Gas Prices Are Back Down, Time To Stop Worrying About The Environment.... again
HOLY SHIT! I just filled up for $1.84 a gallon. Then again, just less than a week ago I drove over 700 miles with another couple hundred in the next few days. Perhaps I shouldn't think of the carbonl footprint involved in that. To say the least, I used up a ton of gas in a short time. At least I'm not driving an SUV, now am I? There's places offering 2 for 1 deals on them. How can something so affordable be so wrong?
Why do people like suvs anyway I thought smaller cars were the way of the future but apparently consumers are morons. You really have to ask why bourgeoisie American consumers enjoy driving in a giant ass platform that puts them 10 feet off the ground and smashes through conventionally sized cars.
I realize that some people need them because they live in the middle of nowhere and the roads go to shit. Normal cars and anything without a hemi get stuck and ridiculed because you're not driving a man's man car, but for most people it's just so they can hold a lot of groceries, I guess. SUVs are conspicuous symbols of consumerism and can be justified that (conventional reasoning) they're safer than smaller cars
Backstory on this? Dumbass in a Hummer can't see past their inflated sense of self worth; rear ends a school bus?
I also wonder about all those assholes who bought into dodge's deal where you get gas at a locked price when it just seemed to go up and up. What was it? Around $2.99 a gallon. How stupid must they feel. You know, all 12 of them.
It's certainly not caring about the environment that people stopped buying SUVs. It was because of the price of oil and how much it takes to fill your tank. With the price coming down again I wonder if people are just going to go back to buying those large unruly pieces of shit cars. Hammering home that no one cares about going green as long as they are just going.
Nothing says this more than the act of recycling your cans and bottles. Recycling is such a pain in the ass. I tried it the other day by going down to one of those recycling centers next to the grocery store and I just had to drive away with my car filled with smelly old alcohol containers because the line was so god damn long. This may sound racist, but every time I even attempt to go to recycle my cans there's always about five Asians with a collected amount of cans that could be converted to an Army Tank. Making it so that you have to wait at least an hour before they're done with their recycling.
I get the idea of a CRV. You pay up front and bank on the point that people wont be recycling to get back that 5 cent deposit back. The state makes a mint on those not redeemed. But you're going to have to bump up the price to make me have to wait in any sort of line to recycle. It's me waiting in line to get rid of fake metal. I mean, come on! there should be a fast lane. Anyone who isn't a hobo with collecting cans only. The equivalent of a 10 items or less line.
Here's something else that'll get you to go green... The fine folks at
The Inconvenient Bag want to beat it into your head that you should GO GREEN all year round. As if you didn't hear it enough in April during Earth Day, but add in a dash of Thanksgiving charity and you have yourself a way to make Thanksgiving Dinner go completely green.
1) Instead of paper invitations, people could contact each other via email (or Evite). If invitations are needed there are recycled paper invitations and even paper with seeds embedded in it so when it decomposes, new life is set in motion. Seed paper is usually handmade and decorated just as beautifully as ordinary cards.
Do people really invite each other via letters for Thanksgiving? I would imagine a phone would be better for the environment.
2) Turkey is a staple for Thanksgiving. You don’t have to go as far as my hero, Ed Begley Jr., who will probably be cooking his turkey in his solar oven! However, make sure that many people are over and that one (or each) turkey satisfies as many people as possible. Hence, the energy consumed is for many people (along the same lines, everyone could watch the football games on one energy-star TV instead of their own - watching football is better with others anyway). Side dishes could be organic, if possible, or have organic ingredients. Take your canvas bag and walk to your local farmers’ market to buy the best, freshest and tastiest organic foods and buy locally grown flowers for décor (guys you can shop with a canvas bag also, its not a purse!). Additionally, there are many new tasty organic and eco-friendly drinks and liquors.
So this tip is simply "Invite more folks so you can finish your meal" I mean, will people throw away left overs anyway? I usually have Turkey sandwiches for at least a week after.
3) Use dishes instead of plastic and paper. When finished fill the sink up and wash all the dishes at once. The less waste, the better. As a Japanese-American growing up, my mother taught me “Mottainai!” which in Japanese means “Don’t waste!”. There are now corn-based or post-consumer recycled goods that could be used if disposable products are needed, i.e., utensils, plates, trash liners, etc. Keep all water bottles, cans and glass for recycling. Moreover, try to use the same utensils over and over instead of a new plate, a new fork, etc. I have found that a great way to clean off my dinner fork for desert is to lick it!
F-it, instead of a nice glass of wine in a crystal glass, just drink your 40 straight out of the paper bag... scratch that, out of the canvas bag that you bought it with at your local 5-inch thick bullet proof glass liquor mart.
You might as well forget dishes altogether. Everyone just share one fork and pick at the turkey like the vultures you are till the carcass is picked clean to the bone.
4) Thanksgiving is family time, so have everyone over. Instead of scattered family celebrations, have one large Thanksgiving party where everyone could be at one location, possibly carpool and pitch in. Invite those people who have family out of the area. This would reduce the use of energy to one location while increasing the festivity! Also, you could get others to help clean up the place! For those of us who refuse to cook, there are many green options. My friend, Allan of Cater Green (www.catergreen.com), has a green solution for every catering need, including cleaning up and an awesome “zero waste” plan.
Again, I can one up that. Just don't cook. Go to your local Chinese joint, may I recommend WON KOK, and enjoy a big meal and stimulate the economy.
5) Green Cleanup: Besides setting up separate bins for recyclable goods, there are other forms of green cleanup. There are a multitude of green cleaning solutions available in your local stores, i.e., Begley’s Best, organic cleaning solutions, chemical free, etc. If a dish washer is to be used, make sure it is full and hopefully energy-star certified (or just have your favorite guest hand wash the dishes! See #3 above.). Furthermore, extra food could be donated to a shelter for others to enjoy - Mottainai! Those of you who go the extra step could compost earth-friendly waste for your own organic gardens.
Is this even a tip? Give your left overs to shelters? How about donating your time or some non-half eaten food? I donated a box full of food to shelters this year and I don't think I'm doing anything out of the ordinary. Everyone deserves a Holiday that doesn't suck. This "helpful" tip is all over the place. Yeah, make sure your washer is completely filled.. no shit, sherlock.
Over all, those to were a waste of space. Thankfully it's not printed on any sort of piece of paper and placed up at your local trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Because if they were, then the irony will be really thick.
There's always one way to stay perfectly green and in this final piece it goes to show that it's possibly the oldest "going green" possible.
Some old ass weed Ottawa — Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.
The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly “cultivated for psychoactive purposes,” rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.
The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.
That's some old stink weed, yo. With that I'll leave you with wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving. We all have something to be thankful about. Perhaps you don't show it as often as you should. Enjoy it folks.
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