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Plastic, plastic everywhere but not for African recyclers

September 1, 2019 (updated August 26, 2019) Published by

Plastic, plastic everywhere but not for African recyclers (Reuters)

  • As in many developing countries, Kenya’s recycling industry is underdeveloped and relies heavily on the private sector, which has slowed plastic recycling initiatives, as the plastic collection business generates low margins
  • As a result, multinational firms like Coca-Cola and Unilever are subsidizing the collection of their PET through the non-for-profit body called PETCO whose members reportedly account for 60% of the PET market.
  • Additionally, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Unilever and Diageo have formed the African plastic recycling alliance last March to create recycling initiatives.

Analysis and Comments

  • The article showcases the two main issues the plastics recycling industries in most countries are faced with; 1) an underdeveloped collection and recycling infrastructure, and 2) the subsequent lack of recyclable materials to sustain their businesses.
  • While a growing number of governments has already begun to take action (e.g. in the form of bans), more incentives from governments are needed to boost participation in recycling schemes (or, for example, to set up deposit schemes which have shown to be very successful in the EU) and to hold companies legally responsible for the collection of their waste.

Somewhere in the middle would be just fine

August 31, 2019 (updated August 31, 2019) Published by

Maybe we still need some time in order to obtain the “real” consequences regarding the implementation of the new economical rules at the steem blockchain but I am sure we can get some facts already regarding the famous new Rewarding Curve.

For the ones that still don’t understand how it supposedly works I would say them that, essentially, any post not upvoted massively by a whale or a cluster of orcas , and so, not reaching the 20 STEEM it is going to suffer a huge reduction on its gains, usually between -25% and -50% but most likely closer to the second threshold.

At the current price of STEEM, 20 Steem threshold means around 3.5 USD or $ or whatever the STU equivalent number.

The current setup of this algorithm is clearly benefiting the Big stakers, because, who has 3.5 USD of voting power? do your own calculations but @dalz did wrote a good post about it here and just by using Steemnow from @penguinpablo you can see that you would need at least 290K SP to reach it (or the sum of the compounded upvoters of the post).

The funny thing is that, due to the STEEM price, it is now the best moment to accumulate as much as possible and build your SP, not only by buying but also by getting the most from your posts, in terms of STEEM…and who is getting more now? The already big accounts that in some cases were already big when STEEMIT did wrote its one and only post, more than 3 years ago…and they keep selling…

The theory is that, if this curve acts as a motivator trigger for investors, willing to get a good APR by curating content, then the price of the STEEM token should rise…in theory, of course…

Because what is lacking here is a HUGE work on the marketing side. Investors will not come if we keep being invisible for them, and price will not stop falling till sellers as STEEMIT INC an others big whales will stop selling like there is no tomorrow.

Now that I have finished my rant here, and coming back to the “rewarding Curve” algo, a question for witnesses and Steem Blockchain developers:

We have downvotes to penalize bad content, this is good for everybody in my opinion so you can somehow express your disagreement and also provide an economical impact on bad behaviors…

Are you planning to smooth somehow the rewarding curve?

Would you consider to set the GAIN/LOSS threshold at a lower but more “human” and community supportive level?

20 STEEM is sometimes unreachable even if you are a good content creator because you have to be discovered by those big accounts, with not so many time for curating work… I hope, eventually, they will also change their approach, dedicating more time reading content and less time selling votes but till then, what about smoothing the curve to, let’s say 10 STEEM…?

We have to find the middle point of the two extremities here, nor “zero” neither 20 STEEM threshold.

Virtue is at the middle!!!!

@toofasteddie

(Pic Source: John Atherton / Sign: Halfway)

Alternatives to improve the low rewards

August 30, 2019 (updated August 30, 2019) Published by

6509 SP and increasing, this is the value of my account in STEEM POWER while in USD it is about 1280$ according to Steempeak.

I would not say that this amount of STEEM POWER is low… I am a consolidated and a proud DOLPHIN who has been working hard and investing in the worst time ever to do so and still doing it.

However my rewards today are almost half those of seven days ago…due to the NOT-SO-FAIR-AT-ALL Non-linear Rewards curve…

I have read that, right now, it is almost impossible to get rewarded by upvoting comments… and also that Bid-bots use are really required if you want to earn “anything” from your Hard-work…

Read this post written by the wizard @steemchiller , dev and owner of STEEMWORLD:

https://steemit.com/steemworld/@steemchiller/steemworld-update-managing-the-after-fork-effects

O maybe you are interested on reading this one from @blockchainstudio , who is another outstanding dev you must follow:

https://steemit.com/deathofpob/@blockchainstudio/convergent-linear-encourage-using-voting-bot

Before HF21, I personally was not a fun of maximizing my earnings nor by upvoting “succulent” comments neither by using Bid-bots and, of course, they are not in my present or future plans.

My plan is to continue working, engaging and searching for opportunities of building my STEEM POWER. I am buying again short amounts of STEEM, mainly using BITVAVO and I am planning to power-up some tomorrow, following the traditional SPUD5 day (STEEM POWER UP DAY) set by @streetstyle. By the way, if you want to try out BITVAVO and you want to help me growth my account, here you have my referral, https://bitvavo.com/?a=C658B92169 .

