Tag: Environment
Most Think U.S. Government is Not Doing Enough for the Environment
47%
Of Americans tilt toward the view that the government is doing too little to protect the environment, while 16% say it is doing too much and 35% say the government’s efforts on the environment are about right.
Always Coca-Cola? Yes, and Plastic Water Bottles are Forever
I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon but it’s on my list. When I get there, I hope I will be so enthralled with the majesty of the canyon that I am not distracted by plastic bottle litter behind every creosote and juniper.
But a recent reversal by the National Park Service makes this prospect less likely.
Weary of plastic litter, Grand Canyon National Park officials were in the final stages of imposing a ban on the sale of disposable water bottles in the Grand Canyon late last year when the nation’s parks chief abruptly blocked the plan after conversations with Coca-Cola, a major donor to the National Park Foundation.
Stephen P. Martin, the architect of the plan and the top parks official at the Grand Canyon, said his superiors told him two weeks before its Jan. 1 start date that Coca-Cola, which distributes water under the Dasani brand and has donated more than $13 million to the parks, had registered its concerns about the bottle ban through the foundation, and that the project was being tabled. His account was confirmed by park, foundation and company officials.
Disposable plastic water bottles are a scourge like few others. By the numbers: […]
‘Styrofoam Dan’ Lungren Could Pay a Price for Killing Capitol Compostable Program
It has only been about three months since Republicans took control of the House and there are already signs that voter remorse is setting in.
“This is a case of the Republicans being spiteful and stupid,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
The reason for this is clear. Republicans won the House by promising to focus on fixing the economy and produce “jobs, jobs, jobs.” Not only have they broken those promises — they haven’t even bothered to schedule a hearing on employment — they passed $61 billion in budget cuts that conservative economic experts predict would kill about 1 million jobs and stall or reverse recovery from the Bush recession.
Otherwise, all the GOP has done is waste time on the taxpayers’ dime with a series of gimmicks. They read the Constitution out loud (and bungled even that). They voted to repeal of health-care reform even though they knew it had no chance of becoming law and have yet to utter a peep about the replacement bill they promised. And they passed a resolution to encourage placing “In God We Trust” signs on all 9,000 federal buildings.
Add to that list of gimmicks their cynical decision to reverse part of the Democrats’ program to make the Capitol Building more energy efficient:
Baby Don’t Drill
As an environmentalist he’s gotten high billing,
And as a man of principle, he seems willing.
And whatever the motivation
Behind Obama’s vacillation,
We’re glad he finally came out against offshore drilling.
Rand Fan Creates Biggest Message, Carbon Footprint
In a peculiarly apt expression of novelist Ayn Rand‘s “every man for himself and damn the weaklings who should stop sucking up our wealth and just crawl away and die” philosophy, Nick Newcomen drove 12,328 miles across the United States using a GPS logger to spell out the message “Read Ayn Rand” in what he calls “the world’s biggest writing.”
On his website Newcomen gives 10 reasons why we should read Rand, but I’ll spare you nine of them and give you the one that makes me wonder if Newcomen didn’t get a little too much carbon monoxide on his writing ride through 30 states: “Atlas Shrugged is the ‘second most influential book for Americans today’ after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club.”
Wanting to determine just how selfishly Randian Newcomen was, I did a little carbon footprint calculation. Now, I don’t know what kind of vehicle he drove, but I assumed it would be some Ayn Rand would approve of, so I selected a 2005 four-wheel-drive automatic Rover. Based on that, Newcomen’s big writing assignment added just under 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the environment.
At least he spread it out over the entire country, I guess.
So, I give Nick Newcomen a D- for penmanship and an F for environmental wastefulness and selfishness worthy of John Galt.
Tea Party Nation Head Ups Barton’s ‘Shakedown,’ Calls BP’s $20 Bil Gulf Victims’ Fund ‘Extortion’
Barton, who will be chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee if Republicans win control of the House in November, called the escrow account a “shakedown.” But that was too mild for Phillips, who upped the ante.
Mr. President, Please Appoint Sarah Q. Palin Gulf Disaster Czar
The problem with putting Sarah Q. Palin in charge of anything is that “Quitter” is her middle name.
From day one, the Republicans’ approach to the crisis has resembled a mob of howler monkeys tossing poo at firemen trying to put out a fire at the zoo. Last week, Sarah Q. Palin, the GOP’s putative 2012 presidential nominee, piled on by flinging her poo at the president in the guise of offering advice via her Facebook page:
GOP House Speaker-in-Waiting Boehner Suggests Taxpayer Bail Out for Gulf Clean Up
“I think the people responsible in the oil spill — BP and the federal government — should take full responsibility for what’s happening there,” Boehner said at his weekly press conference…
Yea, those nasty feds. Greedy, grimy bastards. Let’s stick it to ’em!
Hey, wait a minute. The “federal government?” He means us — the American taxpayers. But wouldn’t that be like a bail out of BP?
Wait ’til the tea baggers hear about this!
