Just because you don’t live on the Gulf Coast or the Florida panhandle don’t assume you won’t be wading in some tar balls this summer at your favorite beach. The National Center For Atmospheric research has created an animation that shows how ocean currents may disperse the BP Blob. It ain’t pretty.
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We all fantasize about dropping everything and setting out on an incredible journey. And if you can’t quite pull it off, you can always read The Odyssey, or watch a movie like 180 Degrees South. It was recently featured at the Best Of Mountain Film festival, and my friends at Outside listed it as a worthy entrant:
2. 180 South, in which adventurer Jeff Johnson recreates a trip Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins took to Chilean Patagonia in 1968. It’s a patiently told story that shines because Yvon tags along for the return trip, offering the sort of unfiltered wisdom that only he can. Here he is while slurping clams on a remote Chilean beach: “You know where I wish I was? Right here.” And on climbing Mount Everest: “You’re an asshole when you start out and you’re an asshole when you finish.”
So true.
Outside also ran a longer profile of producer Chris Malloy, which observes: At a time many people are worried about unemployment, along comes a movie that makes a convincing case for seeking it out.
Here’s the trailer:
This video features a parade of great sailors. See how many you can recognize. It made me sad that Peter Blake is no longer around.
If you want to see what is happening in the oceans, Nat Geo Photographer Brian Skerry does a great job of showing you in this TED Talk. The talk is part of the Mission Blue Voyage in response to Sylvia Earle’s plea last year, when she received a TED Award:
“I wish you would use all means at your disposal – films! expeditions! the web! more! – to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.”
It’s hard to watch, but the oceans are in crisis and the truth is painful.
If you want to know how we got to this place, coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson explains.
I’ve been waiting for someone to promote a city concept built around bicycles not cars, and someone (actually a group of someones) has got it going on. It’s called, amazingly enough, Bicycle City.
Here’s the backstory:
Founder and co-developer Joe Mellett hopes to begin construction “this summer or fall” on homes situated on the 160-acre tract of land that he and his fellow investors purchased for nearly $1 million. The company has the option to purchase an additional 600 adjacent acres.
“There are other industries—solar, wind, what have you—that address the individual components of climate change, but Bicycle City puts it all together into one home,” says Mellett.
Bicycle City’s homes, which will be up to 1,600 square feet, will be constructed according to one of two eco-friendly building guidelines—the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certifications or One Planet Living’s 10 principles. Lot price tags will range between $25,000 and $35,000, with individual homes clocking in just north of $100,000. Plans for “bicycle taxis” are also in the works.
“The beauty of that is that if you want to live next to your car, you buy a lot on the perimeter of the community and you’d be within under a minute’s walk to your car,” says Mellett.
Judging from the fact that the lest news was posted in 2008, it seems that the world is not flocking to reserve housing, so maybe we are talking about more of an outpost than a city. But every idea has to start somewhere. And personally, I think the better way to get where Mellett is going is for bikers to try and take over an existing city that is amenable to getting beyond cars, like perhaps Portland, Oregon.
Anyhow, here’s how (and why) you head in that direction. First bike lanes, then the streets! (Yes, I love to feed the conspiracy wingnuts)…
How this tragedy happened and what should be done will consume almost as much ink as oil spilled, but the most visceral and powerful way into this story is through pictures. I’ve been following ProPublica’s reporting, but I highly recommend their constantly updated slideshow. They have collected some spectacular images.
(Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images via ProPublica)
And if you want to get a bit Google Earth-y, check this page out, which allows you to track the spill by satellite, as well as compare its size to major US cities.
This picture, from the Boston Globe, is heartbreaking.
(Photo: AP via Boston Globe)
I hope these images don’t fade from anyone’s memory too quickly.
Cross-posted from The Wetass Chronicles at SailingWorld.com
When Jessica Watson set out from Sydney, Australia, last October to sail non-stop around the world, solo and unassisted, I was—how shall I put this?—extremely skeptical. It wasn’t her age—just 16—so much as her inexperience, though that is age related. It didn’t help that she collided with a freighter before the start. I thought her parents were idiots. 
