Autumn Shades of Gold wallpaper
In Debating Burns’ Thesis on National Parks’ Value, John Buell quotes Scott Klinger and Rebecca Adamson of the First People’s Alliance in faulting Ken Burns’( producer of America’s Best Idea documentary on our National Parks) for not including the public’s perception that its OK to exploit land outside the parks, because we have all this park land that is relatively pristine. Faulting Burns for not covering every sociological point of view seems unfair. Demographic trends that lead to people leaving cities, the development of our vast highway system, industrial farming, rampant materialism and the sprawling poorly planned suburbs did not happen over night. There’s enough material in those phenomenon for a multi-part series of its own. Anecdotal evidence would suggest to me that quite a few people do believe, to paraphrase what I think Klinger and Adamson are getting at, that its OK to waste land and resources because we have set aside parks.Now that so many people have been burned by the housing bubble and many others can see how commuting is both an ecological issue and a financial burden we might be turning a corner. One in which we reinvent our cities. Old buildings being upgraded to use less energy and have multiple uses – large warehouses as solar factories in addition to their traditional use. New condos that have levels for growing their own produce, systems to recycle water and generate their own electricity. Buell’s observations on our culture of waste could not be more relevant and poignant,
Our garbage tells an interesting story. A recent case study of New York City garbage points out 4,385,000 tons a year “is gathered by collection trucks which crush it into compact piles. It is then taken to a transfer station and from there either to an incinerator where it will be burned, releasing cancer-causing dioxins into the air, or more likely to a landfill where it will decompose into a hazardous brew that leaches liquid waste and releases landfill gases.
Many of the goods we so badly crave we often hardly even get to know. “Organic still fresh fruits and vegetables, fancy olive breads, cured meats, bagels, doughnuts and other delectables, still sealed in non-biodegradable packaging and more durable goods like books, clothes, toys, furniture and electronic items in near perfect condition.” (emphasis mine)
Its figures like this that are important. Including comparisons to what some viewers think should have been included in a documentary just detracts from the larger message of the editorial. Pointing out this waste, as the writer notes further on, is thought by some to be elitist. I find that odd myself. How can it be elitest to point out that somewhere along the way in the development of our culture a large portion of society decided to make destructive decadent wastefulness and the adoration of stuff a virtue.
With New Care Tags, Levi Strauss Aims to Reduce Its Footprint
Levi Strauss & Co., in partnership with Goodwill, has begun a campaign designed to encourage customers to treat their clothes in an environmentally responsible manner.
The clothing company will include new care tags encouraging people to wash items in cold water, dry them on a line, and ultimately, donate them to Goodwill.
Now if we could just get Levi’s to reopen some its American factories and use at least 20% organic cotton.
