THINK FIRST! THEN REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE

View original post

Created from plastic bottle collected on a Florida beach.

REDUCE - REUSE - RECYCLE

It rolls of the tongue pretty easy in this order and that's perfect, because we should be thinking in that order. So, let start in that order.

When you throw something away, what does "away" mean to you? When we throw something away it's usually because we have no use for it any more or we really just want it away from us. Perhaps it stinks or it's just old, ugly or is no longer useful. Maybe it's hazardous or dangerous, so we want some distance. We all know, whatever it is, it won't just disappear and cease to exist any longer. So, we throw it away, only to become part of an environment far from us. Unfortunately, it will become part of someone's or something's environment. Sadly, that can spell disaster for other's lives. On the bright side, we can modify our purchasing habits by considering the end-life of the products we buy. 

Reducing and Reusing Basics

The most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place. Making a new product requires a lot of materials and energy - raw materials must be extracted from the earth, and the product must be fabricated then transported to wherever it will be sold. As a result, reduction and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment and save money.

Benefits of Reducing and Reusing

• Prevents pollution by reducing the need to harvest new raw materials
• Saves energy
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change
• Helps sustain the environment for future generations
• Reduces the amount of waste that will need to be recycled or sent to landfills and incinerators
• Allows products to be used to their fullest extent
• Saves money

Ideas on How to Reduce and Reuse

• Buy used. You can find everything from clothes to building materials at specialized reuse centers and consignment shops. Often, used items are less expensive and just as good as new.
• Look for products that use less packaging. When manufacturers make their products with less packaging, they use less raw material. This reduces waste and costs. These extra savings can be passed along to the consumer. Buying in bulk, for example, can reduce packaging and save money.
• Buy reusable over disposable items. Look for items that can be reused; the little things can add up. For example, you can bring your own silverware and cup to work, rather than using disposable items.
• Maintain and repair products, like clothing, tires and appliances, so that they won't have to be thrown out and replaced as frequently.
• Borrow, rent or share items that are used infrequently, like party decorations, tools or extra chair and tables.

Donation

One person's trash is another person's treasure. Instead of discarding unwanted appliances, tools or clothes, try selling or donating them. Not only will you be reducing waste, you'll be helping others. Local churches, community centers, thrift stores, schools and nonprofit organizations may accept a variety of donated items, including used books, working electronics and unneeded furniture.

Resources for Donating Specific Goods and Materials
A quick Google search and you find a group to take just about anything, but here are a few for starters:

• Your local schools
• Households and Personal Items: Goodwill, Salvation Army, ClothingDonations.org
• Donate your used electronics
• Building Materials
• Vehicles: Kars4Kids, Wheels4Wishes
• General: Charity Watch

Recycling
There's a lot more to recycling than just single use plastic bottles, bags and aluminum cans. A large percentage of what we purchase and consume has some potential for recycling. We can make that percentage higher by being conscious about the products we purchase and whether one product is better suited for recycling. We may not think about them often, but some of the items we should be recycling include old tires, clothing, motor oil, food scraps, cell phones, laptops, batteries, yard clippings and so much more. We'll explore some of them here and offer some tips to help you recycle them.

Recycling Basics

Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products. Recycling can benefit your community and the environment.

Benefits of Recycling

• Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators
• Conserves natural resources such as timber, water and minerals
• Increases economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials
• Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials
• Saves energy
• Supports American manufacturing and conserves valuable resources
• Helps create jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States
• Earn Money

Steps to Recycling Materials

Recycling includes the three steps below, which create a continuous loop, represented by the familiar recycling symbol.

Recycle Symbol

Step 1: Collection Processing

• There are several methods for collecting recyclables, including curbside collection, drop-off centers, and deposit or refund programs.
• After collection, recyclables are sent to a recovery facility to be sorted, cleaned and processed into materials that can be used in manufacturing.
• Recyclables are bought and sold just like raw materials would be, and prices go up and down depending on supply and demand in the United States and the world.

