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