We were told not to do it but we did it anyway. For decades the medical and biological sciences have been warning us about the dangers of using antibiotics indiscriminately: of attempting to treat viral infections that are not amenable to this therapy; of interrupting the full course of a drug regimen before both the strong, as well as the weak, bacteria are killed; and of using antibiotics routinely in industrial agriculture as a growth promoter and to prevent the outbreak of diseases in crowded growing conditions.

Boobies, like albatrosses, can be forgiven for feeding plastic to their chicks, because they think it’s just another nourishing bounty from the sea.

Hell’s Gate is a much more interesting way of thinking about oil than price. But value depends on what is meant by “price.” Since most people will think of dollar value, and this is the current subject of interest, cheap oil deserves to be set in context.