Who won the first presidential debate?

By George Harris, Kansas City Star Readers Advisory Panel 2008

September 27, 2008 at 5:40 a.m.

Ignore all commentators' opinions expressed without evidence. The winner is determined by the numbers, especially the votes of the undecided. Here are some preliminary answers:

A CBS Insta Poll of 500 uncommitted voters shows Barack Obama won 39% to John McCain's 25% with 36% saying the debate was a draw.

Insider Advantage reports those polled say Obama won 42% to McCain's 41% with Undecided 17%

CNN reports voter opinions that Obama "did better" 51%, McCain "did better" 38%

The CNN poll showed men were evenly split, but women gave Obama higher marks 59% to 41% for McCain.

The CNN pollster noted a slight Democratic bias in the survey. Well, there are more Democrats in the country, so more Democrats watched. However, this may also suggest Democratic enthusiasm which will help turn out the vote.

The MSNBC on-line (non-scientific) poll showed Obama winning the debate 52% to 33%. (But this is what one would expect from such a poll at MSNBC because of the nature of its viewers.)

Some free analysis: McCain appeared angry and dismissive of Obama and generally impressed as someone who would slap colleagues across the aisle if reaching over to them. He said several times in the debate that he hasn't won the Miss Congeniality contest in the Senate, and he proved why during the debate.

I suspect that women voters especially would be turned off by McCain's sarcastic tone because women do tend to be the conciliators in our society and saw Obama display those conciliatory qualities very well in the debate. Obama looked at McCain, and McCain wouldn't return the eye contact but rather glared or displayed a tight and angry expression.

I also suspect (but don't have the data to support) that older voters were also turned off by Senator McNasty. I believe older voters will also be reassured that, though McCain has been around longer, Obama has a good grasp of foreign affairs and can learn quickly. He impressed as a statesmen, in marked contrast to McCain's warrior demeanor.

McCain referred to Obama as naive or as not understanding on many issues when the listener probably saw a mere difference of opinion. McCain's condescenion felt annoying; to the listener who might agree or disagree with Obama, Obama nevertheless was making good points, not naive ones.

In general, I think the country is tired of negativity, and McCain's performance didn't give anyone the impression that age has mellowed him. In fact, he seemed rather proud of his continuing bellicose manner. The country seems ready for a change from the "fighting as first choice crowd."

Watch for new polls over the next week. Things can shift for a variety of reasons as people reflect on the debate.

Poll Results Suggest More Uncommitted Voters Saw Obama As Debate Winner
by Brian Montopoli

CBS News and Knowledge Networks conducted a nationally representative poll of approximately 500 uncommitted voters reacting to the debate in the minutes after it happened.

Thirty-nine percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. Twenty-four percent thought John McCain won. Thirty-seven percent saw it as a draw.

Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama got better tonight. Thirty-two percent said their opinion of McCain got better.

Sixty-six percent of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. Forty-two percent think McCain would.

The margin of sampling error could be plus or minus 4 percentage points for results based on the entire sample.

Keywords: debate poll who won the debate Senator McNasty abrasive Obama won

What's in a cup?

Going into the teachers’ lounge today made me depressed.

On this blustery fall morning, the toasty smell of brewing coffee and the burbling sound of the percolator should have been welcoming. But all I could do was stare at the coffee pot and think, “Why?”

Because I’ve drunk that coffee before. And I know it tastes like burning plastic. It’s from some cheap canister of bitter Robusta coffee beans grown for maximum quantity and low price. Or so I’ve always thought.

After all, why would we subject ourselves to this weak, acrid swill if not to save money? Adding the non-dairy creamer and cheap sweetener on hand does nothing to lessen the toxic taste. Rather, then it tastes like burning plastic plus chemicals. Mmm, delicious.

As I gathered my lesson plans and prepared for the day ahead, I imagined a different scene. What if I walked in the lounge to the rich brown smell of Arabica coffee? What if there was actual milk in the fridge? Call me crazy, but what if we had actual sugar?

Why do we do this? I asked myself again. Is it simply the status quo, because this is what all offices serve? Is it because these products are what’s available at the office supply store? Is it because it’s the cheapest option? That must be it, but the financial gain seems like cutting off our nose to spite our face. We’re saving a few cents, I presume, but forcing ourselves to drink a nasty, unhealthy mix of synthetic ingredients and cheap, low-quality coffee. Is it really worth it?

I wondered how much the typical office saved by cutting these corners. A little investigation proved that the average cup of office coffee costs between 30 and 40 cents. Twenty-nine cents for a scoop of your average Robusta beans; 4 cents for a scoop of non-dairy creamer (main ingredient: corn syrup solids); 5 cents for refined white sugar or 9 cents for Splenda if you prefer. (Main ingredient: who knows.)

Next I researched the alternative. Grounds for Change offers their organic, fair trade, shade grown Arabica beans in five-pound bags for $42, which comes out to about 18 cents a cup. I was shocked. Eighteen cents, for a delicious-sounding “bright, nutty flavor and subtle sweetness that is enhanced by a delicate medium roast,” produced by an environmentally sustainable all-women cooperative in Mexico. For almost half the price of Folgers? I couldn’t believe it.

As for the add-ins, a gallon of whole milk from Homeland Creamery, our local dairy, sells for about $4.50, or 2 cents per splash. Realistically, I know an office might not go through a gallon of milk before it goes bad. (Thus the corn syrup solids…) But if we must go non-dairy, how about a small carton of soy creamer? A 16-ounce carton of Silk Creamer retails for $1.99, or 6 cents per coffee. As for sugar, raw turbinado sugar from BulkFoods.com comes out to 5 cents a cup. Same as the refined white sugar for sale at Office Max, and plus lots of vitamins and minerals. And minus some bleaching.

