Jean Burman

Cartoon Copyright Jean Burman 2008

Earth Day came and went here with narry a squeak in my part of the world. In fact… ashamed to say… I didn’t even know it was Earth Day (April 22 for those like me living under a rock ~grin~)

I still would have been none the wiser except for the conversation (in the last topic) straying… as oft it does… to Al Gore. (Okay not always to Al Gore… but conversations there DO stray! LOL) So I googled me old mate Al… to see what he’s been up to recently… and discovered…

Voila… Earth Day!

In my cyber investigations… I stumbled upon an interesting article in the Washington Post detailing measures put in place by various green organisations… and tabling people’s individual and cumulative efforts to bring awareness and conscious change to our problems with the environment.

To date… much of the burden of responsibility for change has been lumped at the feet of the man/woman in the street. And this article was no different.

This has always puzzled me greatly… as it is the man/woman in the street who has the least control over anything… leave alone the ability to make the vast leaps in acknowledgement and acceptance… not to mention faith... that will be required to make any REAL kind of difference… to well… pretty much anything! ~grin~

In fact… in what might prove to be a classic case of one step forward two steps back…the man/woman in the street is being urged (read: coerced) into sacrifices that may or may not make any difference at all in the long run.

Now don’t get me wrong… I’m all for making sacrifices… but first let’s take a closer look… and make sure that the changes we are making will be for the better… and will not contribute further to the demise of our beautiful planet earth!

Some of the changes currently being mooted may even be detrimental to the environment in the long run. Like compact fluorescent light bulbs for instance. These little monsters are yet to prove what a menace they will eventually become in landfills across the planet… not to mention our health!

If you do nothing else… for heaven’s sake… please promise me you will read the above linked report from the EPA regarding the health hazards of CFL’s… what to do about breakages and the protocol for their cleanup. If one of these bulbs breaks it is not just a matter of vacuuming it up! (SCROLL OVER “little monsters” & “our health” above)

No one talks about it. Least of all the lighting companies who know full well the potential for harm these bulbs present… yet stand to make substantial profits from sales of the more expensive bulb. So they’re not saying anything.

When I asked my local lighting shop what I should do to responsibly dispose of the spent bulb… they blithely told me to put it into the household rubbish!

OH… MY… GOD…(!)

Compact fluorescents contain MERCURY.

Inorganic mercury compounds are highly toxic and persistent in the environment. The World Health Organisation has been advising of this for years… and recently put limits upon levels of mercury waste that can be emitted by the health sector into the environment via sewage (and incineration)

As an aside… one would have to wonder why this is so… when it seems to have been perfectly okay for decades.. (and remains perfectly okay to this day)… to place mercury amalgam fillings into our teeth! (SCROLL over for link)

Why weren’t we warned?

Is the environment more important than us?

And surely… if mercury amalgam were to be removed from teeth and replaced with a safer more inert substance… there would be less mercury showing up in the environment via sewage anyway?

WHO here… isn’t connecting the dots?

Cartoon - Copyright 2008 Jean Burman

“To win by Default”
Pen & watercolour 12″ x 9″

It’s been another week (or so) of strange and perplexing world events.

But none more seriously concerning… than the damaging trend developing in the US Presidential race… where it would seem candidates on the same team remain “hell bent” on destroying one another… and handing an easy victory to their opponent.

I am not professing to know very much at all about US politics… but therein lies the scarey thing. If someone like me… observing casually from the far flung reaches of the other side of the planet can see there is a problem… believe me… there is a problem!

Consequently… there are more questions than answers here on the blog this week:

What on earth are Clinton and Obama thinking?

Do they not realise that (by their behaviour) they are burning off public opinion?

Do they not realise that they are seriously jeopardising the chances of a positive outcome for the Democrats?

Who are their strategists and advisors… and what is their true purpose? (one has got to wonder if they are not on the opposition payroll! ~grin~)

Moreover…how (and why)… in light of these damaging developments… do said strategists and advisors still have a job?

And finally…

Why (you might ask) should I care?

Well… I might live half a world away… but what happens in the US should matter to us all.

It’s been said that “when the US sneezes… the world gets a cold”.

Whilst I’m not entirely sure this will continue to be the case into the future as the balance of world power continues to shift… I still reckon that it does matter very much who wins power in the next US Presidential election for we are (all of us) inextricably linked to the other when it comes to positive global outcomes.

