Protectionism on the March Water Shortage

Supplemento al numero odierno de la Repubblica Sped. abb. postale art. 1 legge 46/04 del 27/02/2004 — Roma

A Thirsty World

Some of the most iconic images of the Great Depression come from the parched states of the American prairie, where arid land forced farm families to flee in search of jobs and sus- tenance. Their plight gave rise to Woody Guth- rie’s Dust Bowl ballads and LENS John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.” The Dust Bowl was brought on by destruc- tive farming practices compounded by years of drought. But its devastating effects worsened the damage of the broader economic collapse. Something similar is happening around the world now. Persistent droughts from Australia to Afghanistan to Spain to Argentina are com- bining with the global recession to squeeze farmers and ranchers. In Northern China, as Michael Wines reported in The Times, the worst drought in half a century is crippling a region that grows three-fifths of the country’s crops. Zheng Songxian, a wheat farmer in the village of Qiaobei, told Mr. Wines he expected to lose at least a third of his crop this year. “If we don’t get rain before May, I won’t be able to harvest anything,” he added. (Chinese officials have said the drought will not have a noticeable impact on overall grain production.) The Western United States, from Texas to California, is also contending with a serious Protectionism on the March water shortage. In California’s heavily agri- cultural Central Valley, cities like Mendota have seen unemployment rates as high as 35 percent. “My community is dying on the vine,” DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES Robert Silva, the mayor of Mendota, told Jesse McKinley of The Times. In the Southern Hemisphere, the worst By MARK LANDLER An increase in tariffs has complicated the movement drought in generations is wreaking havoc in WASHINGTON Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and parts of of goods across the borders FTER REPEATED PLEDG- southern Brazil. Argentine ranchers have of Mexico and the United lost an estimated 1.5 million head of cattle, ES by world leaders to avoid States, above, and India Ernesto Ambrosetti, the chief economist at the A erecting trade barriers, pro- Institute of Economic Studies at the Argentine and China, left. Rural Society, told Alexei Barrionuevo of The tectionism is growing, provoking nas- Times. ty trade disputes and undermining There is no clear evidence linking the condi- efforts to plot a coordinated response United States to Australia, are tions to climate change. Nevertheless, many scientists are warning that more frequent to the deepest global economic down- subsidizing embattled automak- droughts will be a likely consequence of a turn since World War II. ers or car dealers. warming planet. From a looming battle with China The most vivid example of To contend with that possibility, researchers are trying to develop crops that can flourish over tariffs on carbon-intensive that policy is the “Buy America” with little water, Andrew Pollack said in The goods to a spat over Mexican trucks provision in the stimulus pack- Times. Monsanto, the crop biotechnology DIPTENDU DUTTA /AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES age, intended to ensure that only producer, said last fall that its first strains of using American roads, barriers are drought-tolerant corn would be on the market going up around the world. As the reces- “Instead of just talking about trade liberal- American manufacturers benefited from within four years. Because it relies on genetic sion’s grip tightens, these pressures are ization, countries need to take immediate public-spending projects. The Obama modification, Monsanto’s work is encounter- administration persuaded Congress to ing controversy. likely to intensify, several experts said. steps to show they mean it.” Some Monsanto critics, like the Alliance The surge in protectionism is casting a Far from heeding their pledge not to erect soften it, and Mr. Obama has taken up for a Green Revolution in Africa, say drought shadow over an economic summit meet- new barriers for 12 months, many countries Mr. Bush’s warnings about the dangers of resistance can be strengthened through con- ventional seed breeding. ing of world leaders scheduled for London have raised import duties or passed stimu- protectionism. But in some places, the favored approach on April 2. At the last such gathering, in lus measures with trade-distorting subsi- But pressures are building on other to an old-fashioned problem like drought is Washington in November, former Presi- dies. The World Bank, in a recent report, fronts. The energy secretary, Steven Chu, an old-fashioned solution. As Mr. McKinley reported in The Times, some Californians dent George W. Bush persuaded the Group said that since the Washington meeting, 17 said he favored tariffs on Chinese goods still rely on dowsers — specialists also known of 20 members to commit to protecting free members of the Group of 20 had adopted 47 if China did not sign on to mandatory re- as “water witches,” who use a Y-shaped tree trade — whatever the pressures caused by measures aimed at restricting trade. ductions in greenhouse gas emissions — branch and what they say is an intuitive ability to detect water underground. faltering economies and lost jobs. The mem- Russia has raised tariffs on used cars. underscoring how the “green economy” Frank Assali, an almond farmer in Water- bers include industrialized and developing China has tightened import standards could be the next trade battleground. ford, California, hired a dowser named Phil Mr. Obama signed a $40 billion spend- Stine. “Phil finds the water,” Mr. Assali told nations, and the European Union. on food, banning Irish pork, among other Mr. McKinley. “No doubt about it.” “No sooner was the G-20 statement is- things. India has banned Chinese toys. Ar- ing bill that scrapped a program enabling For those with the knack, work should be sued than it was breached,” said Daniel M. gentina has tightened licensing require- Mexican trucks to haul cargo over long plentiful. Price, an official in the Bush administra- ments on auto parts, textiles and leather For comments, write to tion who helped negotiate the agreement. goods. And a dozen countries, from the Con tin ued on Page IV [email protected].

BUSINESS OF GREEN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ARTS & STYLES In Britain, cooking oil Some good news All ‘world music’ helps fight warming. VI about right whales. VII may soon be local. VIII

INTELLIGENCE: For Israel, steps out of the wilderness. Page II.