One alternative that I am using lately in order to mitigate a little the reduction of my rewards is @drugwars , I am playing this game once a day and it is currently providing me a relief in DWD (DrugWars Dollars) which is an Steem-engine token currently worth 0.03 Steem/token at the named market. If you play well you can earn a lot of DWD and so STEEM.

(I have a referral also for @drugwars , let me know at comments if you are interested on trying out the game and I will help you building your “empire” by giving you some good resources)

Then, I am always doing an “audit” of my STEEM-ENGINE Wallet, on a weekly basis.

I usually stake half of the tokens of those TRIBES that I am interested on, i.e LEO, PAL, SPORTS, PHOTO… with the rest I simply sell them.

This evening has been “harvesting” Time for me at the Steem-Engine market and I get 43 STEEMP in just one week:

As you can see, there are always options for growing your account, now it is just a question of changing a little bit your habits till now as a consequence of the #newsteem rules…which, by the way, I hope will be better balanced in the near future by another adjusting Hardfork, specially regarding what I think is an UNFAIR new rewarding curve.

@toofasteddie

Probably the most important new about crypto I have read lately.

August 30, 2019 (updated August 30, 2019) Published by

Ahhhhh, what an amazing country!

Just one week ago that I came back from a holiday trip at Portugal, mostly at Algarve and Lisbon area.

Chatting with my wife we both agreed that Portugal had surprised us in many aspects…

There we found an exemplary country in my opinion, excellent gastronomy, beautiful and clean beaches, preserved nature, modern and efficient infrastructure, healthy industry…

It gave us the impression that the country is emerging from the European economic crisis in a more efficient way than the rest of the southern countries …


… and not only at the traditional levels of the economy….

The Portugal Tax Authority has a very clear approach regarding BITCOIN and CRYPTOCURRENCIES:

“Cryptocurrency trading and payments in Portugal are exempted from tax”

Read the Authority Rule here (Portuguese language) and a more synthetic new here .

Do you think Spain and the rest of European countries will learn from Portugal’s Example?

@toofasteddie

U.N. flags need to cut meat to curb land use impact on global warming

August 30, 2019 (updated August 26, 2019) Published by

U.N. flags need to cut meat to curb land use impact on global warming (Reuters)

  • According to a recent report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global meat consumption must be reduced to curb global warming and alleviate strains on stretched land and water resources.
  • As human use directly affects more than 70% of the global ice-free land surface, plant-based foods and sustainable animal-sourced foods could free up several million square kilometres of land by 2050 and cut harmful emissions.
  • Last year’s report called for rapid changes across society to keep the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, while this year’s report states that “[t]he window for making these changes is closing fast. If there is further delay in reducing emissions, we will miss the opportunity to successfully manage the climate change transition in the land sector.”

Analysis and Comments

  • According to the report, agriculture, forestry and other land use activities accounted for 23% of total net man-made GHG emissions during 2007-2016 (excluding pre- and post-production activity in the food system).
  • While the IPCC stops short from actually telling people to go meat-free, it does advocate the benefits of a more plant-based alternative diet, which may be seen as a positive for players in this space (although this is not exactly news).
  • The Guardian published a highly critical response to the IPCC’s land and climate report (saying that it “irresponsibly understates the true carbon cost of our meat and dairy habits”), which includes a number of very interesting figures – well worth a read!  

Beyond Meat’s Share Price

Don’t give up…

August 29, 2019 (updated August 29, 2019) Published by

The picture above is self-explanatory of what I want to tell you.

Today I have read more posts complaining about the #newsteem as a consequence of the HF21 deployment.

Yes, it is a fact we have got a reduction on our post rewards but It does not seem to have been the case regarding curation rewards which, according to what I see in the estimations of Steemworld, will be more than double the curation rewards of exactly 7 days ago:

Here the 7 day estimation:

2 days ago my curation rewards were estimated around 8 SP per week but now I can start noticing that they have increased 1.55 SP.

If I run the estimative function at the same tool I get the following “prediction”:

That’s more than doubling my weekly curation!

I know it is still so early to get a realistic estimation about it. I have noticed as well that also the amazing Steemworld is struggling from time while calculating the data. The blockchain has to stabilize and it will take some time and maybe some more changes will come as for today, we know that devs and witnesses have deployed another version of the code, so called HF22 for fixing some potential security bugs.

Sadly what I clearly see in my FEED today is a substantial reduction of new posts created by the people I follow…

Maybe all these changes are/were necessary…or maybe not

Perhaps the economic changes will only benefit the bigger stakers…

Maybe simply it was not the best day to implement such a radical changes…with such a low behavior of STEEM at the market

Maybe, maybe…maybe…

I don’t know you but I am not going quit so easily…

I hope all of you will keep enjoying of this, “our Blockchain” even if you struggle now…Please, keep working, posting and engaging…I also have the firm conviction that we will succeed in the long run…if we get focused more on the marketing side…

@toofasteddie

“White” Rhino

August 29, 2019 (updated August 29, 2019) Published by

Sitting down after a long morning..

