The Buzz 11.02.18

WHO'S IN TOWN?

Fifteen years before Al Gore sounded the alarm bells about climate change with a slide show, Bill McKibben let the world know about it in his 1989 book The End of Nature. He went on to co-found one of the leading climate change organizations, 350.org. He’s been awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize, as well as honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. The Boston Globe called him “probably America’s most important environmentalist.” McKibben is in town this week for a lecture called “Heating Up: An Evening With Bill McKibben.” He is providing an update on challenges ahead under a U.S. administration bent on eliminating environmental protections.

6-7:30pm Thursday Nov. 2. Irvine Auditorium, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, 499 Pierce St., Monterey. Free. miis.edu/events.

FREE SPEECH

It’s not just content posted by Russian operatives that’s got journalists’ eyes trained on Facebook. It’s also social media posts by journalists themselves. In a recent speech, New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet voiced his frustration with reporters’ social media presence: “I’ve spent full days policing our social media,” Baquet said, according to a report on niemanlab.org. “[Reporters] should not be able to say anything on social media that they cannot say [in print.]” Behold, the next day, Oct. 13, The Times released new social media guidelines. “Our journalists must not express partisan opinions, promote political views, endorse candidates, make offensive comments or do anything else that undercuts The Times’ journalistic reputation,” the policy states. Some media observers called the policy common sense. Others had a critique, including feminist blogger Jessica Valenti: “How do you not ‘take a side’ on climate change, bigotry, the dehumanization of undocumented immigrants?”

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD:

Monterey County joined more than 100 municipalities nationwide Oct. 24 when the County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution opposing new offshore oil and gas drilling. “A spill off our shores would devastate Monterey County’s waters and wildlife, not to mention the damage it would inflict on the families and businesses that depend on healthy, thriving oceans,” Supervisor Jane Parker said in a statement. The resolution comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in April opening the door for potential mineral exploration in previously protected waters, including parts of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. No new drilling leases have been issued off the shores of California since 1984, and the practice has faced staunch opposition since the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill – at the time, the nation’s largest oil spill – in which up to 100,000 barrels of crude oil escaped into the sea, killing sea birds and marine mammals.

BAD:

Hurricanes Maria and Irma devastated Puerto Rico in September, and a slow rebuild is underway. The storms have a local reach, too: Monterey County hospitals are facing a shortage of saline solution administered via IVs because a major Baxter manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico is shut down for the time being. Natividad Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Craig Walls says they’ve developed a plan to use different fluids, such as Ringers lactate solution or dextrose-based (sugar) solutions when possible. “We’re moving stocks around appropriately so most critical areas, like the operating room and ICU, get exactly what they want and need,” Walls says. On Oct. 13, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced the U.S. was facilitating saline solution imports from Australia and Ireland to help stave off a shortage.