Sunday, July 19, 2015

Editorial: Time to tax the plastic bag

Editorial: Time to tax the plastic bag
July 14 2015
Stuff NZ

Plastic shopping bags help ruin the environment
FAIRFAX
Plastic shopping bags help ruin the environment

http://easss.com

OPINION: The war on plastic bags is now a global struggle, and New Zealand should join it.

This week a proposal for a compulsory levy on plastic shopping bags will be debated at the Local Government New Zealand conference. In fact, the time for debate is over. Now we need action.

Plastic bag levies, or even outright bans, are now common throughout the world, because bags are an environmental menace. They break down slowly and so they continue to blight the landscape and kill sea life and animals for many years.  

It has been estimated that the world uses about a trillion single-use plastic bags each year. Millions end up in the ocean where they kill sea life and birds, including endangered species. Cattle deaths from swallowing bags are a problem from Texas to India to Africa. The bags clog drains and cause floods. Light plastic bags can blow for hundreds of kilometres and blight the rural landscape.

Taxes on plastic bags have proved surprisingly effective, as is shown by a major 2014 report for the American Earth Policy Institute.  Denmark brought in its levy more than 20 years ago, and within a year usage had dropped 60 per cent. Ireland's 2002 levy is  one of the most celebrated: it reduced the average use from 328 bags per consumer, the Institute reported, to 21. .

Plastic manufacturers, of course, say fewer bags will mean fewer jobs. But the days are gone when environmentally destructive industries can succeed with these kinds of arguments. If everyone stopped smoking many tobacco workers would be out of work. That is no argument for stopping the war against big tobacco.

The industry also argue that bans and levies don't always work.  But usually this is because they have not been properly enforced. The Earth Institute found India's poor results were due to lack of enforcement and pressure from the plastics industry.

Just why does a small levy, of perhaps five or 10 cents a bag, typically have such a big effect on behaviour? A study by Argentinian researchers in 2012 found that one group of shoppers disliked the new levy but started using their own bags because of the cost. But another group of shoppers supported the charge for environmental reasons. The new charge forced customers to think again about their behaviour. It was a nudge to change their usual habits.

The plastic bag advocates have one surprising argument: using your own bags repeatedly can kill you. A 2012 study by George Mason University found that the switch to reusable bags was killing about five people a year in San Francisco, because their bags were left unclean and grew germs. Keeping meat and vegetables in the same bag is part of the problem. And leaving bags for long periods in the car boot provides a hothouse for bacteria.

The answer, of course, is to clean your shopping bags. There is a similarly short reply to those who say the levies are regressive, bearing more heavily on the poor. Low-income shoppers, like the rich, should switch to reusable bags.

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Local Government New Zealand should back the notion of plastic bag levies, and then push the Government for action.

 - Stuff

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

說話的藝術,『脾氣不好』的人推薦您好好讀讀

說話的藝術,『脾氣不好』的人推薦您好好讀讀

脾氣不好的人請好好讀這篇文...感覺好了就轉給其他人吧!

人憤怒的那一個瞬間,智商是零,過一分鐘后恢復正常。人的優雅關鍵在於控制自己情緒,用嘴傷害人,是最愚蠢的一種行為。我們的不自由,通常是因為來自內心的不良情緒左右了我們。一個能控制住不良情緒的人,比一個能拿下一座城的人更強大。水深則流緩,語遲則人貴。 我們花了兩年時間學說話,卻要花數十年時間學會閉嘴。可見:說,是一種能力; 不說,是一種智慧。

http://easss.com/malls/bonanza

《說話的藝術 》

1.急事,慢慢地說。
遇到急事,如果能沉下心思考,然後不急不躁地 把事情說清楚,會給聽者留下穩重、不衝動的印象, 從而增加他人對你的信任度。

2.小事,幽默地說。
尤其是一些善意的提醒,用句玩笑話講出來,就 不會讓聽者感覺生硬,他們不但會欣然接受你的提 醒,還會增強彼此的親密感。

3.沒把握的事,謹慎地說。
對那些自己沒有把握的事情,如果你不說,別人 會覺得你虛偽;如果你能措辭嚴謹地說出來,會讓人 感到你是個值得信任的人。

4.沒發生的事,不要胡說。
人們最討厭無事生非的人,如果你從來不隨便臆 測或胡說沒有的事,會讓人覺得你為人成熟、有修 養,是個做事認真、有責任感的人。

5.做不到的事,別亂說。
俗話說「沒有金剛鑽,別攬瓷器活」。不輕易承諾 自己做不到的事,會讓聽者覺得你是一個「言必信, 行必果」的人,願意相信你。

6.傷害人的事,不能說。
不輕易用言語傷害別人,尤其在較為親近的人之 間,不說傷害人的話。這會讓他們覺得你是個善良的 人,有助於維繫和增進感情。

7.傷心的事,不要見人就說。
人在傷心時,都有傾訴的慾望,但如果見人就說,很容易使聽者心理壓力過大,對你產生懷疑和疏離。同時,你還會給人留下不為他人著想,想把痛苦轉嫁給他人的印象。

8.別人的事,小心地說。
人與人之間都需要安全距離,不輕易評論和傳播 別人的事,會給人交往的安全感。

9.自己的事,聽別人怎麼說。
自己的事情要多聽聽局外人的看法,一則可以給 人以謙虛的印象;二則會讓人覺得你是個明事理的 人。

10.尊長的事,多聽少說。
年長的人往往不喜歡年輕人對自己的事發表太多 的評論,如果年輕人說得過多,他們就覺得你不是一 個尊敬長輩、謙虛好學的人。

11.夫妻的事,商量著說。
夫妻之間,最怕的就是遇到事情相互指責,而相 互商量會產生「共情」的效果,能增強夫妻感情。

12.孩子們的事,開導著說。
尤其是青春期的孩子,非常叛逆,採用溫和又堅 定的態度進行開導,可以既讓孩子對你有好感,願意和你成為朋友,又能起到說服的作用。

感覺好! 就轉發到您的朋友圈吧,傳播您的愛心,讓您的朋友也 一起學習這些智慧!學習正能量!收穫美麗財富幸福人生。