another fearless Woman challenges Segregation

In Montgomery, Alabama on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city’s racial segregation laws. The successful Montgomery Bus Boycott, organized by a young Baptist minister named Martin Luther King Jr., followed Park’s historic act of civil disobedience.

“The mother of the civil rights movement,” as Rosa Parks is known, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1913. She worked as a seamstress and in 1943 joined the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

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Source: history.com

On December 1, 1921, the US Post Office Department opened its Philatelic Agency in Washington, DC, to the benefit of stamp collectors. By the 1920s, stamp collecting had grown to be very popular both in the US and around the world.

Fredensborg was a frigate built in Copenhagen in 1752 or even 1753. She was called Cron Prindz Christian following prince who was to be king Christian VII associated with Denmark and Norway, in addition to was fitted out as being a slave ship. After a unsuccessful stint in this triangular trade, her in business area was limited for the Caribbean, where she sailed as a broker until 1756. The dispatch was then purchased by simply another Danish company and renamed Fredensborg after one of the Danish-Norwegian trading stations on the African Gold Coast. On 1 12 , 1768 Fredensborg sank in a very storm off Tromoy throughout Arendal, Norway.

The destroy was discovered by divers in September 1974. One was Leif Svalesen who later has worked to be able to document the ship.

Source: slaves-ships.blogspot.com

Written By: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
See Article History

Antarctic Treaty, (Dec. 1, 1959), an agreement signed by 12 nations, in which the Antarctic continent was made a demilitarized zone to be preserved for scientific research. The treaty resulted from a conference in Washington, D.C., attended by representatives of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Later other nations acceded to the treaty.

The treaty did not deny or support national claims to territorial sovereignty in Antarctica, but it did forbid all contracting parties from establishing military bases, carrying on military maneuvers, testing any weapons (including nuclear weapons), or disposing of radioactive wastes in the area. The treaty encouraged the freedom of scientific investigation and the exchange of scientific information and personnel in Antarctica. The treaty bound its members indefinitely, with a review of its provisions possible after 30 years. A protocol to the 1959 treaty was signed in 1991. The agreement banned mineral and oil exploration for 50 years and included regulations for the protection of the Antarctic environment.

for more information … britannica.com

March 2012,

I heard that Alameda County, California, voted to implement its “ban” on single-use bags, not regulate them, sometime around January 2013.  It just so happens that at or around the same time, things were being finalized in different parts of our beautiful state of Washington. It has been a long struggle for Washington State to move towards an ordinance that would “ban” bags at retail outlets due to big MONEY in the plastics industry.

However, in late December, word was that the City Council’s Zero Waste Initiative to “ban” plastic bags in a limited and graduated way was realized after four years. In 2008, the Council tried to ban Styrofoam, and though they tried to regulate plastic bags, they got serious pushback from the industry, which spent about $1.4 million, collected signatures with rumors of leaving out some info, and then had the ordinance repealed. It was nice to read about Council Bill 117345, a bill to protect the Puget Sound, our marine life, Wildlife, and our Environment in general. About twelve states and up to twenty nations joined in this effort. The Seattle City Council voted 9-0 to implement the ban on plastic carry-out bags.

Finally, after years of pulling out my recycled bags for the checker to shove my groceries into, Washington State is joining the global movement to protect marine wildlife; the ordinance will take effect on July 1, 2012. It may be a cliché, but this ordinance is a change we can all believe in. I have to say, at first, in my experiences with retail folks, they all seemed a little annoyed at having to fight with the reusable bags. The word from most Checkers back in the day was that plastic is just easier. Yes, the first reusable bags were too small, the dye ran, the material was unforgiving, but as folks found better ways to make them, the cost came down, and more people bought them, including me.

Now, the bags not only cost a little bit more, but they are also bigger, more stylish, last forever are definitely more flexible, and a highly recommended investment. The move to switch from plastic to” bring your own bag” will be difficult for some at first. Studies are showing that birds, sea turtles, and other wildlife eat the bags, and obviously, some are made with toxic chemicals. The time for a behavior change is now. We all know change is tough, but here we are in the 21st Century, and that floating garbage patch /circle discovered in the 50′s is only getting bigger. There will always be pushback from the plastics industry, their supporters, as well as environmental activists, who all feel the government does not go far enough, and they may be right, but we have to start somewhere.

It baffles me how complicated people have made the effort to clean up our environment; we all know the need to reduce TRASH as a whole starts at home, although Seattle is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the nation, only 13% of plastic bags used are recycled.

We owe it to our next generation…

Grocery stores, as well as food service outlets, owe it to consumers and the environment.

It’s 2025, and plastic is everywhere! We all see our family members still have them, we see folks walking out of grocery stores with double-bagged plastic holding their groceries … sigh! There are the tiny, medium ones that are cute, but these gigantic ones with brand names and amazing graphics are made out of something different. Anyway, it’s like we’ve gone back to square one with no progress in sight and even less in the news about the current impact on Marine and Wildlife… which, ok includes those boats trying to watch,  and or sneak up on our marine life, only some are leaking fuel, making so much noise, others know they are dumping fuel and don’t get me started on some of the customers dumping trash! The trash people leave at local and National Parks is offensive … last, if each state only knew and put more importance on keeping the environment clean, it would change how people live… the significant change should also allow for higher wages … our environment sets the tone for illnesses