Steven's Thoughts

No more plastic bags

Yaah, no more plastic bags. I have been trying to remind my girlfriend not to use the store plastic bags for years. I have to admit sometimes I feel silly and dogmatic about insisting on bringing our own bags.

Finally, Whole Foods stepped in to help us. Starting on Earth Day, April 22, 2008, Whole  Foods will end the use of disposable plastic bags in all of its 270 stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

I hope that other grocery stores will follow and that my girlfriend and I have one less things to quarrel about ;-)

Clinton or Obama on the Environment

I was hoping to help people who are still struggling between voting for Hillary or Barack for the Democratic nomination. In terms of their environmental policy proposals, there is very little difference. As with most issues, they both have very similar plans. Clinton and Obama support a cap and trade system that would reduce energy by 80% below the 1990 levels by 2050, both want more money to be invested in research, and they have an impressive grasp of the policy details.

A few interesting facts:

Obama promises $159 billion to develop  biofuels and hybrids and a $50 billion venture fund for clean technologies. He wants to have a quarter of US energy to come form renewable sources by 2025.

Clinton wants to cut energy demand by 20% by 2020. She also wants to tax oil companies to raise $50 billion for clean energy.

Obama drives a hybrid, but it is an SVU.

Clinton had motion-sensors and energy-saving lights installed in her  house.

David Roberts at grist had a good blog about the issue.

I am not really struggling, because I can't vote.

 

Another quote

I am currently reading "Cause for Success" a book on value lead corporations. It discusses 10 companies that put profits second and succeed because of that.

The books starts out with an good quote by Victor Hugo:

"Any invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. "