Talking globally, polluting locally in Hallandale Beach. Another galling example of hypocrisy that exposes what elected officials and bureaucrats at South Florida City Halls say -and what they actually DO!
Hallandale Beach City Hall, second floor conference room
May 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
The bottle creates a simulated image, as the inner back of the bottle features a depiction of a beach scene, with the city's Water Tower and logo framing the image on the front.
June 20, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
A close-up view of the front of the plastic Hallandale Beach water bottle.
Personally, to the great consternation of some friends, I've always recycled, going back to my fifteen years of living in Arlington County, VA, where it was mandatory, but where a large numbers of brightly colored bins were provides to city residents.
Arlington County also had a large and well-thought out recycling facility less than a mile from my home, just a block or two away from The Ballston Mall, and a block south of the Ballston Metro Station and the headquarters of the National Science Foundation.
See
These factors not only removed the usual alibis people make for not participating, since it was on the way to lots of places people were already in the habit of visiting, but also tended to make it rather self-policing, since it was always very obvious when someone else was putting the wrong material into a trailer bin.
Frankly, over the years, I've even grown accustomed to re-using my own plastic water bottles over and over, or filling a 20-oz Coke bottle with Brita-filtered water if I'm going to be outside for a while.
But, obviously, I'm not typical of this area in terms of my ingrained recycling habits, since I've got a relative down here who not only doesn't recycle -anything- but who loves taunting me when I'm over at their home before they toss something into their kitchen garbage bin, knowing full well that it's something that I'd be recycling if I were at my home.
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/576857.html
Miami Herald
Anti-bottled water campaign enlists mayors to causeBy Taylor Barnes
June 20th, 2008
An aisle at the Publix on Seventh Street in downtown Miami gleams with shelf upon shelf of bottled water that boasts of originating from the French Alps to Fiji.
But bottled water remains ubiquitous with many consumers, like Ariadna Barrantens of Miami, who shun tap water and exclusively drink bottled.
On a recent family vacation in Cape Cod, Jenny Pollack, 40, a novelist and public relations associate from Brooklyn, did something she knew she would come to regret. She did it on the spur of the moment. She did it because she felt desperate.
Hallandale Beach City Hall, second floor conference roomMay 13, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier
The bottle creates a simulated image, as the inner back of the bottle features a depiction of a beach scene, with the city's Water Tower and logo framing the image on the front. 
A close-up view of the front of the plastic Hallandale Beach water bottle.
June 20, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The first photograph above was taken by South Beach Hoosier in mid-May at Hallandale Beach City Hall, during a lunch break of a public meeting among the City Commission, the City Manager and his staff and Dept. directors discussing preliminary plans and projections for the city's budget, which will be finalized in August.
There were periods during each agenda item for residents to ask questions, and I twice took advantage of this opportunity, the subjects of which will be discussed in future posts here.
Upon entering the second floor conference room, which was actually two smaller rooms with a room divider pushed to the side, one encountered a table full of coffee, bagels, some spreads and packs of eight-ounce plastic water bottles -featuring the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower on them.
They were provided by the city for members of the City Commission, the City manager and his staff and the public, since the meeting was slated to be an all day affair. (And it was.)
There were periods during each agenda item for residents to ask questions, and I twice took advantage of this opportunity, the subjects of which will be discussed in future posts here.
Upon entering the second floor conference room, which was actually two smaller rooms with a room divider pushed to the side, one encountered a table full of coffee, bagels, some spreads and packs of eight-ounce plastic water bottles -featuring the iconic Hallandale Beach Water Tower on them.
They were provided by the city for members of the City Commission, the City manager and his staff and the public, since the meeting was slated to be an all day affair. (And it was.)
The first photo, one of several that I snapped of those plastic bottles in a Hallandale Beach City Hall garbage bin, was taken for the simple reason that there were no plastic or cardboard recycling bins in the room.
This was ironic given that earlier, your faithful blogger had asked a series of simple yet relevant questions of the City Commission, City Manager Mike Good about his staff about the self-evident problem over at the beach that everyone ignores.
How, despite their great lip service over the past few years about taking better care of the city's resources, which would have to start with the beach itself, among many other problems, there was a complete absence of ANY recycling bins at the beach, stretching back several years.
You can literally find plastic bottles and aluminum cans everywhere on the beach, whether rusting and mixed-in with the protected plants like sea oats and sea grapes, or overflowing the garbage cans, especially on three day weekends, with the predictable increase in refuse.
