Climate Change Or Die

The world is changing as we know it. Mother Earth is getting grumpy with all the disservice that we've done her and is finally showing us her mighty capabilities. The snow has been falling for days in places like Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The heaters have been running for days in southern Florida and Texas, as the temperature drops down to 38 degrees.

Climate change is coming, and with it (I hate to sound morbid) will come with massive loss of life. According to an article on TreeHugger.com and DARA’s new “Climate Vulnerability Monitor: The State of the Climate Crisis”, approximately 350,000 people will die each year due to the climate change. By 2020, it is predicted that the death toll would rise to five million. And after that, it’s expected that at least one million people will die annually. The good news— 2012 will not be the end of the world; the bad news – for some of us it will be.

The areas most expected to be effected by this new change? You guessed it, the land of the free, The United States of America. The USA is listed as the most vulnerable wealthy nation on the planet, especially the southeast region— including Florida, Georgia, Texas, the Carolina's and even as far North as New York. It is predicted that desertification, rising of sea levels, and major damage from extreme weather events are all inevitable. Eek, you scared yet?



It is reported that by 2030, the US will loose about $40 billion a year due to these climate changes. Well, why aren’t we trying to fix it? Or better what are we doing to try to fix it? I’ve been researching and researching, and boy there isn’t much. There’s the Copenhagen Commitment which requires all industrial nations to track their emissions, and subsequently raise $30 billion for climate finance. Seriously -__-? That’s it? That’s not enough! That should have been done 30 years ago. But America was too busy planning world domination to care about air for the minions. We have brought this upon ourselves. There is no denying it. As a victim of a category 4 hurricane, I know you can’t predict a natural disaster; after it knocks you on your ass, all you can do is pray and rebuild.


Those Damn Americans,

Attiyya

Tubeless Toilet Paper

It’s amazing how a simple idea can spark a change. Toilet paper has been the same for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. There’s the cardboard insert— and depending on your sensitivity—varying ply’s of paper. Well, now, for the sake of the environment– toilet paper is about to go tubeless! Say whaattt…? Manufacturer Kimberly-Clark has began selling Scott Naturals Tube-Free toilet paper at WalMart and Sam’s Club throughout the Northeast. I haven’t had a change to get my hands on one of these yet, because finding a Wal-Mart is like finding Waldo up here! If this line of toilet paper takes off, Kimberly-Clark may begin selling the product internationally.

My question is how do they do that? They said it’s a special spinning process, and even the last piece of toilet paper will be usable. Hmm… sounds too good to be true. Kimberly-Clark does admit that the holes aren’t perfectly round, but they do fit traditional toilet paper spindles.

According to Kimberly-Clark, approximately 17 billion toilet paper tubes account for about 160 million pounds of trash and could stretch to the moon and back if placed end to end. Now that’s a lot of rolls! As a hearty environmentalist, I commend their ingenuity, because it always escapes my mind to recycle the toilet paper cardboard – I just toss and get a new roll. Hopefully, other manufacturers like Proctor & Gamble will hop on the green bandwagon soon enough.
Welcome to the Green Side,

Attiyya

Space Junk: Who Would Have Thunk?

Look down your street and I’m sure you’ll see litter scattered about— the basic old newspapers, and empty soda cans. If you live in the areas where I work (Hunts Point, NY), you’ll get a heaping handful of grime. There are more used condom wrappers, dog shit, and disposed of food particles than there are trees on my block. It’s pretty fucking gross.

Now, imagine all the shit that you’re looking at that’s clouding your sidewalks and residential areas and just dump it into outer space. The great unknown, yeah, just dump your trash there. Doesn’t seem fair right? Well we have been, and it’s getting pretty recklessly dirty up from left over satellites, debris and other space junk (no condom wrappers, dog shit, or any other Earthly rubbish). New satellites and astronauts are having problems navigating the skies because of the waste up there. Some of the most advanced scientists have proposed the most absurd ideas for removing space debris. Shall I bring up the space truck with giant butterfly nets, shooting the satellites with water, the giant debris sucking gold balloon (smart scientists with just plain dumb ideas).

While president Obama does his best to include space debris removal in his new space policy, Russia, our Cold War adversary, has got an even better idea (we’re always competing). Russia’s space corporation, Energia, has invested $2 billion dollars to build a pod with a nuclear power core that will knock all that junk out of space and back down to Earth. Ugh— like we can handle more dirt and grime down here! The pod could stay running for up to 15 years, and would knock old satellites out of orbit so they can burn up in the atmosphere, drop into the ocean, or if you angle it correctly, you can make it drop precisely on your boyfriends head.

