Rant of the Day: Plastic Bag Ban

I just saw on my Facebook feed yesterday, that a friend had posted about how annoying it is that you can’t get a plastic bag anywhere in Austin. I couldn’t help but cringe. Did you know that every plastic bag ever created still exists and will continue to exist for decades after your death? Plastic does not biodegrade, and thus lives on for hundreds of years. Plastic has even been found in human DNA. (Check out this frightening article to find out more.) Plastic clogs up our creeks and streams, destroying our natural water systems. Plastic bags are responsible for millions of wildlife deaths due to the animal getting caught in the bag or mistaking it for food.

So tell me again how much of an inconvenience it is to you that you must carry your own reusable bag to the grocery store. At least nine cities in Texas, Austin included, have banned plastic bags in the last few years. Many citizens are opposed to this, out of what I assume is ignorance. We all have to share this planet, and we’ve made a huge mess of it. Perhaps the majority of the public doesn’t know the effects plastic bags have on the environment, and we need to put forth more efforts to show them. Many people who oppose banning plastic bags feel that it doesn’t put a dent in the health of the environment, so why even bother with it? But I feel like that is ridiculous, and that every effort counts. Some environmentalists feel that the public should want to help the environment, and we should encourage them to make that decision instead of prohibiting plastic bags and making the call for them. What these folks fail to realize is that humans are convenience creatures who like instant gratification. It is neither convenient or an instant fix to our environment to ban plastic bags, and thus most people would never make that decision, especially if they’ve been using plastic bags all their life.

The fact of the matter is this: anything we can do to help our suffering environment needs to be done. As the health of the environment continues to decline, ours as humans will as well.

Thank you, and goodnight.

(If you want to delve more into the plastic bag argument, check out this article from Salon.)

"Barack Hussein Obama" gets to stay...for now

I spent a little time today browsing The Texasfred Blog. I was sad to see that the author (Fred) wouldn’t be posting for a while due to a shoulder injury. :( It’s pretty obvious that Fred is a very conservative Republican, which isn’t quite my taste, but I appreciate all perspectives on issues. One article that particularly interested me was “Cheney: Any attempt to impeach Obama would be distraction”. The article was about how in a CNN interview, former Vice President Dick Cheney said that impeaching Obama would take far too long and most likely be unsuccessful, and also that it would give the Obama administration the perfect opportunity to get their dirty deeds done while the impeachment was such a popular topic. Fred seems to hate Obama quite passionately, but agrees with Cheney that an impeachment of Obama would be exactly what the Democrats want. Fred gives a link to a government article on impeachment, but he tells us essentially what we need to know: the process is long, and not guaranteed. He criticizes Sarah Palin for seeming to not know this, because she is calling for Obama’s impeachment. Fred says the best choice the Republicans have now is to take control of the Senate until the next Presidential Election in 2016. This way, hopefully (in his opinion) Obama can be more closely monitored.  

Even though I do not necessarily agree with all of Fred’s opinions, I do think he is right; impeaching Obama would not lead to his removal, but only chaos until the matter was settled. We have never actually impeached and removed a president in the U.S. (according to my U.S. Government professor anyway) and I don’t think this would change with Obama. Though much of his argument is based on his own opinion, his bit on the pains of the impeachment process is factual. However, how he feels about Obama and his administration using an impeachment as a distraction is totally based off his own feelings and there is no evidence that would happen. So good job Fred, you’ve convinced me that Obama’s impeachment would be an utter waste of time, but you have not convinced me of “Barack Hussein Obama’s” foulness.

Because this is a blog and not a news source I feel like it is okay for Fred to rant about his own opinions. Isn’t that what blogs are for?

Thirsty for Change

Like many Texans, I’m thanking God for the rain we’ve received this past week. However, I know that it won’t even put a dent in our drought situation that’s been going on for the last several years. I got to thinking how a large part of our water crisis is due to Texan’s misuse of our water resources. Then I found this article in Dallas News about that very issue. This article, written by Louis DeLuca, is talking about water rights of industrial businesses and farms. The way things are now, senior riverside industries take priority over water usage rights to newer industries, no matter the need of water usage.

DeLuca described how some students at The University of North Texas recently published material showing how some upstream farmers faced hardships because of the excessive water usage of a downstream chemical plant on the Brazos River. The current system for water rights would possibly allow for senior users to store up and sell their water rights to frantic junior users.

Currently, the Texas courts are supposed to be looking for a new way to make the water usage rights fairer and standardized so that all businesses are allowed water rights based on need, not seniority.

I think the courts need to crack down on water conservation for all riverside industries because if we don’t, we might soon have no water to argue over.

Although this article was published by Dallas News and used the Brazos River as it’s primary subject, I think it was meant for a wide audience across the state of Texas because the water rights affect all of our rivers and lakes. I feel like DeLuca did a good job of supporting his argument with sources like the Denton Record-Chronicle and the publication from the students from The University of North Texas. I also think he made a good argument for ending seniority rights and switching to a needs based system.

Kids These Days...

I was just perusing the Texas Monthly website looking for an interesting article to write about when “Meet the 18-Year Old Mayor of Archer City” jumped out at me. What! That’s just a kid! Of course I clicked open the article and started reading. Turns out, Archer City is a pretty small town (about 1,800 residents) and the new mayor, Kelvin Green, has been a well known local all his life and was uncontested in his candidacy. Green recently graduated high school and was sworn in by his father and godmother, who happened to be the city secretary. Green is the town’s youngest mayor (not surprisingly), and faces many challenges in his new mayoral term; Archer City’s water sources are drying up at accelerated speeds. Piping water in from another town would be much too costly for the small city’s budget and many residents may find themselves having to pack up and head out of town. Despite his young age and inexperience, most of Archer City’s residents seem confident in their newly elected mayor. After his first City Council Meeting where the drought issue was discussed, all the City Council members clapped and congratulated him on his good work. I thought this article was quite inspirational, and I hope this ambitious young man can prove himself a worthy mayor and that his story becomes famous for young people all over the nation to hear.