BY Annie Leonard the Director of the Story of Stuff Project and author of the book, The Story of Stuff (Free Press, March 2010).
Walking to work one day I wanted to listen to the news, so I popped into Radio Shack. I found a cute little green radio for $4.99. Pleased with my bargain, I stood in line to pay, but then started wondering: how could $4.99 cover the cost of extracting the raw materials, manufacturing the parts, assembling the radio, and getting it into my hands?
Whenever I go to buy something I get sidetracked, thinking of how it got here. It’s an occupational hazard. I spent a decade traveling around the world, visiting the factories where our stuff is made and the dumps where it goes when we don’t want it any more. What I learned makes it impossible for me to look at anything and not see the journey it made through the global take-make-waste system.
The metal in that $4.99 radio was probably mined in Africa. The petroleum that went into the plastic probably was pumped from Iraq, and the plastic itself produced in China. The packaging came from forests in Brazil or Canada. Maybe the parts were then shipped across the ocean to Mexico, where some 15-year-old in a maquiladora assembled the radio. There it was put on a truck or a train and shipped to a distribution center in Southern California, then 500 miles north to my local store.
Four-ninety-nine? That wouldn’t pay for the shelf space it took up until I came along, let alone the salary for the guy who helped me pick it out.
That’s when I realized: I didn’t pay for the radio. So who did?
A study currently underway for the United Nations is calculating the cost of pollution and other environmental damage caused by the 3,000 largest publicly held corporations in the world. The study, which will be published this summer, has found that the cost of environmental damage by these companies is $2.2 trillion, or more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable. This includes greenhouse gas emissions, other pollution, and water degradation. The final amount is likely to increase once additional costs — like toxic waste — are incorporated.
Drastic action has been meted on four top Pakistan players
Top Pakistan stars Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan have been told they cannot represent their country again.
The Pakistan Cricket Board’s inquiry into the tour of Australia found the pair had been involved in “infighting which… brought down the whole team”.
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Malik each face one-year bans and big fines.
Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal also face heavy fines while their conduct will be strictly monitored during a six-month probationary period.
The PCB has implemented the recommendations of an inquiry committee formed to evaluate Pakistan’s dismal performance against Australia during the winter, when they lost all nine internationals.
Continue reading about Pakistan life bans for Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan -Cricket
One of the best moments in Canadian Sport!!!
Continue reading about Team Canada’s Winning Gold Medal Goal and Reaction 2010 Winter Olympics
Oh, The Places You’ll Go
My wife and I give this book to our friends’ children for their graduation and many speakers quote from this book during Graduations ceremonies.
Basically, it tells us that success is imminent, if you try. Page after colorful, carefully illustrated page is filled with rhymed wisdom to inspire readers to venture out into the world in search of dreams without fear or inhibition. Mindful of roadblocks and stumbles, the book reminds readers to dust themselves off and keep trying whenever setbacks occur.
This was Dr. Seuss’ last book before he died.
Theodor Seuss Geisel (pronounced /ˈɡaɪzəl/; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer and cartoonist most widely known for his children’s books written under the pen nameDr. Seuss.[1] He published over 60 children’s books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter. His most celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Numerous adaptations of his work have been created, including eleven television specials, threefeature films, and a Broadway musical.
Geisel also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City newspaper. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the U.S Army, where he wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
Read Across America is an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association. One part of the project is National Read Across America Day, an observance in the United States held on March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss would have been 105 today. Many of us grew up reading his fanciful tales.
He was born on March 2, 1904 in Massachusetts, although his amazing ‘Cat in the Hat’ wasn’t published until Dr Seuss was 55 years old.
In his lifetime he won two Emmy awards and a Pulitzer Prize for his work.
Do you have a favourite Dr. Zeus Quote?
Mine is:
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.”
Do you recognize some of these famous quotes???
“I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent.”
“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.”
“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
“And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.”
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those that mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
“You know when you’re in love and you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than you.”
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.”
Continue reading about Dr. Seuss Birthday — Would have been 105 today!
I hope Pamela wins, just so we can see the outfits she’ll be wearing!
Pamela Anderson
The veteran actress/ model/ Borat abduction target, Former Baywatch Star, Pamel is 42.
She will be adding a lot to the show. One way or another!
Nicole Scherzinger
Best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, the 31-year-old Scherzinger would seem to have a natural advantage on “DWTS” due to her extensive singing/dancing work.
Kate Gosselin
The newly divorced reality star and mother of eight, Kate, 34,
Chad Ochocinco
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco.
Shannen Doherty
Like former co-stars Jennie Garth and Ian Ziering before her, “Beverly Hills, 90210″ alum Shannen Doherty, is 38.
Evan Lysacek
At the just-concluded Winter Olympics, this 24-year-old figure skater took home the gold.
Erin Andrews
Long beloved by sports fans for her brains, beauty and sideline-reporting skills.
Buzz Aldrin
The original moonwalker, Aldrin was on the historic Apollo 11 mission and accompanied Neil Armstrong as they set foot on the moon. Now, he’s 80 years old
Aiden Turner
Best known for his role as Aidan Devane on “All My Children,” f
Niecy Nash
40-year-old comic actress.
Jake Pavelka
“The Bachelor.”
Continue reading about Dancing With the Stars 2010 Lineup and Pamela Anderson
An image of mass photo shoot at Sydney’s Opera House on Monday. Over 5,000 naked people braved a chilly morning to join a mass photo shoot at Sydney’s Opera House on Monday, putting a nude twist on the Australian landmark.
I was one of the 5,200 naked people who embraced each other on the steps of Sydney’s iconic Opera House on Monday for a photo shoot by Spencer Tunick. (The one in the middle!)
My wife asked me why she wasn’t in it?
I replied, “Your application was rejected.”
and that’s when the fight started…
‘It’s really a weird experience because you think there could be something sexual behind it, but there’s not.’
‘It was difficult to get the straight participants to embrace the gay participants and vice versa,’ Tunick said. ‘So I was very happy that that last set up finally got done and everyone came together (in a) united, friendly kiss, a loving kiss in front of this great structure.’
Tunick has produced almost 100 nude installations around the world, and says his work is not about exhibitionism or eroticism but instead reveals the vulnerability of life in a rough city landscape.
An elephant hired for a Hindu wedding in India caused more than £200,000 ($300 000) damage after trying to reach an in-heat female.
The turned-on tusker trampled 20 limos trying to reach the female in a nearby sugar cane field in the Indian capital New Delhi.
He also then mounted and attempted to mate with a truck, and smashed through a shopping mall in the 15-hour New Delhi rampage.
His adventure was finally brought to an end when wildlife experts managed to bring him down with a tranquilliser gun.
‘It is a very powerful urge,’ said one expert.
And no video…so far!
Continue reading about Wedding elephant destroys 20 limos in 15-hour rampage
A thief in Paris planned to steal some Paintings
from the Louvre.
After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van.However, he was captured only two blocks away when
his van ran out of gas.
When asked how he could mastermind such a crime
and then make such an obvious error, he replied, ‘Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.
‘I had no Monet
To buy Degas
To make the Van Gogh.’
See if you have De Gaulle to send this on to someone else.
I sent it to you because I figured I had nothing Toulouse .