Well I’ll be darned. That comes to 18 cents for a cup of black eco-groovy coffee, 25 cents with the works. That’s a half to two-thirds the price of the rain-forest slashing, farmer-robbing, stomach-irritating slop we’re all subjecting ourselves to.

So why are we doing it?

by Sadie Kneidel

How racism works: McCain and Obama

From Letters to the Editor @ Fort Worth Star-Telegram 9.17.08

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the 'Keating 5'? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

-Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth

Keywords: Obama McCain 2008 presidential election presidential race racism Obama's accomplishments Cindy McCain Keating 5 Kelvin Lafond

The book-banning extremist theology of Sarah Palin

By David Talbot at www.salon.com

Baptist minister Howard Bess says the country should fear Palin's election. She's Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.

Sept. 15, 2008 | WASILLA, Alaska -- The Wasilla Assembly of God, the evangelical church where Sarah Palin came of age, was still charged with excitement on Sunday over Palin's sudden ascendance. Pastor Ed Kalnins warned his congregation not to talk with any journalists who might have been lurking in the pews -- and directly warned this reporter not to interview any of his flock. But Kalnins and other speakers at the service reveled in Palin's rise to global stardom.

It confirmed, they said, that God was making use of Wasilla. "She will take our message to the world!" rejoiced an Assembly of God youth ministry leader, as the church band rocked the high-vaulted wooden building with its electric gospel.

That is what scares the Rev. Howard Bess. A retired American Baptist minister who pastors a small congregation in nearby Palmer, Wasilla's twin town in Alaska's Matanuska Valley, Bess has been tangling with Palin and her fellow evangelical activists ever since she was a Wasilla City Council member in the 1990s. Recently, Bess again found himself in the spotlight with Palin, when it was reported that his 1995 book, "Pastor, I Am Gay," was among those Palin tried to have removed from the Wasilla Public Library when she was mayor.

"She scares me," said Bess. "She's Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.

"At this point, people in this country don't grasp what this person is all about. The key to understanding Sarah Palin is understanding her radical theology."

Bess -- a fit-looking, 80-year-old man in a gray University of Illinois sweatshirt and blue jeans – spoke with me over coffee at the Vagabond Blues, a cafe in Palmer with a stunning view of the nearby snow-capped Chugach Mountains. The retired minister moved to the Mat-Su Valley with his wife, Darlene, in 1987, after his outspoken defense of gay rights at Baptist churches in the Santa Barbara, Calif., area and Anchorage landed him in trouble with church officials. In the Mat-Su Valley, Bess plunged into community activism, helping launch an assortment of projects, from an arts council to a shelter for the mentally disabled.

Inevitably, his work brought him into conflict with Palin and other highly politicized Christian fundamentalists in the valley. "Things got very intense around here in the '90s -- the culture war was very hot here," Bess said. "The evangelicals were trying to take over the valley. They took over the school board, the community hospital board, even the local electric utility. And Sarah Palin was in the direct center of all these culture battles, along with the churches she belonged to."

Bess' first run-in with Palin's religious forces came when he decided to write his book, "Pastor, I Am Gay." The book was the result of a theological journey that began in the 1970s when Bess was asked for guidance by a closeted homosexual in his Santa Barbara congregation. After deep reflection on the subject, Bess came to the conclusion that "gay people were not sick, nor they were special sinners."

In his book, Bess suggests that gays have a divine mission. "Look back at the life of our Lord Jesus. He was misunderstood, deserted, unjustly accused, and cruelly killed. Yet we all confess that it was the will of God, for by his wounds we are healed ... Could it be that the homosexual, obedient to the will of God, might be the church's modern day healer-messiah?"

When it was published in 1995, Bess' book caused an immediate storm in the Mat-Su Valley, an evangelical stronghold dotted with storefront churches. Conservative ministers targeted the book, and the only bookstore in the valley that dared to stock it -- Shalom Christian Books and Gifts – soon dropped it after the owner was barraged with angry phone calls. The Frontiersman, the local newspaper that ran a column by Bess for seven years, fired him and ran a vicious cartoon that suggested even drooling child molesters would be welcomed by Bess' church.

And after she became mayor of Wasilla, according to Bess, Sarah Palin tried to get rid of his book from the local library. Palin now denies that she wanted to censor library books, but Bess insists that his book was on a "hit list" targeted by Palin. "I'm as certain of that as I am that I'm sitting here. This is a small town, we all know each other. People in city government have confirmed to me what Sarah was trying to do."

Soon after the book controversy, Bess found himself again at odds with Palin and her fellow evangelicals. In 1996, evangelical churches mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital's community board and ban abortion from the valley. When they succeeded, Bess and Dr. Susan Lemagie, a Palmer OB-GYN, fought back, filing suit on behalf of a local woman who had been forced to travel to Seattle for an abortion. The case was finally decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that the hospital must provide valley women with the abortion option.

At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. Lemagie's office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer's Little League field. According to Bess and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician's practice that day was Sarah Palin.

Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says that Palin also helped push the evangelical drive to take over the Mat-Su Borough school board. "She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the board," said Munger, a music composer and teacher. "I bumped into her once after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God. I said, 'Sarah, how can you believe in creationism -- your father's a science teacher.' And she said, 'We don't have to agree on everything.'

"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

Munger also asked Palin if she truly believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. "She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'"

Bess is unnerved by the prospect of Palin -- a woman whose mind is given to dogmatic certitude -- standing one step away from the Oval Office. "It's truly frightening that someone like Sarah has risen to the national level," Bess said. "Like all religious fundamentalists -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim -- she is a dualist. They view life as an ongoing struggle to the finish between good and evil. Their mind-set is that you do not do business with evil -- you destroy it. Talking with the enemy is not part of their plan. That puts someone like Obama on the side of evil.

"Forget all this chatter about whether or not she knows what the Bush doctrine is. That's trivial. The real disturbing thing about Sarah is her mind-set. It's her underlying belief system that will influence how she responds in an international crisis, if she's ever in that position, and has the full might of the U.S. military in her hands. She gave some indication of that thinking in her ABC interview, when she suggested how willing she would be to go to war with Russia.

