Baking Alaska

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MALIBU WAY OF LIFE

By Jody Stump

During the last great oil price run-up, I worked for an oil company. It’s true.

Sometimes in winter, I’d fly up to the Arctic, skimming over the pipeline. There, on the permafrost below, I’d see caribou munching grass that shouldn’t have been there. It turns out that the antifreeze we sucked in with the crude oil to keep it moving was just warm enough to thaw the ice and give the wildlife a permanent springtime. At the time, it seemed like a good thing for the ungulates.

Then there were the bears. It didn’t take long before polar bears discovered that carpeting and central heat made for cozier winter dens than thick ice caves. Monday morning safety guards had to clear the offices before work started for the two-legged denizens of the North Pole. Still, oil in the Arctic seemed more messy than malignant. Sure, the fields were muddy, but slant-shaft drilling meant that the visual impact was confined to a very small area. What we didn’t know was just how fragile the tundra was underground.

Two years ago, I saw the impact of Arctic melt in a thunderous instant. It used to be that tourists cruising Glacier Bay were cautioned that they probably would not witness a glacier calving huge chunks into the sea. In the span of lunchtime, we saw three. More shocking still, the ice melted so rapidly that weary auks hitching a ride lost their floats. A recent NASA study reports that 400,000 square miles of Alaska have melted. That’s a mass the size of Texas. By 2030, Glacier National Park will be glacier-free.

Okay, but we live in Southern California. What happens at the poles might not alarm you, but did you know that last year was the warmest year on record? You say you like warm weather. Then, you might really like next year and the year after that. It’s getting warmer and, for California, probably drier. That means drought and wildfires here, while the east gets drenching rain and hurricanes.

No, I’m not writing a political polemic-I’m not smart enough to know what causes global warming. It might well be that my former employer was one of the bad guys. But, a kindergarten lesson that impressed me was the class in finger pointing: point one finger and three point back at you. When it comes to pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, I do my share. What I want to know, now, is how to slow down my contribution.

We don’t have to fill the atmosphere with CO2 to keep the economy going. On the contrary. While I was working for that oil company, an interesting thing happened. Oil prices boomed and the president’s response was to call for alternative energy tax credits. Bingo! My company switched gears and dedicated massive resources to inventing cost-effective and efficient solar and wind power systems and amazing octane-boosters from grass-based ethanol. We even created cheap biodegradable plastics out of corn. I was a planner for the new ventures and every project was in the red until we factored in taxes. At $20 a barrel, they all began running a profit. By 1982, the company led the world in photovoltaic technology and had built the first commercially successful wind farm. It was amazing progress and the company won international awards for innovation.

Three years later, all those hundreds of patents were shelved or given away. Why? A new president had been elected and his administration changed course, swapping tax credits for larger subsidies on oil exploration. In a few short months, we stopped looking to the sun and wind for power, and resumed digging holes in the ground. Those fossil fuel subsidies still exist and that’s why oil companies make the profits they do, and why they fund oil-based projects in countries we find challenging. There is good news, though. With oil more than $70 a barrel, those old alternative energy patents are commercially viable and they’ve been dusted off. Imagine what the world would have been like if we hadn’t stopped inventing for 20 years.

If you worry about the legacy we might leave our children, e-mail Congressman Henry Waxman or a senator and clamor for alternative energy tax credits-for corporations and for private use. If you want to know what you can do, right now, to cut back on CO2 generation, check out the Web site www.climatecrisis.net. It has a fascinating personal energy audit and a whole slate of suggestions for cutting emissions that cost almost nothing in time or money. Change a light bulb, plant a tree. Just wrapping your water heater in a blanket will save 3 percent of your emissions if you’re an average American consumer.

And, if you are not worried about global warming yet, go see “An Inconvenient Truth,” or read the book the Australian government has called upon every citizen to read, “The Weather Makers.” The fact is the world is getting warmer and, whatever the reason, we can each do something to slow it down.

Baked Alaska

Serves 8 – 10

Baked Alaska was invented 200 years ago to commemorate Seward’s territorial shopping spree, but when I was little, much more recently than that, modern mothers had rediscovered a talent for baking ice cream. This was the cake I begged for-visually stunning with all the flavors children love and it’s easy to pull together. My mother often baked a pan of brownies, topped it with store-bought ice cream and drizzled hot fudge on the mountain of meringue. Yummy to the last lick of the spoon.

The trick to Baked Alaska is to use premium ice cream and freeze the cake hard before icing. And, don’t skimp on the meringue-it’s like our atmosphere, the protective cloud cover that keeps things frozen beneath it.

1 frozen pound cake*

1 quart ice cream

4 egg whites

1/ 4 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. liqueur (optional)

1/ 3 cups sugar

1. Line a metal loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving overlap. Spread ice cream evenly. Slice cake horizontally in half. Arrange slices to cover. Wrap in plastic and freeze.

2. Unwrap and invert onto metal platter. Refreeze.

3. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Add liqueur. Dribble in sugar, beating until meringue is stiff and glossy.

4. Spread over cake, making sure a thick layer covers the ice cream. Chill while the oven heats.

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake until peaks brown, 5 minutes.

Volcanic variation: Clean half an eggshell. Scoop an egg-sized depression in the meringue before baking. Just before serving, pour 2 tablespoons warmed liqueur into the shell, place in the depression and ignite. Turn out the lights and wow your guests.

* Flavors are up to you, but if you want a light summer version, make an icy Lemon Meringue Pie. Bake the Lemon Pound Cake from Bon Appetit at www.epicurious.com and serve with cheater’s lemon ice cream: beat 1 quart vanilla ice cream with 1 pint lemon sorbet and 2 tablespoons lemon zest.