Ain't it grand to see the human race collectively shake the cobwebs from our noggins and move to quit something so dumb! Four (of many) reasons to quit the plastic shopping bag habit:
1) trashing up the neighborhood
2) over 35 million barrels of oil are used to create them yearly
3) the Pacific Garbage Patch ("It's an area twice the size of the United States," Los Angeles Times blog, 5/19/08) is largely made of these
4) cloth, re-usable bags are cool!
STOP USING PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS!
Here is some uplifting news from the RTE News web site regarding countries that are taking action against the wasteful, lazy, dumb use of plastic grocery bags. Do your part by a) saying no thanks to paper or plastic - bring your own bag shopping, and b) encourage your congressman to pass legislation to ban the bag.
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GLOBAL TREND
Ireland's success story with its plastic bag surcharge is rippling across the world.
Here is a list of other countries & continents that already restrict plastic shopping bags or plan to do so:
AFRICA -- Rwanda and Eritrea banned the bags outright, as has Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia. South Africa, Uganda and Kenya have minimum thickness rules, and Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho and Tanzania are considering similar measures.
AUSTRALIA -- Coles Bay in Tasmania became 'Australia's First Plastic Bag-Free Town' in April 2003. Dozens of others followed suit. In January 2008, the environment minister called for supermarkets to phase out use of the bags nationwide by the end of the year.
BANGLADESH -- The first large country to ban bags in 2002. Bangladesh blamed millions of discarded bags for blocking drains and contributing to floods that submerged much of the country in 1988.
BHUTAN -- The isolated Himalayan country banned plastic shopping bags, street advertising and tobacco in 2007, as part of its policy to foster 'Gross National Happiness'.
CHINA -- The ban on ultra-thin bags that goes into force on June 1 will cut pollution and save valuable oil resources, the State Council, or cabinet, says. In May 2007 Hong Kong proposed a 50 cent 'polluter pays' levy on plastic shopping bags.
ENGLAND -- In May 2007 the village of Modbury in south Devon became Europe's first plastic bag-free town, selling reuseable and biodegradable bags instead. London's 33 councils plan to ban ultra-thin bags from 2009 and tax others.
FRANCE -- In 2005, French lawmakers voted to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags by 2010. The French island of Corsica became the first to ban plastic bags in large stores in 1999.
INDIA -- The western state of Maharashtra banned the manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags in August 2005, after claims that they choked drains during monsoon rains. Other states banned ultra-thin bags to cut pollution and deaths of cattle, sacred to Hindus, which eat them.
IRELAND -- Our plastic bag tax was passed in 2002. The tax created an initial 90% drop in bag use, according to the Environment Ministry. (GO IRELAND!!!)
ITALY -- Outright ban to be introduced from 2010.
TAIWAN -- A partial ban in 2003 phased out free bags in department stores and supermarkets and disposable plastic plates, cups and cutlery from fast food outlets. Most stores charge people who don't bring their own T$1 (€0.02).
UNITED STATES -- San Francisco became the first and only U.S. city to outlaw plastic grocery bags in April 2008. The ban is limited to large supermarkets.
The state of New Jersey is mulling phasing them out by 2010.
In January 2008 New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill forcing large retailers to set up plastic bag recycling programmes and to make recycled bags available.
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Tuesday 27 May 2008
A Plea to Ireland Regarding Her Future
As an Irishman of the diaspora (all four of my grandparents were of Irish descent) I am vitally interested in the present and, especially, the future of my home land. This issue of the Lisbon Treaty frightens me to death! I'm afraid that too many of my brothers and sisters do not realize that the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is in effect a decision equal to new elections in Ireland. The decision on ratifying the Lisbon Treaty is - upon transferring the current powers of the nation state of Ireland to the federal state in Brussels – it is a decision on accepting or rejecting the permanent construction of A NEW FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT OVER IRELAND. To do so will be to utterly discard on the rubbish heap of history all the sacrifices of our ancestors, both the suffering against British oppression and the fighting for freedom in which so many lives were lost.
