Archive for the ‘Green Action’ Category

Did You Know?

• It takes seven gallons of oil to produce one tire. Five gallons of butadiene and styrene gasoline comprises the substances that tires are made out of, and two gallons of gas are used to generate the energy needed to manufacture the tires.

• Dumping waste tires in non-designated areas is hazardous to our health and to our natural habitat, AND it is against the law.

• An estimated 250 million waste tires are discarded every year.

• If you and your parents perform certain tire maintenance steps such as rotation, inflation, balance, and alignment, you can extend tire life and decrease waste tire generation by 15 percent.

• It is important to recycle your tires because improper disposal/illegal dumping can result in fires that are difficult to extinguish. When tire piles catch fire, the melted rubber generates oil that can pollute surface and groundwater. Furthermore, tire piles tend to collect water creating a perfect breeding space for disease carrying animals such as mosquitoes, snakes, and rats.
• 

How are they recycled, and what are they made into?

In the USA, reusing or recycling tires keeps them out of landfills. When buying new tires, leave your old ones with the dealer. Many communities have designated recycling drop-off centers where you can safely and responsibly dispose of your tires.

The majority of recycled waste tires are used as a source of energy, otherwise known as tire-derived fuel or TDF. When heated in combustion facilities, most notably in cement kilns, pulp and paper mill boilers, and power utility boilers, energy is produced and used as fuel to power these facilities.

Waste tires can also be used to make many useful objects. When all non-rubber material is removed from the tires, rubber chips are left over to make crumb-rubber modified asphalt, which is used to pave highways. Waste tires can also be made into doormats, water hoses, shoe soles, door stoppers, playground and athletic surfaces, non-slip products, sheet rubber for manufacturing products, and artificial reefs for marine life habitats.

Read More: Source of Information: Seminole County/Recycle Tires

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Free Burma Action Day!

International bloggers gathering today in support for the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons.

Make A Difference: Make a donation to the Democratic Voice of Burma

 

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Have you ever noticed how much trash is created by all the packaging that comes with every new item we buy. Have you noticed how many things we throw away that could be otherwise used.

• Buy items in bulk from loose bins when possible to reduce the packaging wasted.
• Maintain and repair durable products instead of buying new ones.
• Buy products that you can reuse.
• Avoid products with several layers of packaging when only one is sufficient. About 33 of what we throw away is packaging.
• Check reports for products that are easily repaired and have low breakdown rates.
• Reuse items like bags and containers when possible.
• Use cloth napkins instead of paper ones.
• Use reusable plates and utensils instead of disposable ones.
• Use reusable containers to store food instead of aluminum foil and cling wrap.
• Shop with a canvas bag instead of using paper and plastic bags.
• Buy rechargeable batteries for devices used frequently.
• Reuse packaging cartons and shipping materials. Old newspapers make great packaging material.
• Compost your vegetable scraps.
• Buy used furniture (sometimes called Antiques)- there is a surplus of it, and it is much cheaper than new furniture.

Use the 3rs of the Environment: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

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Earth Saving Tips from

PULLING THE PLUG ON SPRING-CLEANING “E-WASTE”

If your spring cleaning turns up unwanted computers, TVs, or other electronic equipment, you’re not alone. Consumer electronics are a fast-growing portion of America’s trash. More than 3.2 million tons of electronic waste is laid to rest in landfills each year. And 250 million more computers will become obsolete between now and 2005 — not to mention countless other electronic goods.

When thrown into a landfill, computers, printers, cell phones, fax machines— even portable CD players and electric toothbrushes — can leak lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, selenium, chromium, and many other toxic materials into drinking water, where it can threaten our families’ health.

There are many resources to help you keep “e-waste” from harming ourselves and the environment:

Reusing electronic equipment is the best use. If you can’t reuse the equipment yourself

— for example, turning an old personal computer into a server for a household network — try donating it to a school, social service organization, or other nonprofit organization in your community. (Be aware that many groups don’t accept older or nonworking equipment.)

Recycling keeps e-waste from landfills. Most communities have recycling services available, including both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Seek a recycler carefully. The best ones dismantle equipment, saving reusable parts before turning the remainder of the equipment into recyclable scrap. Avoid “recyclers” that ship e-waste overseas (usually to Asian countries) where it often is burned, polluting poor communities with toxic smoke.

Here are some things you can do to help reduce e-waste:

Stop thinking of used electronics as “junk.” Just because you have outgrown something, it isn’t worthless. Even if it is no longer satisfactory for you, your computer may be of use to others.

Keep e-waste out of landfills. If you cannot find ways to donate equipment, locate recycling resources in your community. Check the phone book, the Internet, and local government agencies.

Don’t do it yourself. Don’t crack open electronic equipment on your own. In addition to the hazardous materials they contain, some equipment carries an electrical charge long after being unplugged. You could get a dangerous or deadly shock!

Encourage electronics manufacturers to adopt take-back programs.

The best way to minimize e-waste is to make it easy for consumers to send equipment back to the factory for recycling. Call or write manufacturers asking them to do this.