Step 2: Manufacturing

• More and more of today's products are being manufactured with recycled content. Common household items that contain recycled materials include the following:
• Newspapers and paper towels
• Aluminum, plastic, and glass soft drink containers
• Steel cans
• Plastic laundry detergent bottles
• Recycled materials are also used in new ways such as recovered glass in asphalt to pave roads or recovered plastic in carpeting and park benches.

Step 3: Buy Recycled

You help close the recycling loop by buying new products made from recycled materials. There are thousands of products that contain recycled content. When you go shopping, look for the products that can be easily recycled. Of course, that can be hard to do at times, especially with misleading marketing claims and labels.

What do the symbols mean on the bottom of plastic bottles and containers?

These symbols were created by plastic manufacturers to help people identify the kind of plastic resin used to make the container. This can help you determine if the container can be accepted by your local recycling program. The resin number is contained in a triangle, which looks very similar to the recycling symbol, but this does not necessarily mean it can be collected for recycling in your community.

What are the most common items that I can put into my curbside recycling bin?

• Cardboard
• Paper
• Food boxes
• Mail
• Beverage cans
• Food cans
• Glass bottles
• Jars (glass and plastic)
• Jugs
• Plastic bottles and caps

Used Oil

Never dump your used motor oil down the drain — the used oil from one oil change can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water. By recycling your used oil, you not only help keep our water supply clean, but help reduce American dependence on foreign oil. It takes 42 gallons of crude oil, but only one gallon of used oil, to produce 2.5 quarts of new motor oil. Many garages and auto-supply stores that sell motor oil also accept oil for recycling. Check out our resources on learning to manage, reuse or recycle your used oil. You can also find a motor oil recycler near at Earth911.

How do I know what my local recycling options are?
Contact your local county or municipality to determine your local recycling options. Additionally, please check out the I Want to Be Recycled website for more information.

Can I recycle plastic bags and wrap/film? If so, how and where?
First, be sure to cut off the zippers (if necessary). Many grocery and department stores will accept plastic bags and wrap/film. Ask your local grocery and department store, or visit the Plastic Film Recycling website or Earth911 to find a location nearest you that recycles plastic bags and plastic wrap/film.

 

Can I recycle Food and Drink Containers?

• Styrofoam: While most recyclers don’t accept Styrofoam, check with your local recycling provider first to be certain.
• Egg cartons: It depends on the material of the carton. Check with your local recycling provider first to be certain.

Can I recycle materials with food residue or does the material have to be perfectly clean? 

Generally, plastic, metal and glass materials must be empty and rinsed clean of food debris before being recycled. Paper materials must be empty, clean and dry before being recycled. Wet paper/food-soiled paper products may be compostable.

What should I do with dirty diapers? 
Generally, you should flush the excrement down the toilet and then place the diaper in the trash. Also, consider using reusable cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers. You can also check with your local solid waste agency/recycling provider first.

The next part to this post will focus on some of the more hazardous materials around our homes. You can catch the continuation and other environmental news and tips by signing up for the Green Home blog here.

YOU'RE WRONG ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Who are you following?

View original post

Why is it that our planet’s environment and climate change are such politically divisive topics in America today? At the extremes some would say, because they shouldn’t even be topics while others would say, because we’re running out of time to save the planet. I get both responses, but I’m interested in why we respond the way we do. Why is it that one side or the other is labeled as Republican or Democrat? Let’s take a look.

It’s clear that many Americans view environmentalists or environmental activists as Democrat? Do they want it to be so? Do Republicans want to disassociate themselves from both labels? If you look at our history, there’s really no connection between political parties and environmentalism. I’m reminded of watching my favorite hockey team when they’ve played inconsistently; they play the whole first period in their offensive zone and then they play the whole second period in their defensive zone. It’s like they changed jerseys between periods. Democratic and Republican administrations have done the same. How did this happen?

