Paper or Plastic?

Re: Paper or Plastic? Neither!

In anticipation of the plastic shopping bag tax here in Seattle, I just bought two re-usable bags from ChicoBag for our household use. The plastic shopping bags tax is still a proposal, but I’m looking forward to its approval and implementation next year. So I might as well change my habits early.

Why am I confident that the proposal will pass here in the Emerald City?

First, there’s already a successful precedent in Ireland.

“A

tax on plastic shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their

use by more than 90% and raised millions of euros in revenue, the

government says.”[see Irish bag tax hailed success]

Second, we’re so addicted to plastic bags that we don’t notice it anymore. So here’s artist/photographer Chris Jordan reminding us of our plastic bags consumption.

And third, if China is doing it, what’s our excuse?



(Via ~C4Chaos)

An Appeal

An Appeal To All Chinese Spiritual Brothers And Sisters
The Chinese and the Tibetan people share common spiritual heritage in Mahayana Buddhism. We worship the Buddha of Compassion – Guan Yin in the Chinese tradition and Chenrezig in Tibetan tradition – and cherish compassion for all suffering beings as one of the highest spiritual ideals. Furthermore, since Buddhism flourished in China before it came to Tibet from India, I have always viewed the Chinese Buddhists with the reverence due to senior spiritual brothers and sisters.

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Peak Water

Peak Water: Aquifers and Rivers Are Running Dry. How Three Regions Are Coping
Water has been a serious issue in the developing world for so long that dire reports of shortages in Cairo or Karachi barely register. But the scarcity of freshwater is no longer a problem restricted to poor countries. Shortages are reaching crisis proportions in even the most highly developed regions, and they’re quickly becoming commonplace in our own backyard, from the bleached-white bathtub ring around the Southwest’s half-empty Lake Mead to the parched state of Georgia, where the governor prays for rain. Crops are collapsing, groundwater is disappearing, rivers are failing to reach the sea. Call it peak water, the point at which the renewable supply is forever outstripped by unquenchable demand.

More people = less water. Simple really. Nobody wants to notice the elephant in the room, the one with the words population control on its side. 20 billion humans are forecast for the end of this century, with a billion in the USA.