Utilities in the Caribbean

Hey guys!

I am currently in the Caribbean, in a tiny internet cafe sipping some passion fruit juice. I did a little local research into utilities yesterday - meaning that I hiked to the source of the island's water. We followed some old rusted pipes up to the top of the volcanic mountain - and saw some of the old stone structures built to control the flow of water. This may seem outdated, but in fact we still use down-hill water flow to deliver water in cities - the water flows down from water towers into our homes. Anywas, we still get news down here - and I found two interesting articles in the Miami Herald from Monday, March 19th, which I would recommend, for some relatively light, spring-break reading.

First, in the opinion section you can find a little piece written by Fred Krupp, entitled, "Markets offer best hope for fixing climate problems." Fred Krupp is the president of Environmental Defense, an environmental activist group which we've talked about before on this blog. It is a propaganda peice for sure, beginning with the classic opening line of ED - that it is in the best interests of big business to become environmentally oriented - to even lead the environmental movement in this country (a line which I more or less agree with). He extensively references the TXU union piece in here - which ED helped orchestrate (see my previous blogging). Keep your eye on Fred Krupp and ED, they are fast becoming an important player on the scene of environmentalism.

The second piece in the Miami Herald is written by Alan Zibel and is entitled, "Analysists: $3 gasoline unlikely." The gist of this peice is that, according to recent estimates, gasoline is unlikely to go over $3 this summer, barring a hurricane or trouble in the Middle East. This should provide some support for US stock markets this summer. Good news too for travellers, and for me, since I want to go cross country this summer.

Anyways, I hope that everyone is enjoying break, or at least looking forward to it. I am gonna go get a pina colada (virgin of course...)

Emily