Monday Moaning

This is a moan, but it’s more of awareness. An awareness that we landlubbers rarely see.

Here’s a glimpse.

Next time you buy a bottle of water, remember the baby albatross

Like finding rubbish on Everest, when I crossed the Atlantic I was dismayed to see so much plastic – and that kills seabirds

‘The particles of plastic, many of them ­minute, enter the food chain and do terrible damage to all forms of life.’ Photograph: Lucy Pemoni/AP

The picture of the baby albatross that starved to death after being fed nutritionally useless bits of plastic by its parents shows just what happens when we treat the world’s oceans as a handy system of waste disposal. A few years ago, I got a do-this-before-you-die chance to sail across the Atlantic, among the best things I’ve ever done.

One startling discovery was that the sea is actually a kind of desert. For most of the trip, we rarely saw a bird, we caught no fish, and the only living things apart from us were the Portuguese man-of-wars, evil-looking jelly fish that drifted by in ominous numbers on calm days. But, like discovering rubbish on Everest, there was always plastic. Big bits – weather buoys that had come adrift, fuel containers and suchlike – and small bits, and even smaller bits. There are 269,000 tonnes of these fragments, according to the newest estimate. They come mainly from single-use plastic containers like water bottles, but even so-called biodegradable plastic only degrades quickly in commercial composting systems.

The particles, many of them minute, enter the food chain and do terrible damage to all forms of life. And because they are not only on the surface but also suspended deep beneath, trying to remove them risks doing more environmental harm. So next time you buy bottled water, remember the baby albatross.

Source: TheGuardian

Satireday on Eco-Crap

Monday Moaning

I have long been against these ‘energy drinks’ like Red Bull. It is my opinion that they should be banned.

In my perambulations through the blogosphere, I have read nothing good about them, in fact quite the contrary. All medical advice I have read says the same, avoid them.

Caffeine energy drinks ‘intensify heart contractions’

Energy drinks packed with caffeine can change the way the heart beats, researchers warn.

The team from the University of Bonn in Germany imaged the hearts of 17 people an hour after they had an energy drink.

The study showed contractions were more forceful after the drink.

The team told the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America that children and people with some health conditions should avoid the drinks.

Researcher Dr Jonas Dorner said: “Until now, we haven’t known exactly what effect these energy drinks have on the function of the heart.

“The amount of caffeine is up to three times higher than in other caffeinated beverages like coffee or cola.

“There are many side effects known to be associated with a high intake of caffeine, including rapid heart rate, palpitations, rise in blood pressure and, in the most severe cases, seizures or sudden death.”

The researchers gave the participants a drink containing 32mg per 100ml of caffeine and 400mg per 100ml of another chemical, taurine.

Short-term impact

They showed the chamber of the heart that pumps blood around the body, the left ventricle, was contracting harder an hour after the energy drink was taken than at the start of the study.

Dr Dorner added: “We’ve shown that energy drink consumption has a short-term impact on cardiac contractility.

“We don’t know exactly how or if this greater contractility of the heart impacts daily activities or athletic performance.”

The impact on people with heart disease is also unknown.

However, the research team advises that children and people with an irregular heartbeat should avoid the drinks.

The British Soft Drinks Association already says the drinks are not for children.

Opinion:

I read horror stories like:

One in 20 teenage pupils goes to school on a can of energy drink instead of a good breakfast, a survey suggests. – BBCNews

Then stories like this:

Morrisons supermarket has banned children under the age of 16 from buying high caffeine energy drinks. – BBCNews

If supermarkets are imposing bans, then there must be a reason.

Governments are all too ready to ban drugs, but they do nothing when there is a serious health risks; why?

Because the energy drink market is huge, big corporations are involved, which means there is a lot of money to be made.

I go to the supermarket, and see shelves full of the stuff, it makes me snarl.

I can’t understand why people drink the stuff. I had a sip once, it tasted ghastly, it made me want to puke. Now I could understand if it tasted like Coke, or something similar, but it doesn’t.

Here in Brazil I see people of all ages drinking it straight, mixing is with soda or beer or spirits; and I shake my head in wonder, how can you be so stupid?

There is already evidence that energy drinks combined with alcohol cause heart failure, but you never see this reported in the mainstream media, it’s hushed up, it’s a taboo subject, it’s another example of media gagging.

Russia is introducing a ban on drinks contain caffeine and alcohol. “Excessive consumption of energy drinks can harm teenagers, pregnant women and people with cardiac, nerve or blood problems”, the lawmakers said.” – Top News

Now I don’t agree with many things that Russia does, but like their banning microwave ovens in the seventies, now this energy drink ban shows that they do do somethings right.

The “wide awake drunk” is a new danger, statistics show that these people are 4x more likely to think they can drive than a person who has only drunk alcohol.

Simple Green Ideas

The Yuletide season will soon be upon us.

People will start the hunt for a Christmas tree.

There are those who will opt for a fake tree, maybe they are going to recycle the one from last year; if it survived. Maybe they are going to buy a new one to replace the one that didn’t survive.

These fake trees cost; they cost money and they cost resources.

Maybe you are from a family that has a real tree, a dying tree, a tree that would have grown to be a magnificent example of nature, if it hadn’t been cut down in its prime to stand dying in a corner of your living room festooned with baubles.

You do this every year, you sacrifice a tree to celebrate Christmas.

 

That becomes this before the end of January…

After New Year, you pat yourself on the back, “We’ve had a great Christmas and slaughtered another tree!”

It wasn’t such a great Christmas for the dying tree…

Millions of trees around the world suffer this indignity; put to death by Christians as if they were witches during the inquisition.

Think about this.

Think about the alternatives.

Do you have some old wood, timber, lumber around the yard?

Most people do, I do.

Use your imagination…

Upcycle, repurpose your old wood.

Eeew! That looks a bit grotty!

So paint it with that paint that has been sitting on the shelf in the garage for years, it doesn’t have to be green, nice if it is, but who says green represents Christmas. The spirit of Christmas doesn’t have a colour.

Make your Christmas present to the world this year, save a tree from the agonies of  death, the indignity of garish baubles, the opprobrium of a trash can burial.

Do this and you can be proud after Christmas.