Craigslist recently launched their official blog.
One of their first posts offered some transparency into their energy consciousness:
“Serving 10 billion page views on a few hundred servers, craigslist leads the internet industry by orders of magnitude when it comes to efficient use of electricity. The last time I checked we were clocking something like 175,000 page views per kilowatt-hour.
Compare this to single digit thousands of pages-per-kwhr for most large sites, which typically run tens to hundreds of thousands of servers.”
We think it’s great to see them not only doing a great job in conserving their energy use but also in making it common knowledge and hopefully resulting in some friendly, competition to raise the bar on this issue all around in the Internet industry.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is really, truly unconscionable.
It blows my mind that nearly every single article I’ve come across in my research states that “There’s nothing we can do about it now…” (Eriksen, October 19, 2007). What kind of asinine, uncaring and lazy response is this?
In case you haven’t yet heard of this man-made atrocity, there is a collection of human waste (mostly plastic trash), that has piled up into a floating island (some say two islands), twice the size of Texas, about 1,000 miles west of San Francisco. What’s even more astounding to me anyway, is that this has been known to exist for the better part of half a century now (though it was until the last few decades that it’s neared its current size).
An article from the San Francisco Chronicle states:
“Ocean current patterns may keep the flotsam stashed in a part of the world few will ever see, but the majority of its content is generated onshore, according to a report from Greenpeace last year titled “Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans.”
This is just totally unacceptable.
Having just learned of this recently and then really took a hard look at it today, I can no longer, in good conscience, continue to write off this horrendous creation and let it continue unabated. To that end, I have just registered a domain which I hope to evolve into the official, leading source of information, activism and action against this atrocity. In the coming months, I hope to raise funds to start dismantling this floating island of trash, generate significant publicity, donate hundreds if not thousands of hours and dollars, both of my own and others, to turn the tides on this.
The GreatPacificGarbagePatch.com will serve as my central focus on what I hope grows into a massive wide effort to eradicate this abysmal by-product of our global industries. I hope that you will join me in my efforts, in whatever way you can.
Stay tuned for more info on this including a website, blog, donation system, and much more.
What in the world is Arnold thinking? Below is Environment California’s brief but urgent news:
“In a move that has stunned nature-lovers across the state, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s latest budget proposal would shut down 20 percent of the state’s parks, as well as cut down on lifeguards at state beaches. Of course, we all know California needs to balance the budget. But we’re talking about a step that would save $9 million — less than 0.1 percent of the state budget. Meanwhile, the costs to our environment, our quality of life, and our confidence in state government would be incalculable.”
Please cast your vote online now against this obscene motion attempting to slip past under the radar.
Whole Foods just made a bold step in further establishing itself as the leader in health conscious and sustainable grocery retailer with its decision to stop using plastic bags, in its press release today:
“…it will end the use of disposable plastic grocery bags at the checkouts in all of its 270 stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. with the goal to be plastic bag-free by Earth Day, April 22, 2008.”
Check out their newly created section for more info on their reusable bag program and more:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/byobag/
Thanks to Whole Foods for raising the bar in grocery retail!
Why is it that so many people can just thoughtlessly discard their trash into the public: street, parking log, whatever, or in nature for that matter?
On my way across town this morning in Los Angeles, CA, the driver ahead of me tossed a crumpled up paper or napkin over his hood and out into the street, right in front of the cop; no one gave it a second thought. What’s the matter with these people? Seriously.
We need an Eco-Cop force to police this kind of blatant disregard for others and their, our environment.
