Earth Day And Coal -- April 20, 2021

Today's theme: coal. 

Earth Day: April 20, 2021. Three days of scheduled activities and Dionysian festivals begin today. Will lead off with Greta testifying before Congress. 

And, then, of course, the elephant in the room: coal. 

• global CO2 emissions are set to jump by 1.5 gigatonnes in 2021 -- led by a reboune in coal demand mainly from the power sector. Link here.
• India is the big story this week, re: coal. Previously posted. 
• India says it will use super-dooper ultra-clean critically clean coal to minimize emissions. I can't make this stuff up.
• this will be the second largest rise in emissions ever -- I guess -- except during the age of dinosaurs
• by the way, as CO2 levels increase, the effect of warming exponentially falls off -- obscure little factoid; if I find the source again, I will link it -- if I understand it correctly, the theory is that increasing atmospheric CO2 leads to warming, but the rate of increase actually declines as the concentration increases; not unlike a lot of things we see in biology; 
• the fact that Chinese coal demand is still increasing, rather than having peaked nearly a decade ago, puts into perspective Beijing's climate change challenge (and its 2060 net zero ambition)
• John Kerry: the Chinese are doing really well when it comes to talking about climate change;
• oh, by the way, Chinese oil demand continues to increase, also -- link here;

The Anthesteria festival of Dionysus, one of many, like our present day Earth Day celebration, was also three days, but took place a bit earlier, at the end of February. Earth Day activists moved the celebration to a more spring-friendly date so we could enjoy warmer weather in which to celebrate. 

The Greeks were looking forward to a good grape-growing season, and, of course, Earth Day participants are appeasing the climate gods. Or something like that.  

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Spices

Link here. 

McCormick's Old Bay Seasoning appears to be the continued flavor of choice for home chefs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Oh my gosh, the demand for Old Bay has been extraordinary, and we've been hard-pressed to keep up with it. And even now, it's one of those items that we are still struggling with to keep in stock. The demand is just high for favorites like that." -- McCormick Chairman and CEO Lawrence Kurzius.

Kurzius said McCormick is working hard to bring back supplies of products it decided to cut at the height of the pandemic in 2020, when it focused on getting its top-selling items such as Old Bay seasoning to grocery-hoarding customers. [?}

"We hired 1,400 additional people mostly in our supply chain and we have added roughly the equivalent of an entire new factory by changing shift patterns and bringing in human resources. [As opposed to robotic resources and/or non-human animal resources.]

And so today, we are finally beyond the worst of the allocation time, and are rapidly closing in on the remaining 50% of all the items that we had on suspension. You should see that shelf position really accelerate," Kurzius explained.

That Yahoo!Finance story will drive panic buying at Target today. Well played, Mr Kurzius.

My wife says she will substitute McCormick spices with other brands with one exception: she never, never, never substitutes any other brand for McCormick pure vanilla extract -- currently slightly more expensive than gold on a per-ounce basis.

Our older daughter favors Penzeys spices. Penzeys has an interesting political backstory. Sort of like Ben and Jerry's.

Penzeys BBQ 3000 is my go-to rub for Cornish hen.

Cornish hen is one of the easiest fares to prepare.

• pre-heat oven to 350°; most ovens have a default to 350° so it's just two buttons to push (bake, start)
• open the Cornish hen in a deep sink to prevent splashing issues and wash with running cold water
• lift hen from deep sink with paper towel wrapped completely around hen; dry off hen 
• wash hands often
  
• truss -- this is the best part; one can feel like Julia Child for a few minutes;
• wash hands often
  
• vegetable oil
• Penzeys BBQ 3000; liberally applied;
  
• wrap one very long slice of thick-cut bacon around the Cornish hen (very, very, very optional)
• place chicken on bed of rosemary (not so optional)
• bake for one hour; add fifteen minutes if a particularly large bird; fail-proof? I've never over-cooked a Cornish hen; seems even better with that one slice of thick-cut bacon;
  
• turn off oven before removing chicken
  
• remove from oven, and let it rest for twenty minutes under foil
• heavy industrial scissors to literally cut the hen in half; one-half hen for each guest
  

Portions:

• one-half hen for each guest;
• a full hen seems a bit gauche for most of us;
• a half hen will not be nearly enough for a teenage football player (male, female or other)
• American restaurants: one-half chicken with a huge amount of sides
• French restaurant: one leg only, but it will look really, really nice sitting next to three spears of asparagus