Monkey Talk

In the case of the People vs. the Planet Earth, I would like to submit exhibit 4,986,632: the tummy contents of a great white shark as displayed at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the green leader in all things museum.

(Dude, how embarrassed would you be if that were your license plate on display?)

Are you a recycle geek like me? If you are, this is a pretty cool video. I always wondered how all the stuff I put into my blue bin is separated. Now I know.

Don’t recycle? Are you freaking kidding me? Get with it and take some personal responsibility. You live on this planet too.

It’s pretty well established that I ingest far too much media for one person.  Because of my insane appetite for all things on television, The “Green is Universal” campaign has been all up in my grill. All the kids at NBC Universal are participating the green madness, airing green-themed programming, eco-friendly plot lines and highlighting 9,999 informative public service announcements, green tips and even a special little contest dubbed “Green Your Routine.”

Even if you’re not a sicko media junkie like me, you can’t help but to notice “Green is Universal.” It’s the second annual environmental awareness campaign launched by the mammoth conglomerate NBC Universal, home to NBC, Bravo, MSNBC, iVillage, Oxygen, the Today Show, Universal Pictures, the USA Network and unbelievably, the Jerry Springer Show. Throughout the week, 42 NBCU brands will feature 150 plus hours of environmentally themed programming across the company’s television and digital platforms.  (For extended green TV schedule, go HERE.)

The green treats this week include a complicated stunt over at the Today Show, which to be honest, throws my entire morning off. “In a special broadcast event, Matt, Meredith, Al and Ann will journey to majestic destinations to examine the world’s first fuel and most precious resource — water. Additionally, the TODAY anchors will share their personal green routines, and encourage viewers to register their green routine online. Participants will be registered in a sweepstakes for the chance to win an eco-vacation!” (Exclamation point is theirs, not mine…I swear.)

So in the interest of warm, fuzzy eco-awareness, I will suffer through another week of insipid travel logues from the team at the Today Show (cuz this girl hates a four-way split screen), and live for the fun, funny PSAs from cute celebrities reminding me it’s OK to drink tap water.  I’m hoping to learn all kinds of new things and reinforce the stuff I already know but sometimes forget.

Need more info?  Check out the official GisU site.

So you thought that when you responsibly dropped off your old computer monitors, hard drives and crappy electronics  to be recycled you were doing your part to make sure the hazardous components would be disposed of properly?  Not so fast.

I nearly dropped clear off the sofa watching last Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes which brings you to a town in China where you can’t breathe the air or drink the water, a town where the blood of the children is laced with lead, a place where there are acres and acres of burning plastic, pools of mercury, and mountains of toxic electronic bits and all of this is as result of your “recycled” e-waste.

Watch as Executive Recycling, which boasts on its website “‘Your e-waste is recycled properly, right here in the U.S. - not simply dumped on somebody else,” sends shipping containers full of lead contaminated computer monitors through an underground, often illegal smuggling route, taking America’s electronic trash to Hong Kong. Marvel as journalist Scott Pelley chokes uncontrollably while standing in a field of molten metals and poisonous plastic bits, as children play in the sooty, black creek winding by . Three words: Oh. My. God.

“’Lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, polyvinyl chlorides. All of these materials have known toxicological effects that range from brain damage to kidney disease to mutations, cancers,’ Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist and authority on waste management at the Natural Resources Defense Council, explained. ‘The problem with e-waste is that it is the fastest-growing component of the municipal waste stream worldwide,’ he said. Asked what he meant by ‘fastest-growing,’ Hershkowitz said. ‘Well, we throw out about 130,000 computers every day in the United States.’ And he said over 100 million cell phones are thrown out annually.”

To read about the 60 Minutes expose, GO HERE.  But I urge you to see the whole shocking, unbelievable, jaw-dropping story by WATCHING IT for yourself.

How can you be sure your e-waste is being ditched correctly? To be sure your e-waste doesn’t end up as environmental poison, check HERE for an ethical e-cycler or look for the e-Stewards stamp of approval.

Hot on the heel of Los Angeles’ plastic bag ban, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing what the kids are calling a “bag tax” to discourage the use of grody plastic shopping bags. Bloomberg’s plan is to charge Big Apple residents 6 cents for every plastic bag needed at the register, after a big ol’ ad campaign urging the use of reusable bags and recycle bins in stores failed to pry the plastic from shoppers’ grip.

“So where’s that money go?” You wonder. One penny goes to the store and the rest goes directly into the city coffers, bringing in an estimated $16 million per year.

For everyone who moans and bitches about a “bag tax” how would you feel if, in this era of horrifically lacking municipal funds,  the proceeds went to funding the city? Does that make it easier to swallow or worse?

What if it’s used to support local government-run environmental programs or education or to provide school supplies? Would you feel better if the cash went to charity, like at Ikea who donates the proceeds of their bag sales to plant trees?

Personally, I’m stuck.  I definitely support a fee for plastic bags if that’s what it takes for us to finally give them the boot, but should local government…or any government for that matter…be trusted with that influx of pure profit without putting it to good use.

Then again, would there be as much cold hard cash if we just sucked it up and brought our own bags?  When Ireland levied a ginormous fee of 33 cents per bag six years ago, plastic usage dropped by 94 percent.

An interesting side note: “It sounds like a tax, but officials call it a fee. The distinction is important: A fee requires approval only from the City Council, while a tax requires approval from the State Legislature.”

To read more about the proposed efforts in NYC and hear opinions from all sides, check THIS out.

Last month the founding president of Heal the Bay, Dorothy Green, passed away.

Founded in 1985 Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay, with Dorothy Green at its helm, grew into one of the region’s most powerful environmental organizations.

“Dorothy Green was simply the most influential water quality activist in California for the last 30 years,” said Mark Gold, her protégé and current president of Heal the Bay.

If you would like to pay tribute to Dorothy and her years of tireless work, there will be a public memorial celebration on Sunday November 23. The memorial will fittingly be just south of the Santa Monica Pier at 10AM. Click HERE for additional information and parking instructions.

My condolences go out to all that loved and knew her. And of course please support the efforts of Heal the Bay.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

This sums up how I’m feeling today.

One vote makes a difference. Your voice matters. I will wait in line for as long as I need to tomorrow because I refuse to not be counted and you should too.

Would anybody actually do this? Of course not, that’s exactly why it’s so important that you make a decision to change your lifestyle and break the plastic bag addiction. Viva Happy Monkey Planet!!! And our hip and cool reusable bags.

Prop 7:
Like I said with Prop 10, I would love to support a ballot initiative that would start California on the road to clean energy in the form of more solar and wind. But there is so much extra stuff written into this plan that it feels almost like they wrote it to fail. It’s too expensive for California at a time when we hardly have a state budget in place and people struggle to pay for basic needs. I hope they try again and this plan morphs into something we can all support. Click HERE to read about Prop 7.

One last comment, please get out and vote on Nov 4. Your vote counts and it means something.