Public Comment

The Latest US Shortage: A Lack of Loos

The US may be the wealthiest nation on Earth but it's just not the best place to live if you're looking for (1) free healthcare, (2) affordable higher education, (3) a guaranteed living wage, (4) democratic elections, or … (5) public bathrooms.

That's right. While Donald "The Ocher Ogre" Trump's massive rump reportedly enjoys the 14-karat comforts of a solid gold commode, millions of his fellow Americans don't have access to a toilet they can call their own.

The Bay Area's streets may not be paved with gold but, in some poorer neighborhoods, the sidewalks are slick with pee land paved with poop.

The problem of the "un-housed" is compounded by the problem of the "un-outhoused." If you're looking for someone to blame, you could start with Starbucks. Back in 2018, the nationwide chain of 15,000 coffee-shops announced it was opening its bathroom doors to the public. No purchase needed. But earlier this year Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz reneged on the offer, and ordered the stalls off-limits to all non-paying citizens.

United Nations sanitation specialist Catarina De Albuquerque called this "a loss of critical infrastructure… in a country already facing a sever shortage of public restrooms."

The UN counts "access to safe sanitation" as "a fundamental human right," on the same level as "food, water and shelter." 

De Albuquerque recently conducted a UN survey to "assess water and sanitation services in the US." Her conclusion: One of the world's wealthiest nations had a "woefully inadequate" number of public restrooms—only eight per 100,000 people, which ranked the US 30^th on the UN's global scale (tied with Botswana). 

The best country for public toilets? Iceland, with 56 stalls per 100,000 citizens. 

Paying cops to ticket the homeless for public urination and defecation is a pretty shabby way of generating municipal revenue. Especially when the World Bank has concluded that every dollar invested in "urban sanitation" generates a $2.50 return in the form of reduced medical costs and increased productivity. 

Hellter Swelter. More Heat, Fewer Marches? 

One clue that your government may have autocratic, oligarchic, militaristic tendencies is the discovery that it's been caught spending millions to design and deploy electromagnetic weapons to discourage citizens from staging mass protests. 

In the USA, the Pentagon has taken the lead by creating Active Denial Systems that can scatter crowds by aiming invisible high-frequency beams that cause a painful burning sensation in human skin that immediately drives demonstrators to seek relief by running to hide inside the nearest buildings. 

Social unrest contained at the push of a button! 

(Some conspiracy theories have proposed that a Hidden Purpose of new 5G wireless transmission networks is to empower governments to repulse public protests against imminent economic hardships and suspension of civil rights. With the flick of a switch, no one would be able to remain in streets swathed by skin-burning electro-radiation.) 

But the Pentagon's crowd-busting sci-fi weaponry might not even be necessary—not on a planet experiencing historic episodes of climate chaos. 

Here's a chilling thought: Could Global Warming soon make it impossible to stage large, outdoor protest gatherings—not to mention marches? Our recent experience with triple-digit temperatures drove Americans from streets, workplaces, schools, and homes in a desperate search for air-conditioned shopping malls, theaters, and hospitals. The danger is real. Excessive heat is now recognized as the leading trigger for weather-caused deaths—deadlier than floods, droughts, or wildfires. 

According to Center for Disease Control figures, between 2004-2018, an annual average of 702 Americans died from heat exposure. The situation has only grown worse as temperatures have continued to climb. This summer, Public Citizen published a report warning that the annual deaths from rising temperatures in the US had increased to 2,000—nearly triple the CDC's earlier average over a span of just three years! Another 170,000 annual heat-related "workplace injuries" were recorded over the past three years. Public Citizen warns that rising temperatures are now seen as "among the highest-ranking causes of injuries and fatalities for American workers." The watchdog group has called on the government to issue new guidelines to protect workers—especially farmworkers and construction employees—from deadly overdoses of ambient heat. 

Fashion Plates 

Spotted on license plates around town: 

Black van: UC GRAD (A lot of competition for that one) 

Black Toyoto: LOTEK (Got to start somewhere, techies!) 

Black Lincoln: LBLKPRL ("El Black Pearl"?) 

Red Truck: GTALIFT ("Get a Lift") 

Blue Honda: MY 3LOVE (A carnal declaration?) 

Silver Minivan: BRGAMOT (A fan of Bergamot plant supplements?) 

Bumper Snickers 

Spotted on bumpers round and about: 

Sage Against the Machine 

Honk If Parts Fall Off! 

IF YOU CAN READ THIS: I'm not impressed. Most people can read. 

I'm So Gay I Can't Even Drive Straight! 

Alcohol and Calculus Don't Mix: Don't Drink and Derive 

DON"T TOUCH ME! I'm Not That Kind of Car 

If You Can Read This, You Are Probably Pulling Me Over 

A Peoples Park Update 

On September 9, historian and activist Harvey Smith issued the following update to the struggle over the future of Peoples Park:
"Make UC A Good Neighbor and the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group (PPHDAG) filed their joint opening brief to the appellate court this week against UC Berkeley under the California Environmental Quality Act challenging UC’s Long Range Development Plan and construction of housing on People’s Park.
"The appeal focuses on UC’s failure to analyze in its Environmental Impact Report (EIR) a lower-enrollment alternative or any alternative locations for the housing proposed at People’s Park…. With the alternative location issue, UC is required to adequately assess alternative sites for student housing, which it has not done.
"UC has twenty days to reply to our appeal brief….
"The appeal is attached…. We've said it before, but this excellent legal work needs to be supported. Please refer any and all to our DONATE NOW! page at http://www.peoplesparkhxdist.org/donate-now/" 

Disney's Big Lemming Lie 

Here's some good news: Lemmings don't really commit mass suicide. And here's some shocking news: the false narrative about suicidal lemmings was cooked up by Walt Disney! 

