REDUCE and REUSE
Great reusable products
Ducky and Pembleton have some great ways for you to reduce your waste and consumption that is
Stylish for all seasons.
Fact Friday- Cell Phones
This week I watched the Cell Phone episode of ECO trip, and learned a lot! It is so important to RECYCLE your cell phone properly and not replace them as often as the commercials tempt you to! Many Cell phone providers have recycling bins available, but also places that accept hazardous materials also accept cell phones. Plus many charities accept old cell phones to give to people who need them.
Info copied/pasted from http://www.wirefly.org/why-recycle/environment.php
Upward of one hundred million cell phones are replaced each year. Some of those end up in landfills because their owners aren’t aware that electronics contain metals and other materials that can be hazardous to the environment if not disposed of properly.
Cell phone circuitry and displays can contain toxic compounds like arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, copper, and lead. The plastic shells of the cell phones have also been treated with brominated flame retardants. (For detailed info on the environmental impact of these toxins and it’s effects on Humans, please visit the website.)
Tip Tuesday! “Veggie Monday!”
You can ask my mom, my dad, my brothers, even Crystal-My BFF, I LOVED MEAT! Give me a steak or give me some chicken and I was happy. But eating meat is going through the middle man to get your energy. It takes a lot of grass, grain (and hormones) to get a cow ready for slaughter and because people love their meat, there are more and more cows/chickens/sheep/pigs being bred and fed to then feed us. This is not good for the environment. Animal waste can AND DOES contaminate water sources and ruin soil due to factory farms that are breading to many animals for consumption. Not only that but over grazing can be detrimental to an environment. Did you know that Big Bend National Park was once a grassland, but is now a dessert because of over grazing? That is scary! I challenge you to go with out meat just once a week. Last Easter I gave up meat and honestly, I don’t miss it and I feel better for it. Get your energy straight from the source and not through the middle man. PEACE, LOVE and VEGETABLES.
*I’m trying to do Tip Tuesday every week and Fact Friday, but it’s hard… I’m trying my best… I think I might add a page with vegetarian recipes that I use often… Would you be interested???
Fact Friday
Say No To Plastic Bags: The Shocking Facts About Polyethylene Bags
Julie Burtinshaw, May 1, 2007
Consider the following shocking facts about plastic shopping bags:
- Plastic bags are made of polyethylene
- Polyethylene is a petroleum product
- Production contributes to air pollution and energy consumption
- Four to five trillion plastic bags are manufactured each year
- Americans use over 380 billion polyethylene bags per year
- Americans throw away approximately 100 billion polyethylene bags per year
- Of those 100 trillion plastic bags, 1% are recycled
- It takes 1000 years for polyethylene bags to break down
- As polyethylene breaks down, toxic substances leach into the soil and enter the food chain
- Approximately 1 billion seabirds and mammals die per year by ingesting plastic bags
- Plastic bags are often mistaken as food by marine mammals. 100,000 marine mammals die yearly by eating plastic bags.
- These animals suffer a painful death, the plastic wraps around their intestines or they choke to death
- Plastic bag choke landfills
- Plastic bags are carried by the wind into forests, ponds, rivers, and lakes
- There are alternatives to plastic bags. All of this death and pollution is unnecessary
Read more: http://environmental-activism.suite101.com/article.cfm/say_no_to_plastic_bags#ixzz0MruYPNTr
Fact Friday, Every Friday I’ll post Facts about that I find interestings. – Laura
Bottled Water
I hate bottled water. It is so wasteful and it seems like a chunk of the American population likes to throw their water bottles on the ground or do not know how to recycle them. I’m actually very annoyed because in the past couple of days I’ve actually picked up at least 6 bottles that were near my car in various parking lots. Another thing that annoys me is that people throw away water bottles, when a recycle bin is right next to a trash can or just around the corner. Is it really that hard to recycle bottles?
I saw that a town in Australia has banned Bottle water and I think it is awesome! I bet this will save so much money. 1. Bottled water costs are outrageous when compared to tap. 2. Less trash! More space in landfills 3. Less litter for city/town workers to pick up.
Last summer, Tim and I bought ourselves reusable water bottles (kinda like Nalgene Bottles, but different brand) and we use our Brita, when ever we want to take water on the go. I’m not a saint, I do drink bottled water from time to time since getting my reusable water bottle, but I am making a conscious effort and I always recycle.
Leave a comment… I would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to voice your opinion even though they might be different from mine.
Australians Ban Bottled Water Kristen Gelineau July 9, 2009
SYDNEY — Residents of a rural Australian town hoping to protect the earth and their wallets have voted to ban the sale of bottled water, the first community in the country _ and possibly the world _ to take such a drastic step in the growing backlash against the industry.
Residents of Bundanoon cheered after their near-unanimous approval of the measure at a town meeting Wednesday. It was the second blow to Australia’s beverage industry in one day: Hours earlier, the New South Wales state premier banned all state departments and agencies from buying bottled water, calling it a waste of money and natural resources.
“I have never seen 350 Australians in the same room all agreeing to something,” said Jon Dee, who helped spearhead the “Bundy on Tap” campaign in Bundanoon, a town of 2,500 about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Sydney. “It’s time for people to realize they’re being conned by the bottled water industry.”
First popularized in the 1980s as a convenient, healthy alternative to sugary drinks, bottled water today is often criticized as an environmental menace, with bottles cluttering landfills and requiring large amounts of energy to produce and transport.
Over the past few years, at least 60 cities in the United States and a handful of others in Canada and the United Kingdom have agreed to stop spending taxpayer dollars on bottled water, which is often consumed during city meetings, said Deborah Lapidus, organizer of Corporate Accountability International’s “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign in the U.S.
But the Boston-based nonprofit corporate watchdog has never heard of a community banning the sale of bottled water, she said.
“I think what this town is doing is taking it one step further and recognizing that there’s safe drinking water coming out of our taps,” she said.
Bundanoon’s battle against the bottle has been brewing for years, ever since a Sydney-based beverage company announced plans to build a water extraction plant in the town. Residents were furious over the prospect of an outsider taking their water, trucking it up to Sydney for processing and then selling it back to them. The town is still fighting the company’s proposal in court.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/09/australians-ban-bottled-w_n_228678.html
