What strikes me about this trend is that many of the ethanol stories I see fall into a trap I´ve dubbed the Environmental Journalism Panacea Booby-Trap ... Pitfall ... Syndrome. OK, admittedly the name needs work. The point is, ethanol, which generally gets an easy ride from the press, does have downsides, as fuels go. I cite the two aforelinked stories because they manage to avoid this trap. Thoughtfully and at length, these articles delve into some of ethanol´s shortcomings.

They don´t touch on all of them, though. A few of ethanol´s other limitations will be explored in a special report in next week´s issue of Waste News. So keep an eye out for that.

Opening Soon: Off-Bangkok Hilton (Bottom Feeders Only)
Over the years, many types of man-made machines and structures have been sunk in coastal waters around the globe to serve as artificial reefs for fish and their friends. Ships, airplanes, bridges, steel cylinders, concrete culverts, pieces of pipe, and probably lots of other big, chunky contraptions I haven´t caught wind of yet.

But this may be a first: Off Thailand´s southern coast, they´re making reefs out of garbage trucks -- 189 of them, according to the Bangkok Post.

The report notes that the trash-truck reefs will provide new sources of fish and other marine animals for "small-scale fisherpersons." Which, if you read it a certain way, makes you wonder just how small a fisherperson´s fish-weighing devices have to be in order for him-or-her to be allowed to conduct his-or-her fisherperson activities in the waters where those trash trucks are sunk.

Oh, yeah. In this global-warming summer of 2006, in air-conditioned movie theaters from sea to shining sea, the heat´s rising, baby.

Pete Fehrenbach is assistant managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.