Answers to Hard Questions

Two or three e-mails have poured in to Sphere’s inbox recently.

Rick, who cleared up my question about what killed the slipper shells (in the comments to a January 1 post), thought I should try to present a more balanced perspective on the Broadwater LNG proposal.

Here’s what I told him: I haven't been going out of my way to give only one perspective. In fact, in many posts I've linked to Broadwater's site, so readers can see for themselves what they are proposing. It's been difficult to provide other balancing material though simply because there hasn't been much balance in the papers, which is my main source of material. There probably had been some more favorable coverage back in November when the project was first proposed, but I hadn't started blogging then. If I see some other perspectives in the future, I might link to them, assuming I think they make sense and are worth knowing about.

Which brings me to my second point. I started Sphere to have fun and to post things that interested me. I spent 17 years as a newspaper reporter, where everything had to be balanced, and I'm definitely not trying to replicate that. I'm planning on posting things that interest me, that amuse me, that gratify my ego, and that draw readers to the site. So while I might link to other perspectives on Broadwater, I'm not likely to go overboard. However I will continue to link to their site. (Broadwater and other energy company people read Sphere occasionally, by the way. If they send me stuff, I'd probably use it.)

Jennifer Wilson-Pines sent me a two-word e-mail in response to this post: “War & Peace???????” I hope her outrage was mock. I apologized and told her perhaps “Moby Dick” would have been a more appropriate comparison. I also told her that regardless of length and regardless of my wise cracks, I hope she sends me more observations from her field trips near the Sound.

About this post, Jane Moffat sent me this: For over forty years I have observed a fairly
consistent snow line cutting across a fairly steep rise on Greenwich's Riversville Rd., between N. Porchuck Rd and Cliffdale Rd., approaching, still somewhat below the crest of Quaker Ridge. I THINK it is about 500" above sea level, but it could be less.

For many years I lived on the crest, about 1/2 mile south of the Audubon Center. Often rain would change to snow or snow flurries as I crossed the snow line while driving home from work. ... I am sure lots of folks throughout CT and Westchester can give you similar reports.

David Sucher, who does a blog called CityComforts from the Puget Sound watershed, responded to a post in which I said I liked his blog even though it wasn’t an enviro blog. He commented here, then sent me an e-mail in case I missed the comment, and then posted on his own site. Here’s our short and sweet exchange. The final answer is: of course cities are part of the environment.

And my favorite e-mail, from someone named Tom, whom I do not know:

"What is a blog?"

Good question.