This is a crucial time in Irish history - a time when you/we will decide whether to march on under your/our own strength and character and leadership or to surrender your/our rights, lives, and fate to others who have, upon every past opportunity, either turned their backs on Ireland in her need or swooped in to take advantage of her riches. Which is exactly what is happening now. Ireland (God bless her forever!) has risen, by her own strength of character and moral fortitude and by God's kind grace, far above her past of subjection and base poverty to a point where she is a jewel in the crown of Europe and the world. Ireland has earned all her scars and medals of valour and has come into her own - at last. (One might quote of Ireland as well, "Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty, we're free at last!")
And now, in the time of finally enjoying the fruits of our hard-won, blood-bought freedoms and successes, Ireland considers handing over her self-mastery to yet another foreign dictator! God forbid it! Let Ireland be Ireland, not some small dot on the EU map. Let Ireland be Ireland, not another chattel within another kingdom - for such is the becoming EU/EC. Never forget the sacrifices made by our (OUR) grandparents for the possibility of self-rule for Ireland. We are Ireland! We are not Europeans - we never have been. We were at best pets, at worst slaves of Europeans. Ireland has suffered too long to throw away her freedom and self-sufficiency on yet another European master race. We are Ireland!
Look long and hard at America and learn from her mistakes. Under her own power, the United States stood together by choice. Today, we have given up the idea of mutually beneficial partnership among the member states and have become subjects to a dictatorial Federal Government who seeks to rip our choice from us - from freedom of religion to freedom of choice to freedom of speech. American is becoming what the EU would march straight into, from the beginning.
Ireland, my Ireland, whom I learned to pray for and to love from my mother's knee and my father's stories, remember the source of your strength in your tortured past - return to your faith and your moral sense of self. God lead you through 700 years of tribulation and abject slavery. Your/our sense of Irish identity apart from that of the rest of the world kept us unified and alive during years of deprivation and attempted genocide. Please, please, please don't give all that up now for a new, stronger master.
We, the children of your diaspora, are counting on you to safeguard our heritage and our home. Guard and keep them from another outsider who seeks to steal and destroy our culture. We are counting on you. Please don't let us down. Remain independent and free and self-governing. Please.
We are Ireland!
This is a crucial time in Irish history - a time when you/we will decide whether to march on under your/our own strength and character and leadership or to surrender your/our rights, lives, and fate to others who have, upon every past opportunity, either turned their backs on Ireland in her need or swooped in to take advantage of her riches. Which is exactly what is happening now. Ireland (God bless her forever!) has risen, by her own strength of character and moral fortitude and by God's kind grace, far above her past of subjection and base poverty to a point where she is a jewel in the crown of Europe and the world. Ireland has earned all her scars and medals of valour and has come into her own - at last. (One might quote of Ireland as well, "Free at last, free at last! Thank God almighty, we're free at last!")
And now, in the time of finally enjoying the fruits of our hard-won, blood-bought freedoms and successes, Ireland considers handing over her self-mastery to yet another foreign dictator! God forbid it! Let Ireland be Ireland, not some small dot on the EU map. Let Ireland be Ireland, not another chattel within another kingdom - for such is the becoming EU/EC. Never forget the sacrifices made by our (OUR) grandparents for the possibility of self-rule for Ireland. We are Ireland! We are not Europeans - we never have been. We were at best pets, at worst slaves of Europeans. Ireland has suffered too long to throw away her freedom and self-sufficiency on yet another European master race. We are Ireland!
Look long and hard at America and learn from her mistakes. Under her own power, the United States stood together by choice. Today, we have given up the idea of mutually beneficial partnership among the member states and have become subjects to a dictatorial Federal Government who seeks to rip our choice from us - from freedom of religion to freedom of choice to freedom of speech. American is becoming what the EU would march straight into, from the beginning.
Ireland, my Ireland, whom I learned to pray for and to love from my mother's knee and my father's stories, remember the source of your strength in your tortured past - return to your faith and your moral sense of self. God lead you through 700 years of tribulation and abject slavery. Your/our sense of Irish identity apart from that of the rest of the world kept us unified and alive during years of deprivation and attempted genocide. Please, please, please don't give all that up now for a new, stronger master.
