These posts say it better than I could. First Cindy herself:
Christine Lahti
Norman Lear
Bob Fertig
Friday, August 12, 2005
Saturday, August 06, 2005
We are a ridiculous people,
Some data:
1. Americans drink, on average, 24 gallons of bottled water per year (just less than soda.)
2. A gallon of bottled water costs more than a gallon of gasoline.
3. Taste tests show most people can't tell the difference between bottled water and tap water.
4. Tests show that bottled water is no cleaner than tap water from municipal systems.
5. Tap water is free and plentiful.
6. Bottled water consumes huge quantities of oil (for plastic) and energy (for shipping all the stuff.)
7. Millions of people around the water don't have clean water while we import it from France and Maine.
Do the world a favor. Next time you're thirsty use the water fountain.
Sources: (link) and (link) and (link)
1. Americans drink, on average, 24 gallons of bottled water per year (just less than soda.)
2. A gallon of bottled water costs more than a gallon of gasoline.
3. Taste tests show most people can't tell the difference between bottled water and tap water.
4. Tests show that bottled water is no cleaner than tap water from municipal systems.
5. Tap water is free and plentiful.
6. Bottled water consumes huge quantities of oil (for plastic) and energy (for shipping all the stuff.)
7. Millions of people around the water don't have clean water while we import it from France and Maine.
Do the world a favor. Next time you're thirsty use the water fountain.
Sources: (link) and (link) and (link)
It's been a very bad week for cows.
The airports in Nigeria seem to not understand the purpose of fences. A herd of cattle wandered on to a main runway at Port Harcourt just as an Air France jet was landing (bad week for Air France, too.) Seven cows were killed, the jet skidded off the runway, no one was injured, but a lot of people are very embarrassed.
In the San Joaquin Valley in California it seems cow flatulence and bad breath are a more serious source of pollution than automobiles. (link) "Every year, the average dairy cow produces 19.3 pounds of gases, called volatile organic compounds, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District said. Those gases react with other pollutants to form ground-level ozone, or smog. With 2.5 million dairy cows — roughly one of every five in the country — emissions of almost 20 pounds per cow mean that cattle in the San Joaquin Valley produce more organic compounds than are generated by either cars or trucks or pesticides, the air district said. The finding will serve as the basis for strict air-quality regulations on the region's booming dairy industry."
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
In the San Joaquin Valley in California it seems cow flatulence and bad breath are a more serious source of pollution than automobiles. (link) "Every year, the average dairy cow produces 19.3 pounds of gases, called volatile organic compounds, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District said. Those gases react with other pollutants to form ground-level ozone, or smog. With 2.5 million dairy cows — roughly one of every five in the country — emissions of almost 20 pounds per cow mean that cattle in the San Joaquin Valley produce more organic compounds than are generated by either cars or trucks or pesticides, the air district said. The finding will serve as the basis for strict air-quality regulations on the region's booming dairy industry."
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
If it's truly a war against terror...
Russia Bars ABC, Citing Interview With Chechen Rebel - New York Times
The double standards of the Bush administration are becoming more evident. Shamil Basayev has admitted being behind almost every terrorist attack against Russia including the siege of the Moscow theater where more than 200 children were killed. Yet the Bush administration remains strangely inactive. Bin Laden is still out there, Basayev is still out there... His obsession with Iraq is hurting our relations with our countries and weakening our national security.
The double standards of the Bush administration are becoming more evident. Shamil Basayev has admitted being behind almost every terrorist attack against Russia including the siege of the Moscow theater where more than 200 children were killed. Yet the Bush administration remains strangely inactive. Bin Laden is still out there, Basayev is still out there... His obsession with Iraq is hurting our relations with our countries and weakening our national security.
Friday, August 05, 2005
The terror of an F-15
My son and I recently attended an airshow in Rockford. We both looked forward to watching and hearing the raw power of the military jets on display. An Air Force F-15 made some fantastic flybys using the immensely loud noise of the afterburner as the pilot shot skyward.
It terrified many of the younger children who burst into tears, clearly very frightened. That made me wonder of the effect such constant noise must be on children in war zones, from the noise of the jets whose pilots have no prohibitions against breaking the sound barrier, not to mention the constant assault of bombs on the senses.
I must admit to loving the technology and admiring the skill of the pilots, but what a shame all that effort goes toward killing people, many of them children. The chauvanistic jingoism of the announcers at the airshow began to wear thin after a couple of hours, too. When are we going to grow up.
It terrified many of the younger children who burst into tears, clearly very frightened. That made me wonder of the effect such constant noise must be on children in war zones, from the noise of the jets whose pilots have no prohibitions against breaking the sound barrier, not to mention the constant assault of bombs on the senses.
I must admit to loving the technology and admiring the skill of the pilots, but what a shame all that effort goes toward killing people, many of them children. The chauvanistic jingoism of the announcers at the airshow began to wear thin after a couple of hours, too. When are we going to grow up.
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