Month: March 2009

Plastic bag ban ‘will kill more trees’

Stefanie Wang of St. Mary’s College of California opined March 24 on the Palo Alto, CA ban on plastic bags:

Palo Alto recently banned single use plastic shopping bags in supermarkets. What seems like a green, environment-conscious move may prove more troublesome than officials originally thought. In fact, it is much worse than their current situation. City officials hoped that townspeople would bring their own recyclable bags instead of opting for paper bags post-ban. They did not count on being sued for this decision.

According to recent reports on the ban, the attorney for the Save the Plastic Bag group, Stephen Joseph said the group is considering suing the city of Palo Alto for the ban. In addition to the possibility of a financial and legal mess, city officials overlooked the fact that paper bags are harmful to the environment as well. So not only are officials overlooking the impact paper bags have on the environment, they are also overlooking what repercussions will ensue among the plastic bag industries and people who actually understand the scientific studies done on disposable bags.

Plastic bags require less energy and materials to manufacture as they are made from oil and natural gas. Their production impacts the environment less than paper bags production…

… the ban could be as disastrous as the one San Francisco implemented in 2007. San Francisco is the only city in the U.S. to ban plastic bags. No other cities follow suit because it is a bad idea. Plastic bag litter did not decrease. It actually increased after the ban went into effect according to the San Francisco’s “Street Litter Audit.”

Spy plane finds homes ‘wasting’ energy

The Daily Mail (UK) reported today that,

Our movements are already tracked by CCTV, speed cameras and even spies in dustbins.

Now snooping on the public has reached new heights with local authorities putting spy planes in the air to snoop on homeowners who are wasting too much energy.

Thermal imaging cameras are being used to create colour-coded maps which will enable council officers to identify offenders and pay them a visit to educate them about the harm to the environment and measures they can take…

It said the exercise has been so successful other local authorities are planning to follow suit.

But critics have warned the crackdown was another example of local authorities extending their charter to poke their noses into every aspect of people’s lives…

Seattle to vote on plastic bag fees

SeattlePI.com reports that Seattle residents will vote in August on whether to impose on themselves a 20-cent surcharge for plastic shopping bags.

Does a surcharge make sense?

Here’s what a GreenHellBlog commenter had to say:

In point of fact, the plastic bags are made from waste gases that would be burned off on the waste stack (that big flaming torch you see at refineries). Instead, it is sequestered in the bags and put back in the Earth where it came from. If you actually believe in the Great Carbon Swindle then the plastic bags are your Earth Mother-God’s savior. The rest of us just enjoy their convenience. I recycle them as waste basket liners before trashing them, finally.

A manager at a plastic bag company said,

Plastic bags will degrade in about 1.5 years in a litter situation… For some reason, and I do not understand why, irresponsible environmental groups are trying to rid the use of plastic bags. Responsible use and recycling is the answer. Period. Plastic bags use less energy to produce and transport, they are 100 percent recyclable, there is virtually no pollution involved with there manufacturing, and they create thousands of well-paying U.S. jobs.

Take action:

Seattle residents should vote ‘no’ on the plastic bag surcharge.

‘Humans!’ The anti-people green video

The greens hate people. Check out this video. Behind its terrific animation, however, is the ugly truth about how the greens view about mankind. Here’s the producer’s description of the video:

Humans! is a 60 second global awareness PSA sensationalizing the excessive, all-consuming nature of the human being. This cute and naive Earth stands no chance against such an insatiable parasite. Witness its utter demise in a fun and sickening kind of way.

Obama picks green to wave white flag

President Obama has selected former World Resources Institute climate activist Jonathan Pershing to surrender our standard of living, national dignity and sovereignty at the upcoming United Nations climate treaty meeting in Copenhagen in December.

Here’s the U.S. State Department announcement.

Here’s the WRI statement.

Here’s a WRI interview with Pershing.

Was Al Gore too busy to sell out America in Copenhagen?

Greens plan for April-recess lobbying

The green group 1Sky.org is planning for a massive grassroots lobbying effort during the two-week congressional recess in April.

Click here for the 1Sky.org target list of congressman.

Take action:

Use the 1Sky list to lobby these members for yourself. Tell them that global warming legislation will:

  • Raise energy costs;
  • Reduce our standard of living; and
  • Rob us of our individual liberties.

