Wednesday, February 25, 2009

America To Plastic Bags: "I Wish I Knew How To Quit You"


"[O]ur time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

- President Barack Obama, Inauguration Day speech, 1/20/09


One of the starkest philosophical differences between President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama is surely the latter's consistent calls for shared sacrifice on the part of the American public. Compare this to George Bush's response to the 9/11 attacks. He had the entire country behind him, in addition to the goodwill of virtually the whole world. We stood ready to do whatever it would take to "pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." Instead, Bush urged us to go shopping at the mall, and his Homeland Security Department advised us to buy duct tape to protect ourselves from possible chemical and biological attack. Unlike Americans during World War II, we were not asked to sacrifice or change our way of life one bit, other than to pay attention to a mind-boggling array of color-coded Terror Alerts. (Whatever happened to those alerts, anyway? Is the Global War on Terror over, the threat neutralized?).

Candidate and now President Obama, on the other hand, has consistently urged each of us to participate in our democracy and to get involved in our community, as we all have a stake in both. Obama seemed to channel a bit of his inner community organizer with the pull quote above, one of the parts of his speech that particularly resonated with us after eight years of Bush's "you're on your own" governance.

I'd like to address sacrifice, the perils of standing pat, and putting off unpleasant decisions vis-à-vis an issue that, while not as dire as climate change or the recession, is one that we can all address and, in so doing, sacrifice for the greater good. That issue is the rampant and casual use of plastic shopping bags.

Here in sometimes-progressive Seattle, we were on track to tackle this problem head-on by imposing a 20-cent-per-bag fee. As expected, the plastic-bag makers ramped up a PR campaign against the fee, and they convinced enough Seattleites to sign a petition against it, causing the Seattle City Council to delay the plan. We will vote on the plastic bag fee in August of this year.

One of the main arguments against the fee is that it is unduly burdensome on consumers, especially in such tough economic times. There is a simple solution to avoiding a 20-cent fee, however, eliminating any potential financial burden. The solution is...to bring your own reusable cloth or nylon shopping bags whenever you go shopping! You can keep them in your car, in your purse, in your messenger bag, even in your coat pocket if you get one of those nylon models that can be folded inside out, creating a little egg-sized ball of recycled bag goodness (think of those Adidas and Nike windbreakers with the marsupial pocket that were so popular in the '80s). Rest assured in the knowledge that bringing your own reusable bags to QFC or Bartell Drugstore is not only environmentally friendly, it’s downright cool (sexy, even).

Somewhere along America's evolutionary path, the idea that we're entitled to unlimited convenience and resources has taken root in our national psyche. The hubbub over a modest measure to start charging people for these disposable, fossil-fuel-based bags is a sign of how spoiled we've become.

Again, if you'd rather not pay the fee, bring your own bags. I do it, my friends and family do it. It's not even that much of a sacrifice. There will be plenty of other ways in which we're all going to have to sacrifice, in the coming months and years. Bringing reusable bags to the store is a simple way to start weaning ourselves off the endless cycle of disposable consumer products.

As un-American as it may be to point out, the American way of life to which we've all grown accustomed is unsustainable. The sooner we can start adjusting and scaling back, the better we'll be when the inevitable critical mass occurs and various resources start to run out. The truth of our situation isn’t pretty or easy to face, but now is the time to muster the courage to forge a different, more sustainable path.

You say you don't have any cloth or nylon reusable shopping bags? Here's a handy list of links to help you purchase your very own bags, thus immunizing yourself from those those pesky, burdensome 20-cent fees!

Reusablebags.com

Ecobags.com

Amazon.com

In addition, most, if not all, grocery and drug stores now sell inexpensive (i.e. a dollar or less) reusable bags, if you don't mind that the bags are generally emblazoned with store names and logos. Any of these bags will eventually pay for itself, once the voters pass the bag fee measure later in the year.

Be creative, get some reusable bags, vote for the bag fee in August if you’re in Seattle, and start building a plastic-bag-free America!

Here are some statistics related to plastic bags, courtesy of reusablebags.com:

* Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

* According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.

* According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)

* Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

* Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

* Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.

* In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

A Message To All Remaining Congressional Republicans: STOP LYING


Today at Daily Kos, I read this post regarding a statement made by Senator Richard Shelby, R - AL, expressing doubt as to whether President Obama is a U.S. citizen.

