Great video of the Rainbow Warrior. And the request from the Greenpeace UK YouTube page:

She’s confronted environmental crime for 21 years. She has been shot at, rammed and impounded while defending our world.

But now she’s worn out, struggling and needing constant repairs. Our planet is in trouble and a new Rainbow Warrior is needed – more now than ever before – to confront environmental crime.

Please donate now and help us go on making waves:
greenpeace (dot) co (dot) uk (slash) rw3

This guest post comes to us from David P. Tusa, CEO and President of Sharps Compliance Corp. (Nasdaq: SMED), a leading full-service provider of cost-effective management solutions for medical waste and unused dispensed medications generated outside the healthcare facility setting.

The disposal of medical waste –- needles and syringes from home injections, or unused prescription drugs –- presents major environmental concerns. The nation’s overfull landfills face major environmental risks through leaching that healthcare waste disposal could worsen. Yet staggering amounts of medical waste must be properly disposed of to avoid risk of infection. For example, approximately ten million people in the United States self-inject outside of healthcare facilities, and about 40 percent of the medication associated with the the four billion prescriptions dispensed outside of the hospital setting annually are never used. However, innovative programs now offer new, responsible disposal options for both types of waste.

At least 20 states have collection programs for unused medications. For example, in 2009 the Iowa Legislature approved the Iowa TakeAway program, allowing the Iowa Board of Pharmacy, the Iowa Pharmacy Association, and landfill operators to cooperate on disposal of unused medications. North Dakota implemented a similar program in 2010. The programs promote many methods including the convenient disposal-by-mail option for unused medications, using a variety of sizes of containers and return packaging with pre-paid postage to an authorized treatment facility.

There is no national standard on syringe and needle disposal by self-injectors. Seven states have laws or regulations restricting consumer disposal of sharps and even states without laws provide guidance against placing sharps into trash disposal. Updated EPA guidance recommends solutions such as using government-approved systems to mail sharps for proper disposal, or physically taking used sharps to approved disposal centers.

An example of disposal-by-mail’s effectiveness in helping municipal governments can be seen in the experience of Cathedral City, California. Cathedral City became the first city in the nation to offer a free and confidential disposal by mail program to help residents safely dispose of used hypodermic needles, syringes and lancets. The program is now in its fifth year, and an estimated 1,400 participating Cathedral City residents who legally self-administer injections to treat diabetes, allergies, HIV and other medical conditions have prevented more than 480,000 used needles and syringes from potentially unsafe disposal in local landfills.

Medical waste will exist as long as people are ill and most likely increase as the population ages. With the federal government dramatically increasing health insurance spending, the best insurance could be disposal by mail options that reduce health and environmental risk of used syringes and unused medication disposal.

Photo Credit: Chuckumentary via flickr under a CC license

Yesterday, Kiva, an organization focused on alleviating poverty through microfinance, announced that it is now partnering with Visa to reach more people in more areas of the country. Visa is giving Kiva $1 million to “expand opportunities for U.S. small businesses to benefit from the power of microloans.”

Also expanding Kiva’s reach, ACCIÓN Texas-Louisiana, the largest microfinance institution in the country, has signed on as a new Kiva Field Partner. With this partnership, “Kiva lenders, for the first time, will be able to lend to entrepreneurs who have been affected by several disasters in the region over the past five years.”

To check out some of the recipients of the first loans from ACCION Texas-Louisiana or to read more about the Kiva-Visa partnership, check out Kiva’s website.

Photo Credit: Roger Smith via flickr under a CC license

CBS recently dug up and released an 11-minute reel of film from days before the big earthquake of 1906. The video has been named “A Trip Down Market Street” and is shot from a Market Street cable car.

The video “captures a city full of life and promise,” 60 Minutes producer David Browning writes.

It is really something to watch, and hard to believe it is from just about 100 years ago. Watch the video via the link above.

Last week, I wrote about the San Francisco Healthy Meals Incentive ordinance, which would ban the inclusion of toys in unhealthy fast food meals (i.e. in Happy Meals).

As I wrote previously, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee voted 3-0 in favor of the ordinance and it is now up to the Board of Supervisors to vote this ordinance forward or vote it down.

The news now, via an email from an insider involved in the campaign, is that “Supervisor Mar, who introduced the ordinance, has decided to delay the vote for two weeks. He notes the overwhelming public support and is allowing for time to make a solid implementation plan.“

In Supervisor Mar’s own words:

My colleagues on the Board and I have been deeply impressed with the volume of supporters visiting our office, calling, writing letters, and emailing to express support for the Healthy Meals Legislation. San Franciscans from all walks, from pediatricians to parents, teachers to local restaurant owners, have gotten behind this common sense measure that is a step in addressing childhood obesity for our children and generations to come.

We have built a broad coalition of supporters and strong majority support on the Board.  We are committed to delivering on the ordinance’s vital health protections and continue to work with colleagues in firming-up a strong implementation plan.  I will be continuing the vote from Tuesday, October 19 to November 2nd as we continue to do the technical research and meet with stake holders to create a strong implementation timeline that is feasible for San Francisco restaurants.

You can help move this ordinance along as well, by calling Supervisor Dufty, the swing vote on this ordinance, and letting him know that you hope he will support this common sense measure to protect our kids’ health.

Details of the call are available via the link above.

Photo Credit: Corporate Accountability International SF (CAI-SF) Press Conference with Eric Mar via Markie McBrayer of CAI-SF