Tag Archive for U.S.

Mound of Plastic in the Back Yard

April 27, 2016 Comments Off on Mound of Plastic in the Back Yard

You probably recycle those plastic bottles and anything else with the recycle symbol on it.  I know I do.  It’s a little thing we can do to help our environment.  Except that there’s a problem.  That is, many U.S. “recylers” haven’t been processing it (or electronic waste) here but shipping it to China, where it’s cheaper to deal with because they toss it into a landfill.  China, drowning in our plastic, is wising up and saying NO MORE!  They now have a Green Fence Policy, which says that they won’t be importing most of that plastic any longer.

What are our recyclers going to do?  And those in Europe, Japan, and Hong Kong? They don’t know yet.  And it’s a big problem–China imports 70% of the 500 million tons of electronic waste and 12 million tons of plastic waste each year that the world creates.

This will be costly (labor, technology, environmental safety standards), but it’s past time to actually recycle  the waste rather than letting it pile up in landfills in China’s–or our–back yard.

 

 

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Great News for Monarch Lovers

March 9, 2016 Comments Off on Great News for Monarch Lovers

I’ve missed those gorgeous orange-, black-, and white-winged visitors to my yard.  There used to be many, but for years I’d be lucky to see one on their 3,400-mile yearly migration. That’s because the Monarch butterfly has been dying out, thanks, in large part, to logging and herbicides killing off the milkweed they need.

Efforts by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada are starting to reverse that loss of color in our world.  We’re planting milkweed along 1000 miles of their migration path.  And Mexico is successfully stopping illegal logging on the Monarch reserve, logging that has been destroying the forest that protects those butterflies in the winter.

The progress is encouraging. I look forward to their return to my yard, pollinating my plants and brightening my summer.

 

 

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The Pleasure of Loaning Money

October 20, 2015 Comments Off on The Pleasure of Loaning Money

I love it when I receive another payment from a loan I made.  My latest is from a family man in Kanese, Uganda.  My big loan was $25.  It’s to send his kids to school.  He works hard at his job, plus farming on the side to add to his income.  He dreams of a better future for his kids, and he knows that education, although costly, is their path to that future.

He’s one of a bunch of people I give micro loans to through KIVA.  Some are people on the other side of the earth, some are in the good US of A.  All are people that KIVA has vetted as having a true need and a determination to repay the loan.  My $25 is added to similar loans to get to the needed amount.  Over the months, I receive updates on how the person is doing.  I get payments, too, until the loan is totally paid off.  At that point, I can get my $25 back, or I can invest it in someone else.  I’m sure you can guess which choice I always make.

I’ve even given a loan in someone else’s name, as a gift.  (Christmas is coming….)

Find out more about this life-changing program by going to http://www.kiva.org.

This is Janakason, at a rare time when he isn’t working.

 

 

 

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Women Soccer Champs Not Worth Much

July 7, 2015 2 comments

If your team wins the World’s Cup once–or even three times (more than any other country in the world)–what can you expect to earn?  A lot if you’re a man, not so much if you’re a woman.

Last year, the U.S. men’s soccer team, who lost, earned $9 million; this year’s winning women will get $2 million.  The average salary for these players is $305,000 for men and $14,000 for women.  And the prize for winning the World Cup?  $576 million for men and $15 million for women.

Why the difference?  I think it’s the way the world values women, as summed up by a tweet (now taken down) by England’s Soccer Federation, that their soccer team can now “go back to being mothers, partners and daughters.”

But I’m more concerned about attitudes in my own country, the U.S., including the ones that say that women, no matter how accomplished or hard-working, are worth less than men.

 

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