From what little I’ve read, and I’m far from an expert on these things, serviceable biodegradable packaging is not currently a viable option for many reasons, mostly economic. I hope I get a chance to spend some time to find out about this and write more about it. Here’s something I found from Smithsonian.com: Corn Plastic To The Rescue. It is only one possible solution.

“First of all, Brian, thank you so much for addressing these critical issues.

My husband and would like to buy our first home, after renting for a very long time and waiting out the housing bubble. However, it seems that despite the hysteria surrounding the falling housing market, prices around the New York area haven’t come down much, or at least enough. I expect the decline in prices to continue, as people come to terms with the loss of high paying jobs and re-adjusting mortgage rates. So we’re still waiting it out.

Everyone seems to forget that even current prices reflect the housing bubble – which means homes throughout the country should never have been priced as high as they were in the first place. I think banks who own property are not doing everything they can to price their homes fairly – they still want to make as much money on them as they would have during the real estate bubble.

I guess the advantage of being raised by parents who went through the Depression is that we were able to make peace with renting a small apartment, even as we watched wistfully as all our friends bought homes.

I think its time for those who can no longer afford their homes to switch places with us. Pay cheap rent, get back on your feet, and save up to buy a home again. Meanwhile, give those who have been more responsible with their money a chance at owning a home they can really afford. Banks need to sell these homes are fire sale prices so that people can finally afford them, and they need to get past their insatiable greed, which was a major cause of this economic crisis. By lowering prices on the homes they own, banks can build solid assets again, which they (not to mention the rest of the world)  need desperately.

It would be great if the government could set up something with banks directly to facilitate this. And forget the middlemen (real estate and mortgage brokers) – they’ve lived high on the hog for too long, and perpetuated the real estate bubble as well as greed and irresponsibility. Great care should be taken to ascertain that these homes would go to single home buyers, not speculators.

I would love to hear more shows that address these issues and if there are indeed programs being set up between governments and banks, to let us know about them. So far all the efforts seem to be bailing out homeowners who made irresponsible choices rather than helping first time home buyers, who could contribute real stability to the economy.”

It’s interesting to me that these sentiments are clearly showing up in financial publications from India. Perhaps they’re sufficiently removed from the financial cess-pool that has become the US financial system to speak objectively and not be intimidated by cronyism.  The Economist, notably a UK publication and therefore likewise removed from potential cronyism, published a thought provoking article on the way bankers are currently paid and what can be done to prevent the head honchos from walking away with short-term gains without any repercussions from the future fallout of their decisions. The Financial Times, a highly regarded international publication, published a similar article by Raghuram Rajan (again, Indian – interesting) on how the way bankers currently earn their money is deeply flawed.

I found the articles that I refer to in this entry by doing a Google search to include the words “financial” and “crisis” in addition to the exact phrase “make them pay”. I find it absolutely fascinating that by far, the most probing, genuine opinions on this topic are from non-US publications. This makes Ann Woolner my hero. I say we get to work on this right away.

Seismic testing off of the world’s coastlines, conducted to find new sources of oil, creates underwater noise levels similar to that of military SONAR (approximately 230 – 260 decibels) and causes serious harm to aquatic mammals that rely on highly sensitive echolocation. To a whale or dolphin, these sound waves are comparable to what we would hear if an ambulance siren was right up against our ear. These sounds are extremely painful to them, and can cause disorientation, interruption of normal behavior such as feeding or mating, and brain hemorrhaging. You can read much more about the science behind how whales and dolphins are affected by sonar and seismic testing in Greenpeace’s special report.

A recent editorial in the New York Times (“Of Whales and National Security”) outlined the policy considerations posed by these very serious dilemmas, which are now being debated in the nation’s highest court. Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council (http://www.savebiogems.org), and other environmental and wildlife organizations have all mounted rigorous legal campaigns against unregulated seismic testing, as well as the Navy’s efforts to conduct military drills with mid-range SONAR off our nation’s coastlines (http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/campaigns/oceans/save-marine-life-from-deadly-sonar.html).

In response to the rude awakening I experienced when I opened that email from Greenpeace, I searched the ExxonMobil website for a public relations contact phone number, to no avail. The only way I was able to contact them was by sending an email through an online form (no email addresses were provided, let alone names of contact people). This is what I wrote to them:

“This is a plea. I just saw a very heartening commercial on TV that espoused Exxon’s commitment to developing new technologies that will reduce global warming. I then opened an email from Greenpeace showing a dead beached whale, with news of a pod of rare melon-head whales that beached themselves due to seismic testing conducted by Exxon off the coast of Madagascar. I was absolutely devastated by this.

I searched the ExxonMobil website for a public relations contact phone number, to no avail, which is why I’m settling for emailing you. All I ask is that you keep the promise you stated in your commercial, to protect the environment to the best of your ability. I am aware that by addressing issues of climate change, you are faced with your greatest and most difficult challenges ever. However, I know you have the resources to accomplish your goals. Please, spare the suffering of innocent creatures and the impact on our children’s future by committing yourselves to the much more difficult task of developing alternative, safe fuel sources, rather than drill for oil at any cost. Thank you so much.”

I never got a reply from them. I can only hope that someone at the company was listening.