Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition
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Tag Archives: gift
The Weekend Gardener Tote Gift Set
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Posted in Organic Stores
Tagged Gardener, gift, organic, organic gardening, set, the, Tote, Weekend
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Holiday shopping is down, mall blight is up
Holiday shopping is down, mall blight is up
It seems a lot of Americans shifted the gift this holiday season. Early reports from retailers indicate this may well be the least shop-happy winter since the apocalyptic recession Christmas of 2008. And climate change sure isn’t helping.
Shares of retailers dropped sharply on Wednesday, helping drag broader indexes lower, as investors realized they were likely to be disappointed when companies start to report results in a few weeks’ time.
“The broad brush was Christmas wasn’t all that merry for retailers, and you have to ask what those margins look like if the top line didn’t meet their expectations,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group.
Growth was always expected to slow this season, though an improving employment picture and rising home values had helped mitigate the worst fears. But then Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast in late October, mild weather blunted sales of winter clothing and rising concern about the “fiscal cliff” became more of a reality, dragging down already-pessimistic forecasts.
(T-minus how long until someone rebrands swimsuits as a great climate collapse fashion choice?)
Stores stand to scoop up nearly a third of their annual sales over the holiday season, so this drop could be significant — but could it be enough to push us closer to a more lasting shifting of the gifts?
Sales may be down on the whole, but they’re also moving from the brick and mortar world to the digital, leaving us with empty, useless retail spaces and dead, blighted malls from coast to coast. According to Atlantic Cities, shopping mall vacancy rates are now hovering around twice what they were 10 years ago. The head of a leading commercial real estate firm said of these ghost malls, “I don’t think we’re overbuilt, I think we’re under-demolished.”
But we shouldn’t be knocking these places down! We should save the energy and resources that would otherwise be needed to demolish and rebuild, and instead creatively reuse retail space for community centers and social services. But not for shark aquariums though, please. Please.
Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for
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Something is leaking from the Deepwater Horizon site, but it’s not clear what
Something is leaking from the Deepwater Horizon site, but it’s not clear what
The Deepwater Horizon is the gift that keeps on giving. Usually, that gift is more oil. Right now, though, perhaps because of the holidays, it’s leaking something unknown. It’s a special present that will reveal itself on Christmas, maybe! That’s fun. Thanks, BP.
From CBS News:
An “unidentified substance inconsistent with oil” is emitting from several areas of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig wreckage, but no sources of leaking oil were identified. That’s according to the Coast Guard, which oversaw BP’s recent week-long mission to inspect the undersea wells and wreckage from the 2010 explosion.
The exact content of the leaking substance and how much is coming out is one mystery. But if it’s not oil, then it means the source of recurring oil sheens that have recently been spotted around the Deepwater Horizon site remains unknown.
The expression “unidentified substance inconsistent with oil” leaves a lot of leeway for what it might be. Pepsi, maybe? Hair gel? Possibly footballs? Is it stardust? Exposed Kodak film from the 1960s? Maybe it’s donuts? Is it blood? I bet it’s blood. Creeeepy.
But, seriously? What could it actually be? This is ominous:
The Coast Guard said BP’s main Macondo well was observed during the subsea operation and found to be secure. Two relief wells, the riser pipe and the previously leaking containment dome were also to be re-examined, but the press release made no mention of them and the Coast Guard declined to answer further questions.
This is how horror movies start. A hasty press conference, a quick statement that something unknown, unprecedented is happening, a refusal to be more specific. The uniformed government agents step away from the mic and out of the room leaving behind confused and quizzical reporters.
In other words: We were right and it was blood. And the holiday BP is recognizing isn’t Christmas, it’s Halloween.
Source
Coast Guard: “Unidentified substance” leaking from BP’s Deepwater Horizon, CBS News
Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.
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Something is leaking from the Deepwater Horizon site, but it’s not clear what
Posted in GE, Uncategorized
Tagged business, business & technology, coast, coast-guard, energy, gift, guard, halloween, holiday, horizon, philip, source
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