File this under no duh. It seems that we have been failing to protect the world’s oceans and fisheries from over-fishing and that this has resulted in a “major threat to marine wildlife in the deep seas. Or so says a new report released last Friday by conservation groups World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Traffic. The report is called Follow the Leader: Learning from experience and best practice in regional fisheries management organizations, such a long name that it is perhaps no surprise that very few people are reading it. But the consequences it spells out are dire for fish-lovers and, well, all of us.
The Perils of Bottled Water
Nearly every third world country I’ve ever visited, I’ve noticed that litter is a problem. Actually litter is the wrong word: refuse pollution might be a better term. I’m looking for a word or phrase that sums up the horrible, wretched mess that is made when a million/billion-strong mass of humanity dumps its garbage around without having a sensible public policy for cleaning it up. You know what I’m talking about. And when you look at all this refuse, you usually notice that one type of item predominates: the water bottle. It makes sense, of course. The water in many big cities and in other countries around the world is unhealthy. The first thing you learn when you go to a place like is “don’t drink the water.” But it turns out that this may not be true. Well, perhaps it is for , but it might not be for other big cities.
A fascinating new report from the EPI shows that bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, and yet it can be as much as 10,000 times more expensive. Not just costly in a strict dollar sense either. As I mentioned above the pollution problems associated with bottled water put a heavy strain on the environment. And its not just the litter quotient, either. When you add up the energy it takes to MAKE these bottles, why, things get even worse. It’s a fascinating look at a common problem that is not particularly well addressed, I don’t think. How to convince people that their water is safe to drink from the taps? We drink the water here in
Green Mall?
This seems like the ultimate oxymoron: a green mall. Malls are, after all, big ugly eye sores. Sprawling cathedrals of commerce dedicated to consumption, not places you typically associate with environmentalism. But that said, there is a green mall being built in Syracuse, N.Y.
According to the lead developer of the complex, Robert Congel, the space will be the largest complex in the world run entirely on renewable energy. It will contain some 848,000 square feet of retail, dining, and entertainment space, and might be open as early as 2008. I’m skeptical, but I guess if they are going to build a mall anyway, at least it’s nice for them to try to make it seem environmentally friendly. So pack those granola bars, don those Birkenstocks and when 2008 rolls around, go check it out.
Friday Funny: Earth Sandwich
OK folks, here’s your chance to participate in history. zefrank, whose antics haven’t been on my radar screen for some time, not since he helped me improve my dance moves, has got a fine little film asking all of humanity to take part in one of the greatest human efforts ever undertaken: to make an earth sandwich. Filled with gleefully funny bits and even a song, this video will not only have you laughing till your stomach cramps, but you might also feel, as I did, the need to immediately run out and buy some bread (as I didn’t).
(via Boingboing)
Electric Car Rentals
After many years of celebrating wasteful consumption and wonton excess, we seem to be coming around once again to an ethic of conservation. At least it seems like it. I mean, we had the big Vanity Fair green issue, the Wired Green issue with Al Gore’s blue-eyed mug on the cover, and lots of stories about hybrid cars and new energy-saving buildings. Now I for one salute this stuff and it doesn’t come a minute to late. We should always be so green-minded. But such is not the way of human nature, which seems able to react only to crises, like monstrous hurricanes and $3 gallons of gas. It makes some sense. It is one of Newton’s laws, after all, that an object does not move unless it is acted upon by an outside force.
So where was I? Oh yeah. Greenness. Well, some good folks in San Francisco, always at the forefront of what is new and green and hip and liberal, have started a company that rents electric cars that you can use to tootle around the city. And in a perfect twist that is also so California, so Silicon valley, the company, called Electric Time Car Rentals also provides GPS guided tours. Of course, you’ll want to keep your eyes on the road and not get distracted by the GPS unit in the car. And you’ll want to take in all the city has to offer because it sure is a pretty city. But I thought this was pretty damn cool. I could see doing this in New York except that you’d probably get crushed by a cab or mocked by passers-by.