How many of you relate to the following associations? Republican are conservative and Democrats are liberal. We already know these associations are held by a majority of American voters. How about these associations? Republicans are anti-environment and Democrats are pro-environment. You’re not going to like this part, but you know it’s true. Many Americas extend these labels so much further.

Republicans = right-wing, fascist, conservative, racist, anti-environment, pro-life, and they hate all Democratic presidents, VP’s and so on.

Democrats = left-wing, socialist, liberal, non-racial, pro-environment, pro-choice, and they hate all Republican presidents, VP’s and so on.

How many of you hate me now? Just know, I didn’t make this up. This is reality for many Americans and it’s easy to see why.

Your dog agrees

Here’s another question for you. Was Theodore Roosevelt a Democrat or a Republican? It’s cool if you google it before replying. I’m curious about your thoughts, because many would define him as the first and greatest president for environmental advocacy. He signed into law the Antiquities act, giving presidents the authority to proclaim federal lands as National Monuments. He created 5 national parks and 50 wildlife refuges, set aside 150 million acres of timberland and helped create the US Forest Service. As a Republican, he may own the title as the most positively impactful environmental president. Yes, he was a republican.

Few need to be reminded that Richard Nixon was a Republican, but how many recall that the EPA was erected under his administration? His Clean Air Act forced the EPA to create and enforce air pollution regulations. I can tell you, from personal experience, this act improved the air quality in Southern California in a big way.

So, how did we become so divided on environmental issues? Forty years ago, environmental scores were pretty evenly distributed in the house and the senate. Today, it’s very different. So much so that politicians and candidates, on both sides, are afraid to dissent. The Pew Research Center shared the following insight. “When it comes to getting news about politics and government, liberals and conservatives inhabit different worlds. There is little overlap in the news sources they turn to and trust. And whether discussing politics online or with friends, they are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals.”

What makes matters worse is our ignorance about both parties. “At one level, these conclusions are hardly surprising. After all, previous research has shown that Democrats and Republicans have wildly false notions of the demographic make-up of the opposing party. Similar to the relationships I cited earlier, Democrats think Republicans are older, richer, and more Evangelical than they really are. Republicans think Democrats are more secular, black, and gay than they really are.” Shockingly, studies have shown that the most “politically disengaged” Americans are fully three times more accurate in their estimates of political opponents.

This is where social media plays a large role. We follow the groups, people and organizations that hold similar views to our own and then we’re bombarded by their headlines and quotes. With so much bombardment and limited time to qualify, research or even read what’s behind the headline, we simply file it as true or false and move on.

There’s plenty of evidence indicating that we’re letting ourselves be manipulated by a “news bubble” of our own creation. Christopher Bail and colleagues from Duke University surveyed a large sample of Democrats and Republicans, who visit Twitter at least three times each week, about a range of social policy issues. One week later, they randomly assigned respondents to a treatment condition in which they were offered financial incentives to follow a Twitter bot for 1 month that exposed them to messages from those with opposing political ideologies (e.g., elected officials, opinion leaders, media organizations, and nonprofit groups). Respondents were resurveyed at the end of the month to measure the effect of the treatment, and at regular intervals throughout the study period to monitor treatment compliance. They found that Republicans who followed a liberal Twitter bot became substantially more conservative post-treatment.

There’s an amazing amount of material being written today about America’s political divide. There’s also a great deal of ongoing research taking place and most of it makes clear, we’re losing focus on real issues. We’re not seeking facts or truths. We’re seeking acceptance and easy answers for complicated issues. We’re doing this via social media.

You may have read this far, because you wanted me to tell you why your views on climate change and our environment are wrong. However, it's more likely that you read this far expecting that I’d offer some confirmation of your own views on the subjects. After all, you probably found this piece on an environmental page somewhere on-line and inside your “news bubble”.

By Mac Bishop