Repubblica NewYork II MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009

OPINION & COMMENTARY

INTELLIGENCE/ROGER COHEN National Anxiety Clouds The Zionist Dream

NEW YORK Ethan Bronner of The New York Times has been filing some very important dispatches from Israel in recent weeks, chronicling Is- rael’s sense of isolation, its quest to “rebrand” itself, and its soul- searching over reports from soldiers and officers that they wit- nessed or participated in reckless killing of civilians in Gaza. Here is the paradox of Israel: a hegemonic power in its region, nuclear-armed and protected by a high-tech wall, prosperous and creative, yet inhabited by a gnawing self-doubt that seems only to grow at the same pace as its military dominance. Israel was supposed, as Shlomo Avineri, an Israeli political scien- BARRY BLITT tist, has written, not only to take the Jewish people out of exile but FRANK RICH also ensure that exile was “taken out of the Jewish people.” After the millennia of marginalization and Auschwitz, it was intended to create what David Ben-Gurion called “a self-sufficient people” rather than one “hung up in midair.” The mood Bronner has chron- Has Obama’s ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived? icled amounts to ample evidence that, 61 years after the creation of the modern state of Israel, that “midair” feeling persists. Protests against Israel are multiplying around the world. Within A charming visit with a talk show host Within 24 hours, Summers’s stand was sums of money taking irresponsible risks the country, fissures grow between Jews and the Arab minority won’t fix it. A 90 percent tax on bank- discarded by Obama, who tardily (and im- that have now put the entire economy at while religious nationalists and secular liberals battle for control ers’ bonuses won’t fix it. Firing Timothy potently) vowed to “pursue every single risk.” But speeches won’t tamp down the of the army. Geithner won’t fix it. Unless and until Ba- legal avenue” to block the bonuses. The anger out there, and neither will calcu- The Defense Ministry was obliged to reprimand the military’s rack Obama addresses the full depth of question is not just why the White House lated displays of presidential “outrage.” chief rabbi, Brigadier General Avichai Rontzki, a West Bank set- Americans’ anger with his full arsenal of was the last to learn about bonuses that We must have governance to match the tler, after a booklet handed to soldiers was found to contain a rab- policy smarts and political gifts, his pres- Democratic congressmen had sought message. binical edict against showing the enemy mercy. idency and, worse, our economy will be hearings about back in December, but To get ahead of the anger, Obama must Certainly, little mercy was shown in Gaza, where several hun- paralyzed. It would be foolish to dismiss why it was so slow to realize the depth do what he has repeatedly promised but dred civilians were among the 1,300 dead. In all the operation made as hyperbole the stark warning delivered of the public’s anger. By the time Obama not always done: make everything about scant strategic sense: Hamas endures, as do its rockets, and the by Paulette Altmaier of Cupertino, Cali- acted, even the Republican leader Mitch his economic policies transparent and damage to Israel’s image around the world has been devastating. fornia, in a letter to the editor published by McConnell was ahead of him in full (if hold every player accountable. As Avi Shlaim, a professor of international relations and former sol- The Times recently: “President Obama hypocritical) fulmination. Inquiring Americans have the right to dier in the Israeli Army, has observed, the Gaza offensive followed may not realize it yet, but his Katrina mo- David Axelrod, Obama’s closest ad- know why it took six months for us to learn “the logic of an eye for an eyelash.” ment has arrived.” viser, tried to rationalize the lagging re- (some of) what A.I.G. did with our money. I sensed this debacle coming early in the Gaza operation when, On February 8, I wrote that the coun- sponse when he told The Washington Post We need to understand why some of that in another Bronner dispatch, I read a quote from an Israeli govern- try’s surge of populist rage could devour that “people are not sitting around their money was used to bail out foreign banks. ment spokesman, Mark Regev: “In the cabinet room today, there the president’s best-laid plans, including kitchen tables thinking about A.I.G.,” but And why Goldman, which declared that was an energy, a feeling that after so long of showing restraint we the essential Act II of the bank rescue, if he are instead “thinking about their own its potential losses with A.I.G. were “im- had finally acted.” didn’t get in front of it. The occasion then jobs.” While that’s technically true, it material,” nonetheless got the largest Energy? But to what purpose. Action? But to what end? As the was the controversy over Tom Daschle’s misses the point. Of course most Ameri- known A.I.G. handout of taxpayers’ cash war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 demonstrated, such use tax issues that derailed his nomination as cans don’t know how A.I.G. brought the ($12.9 billion) while also receiving a TARP of overwhelming force by Israel does nothing to resolve the coun- secretary of health and human services. world’s financial system to near-ruin bailout. We need to be told why retention try’s existential quandary. Rather, it ends up redoubling national The White House seemed utterly blindsid- or what credit-default swaps are. They bonuses went to some 50 bankers who anxiety. ed by the public’s revulsion at the moneyed may not even know what A.I.G. stands not only were in the toxic A.I.G. unit but The only way forward will involve a different calculation of secu- insiders’ culture illuminated by Daschle’s for. But Americans do make the connec- who left despite the “retention” jackpots. rity by Israel, one that places the achievement of peace as the high- lucrative post-Senate career. Yet recent tion between their fears about their own We must be told why taxpayers have so est priority — not at any price, of course, but at some price. Four events suggest that the administration jobs and their broad understanding of the little control of the bailed-out financial in- basic compromises are needed, as recommended in a new report learned nothing from that brush with di- A.I.G. debacle. stitutions that we now own some or most by the influential New-York based U.S./Middle East project. saster. They know that the corporate bosses of. And where are the results from those ¶ First, abandon almost all settlements to achieve a two-state so- Otherwise it never would have used who may yet lay them off have sometimes “stress tests” the Treasury Department lution based on the lines of June 4, 1967, with minor, reciprocal land Lawrence Summers, the chief economic is giving those banks? swaps where necessary. adviser, as a messenger just as the rage That’s just a short list. In general, it’s ¶ Second, establish Jerusalem as home to the Israeli and Pales- over American International Group’s bo- hard to imagine taxpayers paying billions tinian capitals, with Jewish neighborhoods under Israeli sover- nus fiasco was reaching a full boil. Sum- for a second bank bailout unless there’s a eignty and Arab neighborhoods under Palestinian sovereignty, mers has proven to be oblivious to the The president needs to full accounting of every dime of the first. and special arrangements for the Old City providing unimpeded anger of average Americans. Another compelling question connects access to holy sites for all communities. Bob Schieffer of CBS News asked Sum- act on the public anger, all of the above: why has there been so ¶ Third, provide for broad financial compensation for Palestin- mers the simple question that has haunted not just talk about it. little transparency and so much evasive- ian refugees, resettlement assistance in the new Palestinian state, the American public since the bailouts be- ness so far? The answer, I fear, is that too and other measures to address their sense of injustice. gan last fall: “Do you know, Dr. Summers, many of the administration’s officials are ¶ Fourth, agree to a multinational force, probably American-led, what the banks have done with all of this too marinated in the insiders’ culture to for a transitional security period. money that has been funneled to them police it, reform it or own up to their own Alas, I don’t see the Israeli prime minister designate, Benjamin through these bailouts?” What followed been as obscenely overcompensated for past complicity with it. Netanyahu, moving in this direction, unless the Obama admin- was a monologue of evasion that, translat- failure as Wall Street’s bonus babies. As The “dirty little secret,” Obama said istration can work miracles. The result will only be still greater ed into English, amounted to: Not really, The Wall Street Journal reported recently, during a recent television appearance, Israeli unease and isolation. Rebranding cannot be a matter of cos- but you little folk needn’t worry about it. chief executives at businesses as diverse is that “most of the stuff that got us into metic change alone. Yet even as Summers spoke, A.I.G. was as Texas Instruments and the home build- trouble was perfectly legal.” An even dirt- belatedly confirming what he would not. er Hovnanian Enterprises have received ier secret is that a prime mover in keep- Send comments to [email protected]. It has, in essence, been laundering its millions in bonuses even as their compa- ing that stuff legal was Summers, who $170 billion in taxpayers’ money by pay- nies’ shares have lost more than half their helped prevent the regulation of deriva- ing off its reckless partners in gambling value. tives while in the Clinton administration. and greed, from Goldman Sachs and Citi- Since Americans get the big picture of His mentor Robert Rubin, no less, wrote group on Wall Street to Société Générale this inequitable system, that grotesque in his 2003 memoir that Summers had un- and Deutsche Bank abroad. reality dwarfs any fine print. That’s why it derestimated how the risk of derivatives Summers was even more highhanded doesn’t matter that the disputed bonuses might multiply “under extraordinary cir- Direttore responsabile: Ezio Mauro in addressing the “retention bonuses” at A.I.G. amount to less than one-tenth of cumstances.” Vicedirettori: Mauro Bene, handed to the very employees who bro- one percent of its bailout. Or that Edward As for Geithner, people might take him Gregorio Botta, Dario Cresto-Dina Massimo Giannini, Angelo Rinaldi kered all those bad bets. After reciting Liddy, the current chief executive, had more seriously if he gave a credible ac- Caporedattore centrale: Angelo Aquaro the requisite outrage talking point, he de- nothing to do with A.I.G.’s collapse, or that count of why, while at the New York Fed, Caporedattore vicario: Fabio Bogo livered a patronizing lecture to viewers of John Thain, who spent a small fortune re- he and the Goldman alumnus Hank Paul- Gruppo Editoriale l’Espresso S.p.A. ABC’s “This Week” on how our “tradition decorating his office at Merrill Lynch, ar- son let Lehman Brothers fail but saved • Presidente: Carlo De Benedetti of upholding law” made it impossible to rived after, not before, others wrecked the the Goldman-trading ally A.I.G. Vicepresidente: Marco Benedetto abrogate the bonus agreements. It never company. As the nation’s anger rose, the president Amministratore delegato: Monica Mondardini occurred to Summers that Americans These players are just the handiest took responsibility for what’s happening Divisione la Repubblica via Cristoforo Colombo 90 - 00147 Roma might know that contracts are renegoti- targets for the larger rage. Passions are on his watch — more than he needed to, Direttore generale: Carlo Ottino Responsabile trattamento dati (d. lgs. 30/6/2003 n. 196): Ezio Mauro ated all the time — most conspicuously of now so hot that even Bernie Madoff’s given the disaster he inherited. But in the Reg. Trib. di Roma n. 16064 del 13/10/1975 late by the United Automobile Workers, swindling began to pale as we turned credit mess, action must match words. Tipografia: Rotocolor, v. C. Colombo 90 RM which consented to givebacks as its con- our attention to A.I.G.’s misdeeds, just as To fall short would be to deliver us into Stampa: Rotocolor, v. C. Cavallari 186/192 Roma; tribution to the Detroit bailout plan. Nor A.I.G. will fade when the next malefactor the catastrophic hands of a Republican Rotonord, v. N. Sauro 15 - Paderno Dugnano MI; Finegil Editoriale c/o Citem Soc. Coop. arl, v. G.F. Lucchini - Mantova did he note, for all his supposed reverence surfaces. opposition whose only known economic Pubblicità: A. Manzoni & C., via Nervesa 21 - Milano - 02.57494801 for the law, that the A.I.G. unit being re- In his town-hall meeting in Costa Mesa, program is to reject job-creating stimu- • warded with these bonuses is now under California, on March 18, Obama described lus spending and root for Obama and, by Supplemento a cura di: Alix Van Buren, Francesco Malgaroli legal investigation by British and Ameri- the A.I.G. bonuses as merely a symptom of extension, the country to fail. This would can authorities. “a culture where people made enormous be the biggest outrage of them all.

