May/June 2008 Issue

Consumer Retorts: Transportation Security Administration

If you’re going to take my water bottle, can you freakin’ recycle it?

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CONSUMER RETORTS

Consumer Retorts

TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

THE FEDERAL ban on carry-on liquids may help stop terrorists, but it’s not doing much for the planet. A now-ubiquitous feature of airport security lines around the country is a row of garbage cans overflowing with glass and plastic bottles. In some cities, individual airports handle the contraband; in others, TSA hires contractors to remove it. So does the TSA recycle any of it? Nope. Spokesman Nico Melendez says he’s never thought of recycling the bottles. “Why can’t they go to landfills?” he wonders. And frankly, he says, the problem isn’t TSA’s to solve—it’s up to passengers to know the rules and to pack accordingly. By the end of our conversation, Melendez is more circumspect. “We’re not averse to doing something environmentally friendly with the stuff,” he concludes. “Someone just needs to have a solution.”

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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