Good Monday morning.
We’re going on a very big trip in a few weeks. (Remind me to remind you of this, as there will be a lag in Rise and Shine posts. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but even the most dedicated cyberwriter needs a rest every now and again, and it has been almost five years since I’ve taken a real, unplug-from-the-world and recharge vacation).
Anyway, in preparation for this trip, I’ve been ordering some gear. Online shopping is alway something of a crapshoot, especially when you need things of a rather technical nature. I usually go and look at things in person and then see if I can find a better price elsewhere.
I’m sorry for the brick-and-mortar local stores who probably find this annoying – even offensive – but we’re talking about the difference between dropping $800 compared to $500 or less on a ultra lightweight sleeping bag, for example, I’m going to err on the side of the latter every time.
A lot of stuff has been showing up on my doorstep, which is fun in one sense – it’s like Christmas on the regular! But not at all fun when it comes to the amount of waste I’m generating. Why on earth does a sleeping bag that weighs literally several ounces need to come in an enormous box, brown paper wrapping, AND a plastic bag?
According to the EPA, containers and packaging make up a big chunk of our nation’s municipal solid waste – 82.2 million tons of in 2018 alone, which was about 28.1 percent of total generation. (It look like that number has ballooned to about 30 percent in recent years).
The good news is that some of this packaging – especially cardboard boxes – are among the most frequently recycled products, but even with this arguably well-intentioned effort, landfills are still receiving many millions of tons of packaging every year.
However, of the 34.5 million tons of plastic waste generated annually, only 9 percent is recycled, and most of that is shipped to other countries for processing, which further increases its already considerable carbon footprint.
China, however, which was once the primary recipient of American recycling waste, banned waste imports in 2018, which has left the U.S. in something of a pickle when it comes to managing the voluminous amounts of garbage it creates – 26.8 million tons of plastic (just plastic, mind you) was sent to landfills in 2017 alone.
The amount of plastic waste produced JUST by the online retailer Amazon alone soared during the pandemic, when everyone was ordering things to be delivered AND plastic bans were delayed or rolled back due to concerns about virus spread (turns out that was misplaced, as hard surfaces weren’t, in fact, the primary culprit).
And then there’s the question of food waste – not, in this case, uneaten and/or past its “due” date or otherwise unsightly food that we throw away – but rather the ridiculous amount of packaging that is largely used to extend the shelf life of what we purchase commercially.
There is plenty you can do as a consumer to reduce your waste at the front end (at the back end, composting is amazing, though I have to admit to being more than a little daunted about the whole undertaking).
One idea would be to patronize one of the zero-waste grocers that are popping up across the U.S. But if you don’t happen to live near one of those, bringing your own bags to the supermarket is a good start, as it forgoing the supermarket altogether and going right to the farm stand or farmers market – again, armed with your own bags.
Retailers, FWIW, are getting on board, finally realizing that consumers actually want more sustainable packaging, even if they’re not prepared to see it eliminated altogether.
Why am I on by cyber soapbox about this particular topic today? Well, it’s apparently Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day. I don’t know if this is a real thing, and I can’t for the life of me figure out who started it or when, though it appears to have been around for at least a few years now.
Even if this is a completely made-up thing, it seemed worthwhile for a Monday.
After a perfectly glorious Sunday, today will be a good day to get back to the grind – rainy, with temperatures in the rather chilly mid-70s. A good day for being indoors. There might be a thunderstorm or two in the afternoon. Be on the alert.
In the headlines…
A new lawsuit aiming to strike down President Joe Biden’s most recent efforts to reduce $39 billion in student loans student loan debt for more than 800,000 borrowers was filed on Friday.
In the lawsuit filed in Michigan, two conservative groups argue that the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July, just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down a broader cancellation plan pushed by the president.
The suit, filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance on behalf of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Cato Institute, asks a judge to rule the cancellation illegal and stop the Education Department from carrying it out while the case is decided.
MAGA Inc., the super PAC allied with former President Donald Trump’s campaign, is going up with is up with its first ad directly hitting President Biden in an attempt to connect him to Hunter Biden’s scrutinized business dealings.
A lack of grassroots fundraising engagement is a warning sign for Biden ahead of a tough election cycle, raising questions about whether the 80-year-old incumbent is exciting the Democratic base the way he will need to win a second term
Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips says he has not made a decision about running for president next year, but he’s encouraging other Democrats to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination.