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Repubblica NewYork MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009 III

WORLD TRENDS A Harvest Brings Strife In Andalusia

By VICTORIA BURNETT LEPE, Spain — José María Gómez Jimenez thought his days of toiling in the Andalusian countryside were over. For much of the past eight years, Mr. Gómez, 29, earned about $1,900 a month plastering walls and working weekend shifts as a chef in this prosperous, strawberry-farming town. He bought an apartment, often went to parties after work and splurged on Many strawberry pickers in Lepe, Spain, come from other countries. trendy sneakers. Bouba Gul, praying in the middle above, wants to return to Senegal. A year ago, Mr. Gómez lost his construction job. Now he is harvesting strawberries for $1,100 a month on a their main round of recruitment in morning, Mr. Gul and his friends walk farm outside Lepe, in the Andalusian September, few local workers applied about five kilometers to nearby farms province of Huelva. for jobs. The farmers hired about half to ask for work, so far unsuccessfully. “Picking strawberries is the last the harvest’s 50,000 fruit pickers from “If I had known Europe would be resort, but it’s all there is,” Mr. Gómez overseas, only a few thousand below like this, I would never have come,” said. “The fat cows have gone, and now last year’s total. The other half are a Mr. Gul said. the lean cows are here.” mix of Spaniards and migrants resid- “This is no life: we can’t wash, we As jobs disappear across Andalusia, PHOTOGRAPHS BY LAURA LEON FOR THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE ing in Spain. can’t eat, we can’t even sleep prop- workers like Mr. Gómez are return- thousands of fruit pickers from coun- and people in the village sitting around But by the time the harvest began in erly,” Mr. Gul said. “If I can’t work, ing to the fields they abandoned for tries like Morocco and Romania. with no work,” said Malu Escobar Co- late February, many local people had if I can’t eat, how can I send money construction sites, hotels and shops But with unemployment soaring bos, 23, who lost her job as a supermar- been out of work for months and were back?” After a dangerous crossing to during Spain’s decade-long economic now, a region that successfully ab- ket cashier in Lepe five months ago desperate. Villagers staged protests Spain via the Canary Islands in a fish- boom. sorbed temporary workers when jobs and was looking for a job at the farm around the strawberry belt, threaten- ing boat, followed by two years trying They are competing with the mi- were plentiful has become an example where Mr. Gómez was working. Mr. ing to occupy farms if producers did to find a job, Mr. Gul said he was ready grants who replaced them, fueling re- of emerging friction between national Gómez’s boss, José Muriel Madrigal, not hire more local people. to quit. sentment that immigrant representa- and foreign workers, unions and farm- said about 30 job-seekers, both locals Scattered in the woods around “I’m tired,” he said. “I’m so, so tives and farmers worry could become ers. and immigrants, stopped by each day. Huelva was another set of losers in the tired. I just want to go home.” For Mr. explosive. The jobless rate in Andalusia hit 22 “It’s partly our fault, because we dire contest for farm jobs: hundreds of Gómez, the boom already seems like Huelva, one of the world’s largest percent at the end of last year, well Spaniards didn’t want to work in the migrant day laborers living in impro- a mirage. producers of strawberries, became above the national rate of 14 percent fields anymore,” Ms. Escobar said. vised shelters. Among them was Bou- “It was a dream,” he said wistfully. a magnet for foreign labor in recent and three times the average in the Eu- “But now that there’s no work in the ba Gul, 27, a Senegalese who shares a “You earned good money; you could years as Spanish farmers who could ropean Union. town, they have to find a balance.” shelter made of plastic sheeting and buy whatever you wanted. We all not find enough local workers flew in “We have fields full of immigrants Farmers said that when they did old blankets with eight men. Each thought it would last forever.”

Russia Scours Globe for Expatriates

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY and officials estimated that more than 25 mil- Give AChild WithACleft VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — Vasily Reutov had lion people were eligible, many of them ethnic never set foot in Russia until a few months ago, Russians who found themselves living in for- but the moment he did, he knew he had finally mer Soviet republics after the Soviet collapse made it home. in 1991. A Second Chance At Life. His ancestors, members of an ascetic offshoot But the government is not limiting itself to of Russian Orthodoxy known as Old Believers, Russia’s neighbors, sending emissaries around fled this region in the 1920s after the Communist the world to sell the program. One even went to Party violently suppressed religion. They set- Brazil recently to meet with residents of several tled in cloistered villages in South America that countries who, like Mr. Reutov, are Old Believ- they turned into Little Russias, as if by preserv- ers, whose followers have some similarities in ing the ways of the past, they would somehow, lifestyle to the Amish. Diaspora Old Believer someday, be able to return. communities exist worldwide, including in Now, with Russia itself beckoning and stur- Alaska and Oregon. dier than before, that time has come. Mr. Reutov, 36, was not at the meeting in Bra- The government is trying to head off the zil because he was already here, having decided country’s severe population decline by luring to enroll in the program and move with his wife back Russians who live abroad as well as their and five children from Uruguay. Others from descendants. Mr. Reutov and several dozen two villages there are planning to follow soon, other members of his religious community from he said. Uruguay have become among the most striking “We have always felt like we belonged to Rus- examples of this policy. sia,’’ Mr. Reutov said. “We are Russian, and we Yet their return also points to Russia’s dis- need to be here.’’ quieting population drop. The United Nations So far, only 10,300 people have moved back predicts that the country will fall to 116 million under the government repatriation program, people by 2050, from 141 million now, an 18 per- which has faced criticism that it is overly bu- cent decline, largely because of a low birthrate reaucratic and unpersuasive. Vladimir G. Poz- and poor health habits. dorovkin, a Foreign Ministry official who over- Moscow has spent $300 million in the past two sees the program, has visited several countries years to get the repatriation program started, in the past year to promote it, including Germa- The Smile Train provides Your support can provide free treatment for poor children ny and Egypt. At the meeting in Brazil recently, life changing free cleft with clefts and other problems. he said, he was asked many questions by Old Be- surgery which takes as Ì $250 Surgery for one child. Ì $50 Medications for one surgery. lievers about the quality of life and the business little as 45 minutes and Ì $125 Half the cost of one surgery. Ì $ We’ll gratefully accept any amount. climate in Russia. “Their desire to return to the historic home- costs as little as $250. Mr./Mrs./Ms. land is there,’’ Mr. Pozdorovkin said. “Their fa- It gives desperate Address thers and grandfathers always told them that children not just a new City State Zip Telephone eMail they had to return to Russia. But to what Russia, smile—but a new life. what conditions are there — they want to find Charge my gift to my credit card: ÌVisa ÌMasterCard ÌAMEX ÌDiscover that out beforehand.’’ “...one of the most Account No. Exp. Date Mr. Reutov said he was pleased with the help Signature that he had received from regional officials, who productive charities— Ì My check is enclosed. The SmileTrain-Dept.NPPR N09031F31NQAN02 seem equally pleased that he is returning. Rus- dollar for deed— P.O. Box 96231 sia’s vast and sparsely inhabited Far East has in the world.” Washington, DC 20090-6231 USA fallen in population to six million, from eight —The New York Times million in 1991. Tens of millions of Chinese are just over the border, but Russia does not want to allow them in. Donate online: www.smiletrain.org Still, not all Old Believer communities are as enthusiastic. The Reverend Nikolai Yakunin, a priest who leads one in Nikolaevsk, Alaska, said

JAMES HILL FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES he was often asked whether he yearned to live Vasily Reutov, left, and Aleksei Kilin, in Russia. his brother-in-law, were enticed to leave “We are not moving back,” he said. “They are still Communists there, even if they call them- The Smile Train is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit recognized by the IRS, and all donations to The Smile Train are tax-deductible in accordance with IRS regulations. © 2009 The Smile Train. Uruguay and resettle in Russia. selves democrats.’’