"Alaskans liked that certitude when she was dealing with corrupt politicians and the oil industry -- and there is something admirable about it. But when you're dealing with a complex and dangerous world as commander in chief, that's a different story."

Bess said that he and fellow valley residents have long been charmed by the Sarah Palin who is now dazzling the American public. Despite their strong political differences, "she always has a warm greeting for me when we bump into each other. She's the most charming person you'll ever know."

"But," Bess adds, "this person's election would be a disaster for the country and the world."

Keywords:: Sarah Palin book-banning extremist theology ultraconservative gay rights homophobic gaybashing Howard Bess Pastor I am gay election fear book-banning Sarah Palin fundamentalist Sarah Palin oppression intolerance

President Sarah Palin: Commander in Chief?

September 16, 2008

By Beth F. Coye

Guest Opinion from Ashland Daily Tidings

Senator McCain constantly describes himself as a military man who always places "Country First." Unfortunately, his first big decision as a presidential nominee puts "risky decision-making first" and "country second."

As a woman who served my country as a naval officer for 21 years and taught American Government and International Relations at several universities, I am astonished by John McCain's vice presidential choice, Governor Sarah Palin. Palin, who governs 2 percent of the U.S. population, has neither foreign policy experience nor knowledge of international leaders and countries.

Let's put McCain's decision in a military context: Captain John McCain, a retired naval officer, understands our military personnel system. Would he thrust someone who is the commanding officer of a small shore-based unit and who has no seagoing experience into the position of executive officer of a Navy carrier, or Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs? These top military jobs directly compare with one of the two highest offices in our political system.

The military's personnel system never allows a Navy lieutenant to fill an admiral's billet or an Army/Air Force/Marine captain to fill a general's billet. Our political system, however, permits presidential nominees to select anyone they want as a running mate — whether or not the person has the requisite skill sets or experience.

Let us remind ourselves that, in the tradition of U.S. civil-military relations, the Constitution names the president as commander in chief. I find it unthinkable that someone with Sarah Palin's minimal resume might someday be president or acting president and be called upon to approve or disapprove recommendations by our most senior military officers (e.g., the Unified Commanders or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs). Sarah Palin has likely rarely read an NIE (National Intelligence Estimate)!

I have worked hard since the late '60s for the rights of women in the U.S. military and in America, and I believe Sarah Palin's nomination insults women who have fought for equality and fairness in job opportunities. This action also disrespects senior, qualified Republican women who were passed over by Senator McCain in favor of an unqualified, junior woman.

The Palin choice — an act of reverse sex discrimination — patently represents exploitation of women for political purposes. In this regard, that Sarah Palin herself chooses to accept the offer mystifies me and many others. Does she not realize that she is ill-prepared for the office and is being used by the Republican Party?

Captain McCain demeans and diminishes the offices of the vice president and president by selecting such an unqualified person. His decision demonstrates a certain cynicism and flippancy toward the highest offices in the United States of America. At this point in American history, our nation requires a president who can reassure the people in America — and the world — that he intends to return to responsible leadership. Does any objective person feel reassured?

The personnel safety nets, for precluding disasters in assignments in both the military and corporate worlds, are finely-honed systems with highly qualified individuals making thoughtful decisions and assignments.

What are the equivalent safety nets for our elected leaders? There are four: 1) elected officials, 2) major political parties, 3) the Fourth Estate (media), and 4) the electorate.

John McCain's vice presidential selection, Sarah Palin, has slipped through the first two personnel safety nets for elected high officials. It's now up to the media and electorate to act as powerful safety nets.

In sum, Sarah Palin's selection literally tests the strengths and stability of our American political system.

About the author of this editorial:
Commander Beth F. Coye (Retired U.S. Navy), served in three intelligence jobs and is a former commanding officer. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, the American University School of International Service and the School of Naval Warfare (Naval War College). Coye taught Political Science and International Relations at the Naval War College and several undergraduate colleges. She co-authored "My Navy Too," published in 1998. She resides in Ashland, Oregon.

Keywords:: Sarah Palin McCain Palin is not ready Palin as President

Illustration courtesy of www.mudflats.wordpress.com

EPA sees potential in deadly coal mine methane

Just after 9:00 on the morning of September 4, an ominous rumble echoed through the hills of China’s Liaoning province. For the residents of the bustling city of Fuxin, it was an all-too familiar sound. This latest in a series of lethal mining catastrophes claimed 24 lives, injured 6, and trapped 3, reinforcing China’s notorious reputation in the hazardous coal mining industry. With an average of 13 deaths a day, China’s mines are considered the most dangerous in the world.

While the cause of the Fuxin tragedy is still under investigation, officials suspect coalbed methane as a possible cause. The mining process inevitably frees this colorless, odorless gas from the pores of coal beds where it naturally occurs. Methane is both highly flammable and an asphyxiant, threatening miners with explosion as well as suffocation.

But some scientists see potential for good in this volatile killer. Although methane is deadly if not monitored carefully, it is also the principle component of natural gas, a powerful source of energy and a relatively clean-burning fossil fuel.

The Methane to Markets Partnership, a new program sponsored by the EPA, hopes to encourage an international effort to capture coal mine methane, or CMM, and harness its energy for good. CMM accounts for about 8% of global methane production. Because methane is a potent greenhouse gas – 20 to 25 times as powerful as carbon dioxide – preventing this gas from leaking into the atmosphere would mitigate global warming as well as provide a cleaner source of energy.

If all goes as planned, Methane to Markets’ three preliminary target sites in China could yield as much as 72,000 metric tons of methane this year alone. The partnership hopes to get its 27 member countries and 750 member organizations harnessing coalbed methane in the near future.

