Friday 27 June 2014

Wrap your Load! #safesex #plainpackaging #giftwrap

en.wikapedia.org
For quite a few decades now the spread of HIV-1, more commonly known as AIDS,  has been progressing around the globe.  This spread knows no barriers, it is not discriminatory and the potential for it to be catastrophic has already been realized. The medical profession and scientists have halted the progression in the spread of this disease by advocating the use of condoms or safe sex. This is commonly called in the gay community - covering your load.
 

Whilst many identify this disease with the gay community, this is a disease that takes the lives of men, women and children, especially in Third World Countries. In the 1980's we saw the television commercials of the Grim Reaper and the consequences of engaging in unsafe sex. We watched in horror as the bowling ball wreaked havoc and destruction on the pins which signified the loss of life. Then came the anti-smoking commercials that governments  and its medical advisers deemed were necessary to make us realize the damage to our lives that smoking causes. I am not denying that the effect of these commercials was of benefit to all. Yes, most people engage in the suggestion of, or try to have, safe sex.  And yes, the numbers of smokers has dropped and the support for people giving up the smokes has increased dramatically. 
   
But, do we stop and consider that our planet also has a disease that is growing at a rate, far more problematic than the avoidable, yet devastating, disease of HIV?  This disease has the potential to affect men, women  and children. It will not be and is not discerning of any!  Unless we take heed of the scientists, activists and the like, this disease has the potential to destroy life on Earth as we know it. This is the disease of environmental vandalism, the destruction of our forests, the use of our fossil fuels to fill the need of our consumer hungry world.
 

So, where on our screens do we see explicit, Government enforced, advertising to stop this disease of environmental vandalism?  Where on our screens, billboards, and all forms of media, do we see the Grim Reaper hovering over our Christmas trees that are laden with gifts wrapped in one of very things that has the potential to destroy life as we know it? Yes, you got it 'PAPER'. I hear you say but paper is biodegradable, it comes from sustainable forests, and it is recycled extensively! However, the destruction of every tree to make paper pulp, means one less that contributes to the carbon sink effect of the world's forests.  So, where is the ban on those under 18 being allowed to purchase products that contribute to such a potentially life altering disease. What about all the plastic products derived from our fossil fuels that make their way to the gift wrap aisles? God knows, when we walk just about any street in the world, we can see the results of this environmental disease as we step over the litter that lines the gutters.

Like smokers and sexually active people, each consumer and government has the ability to stop this disease. We all have choice. We can say no to unsafe practices!  Therefore, before you wrap that beautiful gift at christmas, wedding or birthday, stop and think how is your load wrapped?  Is your load wrapped in a way to prevent the spread of this disease?  To change the way you wrap your gifts does not mean that you have to adopt the ugliness of plain packaging of cigarettes. Your gifts can still look as elegant, as bright and funky, as feminine and frilly, as macho as the Winfield man!

Stop and think before you engage in unsafe practices as there is a cure for this disease, and it is called choice.

Firm Believer!


Winc Spurt

Tuesday 24 June 2014

There is no 'I' in Team #environment #bettergood #sustainable

Getting the world in better shape is not just for a few!  We all co-exist here and to make it better we need to move fast.
 

This is not for the few that rally for Earth's cause. This is for everyone to take ownership, to stand together.  The voices we hear daily are simply a minority when you consider the vastness of our planet. They are merely the 'I's of the world! This needs to be a team effort and, we must all rally, do our bit to save this planet for the generations to come.
Lachine Canal, Canada - Wikipedia
 

Therefore, there is no 'I' in team.  This is a job for more than just Superman. It is a job for each, and everyone, of us.  We must take ownership and the responsibility that we, as citizens of this great planet, undertake to rejuvenate, to repair, and to plan, for a better future for our children. This is a lesson that we need to teach our children. They need to follow our lead in preservation of our natural resources. Teach them other methods to do things, and other ways to live, instead of constantly destroying the little we have left.