Repubblica NewYork IV MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009

WORLD TRENDS

Migrants left Guangzhou, The Money Is Gone. China, after the factory where they worked Will Spending Adjust? closed because demand for goods fell. The losses from the worldwide fi- put most of their endowment into nancial implosion are only now being hedge funds. It turns out such funds tallied up. Adjusting to the reality is could be extremely risky. proving hard. Those colleges, like many other That difficulty is the unifying fact in suddenly less well-off investors, now much of the news these face decisions. Should they shift to less FLOYD days — as well as in the risky investments with the money that mass public outrage is left, thus giving up the profits that NORRIS over Bernard Madoff, a will come if the market does bounce man who stole primar- back, as some hope it has already ESSAY ily from the well-off. begun to do? Or should they hang in Much of the anger is there and risk even bigger losses? coming from people who did not lose a In the meantime, a host of college dime from his Ponzi scheme but who construction projects have been sus- have lost plenty in the stock and real pended because the money that was estate markets and would dearly love to pay for them is gone. Those deci- to find someone to blame. sions, rational as they may be, are All those who lost a lot — and a lot putting further downward pressure CHINA PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES is defined differently for each person on the economy just as the college — now face similar decisions. Do they building binge fueled by previous admit they are permanently poorer, stock market profits helped to stimu- Factories Around the World Feel the Pain and adjust both their spending and their sense of how successful they have been? Or do they seek to deny Losing Ground By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ pean economist with Goldman Sachs in Eastern Europe and Asia. In the reality and hope that somehow the Since it was founded by his great- in Frankfurt. last five years, Schütte’s sales soared good old days will return? Annualized change in net worth of grandfather in 1880, Carl Martin The pattern of manufacturing and to about 100 million euros ($131 mil- That problem can be illustrated U.S. households over four-year Welcker’s company in Cologne, Ger- trade ominously recalls how the finan- lion) from 58 million. by the bonuses paid to executives at periods, before inflation. many, has mirrored the fortunes of cial crisis of 1929 grew into the Great While manufacturing equals about companies like the American Inter- + 15% manufacturing, not just in Europe Depression: tightening credit and 14 percent of gross domestic product national Group. They still think they but around the world. consumer fear reduced demand for in the United States, it totals 18 per- deserve to be treated as highly suc- + 10 That is still true today. In a pattern manufactured goods in one country cent worldwide, and accounts for 33 cessful people running a large finan- familiar to industrial businesses in after another, creating a downward percent of G.D.P. in China, accord- cial company. The fact that it would + 5 Europe, Asia and the United States, spiral that reduced global trade. ing to the World Bank. That means have collapsed if not for the govern- Mr. Welcker says his company, Schüt- “Plunging manufacturing sug- that China, Brazil, India and other ment’s repeated bailouts is viewed as 0 te, which makes the machines that gests that as bad as things were in fast-growing emerging market coun- an insignificant detail. churn out 80 percent of the world’s the fourth quarter, they are at least tries that have escaped the worst of And it could also be seen recently ’60 ’70 ’80 ’90 ’00 ’08 spark plugs, is facing “a tragedy.” as bad now,” said Robert J. Barbera, the fallout from the credit crisis will in a legislative proposal being pushed Source: Federal Reserve, via Haver Analytics Orders are down 50 percent from a chief economist at ITG, a New York increasingly suffer, dragging down by art museum directors in New York THE NEW YORK TIMES year ago, and Mr. Welcker is cutting research and trading business. “This demand in more advanced Western that would bar museums in financial costs and contemplating layoffs to pre- is a classic adverse feedback loop. It economies . difficulty from selling artwork to vent Schütte from falling into debt. Although the problems of manu- raise money to pay other bills. Even late the economy. That manufacturing is in decline is facturers supplying the auto industry without such a law, one museum that State and local governments with hardly surprising, but the depth and and other so-called big iron manufac- sold artwork is to be punished by not pension plans are facing similar is- speed of the plunge are striking and, turers of products like locomotives, being allowed to borrow art from sues. Rather than raise taxes or hold most worrisome for economists, a Tight credit and fear jet engines and power turbines have other museums. back promised benefits, it was easier self-reinforcing trend not unlike the gotten the most attention, makers of There was outrage earlier this year to assume generous stock market re- cascading bust that led to the Great are ominous signs for a variety of other products, including when Brandeis University in Mas- turns would continue forever. Depression. manufacturers. handicrafts, clothes and jewelry, are sachusetts announced plans to close Faced with underfunded state In Europe, for example, where suffering too. its art museum and sell the paintings. pension plans, New Jersey even sold manufacturing accounts for nearly India’s manufacturing sector, The university’s endowment was taxable bonds to raise cash to put into a fifth of gross domestic product, in- which accounts for about 16 percent devastated by bad investments. the funds. That would save the state dustrial production is down 12 per- of G.D.P., recently recorded its first What do people opposed to the sale money if profits from the funds’ in- cent from a year ago. In Brazil, it has won’t quickly correct itself.” quarterly production decline in more of paintings think suddenly poor investments exceeded the interest paid fallen 15 percent; in Taiwan, a stag- That means more workers can than a decade. stitutions should do? Close? Seek gov- on the bonds. It would cost a lot if the gering 43 percent. expect to lose their jobs around the Since last April, handicraft exports ernment bailouts? Should Brandeis market plunged. Even in China, which has become world in coming months as manufac- have fallen by 55 percent to $1.35 bil- close down a few academic depart- Now New Jersey wants to find the workshop of the world, production turers continue to cut production, es- lion, and textile makers estimate they ments, or cut back on scholarships, to villains to blame. It recently sued growth has slowed, with exports fall- pecially as global trade contracts. have slashed half a million jobs. Banks keep its art? former officials of Lehman Brothers, ing more than 25 percent and millions In fact, trade is shrinking even are restructuring loans for diamond Brandeis is hardly the only college saying they lied about the firm’s fi- of factory workers being laid off. faster than production. Germany’s makers and polishers. whose endowment has contracted nancial position before it collapsed. In the United States, industrial out- exports are down 20 percent from a And despite tax cuts and a $64 mil- sharply. I suspect that when the final As a society, we are not as rich as we put fell 11 percent in February from year ago, Japan’s have plunged 46 lion stimulus package announced in numbers are in it will turn out that thought we were. The Federal Reserve a year ago, according to statistics percent, and in the United States, ex- February, Indian textile makers are colleges as a group did far worse than now estimates that American house- released March 16 by the Federal Re- ports fell at an annualized rate of 23.6 pushing for more government help. the stock market while the market holds as a group are poorer than they serve. percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. “We’re competing with countries was doing horribly. were four years ago, even before ad- “Manufacturing has fallen off the Mr. Welcker says he has never seen like Bangladesh, where wages are That is because colleges followed justing for inflation. That had not hap- cliff, and it’s certainly the biggest anything like it. For parallels, he has lower,” said Rakesh Vaid, the chair- the herd. They poured money into so- pened in any four-year period since decline since the Second World War,” to hark back to the Great Depression man of Usha Fabs, a Delhi textile called alternative investments, which the Fed began making those estimates said Dirk Schumacher, senior Euro- and World War II, when Schütte’s fac- manufacturer. “We’re competing had appeared to be so successful for more than half a century ago. tory was destroyed. Afterfocusingon with China where the currency is well Harvard and Yale. Alumni clamored It is not an easy reality to adjust to. Heather Timmons contributed Germany and Europe in the decades managed, and Vietnam where the in- to know why their college could not But simply assuming that we deserve reporting from New Delhi and after the war, Schütte thrived recently dustry is getting strong support from show similar returns, and some col- to live as if it had not happened will Hiroko Tabuchi from Tokyo. as globalization opened new markets the government.” leges that could ill afford big losses only make things worse.

Bulgaria asked for help Protectionist Sentiment Rises in reopening its border crossings with Greece, which As Economic Slump Spreads angry farmers had shut to protest low food prices.

assistant secretary of state for West- From Page I ern Hemisphere affairs, who is work- Price, the former Bush administration distances on American roads. Mexico ing with other officials to devise a new official who is now a trade lawyer with retaliated by imposing duties on $2.4 pilot program for trucks that will sat- the firm Sidley Austin, said the leaders billion worth of American goods. The isfy critics in Congress. should go further in London. trucking dispute has its roots in the Mexico’s tariffs affect 90 products Given Mr. Obama’s ambiguous po- North American Free Trade Agree- from 40 states, accounting for less sitions on trade during the campaign ment, or Nafta, which guaranteed than 2 percent of American exports. — he favored renegotiating Nafta — Mexico, Canada and the United States Mr. Shannon said it underscored the economists praise him for taking a de- access to one another’s highways for breadth of the trading relationship. BORYANA KATSAROVA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES fensive stand against protectionism so cargo transport by 2000. Even without protectionism, the B. Zoellick, warned recently that 2009 The stimulus plans that the United far. But as stimulus programs begin to While resistance in Congress to Mex- synchronized global downturn is could be a “very dangerous” year, as States is pushing Europe to adopt take hold, they could encourage con- ican trucks is long-running, based in likely to result in the largest annual leaders faced rising calls for protec- can also distort trade, depending on sumers to buy more imported goods . part on safety and environmental con- decline in world trade in 80 years, action from economically insecure how much they rely on subsidies. In “The U.S. is in such great danger of cerns, American officials worry it will cording to the World Bank. While the populations. He called on the World November, the Group of 20 agreed to backing away from free trade,” said cause broader frictions with Mexico. bank said it was difficult to quantify Trade Organization to monitor pro- “refrain from raising new barriers to Kenneth S. Rogoff, a professor of eco- “It’s very worrisome to the Mexi- the effects of the new barriers, they tectionist actions and publicize them. investment or to trade in goods and ser- nomics at Harvard University. “The cans because it’s seen as protection- could aggravate that decline. But not all the measures violate the vices,” regardless of whether the mea- next two years could be a disaster for ism,” said Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the The World Bank president, Robert body’s laws. sures complied with trade laws. Mr. free trade.”

