| The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES |
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Life on the Edge Over the Edge Three thousand years after the Olmecs enjoyed their chocolate Europeans had their first taste. Though Columbus is said to have burned a pile of cacao beans because he thought they were sheep turds, fortunately Cortez's army was more discriminating, and the rest is culinary history. And what a fascinating history: one well told in an exhibit currently on display at the California Academy of Sciences. It begins with an explanation of the extraordinary plant which Frank Almeda, a Curator of Botany at the Academy, describes here in "The Chocolate Tree." After you've read his account, you'll appreciate each bite even more. After the Spanish invited Europe's aristocrats to a royal wedding, word of this tasty treat was out, and chocolate houses opened in the major cities. The Swiss were among the first to aquire a taste for chocolate's solid form. Because there's a plethora of milk in that country, they experimented with combining the two flavors-and have been doing so ever since. The toffee-loving English meanwhile added caramelized milk, which created a flavor that has stuck. And in the United States, Milton Hershey separated out the milk curds to create the slightly sour flavor characteristic of Hershey's chocolates. The French however eschewed the cow in favor of dark chocolate. Today, most cacao is grown far from its Mesoamerican origins and is vital to the economies of Ivory Coast and Ghana. As recently as the 1960s, more than 25,000 green turtles nested on Baja California's beaches every year. But by the early 1990s, according to Wallace J. Nichols, co-Director of Ocean Revolution, there were only about 500 left. As the turtles teetered on the brink of imminent disaster, a few of the local fishermen chose to change. Instead of catching and eating the turtles, they turned to protecting them. Nichols, Carl Safina and Barbara D. Andrews record interviews with some of these fishermen in "Turning Turtle." Although deliberately killing sea turtles has been illegal in Mexico since 1990, there is a long tradition of eating turtle on special occasions. Yet despite a lack of law enforcement and pressure from their families to back down, these fishermen stuck to their principles and gradually began to convert their compadres. By 2001, there were over 1,000 turtles nesting on Baja's beaches, and each year the estimates are higher. What's more, the fight for the turtle has spearheaded a broader fisheries management ethic that is helping protect other depleted species such as lobster and abalone. Change is not just happening in Mexico. Dave Brian Butvill writes about students from the local high schools and the States who patrol Costa Rican beaches, protecting turtle nests and hiding eggs from poachers. About the time Mexico's green sea turtles reached their nadir, I began my stint as editor of this prestigious magazine. Though the status of the turtles has markedly improved in the meantime, there is little evidence that Earth is a healthier place today now than it was then. Nevertheless, there are signs of hope and a growing consciousness in the community as, one by one, we learn that any solution, any salvation, is up to each of us as individuals. And with that thought, both modest and profound, I take my leave. Working here has been a wonderful experience. I want to thank you, members of the Academy and readers of Pacific Discovery and California Wild, for your support and encouragement. The Academy has a breathtaking future ahead in its new building back in Golden Gate Park. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope to see you there. Keith K. Howell is Editor of California Wild. |