We have choices, so we must make the right choice to build a better and more sustainable future. Before we just say yes to the shopping bags, we must inquire as to whether they are recycled.  Before the shopkeeper asks would you like that gift wrapped, we must ask if the wrapping is sustainably sensible.  In fact is this wrapping able to be used over and over again.  When we buy those organic veggies in the supermarket, do we simply place them in another plastic bag?  Or, do we not think that this too is mockery? Do we question the very fact that we want healthy foods, yet we continue to carry them in the chemically based plastics that we are avoiding.  
radio.foxnews.com
 

We have a choice to  look around us.  There are many alternatives to creating a safer, cleaner environment for our children of the future.  Yes these choices may cost a little more than the average pretty and convenient hunk of tree that we are giving to our loved ones.

Would you rather give something that does not affect our future.  Something that is a lasting memory and reminder that there are choices.  These choices can take a gift from ordinary, to extreme mind blowing proportions.  These gifts can be useful, but is the wrap, in which the gift of love is wrapped, a friendly choice.  Does that wrap keep on giving pleasure for many years to come.


At wincwrapincotton.com we believe in our products and so too do the many that use them.  Our decision to distribute these humble wraps is a part of our team spirit.  It is also a decision that our many customers believe and follow as well.  We are helping to build a future.  We, the team at WinC Wrap in Ccotton and our valued customers are part of that team of merry workers that strive for a better future for the many generations to come.  

So therefore, with everyone's support there will be no 'I' in team.  

Firm believer,

WinC Spurt!



Daintree Rainforest - Wikipedia

Tuesday 3 June 2014

Climactic Change in Giftwrap #climatechange #environment#globalwarming



Is the new religion of Climate Change losing momentum? It was not too long ago that every headline around the world screamed “Global Warming”! There were dire predictions - it was all fire and brimstone stuff with the end of the world is nie! Modelling experts fueled the fire, spurred on by seemingly endless amounts of money in the way of grants made available to study the how, whys and when of this phenomenon.


The empowerment of government comes from keeping their populations fearful. This is not difficult as we all seem to fear our own mortality and the predictions for the end of the world are as old as time itself. How many religions, civilisations and individuals have humanity analysing their every word, waiting for the predicted ‘end’.  Nostradamus, is one who published collections of prophecies in the 16th Century, that have since become famous worldwide. How many people worried about the World coming to an end on 21.12.2012 when, it was interpreted that this prediction from the Mayan Calender would manifest itself? The list is endless but, we do not need prophesies to keep people fretful, we simply need life itself. This has never been so easy as today. After all technology ensures something as trivial as a five young men screaming out some inane song on a couch goes viral within minutes of hitting You Tube. This ability to stream natural disasters as they unfold, to have news bulletins tweeted worldwide in an instant means that events that took weeks to filter through previously are now in our living rooms, our workplaces, our lives instantly. They are then analysed relentlessly, broadcast frequently, and the momentum builds for a case to answer for a solution.

Influenza epidemics, HIV and Aids, Ebola Virus, holes in the Ozone Layer, Global Warming, K2 or Millenium Bug and the list goes on! How many of these dire warnings have come to fruition? How many governments bought up huge supplies of Tamiflu to protect their populations against an influenza pandemic that never eventuated. I am not trying to trivialize influenza here, as I have lived through a few epidemics, and maybe, just maybe, it is better to be prepared, but, how much money did the drug companies make out of this debacle? Just a bit I would say! The same can be said for all the other scaremongering campaigns where power and money definitely have a vested interest in making people fearful. The Global Warming campaign is no different. It is not a coincidence that the name has been changed to ‘Climate Change’ as those with the vested interest push their barrow of scaremongering. Computer models show the tell tale signature of human induced global warming would be a hot spot high in the atmosphere above the equator. Weather balloons have scanned the skies for decades and no hot spot exists. (Ian Pilmer., How to get expelled from school; 2011 It is also interesting that many of those who stand to gain the most from all this scaremongering invest the easy pickings from gullible populations to buy houses by the seaside!! Rising ocean levels are supposed to be coming to a beach near you! Sorry for my cynicism. 