Repubblica NewYork MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009 V

AMERICANA In Recession’s Shadow, Escaping to South Beach

By RUTH LA FERLA other retailers are suffering, reporting MIAMI BEACH — In recent a drop in sales of as much as 20 percent. months, the sinking economy has, On weekdays and some weekends, inevitably, altered the landscape and Lincoln Road traffic can dwindle to a go-go spirit of Miami Beach. Many of trickle. Mead Dunevant, an assistant the glittery hotels lining Ocean Drive manager at Fly Boutique, a vintage are barely two- shop, complained: “It’s dead here, like %')*&$" thirds full, and es- summer. People aren’t spending what #&$'& calating rents and they were, and that leaves less for the slowing sales have locals.” forced a number of Still, the economy has not deterred boutiques and res- a handful of outsiders from establish- taurants to move ing beachheads on the mall. J. Crew is off the Lincoln expected to arrive in November, and Road Mall, the eight-block-long pe- Diesel, the Milan-based purveyor of destrian street that is South Beach’s hip casual wear, opened its doors in town center. January. Clearly, the recession has cast a “There are certain markets where shadow here. But it is not a long enough we have unbelievable success,” Steve shadow to have darkened the spirits of Birkhold, the chief executive of Diesel many heat-seeking visitors, who still U.S.A., told Women’s Wear Daily, “and descend on South Beach in search of Miami is one of them.” escape. Lulled by the languid air and Some of these mainstream ven- the pastel-tinted backdrop of Art Deco tures are predicted to fare well. But PHOTOGRAPHS BY MONICA ALMEIDA/THE NEW YORK TIMES hotels, many are still intent on indulg- broad economic indicators depict a Johnny Garza was forced to move his family into a motel after he and his wife, Tamara, lost their jobs. ing a hedonistic streak. boomtown that has cooled. Declining Below, Paris Andre Navarro and her daughter, Crystal, have lived in a motel for three years. Tourists — 12.1 million last year prices and rising numbers of homes for Miami and Miami Beach, accord- and apartments for sale place Miami ing to the most recent figures from and Miami Beach at the leading edge the Greater Miami Convention and of the nation’s real estate crisis. Home Visitors Bureau — are still arriving prices are 15 to 25 percent lower than As Jobs Vanish, Motels Become Home from New York and Atlanta, Buenos at their peak in 2004, according to Mi- Aires and São Paulo, Brazil, swarm- chael Y. Cannon, a real estate analyst ing clubs, restaurants, pool decks and in Miami. By ERIK ECKHOLM boutiques. In the last half-dozen years, a more COSTA MESA, California — There “People are drinking vodka instead ambitious wave of development has is a new face of homelessness in Or- of Champagne, but the crowds are still given rise to hotels like the Setai and ange County in Southern California: here,” said Roman Jones, owner of the the Fontainebleau, which underwent formerly middle income, living week Opium Group, the force behind flashy a $500 million renovation last year. “At to week in a cramped motel room. clubs like Set, Mansion, Privé and the As the recession trendy Louis Bar, which is inside the #"'&%)*(&" has deepened, eight-month-old Gansevoort South ho- "()*$ #%)$ longtime work- tel. Despite the recession, about 15,000 ers who lost their people continue to pass through Mr. Warm days and hot jobs are facing the Jones’s clubs each night, he said. terror and stigma “They come to blow off steam, and if nightclubs haven’t lost of homelessness spending $5,000 over a couple of nights for the first time, will make them forget they lost more their decadent allure. including those who have owned or than $5 million, then in their minds it’s rented for years. Some show up in worth it,” he said. “They’re marking shelters and on the streets, but oth- an era that has passed, but they want ers are the hidden homeless — living to hold on to it.” this point, I think we’re set in stone,” doubled up in apartments, in garages At Louis Bar, Adriana Leone, a den- said Michael Capponi, a local promot- or in motels, uncounted in federal tist with a practice on Wall Street, said, er and builder. “There is too much in- homeless data and often receiving “I came because the place is new, but vestment for it all to collapse.” little public aid. mostly because I needed to get away On a recent Friday night, the fever- “The motels have become the de in motel life for years because of bad from the depressing economy that is ish activity at restaurants and night facto low-income housing of Orange credit ratings and the difficulty of New York City right now.” spots suggested there may be more County,” said Wally Gonzales, direc- With little public aid, saving the extra months’ rent and She is one of many visitors embrac- to Mr. Capponi’s claim than wishful tor of Project Dignity, one of dozens security deposits to secure an apart- ing Miami Beach as the ultimate thinking. of small charities and church groups growing numbers of ment. escape, a place to shrug off the inhi- At Prime 112 on Ocean Drive, one of that have emerged to assist families, Paris Andre Navarro, 47, knows bitions — fiscal or otherwise — that five South Beach restaurants owned relying on donations of food, clothing hidden homeless. how hard it can be to climb back. She restrain them at home. by Myles Chefetz, a line of patrons in and toys. and her husband used to have good This time, the usual streams of double-breasted suits and short cock- The Garza family moved to the jobs and an apartment in Garden visitors from New York, Latin Amer- tail dresses snaked from the bar to the Costa Mesa Motor Inn in August, af- Grove, 48 kilometers from Los Ange- ica and Europe have been joined by sidewalk outside, waiting for tables. ter the husband, Johnny, lost his job at lies,” said Terry Lowe, director of les. But they have spent the last three wealthy Russians . Inside, others enjoyed a double-por- Target, his wife, Tamara, lost her job community services in Anaheim, years with their 11-year-old daughter “In the first week of January, we did tion $79 Porterhouse steak or sampled at Petco, a pet supply store, and they California. in the El Dorado Inn. as much business as we did last year the restaurant’s exotic rendition of were evicted from their two-bedroom The motels range from those with Their troubles began when her hus- for that entire month, and it was all comfort food: a steaming truffle-laced rental. Their 9-year-old daughter now tattered rugs and residents who abuse band’s medical problems forced him Russians,” said Roma Cohen, a part- platter of macaroni and cheese. shares a bed with two younger broth- alcohol and drugs to newer places to leave his job as a computer techni- ner in Alchemist, a year-old Lincoln Business at Prime 112 was up 5 per- ers, their toys and schoolbooks piled with playgrounds and kitchenettes. cian and her home-care job ended. Road boutique selling high-end fash- cent in 2008 over the year before, said on the floor. The couple’s baby boy, With names like the Covered Wagon They were evicted and moved into ion by Azzedine Alaïa and Rick Ow- Mr. Chefetz, attributing the rise to peo- born in April, sleeps in a small crib. Motel and the El Dorado Inn, they the motel, and she started working at ens. “They’re the only ones who buy ple who “like to act rich for a night.” Rental aid from federal and county look like any other modestly priced a Target department store. Last year, without asking for discounts.” “This isn’t New York,” he said. “It’s programs reaches only a small frac- stopover inland from the upscale when her husband started a telemar- Mr. Cohen, hard-pressed to keep hot not considered bad taste to spend tion of needy families, said Bob Cer- beach towns. But walk inside and the keting job, they thought they might labels in stock, may be doing well, but money here.” ince, coordinator for homeless and perception immediately changes. escape. That hope evaporated when motel residents services in Anaheim, In the evening, the smell of pasta her hours at Target were cut in half. who estimated the families at more sauce cooked on hot plates drifts What with the $241 weekly rent, the than 1,000. through half-open doors; in the morn- cost of essentials and a $380 car pay- Motel families exist by the hun- ing, children leave to catch school ment, they cannot save. dreds in Denver, along Route 1 which buses. Families of three, six or more “Now we’re just living paycheck to connects the major cities on the East- are squeezed into a room, one child paycheck,” Ms. Navarro said. ern Seaboard, and in other cities from doing homework on a bed, jostled by Their daughter, Crystal, tries to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Portland, another watching television. Chil- sound stoical. “What I miss most is Oregon. But they are especially prev- dren rotate at bedtime, taking their having a pet,” she said. The motel alent in Orange County, which has turns on the floor. Some families use a does not allow pets, so she gave away high rents, a shortage of public hous- closet for baby cribs. her cat and kittens. ing and a surplus of older motels that President Obama’s stimulus pack- Greg Hayworth, whose family once housed Disneyland visitors. age may give hope to more people has spent six dispiriting months in In the past, motel families here and blunt the projected rise of fami- the Costa Mesa Inn, tried working were mainly drawn from the chroni- lies who could end up in motels and in sales but has had trouble finding cally struggling. In 1998, an exposé of shelters, said Nan Roman, president a lasting job. His teenage daughter neglected motel children by The Or- of the National Alliance to End Home- has had the roughest time because ange County Register prompted cre- lessness in Washington. The package of the lack of privacy. She is too em- ation of city task forces and promises allows $1.5 billion for homeless pre- barrassed to take friends home, and of help. But in recent months, schools, vention, including help with rent and is uncomfortable dressing in front of churches and charities report a differ- security deposits. her brothers, who are 10 and 11. ent sort of family showing up. Many motel residents have at least “I’d promised my daughter that “People asking for help are from a one working parent and pay $800 to we’d be out of here by her birthday,” BARBARA P. FERNANDEZ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES wider demographic range than we’ve $1,200 a month for a room. Yet even Mr. Hayworth said. “But that came The pool lounges and nightclubs of Miami Beach are still filled with seen in the past, middle-income fami- those with jobs can become mired last week, and we’re still here.” tourists from Latin America and Russia.

