|
A Collection of Internet JokesBy Category |
Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
The
Real Costs of STUFF!
Environmental Concerns Most of the things we purchase have a hidden cost --- the environmental impact of the manufacturing and distribution processes for the product. These costs will passed on to future generations whose lifestyles will suffer enormously unless something is done about this now. When people go to Wal-Mart, they may go for one reason: they are looking for the lowest price and the best bargain. But there are more important, long-term issues to consider for the future. There are actually very few totally environmentally friendly products available in today's market place. For example, most cosmetic products have a harsh environmental impact. An ingredient in some children's sun block actually becomes a carcinogen when exposed to the sun. And sunscreen may may be essential in avoiding sunburn and melanoma, but they all contain a toxic ingredient that washes off and between 4,000 and 6,000 metric tons of this are deposited by swimmers each year in the oceans of the world. The label 100 percent organic cotton T-shirt means the growers didn't use pesticides or release poisons into the environment. They didn't use chemical fertilizers that wash into the ground water, putrefy and kill living organisms in the water. But a dyed T-shirt contains textile dyes that are toxins and cause high rates of leukemia among employees. Plastic bags require 500 to 1,000 years to decompose, but this is not just a landfill issue – the manufacturing stages have a huge environmental impact. Using a cloth bag may not be as convenient when shopping, it is easier to carry more plastic bags at a time and you can wad them up and throw them away. But if a cloth bag eventually replaces 1,000 paper or plastic bags, the practice will benefit nature and, ultimately, save the planet for future generations. Manufacturers need to employ ingredients and processes that don't cause an environmental impact. The industrial revolution made life comfortable and convenient, but at a hidden cost for future generations. Companies actually tend to be ahead of consumers in this matter, especially during this market downturn, when many are concerned over their survival. The largest consumer goods companies are already using life cycle assessment tools to examine their entire range of products and identify their environmental impact. What can you, as a consumer, do to affect environmental change? For starters, examine the environmental impact of the products you purchase on a regular basis. There are many useful web sites available for this. Identify the best products in each category and share that information with everyone you know. And tell the manufacturers why you are using their product – or why you will no longer purchase it. For example, there are 50 ingredients in a bottle of shampoo. GoodGuide.com looks at every one of those ingredients in a medical database and rates them according to their price and toxic ingredients. The site makes it easy for users to communicate with a company and tell them what you think of their product. The Internet offers phenomenal technologies for affecting environmental change. Email, text messaging, Twitter, Facebook and other web-based networking tools offer amazing ways to spread the word. Young people can be a primary element in this effort -- they are familiar with the technology and they are far more motivated to do what they can to preserve the world than older generations. Swarm intelligence could be the engine that enables people to share this knowledge and create change by not only making it feasible for companies to market environmentally friendly products, but actually making it essential for either their survival or their success. Participation in this effort will actually affect their market share and profits. This can't be done without government support. The People need to let our representatives at all levels of government know they must support the these environmental considerations for the good of the people, the planet and the future --- and stop acquiescing to the huge financial rewards promised by special interests --- or we voters are going to throw them out of office. The governments around the world must cooperate and develop environmental regulations that make sense for the many, not just beneficial for the few who are profiting from current practices. Government action, resulting from pressure by informed consumers will be essential to affect this change. Dave Satre All Commercial Rights Reserved Links To Learn More About This Subject The Story of Stuff: An Annie Leonard video GoodGuide.com Moyers Journal May 15, 2009 Skin Deep Daniel Goleman Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ecological-Intelligence-Knowing-Impacts-Everything/dp/0385527829 Silent Spring (Book) |
| CLICK
HERE
|
