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Post by degicank on Mar 29, 2006 1:46:05 GMT -5
"Walmart goes organic" by Marcus Kabel
Burlington Free Press - published Saturday March 25, 2006
Walmart is pushing it's manufacturer's to keep up with the organic fad going on right now. They are selling organic cotton baby clothes! They are selling fish that are caught in a way that won't harm the environment (Could someone maybe explain to me how catching fish does harm the environment?)!
The new store in Dallas is running an experiment, by stocking it's shelves with over 400 organic items, they are trying to prove the hypothesis that it will bring "upscale shoppers" into it's stores. The people to benefit from this, should it be effective the way they'd like it to be, are the people making the 'organic' products, and of course, Walmart. (Will their employees reap any of these benefits? Probably not.)
Jeff Erikson, the US director of a London-based consultancy and reasearch group, although not affiliated with Walmart, sees entire supply chains having a potential to do very well, considering there are nearly 4000 Walmarts in the US, and over 2200 internationally.
Carl Pope, who is member of the union-backed group Walmart Watch, which criticizes the store, says people are getting excited too fast, and wonders if Walmart is really going to follow through on this "positive direction.".
They are starting with the fish market, and are supporting more hatcheries in adopting healthier practices for healthier fish. It seems that almost all of the fisheries that Walmart is buying from now, are not up to MSC standards. They estimate that within a year or two, 60% will be up to standards, and the remaining 40% will need 3-5 years.
I think the best idea is to go to Price Chopper, or Shaw's and buy your fish there. Just watch out for the Mercury... although that's seemingly less dangerous than organic Walmart, in my mind.
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Post by degicank on Mar 29, 2006 1:47:13 GMT -5
Anyone doing anything for eathday?
i mean as far as clean up stuff, not watching crappy bands. Springfield vt was the birthplace of "green up vermont" day.
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Post by 11993399ben on Mar 29, 2006 14:04:58 GMT -5
Sustainable fishing: From what I understand and I am sure you can find more aspects on this there are two main protocols for sustainable fishing. It seems when talking about sustainable "flesh" i.e. beef, lamb, poultry, fish the main problem is over production. For land faring animals it takes x amount of resources to raise an animal. Basically you run into unsustainable situations when it takes more environmental resources to produce something than you get out of it. They are calling it these days "carbon foot print". Sustainability gives back to the environment the same or more than it takes. I recently met with the CEO of Thanksgiving Coffee. He has been a pioneer in the field of organic, shade grown, fair trade coffee www.thanksgivingcoffee.com. In order to make his product sustainable he said they looked at the carbon footprint they were leaving and then implemented separate programs to even it out. For example the effects of propane they use to roast the coffee was offset by planting 35,000 trees, they began to run their vehicles on bio-fuels, they use recyclable materials, etc. Read more about it on his site. Fish: basically it is an issue of over fishing. Populations of fish have not been able to maintain their numbers at the rate fisheries have been taking them. In fact this Salmon season in the bay area looks to be bleak. Populations have literally been wiped off the face of the planet. So legislation from the state is only allowing a certain number of Salmon to be taken this year. Look for the prices in the bay area to be off the charts. Another premise of sustainable fishing is counter acting the practices that are destroying marine environments. Although indirect when say a farmer on the Russian River here in Northern Cali renovates his land diverting of destroying wetlands it in turn makes it impossible for Salmon to survive down river. If farming in all shapes and forms continues in the states on its current course look for grave effects in the next 50 years. Right now time is being bought. Kind of like drinking a half gallon of vodka a day. Sure you can do it for awhile but the natural system of the body can only take it for so long.
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Bendubois organic caterer
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Post by Bendubois organic caterer on Mar 29, 2006 17:04:25 GMT -5
I just had this funny thought about the whole Walmart going organic post:
Walmart needs to do a little leg work on their research but I guess this point displays again their "quick fix" philosophy, not really caring about long term effects of their business practices.
Within organic movement (which has grown annually at 20% for the past decade, exponential curve y'all!) incubates the "sustainable" movement. Many, many organic producers are following suit. Right now in the Bay Area it is no longer good enough to be organic, you have to be sustainable as well. The Bay Area was the womb that birthed the wide scale spread of organics. Sustainability will spread, in my opinion, in much the same way.
I think if Walmart would look a bit deeper they would see their decision to begin pouring money into organic products is essentially pouring money into a sector that is pulling for Walmart's destruction. At least the dismantling of Walmart's current business practices.
The more money that comes into organics, the more money will trickle into sustainability research and implementation. Putting money into the hands of organic producers is such a good thing, I can't even begin on the subject.
Walmart has demonstrated time and time again that they are not concerned with looking beyond profits when formulating their business practices and ethics. This has caused big time destruction to environment, local economies, etc. I think the very same blindness in the case of organics might very well, in the end, serve some justice for their stupidity.
