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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 11, 2017)
MAY 11, 2017 // 19 BOOK SHELF // GLIMPSE // WILDLIFE // POP CULTURE // WORDS // Q&A // FOOD // FUN COLUMBIA BAR BOOKMONGER Combating the climate change crisis TROPICAL BREEZE By RYAN HUME Just Cool It! – David Suzuki and Ian Hanington Greystone – 312 pp - $18.95 scientific reports from around the world, gathered together in the United Na- tions Framework Conven- tion on Climate Changes’ Fifth Assessment Report, substantiate that in the last few decades “oceans have warmed, snow and ice have diminished, sea levels have risen, and extreme weather events have become more common” – and that human activities are largely re- sponsible for these dramat- ic changes. Among the findings: since 1990, permanent sea ice in the Arctic has melted to half its previous thick- ness and area. Meanwhile, the ocean’s absorption of increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has changed the pH levels of the water, resulting in die-offs of corals, shellfish, and krill, which is the base of the ocean’s food chain – thus impacting all life forms higher up the chain, including us. The authors also point to overwhelming evidence that global warming has significantly affected transmission of infectious diseases, rates of respira- tory illness, malnutrition linked to crop failures and desertification, and deg- radation of water supplies – and even our economic prosperity. Fortunately, the second half of the book proffers solutions. One chapter looks at actions individuals can take, whether it’s cutting down on car use by opting for greener forms of trans- port, or improving energy efficiencies in the home. Moving to a vegetarian or vegan diet is another way of significantly reducing one’s own carbon footprint – the authors explain why this is so. There are also chapters on agricultural, techno- logical and institutional solutions. Some of this material may be rather dry for the general reader, but for an issue so fundamental to our well-being, soldier on anyway to identify the many opportunities we still have to avert climactic cataclysm. The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMichael, who writes this weekly col- umn focusing on the books, authors and publishers of the Pacific Northwest. Contact her at bkmonger@ nwlink.com It was May Day, so I decided to give my regards to the Labor Temple, that boisterous phoenix built upon the ashes of the 1922 Astoria fire. It was raining outside. Late- ly, it always seems to be raining outside. Since it was Interna- tional Workers’ Day, it seemed appropriate to ask the bartender, Cala, what she preferred to drink off-shift. The Tropical Breeze, a coconut-infused rum punch, bright with citrus, keeps an eye pointed at summer. Yeah, it was still raining outside, but summer is coming. It has to be. Any day now. But in the meantime, do indulge in the flavors of the tropics. It rains there, too. Ingredients 1 ounce vodka 1 ounce Malibu rum Pineapple juice, as needed Cranberry juice, just a splash Ice Directions Fill a pint glass with ice. In a cocktail shaker, mix al- cohols with more ice, shake and pour into pint. Top off with pineapple juice, splash it with enough cranberry to turn the glass flamingo pink, dunk a straw and enjoy! —Recipe courtesy of Cala Petersen, bartender at Labor Temple & Cafe, Astoria, Oregon registration now open for Reg ister N ow summer and fall classes in • Ba llet • Ta p • Ja zz • H ip-H o p Photo by James Olson | Alderbrook Imaging Five years after the pub- lication of their wide-rang- ing book, “Everything Under the Sun,” which catalogued a myriad of environmental challenges worldwide and suggested ways those might be rem- edied, British Columbia’s internationally renowned geneticist and environmen- tal activist David Suzuki and his co-author Ian Han- ington are back with a new book, “Just Cool It!” The fact that the book cover includes not one, but two, subtitles – “The Cli- mate Crisis and What We Can Do” and “A Post-Paris Agreement Game Plan” – should give the reader the first inkling that this is an- other book that is positive- ly bursting at the seam with ideas. The epigraph, taken from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, reminds us of our place in the continuum, and the opportunities we might seize upon now or ignore not only at our own peril, but that of our descendants. The first hundred pages of “Just Cool It!” outline the science, history and current status of the phe- nomenon of global warm- ing – which in the lifetime of many of us has gone from being a “slow-motion catastrophe that we had lots of time to work on” to a crisis that has decisively arrived on our shorelines, in our mountains and at our shrinking polar icecaps. The authors brook no climate denier foolishness. In forceful and measurable terms, they lay out the calamity that is upon us. Well over nine thousand • Co ntem po ra ry • M o dern • M usica l Thea tre • Acro ba tic Arts N UTCRACK ER AUDITIO N S S EPTEM BER 23 RD MADDOX Dance Studio 389 S . M AIN AVE. W ARREN TO N 503-861-1971 m a d d o xd a n cers.co m Life member of Dance Educators of America | Certified to teach Dance Masters of America Member Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce
