Which is worse? Hummers or toilet paper?

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent

The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country’s love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public’s insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom.

“This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous,” said Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defence Council.

“Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest excesses of our age. Making toilet paper from virgin wood is a lot worse than driving Hummers in terms of global warming pollution.” Making toilet paper has a significant impact because of chemicals used in pulp manufacture and cutting down forests.

A campaign by Greenpeace seeks to raise consciousness among Americans about the environmental costs of their toilet habits and counter an aggressive new push by the paper industry giants to market so-called luxury brands.

More than 98% of the toilet roll sold in America comes from virgin wood, said Hershkowitz. In Europe and Latin America, up to 40% of toilet paper comes from recycled products. Greenpeace this week launched a cut-out-and-keep ecological ranking of toilet paper products.

“We have this myth in the US that recycled is just so low quality, it’s like cardboard and is impossible to use,” said Lindsey Allen, the forestry campaigner of Greenpeace.

The campaigning group says it produced the guide to counter an aggressive marketing push by the big paper product makers in which celebrities talk about the comforts of luxury brands of toilet paper and tissue.

Those brands, which put quilting and pockets of air between several layers of paper, are especially damaging to the environment.

Paper manufacturers such as Kimberly-Clark have identified luxury brands such as three-ply tissues or tissues infused with hand lotion as the fastest-growing market share in a highly competitive industry. Its latest television advertisements show a woman caressing tissue infused with hand lotion.

The New York Times reported a 40% rise in sales of luxury brands of toilet paper in 2008. Paper companies are anxious to keep those percentages up, even as the recession bites. And Reuters reported that Kimberly-Clark spent $25m in its third quarter on advertising to persuade Americans against trusting their bottoms to cheaper brands.

But Kimberly-Clark, which touts its green credentials on its website, rejects the idea that it is pushing destructive products on an unwitting American public.

Dave Dixon, a company spokesman, said toilet paper and tissue from recycled fibre had been on the market for years. If Americans wanted to buy them, they could.

“For bath tissue Americans in particular like the softness and strength that virgin fibres provides,” Dixon said. “It’s the quality and softness the consumers in America have come to expect.”

Longer fibres in virgin wood are easier to lay out and fluff up for a softer tissue. Dixon said the company used products from sustainbly farmed forests in Canada.

Americans already consume vastly more paper than any other country — about three times more per person than the average European, and 100 times more than the average person in China.

Barely a third of the paper products sold in America are from recycled sources — most of it comes from virgin wood.

“I really do think it is overwhelmingly an American phenomenon,” said Hershkowitz. “People just don’t understand that softness equals ecological destruction.”

• This article was amended on Wednesday 4 March 2009. We mistakenly referred to virgin forests when virgin wood, which includes that from planted, managed forests, was meant. This has been corrected.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/26/toilet-roll-america

I Give You Back

I Give You Back

I release you, my beautiful and terrible fear.
I release you.
You were my beloved and hated twin, but now, I don’t know you as myself.
I release you with all the pain I would know at the death of my daughters.

You are not my blood anymore.

I give you back to the white soldiers who burned down my home, beheaded my children, raped and sodomized my brothers and sisters.

I give you back to those who stole the food from our plates when we were starving.

I release you, fear, because you hold these scenes in front of me and I was born with eyes that can never close.

I release you, fear, so you can no longer keep me naked and frozen in the winter, or smothered under blankets in the summer.

I release you I release you I release you I release you

I am not afraid to be angry.
I am not afraid to rejoice.
I am not afraid to be black
I am not afraid to be white.
I am not afraid to be hungry.
I am not afraid to be full.
I am not afraid to be hated.
I am not afraid to be loved,
to be loved, to be loved, fear.

Oh, you have choked me, but I gave you the leash.
You have gutted me but I gave you the knife.
You have devoured me, but I laid myself across the fire.

I take myself back, fear.
You are not my shadow any longer.
I won’t hold you in my hands.
You can’t live in my eyes, my ears, my voice, my belly, or in my heart
my heart my heart my heart.

But come here, fear.
I am alive and you are so afraid of dying.

– Joy Harjo (www.joyharjo. com)

VOTE FOR THE EARTH

This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.  The UN Secretary General urges citizens to join in the Earth Hour, even the Great Pyramids of Giza are turning off an hour.

We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.

http://www.earthhour.org/home/

Rethink your outlook on people with disabilities

Rethink your outlook on the disabled

By Johanna Mattern Allen

Posted: Mar. 23, 2009

Words cannot begin to express how disappointing it was to hear President Barack Obama’s Special Olympics gaffe on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Thursday.

But it’s not just Obama who needs to take a hard look at this. His remark on one of the most popular television shows in America is indicative of a culture that is all too comfortable disparaging individuals with a disability – I might add, individuals who never would disparage him or anyone.

Since he so decidedly put his foot in his mouth, here’s my four-point plan for the president to make reparations for the cultural damage he caused last week:

• Pony up beaucoup bucks for the Special Olympics cause.

• Create a cabinet position for disability now. There currently isn’t even a policy adviser for disability since Kareem Dale moved to an arts leadership position. With a disability population in the United States of 50 million-plus, and growing especially as our population ages, we need disability experts to work alongside our president.

• Create positions for self-advocates in the White House so the president and the world never forget about people who have to work harder than he ever can dream of working to achieve what they do.

• Urge every college, university and high school in America to teach disability history/cultural competency.

Obama isn’t the only smart (read: well-rounded intellectual) person I know who knows jack about disability. And not all of us are as lucky as me to have my son, Jack (who has Down syndrome), for a teacher.

It’s totally cool to not know, but do something about it instead of getting defensive, making excuses or ignoring it. Here’s my simple, pain-free, four-point plan for the rest of us:

• Read some disability history. Read Paul K. Longmore.

• When interacting with an individual with a disability, presume competence. Always. Just because someone moves, communicates, sits, eats, breathes, walks, hears, sees, thinks or problem-solves differently, or doesn’t do any of these things, he or she still experiences life, contributes to the world, has feelings and thrives and depends on relationships with others.

• Don’t defend offensive language. Just because it comfortably rolls off one’s tongue in mixed company or it’s self-deprecating or we’ve always said it, that doesn’t mean it’s right. The next time you think “we’re being too sensitive,” think about how you sound clinging to an outdated term and defending it after the minority group being maligned has asked you to stop. If you need to be self-deprecating, use a thesaurus. Find the word or phrase you like and practice it before you need it – that’s how habits get broken. Language influences culture, culture influences policy and, in my son’s case, he can hear you (and so can I).

• Give us a break. No really. Take the time to be with a parent of a child with a disability or an individual with a disability. Encourage your children to have a play date with a child with a disability. Challenge the idea of why you might not have a friend with a disability. Reach out in friendship to those of us who are most marginalized. The great secret about disability is that each one of us is only a heartbeat away from it at all times.

The great tragedy of past generations is that there have been unspoken divides between the cultures of the disabled and those who are not. In the culture of disability, we’re accustomed to cheering on individuals with great challenges to help them overcome great obstacles and odds.

We in the disability community know those of you who aren’t disabled are able to learn more and know you are capable of using inclusive language and joining us in a 21st-century way of thinking.

Johanna Mattern Allen lives in Milwaukee. March 31 is the Special Olympics’ “Spread the Word to End the Word Day,” a national day of awareness calling for America to stop and reconsider the use of the “r” word: retard/ed. Go to www.r-word.org

 

The meaning of sacrifice.

We are called not so much to give up what means most to us, but to make it sacred, to transform it.

By CHRIS LANCASTER

THE WORD ‘SACRIFICE’ is used in many different ways—often to mean ‘giving up something’. So people ‘sacrifice’ their time, or their money, or even their lives as martyrs for a religion or cause. People of faith have often thought in terms of sacrificing one’s life for God’s purposes. For some it has meant putting aside cherished plans for study and careers. For others it has meant spending years far from their homelands and their families and friends. For many it has involved living with little financial security. But how else might we understand the idea of sacrifice? The word’s Latin derivation means ‘to make holy, to make sacred’. This changes the perspective.

We are called not so much to give up what means most to us, but to make it sacred, to transform it. So we sacrifice our time by using it for the highest purpose, not squandering it on worthless things. We sacrifice our money—this might mean parting with it! And we sacrifice our lives for the service of others. We are not called to lay aside who we most deeply are, in order to devote our time and energy to something which is supposedly more worthy. Rather, we are called to ‘sacrifice’ who we most deeply are—by embracing it and living it out for the good of the world around us.

If you are a politician, then sacrifice that position: through what it gives to society. If you are a teacher, then sacrifice that position: in the way that it affirms the life and worth of every child. If you are an artist, then sacrifice it: in the way that your art touches the deepest truths of what it is to be human. Once we move away from the notion of giving something up, we are freed to realize that none of these things—our time, our resources and our very lives—were ever ours to ‘give up’ in the first place. The only things we can and must give up are those that prevent us from faithfully sacrificing all of who we are: our self-centred fears, desires, prejudices and insecurities. This is our opportunity to live the freedom for which we were created. http://www.iofc.org/node/24343

thoughts?

Obama White House Garden…and disallowing organic foods?

On one hand, the Obamas will be planting a garden in the White House lawn.  Awesome!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7954573.stm

On the other hand there is a bill being sponsored to stop organic food, pasturized food, and heirloom seeds from being produced.  The sponsor of the bill is Rosa Delauro, she is married to Stan Greenburg a political strategist who works for Monsanto.  The bill is House Bill 875.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:H.R.875: here’s the bill <-i can’t fully figure it out…so if anyone can interpret this, please share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epXNJNjYBvw <-here’s a utube video about it.

http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=eeWVkTU1s1E <-a response to the about utube video.

Hopefully, the Obamas see the merit in gardening and, well, life producing life instead of inorganic chemicals producing inorganic ‘food’ that has reduced nutritional value, hardly any taste, but very colorful ‘food.’  Either way, we need to hold them accountable.

What do you stand for?

“A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” ~El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)

If you had to tell someone in ten words or less what you stand for in life, what would you say?  It might be noble to speak of the liberation of all people of color, but what do you stand for?  Perhaps you would take up the cause of starving abused children, but what do you stand for?  The freedom of political prisoners?  Decent housing?  Equitable distribution of food and natural resources?  An end to all wars and warlike aggression?  Or perhaps it’s education?  It is good, honorable and very noble to have a cause, but before you can do that, you must be able to stand on your own two feet.  More battles are lost in this life to weary soldiers than are lost for lack of cause.  What do you stand for?  How about peace of mind, radiant health, trust and honesty, viable use of your God-given talents, gifts and abilities, or maybe just plain old love.  When you are standing on well-cared-for and rested feet, you will be victorious in any cause.

What do you stand for?

Acts of Faith by Iynla Vanzant

A donkey tale

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. So he invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.

With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up! As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off! Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

—

if anyone has tools on how to do these things, please share.