The government of Iceland claims it can hunt whales, sell the meat to Japan, rinse and repeat. Greenpeace is accusing Icelandic whalers of stockpiling whale meat and hording the blubber like blood diamonds, creating a false sense of mystique and demand. Having only read the Greenpeace press release on this issue and no third party coverage, all I can say is “sustainable whaling” just doesn’t sound very credible. There’s not even a wikipedia entry on the “subject”.
Author Archive
sustainable whaling
Friday, January 26, 2007standing in the electronic corner, wearing a dunce cap
Thursday, January 25, 2007
In addition to cracking down on outstanding fines, the city of Boston has decided to post the names of residents who can’t keep their trash under control on the mayor’s Web site. If your can is routinely overflowing, watch out, it’ll come up when your friends, colleagues, potential employers and worst of all, potential lovers Google you.
More fun to come when the site goes live!
Update: Looks like we’ll have to wait until March for the names to go up.
transient
Thursday, January 25, 2007
It’s finally winter, complete with flurries. The cold has come almost as a relief. I was getting worried that chilly weather would be one of those things I’d have to conjure up from distant memory to accurately describe to my future children. I’ve always loved winter. Because, of course, I can afford to. I grew up sledding. And ice skating. And even skiing, never wanting for mittens, coacoa or warm coats.
Last night, seeking shelter from the cold, a homeless man in Utah crawled into a garbage can. This morning that can was collected. I don’t think I need to go into what happened next.
I read this absurd and graphic news–a man’s life literally thrown away–in a tiny stub of an online article that did not give the dead man’s name. A transient, they called him.
Did it make the print edition of the paper, I wonder?
How horrible and impersonal to end up a factoid, an easy metaphor, to be blogged.
I posted that bit about beggars in India yesterday with a far away place in mind: somewhere where life means something different, something transient, disposable.
Suffice to say, I’ve never felt more arrogant for loving snow.
Update, the man was identified.
SEPA
Thursday, January 25, 2007
It’s been a busy week for China’s State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). First, they laid down the blame for a 2005 chemical spill into the Songhua River. Next, they take on mother England, joining forces with the EU to crack down on illegal trash imports. Who knew the People’s Republic was so concerned with environmental justice?
rag pickers
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The Hindu reported today that rag pickers, beggars who collect trash and sell off reusable bits of it in India, are sneaking into dumps. Toxic contamination can’t keep them out of the rubbage yards and can’t stop them from burning trash in search of metal scrap to sell.
The image of these clandestine fires led me to search the Internet for more rag picker trivia. I found this decent overview describing the tough but honorable profession of collecting what would otherwise be wasted and somehow forging it into a living. And then I found this article declaring recycled bags made by Indian beggars to be all the rage in London.
greenest games ever
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
London set some environmental targets today to reduce waste at the next Olympic games. A glossy report lays out plans to reduce water use and carbon emissions and to build fewer buildings that will just get knocked down than have past games. The one thing I might question, however, is the argument that choosing to build in the ghetto was the environmentally (or socially) friendly way to go:
“The Park is primarily situated on contaminated and derelict land. The landscape of the valley is dominated by past industry and overhead electrical pylons. It is also home to some of the most deprived communities in the country. Three of the Host Boroughs contain the third, forth and the eleventh most deprived wards in the country4. East London also experiences significant levels of unemployment with three boroughs higher than 10 per cent, or roughly twice the English average: with Hackney 16.4 per cent, Newham 13.5 per cent, and Tower Hamlets at 11.8 per cent5.”
Sounds like this community needs a large influx of temporary jobs and heavy traffic!
Weekly compactor
Friday, January 19, 2007
This week in trash news:
- Rich people in Brunei make messes via servants;
- Residents of Des Plains, IL, are worried about wheeling out the trash;
- Michigan slaps it to Canada with a NIMBY trash bill;
- Solid waste forges post-colonial ties in Mozambique;
- New Canaanites reveal that even the politically correct upper-crust need to do a better job recycling; and
- Corrupt bosses may be allowing some Namibian garbage men to convert vacation days into cash.
Waitakere City Council does it again
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
It’s that time of year again, time to honor the creativity of trash to fashion contestants in New Zealand. Thanks to a heads up from reader, Shaun, I see that the Waitakere City Council has posted the 2006 winners of their trashtastic annual competition.
Rats and silence
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Apologies for the unannounced hiatus. Nonprofiteering can wear a girl out and since my boss recently quit and my closest colleague is headed for parental leave next week, the number of meetings I must attend has increased exponentially. Anyway, I hope you forgive me and continue to check back for updates on the world of waste. In the meantime, I highly recommend the book Rats. If you haven’t come across it before, it’s the humorously and laboriously recounted true story of the year Robert Sullivan spent watching rats in the financial district come out at night to eat garbage. His attention to detail and to irony are unfailing and the chapters are Subway-sized. I’m packing it in my bag today as I rush back to work.