Repubblica NewYork VI MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009

BUSINESS OF GREEN Apartment Renovation Is Green, and Affordable

By PENELOPE GREEN searching green financing. To buy the BARCELONA, Spain — Petz Schol- place, she obtained a mortgage from tus’s renovation of an apartment in the Triodos, a Dutch ethical bank. Ethi- Barri Gòtic, or old city, was a carbon- cal banks (which are more common neutral success. in Europe and Canada) invest only in Eco-renovation is the phrase Ms. socially or ecologically responsible Scholtus, a 28-year-old product de- businesses and projects. signer from Luxembourg, has been In making her new home livable, using to describe the ongoing restora- Ms. Scholtus’s challenge was to hew tion and decoration of a one-bedroom as closely as possible to the three R’s apartment in the 18th-century build- of environmentalism: reduce, reuse, ing where she lives and works. In recycle. Could she find products that Barcelona, a city that has long prized were made close to home, were pro- the new and the glossy, Ms. Scholtus’s duced without a huge environmental project amounts to a countercultural impact, could be dismantled after her effort. tenancy and did not use too much en- “Here people have an idea that sus- ergy? Oh, and all for under 30,000 eu- tainable is for the rich or that it’s some- ros (about $38,000)? thing horrible and low-quality hippy,” There were successes and disap- Ms. Scholtus said. “I wanted to see if pointments, but the budget didn’t it was possible to make it inexpensive waver. One disappointment: The but also, you know, cool.” smashed-television-screen floor tiles Ms. Scholtus’s experiences (which she found for the kitchen and bath- room in off-white turned out to be a sickly beige. She quickly found ceramic tiles made by a PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUG KANTER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES local company that had its own water-treatment plant — that By DAN LEVIN Prices for recyclables was the good part. But because BEIJING — Each morning Tian have fallen as the they were ceramic, they could Wengui emerges from the home economic crisis has only be installed with grout — he makes under a bridge here, two reduced demand. the old-fashioned permanent large sacks slung over his shoulder. way, not ideal for someone who Through the day and well into the Used paper at a prefers disposable products. night, he scours garbage cans for so- recycling center in An electrician from Colombia da bottles, soy sauce containers and Beijing. A calligraphy became her assistant and then cooking oil jugs. Selling the refuse to collection, left. her full-time contractor, though one of Beijing’s ubiquitous recycling he initially mocked her instruc- depots, he can earn $3 on a good day. tions to find things like PVC- But good days are getting harder to tion estimates the value free pipes for the new plumbing come by. of American recyclables (PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is a Since Mr. Tian migrated from Sich- has decreased by 50 to 70 ubiquitous building material; uan Province, the multibillion-dollar percent. environmentalists are con- recycling industry has gone into a Western dealers say cerned about toxic emissions nosedive because of the global eco- they are grappling with during its manufacture and dis- nomic crisis and a concomitant fall in mounting stockpiles posal). commodity prices. Bottles now sell for whose value in many cas- “In the end, he got into it,” half of what they did in the summer. es continues to sink. she said, “and asked me, ‘Is this “Even trash has become worth- Because Chinese consumption is To make matters worse, Chinese sustainable?’ or ‘Why is this not less,” Mr. Tian said. far less developed than the West’s, importers are demanding to renego- good?’ ” The collapse of the recycling busi- more than 70 percent of the materi- tiate contracts drastically downward. To heat the apartment and the ness has affected people like Mr. als that feed the country’s recycling In some cases, they are refusing to ac- water, Ms. Scholtus purchased Tian, the middlemen who buy the industry must come from abroad, said cept shipments they already have a STEFANO BUONAMICI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES an efficient condensing gas waste products and the factories Wang Yonggang, a spokesman for the contractual obligation to take. Petz Scholtus renovated her apartment boiler . that refashion the recyclable waste China National Resources Recycling “There are still many containers in an eco-friendly manner. She She also dreamed of radiant into products bound for stores and Association. “Chinese tradition is all full of waste sitting at the port in Hong covered an armchair with newspapers; floor heating, but its cost pushed construction sites around the world. about saving and being thrifty,” he Kong,” Mr. Wang of the recycling as- the cork floor tiles click into place. her toward radiators. She chose American and European waste deal- said. “People here would rather have sociation said. “It’s hard to say when Low-H O radiators (which use ers who sell to China are finding that things repaired several times before they’ll be picked up.” 2 two liters of water, rather than their shipments are being refused by abandoning them.” The tough times are hitting Chinese she recounts on her blog, r3project. 20, a big energy saver), made by the clients when they arrive in Asia. The drop in prices was so rapid that recyclers at every level. blogspot.com) are lessons in how one stylish radiator company Jaga. The ultimate victim may be the in a matter of weeks last fall, container On a recent day on the outskirts of can realize green ideals on a budget in Ms. Scholtus’s dining room table environment, now further burdened ships carrying used railroad wheels Beijing, Chen Xiaorong, 36, squatted an existing home in any city. is a glass slab she found in the rubble with refuse that until recently would and empty dog food cans arrived in on a vast island of stockpiled note- Ms. Scholtus bought the apartment of her apartment. “The workers kept have been recycled. Chinese ports worth far less than they pads, magazines and schoolbooks for 235,000 euros in 2006 (just under complaining that it was too big to The effect is being felt acutely in had been when they departed New- near her tiny brick shack. $300,000): it had no plumbing, no elec- remove,” she said. So she found tres- China, the world’s largest garbage ark, Rotterdam or Los Angeles. “I know people who lost everything tricity; no glass in its windows; the tles on the street, painted them and importer. The United States, for ex- “Everything was moving along just betting on recycling,” she said. toilet was in a closet on the terrace; placed them under the slab to make ample, exported 10.5 million metric fine until October and then we fell off Many of her neighbors have re- and what would become the bedroom a table. tons of recovered paper and card- a cliff,” said Bruce Savage, a spokes- turned to the countryside, while the was closed off by a load-bearing wall Dismantled wine boxes await de- board last year to China, up from 1.9 man for the Institute of Scrap Recy- $735 her extended family would earn (the only entrance was from the ter- ployment as the doors to her Ikea million metric tons in 2000, according cling Industries, a trade organization a month has shrunk to $360. race). kitchen cabinets and ancient drawers to the American Forest and Paper As- that mostly represents American Sorting through discarded sheets Because Ms. Scholtus had chal- rescued from the street smell of in- sociation. waste processing companies. of Chairman Mao’s poems, she added, lenged herself to be environmentally cense — “I think they must have come The United States exported $22 bil- “China now has more garbage than it responsible during every stage of from a church,” Ms. Scholtus said, Zhan Yingying and Tang Xuemei lion worth of recycled materials to 152 can digest. Do we really need Ameri- home ownership, she began by re- wrinkling her nose. contributed research. countries in 2007. Now the organiza- ca’s junk, too?”

Enlisting Fish and Chips to Combat Climate Change

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL fine used cooking oil into biodiesel. The vans. And the occasional environmen- Colin Friedlos sells refined cooking NUNEATON, England — Andy global recession and the steep drop talist has experimented with individu- oil, which costs about 10 percent Roost drove his blue Peugeot 205 onto in oil prices have killed many of those ally filtering the oil and using it as fuel. less than diesel fuel, from jugs. a farm, where signs pointed one way large ventures. But smaller ones like Here, however, the direct-to-the- for “eggs” and another for “oil.” He un- Mr. Friedlos’s are filling the void, hav- tank approach is gainingpopularity, at- screwed the gas cap and chatted non- ing been deluged by offers of free oil tracting people like Mr. Roost. The oil, justments that, added together, could chalantly as Colin Friedlos, the propri- from restaurants. he said, is “good for the environment help reduce emissions of greenhouse etor, poured three jugs of used cooking Some dealers here offer fill-ups in and it’s cheaper than diesel, even now gases. The main barriers to the wide- oil — tinted green to indicate environ- suburban yards and barns. Others — that prices have dropped.” It costs $1.29 spread use of cooking oil, Dr. Jensen mental benefit — into the gas tank. like John Nicholson, founder of a small per liter, about 10 percent less than die- said, are “structural,” like the lack of Mr. Friedlos operates one of hun- company in Wales — deliver jugs of sel costs now and about one-third less standards for processing the fuel and dreds of small plants in Britain that are green fuel to hundreds of customers, than it cost at its peak last year. adapting vehicles to run on it. HAZEL THOMPSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES processing, and often selling to private much like a vehicular milkman. Used cooking oil will never erase the Others disagree. Stuart Johnson, motorists, used cooking oil, which can Used cooking oil has attracted need for filling stations, nor will it, by manager of engineering and environ- engines with fuel-injection systems. be poured directly into unmodified die- growing attention as a cleaner, less itself, reverse climate change. ment at Volkswagen of America, called None of that seems to concern Mr. sel cars, from Fords to Mercedes. expensive alternative to fossil fuels for “You can’t eat enough French fries” putting raw vegetable oil in cars “a Nicholson, the Welsh entrepreneur. Last year, when the price of crude oil vehicles. In many countries, the oil is to serve all the cars in the West, said bad idea.” The inconsistent quality of “People say, ‘I’ve got no choice but the topped $147 a barrel, a number of large collected by companies and refined in- Peder Jensen, a transport specialist at cooking oil fuel, he said, means “it may regular filling station, and they sell companies in Europe and the United to a form of diesel. Some cities use it in the European Environment Agency. contain impurities and it may be too only fossil fuel,’” he said. “You’ve got States set up plants to collect and re- specially modified municipal buses or But he said it was one of many small ad- viscous,” especially for newer diesel to think differently.”

