Monday, September 27, 2021

Coffee and Provocation


The Oldest Selective Breeding of Dogs
The Hedge That Forged a Revolution in Opposition
India's old "customs hedge" was a dense and thickly planted barrier of thorns established in 1869 and expanded to 2,300 miles (3,701km) – the distance from London to Istanbul (then Constantinople). It was guarded by 12,000 British officers. It's purpose: to prevent smugglers from sneaking salt from coastal areas of India into British-controlled states, where salt was taxed heavily. Mahatma Ghandi's famous "salt march" was in opposition to this hedge, which no longer exists.

Salmon Fraud
Salmon sold in the US is beset by a wide variety of fraud from price fixing to false claims of sustainability to mislabeling of species and origin.  One example: about 50 percent of "wild caught salmon" is, in fact, farmed salmon. The fraud claim is most often made in restaurants, rather than stores.  One clue: wild salmon is seasonal, and harvest from late spring to early fall. If it's winter time, it's not wild salmon.

Rewilding the Elwha River
Ten years after the Elwha River dams were taken down, a transformation. From Orion Magazine: "Perhaps the most astonishing element of the Elwha restoration is how quickly ecosystem changes can be reversed. From sandbars stretching into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to changes in wildlife upstream, the whole watershed has responded more rapidly than expected."

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