Everybody had Matching Towels

A little reminder that the ocean is not only beautiful and valuable but also plain old fun with a capital F.

Rock Lobster by the B-52s

Ski-doo-be-dop
Eww
Ski-doo-be-dop
Eww
(Ski-doo-be-dop) We were at a party (Eww)
(Ski-doo-be-dop) His ear lobe fell in the deep (Eww)
(Ski-doo-be-dop) Someone reached in and grabbed it (Eww)
(Ski-doo-be-dop) Was a rock lobster (Eww)

Aaaah
Rock lobster
Aaaah
Rock lobster

Eww
Eww
We were at the beach (Eww)
Everybody had matching towels (Eww)
Somebody went under a dock (Eww)
And there they saw a rock (Eww)
It wasn't a rock (Eww)
Was a rock lobster (Eww)

Aaaah
Rock lobster
Aaaah
Rock lobster

Rock lo-o-obster
Rock lo-o-obster

Motion in the ocean (Ooh ah)
His air hose broke (Hoo ah)
Lots of trouble (Ooh ah)
Lots of bubble (Hoo ah)
He was in a jam (Ooh ah)
He's in a giant clam! (Hoo ah)

Rock, rock
Rock lobster! (Aaaaaaaaah)
Down, down! (Aaaaaaah)

Lobster
Rock
Lobster
Rock
Let's rock!

Boys and bikinis
Girls and surfboards
Everybody's rockin'
Everybody's frugin'

Twistin' round the fire
Havin' fun

Bakin' potatoes
Bakin' in the sun

Put on your noseguard
Put on the lifeguard
Pass the tanning butter

Here comes a stingray (ooh wok ooh wok)
There goes a manta ray (ah ah ah)
In walked a jellyfish (huah)
There goes a dogfish (rea-owr)
Chased by a catfish (geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh geh)
In flew a sea robin (Laaaaa)
Watch out for that piranha (eh rek eh rek ah hoo)
There goes a narwhal (eeeeh)
Here comes a bikini whale! (Aaaaah!)

(Lobster rock lobster-ster) Rock lobster
(Lobster) Rock lobster (Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
(Lobster rock lobster-ster) Rock lobster
(Lobster) Rock lobster (Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
(Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)
(Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

Same Old Song and Dance

The clean energy dance goes something like this: Two steps forward, one step backward.

Two steps forward.

The EPA finally won something.  Two things actually.  Their rules were upheld recenlty in court.  Now, dirty coal plants must scrub their stacks, and dirty states are not allowed to export their pollution across state borders.  Respectable victories both.  The beginning of the end for coal one can only hope.

One step backward.

On the same day as the coal victories, the New York Times ran an op-ed about how gas is a good thing -- that is extracting gas from the shale rock and burning it to make electricity.  Titled "The Right Way to Develop Shale Gas" and written by Michael Bloomberg and Fred Krupp, it was a huge disappointment.

Krupp is head of the Environmental Defense Fund and former NYC mayor Bloomberg certainly trends green.  Here they are promoting gas fracking.  They should be embarrassed.

In the op-ed, there was no mention of the potential negative impacts of fracking on drinking water let alone ecosystems.  In the fracking process, unknown chemicals (industry has sued to keep the contents of their quixotic brew secret) are injected into the ground.

Also, the entire op-ed represents the outdated fossil fuel mindset that got us into the climate change mess in the first place.  Burning more fossil fuels are not going to get us out of it.  Gas is cleaner than coal but it is still dirty.

They could have said things like let's use our economic muscle and our substantial brainpower to move as fast as possible to a clean energy economy.  They could have kept the part about jobs and energy independence -- both are very real benefits of clean energy.

So round and round we go again,
Two steps forward,
One step backward,
Now do-si-do your partner!