We, the children of your diaspora, are counting on you to safeguard our heritage and our home. Guard and keep them from another outsider who seeks to steal and destroy our culture. We are counting on you. Please don't let us down. Remain independent and free and self-governing. Please.
We are Ireland!
Wednesday 14 May 2008
[USA] Government PROTECTS Mad Cows
I love this story! It's been cooking since 2004, when the US government went to war against Creekstone Farms to try to stop them from testing all the cattle they slaughter for mad cow disease. The reason? The United States Government said that if Creekstone tested all its cattle for mad cow, it could create a false negative (!!!!) and thereby scare the American public.
WHAT!!!!?????
Your government says it doesn't want you to become falsely reassured by too many tests being done on cattle?
Let's break this down: if we test all the cattle, we could find that they are safe to eat ... and that would scare the public - thinking they have safe cattle to eat ... so we need to step in and stop a private business from being responsible (good heavens, no!) about what they sell.
You've just got to wonder, how much has this insane legal action cost you and me in taxes over the last four years!
Go vegan - it's the only safe and sane way to go!
BC
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SOURCE: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5769046.html
May 9, 2008, 10:39PM
Meatpacker argues for extra testing
Government asks to limit checks for mad cow disease
By SAM HANANEL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority.
The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Arkansas City, Kan.-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere.
Less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows are currently tested for the disease under Agriculture Department guidelines. The agency argues that more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers.
"They want to create false assurances," Justice Department attorney Eric Flesig-Greene told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
But Creekstone attorney Russell Frye contended the Agriculture Department's regulations covering the treatment of domestic animals contain no prohibition against an individual company testing for mad cow disease, since the test is conducted only after a cow is slaughtered. He said the agency has no authority to prevent companies from using the test to reassure customers. "This is the government telling the consumers, 'You're not entitled to this information,' " Frye said.
Chief Judge David Sentelle seemed to agree with Creekstone's contention that the additional testing would not interfere with agency regulations governing the treatment of animals. "All they want to do is create information," Sentelle said, noting that it's up to consumers to decide how to interpret the information.
Larger meatpackers have opposed Creekstone's push to allow wider testing out of fear that consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too. Increased testing would raise the price of meat by a few cents per pound.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef.
The district court's ruling last year in favor of Creekstone was supposed to take effect June 1, 2007, but the Agriculture Department's appeal has delayed the testing so far.
WHAT!!!!?????
Your government says it doesn't want you to become falsely reassured by too many tests being done on cattle?
Let's break this down: if we test all the cattle, we could find that they are safe to eat ... and that would scare the public - thinking they have safe cattle to eat ... so we need to step in and stop a private business from being responsible (good heavens, no!) about what they sell.
You've just got to wonder, how much has this insane legal action cost you and me in taxes over the last four years!
Go vegan - it's the only safe and sane way to go!
BC
---------------
SOURCE: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5769046.html
May 9, 2008, 10:39PM
Meatpacker argues for extra testing
Government asks to limit checks for mad cow disease
By SAM HANANEL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority.
The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Arkansas City, Kan.-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere.
Less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows are currently tested for the disease under Agriculture Department guidelines. The agency argues that more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers.
"They want to create false assurances," Justice Department attorney Eric Flesig-Greene told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
But Creekstone attorney Russell Frye contended the Agriculture Department's regulations covering the treatment of domestic animals contain no prohibition against an individual company testing for mad cow disease, since the test is conducted only after a cow is slaughtered. He said the agency has no authority to prevent companies from using the test to reassure customers. "This is the government telling the consumers, 'You're not entitled to this information,' " Frye said.
Chief Judge David Sentelle seemed to agree with Creekstone's contention that the additional testing would not interfere with agency regulations governing the treatment of animals. "All they want to do is create information," Sentelle said, noting that it's up to consumers to decide how to interpret the information.
Larger meatpackers have opposed Creekstone's push to allow wider testing out of fear that consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too. Increased testing would raise the price of meat by a few cents per pound.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef.
The district court's ruling last year in favor of Creekstone was supposed to take effect June 1, 2007, but the Agriculture Department's appeal has delayed the testing so far.
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