With flights canceled, cruise ships mothballed and vacations largely scrapped, carbon emissions plummeted. Wildlife that usually kept a low profile amid a crush of tourists in vacation hot spots suddenly emerged. And a lack of cruise ships in places like Alaska meant that humpback whales could hear each other’s calls without the din of engines.
That’s the good news. On the flip side, the disappearance of travelers wreaked its own strange havoc, not only on those who make their living in the tourism industry, but on wildlife itself, especially in developing countries. Many governments pay for conservation and enforcement through fees associated with tourism. As that revenue dried up, budgets were cut, resulting in increased poaching and illegal fishing in some areas. Illicit logging rose too, presenting a double-whammy for the environment. Because trees absorb and store carbon, cutting them down not only hurt wildlife habitats, but contributed to climate change.
I liked my patties thin and then I liked them thick. There was the Cheddar period, followed by the Roquefort interregnum. Sesame-seed buns gave way to English muffins as ketchup traded places with special sauce or even, God help me, guacamole, which really was overkill.
But no matter its cradle or condiment, the hamburger was with me for the long haul — I was sure of that.
Until now.
Ethan Hawke doesn’t pussyfoot around with the subject matter of his third novel. Rather than running from his gilded Hollywood life and looking to get dirt under his nails writing grittily about some notional real life, he embraces what he knows. And the novel is all the better for it.
Childhood friendships strained by enforced absence and a broken promise, the limits of personal loyalty, a cat and mouse chase with a bitter nemesis and the impact of war are the key elements in Ciarán McMenamin's latest novel.
You would tell me about Ulmus alata and the moths
notched on its twigs. You liked the particular.
I would tell you about the bark cracking the sidewalk,