I heard something that really just kinda blew my socks off the other day.

Any piece of plastic that’s ever been made is still around.

Wow. I guess I knew that, but to actually hear it is shocking. Sure, plastic can be recycled into other objects, but the plastic is still plastic and it’s not decomposing. Eek! I fear a future where we’re swimming around is streets filled with bits of plastic. Well, let’s hope we don’t let it get that far.

Thanks to Val from Greenfeet.com and More Hip Than Hippie for the thought. I’ve heard her say it more than once. Think about it next time you go grocery shopping and just look at all the plastic in your cart (do you really need to put those 3 tomatoes in a plastic bag? No, you don’t).

Also, I want to give a shout out to my co-worker Nat, who recognizes my tree hugging-ness and gave me a pen made of paper last week. Not plastic (well the outside at least)! Thanks Nat!

Melbourne is nutters over coffee. Nutters. More so than Vancouverites.  There are cafes everywhere, and fortunately only a couple Starbucks. It’s a nice break from Starbucks I must say.

Now if you were to arrive in Melbourne from Canada and try to order a coffee you would probably be confused and so would the barista. You cannot ask for a coffee. Well you can, but that will be followed by “what coffee would you like?” They don’t even have drip coffee! It’s all espresso made. You can ask for a latte or cappuccino and those are the same. But here’s a mini lesson:

Latte = Latte

Cappuccino = Cappuccino

Flat White = Latte with less foam

Long Black = Americano (like a black coffee)

Short Black = Espresso shot

Macchiato = Espresso shot with a little milk

But here’s the kicker…coffees in Melbourne are better than any coffee I have ever had anywhere. It’s soooo good. I’m already dreading of what will happen when I go back to Canada and need to fuel my caffeine addiction. And it’s cheaper! A latte at Starbucks in Canada is going to be $4-$5. A latte here is going to be $2.50-$3.50. That makes a big difference if you buy a coffee (or three) a day. I’m lucky enough to work at a cafe and get coffees at work, otherwise I’d be poor. This is the plus 1.

The minus 1 is that no one uses travel mugs! I’ve hardly seen anyone go into a cafe with their own mug.  A lot of people do have their coffees in the cafe, and get real cups and mugs, but there’s a lot of take-away coffee cups used in this city everyday. I’m trying to use mine every time I go and maybe it will catch on. Maybe.

I found this on the BBC site today.

“Deepest Ever Living Fish Filmed”

This is pretty cool science but I feel it means soon they’ll film all the scary things we never get to see and don’t even know exsist! At least then my fear of the ocean won’t be seen as irational. And finding new species is pretty exciting, even if they’re monsters.

So this seems to have become a passionate issue for me recently.

The European Union has recently voted to ban the sale of seal products. Article here. This has caused joy and elation among animal rights groups. So much so that it seems everywhere I turn I see the lines “ban the cruel seal hunt”. I’m tried of it!

What, exactly, is cruel about the seal hunt? Sealers and northern natives go out and hunt seals. The majority (~90% is the quote from Danny Williams) are killed with a gun, not a club. Imagine that. Also, you cannot kill a baby seal. If I hear the phrase “clubbing baby seals” one more time I will lose it. I do believe the seals must be a minimum age before being killed, judged by the colour of their coat. The “club” is also a traditional weapon called a hakapik that has been judged to be a humane way to kill seals.

How is this such a major animal rights issue? There are many, many more issues that I feel do not receive the press they deserve. The slaughter of tonnes upon tonnes of cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, etc. happens everyday. These animals are herded, crammed, stuffed into slaughterhouses and killed.

I feel animal rights groups have picked the seal hunt as an issue because seals are cute and have large eyes and it is easy to win over the hearts of the people. They have picked the easy battle and I feel their efforts could be much more helpful in other areas of animal slaughter.

In Danny Williams’ interview on Larry King he claims the WWF has observed the seal hunt and finds nothing inhumane about the process.

In conclusion, please redirect animal rights efforts to a cause that needs it.

I tell ya, this Obama guy keeps doing the most amazing things! It seems every other day he makes an announcement about going greener. Love this guy! I’m just waiting for the bubble to burst. He can’t be this great!

Anyway, enough blubbering about him. On to the issue!

President Obama Announces National Fuel Efficiency Policy

The new standards will set nation-wide levels for emissions, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2016. This is the first time a nation-wide standard has been attempted.

An article in The Canadian Press talks about what this means for Canada. After all, we’re going to need to be making/driving the same cars they’re making/driving in the US, the two auto sectors are not separate. Yay! Emissions standards basically forced on Stephen Harper. I wasn’t holding my breath on his announcement about setting emission standards.

On a nice note about Canadians (what isn’t nice about Canadians?), given the same options for car models as the US, 60% of cars bought by Canadians are small, fuel-efficient models while that figure is only 30% in America. Way to make a statement about your values Canadians!