The Burning Man's Pants Are On Fire!

     The excitement behind the idea of Burning Man is so irresistible to an outsider - that blissful idea of leaving it all behind for a short while and heading away into the desert.

     However, those involved in Burning Man, whether they want to admit it or not, spend so much money preparing for the event that calling it non-commercial is almost a lie. Those sparkle fairy wings, the floats, the boats, the tents, the RVs, and the bottles of water (or alcohol) are all part of the market cycle.
     Tickets to the event start at around $200. This is supposed to be a commerce-free event. Corporate CEOs arrived in helicopters and served grilled cheese sandwiches. Google donated bicycles. The sales of coffee and ice are given to the surrounding cities. If that is not advertising, I don't know what is. I am all for a positive, enlightening experience in the desert. I've had one. But it certainly didn't cost me half a grand. I'm not trying to belittle anyone's experience at Burning Man, but denying the profitability of the event is basically looking the other way.

Lead Us Break Bread

     The Huffington Post reports some lead-based debauchery happening overseas and the United States is to blame.  This report shows that, although toxic-laden chemicals are banned for purchase in the United States, it does not stop the U.S. from producing these chemicals and shipping them overseas to countries that have lighter restrictions on those particular chemicals.  Perry Gottesfeld and his team, while in Cameroon, discovered that more than forty percent of Seigneurie house paints (manufactured in the U.S.) in the Cameroon market contained high levels of lead.  The article also states that no laws are in place in the U.S. to restrict these toxic shipments, and these lead-based poisons are ending up in developing areas for use in schools, daycare, and homes.  Lead is not the only regulated toxin that is finding its way out of U.S. borders: asbestos and pesticides are also leading culprits in the poison problem. 

          Nothing says “I love you” more than a nice bucket of toxic paint slapped right on the walls where little tykes will play.  I think our country is living in a protective bubble, where we believe that if it is so here, it is so everywhere.  Sadly, this is not the case.  Corporations are yet again finding ways to make a profit for less and they do so by exploiting developing nations that do not know, or cannot afford, to avoid these toxins.  When will corporations stop exploiting the system? I feel so disgusted by the very fact that I live from check to check while some CEO is making millions off exported poison.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/25/lead-paint-exports-pesticides_n_2949694.html?view=print&comm_ref=false