Repubblica NewYork MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009 VII

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A Very Good Year for a Whale Species in the North Atlantic

By CORNELIA DEAN ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Georgia — The biologists had been in the plane for hours, flying back and forth over the ocean. They had seen dolphins, leath- erback turtles, a flock of water birds called gannets and even a basking shark — but not what they were looking for. Then Millie Brower, who was peer- ing with intense concentration through a bubblelike window fitted into the plane’s fuselage, announced “nine o’clock, about a mile off.” The plane banked left and began to circle. And there, below, were a right whale mother ROSALIND ROLLAND/NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM and her new calf, barely breaking the A record number of right whale calves have been spotted this spring. surface, lolling in the swells. Whale-sniffing dogs help scientists collect waste. The researchers, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion and the Georgia Wildlife Trust, large aggregation of right whales in of good news,” said Tony LaCasse, are part of an intense effort to monitor the Gulf of Maine. A month later, a right a spokesman for the New England North Atlantic right whales, one of the whale turned up in the Azores, a first Aquarium in Boston, a center of right most endangered, and closely watched, since the early 20th century. And last whale research. species on earth. As a database check year, probably for the first time since Recent changes in shipping lanes eventually disclosed, the whale was the 1600s, not one North Atlantic right seem to be reducing collisions between Diablo, who was born in these waters whale died at human hands. whales and vessels. The Bush adminis- eight years ago. Her calf was the 38th North Atlantic right whales, which tration agreed last year to lower speed born this year, a record that would be can grow up to 17 meters long and weigh limits for large vessels in coastal wa- surpassed just weeks later, with a re- up to 65 metric tons, were the “right” ters where right whales congregate. port from NOAA on the birth of a 39th whales for 18th- and 19th-century whal- Fishing authorities in the United calf. The previous record was 31, set in ers because they are rich in oil and ba- States are beginning to impose gear re- 2001. leen, move slowly, keep close to shore strictions designed to reduce the chanc- “It’s a bumper year for calves,” Rich- and float when they die. es whales and other marine mammals ard Merrick, an oceanographer for They were hunted to extinction in will be entangled in fishing lines. “We NOAA’s fisheries service, said in an European waters, and by 1900 per- are seeing signs of recovery,” Dr. Mer- interview. “That’s a good sign.” haps only 100 or so remained in their rick said. He and others warn that it is Actually, it’s one of so many good North American range, fromMaritime far too soon to say the whales are out signs that researchers are beginning Canada to winter calving grounds off of danger. to hope that for the first time in centu- the southeastern coast of the United In weighing the value of a species, ries things are looking up for the right States. Since then, the species’ num- “each individual has to sort that out whale. bers have crept up, but very slowly. NO- for themselves,” said Barb Zoodsma, In December, researchers from the AA estimates that there are about 325. a NOAA biologist. But if right whales National Oceanic and Atmospheric But “over the last four or five months vanished, she said, “it would be a tre- FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION/NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Administration spotted an unusually there’s been a tremendous amount mendous loss for future generations.”

A new breed The Elusive Mechanics of technologies is taking shape that will extend Of Memory the reach of search engines. Like many people, I can never re- of like-minded neurons will fire. Professor member a joke. I hear or read something This process helps explain why some Juliana Freire hilarious, I laugh loudly, and then I in- of life’s offerings are deeply embed- is working on stantly forget everything about it. ded in our minds. Music, for example. DeepPeep, an For researchers who study memory, “The brain has a strong propensity to effort to index the ease with which organize information and perception in every public people forget jokes is one patterns, and music plays into that incli- NATALIE of those quirks that end nation,” said Michael Thaut, a professor database online. ANGIER up revealing a surpris- of music and neuroscience at Colorado ing amount about the State University. “From an acoustical ESSAY underlying architecture perspective, music is an overstructured of memory. language, which the brain invented and And there are plenty of other illumi- which the brain loves to hear.” nating examples of memory’s whimsy Really great jokes, on the other hand, and bad taste — like why you may forget work not by conforming to pattern your spouse’s birthday but will go to recognition routines but by subverting JEFFREY D. ALLRED FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES your deathbed remembering every them. “Jokes work because they deal word of a bad television show’s theme with the unexpected, starting in one song. And why you must chop a string of direction and then veering off into an- Exploring the Hidden Corners of the Web data like a phone number into manage- other,” said Robert Provine, a professor able and predictable chunks of psychology at the Univer- to remember it. sity of Maryland, Baltimore By ALEX WRIGHT happens, it will do more than just searches with the databases most Welcome to the human County, and the author of One day last summer, Google’s improve the quality of search re- likely to yield relevant information, brain. “Laughter: A Scientific In- search engine trundled quietly sults — it may ultimately reshape then returns an overview of the top- In understanding human vestigation.” “What makes a past a milestone. It added the one the way many companies do busi- ic drawn from multiple sources. memory and its oddities, joke successful are the same trillionth address to the list of Web ness online. “Most search engines try to help Scott A. Small, a neurologist properties that can make it pages it knows about. But as impos- Search engines rely on programs you find a needle in a haystack,” Mr. and memory researcher at difficult to remember.” sibly big as that number may seem, known as crawlersthat gather infor- Rajaraman said, “but what we’re Columbia University in New Memory researchers sug- it represents only a fraction of the mation by following the trails of hy- trying to do is help you explore the York, suggests the analogy gest additional reasons that entire Web. perlinks that tie the Web together. haystack.” with computer memory. great jokes may elude com- Beyond those trillion pages lies While that approach works well for To extract meaningful data from We have our version of a mon capture. an even vaster Web of hidden data: the pages that make up the surface the Deep Web, search engines have buffer, he said, a short-term Daniel L. Schacter, a pro- financial information, shopping to analyze users’ search terms and working memory of limited SERGE BLOCH fessor of psychology at Harvard catalogs, flight schedules, medi- figure out how to broker those que- scope and fast turnover rate. We have University, ays there is a big differ- cal research and all kinds of other ries to particular databases. our equivalent of a save button: the ence between verbatim recall of all the material stored in databases that Professor Juliana Freire at the hippocampus, deep in the forebrain, details of an event and gist recall of its remain largely invisible to search Beyond Google, University of Utah is working on an is essential for translating short-term general meaning. engines. ambitious project called DeepPeep memories into a more permanent form. “We humans are pretty good at gist The challenges that the major new ways to sort that eventually aims to crawl and Our frontal lobes perform the find recall but have difficulty with being ex- search engines face in penetrating information. index every database on the public function, retrieving saved files to embel- act,” he said. Though anecdotes can be this so-called Deep Web go a long Web. Extracting the contents of so lish as needed. And though scientists told in broad outline, jokes live or die by way toward explaining why they many far-flung data sets requires a used to believe that short- and long-term nuance, precision and timing. still can’t provide satisfying an- sophisticated kind of computational memories were stored in different parts Memories can be strengthened with swers to questions like “What’s the guessing game. of the brain, they have discovered that time and practice, but if there’s one part best fare from New York to London Web, these programs have a harder “The naïve way would be to que- what really distinguishes the lasting of the system that resists improvement, next Thursday?” The answers are time penetrating databases that are ry all the words in the dictionary,” from the transient is how strongly the it’s our buffers, the size of our working available — if only the search en- set up to respond to typed queries. Ms. Freire said. Instead, DeepPeep memory is engraved in the brain, and memory on which a few items can be gines knew how to find them. “The crawlable Web is the tip of starts by posing a small number of the thickness and complexity of the con- temporarily cached. Much research Now a new breed of technologies the iceberg,” says Anand Rajara- sample queries, “so we can then use nections linking large populations of suggests that we can hold in short-term is taking shape that will extend the man, co-founder of Kosmix, a Deep that to build up our understanding brain cells. The deeper the memory, the memory only five to nine data chunks at reach of search engines into the Web search start-up. Kosmix has of the databases and choose which more readily and robustly an ensemble a time. Web’s hidden corners. When that developed software that matches words to search.”

Repubblica NewYork VIII MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009