“I have not decided yet,” Phillips said of a potential 2024 bid, which would likely mark an uphill battle given Phillips’ relative lack of recognition on the national stage and Biden’s institutional support among Democrats.
“Democrats are telling me that they want, not a coronation, but they want a competition,” Phillips said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday. “If we don’t heed that call, shame on us.”
The presidential bid by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has tested the bonds of an iconic Democratic clan that does not want him to run and does not know what to do about it.
Kennedy said his primary challenge to Biden will not evolve into a third-party bid for the presidency. “I’m running as a Democrat,” he said. “I won’t run independent.”
Once a rising star as a senator in California, Kamala Harris has for years been saddled by criticism of her performance as vice president. She’s trying to silence those concerns and reclaim the momentum that propelled her to the White House in 2020.
“Dark Brandon” — an online meme that portrays the 80-year-old president as a two-steps-ahead Machiavelli — is driving the Biden campaign’s merchandise sales.
Appearing on five television networks yesterday morning, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump argued that his actions in the effort to overturn the 2020 election fell short of crimes and were merely “aspirational.”
If Trump committed a “technical violation of the Constitution,” it doesn’t mean he necessarily broke any criminal laws, John Lauro, Trump’s criminal defense attorney, argued on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Trump will ask for the federal judge overseeing the case involving his attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election to recuse herself and will seek a venue change, he wrote in a post on social media.
The federal prosecutors overseeing Trump’s indictment on charges of seeking to overturn the 2020 election asked a judge to impose a protective order over the discovery evidence in the case, citing a threatening message that Trump posted on social media.
Ex-Attorney General Bill Barr said he’d be willing to testify in the latest criminal case against his onetime boss — calling the 2020 election interference indictment against Trump “legitimate.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer helped deliver billions of dollars in federal funding for semiconductors. Now he’s pushing for his state – New York – to reap benefits.
State Education Department officials will meet with New York City leaders next week to review which school districts are best equipped to enroll migrant students seeking asylum in the state.
A Manhattan judge who oversees New York’s decades-old right-to-shelter mandate said in court Friday that Hochul must to do more to help alleviate the city’s spiraling migrant crisis, according to an attorney who attended the closed-door proceeding.
Justice Erika Edwards ordered the Adams administration to file a wish list of items and funding it would like to receive from state authorities by Wednesday and set an August 15 deadline for the governor’s office to respond.
The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services on Friday released a 49-page report breaking down the state’s response to December’s blizzard in Buffalo where 47 people died.
According to a new report out by the state comptroller, all four of New York’s current casinos fell short of the projected gross revenue on which local taxes are levied.
Gov. Kathy Hochul says she’s been working with leaders of the state Legislature to include more money in next year’s budget to deal with the migrant crisis.
On a warm July evening, as Mayor Eric Adams visited Staten Island to highlight his work on public safety at a town-hall meeting, a cross section of some of New York City’s progressive class was nearby, plotting how to make the mayor’s first term his last.
Cristina Gonzalez, a political organizer, and Janos Marton, an organizer and attorney were the hosts. Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso was the guest of honor, though it appears he’s not likely to run.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office is prosecuting two criminal cases that come uncomfortably close to Adams, bringing unwanted attention to the administration and raising questions about the mayor’s relationships with the accused.
From Belgium to the Bahamas, Adams has raised the flags of at least 31 countries since taking office, a civic gesture with political benefits.
The castle-owning proprietor of a financially struggling 115-room Quality Inn in Massena, St. Lawrence County near the Canadian border, is begging Adams to send him migrants.
The opening of a new respite site for recently arrived migrants at the Sunset Park Recreation Center drew mixed reactions from local residents – some of them first generation immigrants.
An estimated crowd of at least 300 local residents demonstrated outside the popular facility as they prepare a petition to present to Adams and city officials.
Dozens of adult migrants who had been previously housed in Queens settled in at the newly opened makeshift shelter at McCarren Park on the border of hipster Brooklyn neighborhoods Williamsburg and Greenpoint Saturday.
The Adams administration is sending a clear message about those who have concerns about the migrant crisis: Officials seeking to express their criticisms or concerns to the mayor should first take a hard look at their own track records on the issue.
