Comments shoreranger has made

  • Great practical, realistic, piece. I will be forwarding to friends.On Growing up green: How to shop for a green baby posted 1 week, 5 days ago 4 Responses

  • Amen, Mearph: the mersture is moidur!

    All of NYC - and that is all five boroughs, not just the second-to-least populated Manhattan (that's right - Manhattan is the second to least populated borough, most NYers live elsewhere, like about 6 out of 7 of them) is either on an island or an isthmus, so humidity is the real issue around here, all day, all night.  If you are not right down by the beach, and are therefore not the direct beneficiary of onshore/offshore breezes (which is the vast majority of residents) then the air is pretty still and heavy most of the summer.  Thunderstorms offer false hope, since they may drop the temp a few degrees, but leave even more steamy air - usually a worse trade-off.

    Anyway, leaving your fan on all day is not going to effectively alleviate this problem.On Umbra on fans versus AC posted 1 year, 4 months ago 19 Responses

  • Political Science

    Undergraduate major in poli sci led to a career with the US National Park Service - originally as a park ranger.  A lot of practical training was provided in-house (which means anywhere, really, in the Federal government, not just at your desk or someone elses).  Really what was needed was the ability to reason well - to think.  You can get that at any good liberal arts college, I would think.  Just get to know your professors and embrace the learning - don't just try to satisfy the requirements.

      A career with the NPS led to a Master of Public Administration degree in Envrionmental Science and Policy (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/mpaenvironment/index.html)On Umbra on choosing a college posted 1 year, 10 months ago 21 Responses

  • Class too simple an excuse

    Inkabinka's rationale is flawed, I think.  For example, it does not address one of the most dramatic statements of fact in the article: "one-fifth of eco-related government agencies have no nonwhite staff members."

    NO non-white staff members, in an entire government agency!?  That has got to do with much more than class.  Government jobs are traditionally an entre for the "poor" classes - then the "poor minorities" should be amply represented using Inka's reasoning.On U.S. green movement is decidedly white posted 1 year, 10 months ago 16 Responses

  • "All waste is evil"

    I agree with the implication that waste is a natural part of the ecosystem.  What more people need to take account of is the concentration of waste.  That is where much of the problem comes from.

    It reminds me of the dog owners who choose to argue against the picking-up of dog waste based on the premise that dog waste is "natural".  Dogs are territorial and travel in packs naturally.  If left to their own devices one pack of less than a dozen dogs would cover a significant area and keep other dogs out.  There would be no where near the concentration of dogs that exists now in our cities.

    Human waste is "natural".  Concentrating millions of humans at the shore during a 3-6 month period of the year is not "natural", and the concentrration of waste they bring with them is not natural, as well.  This also goes for trails in "the woods".  Hundreds of millions of visitors to our national parks and forests each year is a lot of waste concentrated just off of trails and campsites, not dispursed throughout the millions of acres of land that actually constitutes our parks and forests.  Those "srips" and "patches" cannot sustain all that waste, and the rest of the acres cannot endure the trampling of so many hikers and campers looking for a space to "do what comes naturally".  Even if it gets burried, in just a few days it may not be possible to see withthe naked eye how many little turd-holes had been recently dug in a spot the current pooper may assume has not seen human presence in hundreds of years.  The best solution: LNT's take it with you.  You will be glad the person before you did.  Burying it is simply just not good enough.On Umbra on peeing at the beach posted 2 years, 5 months ago 8 Responses

  • Dunes sensitive not only to "pee"

    Applying Leave No Trace (LNT) principles to peeing around dunes extends beyond the vegitation's sensitivity to urine and resulting animal concentration/activity.  An issue inherent in this discussion is traversing through vegitation to get to a spot that is suitible to wee-wee.  Not only is is a good idea to avoid pissing in the dunes because of what will be left behind, but also because of the likely damage to vegetattion to trampling while going to and from.  As noted, dune vegetation is remarkably sensitive, particularly to getting stepped on.  On the other hand, it is these plants that do much to keep the dunes from blowing away.  Without those dunes our coastlines would be much more susceptile to storm damage - losing not only the beach itself into the ocean but what is behind it as well.

    It doesn't take much for a "social trail" to form on a dune to an area convenient for urinating (two or three trips can be enough).  A dune trail absent of vegetation can quickly "channel" coastal winds that will gouge out sections of a dune, quickly blowing sand away.  This can expose roots of plants not even trampled, and kill them as well, leading to the destruction of a complete dune system.  This can happen not in "geologic time" of hundreds or thousands of years, but as quickly as a matter of months.On Umbra on peeing at the beach posted 2 years, 5 months ago 8 Responses