Categoryanimalphotography
Camera ~ LensNikon D3400 DSLR ~ 55-200 mm
LocationAustralia

Prompt / Theme: How do you like your coffee? Instant, plunger or machined?

Giveaway ? – 2 winner
Prize A: 1 Steem Basic Income
Prize B: 200 DEC

Winners will be chosen randomly after post payout. Please specify if you want a particular prize from those listed above.

Rules:
  • ? No Upvote, No Resteem, No Follow – just your responding comment required to enter.
  • Comment a reply directly to this post within 7 days. A genuine (family friendly) comment responding to the theme / prompt is required.
  • Posted or Commented 5 or more times during the week this post is active.
  • Not be on @cheetah’s blacklist.

Thanks for having a look ?

If you liked this photo follow @kiokizz for more.

Sentry

August 27, 2019 (updated August 27, 2019) Published by

A Meerkat on duty, watching over the tourists.

Categoryanimalphotography
Camera ~ LensNikon D3400 DSLR ~ 55-200 mm
LocationAustralia

Prompt / Theme: HF21; how has it affected you so far? Used your downvote pool yet?

Giveaway ? – 2 winners
Prize: 1 Steem Basic Income share + 100 DEC

Winners will be chosen randomly after post payout.

Rules:
  • ? No Upvote, No Resteem, No Follow – just your responding comment required to enter.
  • Comment a reply directly to this post within 7 days. A genuine (family friendly) comment responding to the theme / prompt is required.
  • Posted or Commented 5 or more times during the week this post is active.
  • Not be on @cheetah’s blacklist.

Thanks for having a look ?

If you liked this photo follow @kiokizz for more.

Survey says consumers avoid electric cars due to three myths: range, price, charging (electrek)

August 26, 2019 (updated August 26, 2019) Published by

Survey says consumers avoid electric cars due to three myths: range, price, charging (electrek)

  • According to a new survey by Autolist, the top reasons for not buying an EV were range, price, and charging, with c. 40% of respondents concerned about these issues.
  • The author makes the argument that these concerns are outdated, as EV prices are already below US$30k (after fuel cost advantage), provide a range of ~250miles, and the are thousands of charging points every where in the US.
  • One of the positive insights from the survey is that the majority of consumers (55%) now said they would use an EV as their primary vehicle rather than as a secondary vehicle (which was previously the top answer).

Analysis and Comments

  • This article fits in well with the investor’s view as to the process by which EV uptake will occur
  • The short version is that, as the article highlights, the key issue around EV adoption will be familiarity. For most consumers, current EVs are perfectly suitable for day to day use. Most of us just don’t drive far enough to need to recharge more than once a day (as with the person in this story). So the key is getting people to try one.
  • This does not understate the charging infrastructure challenge; yes, there is a lot more that needs to be done to roll out charging stations, especially fast chargers. But this is a solvable problem.
  • As with similar innovations, the adoption curve starts slowly and then rapidly accelerates – we expect to hit this inflection sometime in the mid 2020s. Tailwinds to this include tougher emission standards & city centre driving restrictions & potential headwinds include cutting of subsidies and a lack of affordable model choice.

The article also makes an important point:

  • Auto makers don’t need to keep making the range further & further, if the cost is more expensive batteries & hence a very expensive EV. The alternative is cheaper shorter range EVs, possibly with a lease package that includes the occasional use of a petrol car for longer trips

First day at the Office: Bougth 300 STEEM at BITVAVO and…

August 26, 2019 (updated August 26, 2019) Published by

…drank a couple of beers during lunchtime, just to avoid a drastic change on my psychological integrity ;-)…

By the way, I have to say and certify that Bitvavo works excellently.

The process of signing, verifying, transfering FIAT and buying STEEM have been done very fast and without problem.

Also, as I wrote in the title, I have spent 50 Euros, transferred directly from my Bank Account via SEPA, buying 301 STEEM this morning…

The fee has been minuscule (0.13 Euro) in my opinion, 0.25% which is peanuts!

If you are an EU resident and you want to buy or sell STEEM without having to buy first BTC or ETH or even use the Blocktrades conversions, you should try BITVAVO .

These 300 STEEM are planned to be powered up in my account but, since I expect to have some nice movements in the price of STEEM these days due to the HF21, which is coming tomorrow, for the moment, I am going to keep them at BITVAVO, just in case I can take some advantage :-)…

I am puting my referral and @soyrosa ‘s referrals below so we can get a portion in your trading fees, which, as I said, they are very tiny… @soyrosa wrote a post a few days ago informing about “The easiest way to buy STEEM directly in Europe – no more crypto conversions needed!” so, I would like to thank her about the discovery.

Referral Link of @soyrosa: https://bitvavo.com/?a=555DB85EE6

My Referral Link : https://bitvavo.com/?a=C658B92169

@toofasteddie

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