“The Methane to Markets Partnership is an action-oriented initiative that will reduce global methane emissions to enhance economic growth, promote energy security, improve the environment, and reduce greenhouse gases,” touts the EPA. “Other benefits include improving mine safety, reducing waste, and improving local air quality.”

And although it can’t be quantified with science or statistics, the mourning families in Fuxin know that there is another benefit that will be even greater.

by Sadie Kneidel

Peru's desert coast surprises us: Paracas and Islas Ballestas

A make-shift home on Peru's Pacific coast (click on any pic to enlarge it)

I was leery of the "desert coast" south of Lima. What kind of place to live could that be, with no plants of any kind? What kind of wildlife could we see? It sounded like a moonscape! Bleak!

I live close to the Carolina coast with its maritime forests, or what's left of them - Palmetto trees, gnarly oaks draped with Spanish moss, Southern bayberries sheered by ocean winds. I love the stalky "sea oats" that anchor our white dunes.

What would a barren seashore look like? I imagined a dull and empty gray beach stretching on and on....

As it turns out, I was all wrong. Parts of Peru's southern coast are devoid of plants, but the lack of rainfall doesn't affect life in the ocean. In fact, the marine life offshore is unusually rich and diverse. That's because of Humboldt currents in the area that bring nutrients up from the ocean floor. Plankton feed on the nutrients, fish eat the plankton, and hundreds of oceanic and coastal birds and marine mammals feed on the fish. We knew there would be coastal birds, but were pleasantly surprised by the diversity of birds and mammals. Even Andean Condors venture to this coast during the sea-lion birthing season. As scavengers, the condors feed on the afterbirth left on the beaches.

Below: a Peruvian Pelican,
flourishing on the abundant fish offshore

Once we'd decided to check it out, our first challenge was how to get there safely?? We'd planned to take a bus south along the PanAmerican highway from Lima to Paracas, but then heard that these buses are often stopped by bandits, and that the Paracas bus stations are hot-spots for baggage theft. We were advised to hire a driver instead.

On the recommendation of Dr. Devon Graham, director of Project Amazonas, we hired Miguel Quevedo of Lima to drive us. Miguel proved to be a great choice. He drove at a reasonable speed, he was careful, he couldn't have been more attentive to our needs. When we made pit stops, he found out where the bathroom hole was, if any, and whether there were any snacks or drinks to be had. He stopped when we saw birds to identify, or Tyson-style chicken "farms" to gape at, or photos to shoot. When we left the car to track down a bird, he stayed with the car to guard our stuff. He drove us down muffler-scraping rural tracks without complaint, and prevented many potential problems by thinking ahead. To call him from the U.S.: 011.511.9664.1254. Or email our travel agent in Peru, Rosa Vasquez, at reservas@pascana.com; she can call him from Peru for you.

Above: a clean bathroom along the way

The 5 hour drive from Lima to Paracas turned out to be illuminating. About half of Peru's population live in poverty, many in extreme poverty. Political and economic chaos and guerilla activity of the 1980s, during the presidency of Alan Garcia, fueled an exodus from the Andes into the cities, especially Lima. A lack of adequate space and services has created outlying informal settlements known as pueblos jovenes (young towns). We passed dozens of such settlements on the road to Paracas, many of which lack sanitation and electricity. Some are more solidly constructed than others.

Below: informal settlements along the road to Paracas (click on photos to enlarge)

As we drew close to Paracas, we passed through small towns that had been devastated by a major earthquake in 2007. We saw collapsed walls and lingering piles of rubble alongside rebuilt structures. Reconstruction is progressing, but slowly. The earthquake spawned a tidal surge that flooded buildings close to shore, and those left standing bore the evidence - paint was peeling up to 3 or 4 feet on most older buildings.

Our primary destination was Reserva Nacional de Paracas, and the offshore islands Islas Ballestas, which support thousands of breeding oceanic birds. Our friend and travel agent Rosa Vasquez in Iquitos booked 2 rooms for us in the town of Paracas. The rooms were perfect. The little inn is quiet, small, simple, and inexpensive - we were the only guests of proprietor Isabel Coello, who was extremely helpful. The inn (called Paracas Bay) is also her family's home. It is located on Paracas Bay and right around the corner from the wharf where tour boats take off for Islas Ballestas. It's also across the street from a grocery store, and a 5 minute walk from several affordable and good restaurants. For rates and reservations, contact Isabel at bird002@hotmail.com or call 011.56.545082 from the U.S. Our rooms worked out to about $9.25 per person per night. While staying with Isabel, we met her friend Jorge Ibanez Vignolo, an energetic Peruvian birder who lived in California for 10 years, and now runs a kiteboarding business in Paracas Bay. His website is www.kiteboardingparacas.com; his e-mail is jorgeibanezbsc@yahoo.com; phone 011.511.440-2265 from the U.S.

Isabel Coello and her lovely inn, Paracas Bay. Behind the broom you can see the high-water marks from the flooding following the recent earthquake.

Isabel booked our boat tour for us (roughly $10 per person) and the next morning Ken, Alan, and I took off for Islas Ballestas. The tour took about 2.5 or 3 hours, most of which was spent on the boat journey outward and back. Sadie had traveler's digestive distress and stayed behind at the inn with Miguel and Isabel.

Below are shots taken from the boat. We spent an hour cruising around the rocky islands' arches and caves, watching sea lions sprawled on the rocks and thousands of birds: Humboldt Penguins, Neotropical Cormorants, Inca Terns, Peruvian Pelicans, Peruvian Boobies, Oystercatchers, Red-legged and Guanay Cormorants, Surf Cynclodes, and more.

Alan Kneidel searches for rare birds like the Surf Cynclodes from the tour boat.

Pic below: Peruvian Pelicans and Peruvian Boobies perched on ledges.


Above, Peruvian Pelicans.

Below, Humboldt Penguins on Islas Ballestas.

