Category: Environment

Fee Writes

Colorado – Home To Legal Dope & Illegal Rain Barrels.

An odd tidbit crossed my vision the other day about how Colorado has a law that bans the use of residential rain barrels.

In other words, if you live in this particular state you are not allowed to collect rain for your own use. Try as I might, I can’t seem to find out why this law was passed in the first place. Rain is rain and it will fall where-ever it chooses. Besides their Fifth Amendment establishes property rights and if rain falls on your property then isn’t the water is yours by right? … Does that make sense?

The reason I saw this snippet of news was because apparently there are some changes in the wind, well that’s if it can get passed through the Republican-led Senate, (naturally it’s the Democrats leading the charge).

Surely the good citizens of Colorado should be able to catch the rain and use it to water their tomatoes or their marijuana plants.

Speaking of which. Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana fully, (not just for medicine), and the industry is booming. In fact, the tax that has been collected has actually gone over the capped amount of tax which, by law, is allowed to be collected at any one time.

This meant that the good people of Colorado are supposed to be paid back the excess. (I believe the Republicans and Democrats are still arguing about whether that should happen – what’s new!)

In 2015 sales were more than $996 million – geez, that’s nearly a billion which means that the tax was more than $135 million.
O.k. so their population is a bit more than ours here in N.Z. – coming in at 5.35 million, but holy camoly, even if we got a tax increase of 100 million, imagine what that would accomplish here.

So what are they doing with all that extra money?

Apparently, $40 million is for school constructions, marijuana education and prevention campaigns.
Some even going to bullying prevention.
Money is spent on preventing school drop-outs and for youth mentoring services.
Then there’s the poison control centres that need money and substance abuse screening, intervention and referral.
Tack onto that money for substance abuse treatment
And there’s a bit of money for roadside impaired-driving enforcement training for peace officers.
There’s also money going to the Future Farmers of America and the 4-H programs which are programs designed for youth to teach leadership etc.

So you can see, the money is being channelled to the youth of Colorado, which, I think is excellent. Imagine what we’d achieve if we did the same with our youth????

Bloody hell, I’ve gone off-topic again.

My point is that here is this forward-thinking State and they are denying their citizens the basic right of being able to collect water …. go figure!

Feel free to comment, would love to hear (well read) what you think.

Fee Writes

Environment | Random | Rants

Water, Water Everywhere ???

We have lots of water, right? – Why don’t we give it away?

Read an article about the issue of freshwater, bottled here for free in N.Z. then shipped off overseas making money for the overseas-owned companies.
Now, according to Nick Smith, there is plenty of water and currently only a few companies involved. – so he’s not about to put a stop to it.

As an aside: China sent back two shiploads of the stuff because it was dirty (contaminated) … yup, dirty – and that’s on China’s standards, so it must have been bad. Holy hell, what is our water coming to?

Talking of China – did you know that China has an area in drought at the moment and is actually going to release water from a dam which will not only help their drought-stricken province but also Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam which are suffering too. For once I’m going to say – well done, China.
Source: Yahoo News

Perhaps I’m naive, but my thought is that we should clean up our water first so that we can drink it, swim in it and enjoy it … after that, we can consider sending it off around the world to places that really need to have it.

And, because water is an absolute necessity for survival – here’s an “off the wall” thought – why don’t we give it away to those who are really in need?

So instead of sending aid money off, we could use that money to produce the bottled water and cut out the ‘middle man’ who only want to profit from the suffering of others.

There are two things we need that should be a basic right of every human – oxygen and water. It’s such a pity that we are doing our utmost to destroy both and/or make it so only those who can afford it will get it.

Too simplistic?

I know, but that’s my little rant for the day.

Fee Writes

Environment | Quick Post

Awesome Afternoon

What an awesome afternoon spent at the food fest put on by Envirohub at the Historic Village (Tauranga).

The weather could not have been more perfect.

My sweet friend, Marielle, who runs the Envirohub ship, asked if I’d lend a hand. Not that I was that much help because I spent a great deal of time talking to lots of different peeps that I met. But I did sell a few raffle tickets, got some donations and even managed to encourage those fit enough to have a crack at the biking smoothie machine.

The day was about sustainable backyards with talks on growing, eating and composting food e.g. worm farming, edible weeds and clean eating (right up my alley). There was music too and the day ended with a great percussion group, (sorry, can’t remember the name of them but they were great fun).

I’ll let the rest of the photos do the talking for me ….

cd_56dbc9a1ec96a — A great family day out

cd_56dbc9f932004 — What have you got there?

cd_56dbca3bae00e — Yup, they’d nicked the sign … such fun!!!

cd_56dbcc41b4173 — There’s that sign again

cd_56dbcc92cf165 — A great colour filled day!!!!

This is a great organization and one to support – check out their website: Envirohub

Fee Writes

Environment

Environmental Madness?

A wee while ago there was quite some hoohar that went down when Donald Trump decided he wanted to build a golf course and resort thingy in Scotland. He promised loads of jobs and huge increase in the income of the area – the Government of the day fell for it.

cd_56cd14c04c43a — The Great Dunes of Scotland

In a nut shell, he talked his way into obtaining land that was set among the Great Dunes along the Aberdeenshire coastline, like, 4000 year old dunes designated as a special environment site!

