Gorgeous Three Gorges

Happy almost-Thanksgiving! I am at school enjoying the delightful situation of having only 2 days in the week --> we get off on Wednesday for Thanksgiving break. Somehow, when I know that there are only two days in the week, it makes it that much easier to relax Sunday night. Too bad I have to somehow write fifteen pages by Tuesday for my thesis. Any thoughts on adaptation to climate change, anyone...anyone?

Anyways, there are a number of interesting things to read in the New York Times from the past few days which I wanted to draw your attention to. First of all, definitely check out the article on the Three Gorges Dam in China entitled, "Chinese Dam Projects Criticized for Their Human Costs." The article does a decent job at delving into some of the complications between balancing a growing economy and its need for new power and energy supplies with environmental and social concerns. It also explains that dam building has become a huge business in China - which I didn't realize. Apparently, although there have already been many problems with the dams (including mass dislocation, social unrest, and growing environmental issues) China is still planning to greatly increase their hydropower capacity with large scale dam building. One thing to know about the Three Gorges Dam is that when it was built, ancient buildings and historical sites went under water, and hundreds of thousands of people were dislocated. Additionally, there are worries about the buildup of sediment in the reservoir and a gradual decrease in the dam's power capacity. See pic of Three Gorges Dam below...





Anyways, you should also look over the article on the "Sleep-Industrial Complex" and the debate over sending in a swab of your DNA and being able to analyze your SNPs. More later!