Sustainablog

I’ve been thinking.

Since I’m not an ironclad expert on … well, much of anything … what I think I bring to any discussion table is the interest in critical thought. And, as I’ve mentioned in past posts here at sustainablog, even that contribution – or the interest in making it – has wavered in recent months.

Then I had a bit of an epiphany – or maybe just a piece of an epiphany with the rest to flesh out as I continue to regain equilibrium in analyzing these lofty world issues, such as related to the environment, politics, culture wars and what the hell happened to Chase Daniel’s run at the Heisman Trophy.

What I realized was this: I’m not wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday, I wrote about the dip in demand for recyclable materials. Recyclables are piling up in warehouses, and as long as the economy continues to head in the direction it’s heading, demand probably won’t increase. It’s a problem. What’s the solution?

I’m not sure what the solution is in the grand scheme of things, but I know that I can contribute to a small part of the solution. I can step up the reduce and reuse part of reduce, reuse, recycle. If I produce less recyclables, and you produce less recyclables, it will help. It might not solve the entire problem, but it will help.

Here’s what I plan to do: Read the rest of this entry »

Before anyone starts screaming, “What, I thought I was supposed to recycle! This girl is crazy.” let me explain. I’m not advocating throwing recyclables in the trash to end up in a landfill. I’m talking about putting more focus on the first two parts of the environmentalist’s mantra - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve watched with perhaps a little too much pride as the pile of trash I’ve put out on Fridays has shrunk and the pile of recyclables I put out on Thursdays has grown. I have successfully reduced the amount of trash I generate. Recently I’ve realized that’s not enough. I need to now start reducing the amount of recycling I generate.

About a month ago, I started to see news reports stating that the demand for recyclables has dropped. The economic plunge has taken the recycling market off the cliff with it. According to an article on GreenBiz.com,

Consumers are buying fewer products made in China, and with fewer products being shipped overseas, there is a lesser need for boxes and packaging materials to move those items, according to The Journal of Commerce. Chinese producers, therefore, need fewer materials to make packaging and items.

“A lot of the material was going to China to make boxes for all the things they were shipping back to the United States,” Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington, told the Sacramento Bee. “When they aren’t producing products, they don’t need the packaging materials.” Read the rest of this entry »

This past spring, my family and I were able to get all the compost we needed for our vegetable garden from a local community’s compost pile at their department of public works. The compost was created from all of the leaves and yard clippings that had been collected curbside. Many communities collect leaves, clippings and other outside organic matter to turn into compost, but some communities are taking it a step further.

Cities such as San Francisco, Minneapolis, Toronto, and Boulder all have programs in place that allow residents to place food scraps curbside to be turned into compost.

Food that is mixed in with regular trash is estimated to make up about 40% of the trash in landfills. It also is the biggest offender in creating landfill methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas - 72 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Reducing landfill methane is just one of the benefits of keeping this type of waste out of landfills.

According to San Francisco’s environmental site

Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: I originally published this post on Intent.com

November 15th is America Recycles Day! As Robin noted on Tuesday, it’s an occasion that can create mixed feelings for us “greenies”: yes, it’s great to have recognition of the importance of recycling in our daily lives, but the very existence of America Recycles Day reminds us that, in many cases, American’s don’t recycle… or, not nearly enough of us, anyway. We need to address that issue on the level of mindset as well as accessibility: many of us don’t think about our disposal of “waste” as we should, but many others don’t have access to convenient recycling services… and we’d like both to change.

I’d imagine both of those issues will receive plenty of attention today. I’d like to bring up another concept that doesn’t get discussed as much: recycling as a moral yardstick for one’s commitment to environmental protection and restoration.  You know what I’m talking about: the mixture of disbelief and downright contempt many of us experience, and express, when we find out someone doesn’t separate recyclables out from their home waste stream.  “You don’t recycle?!” We often “ask” this rhetorical question with a tone reserved for question like “You don’t vote?” or “You don’t wash your hands after using the bathroom?” Failure to recycle is a personal and social failing akin to passing gas at a cocktail party…

OK, maybe that’s a little strong, but I do think we tend to approach the act of recycling as a sign of virtue.  I don’t know that this is always the best way to get more people not only separating out waste paper and aluminum cans from the “trash,” but also thinking about the impact of their consumption choices.  As someone who’s been guilty of all the above-mentioned sins, I’d like to share my resolutions for this America Recycles Day (why wait until New Year?).

