Here I am, Chicago Illinois, first time ever in USA soil. Things are getting pretty interesting, right now I'm on a Starbucks, there's a free hot spot and thanks to that I can live blog. I hold my tea paper cup and it says:

Starbucks is committed to reducing our environmental impact through increased use of post-consumer recycled materials. Help us help the planet.

Funny how this could have been a perfect starting point for last year's topic: the environment. I wonder if that really helps the environment. Of course the use of post-consumer recycled materials has been proved to cause less environmental impact than brand new materials. But is that really the point? What's the real cost of a product? It turns out that poverty and environment are really interconnected topics, the more you exploit "poor countries" resources the more you damage the environment. It's all connected, and it's all part of the same game, the game of economic growth. We live in rich countries, we have wealth, hospitals, bridges, advanced technology, corporate merchandises, cars and iPods. We are rich, indeed. According to the World Bank 1.4 billion people, or one quarter of the population of the developing world, lived below our international line of $1.25 a day in 2005. $1.25. That's very poor. I can't even buy my Starbucks tea with that.

As I did a year ago for 2007, this blog will participate to the Blog Action Day 2008.

In 2008, the Blog Action Day theme is Poverty. Bloggers are free to interpret this as they see fit. We invite bloggers to examine poverty from their own blog topics and perspectives, to look at it from the macro and micro, as a global condition and a local issue, and to bring their own ideas, views and opinions on the subject.

Today is the Blog Action Day. People are talking and doing something, so here I am, I stand before you to talk about an issue that has been of great concern to me: Zero Waste.

Since it's difficult to be exhaustive in a mere blog post I will focus on a single issue that embraces lots of others.

The Zero Waste Alliance is a non-profit partnership of universities, government, business and other organizations working to develop, promote and apply Zero Waste strategies.

Our Mission is to support organizations in the creation of a more sustainable future.

Our Objective is to provide improved profitability, competitiveness and environmental performance through the development and implementation of practices that lead to the reduction and elimination of waste and toxics.

"Zero Waste cuts costs, improves competitiveness and improves environmental performance."

The point is that a society should not have waste. If it's not reusable, recyclable or you cannot compost it, you should not produce it. Period. More information is about to come, I'm in a bit of a hurry right now, I just want to keep my promise and give my contribution. Here it goes. Print them out, spread the word. Recycle. ^_^

I have been waiting for something like this for a long time.

Blog Action Day

I even thought of organising something similar, but I've seen too many good ideas gone rotten, because they needed time and preparation to do them well, and this is done extremely well.

This is the idea:

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

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