Single-use plastic bags, a staple of American life, have got to go, the United Nations' top environmental official said Monday.
Although recycling bags is on the rise in the United States, an estimated 90 billion thin bags a year, most used to handle produce and groceries, go unrecycled. They were the second most common form of litter after cigarette butts at the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup Day sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy, a marine environmental group.
"Single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme. His office advises U.N. member states on environmental policies.
The reactions here in the United States to the Lebanese elections yesterday are generally of surprised relief. The Hezbollah-led alliance that many feared would come out on top had a disappointing showing, and the "March 14" coalition led by Saad Hariri, the former prime minister's son, had a very good day.
The Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post speculate that the Western-friendly results may owe something to Obama's big speech in Cairo last week. Blake Hounshell, Tim Fernholz, and Andrew Exum are skeptical, and I agree; while the U.S. is likely counting its lucky stars, it seems hubristic to assume that one speech by a foreign politician, a few days before the election, would sway Lebanese swing voters away from Hezbollah.
The elections were a matter of internal politics, and the most relevant dynamic was likely Lebanese dissatisfaction with Hezbollah. (Though, indeed, Hezbollah does seem more comfortable, and possibly more formidable, as an opposition party.) I don't think Obama's speech was directed toward Lebanese voters, and this is a good thing; with the Iranian elections in just a few days, the U.S. would do well to continue this policy of not meddling, even rhetorically, in elections they cannot control. Whatever happens, the results are likely to prove, if anything, just as unpredictable.
(image from flickr user Sana Tawileh under a Creative Commons license)
After reading today's Henry Kissinger op-ed in The Washington Post (he does seem to have those rather frequently, does he not?) on North Korea, I seemed to recall another one on the same subject from a couple months ago. Then, he seemed to be urging the Obama Administration to refrain from restarting the six-party talks just yet. A nuclear test and a couple more missile launches later, you'd expect him to sound the same skepticism, his much-ballyhooed talk of "no preconditions" notwithstanding. But, um...I count six here.
A long-term solution to the Korean nuclear problem cannot be achieved by America alone. Nor is it sustainable without the key players of Northeast Asia; that means China, South Korea, the United States and Japan, with an important role for Russia, as well. A wise diplomacy will move urgently to assemble the incentives and pressures to bring about the elimination of nuclear weapons and stockpiles from North Korea. It is not enough to demand unstated pressures from other affected countries, especially China. A concept for the political evolution of Northeast Asia is urgently needed.
I tried not to think that this was the same guy who attempted to engineer the "political evolution" of Southeast Asia 35 years ago. And while the op-ed is strangely wispy in its policy recommendations, full of broad hypotheticals and conditionals, the concluding note is certainly in the right tune:
There could scarcely be an issue more suited to cooperation among the Great Powers than nonproliferation, especially with regard to North Korea, a regime that is run by fanatics; located on the borders of China, Russia and South Korea; and within missile range of Japan. Still, the major countries have been unable to galvanize themselves into action. [emphasis mine]
"Action," of course, is difficult, particularly with such a confounding regional situation, an enigmatic and intransigent regime, and two unjustly imprisoned American journalists, to boot. Kissinger doesn't seem able to acknowledge that we can't go back in time to prevent North Korea from reaching the nuclear stage it is at right now; nonproliferation, even the preferred multilateral kind that Kissinger rightly supports, must proceed from existing realities. Only then can we work on changing them.
Clever, though, as Advertising Peanuts points out, it's not as clever during the day. Eskom is the government-controlled electricity provider in South Africa, where this message hits home.
Europe took to the polls this weekend to elect over 700 Members of European Parliament (MEPs) from across European Union member states. The big headlines here across the pond are that 1) the British Labour Party got absolutely trounced and 2) the right wing, anti-European party of Dutch Politician Geert Wilders made big inroads.
But that is not all the story. A sufficient number of Dutch people (in their wisdom) decided to vote for the centrist, pro-European D-66 party to give D-66 three seats in Brussels. This means that my friend, Marietje Schaake, will become an MEP.
Marietje, 30, is one of Europe's brightest and most promising young leaders. Her election is great news not only for Marietje and her supporters, but for those of us around the world who are firm believers in human rights and minority rights.
She will also bring with her to Brussels impeccable transatlantic credentials.
As previewed before the weekend, today is the first official World Oceans Day. And as I stressed before, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to push for U.S. ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty. He doesn't call out Washington, but the S-G would certainly agree.
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, and is the basis for international cooperation on all levels," UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.
...
"The world must do more to implement this Convention and uphold the rule of law on the seas and oceans," he stressed. [emphasis mine]