so much for the solar

The city of Boston is going green. Well, greenish.

After putting in extra-large curbside trash cans with solar-powered trash compactors, the city added solar-powered parking meters. No more do you have to dig around under your seat for quarters. These machines take those dreaded dollar coins - you know, the bulky gold coins that roll out of the Charlie Card machine en masse after you buy one ride on the T with a $20. If you've only nickels and dimes to spare, too bad. It's a solar-powered parking meter, not a CoinStar machine or a wishing well. But these meters do take plastic.

And it seems by green, the city is more focused on getting the green than going green. Gone are the days of getting some free time from the previous parker - each of these meters serves half a block's worth of cars. Instead of the meters displaying the time remaining for each corresponding parking spot, these babies spit out a sticky note with the expiration time printed on it. Yep, a "green" machine that uses hundreds of sticky notes a day. Sticky notes that inevitably end up in the trash. Well, maybe if people are nice they go from car window to secret communal stash of extra meter time to different car window to solar-powered trash can. But it's still a bunch of rubbish in the end.

FURTHER THOUGHTS (21 NOV 2006 | 11:30 PM): Nevermind about the plastic. The Boston Globe reported today that you can't use credit for the meters in any increment of 15 minutes (or 25 cents) - you can only use credit to pay for two full hours (that's $2). But there's hope yet. The news hook was that mandatory minimum payments actually violate the terms of several credit card companies.

which way the wind blows

While most of the sensible world agrees global warming = bad, Lonely Planet (the travel guidebook company) surprised me with its take on the subject matter. From the Iceland book:

There's an old saying: "If you don't like the weather now, wait five minutes - it will probably get worse."

But don't be put off. In recent years, Iceland has benefited from global climate changes, and summers have been relatively pleasant - the summer of 2003 was the warmest on record, and the previous winter was so mild that the ski season was a disaster.

And that's a benefit? Yes, when it gets so warm the gulf stream changes and Iceland is more like its name implies (whatever's still above sea level, anyway), that'll be just wonderful.

Then again, the book later blames a recent recession on fishing quotas, but it apparently didn't occur to the writers that had the overfishing (which is mentioned) continued, there would be no fishing industry left.

Capitalism, of course, isn't concerned with sustainability, and people tend to forget that both supply and demand are, in fact, finite. And I guess I momentarily forgot how Lonely Planet is a corporation trying to survive in a world run by capitalists, despite my perceptions that the company's writers were more in tune with those of ecotourists and travelers who vow to leave no trace behind.

just deserts

Some corporate whores finally might get what's coming.

I'm not holding my breath, of course, but the case is being handled outside the United States, so it stands more a chance than the usual comical theatrics of "charging" U.S. corporations for their crimes.

The Associated Press reported today that U.S. mining company Newmont Mining Corp. admitted that it released tons of mercury in Indonesia. That's 17 tons of mercury into the air and 16 tons into the water over a period of five years.

Internal reports obtained by the New York Times indicated that the company didn't abide by public claims that it was adhering to U.S. environmental standards. But the company still denies that its toxic dumping had any effect on the health of the people.

Five corporate whores face trial next month in Indonesia for the pollution - an American, an Australian and three Indonesians. A guilty charge carries up to 15 years in jail.

Meanwhile, villagers filed a $543 million lawsuit against the company. I hope they get their money, but money really is no compensation for the destruction of their health and their land.

It's interesting, too, because recently there has been coverage of a study on herbal remedies imported from South Asia (full study published in JAMA). The study found toxic levels of lead and mercury in the medicines. I wonder what this Indonesian village does to survive in the international capitalist market. It really wouldn't be surprising at all if traditional medicines were becoming toxic because of the polluting U.S. corporations that moved in next door...