A1958 Disney nature documentary titled White Wilderness included a staged a mass-murder of these furry creatures. It turns out these lemmings were intentionally driven over a coastal cliff in the Arctic by a crew of Disney "True-Life Adventure" filmmakers. This explains how Disney's Academy Award-winning documentary was able to capture such close-up images of lemmings plunging to their doom—they had set up their cameras around the cliff in advance! 

The lemmings sent plunging over a seaside bluff in Albert, Canada were not even native. They were wild-caught victims purchased by the filmmakers. According to Snopes.com, the film crew "made no more than a few dozen lemmings look like a much larger number" by using camera angles and editing tricks. The script for the scene was somewhat equivocal, with the announcer intoning the following: 

"It is said of this tiny animal that it commits mass suicide by rushing into the sea in droves. The story is one of the persistent tales of the Arctic and, as often happens in Man’s nature lore, it is a story both true and false, as we shall see in a moment." 

Unfortunately, while lemmings are not inclined to commit mass suicide, it appears that humankind may be headed off a cliff owing to climate change and military conflicts. As for lemmings, The Petition Site notes that, today, "these adorable, short-tailed voles are threatened by climate change. Their tundra habitats are at great risk as the planet continues to warm." 

So there's a petition. It is demanding that Disney "not only set the record straight about the fact that lemmings do not commit mass suicide, but the multi-billion dollar corporation must also apologize for its actions and immediately donate funds to create Arctic refuges for lemmings and other cold-habitat mammals." Sign the petition if you agree! 

Detergent Alternatives: Why Lug a Jug When You Can Dip a Slip? 

Each year, an estimated 700,000,000 plastic laundry jugs are dumped into landfills across North America. This plastic can take more than 100 years to break down. And then it only "breaks down" into smaller bits of plastic that pose new environmental hazards. 

But now there's a whole new product-line of jug-less laundry soaps that resemble note-pad-sized paper sheets. These "soap slips" magically dissolve when they come in contact with water. No bottles to pour; just pull out s soap-slip and drop it into your washing machine. Works on dishes; works with clothes. 

Here's a run-down on some of these new products. 

• Earthwash Laundry Sheets are "nano-dehydrated detergent" sheets that dissolve in water in just a few seconds and remove tough stains "without the add-on ingredients that make liquid detergents so heavy and bulky." 

• Tru Earth Eco-Strips are described by their Canadian manufacturer as "ultra-concentrated, hypoallergenic, eco-friendly cleaning power. Every 32-load package eliminates 1 plastic jug from potentially ending up in landfills and oceans." A one-year supply will set you back $109. 

• Earthbreeze Ecosheets are desribed as: "Paraben Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free, Phthalate Free, Phosphate Free, Bleach & Dye Free, Hypoallergenic & Dermatologist Tested." In addition to lowering your carbon footprint, Earhbreeze claims that, for every purchase, the company donates "10 loads to those in need." 

• Earth Breeze soap-slips are sold in "earth friendly" cardboard packaging instead of "a wasteful single-use plastic jug" that can take up to 1000 years to decompose. 

• Clean People Laundry Detergent is "scientifically formulated [to] lift stains" and works with Top Loaders, Front Loaders, and High Efficiency washing machines.  

The Dirty Downside of Soap Slips 

I thought I'd try to locate some of these magical little cleaning sheets so I headed off to the Berkeley Ecology Center on San Pablo Avenue. That's when a helpful staff member alerted me to a critical fact not mentioned by the creators of these "soap slips." 

While the ad campaigns for these new products push the promise of reduce the plastic waste that winds up in the environment, It turns out that the cleaning tissues hold their shape due to (wait for it…) micro-plastics that are similar to the mini-pollutants used in cigarette filters. (These microplastic-packed filters are currently the target of a powerful media campaign hosted by UnDo.com, a pull-no-punches project of the California Department of Health). Here's one of their public service announcements: 

Fortunately, as the EcoCenter staffer explained, there are eco-friendly options. I was led over to a display-stand by the main window and introduced to a selection of natural-based cleaning options. These included a paper bag filled with "Organic Soap Nuts Laundry Detergent," a product self-described as "Non-GMO, Eco-Friendly, Cruelty Free, No Dyes, Low Suds." 

Made by Greener Things, these "soap nuts" really ARE nuts. These bags are filled with dried berries harvested from Sapindus Mukorrosi trees in Nepal where people have been using these real-life cleanser "pods" for generations. 

"When agitated in water," the packaging explains, "these berries produce Saponin, which acts as a natural cleanser." First, the nuts are placed inside a reusable cloth bag that is then tied shut. After the laundry cycle is complete, the nuts are retrieved from the sack and saved for reuse. A single bag of walnut-sized Sapindus nuts should be good for washing several months' worth of dirty duds.