International clothing

The girls and I were folding clothes today...

...when one of the kids noticed a label on a shirt. "Made in... Sri Lanka!" she exclaimed. "That's different!"

Well after that, we started looking at every label we saw, and here's what we discovered. Our various articles of clothing -- all of which were bought in thrift stores -- were made in:

• Vietnam
• Mexico
• Pakistan
• Malaysia
• Sri Lanka
• China
• El Salvador
• Mauritius
• Swaziland
• India
• Haiti
• Guatemala
• Brazil
• Thailand
• Nicaragua
• Egypt
• America

One -- one! -- garment was American-made. The rest represented a geography lesson. I wasn't sure whether it made me want to laugh or cry.

The environmental cost of being "green"

Here's a sobering thought: all those CFL's and solar panels the greenies would love for us to adopt? (In the case of light bulbs, forcing us to adopt...)



Well, they're not as environmentally-friendly as they'd like us to believe. With an upcoming ban on incandescent light bulbs looming in 2012, it's long concerned me that most CFL's are produced in China (which also necessitates shipping the damned things halfway around the globe! Helloooo? Tankers?).

I've griped about banning incandescents before. But this article illuminates the nasty work and environment poisoning necessary to extract rare earths used in CFL's, solar panels, wind turbines, hybrid vehicles, and an entire host of other modern conveniences such as digital cameras, computers, etc.

After reading this article, I find it sickeningly amusing how the dimwit greenies in Seattle will brag about their low ecological footprint because they use "green" technology. Try bragging after reading the link.

China has us by the balls on the issue of rare earths, folks. Make no mistake.