the corporation

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes  me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war,  corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. Abraham Lincoln

the Plastic Bag

“If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.”
~Jacques Barzun, The House of Intellect, 1959

The plastic bag, polybag or pouch is type of packaging or carry container made of a thin, flexible plastic film, plastic textile or nonwoven fabric. Plastic bags are used for a number of different things since their first patent dating back to the 1950′s in the United States and Europe. According the the UK’s Environment Agency, 76% of plastic grocery bags are reused. They estimate that 90% of individuals reuse plastic bags, and 56% of individuals reuse plastic shopping bags. This is very important because recently plastic shopping bags have been on the hit list for environmentalists. They have already been banned in some cities with more to come. The reasoning behind the ban is do to the long lasting effect plastic grocery bags will have on the environment. Even though 56% of these bags are supposedly being reused they are only being reused once or twice, which means almost all of them eventually end up back in our landfills, where they will live forever. Unfortunately, promoting a ban on a product in not necessary the answer. In most cases consumers will move from one product to another without ever taking notice of their consumption habits.

Promoting the recycling of plastic bags, rather than taxes or bans, is the best way to decrease litter and conserve valuable resources and energy. Fortunately, the vast majority of communities that have considered measures to address bag waste have opted for programs to increase recycling of this valuable material.

the Walkman

“And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day shall fold their tents like the Arabs, and as silently steal away.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Sony Walkman was the first step towards personal, mobile music. Before cassette tapes if you wanted to listen to music you either listened to a vinyl record or an 8 track tape. The eight track was great, because unlike the large shaped vinyl records you could travel with them and listen to them in your car. Then came the cassette, a smaller, more defined version of the eight track analog player. The smaller it got the more portable it got. Now not only could you listen to your personalized tracks in your vehicle, but you could take it with you on the go with the cassette walk-man. Just ad batteries and a headset and now you were able to listen to your Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA as you were roller skating down the boardwalk. The Walkman was the first technological step in the evolution of what we now called the IPOD or the IPHONE.

the Plastic Water Bottle

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward.
George Carlin

Can you remember drinking water out of a water fountain? We still see them everywhere but hardly use them. I think the last time I used one was to get my dog some water after playing at the park. The plastic water bottle came onto the scene nearly twenty years ago when people started to break away from the carbonated beverages.  At first it seemed that only yuppies carried around bottles of Evian or other designer brands of water but it soon caught on like wild fire. Over the decades sales of bottled water have increased dramatically. In 2006 over 115 million litters (30,379,786 U.S. gallons) of water were sold in the US alone. The global rate of consumption has more than quadrupled between 1990 and 2005. One estimate is that 50 billion bottles of water are consumed per year in the U.S and another 200 billion bottles globally.

Bottled water has been described as “one of the greatest cons of the 20th century” and as “marketing’s answer to the emperor’s new clothes”. Keep in mind I finally got over buying bottled water but it took some time. Now I carry a re-fill able container around. Click Here if you would like to see where all of those bottles end up.

the Health Care

The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated. Plato

The Preferred Care Card is your pass into a life of being healthy, or is it? The answer is, not at all,  it is however your pass to pay a monthly fee so that Health Care Providers, ie. Health Insurance Companies, can pretend that the are keeping you safe and healthy. The main point here is “pretend” as most of us with half a sense know that Health Care in the western world does not necessarily keep you healthy, but turns you into a servant to their requests and demands. Which usually has nothing to do with health, but money. As humans we remain healthy by what we put into our body, foods, exercise, strength and relationships. However no matter how hard we try we are all expendable, and Health Care providers know this, what they want to you think is that they have the power to extend your life. Much like the old Medicine Man, Preacher or Shaman, one can derive that what they are really giving you is a false hope, so that you give them your money.