A vote for the greens is a vote against you and America.

GreenieMae? Dems propose Green Bank

Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen introduced on March 24 the Green Bank Act of 2009 — the latest green scheme to rob taxpayers and funnel money to renewable energy scams.

As proposed by Van Hollen, the Green Bank Act of 2009 would:

  • Create the Green Bank as an independent, tax-exempt, wholly owned corporation of the United States with the exclusive mission of providing a comprehensive range of financing support to qualified clean energy and energy efficiency projects within the territorial United States.
  • Provide the Green Bank with an initial capitalization of $10 billion through the issuance of Green Bonds by the Department of Treasury, with a maximum authorized limit of $50 billion in Green Bonds outstanding at any one time.
  • Assist in advancing vital national objectives — including transitioning to a clean energy economy, job creation through the construction and operation of clean energy and energy efficiency projects, abating climate change, energy independence from foreign sources, and fostering long-term domestic manufacturing capacity in clean energy and energy efficiency technologies.
  • Include robust spending safeguards and public disclosure requirements to ensure that the Green Bank operates at the highest levels of efficacy, accountability and transparency.

Original co-sponsors of the Green Bank Act of 2009 include Congressman David Loebsack (D-IA), Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU).

A couple quick thoughts:

  • Don’t taxpayers already provide ample welfare to the renewable energy industry through provisions like tax credits and Obama’s Stimulus plan?
  • Has Van Hollen ever heard of the financial disasters that are FannieMae and FreddieMac?

Take action:

Contact the bill’s sponsors.

Greens to Pepsi: Not less plastic, no plastic

The Wall Street Journal reported today that,

PepsiCo Inc. is reducing the amount of plastic it uses to package its bottled water in the U.S., the latest step by a beverage company to portray itself as environmentally conscious as sales of bottled water slip.

What was the response from the greens?

Gigi Kellett, national director of a “Think Outside the Bottle Campaign” for Corporate Accountability International, an organization that urges consumers to drink tap water, said a lighter bottle is welcome. But she said she’s concerned about “putting a green veneer on a plastic bottle.”

“Bottled water is costly for the environment, our pocketbooks and our public water systems,” Ms. Kellett said.

Two points:

  1. Corporate America has yet to learn that it will never make the greens happy. It will never be “green” enough as the greens keep moving the goalposts.
  2. The greens won’t stop with bottled water — they’re coming after other bottled beverages as well. Soft drinks, after all, are just flavored bottled water.

Steve Milloy’s new book Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them spotlights how the greens are using capitalists to destroy capitalism.

Milloy talks Green Hell with G. Gordon Liddy

Click here to listen to G. Gordon Liddy’s RadioAmerica interview today with Steve Milloy about Milloy’s new book Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them.

You won’t want to miss Liddy producer Franklin Raff reading the directions for reusable toilet wipes.

EPA: Regulate CO2 under existing law

Big Green Brother is moving to bootstrap itself into existence.

As per the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has submitted to the White House its proposed finding that carbon dioxide can be regulated under the existing Clean Air Act.

Click here for the EPA document.

This is basically an ultimatum to Congress and regulated industries from the Obama administration: Either Congress regulates CO2 or EPA will via the arbitrary and oppressive Clean Air Act.

That’s “green democracy” in action.

UK green: Cut population in half

The Sunday Times reported on Mar. 22 that,

JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society.

Porritt’s call will come at this week’s annual conference of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), of which he is patron.

The trust will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m [from 61 million currently] if the country wants to feed itself sustainably.

The 30-million goal is about what the UK population was in late-Victorian times.

Steve Milloy’s new book Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them spotlights green efforts to ration people.

Obama’s economic Rx: Renewable rip-offs

President Obama said today,

“We’ve seen enough. We can remain the world’s leading importer of foreign oil, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy.”

Three points in response to Obama’s green-tinted America-bashing:

  • Who around the world (except U.S. taxpayers) can afford to subsidize economically inefficient renewables like solar and wind technologies?
  • Maybe we wouldn’t need to import so much oil if only the greens would let us drill.
  • We may be the leading importer of foreign oil, but we do the most with that oil. We are the most productive country in history.