Of course, this ridiculous talking point and xenophobic and racist smear has been thoroughly debunked, but being Senator For Life from the State of Alabama apparently means never having to bother reading articles in The So-Called Liberal Media (SCLM).

Now, this is the senior United States Senator from Alabama, mind you. What does this astonishing level of either mendacity or ignorance say about Shelby and the Alabama voters who have been electing such a cretin to federal office since 1979, first as a Democrat and then as a Republican (he opportunistically switched parties right after the Gingrich Republican takeover of Congress in 1994)? Perhaps this is just standard operating procedure for a member of an increasingly irrelevant minority political party, working in concert with Limbaugh, Drudge, Coulter, and other right-wing dead-enders.

Here is the letter I sent to the shameless Senator:

Dear Senator Shelby:

You were quoted by the Cullman Times as having doubts as to whether President Obama is a U.S. citizen:

http://www.cullmantimes.com/local/local_story_052203445.html

For your information, this malicious rumor about the President has been thoroughly debunked. Please refer to this Los Angeles Times article for a copy of President Obama's birth certificate, which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is indeed a U.S. citizen and thus eligible to serve as President of the United States:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/06/obama-birth.html

Please issue a retraction to your statement immediately, and please stop spreading this false rumor.

Sincerely,

(Secret Hug Pro)


Can we start putting all politicians under oath before they talk to reporters? Now that's some change we could believe in! In the meantime, please write Richard Shelby and tell him what you think of his dishonesty and smear-mongering.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Things To Do While Waiting For The # 16 Bus


- Come up with a to-do list (daily, weekly)

- Check voicemail, text messages

- Check the skies for precipitation

- Shuffle through iPod

- Think about set lists for next round of mix CDs

- Think about the film I just watched

- Daydream about past events, future goals (Is eight months of unemployment a deal-breaker during a job interview? Will I ever be contacted for an interview? Is 37 too old to turn one’s life around? Why did she lose interest and move on? Could I have done anything to prevent it? Will the future be Star Trek utopia or Blade Runner dystopia? Is it possible to be truly happy while acknowledging history and paying attention to current events, or is the cliché about being blissfully ignorant true? Will I ever be “a writer“, whatever that title means? Is Obama a progressive Trojan horse or just another centrist corporate Democrat, Clinton part II? Do I really care about politics, or was my obsession during the campaign rooted in some deeper psychological need? Does anyone read my blog, or is it like the tree falling in the forest that no one hears? Do I dare start making my blog more personal and confessional, or should I stick to political rants and Top 10 lists?)

- Be in the moment, watch traffic flow, birds, squirrels; notice for-sale signs, businesses going under, commerce taking place

- Wonder how Jane Jacobs would rate Seattle's urban planning

- Go over job-hunt strategies

- Map out social events for the week

-Ask myself:
1. Have I talked to my mother, father and brother lately?
2. What's playing at the Guild 45th, Neptune, Seven Gables, and Varsity?
3. Why are there so few 16's running?
4. Have I had 8 glasses of water today?

- Keep shuffling through iPod

- Watch people at bus stop, size them up, try to figure out their stories (Are any of these people happy? Do most of them hate their jobs, those that have a job? Most everyone I know is dissatisfied with their work, but is my social circle indicative of the population as a whole? Riding the bus provides a first-hand look at the casualties of George Bush’s America, some of most beleaguered and discarded Americans this side of the Harborview E.R. I can‘t imagine how some of these people survive at the bottom rung of the ladder during this Neo-Gilded Age, but somehow they seem to find ways to eke out an existence in the absence of a social safety net, all the more amazing in that America is the stingiest industrial democracy in the world in terms of public assistance, even in the best of times. “There but for the grace of God go I“ echoes through my head each time I board these busses. I can’t tell if they used to be middle class, or are they the working poor, or are they newly homeless? How many are mentally ill, how many were abused as children, and why don’t we care about our fellow citizens? Maybe it’s too much for us to bear when we realize deep down that each of us is probably only several paychecks and a medical emergency away from begging for spare change outside of QFC and the liquor store.)

- Wonder if monorail expansion will ever be revived during my lifetime

- Feel grateful to live in in a big, progressive, coastal city