Green Sexy

A "Green Porno"?

It seems like everything else has gone green these days---why not porno? Now, does this mean that we have porno stars using biodegradable condoms and eco-friendly lube?  Well, not exactly.  You see, Isabella Rossellini, former Lancome model and star of the ultra-sexually-charged movie Blue Velvet, has changed her focus from human desire and sexuality to that of the insect and animal world.  She has created a series of internet shorts on animal sexuality entitled Green Porno that can be viewed on Sundance Channel's website.  Season one focused on the sexuality of insects, while her new season two focuses on sea creatures and their sexual exploits.  The costumes and props she uses on the show are purposely amateurish and child-like, as the aim of the show is to amuse and inform, rather than to arouse. 

So, if you're looking for a good laugh and have a super short attention span, then get turned on to Rossellini's Green Porno, and you'll never see "green" the same way again!  Now, that's Green-Sexy!

Now Hear This...Or Don't.

USA Today's health blog reports a European Union committee on emerging health risks finding that 1 in 10 MP3 player users could go deaf!  Well, that is if you listen to it for an hour a day for five years.  That would then include basically anyone who owns a personal MP3 player! 

As one who works in a junior/senior high school, I can tell you right now that we'd better start teaching sign language with the way that these kids blast the music in their ear buds.  I swear, you can hear the music from their iPods halfway down the hall.  It's as if they have to "ego-cast" to their peers what kind of music they're listening to.  Now, that's not much different from when I was in high school and kids cranked the music up to full volume on their walkmans, but at the very least those earphones sat on the outside of the ears, not directly inside the ear!  Maybe this explains why some idiots feel the need to install kickers in their cars and drive around in an earthquake-inducing machine---it's not that they're trying to subject the rest of the world to their bass-driven music, rather it's that they've already gone completely deaf from listening to their iPods and have to resort to "feeling" their music.

The sad thing is, once you've damaged your hearing to the point at which you've killed the hair cells in your ear that amplify and interpret sound waves for your brain, you'll never be able to gain it back without the assistance of a hearing aid of some kind.  According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), "the safe limit for noise exposure (is) 85 dB for 8 hours a day. Each time the noise level increases by 3 dB, safe exposure time is cut in half."  The maximum volume for an iPod is 100-110 decibels, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, is equivalent to a chainsaw or jack hammer at 100 decibels or an amulance siren at 110 decibels!   Going by the figures for the maximum job-noise exposure allowed by law, an iPod user can only listen to their iPod at 100 decibels for 2 hours before suffering permenant hearing damage, or for only 30 minutes at 110 decibels.  How many of you have a teenager who practically lives with their iPod's earbuds planted in their ears?   Maybe it's time for MP3 users to "Turn on, tune in, drop out"---that is "turn on" to what's actually going on around them, "tune in" to the sounds of real life, and "drop out" of listening to their MP3 players 24/7! 

Despite Global Warming, A Glacier Is GROWING?

In a USA Today article, Lonnie Thompson, a glacier expert at Ohio State University said that "Climate change is causing roughly 90% of the world's mountain glaciers to shrink."  Thanks to global warming, glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, the Rocky Mountains, the ice fields of Patagonia in Argentina and Chile, and ice masses elsewhere in the world are shrinking at an alarming rate.  In fact, "Warmer temperatures have cut the number of glaciers at Montana's Glacier National Park from 150 to 26 since 1850, and some scientists project there will be none left within 25 to 30 years."  Guess they'll have to rename that park, eh?   According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Earth's frozen ground in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased by about 7% since 1900.  For those who like to poo-poo all the talk about global warming as...poo poo, well, they fail to consider that the more ice that melts, the more the sea levels will rise, which will have detrimental effects on coastlines and waterways worldwide (ie.- Waterworld with Kevin Costner).

So, what's this about a glacier that is growing despite the rise in global temperatures?  Mount Shasta, a peak 14,000 feet above sea level that is 270 miles north of San Francisco, has seven glaciers that "are the only historical glaciers in the continental U.S. known to be growing."  How can this be?  It seems that these glaciers are actually benefiting from global warming in that it now receives more moisture from a warming Pacific Ocean, which falls in the form of snow, thus adding to the size of the glaciers.  In fact, Mount Shasta's glaciers have been growing since the early 20th Century.  This is not an isolated phenomenon.  According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, glaciers in southern Norway and Sweden, the New Zealand Alps and northern Pakistan have also (until recently) benefited from this change in global temperatures.  Unfortunately, Mount Shasta's glaciers' growth won't forever be able to stay ahead of the rising temperatures.  It is estimated that all of Mount Shasta's glaciers will be gone by 2100 because its current rate of snowfall can't keep up with the estimated 11.2% increase in global temperatures by the end of the century.

It is sad to think that one day all of the beautiful glaciers we enjoy today will be gone, and even more sad to think that that day is not far off.  Naturalist John Muir once said of Mount Shasta: "When I first caught sight of it over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since."   

The Brazil Nut Tree: An Amazing Arbor Day Story

What follows is an amazing Arbor Day story...

