Way Downstream

On HBO, that was Gov. Robert Ehrlich in a security guard’s uniform on this week’s The Wire, former Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon’s gritty, profane drama about life in Baltimore’s drugged out, trigger-happy underbelly and piratical halls of power. The governor is stationed at the State House door. It’s tough to tell whether he’s got a future in acting given his sparse speaking role: “Mayor Carcetti,” he says with some irony, “the governor will see you now.” Judge for yourself on the Friday night three-show rerun. The guv’s episode was scripted by D.C. novelist George Pelicanos …

Along Chesapeake Bay, will global warming affect us? No doubt, says Chesapeake Quarterly in its new edition. Who will feel it? Oh, just animals, plants and people who live along coastlines and could feel the brunt of climate change storms affecting coastal communities. Batten down your hatches, fill your tumbler and read the bad news yourself at www.mdsg.umd.edu/CQ/V05N3/index.html …

In Annapolis, 2008 is coming fast. That year marks the 300th anniversary of the city’s charter, and now’s not too soon to start schooling in city history, stories and legends. Mayor Ellen Moyer has named Gary’s Hard Bean Café and Bookseller at City Dock the first Charter 300 Information Center. Hard Bean and other centers still to be named will be hubs for news about a year full of special events, including the Queen Anne’s Ball on September 30, 2007 …

In the world’s oceans, sea grasses are faring as poorly as in Chesapeake Bay. In the December issue of Bioscience, scientists blame coastal development, population growth and the increase of nutrient and sediment pollution for killing coastal grasses, which provide habitat for aquatic life, alter water flow and combat the ills of nutrient and sediment pollution. William Dennison of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science calls sea grasses the coal mine canaries of coastal ecosystems …