The story of this stuff begins in the once-upon-a-time land of the late 1800s, when Coca-Cola was an environmentalist’s dream—served in stylish, refillable glass bottles that were washed and reused dozens of times. Today, however, according to the Story of Stuff website, Coke has become the world's biggest plastic producer and polluter, “pumping out a quarter of a million plastic bottles every minute . . . almost one-quarter (23%) of the world’s PET plastic bottles.”
If you think you're seeing more electric vehicles on your local streets, you are. If you think this constitutes a boon for the EV market, not exactly.
On Nov. 28, the Wall Street Journal reported, some 3,900 U.S. car dealers sent a letter to President Biden seeking relief “from his onerous and unrealistic EV sales mandate.” The dealers say electric vehicles are piling up on their lots. Demand for EVs just isn't keeping up with production.
Against all odds, the old Main Post Office in the heart of downtown Chicago has been brought back to life after sitting idle for over two decades. Filled with antiquated mail-sorting machines and haunted by the ghosts of old postal workers, it was gutted and reopened in 2019 as the home of Walgreens and several other businesses. The historic landmark built in the 1920s is now crowned by a 3.5-acre rooftop park that includes walkways through fields of native perennial plants and grasses.
As of this writing, we have installed solar panels on our roof (giving us a source of free renewable electricity), switched out our gas furnace with electric heat pumps, and replaced all gas appliances with electric equivalents in our 100-year-old Oak Park home. We have shut off our gas service and upgraded our car to an electric vehicle (EV), charging it basically for free at home, eliminating our reliance on polluting gasoline with its rising costs.
The annual One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest Global Awards Celebration is gearing up to take place at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, both in person at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., and online virtually anywhere in the world. Featuring the top 10 winning films from among 403 submissions, this event is the first with global reach.
Reserve free tickets here: tinyurl.com/yfc23awards
In August, Judge Kathy Seeley ruled wholly in favor of 16 young plaintiffs, declaring that the state of Montana has and is violating their constitutional rights, including their rights to equal protection, dignity, liberty, health, and safety, which are all predicated on their right to a clean and healthful environment. . . . And the court ruled that the youth plaintiffs had proven their standing to bring the case by showing significant injuries, that the government had a substantial role in causing those injuries, and that a judgment in their favor would change the government’s conduct.
