Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Consumer Electronics - We must insist on a more sustainable model!
As you ponder your Christmas shopping list - stop and think about how your purchases are like votes. When you buy consumer electronics that have toxic chemicals in them, uses them in their production, or releases them when 3rd world peoples try to harvest precious metals from discards, you support these practices. We must demand a higher standard - value engineered DVD players that stop working at 26 months and get dumped because of high repair costs into our landfills CAN NOT be tolerated any longer! These devices should have 15 year life cycles minimum! They should be built on a standard rack mount chassis and be upgradable and serviceable - with pull out modules and replaceable (maybe even by the consumer!) parts!!
Resistant Bacteria - Not just from oral antibiotics - home cleaning products too!
Vinegar - it's no just for salad dressing anymore!
While looking for info about diluted vinegar as a health aid (natural antibiotic) I discover this post about how home cleaners (disinfectants) are creating super bugs just like the antibiotics over prescribed for humans and added to livestock feeds
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vinegar-kills-bacteria-mold-germs.html#
Sometimes our step forward is really a step backward. I hope that rational thought wins out over greed and corporate marketing. Just use what your (great) granny used - vinegar!
Quote below from link above:
While looking for info about diluted vinegar as a health aid (natural antibiotic) I discover this post about how home cleaners (disinfectants) are creating super bugs just like the antibiotics over prescribed for humans and added to livestock feeds
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vinegar-kills-bacteria-mold-germs.html#
Sometimes our step forward is really a step backward. I hope that rational thought wins out over greed and corporate marketing. Just use what your (great) granny used - vinegar!
Quote below from link above:
Vinegar is a mainstay of the old folk recipes for cleaning, and with good reason. The vim of the vinegar is that it kills bacteria, mold and germs.
Heinz company spokesperson Michael Mullen references numerous studies to show that a straight 5 percent solution of vinegar—the kind you can buy in the supermarket—kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of germs (viruses). He noted that Heinz can’t claim on their packaging that vinegar is a disinfectant since the company has not registered it as a pesticide with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
High-speed Rail - Yes We Can!
President Obama: we here in Kentucky will take the money turned down by Florida and Ohio! We need to make some green technology steps to offset our role in the proliferation of coal and it's many detrimental effects on our ecology.
Read more about the debate on high speed rail here:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2011-02-15-businesstravel15_ST_N.htm
Do we need high speed rail? Do we even ask if we need high speed Internet? Of course we need High-speed Rail! History clearly shows that during our economic downturns investments in infrastructure later paid great dividends when things picked up. Then not only will we get a moderate recovery - but we could have a boom economy once business and citizen consumers latch onto the ease, economy, ecology and joy of rail travel!
Imagine being able to catch a train from downtown Lexington to Cincinnati or Louisville and being able to read, listen to music, chat with fellow travelers or just snooze for the length of the trip?! UK has the hones to be a top twenty research institution (an unfunded economic development plain foisted on UK! Having this type of transportation infrastructure will be a great boon to this goal as many folks who are used to East Coast commuter rails are the target audience for helping us achieve those academic/economic goals!
Read more about the debate on high speed rail here:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2011-02-15-businesstravel15_ST_N.htm
Do we need high speed rail? Do we even ask if we need high speed Internet? Of course we need High-speed Rail! History clearly shows that during our economic downturns investments in infrastructure later paid great dividends when things picked up. Then not only will we get a moderate recovery - but we could have a boom economy once business and citizen consumers latch onto the ease, economy, ecology and joy of rail travel!
Imagine being able to catch a train from downtown Lexington to Cincinnati or Louisville and being able to read, listen to music, chat with fellow travelers or just snooze for the length of the trip?! UK has the hones to be a top twenty research institution (an unfunded economic development plain foisted on UK! Having this type of transportation infrastructure will be a great boon to this goal as many folks who are used to East Coast commuter rails are the target audience for helping us achieve those academic/economic goals!
Monday, February 14, 2011
A note to Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear on Valentine's Day 2011
Governor Beshear,
There is no such thing as responsible surface mining. Clean drinking water is more precious than coal. The culture of Appalachia will be devastated if the people lose their Mountains!
Coal only seems cheap it's true cost is unbearable, planetary heat load changes, acid oceans, destruction of shellfish and coral, mercury in seafood: UNBEARABLY EXPENSIVE! We must change our thinking: the cost of maintaining outdated beliefs to our children and children's children will be UNIMAGINABLE.
Govenor Beshear, I believe you to be a man of good conscience. Now we we need you to be a leader of vision and wise steward of our only true wealth - the health of our home, planet earth.
Respectfully,
Jonathan Gilpin
Lexington KY
There is no such thing as responsible surface mining. Clean drinking water is more precious than coal. The culture of Appalachia will be devastated if the people lose their Mountains!
Coal only seems cheap it's true cost is unbearable, planetary heat load changes, acid oceans, destruction of shellfish and coral, mercury in seafood: UNBEARABLY EXPENSIVE! We must change our thinking: the cost of maintaining outdated beliefs to our children and children's children will be UNIMAGINABLE.
Govenor Beshear, I believe you to be a man of good conscience. Now we we need you to be a leader of vision and wise steward of our only true wealth - the health of our home, planet earth.
Respectfully,
Jonathan Gilpin
Lexington KY
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In Greek mythology, Gaia was the personification of Mother Earth. In response to the devastation brought forth by the irresponsible mining practice of mountaintop removal and valley fills, Chapman-Crane created this life-sized figurative sculpture depicting Mother Earth suffering from the abuses of strip mining.
Monday, January 17, 2011
MLK Day - Was the Man Flawless or Clawless?
