Of apples and rising seas

In the late 1980s, environmentalists charged that a pesticide called "Alar" left cancer-causing residues on apples, in such quantities that comsumers' health was endangered. Whether they were right about this or not (the EPA now seems to say not), there was a huge outcry about Alar in the press. I remember one of the network news reports showed a particularly tendentious image -- a lonely farmworker in overalls, sitting on a bench in the middle of an apple orchard, his work put to a halt due to the boycott on Alar-treated apples. It was an absurd photo, as if he was forced to sit out there in the fields until the EPA decided what to do about Alar. But it conveyed the right message: only did Alar threat our lives, it threatened this man's livelihood!

I was reminded of this by the Associated Press story from last week about how the rise in the oceans caused by global warming threaten the Marshall Islands. Titled "If an Island State Vanishes, is it Still a Nation?" the article explains that if U.N. projections are correct, much of the island may be underwater by 2100. It was accompanined by a photo of an islander looking on in sorrow as the ocean topples palm trees lining the shore near his home.

Lucky thing for that guy, it isn't actually happening. Follow the link to see why it's a safe bet he'll be able to stand in that same spot and eat an (Alar-free?) apple years from now.