RESOURCES ON THE WEB

Here are Web-based resources that can help:

Nonprofit donations:

• www.usedcomputer.com/nonprof.html

• www.sharetechnology.org

Recycling Directories:

• microweb.com/pepsite/Recycle/recycle_index.html

• www.earth911.org

More Tips:

• http://g2bgreen.com/green-to-do-list

 

“Earth Share, a federation of America’s leading non-profit environmental and conservation charities, promotes environmental education and charitable giving in workplace employee campaigns. For more tips or to find out how your workplace can help the earth, visit www.earthshare.org or call 1.800.875.3863″

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The Locavore movement originated in San Francisco and has spread coast to coast as more and more people look for ways to cut down on the resources used to grow and transport the food we eat. Instead they choose to buy locally grown foods that also support Local Farmers. This is a great idea and if it really catches on across the country it would really cut down on the resources used by the trucks and trains to transport all the foods that we find in our supermarkets. Of course it would also limit the variety of foods available in each region of the country. Everything can not be grown everywhere. Every region has its own weather, and can only sustain certain types of fruits and vegetables. But it helps to use what Local Farmers have to offer.

Some folks, “Extreme Locavores “, go even as far as growing everything themeselves, including the animals they eat. One man in Brooklyn, New York decided that he would try being one of these people and set out to create his farm in his 800 sq ft. back yard in Brooklyn. But his attempt to eat only what he grows, turned out to be harder and more expensive that originally thought.

Read More: news.yahoo.com/: New Yorker pushes limits of the”locavore” life

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Most of us have the basic ingredients for making our own Eco friendly cleaning products already in our cabinets, we just don’t know how to put them together.( source: Home and Garden Magazine: Living Green/ and Recipes from Green Clean)

• Baking Soda:
  
  • Can be used for scouring, and it’s a natural deodorizer. It works best at cleaning grease, proteins and Animal messes.
• Distilled White Vinegar:
  Can be used to clean soap scum, dissolves scale and works well on mold. It also works well on stains from coffee, tea and rust.
• Soap:
  • Castille Soap made with Olive Oil or Vegetable based soaps attach to soil at the molecular level.
• Recipes:
  • Soft Scrub:Mix a 1/8 cup of Baking Soda and soap to a creamy mixture.
  • Appliance Cleaner: Dry Baking Soda will shine up small appliances.
  • Toilet Cleaner/ Deodorizer: Put 1/4 cup Baking Soda and 1/4 cup Vinegar into the bowl and clean with brush.
  • Oven Cleaner: Sprinkle Baking Soda on stains in oven the sprinkle with water. Let sit for several hours or overnight. Then scrub out stains and rinse with water.
  • Hardwood Floor Cleaner: Mix a 1/4 cup of Vinegar with one gallon of warm water. Mop wood or linoleum floors then rinse out.
  • Glass Cleaner: Mix equal parts Vinegar and Water and put in a spray bottle. this mixture can also be used for cleaning countertops, lightly soiled range surfaces and backsplash areas.

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Friends of mine built their dream house in Florida not too long ago. They have a couple of acres and a huge pond in front of their house. While at their house I noticed that they have an extension attached to the ends of the gutters that goes underground. Now I found that rather strange, so I asked where that water was ending up. They told me that when they were designing the house they thought about how they were going to maintain the pond water level up, so they decided that diverting the rain water to the pond would be a good way to help do that. They had an extra expense while they were setting up the system, but now can capture all the rain water that comes their way. Not a bad way to recycle rain water.

It occurred to me that there must be many re-uses for rain water. Here are a few of the easier ideas to implement. These come especially handy in those areas throughout the country where there are water restrictions due to dryer weather.

Other ways to recycle rain water is to divert the water into rain barrels and then reuse the water for you garden, cleaning or even flushing your toilets. It can also be used for drinking but would have to be filtered and that requires a cistern and several filters and a purification system, not an easy or cheap process but it can be done. For now we’ll stick to the easier ones.

For Garden Use:

If you use a rain barrel you can attach a faucet to the bottom and then attach a Soaker Hose to the faucet. Place the soaker hose around the plants you want to water and turn the faucet on, this system uses gravity to drain the water. Several rain barrels around the house should water the majority of your garden.

Read More: Build your own Rain Barrel System

For Cleaning:

The water can be used for cleaning projects around the house: Washing your car, hose down your driveway, paths and patios, clean out the gutters, it might even work with the faucet attached to the rain barrel and a power washer? (Not sure, but maybe worth a try)

For Flushing Toilets:

Another way I found out where rain water could be recycled, is to use it to flush toilets. Here’s a site that shows how to do this.

Rain Barrel to toilet installation

If you’ve discovered other ways to recycle rain water, please share them with us.

rain barrel recycling rain water water conservation

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John Muir left as his legacy an enduring spirit of respect for the environment.

