Word: scrubbings
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...circle of life has fangs: mosquito bites man, fish eats mosquito, crocodile eats fish, man shoots crocodile, man dies of malaria. But for a few weeks a year, South Africa witnesses the climax of a somewhat gentler natural cycle. Most of the time, Namaqualand is a featureless swath of scrub desert running from just north of Cape Town up the coast to Namibia. From August to October, however, these plains explode in a display of wild flowers. What was once brown, dusty and flat is transformed into a sea of pinks, oranges, yellows, whites, purples and reds. Better still, there...
...Beneficiaries of this procedure are first scrubbed with salt crystals gathered by nomads from the ancient dry beds of the Tethys Sea, located on the Tibetan Plateau at 15,000 feet (4,500 m). The salt is mixed with high-altitude herbs like spikenard that apparently calm the senses. After the scrub comes a slathering of Himalayan mountain mud containing fulvic acids. Known as silagit, it has been used for centuries as an anti-inflammatory agent and to improve circulation. The treatment is completed with a bath and either a head-and-shoulder massage (in Manila) or a full-body...
...tree dies, it usually begins to release the carbon it absorbed, and logging and burning only accelerate that process. So scientists are thinking bigger thoughts: Is it possible to increase the oceans' capacity to absorb carbon--without making the water so acidic it dissolves corals? Is it possible to scrub the atmosphere itself somehow, extracting CO2 the way a filter cleans the air in a home? Macroengineering like this is a fun thing for scientists to dream about, but it usually does not go much further, the scale and risks being simply too great. But that hasn't stopped...
...holding the end of a broom, and after several exhausting days, many newcomers question their judgment at selecting such physically demanding work. Inevitably, some will glance down at their yellow sponge and bottle of Mur-Kil cleaner, and back up to the toilet that they have hunched over to scrub to perfection. One thought most often brings about this moment’s hesitation: How could a Harvard student like me end up in a demeaning job like this? I’m too good for this...
Egrets, pelicans, and scrub jays fly by, turkey vultures too. In the fall, cyclones of geese and ducks circle the harbor. In the summer, hummingbirds sidle up to the windowpane. Every morning I hear the grinding of coffee. Its scent rises as my husband climbs the stairs. He hands me my morning mug, and we do our ritual. "What do you say?" he asks. "Thank you," I answer, and he receives his kiss. There have been days when I awake confused because it is quiet and the smell of the house is of unstirred air. And then I remember that...