Mostly, though, it was my perception of solo, RTW sailing as an epic, dangerous, and lonely challenge, requiring superhuman discipline, an ability to survive on little sleep, and the capability to fix, invent, and jury-rig your way around the globe. I got that perception from devouring the RTW sailing literature from the early days: Robin-Knox Johnston, Bernard Moitessier, Miles Smeeton, and many others. Also, from following the inspired craziness of the Vendee Globe. This canon elevates solo, RTW sailing to world-class adventure, matching anything you can find in mountaineering or exploration.
But now that Jessica is cruising serenely toward Sydney on her S&S 34 Ella’s Pink Lady, about to conclude her voyage successfully and become a marketing superstar, I realize that it’s time to update my perception.
I don’t want to take too much away from her accomplishment. Any solo, RTW voyage is a big deal, and I sincerely doubt I would have fared as well. She was knocked down multiple times, slugged her way through gales and headwinds, and, at least early in the voyage, sometimes appeared on the verge of tears.
But after following her voyage I was struck by how much the nature of this sort of adventure has completely changed. It just doesn’t feel very “solo” or “unassisted” anymore, and that takes the blood and guts out of it. Think of all the time Jessica spent on the sat phone, talking to her family and shore team. Problem with the autopilot or generator? Get on the horn with the manufacturer for step-by-by step repair instructions. Feeling lonely and blue? Call up your Mum for a chat and some bucking up. Need an emotional lift? Read the comments on your blog.
And then there is weather. Without doubt, the most challenging element of early voyages was a nearly complete inability to know what weather lay ahead in time to do anything about it. So part of the deal was having the snot knocked out of you on a regular basis. In the Southern Ocean, you got the snot AND the crap knocked out of you, and that was why it was such a hoary, intimidating place.
But both Jessica and Abby Sunderland (the other 16-year old who was up for a little global sail), have been on the receiving end of incredibly precise and detailed weather routing. So good that Abby commented that “it was like having driving directions.” So good that I was amazed at how rare truly nasty weather was. In fact, I would venture to guess that Jessica experienced less extreme weather, and a lower average wind speed, than most if not all previous solo RTW voyages.
Now, if I was a 16-year old (or the parent of one) setting off to sail solo around the world, I would want every technology and level of support imaginable, especially weather routing. But there is no question that all that support, and all the connections to the real world, completely change the nature of solo, RTW sailing.
I think that’s a shame, and it’s something that is happening in other extreme sports, like mountain climbing (where almost anyone fit can now climb Mt. Everest, thanks to fixed ropes and climbing guides who do almost everything but push you up the last step).
In 1968, sailing around the world solo and non-stop was so hard Robin Knox-Johnston could barely do it. In 2010, it is so easy a 16-year old can do it. It’s just not that exciting anymore. Knox-Johnston’s book, “A World Of My Own,” is one of the greatest adventure books ever written. I sincerely doubt I’ll read Jessica’s.
Somehow, amazingly, I just managed to import the entire Wetass Chronicles archive over onto this site. The importer didn’t crash. I didn’t have to call a help desk. And now everything is in one place. I’ll do the occasional Wetass type post here, along with lots of other stuff about the oceans and whatever the hell else happens to interest me on any given day. And hopefully that will not bore anyone to death.
All twittering will be done on the Wetass Twitter feed. And the Tim Zimmermann Twitter feed will go away. I know, I know, that doesn’t seem to make any sense. But the choice was to keep a Twitter feed with almost 700 followers or a Twitter feed that has only 100 followers. What would you have done?
So, with all that housekeeping taken care of, I think I’ll go have a beer.
Hate to say it, but after two-and-a-half years of trying to keep up with this website, I am burned out, cooked, done, finito. Well, not really, but I just don’t have the time anymore to do this thing properly, and I’d rather not just mail it in. Plus, it’s time to head in a new direction and develop other novel means of wasting time while amusing myself. Thanks to all the loyal readers and tipsters. There are plenty of other blogs out there now bringing you the latest in extreme adventure and video, so keep on clicking. It was fun while it lasted. Have a nice life…
“Ahh. Time to go surfing…”
Kiteboarding is a sick, sick sport (in a good way…). Check out this nice trailer and see whether you can sit still…
“What are you looking at? Loser…”
The Earthist Chronicles 