Inhabited Chair: Earth Day
Since 1970, everyday on April 22 we recognize Earth Day. It was started by Senator Gaylord Nelson, who announced his ambitious plan at a conference in Seattle in September 1969. He wisely chose to model his Earth Day events after those of the previously successful Vietnam War protests. After he made his announcement, he soon became aware that he had tapped into a latent feeling from people everywhere that the environment was in trouble. By April 22, 1970, the Earth Day headquarters, which was run out of Nelson’s Senate office, had organized over 20 million people to simultaneously force environmentalism into the political limelight. In that regard, it was by and large a success. Shortly after the first Earth Day was held, President Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. Since its inception, the EPA has accomplished many things to put us on the road to a safer, cleaner environment. For example, the 1972 ban on DDT, a synthetic pesticide that, while effective, also had some very negative environmental effects. It also helped the bald eagle get off the endangered species list in 1996. Another important milestone occurred in 1973, when the EPA issued its “first patent limiting a factory’s polluted discharges into waterways.”
It seems to me that Earth Day has now outlasted its uses. The global conciseness has reached a point where the focus needs to shift from raising awareness, to fixing the problem. One of my favorite solutions to the problem is tradable pollution permits. This system encourages companies to reduce pollution in a way that will foster the financial well-being of companies that may be slower to adjust to new restrictions. The basic premise is that the government will issue (or auction off) permits allowing companies to release a certain amount of a pollutant (like carbon). The more permits they buy up, the more they are allowed to pollute. There would be a fixed limit on the total number of pollution permits, but the companies which possess them would be determined by how cheaply they could reduce their pollutant outputs. The companies that could inexpensively reduce their output would sell the permits to those who could not. These companies would buy up as many permits until the cost of the next permit they could buy is higher than the cost of reducing the amount they pollute that the permit would allow. This allows for a more efficient reduction in pollution. Fewer corporations will be forced into financial hardship, allowing greater competition that ultimately benefits everyone.
Shoe Thoughts: I will once again feature some more of our environmentally friendly products.
The Etnies Slipola is brand new here at Shoebuy.com. It features natural canvas and chrome-free suede to give you the best in comfort and environmental stability. The Terrasoles Tundra has a bungee cord, grommet, stitching details and a recycled fleece construction to make this shoe both unique and environmentally conscious. The Polliwalk T-Rex makes me wish I was a little kid again. This shoe offers great support and lets the little one leave behind the foot prints of a T-Rex. The manufacturing and packaging are environmentally friendly so everyone can feel good about buying this shoe.
Non-Shoe Thoughts:
- LOST Thoughts:
- There was no new episode of LOST this week, just the recap show. It revealed absolutely nothing new.
- The Office Thoughts:
- Unfortunately I was not able to watch The Office this week.
- I recently saw Monsters vs Aliens in 3D (the reason I did not watch The Office) and it was a lot better then I thought a 3D animated movie ever could be. It was really funny and entertaining and the animation was absolutely incredible.
- This weekend is the NFL Draft. For those of you not familiar, this is how football players transition from college to the National Football League. The teams that did the worst the previous year pick first in each round and the Super Bowl winning Steelers will pick last in each round thus ensuring fairness within the league.
- The Eagles have recently made some very aggressive moves that I think really make them a better team. They were able to trade for someone who they believe is the best tackle in the entire league, and when Andy Reid says good things about offensive linemen, I believe him. Now their most pressing needs are a back up running back and a starting tight end. Of course I had heard that Sheldon Brown is demanding a trade, which is a shame because he is a great player, but we may have to replace him so that adds a new need for the Eagles at cornerback.
And now I would like to say a few words about myself and my posts. My name is Zachary Wolfson, I’m a student at Northeastern doing my internship at Shoebuy.com. I will be writing weekly blog entries, which I modeled after “Monday Morning Quarterback” by Peter King who is a great sports writer and always gives some love to my Philadelphia Eagles. Every week, there will be a main story where I discuss something that is happening in the world at that time, my shoe thoughts of the week, where I share my thoughts on a couple of styles and my non-shoe thoughts of the week where I just share random thoughts for your enjoyment.
Thanks for reading. I always enjoy hearing from my readers so leave lots of comments on anything I’ve said. Please subscribe to the Shoebuyblog.com RSS feed and tell all your friends.
