Schools get A+ for energy innovation

Montana schools are headed in the right direction in a particular innovative respect: making use of obvious technology and resources for energy purposes.

Biomass technology has been talked about in Western Montana for nearly a decade, and finally the talk has turned to action with several schools leading the way. Darby, Philipsburg and most recently, Thompson Falls, have used a "Fuels for Schools" grant program to install special boilers capable of cleanly and efficiently burning wood chips for heating.

The system at Thompson Falls is expected to save about $60,000 a year, far more than originally expected because of rising prices for natural gas and other heating fuels.

Glacier High School, currently under construction north of Kalispell, is the next school in line to have a biomass heating system that will produce comparable savings. It's appropriate that the Flathead Valley's newest school will be setting an example for alternative energy sources that the state and the country need to consider for the future.

Growth is a problem that Lincoln County is probably glad to have.

Face it, with all the publicity about asbestos in Libby the last few years, there has been worry that people wouldn't want to move there anytime soon.

But Libby and the rest of Lincoln County happen to have some of the nicest real estate in all of Montana, and that fact hasn't been lost on developers.

Subdivision activity has increased exponentially over the past 10 years, and now it is so busy that the county's planning staff is a bit overwhelmed.

Probably more money needs to be spent to make sure growth is done right, but when you sport a "56" on your license plate in a state with 56 counties, then a little growth is a good thing.

And as Flathead County's experience shows, since you can't stop growth, you had better plan for it.

Can Viagra save endangered species?

That seemingly far-fetched notion was raised in a recent scientific journal article.

The study contends that the emergence of impotence drugs could reduce demand for body parts from threatened or endangered species that traditionally have been used as Asian aphrodisiacs.

Some users of traditional Chinese medicine apparently are switching to Western pharmaceuticals such as Cialis and Viagra.

This could mean the pills inadvertently boost wildlife conservation. Animals such as walruses, sea lions and seals often are poached because their body parts are used to make Asian medicinal concoctions. Sea horses, geckos and deer also might benefit, since they, too, are used in traditional impotence cures.

This "scientific" study has to be taken with a grain of salt, since it was funded by Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant that has made billions of dollars from Viagra.

But if it's true, it's indeed a strange intersection of science, folklore and sex.