ARTS & STYLES Global Quest Monsters and Aliens To Uncover Leap Off the Big Screen New Sounds By BROOKS BARNES story they were attempting to adopt GLENDALE, California — When focuses on Susan (voiced by Reese And Fans Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon Witherspoon), a small-town girl who signed up as directors of “Monsters vs. gets hit by a meteor at her wedding Aliens,” the latest computer-generated and grows to be 15 meters tall. A tough By WILL HERMES spectacle from DreamWorks Anima- monster wrangler, General W.R. Mon- Musical acts from different points tion, they were worried about all the ger (Kiefer Sutherland), hauls the on the globe are helping to dispel the usual things: telling a good story, hir- newly named Ginormica away to a se- notion that world music is a folk cat- ing the celebrity vocal talent, surviving cret monster prison, where she meets egory geared toward older listeners. a four-year production process without the gang, which includes Dr. Cock- Congolese artists, including suffering a nervous breakdown. roach, a brilliant scientist with a roach Konono N°1 and Kasai Allstars, Then Jeffrey Katzenberg threw a head (Hugh Laurie); the fish-ape hy- working with European producers challenge at them. After work on the brid Missing Link (Will Arnett); and and artists (like Bjork, who recorded movie was well under way, Mr. Katzen- Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate, or and toured with Konono N°1), have berg, DreamWorks Animation’s chief B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a shapeless tur- made their hypnotic, urbanized tra- executive, informed the pair that they quoise blob. ditional music available to Western would also need to deliver the movie Although Mr. Katzenberg had pro- fans of techno and psychedelic rock. in 3-D. posed 3-D as a grown-up creative And various types of contemporary “We were totally taken aback,” Mr. form, the artists, directors and pro- African club music, especially the Vernon said, sitting in a conference ducers working on the project discov- Angolan and Portuguese group room at DreamWorks headquarters ered that they were very unsteady. Buraka Som Sistema, have begun here. “I didn’t sign up to do something “It was like they were doing their job traveling abroad. garish.” in English before and we suddenly Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Lisa Stewart, a producer of the wanted them to work in Russian,” Mr. Doumbia, known as the Blind Cou- film, was equally surprised, recall- Katzenberg said. ple of Mali, are among the most re- ing how 3-D effects of the past could Mr. Letterman and Mr. Vernon nowned African musical acts. The make people feel ill. “I just remember asked for a tutorial from John Bruno, success of the duo, who perform as thinking, ‘Oh, great, I’m going to have the Oscar-winning visual effects de- Amadou & Mariam, may be about a headache for the next two and a half signer (“The Abyss”). universal pop attributes as much as years,’ ” she said. “That calmed us down a lot,” said cultural exoticism. TONY CENICOLA/THE NEW YORK TIMES The DreamWorks team associated Mr. Vernon, whose other directing “They’re extremely accessible,” An evolution 3-D with “Captain EO,” the 1980s-era credits include “Shrek 2.” “John told us said Bill Bragin, the director of pub- for international Disneyland attraction, lic programming at Lincoln Center music: Amadou & long since closed, that in New York City. “They write great starred Michael Jack- hooks and melodies. She has a terrif- Mariam, from Mali, son as a space explorer. ic voice. He’s a really interesting gui- above; Buraka Stuffed with 3-D tricks that tarist. Plus they have a great show. Som Sistema, extended from the screen They’re one of the few world-music an Angolan and into the audience — lasers, acts where you don’t feel you need to Portuguese act, smoke, flying aliens — that be schooled in the particular kind of left; and the Somali film, directed by Francis music to appreciate it.” rapper K’naan. Ford Coppola with George “Welcome to Mali,” their latest CD, Lucas as executive pro- is a pop-rock record with African ducer, defined lowbrow for roots, and it arrives as the continent’s a generation of Hollywood musical exports are gaining new lis- creative people. DREAMWORKS ANIMATION teners. Like their international peers, But Mr. Katzenberg had From left, Missing Link, Dr. Cockroach and RAHAV SEGEV FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES African artists are using an artistic justification B.O.B. in ‘‘Monsters vs. Aliens,’’ a 3-D film. digital technology to cre- 1980), their ambition was “Sabali,” and “Africa,” a collabo- for using 3-D in “Mon- ate musical hybrids and solely to tour Mali, which ration with Somali émigré rapper sters vs. Aliens,” which distribute them globally. has many cultures. K’naan, there is “Djara,” which fea- opened March 27 in the United States. that we already knew how to think in And Western fans of rock, “When we started, we tures the kora harp of the group’s (It opens worldwide in April.) The sto- 3-D by trying to show depth and move- rap and electronic music sang only in Bambara,” countryman Toumani Diabaté, and ry, about monsters who unite to save ment in a two-dimensional medium.” are using digital access to Mr. Bagayoko said. “But “Bozos,” a song that features the Earth from alien destruction, was de- Mr. Katzenberg had wanted to re- discover novel sounds. we wanted to reach other windswept desert sounds of the Ma- signed as a homage to the “creature lease the movie on at least 5,000 3-D The most high-profile tribes. So we started to lian violin. features” of the 1950s and ’60s. screens. But because fewer movie the- example of this trend sing in Dogon, Tuareg, All these styles, from kora tradi- Mr. Katzenberg has staked the aters than expected have completed comes not from Africa, Tamasheq, Senufo, Song- tionalism to hip-hop, constitute mod- company’s future on the format; the expensive projector upgrades however, but via India: MICHAEL NAGLE/REUTERS hai, Soninke, Malinke, ern African music, a notion that’s of- starting with “Monsters vs. Aliens” the format requires, “Monsters vs. the Grammy-winning hit Khassonke. Then it was ten lost on Western audiences. every movie it makes will be done in Aliens” will be shown on about 2,000 soundtrack to the film “Slumdog Mil- French. And now English. People “People have watched too many 3-D. Because of advances in digital 3-D screens in North America (out of a lionaire.” Composed by A. R. Rah- are touched when you sing in their National Geographic documentaries technology, he told the directors that total of 7,000). man, the music is modern Bollywood language.” about sick kids with big bellies, and 3-D was no longer just a gimmick for The finished movie feels very much pop, full of digitally sequenced drums Ms. Doumbia, 50, and Mr. Bagay- elephants,” said Joao “Lil John” Bar- reaching out and tickling (or scaring) like a DreamWorks product, with the and processed vocals, raps, house oko, 54, released cassettes and CDs bosa of Buraka Som Sistema. the audience from time to time. Rath- studio’s juvenile sense of humor — an music and schmaltzy balladry — and through the 1990s and early ’00s, “People forget Africa is a big con- er, building a film from the ground up underwear pull here, a breast joke yes, some sitar. A remix of its signa- mixing gentle Malian pop with blues tinent with different countries, and in 3-D — as opposed to making a two- there — especially pronounced. ture song, “Jai Ho,” was just released and other international flavors. Their when you travel to these places you dimensional version and adding ef- The 3-D is somewhat startling at with English vocals by the Pussycat breakthrough came in 2005 with see it’s not all prehistorical; there are fects later, the way most old releases first, which Ms. Stewart said was in- Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger. “Dimanche à Bamako,” a Grammy- big cities with economies and traffic did it — could result in a dazzling new tentional. The movie quickly moves Amadou & Mariam consider using nominated collaboration with the and Internet and cellphones.” visual language. from a scene in outer space — despite electronic music styles, like singing in fusion-minded European producer Asked how their African fans like The nauseated feeling is a thing of the title, there is really only one alien, a range of languages, as routes to new and artist Manu Chao. their music’s more international di- the past: new projection equipment Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) — to the audiences. When they began making “I Follow You,” a sort of Malian rection, Mr. Bagayoko is emphatic. and improved glasses have eliminated destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge. music at the Institute for Young Blind waltz, is the duo’s first all-English “For African people it’s progress. It the headaches and dizziness. “We wanted to blow people’s minds People in Bamako, the capital of Mali song. brings the music forward. They’re So the “Monsters vs. Aliens” squad into deep space right from the start,” (they were married at the school in In addition to the electro-pop of excited.” headed out to learn about 3-D. The she said.

Hats are hand-sewn at found, lay in hats. A Young Milliner, a Superstar, Mr. Song Millinery. An early success came in a hat he designed from a chicken-wire base and covered with silk, chiffon and trim- A Sudden Rush on Fancy Hats double his workforce, current- mings. Word of the creation, which ly at 11 people. cost $200 and up, quickly spread. The problem, he said, is that Ms. Franklin is the best known of By MICHELINE MAYNARD has more than 5,000 orders for the millinery “is a dead art.” And Mr. Song’s buyers, who wear their DETROIT — The vacant lots and spring version of the Aretha Hat (he indeed, Mr. Song, who esti- hats to churches, synagogues and tea hollow buildings abound across De- declines to make a replica of the actual mates that he is one of about a parties, and display them in transpar- troit. But walk into Mr. Song Millinery model), selling for $179 apiece. dozen custom milliners in the ent boxes in their homes. Mr. Song’s on Woodward Avenue, north of down- More orders are bound to pour in be- United States, is, in a sense, an hats are priced from $200 to $900, but town, and you are hit by two impres- cause Mr. Song recently learned that accidental milliner. he does accommodate modest bud- sions: a riot of color and a constantly Ms. Franklin has decided to lend her As a young man, Mr. Song, 36, gets, too. ringing telephone. hat to the Smithsonian, where it will be had no intention of taking over The Aretha Hat apparently caught The color comes from rows of cus- on display until it moves to Mr. Obama’s FABRIZIO COSTANTINI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES the business his parents, Han the eye of Queen Elizabeth, he con- tom-designed ladies’ hats. The sound of presidential library. the one I was pushing her to wear.” and Jin Song, started after emigrating fided, although Buckingham Palace the phone is thanks to Aretha Franklin, Mr. Song knew the hat Ms. Franklin Interest in Mr. Song’s work has ex- from South Korea in 1982. After study- has yet to place an order. Mr. Song said who stepped to a microphone at Presi- wore would be one of three models she ploded so much that he expects his ing biochemistry in college, he left one he would love to sell a hat to Michelle dent Obama’s inauguration in January had picked out. He learned which one business, Moza Incorporated, which semester short of a degree to pursue Obama, although she does not seem to wearing a gray fur felt hat trimmed only while watching her sing at the in- recorded $1 million in sales during art studies at Parsons the New School have embraced hats — at least, not yet. with a huge sloping, rhinestone bow. auguration on television. “I’m so glad 2008, to do six to seven times more than for Design in New York. He needed to “That would be the best day of my Now, the hat’s creator, Luke Song, she chose that one,” he said. “It was that this year. Mr. Song would like to pay his student loans. The answer, he life,” he said. “The best.”

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