Una Odisea: Moby Duck in Peru

The Peruvian magazine Etiqueta Negra—Lima's answer to The New Yorker and by one estimate "the most exciting literary magazine to come out of South America"—has just published an excerpt of Moby-Duck  in their special green issue, titled Etiqueta Verde.  Their intro to the story (their "dek," in magazine speak):

Un profesor de secundaria leyó en la tarea de un alumno la noticia de un naufragio de miles de patos de goma en el océano Pacífico. Mientras esperaba la llegada de su primer hijo fue a buscar la fábrica de donde salieron, el barco en el que viajaban, el sitio donde cayeron y las playas del mundo a las que llegaron. ¿Son más de veinticinco mil juguetes tan peligrosos como un derrame de petróleo en el mar? Una odisea de Donovan Hohn con ilustraciones de Sheila Alvarado.

I don't have enough Spanish to appreciate their translation, but I love the selection they chose, and I also love Sheila Alvarado's illustrations. The entire book will be published in Spain next year.

The LA River: Stimulus $$ at Work

Municipalities in the basin of the Los Angeles River have now installed steel screens in storm drains that will keep an estimated 840,000 pounds of debris from going to sea every year, the LA Times reports. The project was made possible by $10 million in federal stimulus money--one example among many of the hidden costs that the prices of consumer plastics do not reflect.