Below, sea lions lounging and socializing on the rocks.

Below: our tour boat approaching a cave on Islas Ballestas

Below: An Inca Tern in one of the caves Photo below: After we returned from the boat tour, Isabel hooked us up with a professional bird guide, Edgardo Aguilar. He normally charges $80 for a full day of birding, but gave us a reduced rate since we used him for only about 3 hours. His email address is edgardoaguilarh@yahoo.com.

Edgardo (left) showing Alan and Ken the Slender-billed Finch,
in farmland a mile or so back from the water's edge

Edgardo speaks excellent English, is very friendly, and knows his birds. Even better, he's very good at describing exactly where a tiny bird is hidden in the foliage. (Yes, there were plants after we drove a mile or so inland.) I highly recommend Edgardo if you're birding in the Paracas area. He lives in one of the nearby towns - Ica or Pisco - and knows the area intimately. He took us through an offroad agricultural area where we saw Vermillion Flycatchers (my first), Slender-billed Finch, Coastal Miner, Common Nighthawk, Peruvian Meadowlark, etc. and best of all - a colony of Burrowing Owls!


Left,
the
owls'
burrows



























Above: a burrowing owl near Paracas


Below: A child saw us looking at the owls and ran out from her home to see if she could help. She pointed out another couple of burrows to Sadie.

Below, the owls and a lot of the other birds
Edgardo showed us were near irrigated plots
of paprika peppers

After an early afternoon with Edgardo, we dropped him off at home and tooled away in Miguel's car toward Reserva Nacional de Paracas, just a few miles down the road from the town of Paracas.

The reserve is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen - with absolutely no plants in sight.

Pics below: Reserva Nacional de Paracas, on Peru's southern coast

Above: a turkey vulture dines on a seal carcass washed ashore
Below: more shots of the Paracas reserve

Below: Miguel, Miguel's car, and Sadie at the Paracas reserve

Below, Alan peers over Ken's shoulder at pelagic birds offshore

What do you think, beautiful or bleak? I loved the Humboldt penguins on Islas Ballestas - my first penguins. I loved Isabel and Edgardo, I loved the burrowing owls and the little girl who showed us more. I loved Miguel, I loved the stark and haunting coast - the colorful cliffs and hungry birds.

I understand that the area is experiencing a boom in tourism. I'm glad the reserve does actually seem to be protected, and hope the coming development of the adjacent areas can proceed mindfully. The residents could really benefit from more tourist dollars from industrialized nations - mainly, the U.S.

Sadie, Alan, Ken and Sally Kneidel at Reservas Nacional de Paracas

All photos and text by Sally Kneidel

Keywords: Paracas Humboldt penguin Islas Ballestas birding Peru Rosa Vasquez Los Zarcillos birding South America Reserva Nacional de Paracas

Other recent posts about our travels in Peru:

Deep in the Amazon: the wildlife delivery crew

Careening through the Andes

Roasted guinea pig: trekking at 12,000 ft

Rainforest in need: here's how to help

Palin, Clinton, Michelle Obama: Double standards for women in politics?

Just how comfortable are we with female leaders? Not at all? Very? Somewhere in between? Judging from the current presidential race, all of the above may apply. While the unprecedented participation of women in the current US presidential race marks monumental progress in the acceptance of women as solid political leaders, media spin and water-cooler buzz may suggest otherwise. If there is one thing we can glean from these mixed messages, it is this: gender is and will continue to be a big issue in the political decision-making process.

When Gloria Steinem brought gender to the fore of debate in a widely discussed New York Times editorial last January, she painted a telling hypothetical picture. Take Obama's past experience, she wrote, and change sexes- Achola Obama as opposed to Barack- and you will come up with a political ticket going nowhere. Regardless of our political leanings, many of us had to admit it was a good point. That, however, was in January.

Now with Sarah Palin, an arguably less experienced and more problematic candidate than the hypothetical Achola Obama in the mix, we must ask once again: just how comfortable are we with female leaders? How will our expectations of a 'female leader' as opposed, simply to a 'leader,' color our ballots this November?

As more and more information trickles in regarding Palin's personal life, I cannot help but wonder— how would we react if she were male? Would the debate surrounding her daughter's teen pregnancy be nearly as vocal? Would her physical beauty be mentioned with such avid frequency?

One aspect in this hypothetical can be nearly certain. If Palin were male, the fact that she recently gave birth to an infant with Down syndrome would most likely be a blip on the radar- a talking point to induce empathy and garner votes rather than a reason not to run for VP. Only one week into her candidacy we have all likely heard the same refrain. Often laced with incredulity, it is this: "How can she think of running for office when she has a baby to take care of?"

In terms of logistics, there is only one answer: Palin can think of running for office in the exact same way a man with an infant can think of running for office. Perhaps she will have to confront some extra decisions, such as whether or not she will have the time or desire to breastfeed during intensive campaigning, but these are not insurmountable obstacles. This however, is not just a question of logistics. It is a question of how we define 'politician' and how we define 'mother' and just how willing we are to let the two cozy up together.

The case of Palin is just one example of the ways our ideas about gender will influence politics in the years to come. Whether we are talking about Hillary Clinton crying during a speech, the fashion choices of Michelle Obama, or the intersections of Palin's personal and professes ional lives, gender is there. It is our job as voters, at the very least, to begin to acknowledge and understand this force in our political consciousness.

by Juliana Sloane

Can Obama save an endangered Endangered Species Act?

Obama’s promise of change can’t come too soon for some of the Bush administration’s most lowly constituents.

After all, humans aren't the only living things subject to our government. But because they can’t vote, can't form an opinion on a campaign platform, our country's four-legged residents are even more vulnerable than we are. In his last months in office, Bush has turned his attention to a humble target often overlooked in the current “going green” craze. Unbeknownst to them, the future of our wild neighbors are the seriously threatened by a recent proposed change to the Endangered Species Act.

