"It's a bit of a joke that I split my life between climate science and pickles," said Holland, as she closes her laptop on the label she has been creating for a new pickled product and prepares to spend the afternoon analyzing her Lake El'gygytgyn data. 

"But more and more, the two parts of my life inform each other." 

This article originally appeared at The Daily Climate, the climate change news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.

8 Comments

1. 1. Bird/tree/dinosaur/etc. geek 12:35 PM 11/5/12

   What the heck? What, exactly, was the point of this article? It's just food for trolls.

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2. 2. Bops in reply to Bird/tree/dinosaur/etc. geek 01:30 PM 11/5/12

   If you start talking to lots of people about making changes in their life to reduce waste and pollution you start to hit nerves.
   
   Pickles are a tool to sneak up on (trolls) and make a tiny point about the climate and environment in a positive way.
   
   Another example, is the fact that we are NOT sure, how much or where the oil we have is, but still, some fools want to drill everywhere, even though so many of the drills produce no oil, and cost us all more to clean up the pollution. Is that smart?
   
   I honestly don't think there's a whole lot of oil left to be wasted in a grandiose fashion. Some people will say anything without commonsense and facts behind them.
   
   We are in this mess because of Not-smart actions by many foolish people.
   
   People are obsessed about the debt...what about having energy and natural resources for the future generations.
   
   
   

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3. 3. Bird/tree/dinosaur/etc. geek in reply to Bops 01:40 PM 11/5/12

   """I honestly don't think there's a whole lot of oil left to be wasted in a grandiose fashion. """
   
   At the current rate of use, it runs out in 2031.
   
   """Some people will say anything without commonsense and facts behind them. """
   
   True.

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4. 4. JPGumby 03:16 PM 11/5/12

   An interesting article to deconstruct.
   
   There's an underlying assumption here that by not working for the profit motive, not importing/trading, and working as essentially a "craft" or boutique operation we have moved towards earth friendliness (or more recently "sustainability").
   
   Although this is superficially attractive, it does fly in the face of the basic economic principle that trading benefits all parties, and that regions specializing in industries they are particularly efficient at again benefits all.
   
   As I recall, one of the key characteristics of the "dark ages" was self-sufficiency at the local village level.
   
   Recently SciAM published a big "why don't people trust scientists" article. I would put forward that this article among others would suggest to an unbiased observer that a significant portion of the community has an agenda that is not necessarily "science" based.
   
   Just something for the publishers to think about if they are interested in the reputation of science.

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5. 5. Mharris 12:38 PM 11/6/12

   I like this article because it illustrates that Addie 'gets it'. I believe this based on the fact that they are converting the business to a worker owned coop. The section about gender bias in the sci world seems oddly out of sync with the rest of the article. And this quote: "Climate benefits from the local-food approach remain unclear, said Michael Hamm, professor of sustainable agriculture at the University of Michigan. There's no conclusive or easy way to show that the carbon footprint of, say, a jar of locally picked and processed pickles is less than a mass-produced package shipped from several states over." is sheer baloney propaganda. Mr. Hamm is a real ham, and Scientific American and the author ought to be ashamed of promoting such a blatant obfuscation of a simple truth.

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6. 6. Shoshin 03:32 PM 11/6/12

   Awww... another comment censored. I guess I'll say it again, as it was not offensive, except maybe to Alarmists:
   
   "It's nice to read an article about an Alarmist doing something useful.
   
   I don't often speak with Alarmists, but when I do, I say "Could you put extra foam on my latte?".
   
   If you SCAIM Alarmist Editors find this offensive you need get out more.

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7. 7. Bird/tree/dinosaur/etc. geek in reply to Shoshin 05:13 PM 11/6/12

   You are unworthy of the attention of any rational person (technically including me).
   
   SciAm, please delete Shoshin. We are all tired of his irrational rants.

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8. 8. BMardle 09:56 AM 11/18/12

   I can't resist quoting one of L. Frank Baum's Oz books:
   "Your math is like a jar of mixed pickles-- the more you fish for what you want, the less likely you are to get it."

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