I also find it interesting that organic baby products are the root cause for many conventionalist's conversion to organics. When asking is organic the right way to go I think numbers wise you can see that a mother's love says yes. Who can question a mother's love?
I am just so happy that organic products have become popular enough that large corporations are beginning to buy in. Again not looking beyond profits as we all know has caused great damage but in this case it is a God send.
I remember having to pay about $125 for two bags of organic groceries back in 1997. I am happy that corporate involvement in organics has greatly cut the cost of these goods. I just wait to see if they find a way to pervert this one.
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Post by Bill on Mar 29, 2006 18:25:54 GMT -5
I saw a dead baby purpose(sp)) aka dolphin)) on the beach this past weekend.
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Post by DrCank on Mar 29, 2006 20:49:40 GMT -5
Just for the DegiRecord a dolphin and purpose are two different species, well type of species for that matter. because there are numerous types of dolphins the most common being the bottlenosed, and many species of purpose. the most common species is the harbor purpose
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Post by Bill on Mar 29, 2006 20:58:02 GMT -5
I believe it was a purpose due to the fact that it had a longer snout as opposed to a longer lower jaw which usually indicates a dolphin.
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Post by JOe on Mar 29, 2006 23:06:13 GMT -5
Thanks Ben, i will pass this on to my Chemistry class...
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Post by Joe on Mar 29, 2006 23:33:54 GMT -5
Sad...
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Post by degicank on Mar 30, 2006 1:32:54 GMT -5
Copy of complaint letter to NRDC:
Hey, you guys are the absolute worse!!! My wife tried to help out with a donation to stop ANWAR and it seems you have given/sold her info to every crook environmental/governmental group known to man. This goes for e-mail and in the real world. My wife had the only email account I know of not attacked by Spam until you sold/gave away the contact info. Now as a reward for trying to help out we get three or four mailings a week from groups that want to stop the Bushies environmental destruction by sending us many, many pages of paper, usually with glossy full color print. As far as I can trace, you gave our name and address to Robert Redford, Move on, Hilary nutcase Clinton, Senator McCain, green peace, and more. Please I don't necessarily believe you are funded by illuminati and big oil to promote the myth of limited oil supply, but I know I've got a bag of paper from mailings asking for money from you and all of your cohorts. Please reconsider your practices.
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Post by chriscank on Mar 30, 2006 14:30:37 GMT -5
Bill, Ben, I saw on South Park last night that everyone in San Francisco really enjoys the smell of thier own farts. Is this true?
j/k! if you didn't see the episode, check it out, it is hilarious!
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Post by Bill on Mar 30, 2006 15:38:24 GMT -5
I got to see that one.
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Post by 11993399331199ben on Mar 30, 2006 18:53:19 GMT -5
I know Bill likes to smell my farts but I don't know what he does with his own. I am technically from the East Bay where the practice of recreational fart smelling was banished back in 1993. Ethical activists promted political action calling for, "the ethical treatment of naturally occuring gases". The courts ruled that unlicensed commercial or recreational use of naturally occuring gases is prohibited in any way shape or form. The resulting law called the "gaseous redemption" act requires East Bay residents to fart into small sealable, biodegradeble containers and place them out with the recycling. They are collected by "gaseous liberation" workers and trucked out to a remote location in Marin county. Once there high ranking straight edge non-smellers have the honor of releasing the once victimized gases back into the wild. This is a prestigious station amoung local activists.
They are currently trying to pass (no pun intended) a law barring the holding or "imprisioning" a fart. Activists have been holding protests outside many well to do mexican restaurants calling for an end of the promotion of this injustice.
There are many underground clubs in Oakland where it is known smelling still happens. Patrons can obtain a medical lisense permitting them to smell their farts. Fart smelling has been sited by the AMA to help promote humor which in turn promotes general well being and healing.
Many East Bay residents have flocked to nearby San Francisco to continue in legal fart smelling. So this is the reason why San Franciscians like to smell their farts so much. They fear that their fart smelling days are numbered as the movement gathers strength state wide.
Your days are numbered Bill. Enjoy them while you can.
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Post by abcdef on Mar 30, 2006 22:27:42 GMT -5
All infidels will be destroyed.
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WTF Did not know this
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Post by WTF Did not know this on Mar 7, 2007 2:42:49 GMT -5
American LSD usage declined in the 1970s and 1980s, then experienced a mild resurgence in popularity in the 1990s. Although there were many distribution channels during this decade, the U.S. DEA identified continued tours by the psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead and the then-burgeoning rave scene as primary venues for LSD trafficking and consumption. American LSD usage fell sharply circa 2000. The decline is attributed to the arrest of two chemists, William Leonard Pickard, a Harvard-educated organic chemist, and Clyde Apperson. According to DEA reports, black market LSD availability dropped by 95% after the two were arrested in 2000. These arrests were a result of the largest LSD manufacturing raid in DEA history.
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