Now we know how delicate the ecosystem is when it comes to dunes, so, as you can imagine there was a lot of people who didn’t want the Trump Meister building.

cd_56cd154ef25b1 — The wind farms were not a good sight for Trumpy

But build he did. One poor farmer got a whole heap of dirt piled up so his view was blocked just because he wouldn’t sell out (dirt later removed through court action). Trumpy even wanted to get the Government to seize the surrounding farms, but under Scottish law, couldn’t be done.
The real trouble came when the Scots decided they would build a wind farm out at sea right opposite the golf course. This was just too much for Trump and he tried to sue the government which didn’t get him anywhere.

The upshot was that he threw his toys out of the cot and basically up and walked off the project. There’s now just a club-house and a golf course there, very few people use it but the sad part is that the ecosystem is stuffed.

So where’s this leading to I hear you ask. Back here to N.Z.

cd_56cd160446c8b — The beauty of the McKenzie Country

If you’re a New Zealander reading this you will know, or at least have heard, about the McKenzie Country. That gorgeous ecosystem in central South Island, most of which is owned by us, the public, and leased out as pastoral land. Some of this area provides habitat for several rare birds and fish including the black stilt, NZ Falcon, Canterbury galaxid (fish) and long-finned eel.

It is one of the most pristine areas of New Zealand (God knows we need to hang onto them) because it abounds with lakes, tussocks and environmental beauty.

Not only are there moves to sell off some of it to the private sector but now pastures of green turf have begun to appear to support a growing dairy industry in the area.

cd_56cd17259f8cd — “Crop circles” of irrigated pasture for dairy cows

cd_56cd174113bdc — N.Z. the land of milk and … milk

The, forever money hungry, dairy industry is not content with the existing farms, but is hell bent, it seems, on destroying all the ecological and environmental delicacies that N.Z. has.

Sort of Trump style – no consideration at all even though there has been opposition from high country farmers, community boards, environmentalists, fisheries, forest & bird, tourist operators even hunters to no avail – the dairy farms came and continue to come.

And the impact they have made already is so sad. The problem is that these farms need water and so they are drawing from local lakes and already the impact has been felt.

cd_56cd180ac6767 — The water is being sucked out.

Where once there were water filled ponds and small lakes – the reservoirs are drying up. The large lakes are still o.k. …. but if the dairy continues to grow – well, I’ll leave you to ask the questions.

What will become of the MacKenzie Agreement? This is a landmark document developed over the past couple of years by farmers, environmentalists, tourist operators, businesses and the community which is designed to protect the special values of this area.

It seems that nothing stands in the way of the dairy industry. The irony is that dairy payouts to farmers has fallen dramatically and if this keeps up there’s every likelihood that we’ll see a repeat of the 80’s when greed overtook sensibility and the kiwifruit crashed causing many to just walk off their orchards.

Today many dairy farmers are facing similar outcomes. Suicide rates have increased and perhaps we’ll see abandoned farms which, unfortunately, have already left their destructive footprint on our environment

Source for this post: Newshub
Source for Featured image: Mackenzie Country Communication

Fee Writes

Environment | Random

My Take On Pope Francis and His Encyclical

Pope Francis has published his encyclical

and the 192 page document holds a lot of good stuff, that, hopefully, is going to be taken on board and will begin the change that is needed in this world we live in.

I’m not about to summarize the encyclical … that would be a lengthy blog post. Instead I just want to say that he has covered a lot of topics from global warming to the issue of water, (even covering the pollution of the oceans), and the effects on the poor and developing countries.

It’s pretty obvious he has done his homework and presents both the scientific as well as the biblical and theology side. And he also addresses the varying opinions about global warming that are out there. He also has not been soft in his criticism of the way wealthy countries/corporations use and abuse poorer countries who sit on goldmines such as fossil fuels, but do not have the means to protect their environments from the ravages of the greedy.

All in all, this is a powerful document. But one that gives hope. He points out things that are working now as examples of what can be done.

One sentence that I was impressed with

“…Politics must not be subject to the economy, nor should the economy be subject to the dictates of an efficiency-driven paradigm of technocracy….”

Oh now wouldn’t that be an ideal world!

Right at the beginning he opens with the words of St Francis …

“Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”….

and in the very next paragraph he boldly states

“…This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters….”

It kind of sets the tone for the rest of the document.

Regardless if you are a devout Catholic, of other Christian faith, Muslim or other religion, Agnostic or Atheist, you can take out the religious part if you want and you will still find this is a powerful document. This man packs a heap of a punch and has a fair amount of influence. I’m hoping that it pays off.

Thanks for dropping by, my name is Fee O’Shea. I’m a mother and grandma, an author and an Improver. I’ve got a resource website to help peeps go plant-based, I’ve scribbled six books centred around veganism, and have helped others write and publish their own stories.
But this blog is for my thoughts, my rants, raves, reviews and things that have grabbed my attention. From politics to social media to beauty, health and the environment. Fee’s Ramblings Over Coffee is written to bring you a smile or get you thinking. Enjoy.

Category: Environment

Colorado – Home To Legal Dope & Illegal Rain Barrels.

An odd tidbit crossed my vision the other day about how Colorado has a law that bans the use of residential rain barrels.

Water, Water Everywhere ???

We have lots of water, right? – Why don’t we give it away?

Awesome Afternoon

What an awesome afternoon spent at the food fest put on by Envirohub at the Historic Village (Tauranga).

Environmental Madness?

My Take On Pope Francis and His Encyclical

Pope Francis has published his encyclical

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