According to analysis today on NPR the upshot regarding MLK falls along these racial lines:
None of this invalidates his work or message but instead affirms that all of us (as human beings) are capable of taking on the yoke he so nobly wore.
A personal observation - we are all in this together. A homily from two Christmas's ago rings in my ears: (forgive and bear with my paraphrasing:) "...as far as we know no one is actually in hell and we all will have to go to heaven together."
- Whites - wanted him Clawless - made impotent, and to ignore the complicity of white America to his assassination. FBI had labeled him a threat to America. Lost popularity after criticizing the Vietnam war.
- Blacks - wanted to raise him to sainthood, Flawless - ignoring his affairs and human foibles.
None of this invalidates his work or message but instead affirms that all of us (as human beings) are capable of taking on the yoke he so nobly wore.
A personal observation - we are all in this together. A homily from two Christmas's ago rings in my ears: (forgive and bear with my paraphrasing:) "...as far as we know no one is actually in hell and we all will have to go to heaven together."
Recent Shootings and Gun Rights
Coming from a viewpoint of being terrified of guns but also acknowledging that they exist I may seem to talk out of both sides of my mouth.
Someone once told me the first step to being a slave is that they take your weapons away. Our country was founded on the premise that populace knows what is best for themselves. If the police and military get to have 30-round clips then so should every mentally sound citizen have that same availability. I am not advocating sedition but history shows that in some extreme (and not too rare) situations the people must rise up against the powers that be (in history they are called despots, tyrants, etc.) - there is a balance of power at stake with 2nd amendment rights.
The Arizona shooting has more to do with the neglect of our society to the mentally ill. Numerous people were concerned with his state of mind - yet did not know how to proceed. The question of whether this shooter acted alone still remains to be answered. He would have been an easy target for outside manipulation.
Solutions to issues like this should restrict the freedom of the few and not the many. If gun rights legislation is our most effective response to this and other shootings by deranged assailants (and I'm not sure it is), then do it with the least possible impact on our individual rights. Due process should always be the path to restriction of rights.
Someone once told me the first step to being a slave is that they take your weapons away. Our country was founded on the premise that populace knows what is best for themselves. If the police and military get to have 30-round clips then so should every mentally sound citizen have that same availability. I am not advocating sedition but history shows that in some extreme (and not too rare) situations the people must rise up against the powers that be (in history they are called despots, tyrants, etc.) - there is a balance of power at stake with 2nd amendment rights.
The Arizona shooting has more to do with the neglect of our society to the mentally ill. Numerous people were concerned with his state of mind - yet did not know how to proceed. The question of whether this shooter acted alone still remains to be answered. He would have been an easy target for outside manipulation.
Solutions to issues like this should restrict the freedom of the few and not the many. If gun rights legislation is our most effective response to this and other shootings by deranged assailants (and I'm not sure it is), then do it with the least possible impact on our individual rights. Due process should always be the path to restriction of rights.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Cloned Meat and Dairy: Why take the chance?
First saw this yesterday on the local television broadcast of the BBC news. Here is a link to the story on the web:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10951108
Here's a quote from another recent BBC story:
This seems like hubris on part the scientists who advocate this for food production and just shortsighted greed for the cattle producers who adopt this practice. Nature has this wonderful thing called biodiversity, not just between species but within them. There is no such thing as a perfect cow. Genetic specialization can at first seem like an advantage but ultimately becomes a liability. Have you ever heard about the theory that the restricted diet of early African slaves has lead to the prevalence of hypertension in their descendants, modern African-Americans. Through a process of attrition the survivors became super body salt savers. What was then an asset has now become a disadvantage. (See more about super salt savers at: http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi618.htm)
Thank goodness Whole Foods Grocery has denied sale of these products in their stores. The risks seem to clearly outweigh the gains. And the public does not want this product! The FDA has approved this meat and dairy for sale in the US (more than two years ago!) - but why do we need to take the chance and introduce yet another risk factor into our food production? The advocates of this change in our food production don't want to be required to label their product - they know the majority of consumers would avoid a food product with the word "clone" attached to it!
Read more about it:
Some organizations working to oppose cloned food:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10951108
Here's a quote from another recent BBC story:
Scottish Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said consumers "deserve to know the origin of all foods they purchase" and he was "concerned to learn that the offspring of these animals have been reared in the UK for food production purposes without any authorisation from the Food Standards Agency".
This seems like hubris on part the scientists who advocate this for food production and just shortsighted greed for the cattle producers who adopt this practice. Nature has this wonderful thing called biodiversity, not just between species but within them. There is no such thing as a perfect cow. Genetic specialization can at first seem like an advantage but ultimately becomes a liability. Have you ever heard about the theory that the restricted diet of early African slaves has lead to the prevalence of hypertension in their descendants, modern African-Americans. Through a process of attrition the survivors became super body salt savers. What was then an asset has now become a disadvantage. (See more about super salt savers at: http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi618.htm)
Thank goodness Whole Foods Grocery has denied sale of these products in their stores. The risks seem to clearly outweigh the gains. And the public does not want this product! The FDA has approved this meat and dairy for sale in the US (more than two years ago!) - but why do we need to take the chance and introduce yet another risk factor into our food production? The advocates of this change in our food production don't want to be required to label their product - they know the majority of consumers would avoid a food product with the word "clone" attached to it!
Read more about it:
- Washington Post online article from December 2006: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122800552.html
- Reuters new story video from January 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5eUkNynPPc
- MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16372490/
- http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/046
- A Biotech Advocacy Group: http://www.bio.org/foodag/facts.asp#15
- Whole Foods Grocery position statement: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/cloned-meat.php
Some organizations working to oppose cloned food:
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