It should be our goal to leave the same Legacy for our kids. How do we teach our kids about the environment, and how to take care of it. Obviously, first and foremost by example. But there is a site that can help explain about the environment and how we impact it in a fun way for kids. The EPA has a site for kids, that teaches them all about climate and weather, Greenhouse Effects, Global Warming, the History of Climate on Earth, our impact on the environment, and what we can do to make a difference. It’s an interactive site full of Fun Facts and Games and Quiz’s and Animations, Interactive Storybooks you can download, they even have an area for Teachers Tools.

All this and more can be found at the EPA’S Environmental Kids Club

The EPA Climate Change Kids Site

Happy Earth Day Coloring and Activities Book

On the Trail of the Missing Ozone

Recycle City

EcoKids Online

 

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I know, it’s hard to believe but there are still cities out there that don’t have a recycling program. I know this for sure because my brother lives in one of those cities. Every time I go to his house and see what goes into the garbage, my heart breaks. I thought that maybe we could collectively do something about this. Let’s see if we can make some noise.

If you live in a city that still does not have a recycling program. Send your city the message: “We Want Curbside Recycling”

You can easily find your City’s Website by typing the city’s name followed by .org or just Google it! Or just simply click on the icon and it will take you to a city directory.

If your city doesn’t recycle leave a comment here with the name of the city you live in, and we can all send them a message and I will list them on one the “GREEN LISTS” pages.

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The message was Keep it Green. But were the Concerts True to the Message?

The Event was held at 7 Locations throughout the world. Just to put together regular Concerts is hard enough, now to make sure that they were kept Green must have been logistical nightmare. “At all seven locations, wind and solar energy was purchased from local utilities to offset the energy demand. Bio-fuel was used to power on-site generators for the shows at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium, London’s Wembley Stadium, and at Rio’s Copacabana Beach, which, with some 400,000 revelers, drew the event’s biggest audience. Energy-efficient LED’s were used for stage lighting. Plywood normally used for ground cover and tent-flooring was replaced with mats made from reusable composite materials. Carbon credits will eventually be bought to offset the air travel of event staff and performers.”

If the message got through it will all have been worth it.

 

Read More: MSNBC.com: How Green Was Live Earth?

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Recently San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom banned water bottles at City Office, the US Conference of Mayors pass a resolution calling for a study of the negative environmental impact of bottled water and praising the high quality of municipal tap water. Pepsico is forced to put Source labels on Aquafina, award-winning writer Charles Fishman writes that the bottled water habit is a shameful American indulgence.

All this has prompted the bottled water industry to fight back, taking out full page ads to defend their stance.

 

Read More: msnbc.com: Green Water: The bottled-water industry has taken a knock over claims that its product is bad for the environment. Now it’s fighting back.

banning bottled water bottled water industry environment environmental impact green water minicipal water san francisco tap water us conference of mayors

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• Improve your soil. Find a local nursery and take them a sample of your soil. They can test it and tell you what you need to improve it.

• Let the good bugs do their work. Beneficial Insects

• Choose the right plants. Choose types that are resistant to disease and pests and are not water hogs. Also choose many different types of plants, makes you less vulnerable to diseases.

• Don’t jump for the chemicals at the first sign of bugs. Most bugs are beneficial in the garden. Try knocking the bugs off with a spray of water, or cutting off the diseases area of the plant.

• Avoid using pesticides, they end up killing more than you intend.

• Choose Native plants, they are already adapted to your environment and will require less time and effort from you.

• Weeds Happen! Get used to it. Try ground covers you can step on or crowding them out by spacing planting s closer together.

• Fertilize Naturally. Composting

• Water Smartly.

  • Water less frequently but for longer periods of time. This will give your garden a deeper watering and promote deeper roots.
  • Water between 5 am and 10 am, so that water is less wasted through evaporation, and leaves have time to dry out.

• Use Mulch. It crowds out the weeds, saves water and feeds the soil.

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Did you know that you can recycle your Cell Phone?

Most of us upgrade our Cell Phones every couple of years. What happens to those phones?
Most end up tucked away somewhere for months until we decide to clear up the clutter in our homes, and then we end up taking the chip out of the phone and throwing it in the garbage.

Did you know?… “These devices can leak Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic and other toxic substances into the water supply. Municipalities often incinerate their waste, instantly putting these toxic elements into the air, and they return to earth in rain water. Since life on Earth depends on water, the threat is clear.” CollectiveGood

Now you can recycle your mobile phones, pagers or PDAs through Earth Share’s partnership with the CollectiveGood Mobile Phone Recycling Program! It’s free, easy to use, and you will be helping to support a healthier environment. Depending upon the phone model, a fixed amount per phone will be donated to Earth Share. ** PLUS, free shipping is continued - for a limited time only!

DONATE YOUR CELL PHONE THRU EARTH SHARE

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Although the final effects of such a large undertaking is still to be seen, the intention was good.

Did it hurt more than it helped?

Read More: Washington Post.com: Live Earth London Glacial Pacing

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Concerts were a huge hit.

If you missed any of it Live Earth MSN has it all, Pictures, Highlights,

and all the Concert Videos.

Take a look at the pictures: Live Earth on MSN: Photos

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