There’s a great audio interview at thestory.org with Rafe Sagarin, one of the researchers who retraced John Steinbeck’s expedition in the Mexican Sea of Cortez back in 2004.
In 2004, Rafe Sagarin … joined a group of scientists who returned to the Sea of Cortez. Dick Gordon talks with Rafe about the changes they saw. Rafe argues that the kinds of observations Steinbeck and Ricketts recorded 70 years ago now provide critical data in understanding environmental changes like global warming. His conversation with Dick also shows that science and literature may have something to offer one another.
I’ve mentioned the project before, but this interview is an absolutely fascintating look at both the Sea Of Cortez and the methodologies employed the modern researchers to use Steinbeck’s data from so long ago.
(To hear the audio, click the Listen button in the upper lefthand corner of thestory.org)
Also, somewhat in the same vein: see Toxic Dump Debate (and part 2), a wrapup article on the proposed toxic waste dump in Sonora. The idea has pissed off pretty much everybody except the organization that proposed putting it there in the first place and raised fears of water contamination and other environmental ruin.
