would you like water or air pollution with that?

In response to respiratory illnesses caused by yellow smoke emissions from coal-fired power plants (and several lawsuits), Allegheny Energy tried a new approach: installing scrubbers to clean the plant's air emissions.

The "victory" was short-lived.

Each day since the equipment was switched on in June, the company has dumped tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater containing chemicals from the scrubbing process into the Monongahela River, which provides drinking water to 350,000 people and flows into Pittsburgh, 40 miles to the north.

...Much power plant waste once went into the sky, but because of toughened air pollution laws, it now often goes into lakes and rivers, or into landfills that have leaked into nearby groundwater, say regulators and environmentalists.

...The Environmental Protection Agency projects that by next year, roughly 50 percent of coal-generated electricity in the United States will come from plants that use scrubbers or similar technologies, creating vast new sources of wastewater.Yet no federal regulations specifically govern the disposal of power plant discharges into waterways or landfills.

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why TRADER JOE'S blows

If the image to the left was in an opening scene of a film, it might be foreshadowing a landfill or perhaps the biopsy of a sea animal revealing a digestive track filled with plastic.


This is not a horror movie. This is your friendly neighborhood Trader Joe's.

Don't get me wrong--the prices at Trader Joe's are out of this world. But all of the plastic used to wrap the vegetables will be staying on this planet forever (not to mention interfering with the natural decomposing of other biodegradable products in the landfill).

It has come to the point where I buy everything from Trader Joe's besides produce, and journey elsewhere for my vegetables.

However, I am still deeply bothered by this egregious waste of plastic and disregard for natural resources. Today, I decided to locate the manager of a nearby Trader Joe's and finally get my question answered. "Why are all of your vegetables contained and wrapped in plastic?"

He explained to me that since Trader Joe's does not have scales at the register, everything needs to be pre-weighed and packaged so it can be scanned at check-out.

Are you kidding me? Get a grip, get a scale, and get this unnecessary plastic out of my face. You can let Trader Joe's know how you feel about this by sending a comment here.

Lastly, I would just like to offer this gentle reminder: there is no need to use plastic bags when collecting unwrapped vegetables from whichever super market you shop. You can simply place all of your vegetables in a reusable bag, and your produce is weighed appropriately at the register.

As a person with OCD tendencies, I do sympathize with the undeniable need to separate and control that many shoppers may experience. In such a case, I would suggest re-using the plastic produce baggies.