Water.  We can't live without it.  Included within "We"  are the global ecosystems that depend upon replenishable, untainted sources of freshwater.  We also can't live without the sea.  If rainforests are the lungs of the Earth, then seawater, that covers~ 70% of the Earth's, is its heart, for within it are jetstreams, upwellings, and currents that pumps the water that feeds the world. They are at risk because we've continued to dump the remnants of our terrestrial lifestyle into the briny depths.  In this case, included within "we" are people, governments, and corporations.  

Unfortunately, because you can't see the bottom of an ocean trench or even a shallow shelf,  the ocean has become like a huge Superfund site.  At Superfund sites, you can't readily identify the culprits of toxic waste disposal.  However, like some dead bodies that have been whacked, the evidence sometimes floats to the top.  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GP-squared), "essentially a floating expanse of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean now covering an area twice the size of the continental U.S. Believed to hold almost 100m tons of flotsam, this vast "plastic soup" stretches 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan"  is no doubt a cosmic eyesore for NASA astronauts, and a threat to pelagic inhabitants.  The evidence is also visible in dead fish, birds, and marine mammals. 

To add insult to injury there are probably tons of plastic bottles that once contained water in the GP-squared.  The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), estimates that 90% of the ocean debris is composed of plastic.   As reported in the NY Times in 2008,  "''..Some three billion cases of bottled water sold last year (2007) — an increase of 14 percent over 2006, according to Beverage Digest. John Sicher, the editor of that trade publication, says that while that’s slightly lower than prior years’ growth rate (16 percent), this is partly because the bottled-water market has grown so huge. As for Fiji (Water), its sales volume was up 30 percent in 2007, and the company says the brand is experiencing double-digit growth this year."  While the rates of plastic recycling have increased, it's obvious that some people didn't get the sustainability memo, didn't read the memo, or just threw the memo away, most probably in the trash. 

So what's a thirsty planet to do?  Maybe, install purification systems at the source.  Do we really need glacial or water from Fantasy Island? What about forward-thinking water policy that increases the availability of potable water and alleviates the need for bottled water ? I'm sure the people of Fiji, where Fiji Water is bottled, and would not appreciate seeing a floatilla of plastic landing on their beaches.  Maybe, when Conde Nast-inspired tourists are threatened by debris-filled reefs then things will change. Hopefully, by then, Fiji will still be above water. 

The pulsating beats of a live concert performance by the Brazilian Girls and MGMT in the midst of San Francisco Bay can drive passion to exceeding heights.  Unfortunately, at the Treasure Island Festival, the passions of a few overly zealous concert goers caused a thriving tree branch to become a dead log.  A small group of stunned audience members became angered and ran to the tree's defense when a gaggle of hipsters jumped up and down on a low lying limb.  For the majority of eyewitnesses, the indignant act was greeted by apathy.   

Despite the aftermath of tree climbing, the Treasure Island Festival has partnered with Carbon Harmony to offer carbon offsets to concert goers for an additional $1 fee, utilized vans and buses powered by biodiesel, and planned to donate or compost all unused food among a list of sustainable practices.  How effective was the recycling program? During a cursory glance at the festival space, tens of beer tinged compostible plastic cups lay on trodden grass surrounding recycling receptacles.  At one point, announcements were made on the PA to urge the use of recycling containers.  

The Story of Stuff wasn't apparently read here, since there were a lot of booths here that sold ubercool tchotchkes, which may or may not be destined for closets, shelves or later a landfill. Art materials were recycled and logoed metal water bottles were sold to discourage plastic bottle use. 

Hopefully, 12,000+ people attending the two-day live music event aren't just footing the carbon bill for the bands and the VIPs.  Just this summer, Bono confessed his carbon emission transgressions, since " U2's CO2 emissions are the equivalent of the waste created by 6,500 average British or Irish people in an entire year, or equal to leaving a standard 100 watt lightbulb on for 159, 000 years".  Maybe the acts that performed at the Treasure Island festival got it together with the use of biodiesel generators. 

Earlier that day, I had a brief conversation at a booth with a representative of the Sustainable Living Roadshow, that "is a coalition of educators and entertainers who tour the country in a fleet of renewable fuel vehicles to empower communities and individuals to utilize sustainable living strategies for a healthier planet".  Bred from the idea that community organizers and disciples are the best oracles for facilitating localized, sensible resource use practices, the SLR has plans to partner with LiveEarth, an organization that promotes sustainable choices and lifestyles through multi-media events. 

With greater thought placed on diminishing the footprint of large-scale music festivals there is hope that more can be done. For example, maybe next year, there might be plan to plant trees instead of standing idly by while one was destroyed. 

You've probably heard about the relationship between exposure to air toxics, the onset of asthma, and the consequential use of emergency health care services. What you might not have considered is the impact that increased use of emergency health care services has on the environment, including medical waste proliferation and climate change.

According to the DOE, "Hospitals use 836 trillion BTUs of energy annually and have more than 2.5 times the energy intensity and carbon dioxide emissions of commercial office buildings, producing more than 30 pounds of CO2 emissions per square foot."  Unfortunately, more people are visiting emergency rooms instead of the doctor's office. The CDC reported that "Overall, there were about 119 million visits in the emergency rooms in 2006 up from 90 million in 1996, meaning a 32 percent increase.  A reason for this increase is the fact that the population in aging and most of the elderly use emergency rooms as their first stop for health care, instead if making an appointment at a doctor’s office."  It also appears that the uninsured aren't really to blame for this trend.  “The uninsured have long been more frequent users of (emergency rooms). That's not new. What's new is the rise ... in frequency in visits, and that's occurring in the insured,” said Dr. Stephen Pitts, author of the report and a CDC fellow who teaches emergency medicine at EmoryUniversity’s School of Medicine. 

The take home lesson is that health care reform isn't all about unfairly rewarding the workless and citizenless. Its about realigning how we educate the sick before they become sick.  If we don't co-opt prevention as a mantra for change then we'll not only have sick people but a very, very sick planet. 

Health care is a right.