Currently, federal agencies are required to consult scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine the potential impact of proposed projects – such as oil drilling - on threatened species and habitats. The Department of Interior insists that eliminating this consultation would streamline the conservation process. And indeed, the new requirement that projects have a “direct” impact on endangered species in order to be assessed would certainly eliminate many previously regulated projects. However, it would also mean that indirect effects on species and habitat - such as climate change - could not be taken into account when assessing the impact of a proposed project. How convenient, just as the conflict between our climate change and country’s ecological footprint is coming under public scrutiny.

Incredibly, this proposal would allow agencies to determine the impact of their own actions, with no external assessment. That sounds about as effective as asking drivers to voluntarily decide whether their own driving habits contribute to global warming or not! According to former U.S. Forest Service ecologist Robert Mrowka, it’s like “the fox guarding the hen house."

Bush’s last-minute proposition, just months before his departure from office, suggests an assumption that he will be followed by a sympathetic successor. When questioned, McCain had no comment to offer on the proposed revisions. Meanwhile, Obama responded in a manner consistent with his message of change. "This 11th-hour ruling from the Bush administration is highly problematic,” said Obama campaign spokesman Nick Shapiro. "….As president, Senator Obama will fight to maintain the strong protections of the Endangered Species Act and undo this proposal from President Bush."

But will it be too late? For some of our furry neighbors I fear it may be. Exhausted by hours of politics and propaganda, after investigating this legislation for hours I left my computer and stepped out into the warm North Carolina night for a restorative walk. Speaking loudly over the resplendent chorus of thousands of cicadas, katydids, and crickets, I tried to explain to my partner Matt my distress over the politics I’ve been reading about. Suddenly, I broke off in shocked mid-sentence. Just a few feet over my head, a bat glided into an oak branch, cutting off a cicada in mid-chirp. The cicada and the bat fell out of the tree, wrestling in mid air. The cicada squealed shrilly. After a moment’s fierce fight the cicada darted away, too stunned to chirp, and the bat swept sulkily off, in search of perhaps less feisty prey.

Matt and I stared at each other, dazzled. Nature, red in tooth and claw! Suddenly, my frustration fell into perspective. Such moments are, after all, why I do what I do. My hours devoted to dissecting Obama and McCain’s environmental policies are for the sake of my neighbors like this bat: perhaps one of the Gray Bats, Indiana Bats, or Virginia Big-Eared Bats currently endangered in my state. After all, these species, like dozens others, are more threatened even than I by the uncertain future of our government.

by Sadie Kneidel

China's Olympic Village is green but the country's environmental record is scary

China has received kudos worldwide for a green Olympics. They've used the latest innovations in sustainable architecture, energy and landscaping for the 2008 Olympic Village in Beijing (see our previous post by Juliana Sloane).

Given the media coverage of the Olympics, such efforts will go a long way in improving the world's impressions of China's environmental scorecard. China's choices for the Olympic village are commendable, in that they've set a precedent for future Olympic villages and other major construction projects, and they've also publicly validated that "green" is a goal to be proud of, for all of us.

But the green Olympic Village is a bit of smoke screen for China. The reality is that China is the world's most polluted nation.

According to Peter Navarro of UC-Irvine, 70 percent of China's major rivers are severely polluted, 80 percent of its rivers fail to meet standards for fishing, and 90 percent of its cities suffer from water pollution. As a result, over half of China's people drink foul water of a quality well below World Health Organization standards. Not surprisingly, liver and stomach cancers are leading causes of death in the Chinese countryside.

The widespread water-pollution problem was evident even in the Olympics, although not widely publicized. One third of the Olympic sailing course was closed for sailing practice due to massive algal blooms which the Chinese scrambled to contain. Algal blooms are a rampant problem from China's overuse of fertilizers, which flood into rivers and streams. When the algae decay, the bacteria use all the oxygen in rivers and lakes, killing fish and other aquatic life, while the high nitrogen levels from fertilizers are dangerous and can be lethal to humans.

algae in the polluted waters of Qingdao, one of the main sailing venues for the Olympic Games (photo courtesy of the BBC)

China's pollution of its waters is only one aspect of its frightening environmental performance. According to Worldwatch Institute, worldwide carbon emissions increased 22% between 2000 and 2007, and China accounted for a whopping 57% of that growth.

China's recent industrialization has been explosive and unprecedented. Because of their huge human populations, the coal-dependent development of China and India is the biggest driver of growth in global carbon emissions. China's fossil-fuel emissions passed those of the United States this year, reports the United Nations Environmental Program.

Stabilizing our global climate will require that industrialized and heavily polluting countries like the United States move to low-carbon energy sources, and that rapidly expanding nations like China and India pursue cleaner energy development.

But China's economy will grow faster if its industries are allowed to minimize costs and maximize profits; in other words, if they're allowed to burn the cheapest fuels, such as coal, and skip the expensive scrubbers that can remove pollutants from smokestack emissions. And just like the United States, China prefers the prosperity of rapid economic growth. I wonder if China's motivation for hosting the Olympics was, at least in part, the opportunity to divert attention from their growing contributions to our planet's climatic plight. With a population more than 4 times that of the U.S., their potential for future damage dwarfs our own.

