Two tip-offs today from friends serve as interesting reads...

New York Magazine explores the ramifications of the biggest oil spill in American history - directly underneath Greenpoint, Brooklyn. "In 1979, the Coast Guard’s engineers concluded that only about 50 percent of the oil and solvents from this spill could ever be cleaned up, though another 20 percent might dissolve or wash away over time. That would leave 30 percent of it trapped under the neighborhood forever." Exploding manhole covers, underground carcinogens, ExxonMobil lawsuits, Brooklyn drama - this article really has it all. (Thanks Andrew)

Al Gore's latest strategy: a competition to create a series of agenda-pushing ads. To be honest, I think this should have been the first thing he did if he was trying to win Americans' hearts and minds - after all, it's not real until it's on TV right? I think this will probably be his most successful public relations pitch yet, much more so than the movie or Live Earth. "The way nations and societies make up their minds in the modern age has much more to do with mass advertising than many of us purists would like, but that’s the reality ... Since we face a true planetary emergency, we have to give the planet a P.R. agent.” (Thanks Prasanth)

Photo of Newtown Creek by Flickr user valvados.