Unsought Input

I find in interesting that Seattle is planning on banning bottled water.  Recently we had a post on prescription drugs in the tap water which featured a video from Penn and Teller that told how ridiculous bottled water is.  I mean, you spend 8 dollars a gallon for bottled water, which to any normal person bitching about 3.50 at the gas pumps should seem relatively ridiculous.

Seattle decided to ban bottled water for it’s city workers as a branching off from the banning the use of plastic bags in the city.   I really wish this whole thing would catch on.  Obviously people are too stupid to think that paying 8.00 a gallon for bottled water (most of it just tap water repackaged or water that does not even meet tap water regulations) is a bad thing for them, much less for the environment.

Here is the deal.  Buy reusable bags.  Buy a water bottle and drink the tap water you already pay for by paying taxes.  Save the environment.  Save yourself some money.  It’s a win-win situation.  It just makes sense, don’t you think?

Just when you thought it was safe to drink water you hear about this. This headline on yahoo.com today strikes fear into the hearts of all Americans who thought it was healthy to drink water. Yes, conspiracy theories aside, there was a five month probe to find out what was actually in our drinking water. And do you know what they found out? I think you might since I put in in the headline of this article but allow me to reiterate. They found prescription drugs and other stuff in minute concentrations in our drinking water. Minute. I.e. small amounts. Very small. But still present. And what do our utility companies say? Is our water safe? Should we be allowing our selves and our loved ones to drink this water? This aqua pharmaceutical cocktail that comes out of our taps and into our glasses, into our showers and baths and food?

First off, let’s talk about media hype. It’s built up around times when people are getting too worried about other things: war, elections, terrorism, etc, to distract everyday people like you and me from these intense subjects by worrying about something else. In magic it’s call slight of the hand. The magician makes you look the other way and does the trick while you are distracted. Then, viola! You didn’t even know what was happening and now it’s already over and you are just left to wonder how it was done without you noticing.

So, the media creates hype and fear about your drinking water while there are several other important things to be reporting to the good people of America about so that you are distracted. Yes, something in the water is very scary. You need water to live and you trust the water that comes delivered to you. So, I agree, it’s a scary idea that there is something in the water. (more…)

In a recent study the good old US of A was ranked 39th out of 149 countries in an environmental study that looked at countries overall environmental policies and emissions.  We were not the worst though.  I know I was saying stuff about China cleaning up for the Olympics before but they apparently have quiet a long way to go since they are currently competing with India for the least environmentally friendly country around.

Either way it’s probably time we do something about this, though.  I mean, where is our drive to win?  Our burning desire to fight and conquer and take over and WIN!!!? So, we just need to make this a challenge or a competition or a major TV show like American Gladiators.  If we had some type of zany game show to make people want to do environmentally friendly things we might be able to beat out other Costa Rica (who ranked fifth) or at least Japan (who ranked 21st).  I mean, all we need is a little bit of good old fashioned patriotism applied to saving the environment and people would just eat it up.  I know you could consider this technique to be  tricking the American public into doing something they wouldn’t normally do for a small prize or other’s amusement but I can’t really see any other way to make lazy people want to go out of their way do to anything.  Maybe I am not trying hard enough myself.  I know that if there was some crazy recycling game where I could win money or prizes I would totally be playing.

As far as corporations go, we could make a new TV show like The Office but with a company that has environmental hyjinks always ensuing.  Or we could just make them actually follow the regulations that would lower their emissions and pollution.  But hyjinks are always more fun.

Yuki Taro, the Japanese sidewalk snow plow.  Think Roomba for snow covered sidewalks.  The basic idea here is that a very cute robot runs itself with GPS and plows up snow.  This snow it then turns into bricks that you can do anything with.  As long as they don’t melt.  The article I linked to says it was invented by kids but it was not.  The Japanese are just suckers for anything that is super cute and useful.  The name basically means “snow boy”, in case you were wondering.

~FBI gets their wire tap phone service disconnected.  I am not sure if there is anyone out there who hadn’t heard of this massive failure but I couldn’t let it get away with not being mentioned on this site.   Ha!  No free rides for you, FBI.  There are a few quotes that really sum this up.  “More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows.” More than half?  So, about 445 bills or so were unpaid?  Very interesting.

And one other quote worth mentioning, “We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence”.  NO! I never would have guessed that not paying your bills and having your services shut off could affect your ability to spy on people without a warrant.  A final note on this topic is that they are trying to pin the blame on a woman who stole some money from them.  So, you are telling me that one woman was the sole person responsible to pay every phone bill for the FBI? Hmm, maybe the FBI needs to consider implementing a checks and balance system.

~Burning coal for electricity creates a byproduct that is more radioactive than nuclear waste.  At least it is according to a new article in Scientific America.  It actually says that the ash created from burning the coal that is released into the air is up to 100 times more radioactive then nuclear waste.  I mean, with coal there is never a chance of a nuclear meltdown but maybe it really is time to move away from our dependency on coal.  I mean, we could live with acid rain, greenhouse gas emissions and the occasional trapped miners or unstoppable underground coal fires.  But now, with all of these things, please let’s just realize when to call it a draw.  In the defense of coal, the uranium content can change due to where the coal was mined, making some less radioactive then others.  But in the overall scheme of things, does it really matter?

Hope you enjoyed.  Please comment below.

Recently I read an article over at Thedailygreen.com where I read that China is putting a nationwide ban on free use of plastic bags.  It is said that this will reduce the country’s dependency on oil while helping them to cut their emissions down just in time for planning and executing the Beijing Olympics.  This is a good thing, even if it is being done for the wrong reasons.  I am not saying that it is, but it does seem suspicious that it’s being pushed into place just in time for the Olympics, doesn’t it?  I mean, China wants to set a good example.  The government wants to show the world it can change. And I say, good for you.  I can only hope that America’s need to change would spur such a difference here at home.

Not only is China cutting back on the amount of oil they use (37 million barrels of crude oil on plastic bag production every year), they will be cutting back on the processing and production pollution made while making the bags, and on the overall pollution of their landscape and landfills after the bags have been used.  There will still be plastic bags for sale but they will not be given freely as they currently are now.  The idea is to make people bring their own reusable shopping bags each time they shop.

I think this sounds feasible here in the States.  I think something similar is definitely what we need.  A good old kick in the pants to get people to be slightly less environmentally selfish and to get our nation to start actually acting like they care what they are doing to the planet we live on.  I mean, I think everyone is aware that there is a problem.  But how long can we go on ignoring the signs?  Something needs to be done and this could be something that would not be that hard for people to adjust to and very very good for the environment.

Some retailers have already started selling reusable bags in the States, major chains like Walmart and Giant Eagle.  Here is a little info about Walmart’s bags from sustainableisgood.com:

The new Wal-Mart shopping bags are made from a fabric containing rPET.  The bags are made from 85% recycled content and hold more than twice the amount of an average plastic bag.  The bags will sell for $1 and be located near checkout aisles in Wal-Mart stores.  Wal-Mart will also take the bags back at the end of their life-span for recycling.

I am not trying to preach here.  I just think that most people are not going to do something like this on their own.  That if there were laws put in place that put a heavy tax (for example an environmental tax where the money went into environmental sustainability programs/research) on things that are wasteful (insert the plastic bag here) that people would start to actually consider their impact on the planet.  And if not, they would still be forced to either be environmentally friendly in a small way or pay a tax for the environment.

I am sure there are all sorts of negative comments people can make about this, that it’s not fair for the government to force this on people and no new taxes  and blah blah blah but we need to face reality.  And preferably sometime soon.