Quote of the Day
To admit that species generally become rare before they become extinct – to feel no surprise at the rarity of a species, and yet to marvel greatly when it ceases to exist, is much the same as to admit that sickness in the individual is the forerunner of death – to feel no surprise at sickness, but when the sick man dies, to wonder and to suspect that he died by some unknown deed of violence.
Charles Darwin
Environmental Enforcement: EPA Issues Cleanup Order to Honolulu Landfill Operator · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued an order to Waste Management, Inc. to take immediate steps to clean up recent releases of waste and contaminated storm water and prevent future releases from the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill on Oahu.
Waste Management, the contractor operating the landfill for the City and County of Honolulu, agreed to comply with the EPA’s order.
On January 12 and 13, heavy rains caused extreme flooding at the landfill. A section of the landfill’s property filled with storm water, causing waste to be released and resulted in beach closures.
According to the EPA, the agency promptly dispatched an emergency responder and engineers to assist the Hawaii Department of Health and the City and County of Honolulu with the response at the landfill. The responders are monitoring ocean water and any water released from the landfill. In addition, the agencies are monitoring the stability of the landfill, and cleaning up waste that reached nearby beaches.
Given my new-found love for our State of Hawaii, I am glad to hear the EPA is cracking down on landfill violations. I know this is a serious issue in Hawaii, where disposing of waste is a tricky business when any mainland is 3000 miles away.
Quote of the Day
Each day we should do at least one meritorious act. At the very least you can show kindness to an animal.
Ajahn Chah
Waste Management Meets Habitat Goal, Cuts Violations · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader
Waste Management (WM) has met its wildlife habitat goal ten years ahead of schedule, according to the company’s 2010 sustainability report.
The report says that the waste, recycling and bio-energy company has already met its target of receiving Wildlife Habitat Council certification at 100 landfills.
That is up from 24 certifications reported in the company’s 2008 sustainability report, and means that WM has already met its goal for 2020.
This is good news.
Quote of the Day
In my own experience, the period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one’s life. …Through a difficult period, you can learn, you can develop inner strength, determination, and courage to face the problem. Who gives you this chance? Your enemy.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Quote of the Day
Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.
- Elie Wiesel
Quote of the Day
One act of pure love in saving life is greater than spending the whole of ones time in religious offerings to the gods.
- Dhammapada
Quote of the Day
The world goes on because civilized men exist. Without them it would collapse into mere dust. Though their minds are as sharp as a rasp, Men without human decency are as wooden as a tree.
- Tirukkural 100:997-8
On the Shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords – D-AZ
The death of six people and shooting of Rep. Giffords of Arizona is a tribute to the bulemic rhetoric of Republican party and their Tea Party cohorts. I concur with the following comment posted on January 9, 2011 via Astrological Musings:
“This terrible shooting today is a sign of the cancer that is eating up the US from the inside out. Rage and fear won’t heal this disease – only clarity and trust that the universe is striving for balance will help us to counter the darkness with light.”
Just the other night I was at a social gathering in San Francisco where 150 people gathered to celebrate the group organizer’s birthday. I started a conversation with an intelligent sounding man sitting next to me at the bar. We discovered we had both attended the University of San Francisco. He asked me what I thought of the school and I noted that I thought the MSEM program was excellent, so I was pleased to attend graduate school there despite the fact that I was Jewish. (USF is a Jesuit school, but they don’t discriminate on the basis of one’s personal religious beliefs.)
Suddenly I found myself in an argument as to whether the U.S. should be financially supporting Israel in order to foster a lasting peace in the Middle East. I stated that personally I didn’t think there could be such a thing as “lasting peace” in the region and that the politics were extremely complicated. For the U.S. to end their support of Israel could be devastating to the country’s well-being given the desire of surrounding countries to see the annihilation of the Jewish state. The man then asked if I believed that Israel truly had a right to that land at the expense of say, the Palestinians. I should have referred the man to see the movie “Exodus” if he had not already viewed it and made light of the direction the conversation was heading. However, I have a strong feeling regarding the holocaust and what “rights” the Jews should have today based on these past events. We quickly ended up in a heated argument, which resulted in the man getting up and leaving his seat.
This “argument” came back to haunt me later that night as I was watching late night television. It reminded me of the horrid events earlier that day where one man’s tortured political views resulted in six deaths and the near death of an esteemed Congresswoman. Most of us would agree that this country is suffering from the worst political polarity since the Vietnam era. In the 70s, many people who felt they were “right” advocated for violence to overthrow the government and/or quash those whose views differed from their own. If we cannot have a civilized discussion with a comrade over drinks in a bar, how are we to stop those who still advocate killing anyone whose opinion differs from theirs?
Quote of the Day
It is the principle of the pure in heart never to injure others, Even when they themselves have been hatefully injured. Hating others, even enemies who harmed you unprovoked, Assures incessant sorrow.
- Tirukkural 32:312-313
