Welcome to the ezine produced by SGI Buddhists that prompts the positive, kindles the constructive, highlights the hopeful and leaves you feeling - well, up!
Published on Saturday, 24 January 2009 19:00 | | 
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Customers and shopkeepers in India's capital will soon face jail sentence or stiff fine for using polythene bags writes Julia Stephenson
Fed up with the devastating effects of plastic refuse in their city, Delhi is in the process of banning plastic bags. Meanwhile other countries and cities as diverse as Rwanda, Zanzibar, Los Melbourne, China, Israel and Los Angeles have already banned plastic bags - or are in the process of charging for them, with a view to eventually banning them for good.
Published on Saturday, 17 January 2009 19:00 | | |
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The news that the Government has given the go-ahead for a third runway at Heathrow is disastrous news for many, writes Julia Stephenson, particularly for those who live in the village of Sipson who must now come to terms with the forced bulldozing of their homes.
Even flat-earthers who believe that global warming is not man-made cannot disregard the horror of thousands of people being subjected to increased levels of pollution, noise and brutal eviction from their homes.
But even though many of us feel outrage at the Government’s decision, how many of us are actually prepared to stop flying to protect the biosphere and our quality of life? It’s altruistic to stop but it throws up dilemmas. What do you do, for example, if a close relative decides to get married in an exotic far flung destination and will be offended if you refuse to attend? Flying to these increasingly extravagant nuptials incurs what George Monbiot calls `love miles. `It is both immoral to travel there’, he writes, `because of climate change, and immoral not to, because of the offence it causes’. In other words you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t…
Published on Saturday, 10 January 2009 19:00 | | |
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Dr Alan Bittner, a leading Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon, has been running his car using body fat from his patients. Bittner uses the fat removed during liposuction procedures to power his 4x4. So, piling on the pounds this Christmas could be beneficial after all, writes Julia Stephenson.
Lawsuits against Dr. Craig Alan Bittner uncovered the claims that he was turning the medical waste into biodiesel to power his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator. Although there's no mention of how Bittner did it, the triglycerides in the different types of fat, including human, can be turned into diesel fuel.
Published on Saturday, 03 January 2009 19:00 | | |
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My New Year’s resolutions are to learn German, install solar panels and give up scented candles but Johann Hari has been far more altruistic and determined to give up drinking bottled water and Coca-Cola, writes Julia Stephenson
He insists that bottled water manufacturers have brainwashed us into buying the stuff that comes out of our taps for free and blasts bottled Fiji water, which despite being advertised `as coming from one of the last pristine ecosystems on earth’ helps destroy the very environment it comes from, while ironically a third of Fijians have no access to clean water themselves. As for the Coca-Cola…the company is responsible for horrific human rights and environmental abuses around the world. There’s never been a better time to install water filter at home...
Published on Saturday, 27 December 2008 19:00 | | |
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Gordon Brown and Boris Johnson believe it is our patriotic duty to splurge at the shops to keep the economy afloat, writes Julia Stephenson
The Prime Minister has slashed VAT to keep the tills ringing while London’s Mayor has just written an article berating himself for giving chutney to his nearest and dearest when he should have gone to the shops to boost the economy.
Published on Saturday, 20 December 2008 11:14 | | |
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Three cheers for the Archbishop of Canterbury! How refreshing to have a public figure who speaks from the heart and is mercifully unswayed by the need to be popular or win votes, writes Julia Stephenson.
In response to the government's risky plan to borrow hundreds of billions of pounds in order to fund a "fiscal stimulus" package of tax cuts including a reduction in VAT meant to encourage people to spend more, the Archbishop told Radio 4's Today programme he was concerned the right lessons had not been learned from the bursting of Britain's credit bubble.
He said: "I worry about that because it seems a little bit like the addict returning to the drug."
Published on Friday, 05 December 2008 15:09 | | |
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Good news for those of us who have already begun preparing for the festive season – uncorking a bottle of wine revives the spirits while protecting some of the world’s rarest forests.
Ancient trees that provide 15 billion corks a year and are home to some of the world’s rarest creatures including black storks and the Iberian lynx, could soon be destroyed by a single enemy – the metal screw-top cap. Sometimes the simplest choices we make in our everyday lives can have a huge impact on the natural world.
And be honest, how can a scrawny screw-top cap ever match the soft pop of real cork?