, which is 1982 pages long. Who says they don't publish big books any more. And then there's American Fantastic Tales which is 1500 pages.
Don't worry, there are plenty of other books on the list in the 300-page range, including In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, which was reviewed here not long ago.
Other Worlds:
Today's New York Times reports on the discovery of a planet outside our solar system that appears to be composed entirely of water, with a surface temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Don't get your fishing equipment out yet. It's 40 light-years away, and a year there lasts 38 hours.
December's National Geographic reported on the number of new planets found in the past few years, now that technology allows us to "see" beyond our own solar system with enough precision to discover them.
In a lengthy article in today's New York Times, Charles Duhigg reports on the state of America's drinking water. The laws regulating our water have remained unchanged since 1974 and are far behind the development of deadly chemicals being dumped into reservoirs and waterways.
Complicating the matter, many citizens object to measures taken by officials to reduce the risk, claiming that if the water is "legal" nothing should be done. In other words, you should have the right to poison yourself—unwittingly—as long as 1) it keeps taxes down (especially for big business) and 2) it allows you to pretend that you are in control of your life.
Currently, we are in a battle to determine whether we trust big government or big and small business. (See the healthcare issue.)
What Should You Be Reading?
As the end of the year rolls around, we start to see reading lists pop up just in time for the holiday buying season. National Public Radio has provided their list, with more than one book that ought to keep you busy for a good portion of the winter, including The Paris Review Interviews, which is 1982 pages long. Who says they don't publish big books any more. And then there's American Fantastic Tales which is 1500 pages.
Don't worry, there are plenty of other books on the list in the 300-page range, including In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, which was reviewed here not long ago.
Other Worlds:
Today's New York Times reports on the discovery of a planet outside our solar system that appears to be composed entirely of water, with a surface temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Don't get your fishing equipment out yet. It's 40 light-years away, and a year there lasts 38 hours.
December's National Geographic reported on the number of new planets found in the past few years, now that technology allows us to "see" beyond our own solar system with enough precision to discover them.
Labels: Books, Science, The Environment
posted by Jim | 9:02 AM
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