Dear Santa,
Define ‘Good’!
(and does ‘good at it’ get me any points??)
© Melinda Chambers. All posts are the creation of the author and, as such, remain the author's property with all rights reserved.
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(In Other Words: You Can Still Enjoy That Delightful Sunday Morning Hangover!)
Corporate Accountability International
Jenna wants us all to sign a pledge to stick with drinking tap water instead of bottled. Here, she tells us why:
The Think Outside the Bottle campaign is asking people to pledge to opt for tap water over bottled, and to support the efforts of local officials who are working for stronger public water systems. We are asking people to sign because:
- water is a human right and not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit;
- bottled water corporations are changing the very way we think about water and undermining people’s confidence in public water systems;
- up to 40% of bottled water in the US and Canada is sourced from municipal tap water;
- some bottlers have run over communities’ concerns and the environment when they extract water and build bottling plants to get local spring and ground water;
- bottled water travels many miles from the source, results in the burning of massive amounts of fossil fuels, and contributes to the billions of plastic bottles ending up in our landfills;
- worldwide there is a need for investments in public water systems to ensure equal access to water, a key ingredient for prosperity and health for all people; and
- solutions to ensuring water as a fundamental human right require people acting together and standing up for public water systems.
by Jenna Garland, who works with Corporate Accountability on their Think Outside the Bottle Campaign.
“Last year in the US, 17 million barrels of oil were used to manufacture, fill, and transport bottled water. That’s enough to fuel 1 million cars for 1 year (in the US). This is a significant source of global warming pollution – furthermore, it’s becoming a have and have not issue.
As water resources shift with global climate change, water is going to become an even more precious resource than it is currently. Right now, we have more than 1.1 billion (with a b!) people who lack access to enough clean, safe water to meet their daily needs.
By 2025, that’s predicted to increase to more than 2/3 of the world’s population, without taking into account the effects of global climate change. We can’t let this become something that those who can pay for get access to, and those who can’t are left without options. Working for stronger public systems is essential to preventing all these things from happening.
To sign the pledge to stick with tap water and show corporations and public officials that you value it, click here.”
by Colin Beaven aka No Impact Man
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Think Outside the Bottle Pledge – opt for tap water over bottled water and support public water |
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Days left to Take Action! : 1007 |
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© Melinda Chambers. All posts are the creation of the author and, as such, remain the author's property with all rights reserved.
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I’ve just been reading around Dazed Kitsune’s site, Letters To Strangers. The site’s introduction, Why Is This Site Here?, is a painful, thought provoking anecdote about the connections we fail to make, the conversations we fail to initiate, the kindnesses we cannot accept. At the same time, it displays a trust and faith in human beings that is simply beautiful. How does the saying go? “There are no such things as strangers, only friends we have yet to meet.” It seems appropriate to the idea behind this site. We say on so many occasions, “It’s a small world”, yet we fill it with spaces and seem wary of closing the gaps. This site is a bridge and I’d hate to see it go to waste. While being untrusting of strangers seems to be something we instinctively instil in our children these days, it is a sad indictment of society and one I wish we could do without. Well, here is a place for reconnecting. For random acts of kindness… for talking to the world and knowing one will be heeded.
The other stand out post here posted under the date January 08, 2007 and makes for a fitting segue to the introductory post.
Culture and love and faith are far too great (and beautiful) things to try to appreciate in any context like what they are being squeezed into. Fragmenting things into shards small enough to grasp makes them into less than the sum of their parts.
Read the entire post to put this excerpt fully into context. It’s extremely well thought out and another example of Dazed Kitsune’s interesting and thought provoking take on the world in which we live.
All in all, a site well worth the visit and definitely worth contributing to.
Update: On a related note, I’ve just read Jeremy’s post entitled, Random Acts of Kindness and How They Blow The Mind. A timely read, indeed. I should probably write this up separately but, since it’s all so intertwined (to me, at least!), I’m adding it in here.
I went to see Nine Inch Nails in Melbourne on Sunday night. Blessed with a ticket and a night’s accommodation from my friend, Rob. With regard to acts of kindness and being stunned by them, Rob’s efforts in that direction cannot go unmentioned. Don’t ask me what a five foot two woman of less than a hundred pounds was doing in a mosh pit… but there I was. Front and centre at a NIN concert! Rob had been looking forward to this concert forever…. and spent his time being a human barrier between me and those around me. To ensure I didn’t detract from his enjoyment of the evening by giving him cause for worry, I got out of the pit after the first two songs (this also ensured I returned home intact!). At any rate, there was NO reason whatsoever why he should have been looking out for my well being at such a time. He paid for the tickets, it was his concert…. yet he kept part of his mind at all times on where I was and if I was okay. Later that night I actually wound up in tears because of it. Not because he’d done something so horrendous, but because it’s been so long since a man has been kind and considerate of me with no thought of repayment or reward. I know this sounds terribly sexist, but I had honestly forgotten men could be thoughtful and kind – not without wanting something in return, at any rate. I’ve been involved with someone for the past five years and I have taught myself NOT to even want such consideration. I found out on Sunday how much I miss it… and how much it means to me. To be given priority. To be cared for.
As Jeremy stated in his post, one can grow quite cynical about human beings out in the big, bad world…. and it is truly stunning to find that it’s not so bad after all. In fact, people can be incredibly sweet, stunningly beautiful and so very kind.
I think Rob’s kindness really woke me up to the possibility of being loved. I had forgotten that anyone could actually care about me, could put me first. It’s been a long, long time.
© Melinda Chambers. All posts are the creation of the author and, as such, remain the author's property with all rights reserved.
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