New Year's Resolutions

Quitting smoking is usually a top New Year's Resolution. Two new reasons to quit may be worth looking into.

If you live in the U.K. you may limit your access to government healthcare according to a story in The Guardian.

Also, smoking is a very polluting activity according to this story at TreeHugger.

A couple of more reasons to quit this year. If the U.K. proposal goes through I am sure it will spread to other countries that have government health insurance. A shift to responsibility in society may change policies in many areas, including pollution. If individuals can be held accountable industries will hopefully be held to the same standard.

Another Top 10 List

Since it's the end of the year why not have a top 10 list. Mine is not a list of what has happened this year. I'm looking to see what our top 10 environmental priorities are going forward. I found one at the BBC and it covers everything. So our top 10 environmental issues for next year are to try and improve everything. I know "they" say to set small goals and work your way up but what do "they" know anyway?

I think we all need to do a lot more. Being proactive about issues in our local community is a great place to start. I also feel that we, as consumers and citizens, need to realize our power. We are the ones that buy stuff. We are the ones that vote. We are the ones that are harmed by our decisions at the register and at the ballot box. We impact our friends, family, neighbors and global citizens. Once we realize how our individual decisions impact everything we can tackle all ten of those issues.

Workplace Hazards with Pesticides

A long time ago I wrote about pesticides and breast cancer and how woman in certain occupations had higher rates of cancer. I just found this article about pesticides being related to other ailments. I'm sure we are ingesting a lot more than we think and do not know the impact on our health. Is organic food the answer? How "organic" can it be since the whole world is polluted? Can we stop eating food and just live on supplements?

I'm not sure what the answer is but we are really in need of one. I'm particularly afraid of the combination of pesticides ingested with plastic leaching into food because those chemical reactions are unknown and probably unpredictable.

Plastic Alternative

We have all heard about corn-based ethanol by now. What about a corn-based plastic alternative? It is out there and I have even bought cups for a picnic this summer. I threw the used ones in my home compost bin but now I'm not so sure about this stuff. An excellent article at Smithsonian Magazine goes in-depth about this product and its benefits and drawbacks . It is known as polylactic acid or PLA and can be used in many applications.

There has been a lot of criticism surrounding corn-based ethanol policy in the U.S. I have not been a big supporter (post and video)
I feel most of the support for corn ethanol is political and is not sound policy. After reading the Smithsonian article I wonder about PLA as well. However, a couple of excellent points are made in the article and should be the considered when debating alternatives to plastic: How much do we really need? Why don't we design products with a different life cycle in mind? The article is long but well worth the read.

I think we will see many alternatives in the near future that will capture our attention. However, I'm afraid that designing new products that fit the old economic model that got us here will not work like we think.

P.S. December 30, 2007

I forgot I had this video post on plastic alternatives a while ago. Enjoy.

Losing India's Islands

I am slowly getting up to speed on India as I mentioned earlier this week. I found this video which shows how India is being impacted by developments in the world.

Nutrition and Grocery Shopping

Wired magazine has an excellent graphic about grocery shopping It basically breaks down the layout of an average grocery store and ranks the sections by cost per calorie, calories per 100 grams, and sugar per 100 grams. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is profit per 100 grams so we could see where the money is being made and why the advertising flyers and in-store promotions are structure the way they are. There are a few things we don't know about grocery retailing. When you get the advertising inserts in your local paper the items on the front page are usually there because the store gets volume rebates for moving a specific number of units. That's why the price is so low. Other items sometimes pay to be placed in the flyer. Shelf space and placement is paid for by the food company to increase sales of a product. Store layouts and product placement are not random in grocery stores or any other retail environment. The Wired article also points out the nutritional aspect and basically highlights that shopping the periphery of the store is where you will find the best nutritional value in terms of calories and sugar per 100 grams. Happy shopping and don't get lost in the middle aisles.

Environmental Technology

I was thinking about a post about technology and the environment. As I logged on I saw a comment suggesting I make a post about the same. Here is what I found today and I think it ties in to the living to 1000 years as much of that premise relies on serious technological advances.

I read an article about research at Penn State University that was cleaning contaminated water from mines and generated electricity and cleaned the water of heavy metals. When you read it the operation seems pretty simple and their test looks like it worked. I really like the sounds of it and I am always amazed at how we are able to solve problems with technology.

With the focus on minimizing environmental damage I think we'll see many developments in technology in this area.

What if we could live 1000 years?!?!

If we could live 1000 years how would we impact the planet? Living to 1000 seems far fetched but if you look at this site they list 10 reasons why it is possible. The site makes a compelling argument and it seems logical. After I read it I got thinking about how we would impact the planet.

The obvious impact is overpopulation and resource scarcity. If we're all around for 1000 years that's a lot of food, water and "stuff". The positive is a long-term view on decisions. Politicians and policy makers work on election cycles and the impact of policies are not felt for a while. If politicians would live to see the consequences of their policy decisions we might see a few changes.

Just a little food for thought...

Merry Christmas

To those who celebrate Christmas on December 25. Have a great holiday.



Photo from Library of Congress found on Flickr with Creative Commons search

India and the Environment

India is the largest democracy in the world and a massive economy that is growing rapidly. With a lot of focus on China I wanted to take a look at India and see what kind of economic, environmental and social issues are going on. I think many people know about Bhopal and Union Carbide (Wiki) but there is much more going on. I hope to learn much more and provide some intelligent commentary on the situation. North America is rather insulated from news around the world in mainstream media. For other people who are interested I have found a site, India Together, that has an environment section. I don't anything about the site or who publishes it but it seems like a good place to start. If anyone has any other informational sites please let me know. I just did a quick search and found one that I liked. As I learn more I hope better posts will follow.

Not Another Green Gift List

This year you can find green gift lists everywhere. They're on the news, all over the web and in the newspaper. I wonder if the idea is to make everyone so sick of "Green" stuff that there will be a counter culture to the low consumption/green counter culture.

What really gets me about these ideas for greening the holidays is how simple they are. Also, like a lot of clothing designs, they are recycled from a previous time. For example, I saw a piece on TV that showed wrapping presents in the comics section of the newspaper as a way to reduce waste. What a revolutionary idea!!! Reuse something that is still useful for another purpose!!! (Please read with sarcasm) I love how being simple and frugal is the way to be cutting edge and minimize your impact on the environment. Talk to anyone over 70 and they'll have all kinds of ideas on how to minimize waste and reuse products.

Another revolutionary idea is to buy less crap which has been promoted for a variety of reasons over the years. I was at a Costco recently (yes I shop there and I have good reasons so if you want to slam me go ahead but I will have a rebuttal) and I saw a guy with one cart just for the electronics he was buying. I know it is hard in our consumer culture to not buy things but sooner or later something will give.

We are at that in between stage of the environment vs the economy/our wants. Everybody has to try and that will mean we all need to make sacrifices. LED Christmas lights are not going to offset a lot of the other stuff we do. The hard part is that we are not in a subsistence economy so we can worry about wants. The things we want are the most expensive for the environment. I don't think anybody has a definitive answer but most will agree the status quo will only make our situation worse.

Enjoy the holidays regardless of what you celebrate or have already celebrated.

Greensumption

I don't know much about the organization or individual behind this video but as far as I'm concerned Greensumption speaks volumes about the general perception on environmental issues. I do agree that changing consumption patterns can make a difference. I'm afraid, this video shows what many people are thinking.

Outsourcing Pollution

There has been a lot discussion about outsourcing of jobs overseas. Thousands of products are made in China to take advantage of lower cost labor. Another cost has recently come to light with the pollution problems plaguing China. With the massive growth in industrial output in China the pollution has come with it. It is getting so extensive that during the Olympics in 2008, factories will have to close in Beijing.

This is our problem. China did not sign Kyoto and, combined with India, will contribute half of worldwide pollution within 20 years. Economies that rely on consumer spending are creating part of this problem by demanding cheaper goods. I don't want to slam Chinese goods because they are doing what everybody has tried to do: make lots of money by leveraging their advantage. But if the recalls aren't enough to change your buying habits think about the amount of pollution you're generating with what you are buying. Not only have we put our neighbors out of work but we're going to kill a few people with pollution.

A reminder of my other site Living in a Toxic World News Service where I have aggregated feeds and a few video posts.

Finally I want to thank everyone who has made comments and sent me messages in the last couple of days. I hope to keep my content compelling enough so you come back and we can work together to expand our opinions and make positive contributions to the world around us.

Electronics for the Holidays

If you plan on giving electronics as gifts for the holiday season this year think about what might happen to the old stuff.

I have written about this in the past where you can donate your old electronics or recycle them.

Thank You Blogger

Thank you Blogger for putting me on the Blogs of Note!!!

I have not written for some time. I am still following the environmental news and trying to make a difference in my little corner of the world. I am kind of embarrassed for not having posted for so long. The hard part about blogging on issues you believe in, and I'm sure everyone feels this, is that your voice is lost in the sea of millions of blogs. I'll admit I was a little discouraged and then it becomes difficult to make time for posting. This kind of recognition makes it all seem worthwhile.
Thanks again to Blogger. To the people who have found my blog for the first time today, please come back or subscribe as I will begin generating content again.