Who will stop the flood?

Missouri has tornadoes, which are conjured and over within half an hour. They also don't usually put 7 million people out of power. So hurricanes are cinematic, for better or worse, and I've been glued to the New York Times throughout this storm.

This op-ed on oysters and bank stabilization was a surprising nugget among the crisis coverage.

Just as corals protect tropical islands, these oyster beds created undulation and contour on the harbor bottom that broke up wave action before it could pound the shore with its full force. Beds closer to shore clarified the water through their assiduous filtration (a single oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water a day); this allowed marsh grasses to grow, which in turn held the shores together with their extensive root structure.

See also: this prescient, month-old article on New York City's "resilience strategy" for storm flooding.

Edward Abbey

I have no clue how I missed this speech by Edward Abbey. For anyone who has visited the Southwest or read one of Abbey's books this is a must listen. He strikes me in the video more like Hunter S. Thompson than I had ever realized before now, great Americans the both of them. Here Abbey talks about one of the subjects he cared most about, life before the Glenn Canyon Dam. The speech is in three parts.

Hills of My Home

I grew up listening to folk and singer-songwriter legends like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Harry Chapin. There is a certain limitation that comes with music made by one or two people and a guitar. I have always had the feeling that it makes the music a bit more genuine. It either works or it doesn't. When The Honey Dewdrops plays, it works. The band released their third album titled Silver Lining earlier this year. A highlight of the album was Hills of My Home. I have heard the band perform this song in concert and am happy to see it make its way to this album.The song takes on the topic of mountaintop removal mining in a way that makes it both personal and potent without being overbearingly political.