It is to state the obvious that our love of convenience, our addiction to a throwaway lifestyle, is very destructive, not only to us and our immediate environment, but also to distant seas and their inhabitants. Amy Smart writes: A pioneering study of seven belugas in Canada’s remote Arctic waters
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Politics and its Discontents: Patently Ridiculous
That is my assessment of our faux Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna, in her latest political statement in answer to the question of whether or not Canada should ban the export of our plastic waste: Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says she has asked her department to look at what else Canada
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: It Can Be Done
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” my mother always said. The question is,”Does that will exist?” These two videos offer a glimmer of hope: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Days Like This
There are many days when I think that words no longer fork any lightning, and this blog would be more useful if I simply aggregated, without commentary, news items that seem important to me. This is one of those days. Should you wish to read about this dreadful desecration, please
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Surely, An Idea Whose Time Has Come
I wonder what is stopping the wider propagation of this technology: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Our Self-indulgence Is Coming Home To Roost
Fifty years for a Styrofoam cup to break down. Four-hundred-and-fifty years for a water bottle. Those are but two disturbing facts you will glean from this very disturbing report on the increasing toll plastic pollution is exacting on our water. Now, the problem has entered the Great Lakes system, and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Words Versus Deeds
Our Prime Minister, always keen to appear as a progressive on the international stage, is decidedly less so at home, as recent events are demonstrating. Another reminder of the gross disparity between his words and deeds came when he met in London with Teresa May, who is planning to ban
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Curbing An Addiction
A recent post outlined the terrible toll plastic pollution is exacting on the world’s oceans and wildlife. We pay a very high price for personal convenience, but our addiction to plastic runs very, very deep, as you will see in just a moment. But first, Tim Gray makes a plea
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Species Under Indictment
The species: the human race. The charge: depraved indifference. Watch the following to see for yourself whether conviction is a forgone conclusion: If you would like to learn more about this ubiquitous problem, click here for a good primer. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A New Year Offers New Opportunities
One of the reasons that a new year excites people, I suppose, is that it offers a psychological opportunity to start anew. Our personal world beckons with a fresh slate awaiting our new and improved imprint. The truth, however, is that despite our seeming addiction to redefining ourselves through resolutions,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Future Is Bright
For plastics, that is. For the rest of us, not so much. Despite the terrible environmental problems posed by plastic pollution, The Guardian reports that the future will see more of it, in large part due to the enthusiasms of the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuel companies are among those
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Ugly And Growing Reality
Although I have written before about the terrible problem of plastic pollution that is strangling the world in general, and our oceans and marine life in particular, it seems that we can never be reminded too often about the terrible toll our self-indulgent lifestyles exact. While it is true to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What A Mess
I suspect that most people in the West realize to some extent the self-indulgence of drinking bottled water, not to mention the many other liquids that are conveyed to the consumer in just the same manner. The next time we reach for one, we should all feel suitably ashamed of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: How Much Does That Plastic Bottle Really Cost?
For me, the plastic water bottle is an apt symbol for the mentality that encapsulates the western world today: the passion for convenience, abject, complete disregard for the environment, and the narcissistic drive for the satisfaction of personal wants no matter what the ultimate cost may be. Star reader Paul
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Price Of Our Heedlessness – A Sobering Saturday Morning Video
Although brief, this video shows the terrible cost of our ‘disposable’ lifestyles: Recommend this Post
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
“The Majestic Plastic Bag” is a mockumentary narrated by Jeremy Irons. I’ve posted it before, but it is well done enough to deserve a reposting: * L.A. Makes History With Ban On Plastic Bags At Stores
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