Read the rest of this entry »

November 15th is officially America Recycles Day. Sponsored by the National Recycling Coalition, America Recycles Day

is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products. Celebrating its 11th year, it has grown to include millions of Americans pledging to increase their recycling habits at home and work and to buy products made with recycled materials.

I know that attention needs to be called to recycling so I don’t have a problem with the National Recycling Coalition sponsoring this day.

What I have to wonder, though, is why isn’t America at the point where a day like this is obsolete? Why do we need to have a special day to remind us to recycle? Why isn’t recycling so ingrained in our life that we don’t even think twice about it? Shouldn’t every day be America Recycles Day by now?

I already know one of the answers. For so long we’ve been focused on convenience and recycling can seem inconvenient. I realized just how inconvenient some people viewed it when my town went to single stream, or co-mingled, recycling pick up. Instead of having to separate the items that are picked up in our curbside recycling program, residents can now put them all in one container. I found out at our town Green Team meeting that this would increase how much gets recycled in our town.

I asked why.  I was told that statistically, people are much more willing to recycle when they don’t have to separate items.

Seriously? Some people won’t separate their paper from their cans/bottles? It’s too much work?

Read the rest of this entry »

My daughter and I are guests in a state-of-the-art green home, and I have just finished plunging a clogged toilet on her behalf.  I feel queasy. Though I only have to do this a couple of times a year, I feel mildly traumatized.  Sure, it’s nasty, but the part that bothers me most is the toilet itself.

The way I see it, flush toilets are a relic of the past. They consume precious drinking water and produce a disproportionate volume of toxic, bio-hazardous waste. Even low-flush toilets are hybrid Hummers, a field improvement on a fundamentally bad idea.

Aesthetically speaking, does anyone dispute that flush toilets are just plain gross? Hey, other than clogging, splash-back, overflows, streaking, and sound amplification, what’s not to like?

As it turns out, the problems posed by “modern sanitation” are immense, but completely unnecessary.
Read the rest of this entry »

Fellow sustainablogger Robin Shreeves recently wrote a great and helpful post — Your Trash Just Doesn’t Disappear, Stupid! (Or How To Make Sure Useful Things Stay Out of Landfills) — that touches on a bit of a phenomenon that piques my interest: mongoing, freeganism, dumpster diving.

The term “dumpster diving” probably conjures certain derogatory images: “bums,” lowlife dregs of society sifting through mostly rotten morsels of discarded food for sustenance.

Pushing aside such an unfortunate view of human beings living, hopefully only temporarily, in such unfortunate circumstances, let’s look at what dumpster diving has become: environmentally friendly, if not downright urban chic. Read the rest of this entry »

Buying second-hand products is always green, but it’s easy to be discouraged by the stories of broken laptops from eBay or Craigslist. To quell these fears, here is a 10-step checklist on how to find a used laptop that isn’t just a high-tech lemon.

Most wouldn’t flinch at the idea of buying a used car, but the thought of a used computer sends them squirming. The tech industry tries their hardest to keep it that way: they advertise new products in such a way to render the previous models perceptually obsolete; they block even the simplest hardware upgrades; and they sell bottom-of-the-line models that simply break within a couple years.

This shouldn’t scare you away from a used computer purchase, but know that they are imperfect machines; some research, determination, and basic knowledge is required. To make this list, I used both my own experience along with some tips from Peter Montesano of Peter’s PC Repair, one of the most highly regarded repair shops in San Francisco.

Read the rest of this entry »

Upcycling, a phrase coined by Cradle to Cradle authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart, is the act of creating useful products from waste materials.  You’ve probably seen several upcycled products on the market today–reusable bags are often made from old plastic bags, t-shirts, or other upcycled materials.  TerraCycle is now upcycling many products, including juice pouches and cookie wrappers.  Among design junkies, craftsters, and green folks, upcycling is the latest challenge to combat climate change.  My only gripe is I keep seeing the same upcycling ideas–the aforementioned reusable bags, the old t-shirt revamp–and they’ve been done.  Fortunately, places like Ready Made Magazine and Instructables continue to facilitate new upcycled products.  Here are six creative, practical upcycling projects that, with a little time and skill, you can do at home. Read the rest of this entry »