Posts Tagged ‘environment’
A concept who’s time has come
Global consciousness
“Although technological powers will be vast and progress will likely be made, the normal level of social resistance and political stalemate is likely to oppose change. Thus, it may take an occasional environmental collapse, global wars and terrorism, or yet unknown calamities to force the move to global consciousness.”
… William E. Halal, Emerging Technologies and the Global Crisis of Maturity
No longer can any one country expect to dominate the financial system, the ‘free market’ system of protectionism, or the threat of world domination though military action.
The weight of population and currency lies with China and India and we can expect them to make their expectations known in return for bailing out the collapsed fiat monetary system.
The development of the European Union sharing a common currency and legal system is already expressing its thoughts on the excesses of Wall Street dragging down their economies.
“The market will sort it out” is a redundant concept. The ‘market’ itself is broken beyond repair.
When the G20 meets in April, we can only hope for some extraordinary outcomes that will set the direction of an equitable New World Order which has been mooted for just on half a century.
Time to reuse – not recycle
What a waste: Recycling sent to landfill
The global financial crisis is having an unexpected environmental impact, as recycling gets overlooked.
…
Councils are appealing for an overhaul of the recycling industry, saying federal regulations forcing companies to use less packaging would ease the load.
Maybe, there will be a rethink of recycling concepts. The existing paradigm is a ‘feel good’ policy that, until the financial crisis came along, was even profitable. It did nothing to reduce the amount of packaging used.
When I was a kid, soft drink and beer came in refillable bottles that were collected and resold back to the suppliers. That was how kids learned their work ethic – that’s where their financial independence came from. If we could reintroduce refillable glass packaging, just think of the relief on our raw material resources and energy conservation if containers were used over and over again.
(At least, you can still buy Coke in a glass bottle.)
Milk was delivered to the door and you left out the number of empty bottles you needed for replacement. In fact, milk and cream could be bought ‘loose’ by leaving out an appropriate sized container.
If the law insisted on glass bottles for all foodstuffs, we could stop the use and waste of plastic bottles that harm our health and the environment simply as a by-product of being plastic.
Before supermarkets, most ‘groceries’ came to the store in bulk and were measured out into paper bags upon purchase. That included butter and cheese, all dry goods (sugar, flour, etc.), and biscuits. In fact, the only pre-packaged goods were processed foods (baked beans, vegemite, etc.) or preserves like jam and sauce. I guess it was not unlike modern ‘delis’ which didn’t exist back then.
No plastic supermarket bags, or ‘green’ shopping bags – just string bags and cane shopping baskets.
Of course, these are only the memories of an old man and, with our growing population, they are not likely to be considered for the future. However, it is like the problems we face with peak oil and carbon management. The reality is, the only way to alleviate the problems is by reduced consumption.
We need to push for minimal packaging for everything we consume.
Related articles on recycling
- Policy of shipping recyclable waste to China needs reviewing say experts (telegraph.co.uk)
- Recycling: we could all save cash and the planet by improving rubbish system (guardian.co.uk)
- Councils scrapping recycling services in wake of down turn (telegraph.co.uk)
- T.O. mayor proposes 5-cent charge for plastic bags (ctv.ca)