The debacle in Iraq. The ongoing crisis that is the Middle East. The US economy and it’s impact upon other economies. The environment and it’s multiple challenges. Terrorism. Religious extremism (not to mention Jihad… and what the heck we are all going to do about that one!) Surely… these are compelling issues?

In my view… it is the global outcomes that all candidates (and the media) should be focusing on (as well as the solving of some serious domestic issues on the homefront) and not the trivial “who said what…and who did not” that seems to be dominating the airwaves in the current debate.

Time I think for all concerned to finally see “the wood for the trees”. Soon though… before it’s too late and they are banished to that wilderness!

Hope you enjoy the cartoon… it came to me out of the blue around 3am a week ago. I promised myself I’d keep the editorial short this time… but you know me ~grin~

Cartoon - pen & watercolour 9″ x 12″

artwork & content Copyright 2008 Jean Burman

If you’ve ever been left holding the door for an endless stream of otherwise-occupied people… (in an act of kindness gone madly wrong)…

If you’ve ever stepped aside at the checkout to allow someone with one item to go through first… (only to have the fully laden grocery trolley suddenly materialise from nowhere)

If you’ve ever pulled back in traffic to allow a car to merge into your lane (and four more barge in as well… without so much as a wave of thanks)

(I could go on… ;-))

you will have experienced first hand the distressing modern day phenomenon of bad manners.

My father used to say “I’d give anything away… but I don’t like having it taken from me”

It’s not so much that you want them to reciprocate… it’s just that you wish things could be different… and that if they were going to be so downright rude… you’d hope they could be a little more courteous about it! (chuckles)

Good manners.. not to be confused with “etiquette” which is a whole ‘nother kettle of comparatively insignificant fish… is definitely going out of style!

No longer taught in schools… and less valued or encouraged at home… this next generation could be forgiven for not having an ice-cube’s hope in hell of dealing… (with decorum and grace)… with the burgeoning wave of bad manners, inconsideration, disrespect and self-centred boorishness that is fast becoming the norm in modern society. And no… it’s not just the young who are at fault. It seems that we more mature folk (ahem)… who were taught well… have either forgotten our P’s & Q’s… or have choosen to abdicate from our responsibility to pass them on! ~grin~

Fred Astaire
The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.

If you have ever wondered what cyber rage… road rage… supermarket rage (and any other type of rage you’d care to mention) had in common… wonder no more. All forms of modern “rage” from the superficial to the full scale global variety… have their origins in the loss of what we humans used to value highly and used to do rather well. Once upon a time… common courtesy… consideration… tolerance… and good manners were the order of the day. It made things tick. It made us feel good about ourselves and others. It gave us a rudder to steer ourselves by.

That was… until there were too many of us on the planet!

I blame population growth… an increasing anonymity… and the consequential loss of our sense of “community”. Anonymity provides the perfect cover for the rude and ignorant… who espouse the attitude

“No-one knows me… no-one can see me… I can do and say what I like”.

Back in the day when everyone “knew” someone… or at least… knew someone who knew someone else who knew you (if you know what I mean! LOL)… we all had to be accountable for our actions. “Reputation” was everything. Now there are no consequences… and someone’s pulled the pin on the checks and balances!

Confucius
Consideration for others is the basic of a good life, a good society.

These days… what we seem to have is a bunch of anonymous “out of control” people. They look like everyday people but hand them a mobile (cell) phone or a mouse… put them behind the wheel of a car… or in charge of a supermarket trolley (not to mention… in charge of a country! ~grin~) and those who would be war mongers grow horns… cruising the supermarket aisles and roads…. and surfing the superhighways of the planet with “virtual” impunity! Unwilling and unlikely to take responsibility for their words let alone their actions… there appears to be no cure for this run away condition! *wink*

Eric Hoffer
Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength.

Except… of course… for you and me! And what are we going to do about it?

Well I guess we’re going to do what we’ve always done. We’re going to continue to hold the door… defer to others at the supermarket checkout… and pull over to let someone else into our lane!

And why?

No… not because we are stupid… or for some perverse reason we feel the need to go around looking for punishment!

No…. we are going to keep doing it because it’s the right thing to do… and someone’s got to do it! We need people to once again set the example. Besides… if enough of us do it… it might even become trendy and fashionable… and the pendulum may swing (ever so laboriously) back the other way.

Oh… how I wish it would be so… *sigh* (((chuckles))))

Arthur Schopenhauer

Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.