Post a comment if you’ve read it. I’d love to know what you think. I know I’ve mentioned the book before, but this time I’ve actually read it. I meant to pick it at the Brooklyn Book Fest, but held out to put it on my Christmas list. We’ll have to see if the author is available for an everyday trash interview.
Weekly compactor
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
This week in trash news:
TOP STORY: Bombs in trash cans ruin New Years Eve in Bangkok;
- Tiruvottiyur, India makes a New Years resolution to separate biodegradable trash;
- A county in Virginia cracks down on trailer park trash (literally);
- The British develop an energy-saving magnetic fridge; and
- Guyana prepares to host the 2007 Cricket World Cup and braces itself for the extra garbage the event will bring.
longest night
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Friday was the longest night of the year, a holiday observed by the watered down decedents of the Persian Empire by staying up late reading poetry with our families. We didn’t celebrate this year, but today some Iranians I had never met before came to my mother’s apartment. They admired the bulbous brass lamp hanging above the dining room table (now housing a light bulb instead of an oil dish), the old tile on display, a samovar. We drank tea from small glass cups rested in silver holders and discussed the ill-preserved Empire from which they had emigrated and the cherished objects imported and restored in the years since.
It was a valuable lesson in zero waste and recycling.
If the fragile inlay of a mosaic picture frame buckles in the humidity of this non-desert land, wet it down to mold it back into place. Worn antique embroidery should be protected behind glass and mounted on walls. Draw the shades when leaving the house to keep the sun from bleaching silk-woven carpets. Miniatures of kings holding court, couples reclining on plushy cuddler recliners and horses charging can be displayed in shadow boxes built from small shelves covered in black velvet and fitted to a large antique frame. Simple Persian bedspreads can be cut and sewn around cheap pieces of foam to create a luxurious Bedouin effect in any living room, much cheaper than purchasing furniture when one first arrives in a new country.
I looked around at the things that covered the floors and shelves and walls of the rooms I grew up in and saw them for the first time as symbols of a nomadic culture, started long ago on another continent, but carried on by me and my sister as we dutifully cart our carpets and picture frames from one New York apartment to the next. These things were built to weather skirmishes and sand storms. They were designed to be portable. And to last.
Weekly Compactor: tips from readers
Wednesday, December 20, 2006This week the compactor focuses on two neat things sent in to me by readers. The first is an article reposted on a blog. The second is a program by the WNYC show Radio Lab. Both are fantastic examples of journalists pursuing stories in trash. I love it.
- A little town in Canada with the world’s cleanest water plans to build a dump over it (via Science Notes).
- Oxfordians use ancient trash to solve mysteries (scroll down).
garbage man scam
Monday, December 18, 2006
Some asshole in Florida beat the real trash collectors to the tipping punch by leaving fake holiday notes on people’s doorsteps informing them of an address to which to mail holiday tips. Shame, shame.
[Tangent Alert]
I have to say though, it was a cleaver scam. Back in the day, before I got (unjustly and unceremoniously) fired from my very first job delivering newspapers, my wise mother suggested I deliver holiday cards with the papers one morning to introduce myself (and inspire giving). So I drafted a little note explaining that I was thirteen and saving up to buy my very own oboe. It worked like magic. In the space of the next week I made my annual salary in tips.
Soon after, my grandparents happened to meet a famous oboist after a concert and happened to tell him all about their granddaughter’s quest to buy an oboe. He let them in on another scam: oboists often pay for trips to France by buying a few oboes in Paris and reselling them in the states for a mark up. He hooked them up with an oboist on his way to France, they recounted my sweet story and an at-cost oboe was promised to me. My holiday tips covered one third, my parents came up with another third and my now-very-invested-in-the-quest grandparents covered the rest. And shipping insurance.
I have to say, though I haven’t played since college and the prized instrument now wastes away in a closet in my mother’s apartment, that oboe is to date the best appreciating investment I have ever made.
And it all started with a little holiday tip note scam.
further holiday trash…
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The good blogger of The Goode Life has thrown a green list on the pile, also by category. My favorite is the frenemy, that middle ground aquaintance.
AND
Fabulously Green adds some fabulous pampering items.
more holiday trash
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Oooh, Treehugger has broken out their green gift guide by category…For the Foodie, For the Bookworm, etc. See also their shout out to goodgifts.org.
everydaytrash 