Anna said...

COREY!

less time on academia, MORE TIME ON THE BLOG!


Ye haven't updated in epochs! :D

Well, she has a point. It seems that this semester has been more demanding on me then I originally thought it would be. I guess that's what happens when you take two English classes and other classes that make you read a crap-ton of books all the time. I've barely had time to think about the blog, much less write up an entry. Even as I'm typing this, I'm sitting in my Environment and Society class not paying attention to some old video about Microcredit.

Not to say that microcredit is boring. I think Muhammad Yunus is on the right track with his Grameen Bank. What really strikes me is the similarity to the global economic situation that we are in now. Both Yunus and the U.S. government have the same idea: throw money at the problem. People need money to run their businesses and make them grow. But here's the problem, once you hand out a little money, people expect a little more later. And then more. Until you have too many people who need the money and there's no money left to give. Where does it stop? Or where does this extra money come from?

Speaking of Environment and Society, if you really want to put yourself into a state of depression that makes you want to stop using water all together, read When the Rivers Run Dry. This book, written by Fred Pearce, gives far too many examples of the water crisis that is haunting our world. The way he makes it sound, there's no guarantee that water will come out of my faucet tomorrow.

A taste:

"It takes between 250 and 650 gallons of water to grow a pound of rice. That is more water than many households use in a week. For just a bag of rice. Keep going. It takes 130 gallons to grow a pund of wheat and 65 gallons for a pound of potatoes....
We are all used to reading detailed technical information about the nutritional content of most food. Maybe it's time that we were given some clues as to how much water it took to grow and process the food. As the world's rivers run dry, it matters."

Yeah, I told you. It goes on to tell you about lakes that have completely dried up, how farmers are taking all of the water out of the ground that will not be replaced and how the Rio Grande is barely even a river anymore. Important to know, but not fun to read.

But class is coming to an end and that means that I must leave you. But I will leave you with a list of my favorite albums from 2008. A very short list, but if you haven't bought these CDs yet, do it now.

Okkervil River, The Stand Ins
She & Him, Volume I
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes