Bottled water www.(water what a waste)

photo wikipedia

by Scotland Willis

Massachusetts legislation House Bill 3515, Senate Bill 1480 for which the session ended July 31 2010(According to legislative sessions and rules ).  Further discussion on the matter of bottled water and soft drink deposit requirement(of .05 cents) is essentially moot.

Global not just you not just here
Throughout all of this, what rarely comes to the forefront is the impact of plastic on our environment.  Four out of five plastic bottles end up in a landfill, according to UN research. A Pool of plastic swirling in Pacific Ocean commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is visible evidence of how human activity affects the environment(wikipedia maps and description).  Both the manufacturing and disposal have a toxic environmental impact that last beyond your and my lifetime combined.  Perhaps a more effective approach would be to develop a campaign that consistently demonstrates the waste product, its path and the outcome of plastic bottle's aftermath.  Visibility of harmful affects just is not there, despite the discovery of a rubbish patch in the Atlantic as well.  Perhaps politics, plastics, and profits just don't mix- curious.  There should be a 10 cent deposit; there are proven results in other states at this level.  That is a fraction of the toll waste plastic is having on our environment and it is something we can achieve immediately.

Issues with the bottle bill
This bottle bill left out some important provisions in its current form nonetheless.  It did not cover bottles less than 16 ounces(specifically the bill refers to container sizes 16 oz. to 2 liters).  That is ludicrous.  Smaller bottles represent a majority of the container people walk around with daily as well as being the most common container sold at special events because they are easy to hold and store.  Exempting beverage companies from all sizes lesser than 16 ounces is a fatal flaw.  Why? Because if a bill does pass, they will merely begin promoting 15 oz and less bottles.  Worse 15.9 oz bottles.

Corporations need to have a greater sense of accountability for what human demand and activity has on the environment.  Beverage companies don't want to see(what amounts to a .03 cent increase) in handling fees because of the marginal additional cost, or the perceived added expense to the consumer.  What is most disconcerting is that these very same beverage companies will not hesitate to discover new gimmicks to increase their profits by raising the price.  Apparently they are very unfamiliar with the triple bottom line and within that context, corporate accountability.  Beverage companies just don't seem to care.

A little education in corporate responsibilityA basic notion of accountability in this instance might suggest that an organization profiting from the beverage market ( i.e. wastefully [editorial license] manufacturing and packaging municipal grade or lesser water- and call it pure) in bottled water, has a social responsibility( vis a vis corporate accountability) to give back to that from which I took.  Protecting the environment is an investment not a cost.  Damaging the environment is a cost, clearly greater than beverage companies care to realize, which comes from the manufacturing of plastic containers and the waste associated with them(about 2,500,000).  Profits over people, or profits over preservation, both compromise a triple bottom line.

Here is a good exercise for fellow consumers.  Visit the web site of each beverage company that services your area; find out what there mission statement is( these are the principles that guide their work); call them up and hold them accountable for what they promise or state in their mission if it is at all related to creating a sustainable environment, or preserving our natural resources.  Even if they claim to have a connection to the natural environment- hold them to it.

There is absolutely no excuse to allow beverage companies to escape their responsibility to protect the environment; nor should we as consumers allow them to.  So today, protest:   1. learn how safe your local municipal drinking water is (I have been drinking water from the City of Boston for years and I feel great) 2. buy a reusable water container.  They are relatively inexpensive as low as $4.99 and without harmful chemicals in most cases (read the label).

I don't buy bottled water or soft drinks.  If you have it within you, stop or write your beverage company and tell them to step up their commitment to the environment and to you.  Hold them accountable for the mess they are making- literally.  And tell Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge) and Sen. Cynthia Creem (D-Newton) 1. do not give up and 2. make the policy stronger.  Let them know that you will work to gain additional support to get this bill into legislation.

Green Note: Cement accounts for 5 to 8% of CO2 output, the 3rd largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. 

Scotland Willis is an environmental strategist, lecturer and advocate.  He is currently a working on a dual Masters at Tufts in Environmental Engineering and Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning.  He is a management consulting in systems thinking and large scale change.  You can email him at scotland@clearstrategies.us. or visit the clear strategies web site

Guns Past Midnight

Five sporadic sounds explode off in the distance(crack-- crack..) disrupting the silence of an otherwise perfect rest; like sheets of ice tearing themselves apart from ice caps in Greenland, or the undulating crack of thunder in a severe storm- startling, disturbing.

It's 1:39 a.m. according the time on the smart phone next to me. Someone must have called 911 (I think to myself. I should call, where’s my phone). Undoubtedly several other gun shot conscious residents are contemplating the same.

Did the combination of Summer, access to firearms and ignorance claim another life? It was not the heat - not this time, too cool out. Anxiety fills what was a calm wind that probably helped lull some people to sleep. Too early to mentally assess if there are any victims.

Stories have not hit the headline yet, but they will; and they'll read..."Another man shot In Roxbury. Images of a man gasping for air as the last signs of life escape from his body; was it just one person tonight; too late for children to be out- fortunate for them. Could have been a young lady involved; its getting harder to tell.