On the bright side, international action to protect our climate is intensifying. In December 2007, the 192 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to establish a new global climate change agreement by 2009. This will build on the existing Kyoto Protocol, which commits industrial countries to reduce green­house gas emissions to 6-8 percent below their 1990 levels. The current Kyoto Protocol has not been adopted by dev­eloping countries such as China or by the United States. We must all work toward the compliance of these biggest offenders with the new agreement of 2009, starting with the candidates we choose in November. Perhaps one day the green face that countries present to the world stage will truly represent a greener way of guarding our rivers, our air, our future. Maybe we'll celebrate our Olympics of the year 2052 in a world where carbon emissions have stabilized and lakes aren't clogged with algae.

by Sally Kneidel

Sources:
United Nations Environmental Program. "Carbon emissions are rising, and policies to address them are growing too, think tank reports." http://www.climateneutral.unep.org/cnn_contentdetail.aspx?m=175&amid=2154

Peter Navarro. "China's Pollution Olympics." AlterNet. July 15, 2008. http://www.alternet.org/environment/91471/

James Russell, Worldwatch Institute. "Carbon Emissions on the Rise But Policies Growing Too." August 6, 2008.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5839?utm_campaign=vital_signs_online&utm_medium=email&utm_source=carbon_emissions

Our previous posts about China (click to view):

• The greening of the games: Beijing's Olympic village makes strides in sustainable housing
  
• Hemp clothes
• China's growing appetite for meat will strain world's water supplies
• Top 6 ways to protect wildlife from commercial trade
• Tyson and Smithfield drooling over untapped meat profits abroad
• Environmental footprints of rich nations outweigh the debt of developing nations
• Organic cotton - it's worth every penny
  

Keywords:: Olympics Olympic games Olympic village Beijing China carbon emissions population growth greenhouse gases climate change Kyoto

The Greening of the Games: Beijing's Olympic Village Makes Strides in Sustainable Housing

Juliana Sloane

Reuters, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and Basil & Spice syndicated this Veggie Rev post - click here to see it on Reuters!

Despite its official opening against a thick backdrop of smog several weeks ago, the Beijing Olympic Village has become iconic of the city's efforts to embody a "Green Olympics". With features such as a 6,000 sq. m. rooftop solar heating system designed to provide hot bath water for the 17,200 competing athletes, as well as a "near-zero energy" welcome center that takes advantage of both solar and geothermal power, the Village makes the most of the latest innovations in sustainable architecture, energy, and landscaping.

Receiving glowing reviews all-around, could the Beijing Olympic Village be an indicator of a new category of Olympic competition? Could a race not for Gold medals, but for greener, more sustainable development within host-cities be afoot?

The buzz of enthusiasm centered on the Olympic Village culminated in the green building industry's own variety of Gold medal- the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Award- which was presented to the Village's head, Chen Zhili, last Wednesday. This is the first residential building in Beijing to win a LEED Gold; further increasing the prestige of the Village which is slated to be transformed into luxury apartments after the games.
Perhaps hoping to best Beijing's work towards going green for the Olympics, plans are already being set into motion for the Winter 2010 games in Vancouver, B.C., and the Summer 2012 games in London.

In Vancouver, two Olympic villages will be built in compliance with LEED gold (and according to planners, hopefully platinum) standards. Afterwards both sites will be developed as "model sustainable communities"—this time with the focus shifting more toward reasonably priced housing. Of the 1,100 residential units, 250 will be slated as "affordable housing" and 110 more will be deemed "modest market" housing.

While fewer concrete decisions have been made about the next summer games in London, there is a push by groups such as Carfree UK to keep the Olympic Village a car-free zone after the games. With housing, shops, and other attractions located within distances easily managed on foot or by bike, London's Olympic Village is expected to play a role in larger revitalization plans for the Stratford City area. The 3,300 new homes anticipated to follow the 2012 games will also include a mix of affordable sale and rental housing, all with green features.

If these developments are any indication, green building enthusiasts may have as much to look forward to in future Olympic Games as sports fans as Beijing raises the bar for eco-friendly Olympic architecture.

by Juliana Sloane

A friend of Sadie's, Juliana Sloane is a freelance writer with an MA in Gender Studies from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. With varied interests ranging from gender in the post-state socialist context to community media to natural foods and sustainability issues, Sloane has has found herself in a variety of occupations. Previous incarnations have included development assistant and host of weekend programming with NPR affiliate 88.5 WFDD in North Carolina and assistant to the Executive Director of San Francisco's Institute For Unpopular Culture. She has recently moved back to North Carolina from Hungary and spends her time working at a local natural foods co-op and pining for good espresso.

Keywords:: Juliana Sloane going green Olympics Beijing Olympic village eco-friendly Olympics

We learned the hard way: wasp stings can be lethal

the Common Aerial Yellowjackets that went after Ken (photo by Richard Stenhouse)

After our frolic in Peru (see the last few posts), we had an "adventure" of a different kind much closer to home. Last weekend, my husband Ken met up with two yellowjackets who almost killed him, on a 3-day camping trip. The event rattled our cages pretty profoundly. I decided to write this post to share what we learned from the experience. Ken's a biology teacher who understands the immune system thoroughly and I'm an environmental writer, yet neither of us was prepared for the events that unfolded after the yellowjackets nailed him.

We were at Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia with our extended family and some friends.

some of our family members at the campsite

It's a great park for camping and mountain hiking, with Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia at 5,729 feet. Our family meets there every August, when the wild blueberries along the trails are ripe and the nights offer meteor showers. The kids love the wild ponies at Massie Gap.

ponies at Massie Gap in Grayson Highlands State Park, Va.

our family on the trail at Grayson Highlands, l to r: son Alan Kneidel, nephew Tom with his daughers Maddie and Ali, and Pam & Richard Stenhouse

Ken's unfortunate encounter with the yellowjackets happened when he went into the woods to get sticks for a campfire and yanked a dead stick dangling from a tree. He disturbed a nest of yellowjackets in the tree; they stung him once on his ear and once on the side of the neck.

About 25 years ago Ken was stung by some kind of wasp about 20 times while helping with his advisor's field research at UNC. About 12 years ago, the same thing happened on an earlier version of this same annual family camping trip. After that second time Ken got a rash about a week after the stings; his doctor told him it was an allergic reaction and he should carry an EpiPen. So Ken got an EpiPen and for years he took it on trips.

