[Take Action] Coke's Saving the Polar Bear's Home, But What About Mine?

While Coca-Cola can surely boast that it is an international brand, I doubt any country has yet to beat US daily consumption (data from 2002 and 2009). Coca-Cola is nearly as American as apple pie.

You would think, with such an enormous fan base in the States, that Coca-Cola would do its best to look out for its most profitable land. However, as evidenced by a recent story in the New York Times article, it seems as though profit might be the only thing Coca-Cola is out to protect!

The Grand Canyon is easily one of the most precious natural landmarks one can find in the United States. It, like many of our wonders, draws many visitors who happen to carry with them plastic bottles in their travels. After dealing with the build up of trash that comes from such traffic, the National Park officials at the Grand Canyon decided to impose a ban on all plastic bottles. They were even going to install water refilling stations throughout the park in order to encourage visitors to bring their own refillable bottles. Sounds great, right? I thought so.

Guess who didn't like the idea.

The Coca-Cola Company.

According to the New York Times, here's what happened:

Stephen P. Martin, the architect of the plan and the top parks official at the Grand Canyon, said his superiors told him two weeks before its Jan. 1 start date that Coca-Cola, which distributes water under the Dasani brand and has donated more than $13 million to the parks, had registered its concerns about the bottle ban through the foundation, and that the project was being tabled.

$13 million does weigh a lot in these matters, I suppose. However, I am writing to you today about something else that can be just as powerful: your voice.

Stiv Wilson (@agentstiv on twitter) started a petition on Change.org for you to sign and share. The petition is to the Director of National Park Service and it is asking to Ban the sale of plastic bottled water in Grand Canyon National Park. 

I implore you to sign this petition. I also request, that if you have the time, you reach out to Coca-Cola as well. Let them know that their winter campaign of "Protect the Polar Bear's Home" that they are now plastering on their bottles just in time for all their cute polar bear commercials is not enough to gloss over that which they are doing to contribute to the pollution of Our Home!
 
I understand Coca-Cola is a business that must protect a place where I am sure they yield a nice profit. (Lots of tourists heading out to the Grand Canyon must be thirsty, how many of them reach into their pockets to buy a Dasani, or some other Coke brand product?) It is our place as consumers to let Coca-Cola know that taking a stand with the National Parks Service is enough for us to say, "Wow... Coca-Cola is an awesome company! The next time I need a tasty beverage - I'm going to them first just because of what they did to protect my home land!"

Fellow consumers, let us do our part:

• sign the petition
• share it with others
• let Coca-Cola know what's important to you

Does Coca-Cola's contribution to America's (and the world's) pollution problem bother you?

How can companies like Coke help the environment while still selling their products? 

24 Hours of Reality

There she is. Isn't she beautiful? So big, so powerful, so full of life and so ready for humanity to take notice.

Look real close at this picture. Enlarge it if you like. Zoom in using whatever tools your technology allows. I promise you, you will not be able to see a human from this angle. We are that small. However, in a sick twist of fate, we are having an enormous affect on that beauty. We, in our masses, are changing the scope and landscape of our Mother Earth.

It is time to get real about the situation. It is time to STOP wondering after all of these natural disasters, Why is nature turning on US? and start figuring out How can WE stop ABUSING Nature.

Many of you are doing this already. Many recognize that every little thing each one of us does right is a step in the right direction, but tonight, there is a call to action for the MASSES. Tonight begins the 24 Hours of Reality:



Will you join me? It begins at 7PM Central Time there will be 24 different presenters in 13 different languages. Let's get real about this, let's not be victims of green washing anymore, let's heal our world together.

For more information on the event, see the Event Page at The Climate Reality Project.

A Call to Action: Ban Fracking

The following is an excerpt from a post I just published on the Searching for Sustenance blog entitled "What the FRACK?!" It is important the word gets out to as many as possible, so I am sharing it here with you as well.

What The FRACK?!

image from the Green Cupboards Fracking Debate

Sometimes when I open my e-mail I get really disappointed.

Today was one such day, because today I saw an e-mail entitled "Obama's Plan to Frack."

I was hoping beyond hope that I read it wrong, or that it was some twisted play on words, but it was not. The subject line summarized the sadness within the e-mail itself, President Obama is planning to use fracking as a technique to unearth the natural gases his energy plan calls for.

What is Fracking and What's the Big Deal?

It is quite possible you have been hearing/reading this term "fracking" a lot lately, but, perhaps are still not really sure what it means. While I have read lots and lots of definitions for hydraulic fracturing (that's what "fracking" is short for), I think this video by Food & Water Watch does an excellent job of showing us what fracking is and why it is so risky.  CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE POST.