By R.C. Seely
FOR THE MOST PART, you won’t hear much raving about either recycling or Europe’s policies on food from this website.
Parts of Europe have bans on certain foods that make the most ambitious trans fat ban in this country seem tame. And as for recycling, unless you’re a large corporate reselling your cardboard, there’s not even enough of an incentive economically to justify the energy and time wasted.
But if you put the two together–food programs and recycling–you do get something that does make sense, Food Recycling. In parts of Europe this initiative has been tried and in my opinion, it’s a good program.
Basically, it works like other recycling programs for non-consumable products. The United States have adopted food recycling programs as well and has competing companies that it, the most well-known being Waste Management services.
Food Recycling has three different ratings that are used to figure the best way to utilize the recycled products; the highest is for human consumption (because the modern human has a more sensitive digestive system), then feed for livestock and lastly if deemed completely inedible and unsafe for consumption it is used as fertilizers. The first, is basically best left to company like Waste Management but if you have your own livestock, pet dog or cat, or for fertilizer you can take care of it yourself.
However, you look at it, this is one of the few recycling initiatives that can benefit everyone involved. Recycling in general doesn’t really offer much ecologically but it can economically, usually only if you have a large-scale operation, though. With Food Recycling, you can save money on both fertilizers or food staples for animals, if done through Waste Management and deemed safe for people it could be an alternative to federal food stamps programs. That would safe us all money.
In the state of Utah, these programs would make even more sense, since they have as part of their policy on alcoholic beverages that you have to order food with your drinks. How much food do you think is tossed out at restaurants because of this law? I’d guess quite a bit and if it can be better used, then might as well.
R.C. Seely is the founder of americanuslibertae.com and ALTV. He has also written books about pop culture the most recent Victims of White Male: How Victim Culture Victimizes Society is available at Amazon.
The Quintessential Virtue of Greed
Posted: December 2, 2017 in Social CommentaryTags: americanus libertae, capitalism, communism, entrepreneur, greed, innovations, progressivism, r.c.seely, self interest, selfishness, Socialism, the quintessential virtue of greed
By R.C. Seely
CRITICS OF CAPITALISM ARE eager to point out the hypocrisy of us capitalists statement of “Communism (or Socialism, or Progressivism, or any other isms) has killed X number of people.” They point out that many have died from capitalism. Since capitalism doesn’t make the promises of perfection that the other mentioned isms do, that’s a false comparison but it’s not the only problem. It also discounts the lives that have been improved or saved because of capitalism.
The instinct to assist perfect strangers in disasters in one such example. Charity is a free market concept, the isms are by force, hence not true charity.
Now take that and multiply it and you have the potential for good that a company is capable of. During the natural disasters–the hurricanes Harvey and Irma, for example–one of the first organizations to help out is also one of the largest, The Home Depot. Volunteerism is a large part of the core culture of the company and it’s not by government force but free market forces. At the end of the day, it’s charity and because of their name recognition that to they act. Two concepts of the free market.
It’s not only because of the need from natural disasters that innovations are born. One such innovation was mentioned in CanadianBusiness.com:
The ways that such an aircraft could save lives isn’t difficult to imagine.
From Cambridge Massachusetts, a startup has developed a form of wearable technology with numerous health implications–the Biostamp. The practically invisible sticker stretches with the skin and is mostly used for monitoring body temperature and hydration of the wearer. But the future innovations planned are for digestible and surgically applied tech. One specific development is that of contact lenses for monitoring diabetics blood sugar levels.
According to a Pew Research study the number of people lifted from poverty–living on $2.00 or less a day–between 2001-2011 was 700 million. Poverty is and has been a global killer. GMOs help since they can be grown anywhere but are there other options as well. Yes, there’s an app for that. SokoText, is tackling that problem.
The for-profit is handling the issues by buying below and selling low, buying at 30% below retail and selling at 20% below to vendors. “By aggregating individual purchasing orders, SokoTech can obtain produce on behalf of local fruit and vegetables vendors at wholesale prices,” reports Canadian Business.com. Just like so many other tech company this text-message-based firm generates it funding through mobile phone ads.
These are all fairly recent companies, so the true scope of their impact is yet to be felt. But they are following in the footsteps of many others who have offered us more options, which make our lives better if not saving them entirely. From amber alerts that make children’s lives safer, to the innovation of lamp oil that cut back on whaling for whale oil.
Medical tech, communications, entertainment, food and everything else was brought to you by the “selfish” self-interest of its inventor. Whether for profit, notoriety, or charity the motive was some form of gain for the actor. That is the Quintessential Virtue of Greed.
R.C. Seely is the founder of americanuslibertae.com and ALTV. He has also written books on pop culture the most recent Victims of White Male: How Victim Culture Victimizes Society is available at Amazon.