Wasteful Facts

Where can one enjoy a quiet study break these days without having to deal with the activists and greenies when one feels particularly capitalist? You'd think that brand-oriented Starbucks would have so much consumerism and commercialism oozing that any protester would be sent running. Unfortunately, this was not that case last Monday. Sitting on Indiana Avenue, I was quietly sipping on a piping hot tea, trying to compensate for three coffees already consumed that day. I was slipped a leaflet. It was a consumer warning about "Frankenbucks Coffee" and contained some startling facts about Starbucks' coffee practices. Facts on some controversial Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) in milk products, the lack of fair trade and organic coffee were flung in my face and seriously disturbed my herbal infusion.\nI find tossing unwanted information in my face unnecessary and it creates added waste. Why not center these 100 percent recycled paper leaflets on someone who actually cares? \nThe media has portrayed enough instances of misinformation that have caused me to become a wary customer, disbelieving of outright information. There was the case of the bald chicken which caused much outcry in Europe earlier this year. The photo depicting a naked pink chicken strutting around its turf in Israel was disconcerting, mildly said. Everyone thought the chicken to be another Franken-creation of biotechnology. But this was not a case of genetic modification as stated in a report released by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries this past summer. Instead, it was a result of traditional cross-breeding, extending back to a spontaneously mutated, featherless chicken 50 years ago. In the end, a lot of hullabaloo about nothing.\nAnother example was the sinking of an oil rig in the North Sea during the mid 90's. The Brent Spar was decommissioned and a number of options to its disposal were available. By sinking the oil rig 6,000 feet deep in the sea, the environmental impact would be minimal. Toxins would gradually seep out. The amount remained much less than natural deep-sea hydrothermal vents which discharged much more heavy metal pollutants, as scientists have discovered (New Scientist, June 24, 1995). This was the disposal scenario, calculated at $18 million. \nAnd what happened when Greenpeace got a whiff? They unquestionably protested and ensured that the Spar was dismantled on shore, at a cost of $69 million, and the pollutants sent to a landfill causing greater environmental harm (the Economist, June 24, 1995). The disposal of the Brent Spar pointed to a superior result had Greenpeace not overemphasized a "better" environmental solution.\nI lost confidence in the green movement because of such misinformation being revealed to the public. There is no doubt that the Organic Consumers Association, who had printed these leaflets dropped in my face at Starbucks, means well in its strive for transparency in our foodstuffs. As stated in their leaflet, "Milk from rBGH-injected cows is likely to contain more pus and bacteria." Mmm … sounds appetizing. The Tazo Mint tea was going down extremely well at that point -- but I was not convinced. Coffee lovers are lucky that Louis Pasteur founded the process of pasteurization dealing with undesirable microbes in our dairy constituent of cappuccino. Don't bombard me with superfluous campaigns concerning the state of the cappuccino I didn't order. I much prefer to engage in a little personal fact-probing before I am duped by a pressure group and their pessimistic viewpoints. Load on the foam!