This was ironic given that earlier, your faithful blogger had asked a series of simple yet relevant questions of the City Commission, City Manager Mike Good about his staff about the self-evident problem over at the beach that everyone ignores.
How, despite their great lip service over the past few years about taking better care of the city's resources, which would have to start with the beach itself, among many other problems, there was a complete absence of ANY recycling bins at the beach, stretching back several years.
You can literally find plastic bottles and aluminum cans everywhere on the beach, whether rusting and mixed-in with the protected plants like sea oats and sea grapes, or overflowing the garbage cans, especially on three day weekends, with the predictable increase in refuse.
You'd think this would all be easy to predict, but then you have to remember where you are...
That leads to an ancillary problem, since unlike the City of Hollywood's general practice on their beaches, Hallandale Beach uses garbage receptacles on the beach without lids.
So, the conscious decision to place garbage cans without lids at the windiest place in the city leads to entirely predictable results, since it doesn't take much for items to simply pop out or blow out of the bins, with the city's lifeguards, who are contractors from Jeff Ellis and Associates, forced to clean-up, too, rather than concentrate solely on their number one job of public safety.
I'll have separate posts soon on the garbage and recycling problems at Hallandale Beach, replete with photos that illuminate the nature of this easily-solved but longstanding bureaucratic problem, which is the logical result of a continued lack of common sense, proper governance and oversight in the city of city employees at 400 S. Federal Highway.
The problem in that conference room is duplicated whenever the city hosts public meetings or events next door at the Hallandale Beach Community Cultural Center, as they did last Wednesday for a Joint Meeting of the City of Hollywood and HB City Commissions, to discuss items of mutual interest, or the previous week for the Hurricane Forum.
So, the conscious decision to place garbage cans without lids at the windiest place in the city leads to entirely predictable results, since it doesn't take much for items to simply pop out or blow out of the bins, with the city's lifeguards, who are contractors from Jeff Ellis and Associates, forced to clean-up, too, rather than concentrate solely on their number one job of public safety.
I'll have separate posts soon on the garbage and recycling problems at Hallandale Beach, replete with photos that illuminate the nature of this easily-solved but longstanding bureaucratic problem, which is the logical result of a continued lack of common sense, proper governance and oversight in the city of city employees at 400 S. Federal Highway.
The problem in that conference room is duplicated whenever the city hosts public meetings or events next door at the Hallandale Beach Community Cultural Center, as they did last Wednesday for a Joint Meeting of the City of Hollywood and HB City Commissions, to discuss items of mutual interest, or the previous week for the Hurricane Forum.
Personally, to the great consternation of some friends, I've always recycled, going back to my fifteen years of living in Arlington County, VA, where it was mandatory, but where a large numbers of brightly colored bins were provides to city residents.
Arlington County also had a large and well-thought out recycling facility less than a mile from my home, just a block or two away from The Ballston Mall, and a block south of the Ballston Metro Station and the headquarters of the National Science Foundation.
It could hardly have been better organized, better run or well lit at night, as there were huge tractor trailers with slots that segregated each of the many recycled items they accepted there.
See
These factors not only removed the usual alibis people make for not participating, since it was on the way to lots of places people were already in the habit of visiting, but also tended to make it rather self-policing, since it was always very obvious when someone else was putting the wrong material into a trailer bin.
And unlike this area, all Arlington County fire stations are equipped with buckets or bins near their entrances or parking lots where residents could turn in household batteries, which weren't supposed to be put in with regular garbage.
Frankly, over the years, I've even grown accustomed to re-using my own plastic water bottles over and over, or filling a 20-oz Coke bottle with Brita-filtered water if I'm going to be outside for a while.
Since they fit snug in the small tote bag I take with me everywhere, it's often proved a lifesaver on those days when I find myself having walked farther than I planned, or stuck somewhere when I need to fight off a coughing fit -like at a public meeting.
But, obviously, I'm not typical of this area in terms of my ingrained recycling habits, since I've got a relative down here who not only doesn't recycle -anything- but who loves taunting me when I'm over at their home before they toss something into their kitchen garbage bin, knowing full well that it's something that I'd be recycling if I were at my home.
