Month: January 2017

By Jim Hagarty
2016

Like many other people, those of us who believe that humans are putting our environment at risk, I worry about the kind of planet we will leave for future generations. Maybe I don’t worry enough about it, as I keep driving my gas guzzler and make sure my home is toasty warm all winter, knowing I could just put on a sweater and keep the thermostat down.

But I soothe my conscience by following all the recycling practices in place in my community and by composting everything we can. We also stopped using any kind of insecticides more than 20 years ago when our kids were babies and crawling around on our lawns. I remember around that time we were having a party in our backyard and in preparation for it, I went to the store and bought a chemical which I sprayed on our patio paving stones to kill all the ants living in the cracks. I killed them all right and almost immediately wondered why I had felt such a pressing need to do that. Two decades later, I still feel badly about those ants although the good news is, the patio has been repopulated with more of the little creatures than ever. We co-exist now.

And we also live in harmony with the dandelions.

But the world is facing bigger problems than our ants and dandelions and I am always cheered up when I learn about what people are doing all around us to make our world a better place. I have always believed that in the end, the goodwill and genius of the super creative people among us would be our salvation. So I applaud every breakthrough.

Here is one that was reported on recently.

The headline:

Brewery Creates Edible Six-Pack Rings that Feed, Rather Than Kill, Marine Life

And the story:

A brewery started by surfers, fishermen and “people who love the sea” has developed edible ring-holders for their six-packs of beer. The material – made of barley and wheat remnants from the brewing process – is 100-percent biodegradable and safe for fish, turtles, birds and other marine life to eat, unlike the plastic ring-holders that are now killing them by the millions.

Each year, “an estimated one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles become entrapped in plastic or ingest it and die,” says marine biologist Mark Tokulka.

Americans consume more than six billion gallons of beer each year, half of which comes in cans. Most of the plastic rings that hold those cans together end up in the ocean. Saltwater Brewery in Delray Beach, Florida, wants to change that.

The hope is that other craft breweries and large beer companies will follow their lead. If they did, the manufacturing cost would drop and be very competitive with the cost of plastic six-pack rings, saving hundreds of thousands of marine lives.

In light of the recent projection that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, it’s a step in the right direction!

My Thoughts:

I have seen stories such as this before, then heard nothing more about them as time passed. I have often wondered what became of them. There was a small urban car invented that runs on compressed air and which was to debut in Hawaii last year. And there have been cars that have been invented which run on water, the latest I could find was developed in India earlier this year.

My son and I sometimes discuss what the world might be like in a hundred years. We make a few predictions. Then we try to look down the road a thousand years. Hopefully the planet by then will be an oasis and not a desert.

I think it will be and the 200-year Industrial Revolution will be written about in the history books as a low point in human evolution.

By Jim Hagarty
2016

I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. Lately, lotta hate.

I love the funny memes, the often-amazing pictures and videos of nature and animals, and even some of the political commentary, although I have to confess, I am pretty closed-minded to much of it. If a “friend” keeps pestering me with views about the world order with which I don’t agree, I eventually unfollow him or her. Currently, of my almost 300 friends, I am unfollowing more of them than I am following.

Here are the top five types of status updates that drive me crazy and will cause a friend to be hidden away for future reference.

1. Memes and commentary that put down the youth of today. Apparently, anyone under 20 these days is lazy, disrespectful and glued to their phones and laptops. Oh, and their pants are too baggy, they have nose rings and tattoos. Yuk! Many of these people who are trashing today’s kids are people I knew personally when I was a kid, even some I hung around with. We were no Nobel prize winners as I recall. We drank like fish, smoked like chimneys and invented disrespect. These friends of mine who are putting down the young among us are now in their fifties, sixties and seventies. I can’t think of anything sadder than an old person criticizing young people, especially when it has been my experience that a lot of these people haven’t met any young people in a long, long time. They are reacting to what they think young people are like today.

2. Unsolicited advice. Oh my God, this fries my bacon. Why on earth do people turn into gurus when they sign up for a Facebook account? Some of these people are relentless with their free advice and guidance for living. And behind it all, I can’t help but think is their assumption that they have an inside track to Truth that the rest of us just can’t find and it is their mission to help us guide us in the right direction. Ugh a thousand times. I don’t mind people sharing heartfelt life experiences but the preaching is killing me.

3. The good old days. Scream!!!! Were you aware that everything was fantastic 50 years ago? Music was better, people were more helpful to each other, the Work Ethic was bred into every child and most importantly, we were all tough as cavemen. We literally ate a pound of dirt a day and liked it. We survived everything. No padded dashes and seatbelts for us. No labelling and best-before dates on food packaging. No safety regulations on anything. We swam in dirty creeks and ponds, stayed out on the streets till Mama called us in at 10 o’clock. Or later! There was no fluoride in our water and factory smoke stacks belched out real smoke and we loved it. Good for the lungs. Yes our parents and our teachers whacked the hell out of us for mostly no reason at all except to dispel their own anger but we grew up better people for it all. A moment of silence, if you will, for the good old days.

4. Cautionary memes about the cruel people around and what to do about them. How, I wonder, did so many of my friends attract such busloads of assholes with which they have had to deal their whole lives? But they have. And so I am pestered with constant suggestions regarding the quality of friendship and the lack thereof. I am told what to do when someone disrespects me or ignores me or puts me down. Where are all these people putting me down? I do not remember being surrounded by jerks at any time in the recent past. In fact, people in my life are pretty darned nice, for the most part. Maybe they chat a bit behind my back, I don’t know, and maybe I talk behind theirs. The last time I looked, this was called being human. Jesus, some people are spending all day crying their eyes out about how rotten their friends have been to them and, assuming I am going through the same thing, they share what I should do about it.

5. Finally, there are the ever-present scolders who take every opportunity to warn me about the dangers all around me. Food is poison, is the number one truth I have been ignoring. Snoring will kill me. I need to lose weight, need to stop worrying, need to take up yoga and need to slow down. I wonder how many of my Facebook friends forget that I actually know them in real life and have known them for a long time. Not one of them, I can testify here and now, are perfect now or were perfect then. Look after yourselves, by all means, but enough with the wagging finger. Just get busy videotaping your dogs and cats and post them. Some nice photos and videos of your kids. Then please, shut the hell up!