Mi Bodeguita del Medio

While my blog is named after a restaurant in Havana I hope to someday visit, here you will find musings, rants, political incorrectness, thoughts on Indian Nationalism, and some straight-forward opinions.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Shocker!!!

I recycle. Everyday. I carry four trash bags everytime I take the trash out, like hundreds of thousands of people in Spain. The glass into a seperate container, the metal, plastic, tetrabricks, aluminium into another, paper and carton into another and finally organic and other non-recyclable waste into a fourth bin. Needless to say, those of us who recycle are trying to do what we can to put in our little grain of sand towards the betterment of our mother, our planet.

But when the result is this (read article below), I am left completely flabbergasted and wondering where the waste I generate goes? Does it go to another country? Do little children in a far away land play around stinking heaps of my garbage?

Then it brings me to the larger picture. Is recycling really good? Should I re-think about continuing to recycle? How am I assured that my garbage in Spain is not exported to India, Brazil or Cambodia? Is it fair for one country to go "green" at the expense of another? At the end of the day, the garbage still remains on the planet. Things to ponder over...

What remains clear is that the Government of India has proved its incompetence once again, the Govt of Tamil Nadu too; along with the companies involved in this dirty and careless activity, who are importing what is surely toxic waste with complete disregard for any kind of moral or social responsibility. How does the Govt of Britain justify this?

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LONDON/NEW DELHI: Garbage is literally flying and hitting the roof thousands of kilometres away. A TV report about household waste collected weekly across Britain for recycling being shipped and dumped in India has the green brigade up in arms.

As part of Britain's efforts to go green and improve the environment, UK councils ask households to carefully separate waste into different categories: plastics, metal, paper and glass so that they can be recycled.

But, according to an investigation by a British TV channel, these bags are shipped to India on the waste black market, which is cheaper. It costs up to £148 (Rs 12,000) to recycle a tonne of rubbish once it is separated but only £40 (Rs 2,800) to ship it to India.

The investigation found that a receipt put into a paper recycling bin in Essex turned up at the top of a stinking rubbish mound in Tamil Nadu. It was traced to Walton-on-the-Naze home of Geoff Moore. His receipt for CDs was found by investigators at a sprawling rubbish heap in Tamil Nadu. They also found juice cartons, British newspapers, Walkers crisp packets, UK school reports and plastic bags.

Read the rest of the article here.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Quote of the Day - so true!

"You know, you can … wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it’s still going to stink after eight years."

---Sen. Barack Obama (responding to "phony outrage" over lipstick on a pig comment in the race up to the US presidential elections 2008)

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Best Animation of Our Times

Came across this list of the top 50 Animations ever.
1. The Simpsons
2. Batman: The Animated Series
3. Cowboy Bebop
4. The Family Guy
5. G.I. Joe
6. South Park
7. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
8. Berserk
9. Justice League
10. Trigun
11. Tenchi
12. Transformers
13. Record of Lodoss War
14. X-Men: The Animated Series
15. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
16. Teen Titans
17. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
18. Looney Toons
19. Tweety and Friends
20. Thundercats
21. Garfield and Friends
22. Aeon Flux
23. Dinosaucers
24. Duck Tales
25. The Real Ghostbusters
26. Go-Bots
27. Heathcliff
28. C.O.P.S.
29. Captain N: Game Master
30. Inspector Gadget
31. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
32. Daria
33. Captain Planet
34. Dragonball Z
35. King of the Hill
36. Neon Genesis Evangelion
37. The Super Mario Brothers Super Show
38. Voltron
39. Robocop
40. Dino-Riders
41. Super Friends
42. Beavis and Butthead
43. Gummi Bears
44. The Flinstones
45. Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers
46. Exosquad
47. The Incredible Hulk
48. The Jetsons
49. M.A.S.K.
50. Richie Rich

Good ole Voltron is at number 38, cartoon series I used to watch dubbed in arabic as a kid. Other shows I remember watching as a child are Super Mario Bros, also in the list, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Incredible Hulk, Daria...But Captain Majid, Tom and Jerry, and Pink Panther are nowhere to be seen!