TresSugar

Smokestacks Meet Thumper: Disney and the Environment

CitizenSugar — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:56:50 -0700

Chim chiminey, Chim chiminey, Chim chim cher-oo! Disney may have made the life of a chimney sweep seem like dancing on the rooftops, but some decades later we've learned smudgy, sooty coal is a filthy form of energy. Which is why the news that much of Europe may be returning to their old coal ways requires a huge spoonful of sugar.

Italy is poised to increase its reliance on coal to 33 percent from 14 percent over the next five years. Total power generated from coal will billow to 50 percent. Don't just blame the Italians, countries all over Europe are expected to put into operation about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years - plants and gunk that we will be able to enjoy for the next five decades. Germany in particular has 60 new coal-fired power stations planned. To see how Disney fits into the modern eco-picture, read more.

An animator who worked on Disney's Bambi went the way of Bambi's mom last week and requested in lieu of flowers, donations to the Natural Resources Defense Council. His request underscores a Disney obsession with the pastoral, evidenced in films from Bambi, to Pocohontas, to Finding Nemo. Some say these films inspire tiny environmentalists, like this researcher at Cambridge University.

These films have taught us variously about having a fundamental respect for nature. Some of them, such as Bambi, inspired conservation awareness and laid the emotional groundwork for environmental activism.

In a step to take the eco-activism from figurative to literal, Disney is launching new film production unit called Disneynature. They're gearing up to make feature-length documentaries about animals and the environment, similar to the wildly popular March of the Penguins. The first US movie to be released, is dubbed Earth is set to open April 22, 2009 - Earth Day a year from now.

Are we at a crossroad in terms of environmental decision making, where we need to choose between the black-lunged Dick Van Dyke chimney sweep of coal, and the blissful Disney forests? Are you surprised that countries are returning to coal? Was Disney a true trailblazer in the environmental movement? Does entertainment have a place in driving environmental policy?

Do you love that part in Bambi where the skunk says, "he can call me Flower if he wants to?"

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Scary Poppins

GiggleSugar — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 07:00:00 -0700

We posted this a loooong time ago, but Audreystar reminded us (just in time for Halloween) that with a little creative editing and scary music, even Mary Poppins can scare the bejeezus out of you.

Mary Poppins: The Dark Side

GiggleSugar — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:55:00 -0800

I always knew there was something a little "off" about Mary Poppins. Now I know why...

Credit Woes Leave Nannies Without a Spoonful of Sugar

CitizenSugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:00:41 -0700

After hearing of the $700 billion bailout, it's hard to imagine a crevice the world's financial trouble won't seep into, though this one does take some thinking.

One of Britain’s leading exports, the Mary Poppins-esque Nanny, is also facing tough times as one brokerage firm after another collapses. What was once a highly in-demand necessity is now turning into a rare luxury item for those that can still afford a pro to take care of their moppets. And it seems as though, like everything else, a spoonful of sugar won’t do the trick to make this economic medicine go down.

One London-based Nanny service employee, Kate Baker, said of the current situation: “The problems are just starting. In the last week or two I have started getting calls from nannies saying one or both of their employers have lost their jobs and so they have too.” Thousands in the London financial district are either already unemployed or projected to be so in the near future and many are saying there aren’t any magical umbrellas floating on the horizon any time soon.

Although there are cheaper nannies to be found in Eastern Europe, which in the past four years has supplied a less expensive substitute, the British nanny is still the gold standard. Or as Baker says: “The whole world still comes to Britain shopping for the Great British Nanny.” How big of a bag of tricks will the world's economies have to have to make that shopping possible again?

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Is the War on Drugs Being Waged From the Wrong Battlefront?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:51:03 -0700

Just consider me Mary Poppins this morning: a little sweet Prince William to help the War on Drugs go down. The Prince is on the front lines of the battle - the warship the Prince is serving on just seized $80 million worth (almost two tons) of cocaine from a speedboat just north of Barbados.

William's ship is patrolling the waters of the West Indies looking for drug runners, and this score came early on in their mission. The ship's commanding officer said, "to have had a direct impact on the flow of cocaine into Europe just four days after we arrived in theatre shows the benefit the Royal Navy can have in the area of maritime security and counter drug operations."

View 5 Photos ›

Sounds like Prince William is saving the world from drugs, right? Well, the war is a little more complicated than that - and we may be focusing efforts at the wrong stage of drug production to make any difference. To see what I mean, read more.

Though Prince William's seizure, and the White House both tout big coke scores as evidence the war is being won, other numbers paint a different picture.

A more expanded look at the data shows that cocaine use in the US isn't falling: the same percentage of Americans used coke in 2006 as they did in 2002, the number of high-school seniors using is growing, and drug shipments are up. Shipments have grown 39 percent from 2006 - that's enough to film a scene in Scarface for sure. Not to mention that drug related violence is sweeping through Mexico and Latin America; drug cartels are not scared of this "seize the powder" battle plan.

How could the war be fought more effectively? With less focus on the product (sorry William) and more focus on who's making it, and who's consuming it.

Spending more money on programs to wean coca farmers from the crop and while improving their lives is a start. By shelling out less money for security and policing, and more for economic development and a strengthening Mexico's judicial system, we could turn off the faucet at the tap, instead of bailing out the bathtub.

Where else? Focusing on the people in the tub. By expending more effort into curbing demand, emphasizing the treatment portion of the punishment for offenders, increasing education, and treating drug addiction more of public health problem than a law enforcement problem the customer base can be curbed.

Hey, I've seen The Wire and Nancy Reagan's guest appearance on Diff'rent Strokes - this War on Drugs thing is complicated. But focusing with a laser-intensity on the beginning of the supply, and the end user of the demand - we could make that giant pile of coke in the middle, just disappear.

What do you think? Is this war winnable?

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Even Though the Look of It Is Actually Quite Atrocious. . .

GiggleSugar — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:00:00 -0800

Mary Poppins took up a new hobby, I see.

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The Millionaire Matchmaker Show

GiggleSugar — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:00:00 -0800

I couldn't help but think while watching The Millionaire Matchmaker show that these people all deserve each other: the woman who started this ~~dating~~ escort service; the millionaires who want "Madonna in the bedroom, Martha in the kitchen, and Mary Poppins in the nursery;" and the women whose primary criterion for a prospective sex partner/husband is that he make six figures. Whatever "romantic" means, this is the opposite.

Giggle Links

GiggleSugar — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:02:18 -0700

Tigers might become extinct? War in Iraq? But what about Paris Hilton?! - Gallery Of The Absurd
Top 10 pop culture urban legends. - Cracked
"Girls Gone Wild" creator Joe Francis is writing letters from jail. Boo freakin' hoo. - Best Week Ever
Someone's gonna be in trou-ble! Robbie Williams knocked off stage during concert! - Web Junk TV
This guy proves that Beyonce is truly "Irreplaceable." - i am bored
Even gangstas got curfews. - Glumbert
Who needs nine months when you have 50 cents and a whole lotta skill?- College Humor
Mary Poppins called. She wants her word back. - Web Junk TV