May 15 2009 - As awareness of the need for sun protection grows sunscreen marketers have responded by creating sunscreens with ever higher SPF numbers. This year Neutrogena is offering SPF 100. Other companies are sure to follow with their own triple digit SPF offerings soon. To get the SPF number advertised on the tube you need to slather the sunscreen on heavily - a full shot glass (1 ounce) per outing for full body protection. Most people think that a high SPF number means they can use less sunscreen and still enjoy meaningful protection. That belief is mistaken. Using half the amount of SPF 100 does not equal SPF 50 - it equals SPF 10. When you cut sunscreen use by half you don't divide SPF by 2, you calculate the square root of the SPF (half as much SPF 100 = SPF 10, half as much SPF 25 = SPF 5). Here's the full story from Catherine Saint Louis in her column Skin Deep.

Next week we'll discuss how polynomial equations factor into sun protection from baseball hats... ;-)

April 23, 2009 - The Cape Cod National Seashore will be receiving $4 million from the Obama stimulus plan. The money will be spent on park structures at Highland Center in North Truro, the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham and a research building in North Truro. The money will also be used to repair and upgrade the five mile long Province Lands Bike Trail in Provincetown.

Making a Splash: Christopher Swain Swims for Environmental Health

by Christi Cartwright, Endicott College ‘09

When it comes to making a difference, Christopher Swain does more than get his feet wet. Even at an early hour, Endicott College students in Professor Kilburn’s Environmental Politics class are wide awake as the forty year old father comically relates the twists and turns of his life. Once a hobby, swimming soon progressed into a passion for environmental awareness as Swain immersed himself -literally- in baths of toxic chemical waste that poison many of America’s waterways.

Swimming 1,243 miles down the Columbia River and through the lamprey eel infested waters of Lake Champlain gives Swain more than a great workout and fascinating story material. As Swain says, it provides a “credibility advantage." “What authority do you have to come to someone else’s country, river, or town and tell them what to do?” he asks. Swimming in local waterways brings inside perspective for political lobbying, education, and advocacy.

With miles of waterways degraded by sewage and graveyards of tires, bicycles, and electronics littering the seafloor, Swain’s list of concerns is ever growing. But priorities may be different than what you’d expect. “First protect the beautiful, pristine places,” Swain urges the audience. “If you try to fix all the places that need fixing first and then try to go back, they will already be gone.”

Swain’s recipe for remedying the soup of pollution that makes up the “ocean planet” is surprisingly simple. “There are only two threats to the planet,” says Swain: global climate disruption and loss of biodiversity. The surfers should be protecting the beaches, the fly fishermen fighting for the lakes, and the hikers cleaning up the trails, Swain advocates. Why? Cultivating a passion and love for a place or person are, in his view, the only prerequisites for making an impact. “I only swim in bodies of water that I have connection to,” Swain reveals.

The Atlantic ocean, specifically Marblehead, Mass. to Washington D.C. are next for the aquatic advocator. On Earth Day, April 22, 2009, Swain will launch his Swim for a Healthy World campaign. Along the journey, which is likely to be completed in December 2010, Swain has planned over 2,000 classroom visits with a mission to teach children environmental problem solving. He is working to organize several schools visits in Falmouth, as well as a community beach clean up and electronics recycling event. Adopt a mile, track his progress, or find out another way to help by visiting www.swimforahealthyworld.org.

March 14 2009 - This week's Cape Codder has a story about an idea being floated by Sean Fields and Rick Sigel. The two friends would like to see a walkway from Nauset Beach to Skaket Beach. They call the idea "Coast to Coast Sidewalk." The distance between the two beaches is approximately 4 miles. The route incorporates many busy roads and sidewalks cover only part of it. Sean Fields says that the sidewalk would benefit safety, commerce and real estate. The claim, "Walk to the Beach" could incorporate the entire town of Orleans. Email info@coast2coast.com for more information.