Friday, November 16, 2007

Wal-Mart Gets Slammed In Europe

When it comes to carbon footprints, there is no doubt about it; Wal-Mart leaves a GIANT dirty path on our planet.

In fact, "the company publicly acknowledged in 2006 that its global operations created 220 million tons of greenhouse gases every year...", according to a new report released in Europe yesterday by a large coalition who are severely criticizing Wal-Mart's so-called "sustainability programme."
"Wal-Mart's 'cheap' imports are not cheap if you consider the estimated two million tons of annual carbon emissions associated with shipping from China to US ports, pollution from inefficient non-U.S. trucking fleets, and the health impacts of port pollution on local communities," the groups stated.

... "Wal-Mart can change to more efficient light bulbs, but that doesn't change its carbon footprint or the enormous social consequences of its globally unsustainable business model," stated report contributor Ruben Garcia of Global Exchange. "If we look at its practices internationally, Wal-Mart has used its market power to cut costs at the expense of workers and the environment across the developing world."
There is one quote in the new report that I humbly believe echoes the growing tidal wave of sentiment against factory farming -- and I quote:
"There is no action we take, as consumers, that has a more profound impact on the environment than our choice of food, and Wal-Mart's dependence on imports and unsustainable factory farming is highly destructive,"


[Source: FoodNavigator news article]

Friday, November 02, 2007

Temporary Hiatus

Sorry for delays in posting. I have to take a brief break because, frankly, I'm swamped right now.

Writing clients, plus my second screenplay, plus a short novella for the NaNoWriMo competition this month... all have me buried in work and words.

For the month of November I'll be turning "comments" off because I simply have no time to moderate them all. Plus, there are a few commenters not following the rules (which I've stated several times but which they choose to ignore). I'll rewrite terms to make it a bit more clear and turn comments back on when I return to regular blogging in December.

Meanwhile, my posts will be quite sporadic over the next 4 weeks. Sorry about that.

I'll leave you this weekend with a few quotes to ponder:

"Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count." Albert Einstein

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is." Winston Churchill

"What's interesting about a writer is not himself, but what he manages to see outside of himself." John Updike

"The human physiology is part of the cosmic physiology. Every rhythm of the universe therefore naturally has an effect on the individual and vice versa." Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

"In this inconceivably enormous universe, we can never run out of energy or matter. But we can easily run out of brains." From the book, Profiles of the Future, by Arthur C. Clarke