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/576857.html
Miami Herald
Anti-bottled water campaign enlists mayors to causeBy Taylor Barnes
June 20th, 2008
An aisle at the Publix on Seventh Street in downtown Miami gleams with shelf upon shelf of bottled water that boasts of originating from the French Alps to Fiji.
But those bottles of water are increasingly coming under attack from environmental activists, who maintain tap water is better and bottled water is economically unsound and environmentally harmful, a position the bottling industry disputes.
The city of Miami has joined the fray, ordering officials in March to stop spending city money on bottled water in under two-liter containers.
Miami's Mayor Manny Diaz is among more than a dozen mayors calling on municipal governments to phase out bottled-water purchases in a resolution to be presented at the U.S. Mayors Conference, which begins Friday in Miami.
The bottles aren't just out at City Hall. Pacific Time and Fratelli Lyon, neighboring restaurants in Miami's Design District, have stopped selling bottled water and only serve tap. Sales of bottled water at Pacific Time used to bring in $80,000 in annual revenues from sales of about 12,000 bottles, the restaurant's chef and owner Jonathan Eismann said Thursday at an event to promote tap usage.
Eismann said that not selling bottles reduces waste and is a way to "encourage more sustainable eating habits.''
But bottled water remains ubiquitous with many consumers, like Ariadna Barrantens of Miami, who shun tap water and exclusively drink bottled.
While picking up a few gallons at Publix this week, she said she uses bottled water even to make coffee because she does not trust the quality of what comes out of her faucet. She added, though, that she sometimes wonders whether bottled water is much better.
The belief that tap water is less healthy and less pure than bottled water has city officials and activists worried.
Deborah Lapidus, who represents the Think Outside the Bottle campaign that organized Thursday's event, blames ''tricky marketing and clever labels'' used by companies selling bottled water for the perception their products are better than tap.
Bottling industry officials contend bottled water is purified more than tap water. Allegations by anti-bottle activists are simply ''green-washing,'' said Kevin Keane, a spokesman for the American Beverage Association. He said bottled water is convenient and is useful during emergencies such as hurricanes.
Lapidus' group argues that the popularity of bottled water reduces the political will to maintain and improve infrastructure to ensure quality municipal water. Still, she encourages people to switch to tap water and praised Miami for having some of the highest-quality tap water in the nation.
Diaz supports the cause, saying that Miami has great water and it's cheaper.
City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who pushed for the City Hall ban -- which he says could save the city as much as $200,000 a year -- joined the tap movement because of concerns about litter. He said 85 percent of bottles are not recycled, and contribute to clogging in Miami's sewer systems.
He attributed current flooding in Brickell and the Venetian Islands to sewer systems stuffed with the plastic containers. He also pointed out that it takes petroleum to make the bottles, holding up a plastic bottle filled with dark liquid. He said almost a quarter of the liquid represented the oil needed to produce and transport the bottle.
The pro-tap movement has yet to make a dent in sales of bottled water, which continued to grow in 2007, according to John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest magazine. He said the sales growth had slowed slightly from 2006 to 2007. He attributed that to the economic downturn and said it was ''too early to tell'' if the movement against bottled water was affecting the industry.
The trend is taking hold in some quarters. On a recent film shoot in South Beach, the producers of the new comedy Farlanders, starring John Krasinski and Maggie Gyllenhaal, banned coolers of water bottles from the set.
Instead, cast and crew were given washable aluminum bottles that they filled from large water jugs, said city of Miami Beach film coordinator Graham Winick. Cups for cold drinks like punch and soda were made from corn, as were the trash bags. Coffee cups were biodegradable, too, Winick said.
'It is the first almost fully `green' shoot we've had,'' Winick said in an e-mail.
Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.
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Also read this amusing article
Also read this amusing article
New York Times
Water, Water Everywhere, but Guilt by the Bottleful
By Alex Williams
August 12, 2007
On a recent family vacation in Cape Cod, Jenny Pollack, 40, a novelist and public relations associate from Brooklyn, did something she knew she would come to regret. She did it on the spur of the moment. She did it because she felt desperate.
Besides, the giant illuminated Dasani vending machine was just standing there, like a beacon.
So, with her reusable plastic Nalgene bottles dry and her son Charlie working up a thirst in an indoor playground, she broke down and bought a bottle of water. To most people it would be a simple act of self-refreshment, but to Ms. Pollack it was also a minor offense against the planet — think of all the oil used to package, transport and refrigerate that water.
Read the rest of the story at:
