Earth Blog

Four students from the University of Leicester Department of Physics and Astronomy have done the impossible and called out beloved children’s author Roald Dahl for bad science.

In Roald Dahl’s book James and the Giant Peach (which was made into a movie produced by Tim Burton in 1996; both were referenced in the study) James, the seven year old main character, sails across the Atlantic Ocean in house-sized peach with some giant, talking insects that happened to be living in the fruit.

For the first leg of the sea adventure he sails the giant peach like a boat. Then (spoiler alert) the peach is lifted into the air by 501 seagulls that had to be tethered to the stem of the peach by the thread of the Silkworm or the peach’s residents would have all been the stars of an episode of “Shark Week.”

The research team looked at both the ability of the peach to be navigable and the execution of the 501 seagull rescue.

The first thing I noticed about Beth Terry’s book Plastic Free is how compact and stalwart it is compared to the standard hardcover book the latest fiction bestseller is packaged in by the big publishing houses.

The second thing I noticed is that the book lacks a traditional spine because in the quest to live plastic free Terry and the publishers at Skyhorse have gone to great lengths to eliminate plastic in their publication.

The book is not 100 percent plastic-less but they’ve come quite close and even the glue they used contains no plastic.

The third thing I noticed, and you will too if you have done the fiscally smart thing and checked it out from the library, is that the well-meaning library technicians had wrapped it in the clear plastic to protect the plain brown paper wrapping that is the cover. The shiny layer of plastic sort of defeats the message of the book, but what can you do?

If you can read you can cook and if you are adventurous you can create dishes that are as good if not better than what you’d get from pre-packaged ingredients or restaurants.

These three books contain recipes for several of the same things like ketchup, mustard, tea, and bread but every cookbook has something different to offer because cooks are at different skill levels and have different needs and bellies to fill at their table.

Farewell, My Subaru by journalist Doug Fine was published way back in 2008 and it wasn’t his first book. Not Really an Alaskan Mountain Man was the precursor in a similar genre: “person spends a year doing activity they don’t normally do as a personal challenge.”

After writing about his experiences during a harsh Alaskan winter Fine decided he was ready to really begin his life off the grid- not just as part-time mountaineer. He wanted to live greener, to chip away at his carbon footprint, so he moved to the desert of New Mexico and bought a piece of property he dubbed Funky Butte Ranch.

Ray Bradbury, the legendary and prolific writer best known for Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, passed away last night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91.

Bradbury’s works frequently featured space exploration a subject that fascinated him. He likely cheered when failed presidential candidate Newt Gingrich proposed a moon base. He wrote stories that foreshadowed technology’s evil role in our lives and how it would affect human interaction.

Today is important because it’s Read Across America Day! A day millions of children across the United States and throughout the rest of the world will celebrate literacy. 

Schools, libraries, and businesses will also celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday and host Seuss-centric or Lorax themed activities. The Lorax opens in movie theaters and even though it hasn’t received praise from everyone, parents and educators are using the book and new animated movie as a launching pad to discussing this year’s green theme.