It was not the usual sequence; five rounds-- two more; and then silence. No another two rounds- that was unexpected. Perhaps there were screams in the distance but they were barely detectable. Moments later sirens commandeer the silence of the night; one...two-three patrol cars; just before the last two rounds got off.

Perhaps there were no victims this time. But the sounds of rapidly pulsating police sirens were followed by slower drawn out ambulance sirens- assuring there was a victim of some sort- damn.

Patrols thin later in the evening, and coverage per capita is lighter than wealthier sections of the City. But that's changing as downtown density grows; though there are not likely to be any shootings in The Mandarin Oriental.

Guns in Boston are too easy to get, but the outcomes are never easy. By now radio monitors have already picked up reports of shots fired and the news paper are making column space for the story. It may not get headlined; as of August 1 2010 Boston was at 36 homicides a 20 percent increase over this time last year.

Gun violence in Boston is becoming too easy- to accept. Paradoxically more victims are on the horizon combined with few more days of good weather, followed by a discomforting storm from a of flurry of shots fired, another victim- try to go back to sleep...tired, late. Hopefully no condolences.

Carbon Footprints and H2O

Think reducing your C02 footprint and H20 footprint could be reduced by using less water or energy YES and NO. Water usage is not just about how much you as the end user are using but how much water is consumed in the production of the product.

So for example, your ice tea may only be a 16oz beverage(mostly water), but a significant amount of water is used to produce the tea leaves themselves.

Water is like processed food, the more you process your food the more nutritional value you lose. By growing your own food you increase nutrient intake. By mass producing water(processing water i.e. irrigation) you decrease the efficiency of water usage.

Water works essentially the same way; when you use a system to harness water, that system requires energy and large water production- or irrigation . Using irrigation to water a farm means using thousands of gallons of water for an agricultural area or crop. This means each piece of fruit, vegetable, or coffee bean, uses more water than what goes in your cup of coffee or juice that comes out of your watermelon. Much of the water results in runoff as well. Rain barrels also sound like a good alternative but there is an environmental production cost with making rain barrels as well.

Ultimately the best approach is to find a way to capture rain water without manufacturing special products or producing high volumes of water i.e. commercial farming. Enter the natural reservoir or a form of detention tank in a natural area. Not the simplest approach in an urban area but it is possible. Urban farms are also an excellent approach, individuals use much less water than commercial applications and the food does not have to travel over long distances.

So where do you begin and end with all of these environmental concerns, footprints etc. The first and best step is to start doing more to accelerate protection of the environment. Work to reduce water consumption by using reusable water bottles, capturing rain, placing a container under your shower to capture the water before your shower heats up and use that water to water your plants. I am always happy to do a training or information session so you and others can learn how to make more of a difference.

Visit me at Clear Strategies Environmental Consulting at www.clearstrategies.us

Scotland Willis is an environmental consultant for Clear Strategies, columnist for the South End News and freelance writer.

BP Live Stream Deepwater Horizon Repairs

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How Much Oil is Out There OCS

by Scotland Willis

If one were to capture the accomplishments of the current Administration over the last year and compared them to previous Administrations, here's what your list might look like(accomplishments); And before you decide that you have no more interest in political discourse, the purpose is not to gloat over President Obama's accomplishments, or even to carry on about politics; no, the numbers are much more interesting than any of that.

So a few quick facts based on data produced by government resources which experts count on and defer to for decision making; but not before we look at the flaw of President Obama's latest interest in off shore drilling. This means that executive and congressional restrictions would be removed that prevent offshore drilling in the outer continental shelf (OCS). Whoa, where did that come from? This is likely a more passive response that what most environmentalists feel would be appropriate.

As the Huffington Post put it "He(president Obama) cited the need for this move to meet short-term economic needs and a longer-term, clean energy future." This is highly questionable, so back to the numbers. According to 2008 figures, the United States consumes about 19.5 million barrels of oil every day. These numbers come from a federal agency, not a environmental watch group. Estimates from the U.S. Department of the interior say that is 0.5-1 billion barrels(Bbbl) of oil in the Mid Atlantic area and 0.03-0.15 billion barrels of oil in the South Atlantic. Stick with me.

At best collectively this represents 1.15 billion barrels of oil. We are almost home. Now if you divide that by the rate of consumption you end up with results that look like this... really complex but hang in there. Total amount of usage this oil will yield by removing these restrictions is...58.97 days. One must agree that this not only qualifies as "short term economic needs", it could easily qualify for extremely short term economic needs. If you are shaking your head in disbelief, there is an open invitation to research these numbers for yourself. I love to be proven wrong, it means that someone else is doing their homework; but then you would also have to train the Energy Information Administration.

It is important to keep in mind that they will also explore natural gas in these same areas; but it is critical not to overlook the obvious as well as the counter productive. Natural gas will yield significantly higher numbers about 11.7 trillion cubic feet( tcf ) about half of what we consume in a year in the U.S. Overall in the United States we consumed 22,227,000,000,000 (twenty-two trillion-two hundred-twenty-seven-billion,) cubic feet of natural gas in 2008. It shows up third behind coal and oil in terms of CO2 (carbon dioxide) output at 5,300 metric tons, but is expected to overtake coal CO2 by 2030.

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