It all started with a piece on BikePortland about the Community Cycling Center’s findings on the lack of racial diversity in bicycling. I heard about it because BikePortland mentioned on Twitter that Jack Bogdanski of Jack Bog’s Blog had made note of the piece. He called the report “sad, funny, or both,” chastising the CCC [...]
Economy
I tried to read Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, but couldn’t get into it, and I don’t think I really agree with all of his philosophy anyway. However, the following passage caught my eye before I stopped reading. It’s about our growth-based economy: The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth, is a dysfunction and [...]
The current capitalist approach to business says that growth is good. Corporations and other businesses are supposed to grow every year, sell more products, provide more services, and earn more money. I say that’s not sustainable. How could it be? How can we possibly expect infinite growth? But aside from growth being unsustainable in the [...]
Posted on December 13th, 2009 in Economy
I’ve written before about Why I Really Don’t Do Walmart (and many people commented). Here’s another reason: poor sick leave policy. Walmart’s come under fire from the National Labor Committee (a nonprofit organization supporting human and worker rights) for penalizing workers, possibly to the point of termination, for staying home sick. Here’s the scoop from [...]
Posted on August 24th, 2009 in Economy, Sustainability
Cash for Clunkers is about to end (again). This fall, the U.S. is scheduled for a program of cash rebates for purchase of energy-efficient appliances, which of course is now being dubbed “Cash for Appliances,” even though it barely resembles Cash for Clunkers and has been done before. It’s simple, really. People who buy new [...]
What do you think about this sugar shortage business? Here’s what AOL’s Walletpop blog is reporting: On Aug. 5, General Mills, Hershey Co, Mars Inc., and Kraft Foods alerted Thomas J. Vilsak, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, of their combined forecast of low sugar supplies. These food companies warned that if the [...]
The current U.S. health care system isn’t working. The health care reform bill under consideration now might help, or it might be too little too late. Many countries use a single-payer system, which sounds good. The government collects taxes. The government pays for health care. The people pay nothing (aside from the taxes) or minimal [...]
Posted on July 04th, 2009 in Economy, Sustainability
With the new national jobless rate at 9.5%, critics are saying that President Obama’s economic stimulus package isn’t working. That’s highly debatable. It could be that it’s really not working. It could be that the federal stimulus is keeping things from being much, much worse. I’m not sure how you’d measure that. Regardless of this [...]