What do you think? Is Russia on to a good idea? The junk has no other place to go, unless we really decide we really don’t give a fuck and just start shipping it to Neptune. Then the aliens would really come and get us. As human beings, we have to take more responsibility for where we leave our shit. By nature we are selfish creatures, but by nature we are also loving creatures. So I encourage you to selfishly love yourself, your Earth, your moon, and your space. If we do so, I know we can make the world a better place.

You Dirty Mofo.

Attiyya

6 Months Later

And there's still oil in the Gulf- the fisherman are fishing it, it's washing upon shores and it makes me feel so helpless. BP has done the equivalent of dubbing the area a crime scene by placing barriers around the afflicted area - which was deluged with over 200 million gallons of crude oil, spanning over 750 feet deep and 750 wide. These seems to be an attempt at containment of the oil, which they led the public to believe was removed from waterways. BP can you just admit that your wrong? We, the people, should have fought harder for hair booms. We just need to box these knuckleheads out. We can't allow others to destroy the planet we live and love on. It's our Earth - let's keep the peace.

One Love,

Attiyya

Vegan Shoes

I attended a VegFest in Union Square this past Saturday, on accident of course. Nothing I do is ever planned, but I was happy to stumble on it. I am currently not a Vegan, I'm a half-ass vegetarian that eats chicken and fish. But making the switch to a vegan lifestyle is now very becoming. It's impossible to be a full-time environmentalist and let the government provide me with force fed meat.The livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide, raising animals for food contributes to deforestation, air and water pollution, lad degragation, loss of top soil, climate change, the overuse of resources including oil, water, and loss of biodiversity, according the the UN's 2006 report.

At the event I discovered that vegan doesn't just pertain to hipster food, but it's a lifestyle. I love fashion and I love the planet, this brand called OlsenHaus found a way to combine both in the form of eco-friendly hawt heels and flats. OlsenHaus was holding a sample sale at Saturday's event of their Vegan heels, which are environmentally friendly, cruetly free, and made from recycled products found in landfills.



According to their web site, OlsenHaus aims to save lives and the planet in style, and their doing so with their colorful, uber fashionable heels that stun crowds, and begs the question - where did you get those from? The uppers of the shoes are made from recycled industrial waste from television screens, the soles are made from composite rubber with details of recyced tires and sawdust, and they incorporate pieces of wood and cork. I love the idea and the styles! I'm about to reform today!

Other vegan fashion sources: girliegirlarmy.com, thediscerningbrute.com, OlsenHaus.com

Free Mine Mind

With the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile. It brings certain thoughts to the forefront, more or less, why were they even trapped down there for almost 70 days? What the hell for? Coal mining is an inefficient use of human time. Drilling and digging miles underneath the Earth for the sake of fattening up the fatcats. When we go beneath the surface of the Earth we altering our already tender Earthly eco-system. It has an especially detrimental effect on the air that we breathe, sure there have been advances made in the aspect of clean-coal technology, but yea whatever.

Aside from that. I'm relieved that the 33 miners weren't just another tragic story of hard working citizens dying due to our persistent pursuit of the stripping of our planet. I appreciate your efforts Chilean miners, your as important to our economy as the Army, I thank and appreciate you. And I'm glad you all made it home to your families safely. But as if you weren't exploited before, Spike Television Network plans to create a TV-documentary called "Coal," to document the stresses of your daily lives.

Thanks for the air time,


Attiyya

Another Oil Spill !

And yet again!

Our oils are still being polluted. Today the Vermillion 380 exploded in the shallow waters of the Gulf.I can't see how no one can care! Or I guess it just feels this way. Less than a year after the BP Oil Spill and the China Oil Spill.
An hour after the explosion, the Coast Guard reported a mile-long oil sheen 100 feet wide was spreading from the still burning structure. Like,

H-E-L-L-O?

Does anybody hear me out there?

We need reform. We need change, because I don't care about the dollars. I'm tired of preaching about how we need to live peacefully with our Earth. Here's the only thing I can think of at the moment, but here's how you can help- contact your government and take action against our addiction to petroleum oil.

TAKE ACTION: SIGN THE PETITION

Angry Environmentalist,

Attiyya