The show Nature: Deep Jungle on PBS discussed, among many fascinating topics, the amazing story of the Brazil nut tree. 

You may enjoy eating Brazil nuts and you may be consuming them because of their health benefits, but you may not know that it is a miracle that Brazil nuts even make it into our mouths.  First of all, the fruit of the Brazil nut tree, which contains up to twelve Brazil nuts, weighs up to 5 pounds and falls from the treetop (Brazil nut trees grow to be 200 feet tall) at 50 miles per hour.  The fruit is incredibly hard, and it appears that it would be impossible for any animal to crack this shell, so how does this tree propogate?  Also, "it wasn't clear why only (Brazil nut) trees in undisturbed forests bear fruit."  This last point is very important, for this fact prevents Brazil nut harvesters from clear cutting the forest around the Brazil nut trees, lest they want to endanger this $50 million dollar a year crop. 

Anyway, returning to the mystery of what animal could crack the seemingly impervious shell of the Brazil nut tree's fruit, scientists discovered that the agouti, a guinea-pig-like animal, has extremely strong jaws with razor-sharp teeth that can penetrate the shell.  Without the this one animal, the Brazil nut would perish, which goes to show the delicate balance of the rain forest.

Also, the Brazil nut tree can ony produce fruit in undisturbed forests because of an amazing an unlikely interplay between bees and orchids.  As intimated on the Nature site:

"Orchid bees visit flowering Brazil nut trees to collect nectar; as they buzz about feeding, the bees inadvertently carry pollen from tree to tree, fertilizing the flowers and helping the trees produce nuts. For the bees to survive, however, the males must attract mates, and to do that, the male bees need fragrance from a particular orchid to attract female bees. If the forest is damaged and the orchids disappear, so will the bees -- and the Brazil nuts."

This is such an amazing tale of symbiosis and goes to show that if you destroy or negatively impact one aspect of an ecosystem, you will affect some seemingly unrelated part of that ecosystem.

So, if you can, try to plant a tree on this Arbor Day, or at least take some time to enjoy these majestic beauties.      

Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses

A section of the Wilkins Ice Shelf the size of Chicago has broken off due to higher temperatures and the action of waves.  It seems that we're hearing about a lot of the Antarctic melting lately, doesn't it?  Scientists say that this breakup will not raise the sea level because the ice shelf is already floating in the ocean, but one concern is that fact that ice shelves hold back the advancement of glaciers.  If the ice shelf is not there to impede the progress of a glacier, then the glacier will fall into the ocean, thus raising sea levels worldwide. Scientists say that temperatures in the Antarctic region have risen several degrees in the past 50 years, causing the breakup of other ice shelves.  The Wilkins Ice Shelf is expected to experience further breakups in the future. 

If this trend continues, we'll all be going for a swim soon.  I'm going to work on developing gills in the meantime.

Roll out the Barrels!!!

You thought the original Alaskan gold rush was something---the potential for even more Arctic drilling could start a whole new Alaskan black-gold rush.  You see, new mapping data revealed that the foot of Alaska's continental slope is 100 nautical miles longer than previously believed.  That means that the United States could lay claim to territories in the Arctic region that were previously unclaimed.  As stated in an MSNBC article:  "A U.S. study suggests as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden beneath the Arctic seabed. Growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice — opening up resource development and new shipping lanes — has added to the urgency of the claims."

Used to be that the only American interest in the Arctic had to do with either Santa Claus or setting a new world record for the fastest time racing sled dogs to the North Pole.  Now that the prospect of tapping oil reserves has sprung up, I'm sure many politicians will do all they can to further degrade a deteriorating Arctic region. 

So, roll out the barrels

Gas up your Hummers and drive!

Roll out the barrels

Let's melt all of the polar ice!

Germs, Germs, Germs!

Did you know that in a 30-minute period Americans touch roughly 300 different surfaces?   According to  sixwise.com, the University of Arizona tested over 800 surfaces in four U.S. cities and determined the 10 most germ-infested areas in public places:

1. Playgrounds
2. Bus rails/armrests
3. Public bathrooms
4. Shopping cart handles
5. Escalator handrails
6. Chair armrests
7. Vending machine buttons
8. Shared pens
9. Public telephones
10. Elevator buttons

Researchers tested for three specific biochemical markers, which were:  hemoglobin (blood), alpha-amylase( mucus, saliva and/or urine), and urea (urine).  They found that children's playgrounds were the most germ-infested areas with 44 percent of playground surfaces testing positive for bodily fluids.  No wonder why kids always seem to have a persistent sniffle!

So, short of living in a bubble, what can one do to protect oneself from the germs around us?  Washing one's hands after being in public places and especially after going to the bathroom (OKAY, MEN?!?) is a good way to stay germ free.  Another measure one can take is to disinfect the common areas that people touch the most (computer keyboards, doorknobs, light switches, etc.). 

No matter how clean you try to be, you can never be rid of germs, especially in the public places we visit, shop at and work in.   So, don't freak out and just live your life!