McDonalds is Coming to Town

Image via Wikipedia

Yes, its true. The Golden Arches are coming to Gore and will be peddling their wares 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

According to the McDonalds New Zealand website McDonalds restaurants spend around $100 million a year with Kiwi suppliers - in fact some 90% of the products they use in their restaurants are sourced in New Zealand and 80% of their restaurants in this country are owned by New Zealanders. They employ over 6000 staff throughout New Zealand. Which all sounds good . . . right?

Obviously having a McDonalds in town will not be without benefits to some local businesses. They will need tradesmen for maintenance and repair, they will encourage more visitors into Gore - the closest McDonalds around is a good 40 minutes drive South in Invercargill, and they will employ more people in the town. . . mostly at the bare minimum wage of $12 per hour.

McDonalds workers who are member of the UNITE Union of Workers have recently won a settlement that will, from March 2009, increase the base level of pay for a crew member from $12 per hour to $12.50 and allow them some level of shift security. It has been a hard won fight - and despite the McDonalds Corporation posting significant profits recently, it took 50 strikes by union workers before McDonalds would come to the party. Is this really the kind of employer we want to encourage into our community?

Now, McDonalds is not the first fast food giant to land in town. We have Pizza Hut, KFC and Subway currently gracing our main street, so we are already spoiled for choice when it comes to fast food joints that add little value to the local economy. Do we really need another? Surely it would be wiser as a community to support the local eateries that spend their money here in town?

Although McDonalds have , in recent years, begun to offer healthier choices on their menu, ultimately what they sell is junk food. In fact, what they sell is more junk than food - and I'm not just talking about the poor nutritional value of their products. Fast food outlets are fantastic producers of waste - from unnecessary packaging to food waste.

In the UK McDonalds is responsible for 29% of the fast food rubbish that litters the country's streets. Here in New Zealand, Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws is considering a levy on fast food corporates because the Wanganui Council feel it is unfair that ratepayers should have to pay to clean up their packaging litter. In Gore the local council has stipulated as part of the resource consent granted to McDonalds that they need to install extra rubbish bins around their restaurant. But unfortunately, many fast food consumers don't eat on site and throw their rubbish elsewhere.

Of course, you can't hold McDonalds responsible for their customers being too lazy to properly dispose of their rubbish. But, the fast food mentality - the eating in a hurry, the sacrificing your body's nutritional needs, the generic food and service . . . if you can't take the time to eat mindfully and fuel your body well, then why would you take the time to put your rubbish in the bin?

I'm all for encouraging business into our area of the world. In fact, I am actively involved in trying to build up the local economy in Mataura, where I live, just out of Gore. But I think that we need to be more choosy about the type of businesses we encourage into our communities. We need to be looking for businesses that will strengthen our local economies, that impact positively on the environment, that offer fair wages for a days work, that sell products that contribute to our wellbeing. . . I don't feel that our new McDonalds will do any of this.

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Don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from!

There are times when an argument put forward is so glaringly flawed, breathtakingly idiotic and utterly without common sense that it defies belief. This I believe is one of them:

“Besides, the whole concept that we’re “running out of room” to put our garbage and/or have landfills is absolutely ridiculous. If you took every man woman and child currently living on the Earth (6,706,993,152 as of July 2008) and moved them all to Australia we’d each still have roughly a third of an acre of our own private land (Australia is roughly 2,967,909 sq mi. There are 640 acres in a square mile which means there are 1,899,461,760 acres in Australia. Divided by the Earth’s population, we each get 0.28 acres). That would leave the entire rest of the planet empty. Do you not think we could fit both recreational area as well as vast amounts of landfill space on all of North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia? Of course I’m not suggesting that we undertake such a ridiculous plan, but it should clarify that the Earth has plenty of empty land that could be used for waste disposal.”

Morgan Hill Review

I am flabbergasted that any sane person would put forward such a ludicrous suggestion. Even with the caveat at the end of the paragraph. In fact, that makes it worse “the Earth has plenty of empty land that could be used for waste disposal”.

I don't know of any vast tracts of empty land that could be better used as a landfill. Image via WikipediaPerhaps the beautiful Fiordland National Park in New Zealand. Its full of sandflies and really doesn't serve any useful purpose.

Image by nunavut via FlickrThe Sahara desert, I guess, really isn't the most productive area, we could do without that.

Image by Ron Layters via FlickrOh, the Grand Canyon – you wouldn't even have to dig a hole there!

Honestly, have people become so deeply disconnected with the land that they only see it as having value if it is under cultivation, making money, or directly and measurably benefiting the needs of humankind?

The whole idea that there is “plenty of empty land that could be used for waste disposal” calls to mind the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. If we continue to squander the planets natural resource as we are, if we pay no mind to the mindnumbingly vast quantities of waste we produce as a result of our consumption, then sooner or later we will find ourselves sitting in front of a pile of dirty dishes.

Nature is not here to serve us. It will continue on perfectly well long after we are gone from the planet. However, we will not fare so well if the earth's eco-system becomes irreversibly changed and can no longer sustain the conditions we need for our continued survival. Its in our best interests to consume wisely, to live lightly, and to value the environment in and of itself.

5 Ways to Reduce your Rubbish

Image via Wikipedia Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Its all very well as a trash minimisation mantra, but it doesn't seem to be making much of a dent in the amount of garbage we send to the landfills each year.

I think its time to add another few "re's" to the list . . .

RETHINK - rethink your consumption habits so you don't generate so much rubbish
REPAIR - get broken things fixed rather than throwing them out and buying new
REFUSE - refuse to use or buy things that generate rubbish or can't be recycled

Here's a list to help you get started reducing your contribution to the landfill:

1. Buy in Bulk
Cut down on the packaging materials by buying in bulk. Try shopping at stores where you can take your own bottles and containers to refill. Often you'll get a better deal for buying in bulk too.

2. Say NO to plastic shopping bags
Take your own reusable bags with you when you go shopping and politely refuse shopping bags!

3. Compost
Don't send organic waste to the landfill. Instead set up a compost bin for your garden. Don't have room for a compost bin? Set up a worm farm instead. Don't have a garden? Give your compost away to someone who does in exchange for a share of their veges, sell your fantastic liquid fertiliser from the worm farm, offer your super worm dirt to any takers on Freecycle . . .

4. Get Creative
Cut old sheets into strips and crochet them into floor rugs. Make sock puppets for the kids. Make fire bricks using your old newspapers. Make new clothes out of old clothes. Revitalise your old fabourite jeans with funky patches. Make beautiful mosaics using old crockery.

5. Don't choose Disposable
Look for alternatives to disposable items like nappies, sanitary napkins and razors. Buy well made products that will last rather than cheap throw away goods. It may cost more up front, but in the long run it will save you money and its better for the environment.