The NYT’s Mara Gay writes: “(T)here is something particularly disappointing about New York City’s official response to the asylum seekers, unfolding under the gaze of the Statue of Liberty in the harbor.”
Former Gov. David Paterson warned that New York City could revert to the crime- and debt-riddled days of the 1970s if government doesn’t ease up on developers — adding the Big Apple’s migrant crisis is at its “tipping point,” too.
Moms and dads bear the blame for the shocking riot that rocked Union Square Park more than the social media influencer who sparked the chaotic incident that left seven hurt and 66 people arrested, according to Adams.
Adams suggested that the riot involving thousands of young people that unfolded in Manhattan’s Union Square could have been driven by “outside agitators.”
Cops are trying to identify the baby-faced teens caught on wild video trashing an NYPD car in Union Square on Friday when Twitch star Kai Cenat’s unlicensed PS5 giveaway erupted in rioting.
Internet influencer Cenat was freed from police custody early Saturday after he was charged with misdemeanors for sparking a riot in Union Square on Friday that drew thousands of people and resulted in dozens of arrests and injuries.
The public relations company whose giveaway event with a social media influencer sparked a riot in Union Square has apologized.
At least four high-ranking New York Police Department officials, all with decades of experience, have been told to retire immediately, according to a senior official and a retired official with knowledge of the decision.
The NYPD has spent tens of thousands of dollars on top-of-the-line tactical drones so far this year — and is exploring using the new technology to help cops answer 911 calls in the future.
The City Council is blocking one of its own from serving as a Board of Elections commissioner amid a bitter dispute among Staten Island Democrats.
Brooklyn Councilman Lincoln Restler is pushing new legislation that would require Mr. Softee and other Big Apple ice cream trucks to stop powering their soft-serve machines and freezers with generators that use fuel.
A pair of City Council members are pushing to abolish the public advocate office because they feel it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.
New York City officials cracked down on Corona Plaza, a celebrated Queens hub for Latin American street vendors. Its merchants are fighting to legitimize their businesses.
In New York, many privately owned public spaces are out of compliance with the agreements developers made to maintain them and keep them open.
Hundreds of mourners gathered on Friday at the Brooklyn gas station where O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old dancer and choreographer, was fatally stabbed last weekend after a dispute over his vogueing in its parking lot.
A 17-year-old has been charged with murder in the killing of Sibley, who was stabbed to death on July 29 after a dispute over his dancing at a Brooklyn gas station.
MTA toll hikes that were approved last month officially went into effect yesterday. Tolls for MTA bridges and tunnels increased by 6% for motorists with E-ZPass and 10% for tolls by mail.
A skull that was found in 2011 near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach has been identified as a troubled 34-year-old woman who went missing in 1996 and whose family had little contact with her before she disappeared, according to the authorities and relatives.
The College of Saint Rose is selling eight buildings in and around the Pine Hills neighborhood as the struggling college works to ensure its long-term viability.
A group of apparent members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group gathered briefly on Broadway in Saratoga Springs Saturday afternoon.
All Amtrak service from Buffalo to Albany halted yesterday as lines connecting travelers from west of Albany to New York City were canceled after a Friday freight train derailment near the border of Schenectady and Montgomery counties that damaged the lines.
The Adirondack Land Trust preserved one of the most magnificent views of the High Peaks last week, buying 187 acres off Adirondack Loj Road and Route 73 just outside of Lake Placid.
Dr. Marcus Martinez, a revered family practitioner who had helped lead efforts to expose the toxic pollution of his small community’s water supplies, died last Thursday following a nine-year battle with a rare form of cancer.
Megan Rapinoe, who announced she would be retiring from the sport following the conclusion of the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) season in October, came on as a late substitute against Sweden but missed her penalty in the shootout.
“It’s just like a sick joke to miss a penalty,” Rapinoe said after the United States was eliminated, 5-4, on penalty kicks after a scoreless tie with Sweden yesterday in the round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup in Melbourne, Australia.
The US has set the highest of expectations for itself with its long dominance of women’s soccer, but completing a historic, unprecedented three-peat was always going to be difficult.
“Barbie,” directed by Greta Gerwig from a script she wrote with her partner, Noah Baumbach, will finish the weekend with more than $1 billion in global ticket sales, Warner Bros. said. No movie in the studio’s 100-year history has sold so many tickets so fast.