Climate change has been part of our planet since time began. How vain are we as race to believe that we can change the way our Planet, goes about its business. After all Mother Nature is the great leveller (pardon the pun). I have seen earthquakes, erupting volcanos, tsumamis, bush fires, cyclones, and more, blamed on climate change. I have seen politicians, and others, shamelessly use the tragedy of others, as a means to their own ends. I am not denying that there is a change in the world’s climate and I am not saying that we should not look after our Planet. But to do this in isolation, and by using the redistribution of the world’s wealth, is simply as scandalous as it is ridiculous. If the problem is indeed real, then this method of socialism by deceit will do nothing to fix it. Not to mention the select few who will end up supremely wealthy as they line their coffers from countries stupid enough to believe that a tax will change the way people operate. 


It is also interesting that meteorologists are flat out getting the weather right on a daily basis, so how the hell do they know what will happen in x years? The answer is they don’t! Oh pardon, a computer model says it will happen!!! But then a computer can be programmed to tell us anything we want. Just alter the data and voila! I once commented to someone that the seasons had shifted back – that Summer lingered into Autumn and so on! Their response was – ‘Don’t be ridiculous, the Earth would have to shift on its axis for that to happen!’ The Earth was moved on its axis in the Earthquake off Japan in 2011 by 16.5cm. This is more than sufficient change the seasons as we know them. The climate of Earth is far more complex than the build up of carbon dioxide. Our weather is a complex animal governed by sunspot activity as well as our atmosphere, our oceans and volcanoes. Sure, perhaps the weather is impacting on the human race more, but, we are venturing into areas where previously, we would not have lived. We dredge the oceans, we build whole countries on reclaimed land, we build cities where rivers raged and push our populations into areas where jungles once grew. Then, when Mother Nature vents her fury, we all cry ‘Climate Change’! Maybe, we should cry ‘Stupidity!”


Why has the ‘Climate Change’ Church lost momentum? Why has the following of the faithful diminished? It is simple really! At the height of the frenzy, where the wealthy nations were called to end their polluting (???) ways and pay up to help the poorer nations do something - apparently, the GFC hit the world economies. Nothing like the reality check, of the hand that feeds going broke, to sort the faithful from the rest of the flock. The world now had something else to be fearful of –where the next meal might be coming from!! Amazing that money takes precedence over the environment!!!!!! However, the world probably has a more balanced view of climate change now the fervour of the newly converted has diminished. No doubt, there will still be disciples of climate change that blindly follow those who line their pockets from those stupid enough to believe that a tax will change anything. Disciples who believe the carbon dioxide is a pollutant! Carbon dioxide is as essential to life as is the oxygen that we breathe in, the water that keeps our Planet cool and the atmosphere that stops us frying to a crisp from solar radiation. 


Climate change sceptics were/are treated like witches in the Middle Ages. They were pilloried, and practically burnt at the stake! Gone were the days where debate was healthy and kept everyone honest. Attacks were as personal, and brutal, as they were unfounded. The sad part about all this is we should all look after our planet all the time. Not by spreading fear, or collecting taxes, but by doing the right thing. It is time we all became balanced, environmentally aware, corporate citizens. I know you will say that once again money will be the driving force at the expense of the environment but, with regulation and awareness everyone is capable of being a much more responsible environmental citizen. 


We like to believe that, we at WinC, are good corporate citizens. We want to make a difference to the environment, not only through our work practices, but with the product we sell. Through simply changing the way we wrap our gifts we can stop the use of plantation forests for wrapping paper and the use of plastics for gift bags etc. This is a practical way in which we can preserve our forests, tie up the carbon in timber if the release of carbon into the environment bothers you. It is a direct method of looking after the environment rather than an indirect one which simply raises revenue and escalates the cost of living.  So whether you are a climate change advocate or skeptic, change the way you present your gifts and take a small step in preserving the environment.

Aftermath of Category 4

Driving through a Tropical Cyclone Category1