At least it will seem like seconds to the planet. The world population is expected to hit 7 billion next year, according to the Population Reference Bureau, see CNN's "World Population Projected to Reach 7 Billion Next Year" www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/12/world.population/index.html  It took 12 years to go from 5 to 6 billion, and it sounds like it'll only have taken another 12 to go from 6 to 7. No surprise most of the quick increases will take place in developing countries, but in addition to an average of only about 2 births for Americans, as opposed to 6 or more for women in Africa, is there more to the story? I was surprised that this article did address head on the decreasing fertility rates in many countries (i.e. US in particular) but I was disappointed that it didn't surmise anything about the cause.

Well, you don't have to look hard to find the answer, if you're resourceful, and it can be summed up in one word: chemicals. I've recently been on a kick to purge my house of toxins, after attending a green lifestyle presentation by someone who is a big proponent of Shaklee, and getting my hands on the book Green Goes With Everything by Sloan Barnett greengoeswitheverything.com/ Its no wonder why we're having fertility problems in this country, even compared to other developed countries in Europe, where they have been on the ball with outlawing these awful chemicals that affect our health, groundwater, environment, etc. Universal healthcare, longer mandatory vacation times, actual regulation of toxins... maybe they've got the right idea over there across the pond.

Hiya! I hope everyone had a very enjoyable weekend : )

I have a favor. Over the summer my sister accidentally left my desktop on during a thunderstorm. Never knew about this until I brought the PC to get it cleaned out and was told later on in the day that the tower would not be saved because my power source had been completely fried. B-E-A-utiful.

I am now in the proceed of searching for a laptop that is a bit more green than its brothers and sisters. I need something because this semester has been a bear to get through without a computer. Any suggestions? Thanks!

At my local grocery store today, my inner rage:

So if I want to use your plastic bags, you'll help bag my items.

But if I want to choose wisely and bring my own bag, you refuse!?!

And now I look like a fool because I'm fiddling with the bag and the credit card swiper machine and my wallet all at the same time.

Anyone else have stories about using your own bags when shopping?

OK, so I just started living on my own again. My partner and I have been using reusable bags when we go shopping.

We still have leftover paper bags, so we haven't run into this issue yet. It's on my mind though. We put our recyclables into paper bags and put them out on the curb. Is there anything else we could put them in that isn't adding to the problem? Is using one or two bags a week for this purpose OK? What do you reusable bag users do when it comes to putting your recycling out?

I have to share a Wal-Mart story. I have been an avid Wal-Mart hater for as long as I can remember, hopefully a lot of you feel the same.

I lived in Peoria, Illinois for almost two years. It seemed like I was the only one who had any sense not to shop at Wal-Mart. Anyway, I had to go there every so often, because they were the only place in town that offered to take and recycle plastic bags.

One of my few days off was a rainy day. I decided to scoot over to Wal-Mart to make a deposit of plastic bags. As I was driving away, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Women were sifting through the recycling box, taking the bags, and putting them over their heads to protect their mullets from the rain! OK, not all of them had mullets. ;) Needless to say, I was quite peeved. I was sure that the bags that I had so painstakingly saved...I'd pick them out of bushes on walks with my dogs...were not going to get recycled. Don't you hate when your efforts get crapped on by the people who just don't give a shit?

Yeah. I hate Wal-Mart.

I also was bothered by the fact that I couldn't find a place to recycle plastic. I had to drag it all the way back to MN with me when I visited my folks.

Interesting post from AutoblogGreen. Expect Walmart's competitors to follow suit; Target, Kohl's, Sears, etc.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/30/wal-mart-gets-ready-to-reduce-emissions-waste-and-operating-cos/

How serious is Wal-Mart about going green? Enough that their mission, according to GreenTech Media, is to "wean itself from fossil fuels and generate zero waste from its operations." A goal like that certainly gets our attention.

This change won't happen any time soon. GreenTech writes that, "In five years, Wal-Mart is aiming to make its existing stores 20 percent more energy-efficient and to reduce the energy consumption of new stores by 30 percent. It's also working to make its transportation fleet more efficient and to turn its trash into a revenue stream."

Wal-Mart is getting ready to launch a new website where green companies can offer their technologies to the retailing giant. If Wal-Mart thinks it can reduce its environmental footprint and its operating costs by using the technology, then it's off to the races. Wal-Mart's site will launch next week at www.cleantech.com/accelerato (it currently just says "Testing page").

Now, while this effort is noble, if Wal-Mart truly wants to green all of its operations, I'd say that will have to include the many factories that produce all those products Wal-Mart sells. Sure, it's a huge challenge, but there's no time like the present to get started.

I crocheted this sturdy and reusable grocery bag out of about 150 standard plastic grocery bags:



Full details here. If you want instructions on how to make one, just ask!

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to become the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets to help promote recycling.

Under the legislation, beginning in six months large supermarkets and drugstores will not be allowed to offer plastic bags made from petroleum products.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/27/environment.baggs.reut/index.html

BUT is the plastic bags ban full of holes?

The stores are encouraged to use bags made of recyclable paper, which can biodegrade in about a month, or compostable bags made of corn or potato starch, which have not yet been widely studied.

Paper bags generate 70% more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is because four times as much energy is required to produce paper bags and 85 times as much energy is needed to recycle them. Paper takes up nine times as much space in landfills and doesn't break down there at a substantially faster rate than plastic does.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/04/post_1.html

I had a cashier refuse to use the plastic bags I'd brought with me today. In the past, I've had cashiers forget to give me the 5 cent per bag discount, cashiers who were unsure how to give the discount, cashiers who've asked me to bag my own items if I'm bringing my own bags... but I've never before had one who flat out refused to reuse bags. It wouldn't have bothered me so much if he hadn't taken the two bags I handed him (after I asked him to bag my items with my re-use bags) and thrown them away. So now there are two more bags needlessly in the trash, and two more new bags needlessly in circulation. lesigh.

Okay, this is just a meaningless rant so if you want to skip over it I understand. But I need to get it out to someone who might actually agree with what I'm saying on a more than apathetic level.

I work at a major drugstore as a cashier. This means that I hand out hundreds of plastic bags every day that I work. Now, I understand that sometimes there is (not a NEED per se) but a circumstance under which bags might be somewhat necessary, like if you have 300 dollars worth of stuff and it's all really little and whatnot. Although yes, they do and will need to come up with a better method of shopping for these kinds of things since plastic bags are awful as we all know.

Anyway. My point is I absolutely can not stand it when a person buys a package of toilet paper or something really small even and I say, "Do you need a bag?" and they go "Oh YES, PLEASE." I want to be like "No, do you NEED it? The answer is NO. Plastic bags are a huge waste when you can just as easily pick it the fuck up and carry it out like a capable human being which you ARE whether you want to admit it or not." And with the amount of people like this that I have every day, I am left fuming by the end of it.

Once I quit this job there is no way I will ever take another which requires me to package things in such ridiculous ways for such ridiculous people.