Monday, July 05, 2010

Food for thought

Remember PCBs? First used in 1929 in products such as inks, lubricants, paints, electrical equipment until it was discovered that exposure could cause cancers, birth defects and developmental problems; they're all gone now, right? Wrong. A 22 000 tonne mound in west Toronto is still sitting there, largely forgotten, along with 22 other sites in Ontario. It's probably too expensive for any company to dispose of the problem without affecting its bottom line.
The Global Footprint Network has announced that September 20th. Is 'Earth Overshoot Day', i.e. the day that humans will have consumed our allotment of the earth's resources for the entire year, and from there, we will be in ecological deficit for the rest of the year. Is it correctable? Fifty years ago, we only consumed half of the world's yearly allocation, and by 2030, we'll be taking double the allocated amount. These four points show why we must get rid of the dirty wasteful system that is capitalism. NOW!

John Ayers

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