As the years went by we both began to doubt that Ken really was allergic. He was stung by a honeybee a couple of times and nothing happened. (Turns out people who are allergic to wasps are usually not allergic to honeybees...but nobody ever told us that). We both got pretty lackadaisical about his carrying an EpiPen. We didn't even take one to Peru. Over the years he's been bucking through brush while birding or walking in the woods; in Peru he was off alone in the rain forest with all kinds of wasps around him. We know now he's been taking big chances over and over.

When Ken got stung last weekend in the woods, his first action was to run up the hill to the campsite. He said he was scared because the neck sting was right over his carotid artery, the artery carrying blood to the head and brain. At the time of the sting - late afternoon - most of our family and friends were still out hiking. Only myself and our daughter Sadie were at the campsite, along with my sister-in-law Marty. Ken took two Benadryl tablets as Marty ran off to ask other campers for an EpiPen. Then he sat down in a camp chair with an improvised ice-pack, but just a few seconds later he called out to Sadie and me that he was "losing it" and that it was "happening fast." He pleaded with us to get help and especially to find an EpiPen somewhere. Then he did lose it - Sadie ran to catch him as he passed out. His eyes were still open, but his face was gray and he went completely limp and unresponsive. We didn't know if he was dead or alive. As we learned later, he was in anaphylactic shock.

All that happened in the first 5 minutes after he was stung.

I was completely freaked out. What to do? There was no one close by. But we couldn't leave him. The only thing to do was scream for help. So we did. Sadie and I screamed "medical emergency, help!!" and "911" over and over as loud as we could. Within a minute, two campers pulled into a campsite about 100 feet away - they were both emergency medical technicians! But they had no gear with them. Still, they recognized anaphylactic shock and a plunging blood pressure and knew that Ken had to lie down - he had no detectable pulse at all. He was alive, but his blood pressure had plunged to about 50, too weak to feel it in his wrist or neck. Cool-thinking Sadie suggested putting Ken in the van and driving him up to the camp store where there's a phone, where we could find the rangers and call an ambulance. Travis the EMT and a friend who had shown up carried Ken to the van. Sadie drove the van, with Travis tending to Ken, up the hill to the ranger station, passing a woman walking along the road with her husband. The woman was headed to the camp store too, and amazingly she was carrying 3 EpiPens in her pocket. She has asthma and always keeps them with her, she told us later. She heard Sadie and me yelling for an EpiPen and a few seconds after we arrived at the camp store, she gave us one. I can't describe the relief we felt.

Travis stabbed the EpiPen into Ken's thigh (still lying in the van) and Ken cried out in pain - it's a hefty needle. Ken opened his eyes immediately but was still only semiconscious. After a couple more minutes though he regained consciousness and was able to respond weakly to our voices and touches. He lay in the van for another 45 minutes while a volunteer ambulance made its way to the campground over the narrow mountain roads. Travis kept his fingers on Ken's wrist feeling for a pulse. I was running from person to person, spitting out questions like a nut case - questions no one could answer, like "is he gonna be all right???" We did what had to be done, as a group, but it wasn't because I was calm and collected. I was frantic. At one point our friend Fred came up behind me and just grabbed me by the shoulders and held me for a moment, just to make me stand still. That really helped me get a grip.

When the ambulance finally arrived, it was another 45 minute drive to a hospital.

Ken was conscious by the time the ambulance came, thanks to the EpiPen.

The ambulance EMTs gave Ken an IV that helped restore his blood pressure, and by the time we arrived at the hospital, his face had pinked up. His blood pressure had risen to 80 when they first measured it in the ER. The hospital doctor said he would have died if he hadn't gotten the EpiPen. She ordered Prednisone or Decadron or some other steriod injected into his IV, to suppress his immune system, plus an H2 blocker, Tagamet. (Who knew Tagamet and Pepsid are histamine blockers?) After Ken's blood pressure was back up to 105, they released him from the hospital with a handful of prescriptions.

me (Sally) and Ken at the campground the day after the stings: feeling better

So…all's well that ends well. We've been shaken the last few days - Ken, Sadie, and myself. Unfortunately, school started this week, which is always a sort of stressful week. Sometimes we're not sure where the stress is coming from - work, or our continuous need to review the events of the fateful weekend.

Ken's carrying an EpiPen everywhere now and will start desensitization therapy in a couple of weeks. This is a very successful procedure for reducing or eliminating wasp allergies. He'll get increasing doses of wasp venom weekly, then monthly, for several years (starting at about 1/1000th of one sting). The weekly trips will be inconvenient, but he can't live his life the way he wants to in constant fear of wasps. This past week, it's been frightening for him being outside and seeing wasps flying around. He says he feels like someone at Yellowstone brushing by a grizzly bear every few minutes. For me, I've never been afraid of any animal (and never has Ken really) - even the various vipers we've seen in the tropics. But I am now. My heart will skip a beat every time I see a wasp, I think, from here on out.

Tips for preventing stings from eMedicineHealth

Note about yellowjackets: Yellowjackets and hornets are in the insect family Vespidae. They are both types of wasps. Vespidae is just one of several wasp families. We identified the species of yellowjackets that stung Ken by using the photo at the top of this post, which my brother Richard Stenhouse took. It's the Common Aerial Yellowjacket, Dolichovespula arenaria. The website http://bugguide.net helped us identify it (use the search window on the website). In general, yellowjackets have yellow and black striped abdomens, while hornets are largely black.

Cool-headed Sadie in foreground, with other family members: 6-yr-old Lily, and Pam and Richard Stenhouse

Photos by Sadie Kneidel, Marty Stenhouse, Jim Stenhouse, Mike Stenhouse, Richard Stenhouse

Keywords:: wasp allergy hornet allergy yellowjacket allergy epipen anaphylactic shock anaphylaxis low blood pressure desensitization therapy allergic to wasps common aerial yellowjacket Dolichovespula Richard Stenhouse Alan Kneidel Sadie Kneidel Ken Kneidel Sally Kneidel