Opponents of this proposal have said that it taxes those who cannot afford to purchase reusable bags. So to alleviate that cost, the city of Seattle will distribute reusable paper bags to all residents, also giving lower income residents additional bags to use.

The council also passed a ban on plastic foam food containers that is a two-phase project. The first phase will address take out containers and it will take effect in January as well. Restaurants will not be allowed to use plastic foam in their takeout containers. The second phase will take effect July 2010 and focuses on all plastic food containers and utensils. Businesses will be able to use only recyclable or biodegradable products for their food containers.

I’m glad to see that our city is taking steps to reduce the unnecessary waste produced by convenience. If you live in a place that is using plastic bags and you feel like you want to make changes to that, Bring Your Own Bag is a great organization that is fighting for that. They also recently posted to their blog specifically addressing the situation in North America.

I am groaning under the miseries of a diseased nervous System; a System of all others the most essential to our happiness–or the most productive of our Misery…Lord, what is Man! Today, in the luxuriance of health, exulting in the enjoyment of existence; In a few days, perhaps in a few hours, loaded with conscious painful being, counting the tardy pace of the lingering moments, by the repercussions of anguish, & refusing or denied a Comforter.–Day follows night, and night comes after day, only to curse him with life which gives him no pleasure.

Worsted Witch (thank you) brought to my attention the Mental Health Parity Bill, which will require insurers to treat mental illnesses in the same manner as physical illnesses. Please write to congress in support of this bill.

One of the most beneficial things we can do to curtail the damage being done to the environment is to reduce our carbon footprint. Automobiles are one of the primary sources of the man-made greenhouse gases that are causing global warming because the majority of cars on the road burn fossil fuels in order to make them run. It makes sense then, that one of the best things we can do to bring health to our planet is to minimize the number of automobiles on the road everyday. There are a couple of practical ways to accomplish this:

1. Walk.
2. Ride a bike.
3. Carpool (preferably with someone who has a hyrbid or very fuel efficient car).
4. Take public transportation.

One of the first things I noticed as I began to walk around this city was the buses. I could have noticed them because there was not much of a bus system in the West Suburbs of Chicago where I just moved from. However, that was not the reason. I noticed them because many were labeled as hybrid diesel-electric or biodesiel buses. Metro’s plan is “to have 100% of their fleet ‘clean air’ equipped by 2010″ and they are well on their way.

By switching from the Breda buses to hybrid diesel-electric buses they were able to accomplish the following:

• Particulate Matter (PM) reduced by 90 percent over the cleanest diesel buses now in Metro?s fleet
• Carbon Monoxide (CO) reduced by 90 percent over the cleanest diesel buses now in Metro?s fleet
• Hydrocarbons (HC) reduced by 90 percent
• Carbon Dioxide (CO2) reduced by 40-60 percent
• Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) reduced by 50 percent

With their use of biodiesel they are hoping to help “open up the local biodiesel market to other consumers, such as school districts, small trucking firms and even individual car owners”.

Biodiesel is a fuel that is made from natural ingredients, such as the seed crops that are used to make vegetable oil. Metro has committed to pilot the use of a blend of five percent biodiesel and 95 percent Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) over the next two years, and is already using the fuel at its Ryerson and Bellevue bases. It hopes to power its entire fleet of more than 1,200 diesel buses with the biodiesel by the end of 2006.

Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel is a specially refined fuel with significantly lower sulfur content than regular highway diesel. The sulfur content ranges from 15 to 30 parts per million. Regular diesel has a maximum of 500 parts per million of sulfur. Other than sulfur content, ultra- low sulfur diesel meets the same specifications as regular highway diesel.

I have taken the bus a couple of times when it has been too far to walk and it has been very convenient and easy. Usually, the buses are filled to the brim with people and in certain areas of downtown Seattle you can take advantage of the free-fair zone. I also love that while on the bus you get to see a diverse mix of people using the same service and sitting/standing next to each other.

This is becoming a huge problem because these same people, in the form of large corporations, are trying to lower organic standards. Now, does this make sense to anybody? Because it makes NO sense to me. I think it is totally ridiculous and illogical. A category of agriculture already exists that has lower standards, its called industrialized farming! Are they wanting to change the name “industrialized farming” to “organic farming”? We cannot let terms become so relative that we have no idea what we are talking about any more. I get that these corporations don’t care about the organic industry and see it as a good business opportunity where they can make a lot of money. This will go on until people finally catch on that what they have really done is just steal the term organic and use it to re-label industrialized agriculture.

It is important that we work to keep organic standards high. In fact, if anything, organic standards need to be raised. Those of us who believe in the ideology and importance of organic agriculture need to protect it and not let the USDA and members of Congress sell off the hard work of the Organic Movement.

To read more or take action visit Safeguard Organic Standards at Organic Consumers Association.

Join the rally by submitting a picture AND you can also Take Action by sending a letter (I would suggest that you edit the letter they provide) to your senator.

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