Green Options

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In keeping with what seems to be a personal theme this week about paper recycling, I was motivated by a recent commenter to learn more about magazines and their recyclability.

Nils Davis, said motivating commenter and blogger at Keeping the Lights On, posed this great question:

Can magazines be turned into magazines again, or do they always require ‘virgin’ paper?

Well, I don’t yet have the specifics to answer the first part of that question. But it seems the answer to the second part is a resounding “No.”

Earlier this week I posted A By-the-Numbers Look at Paper Recycling. I posed the question of whether or not individual efforts to recycle paper adds up to an amount that can actually save trees.

As I researched some numbers to identify how much paper comes from one tree, I inadvertently kept a singular focus on corporate environments and office paper. It wasn’t until I later caught a reminding glimpse of the stack of magazines sitting on the night table next to my bed that I realized where, perhaps, the true impact lies: periodicals.

The simplified look at how much office copy paper it takes for one person to save a tree in one year is 33 sheets of paper per day. I figure that’s unreachable, at least for me, because I am selective about how much I avoid printing things unnecessarily — emails and other documents.

But magazines and newspapers — there are dozens and hundreds of pages per issue.

How much good comes from one person’s hypervigilant paper recycling effort?

I’ve been asking myself variations of this question lately, mainly while at my day job as I see basically all colleagues around me tossing paper into the trash, rather than the recycle bin.

I know it’s tough to look in the mirror and think that you, just one individual on a planet of billions, can do much that makes a difference. So I’ve been pondering what the value is — or is not — to my vigilance in recycling.

Can I make a difference? Is my effort worth anything to the planet, especially in the face of so many non-believers who assume apathy is the only medicine?

I’ve looked for the numbers to apply some math-based logic to these questions.

With this week marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans residents are looking back … but they’re also looking ahead, to a more sustainable and energy-efficient future. (They’re also praying feverishly that Gustav doesn’t head their way.)

In addition to all the green rebuilding efforts underway throughout the Crescent City, existing homes that survived the post-storm flooding are also getting eco-friendly makeovers. Those efforts received a boost earlier this summer, when the New Orleans City Council approved the Energy Smart New Orleans Energy Efficiency Program.

Among the program’s goals

I’ve been taking the occasional punch to the kidneys here at Sustainablog. That’s okay. I’m not alone, and it’s par for the course for those who put their real face, real name and real, considered thoughts out to the public.

But some recent comments, especially about the Drive 55 campaign that has been in the general media again lately, have me thinking about some particular gaps in our common understanding and, therefore, overall communication.

Interestingly enough, I’m not even an advocate for a change in speed limit laws. I’m not against such changes. But I’m not pushing for them, either.

What I am is a facilitator of a discussion about the matter that is under consideration for the purpose of saving fuel, money, and lives.

I know I do A LOT of product reviews. I confess, I love to shop and consider myself to be a somewhat of a self anointed maven. I love trying new things out and writing about it.

Perfect for blogging but not so great for the environment. So I have come to a decision to instead of throwing things out; I will reuse them in hopes that my family will make less impact than the Earth. I wish I could say that I live off the grid and grow my own vegetables and all that; maybe one day I will get there. For now we rent, we use electricity from coal generated power company (When asked about alternative resources, the sales associate had no answer for me). We do things for the Environment, but I feel not enough. Well here’s a way you can do something for the environment free… it doesn’t cost nada, zip, nothing. Reuse what you have and use until it’s standing on its last leg. Take for example the Ikea desk that my significant other had since his single days. I hate that desk. I hate its MDF cheapness and how it’s coming apart since the move. It’s really standing on its last leg. I want to throw it away (or donate to Salvation Army) and get a brand new desk. I saw one on Pottery Barn catalog that’s SO me. However, I decided to put some pretty wall paper over the ikea one and call it a day. It’s a waste to throw it out and anytime, you purchase something new. More renewable resources are needed to build another one. Just remember that.

I am getting quite creative with uses of things. Another example are the tab curtains we had that are SO outdated and didn’t fit the windows to our new place. As someone who puts considerable value in aesthetics and design; the curtains were blight to my stylish sensibilities. However, with a curtain rod and modern textile, I repurposed the curtains to be a shade for the window. I didn’t have to go out and buy a new curtain or shade. I just used the one I have to create something that worked for the new place. It saved the curtains to going to the landfill (or the Salvation Army, my solution for unwanted things) and I saved money in the process.

Do you wish to understand the wisdom of effective water- and energy-conservation for hotel laundries, oh little four-star getaway? The secret, according to a study published in October’s Journal of Consumer Research, is to let guests know their fellow hotel-goers are doing their part to conserve. More guests saved their towels for a second or third use when the signs in their [...]

Simran Sethi and Sarah Smarsh are writing a series on the impacts of everyday things.They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post. Here’s the low-down on how we’re quenching our thirst.

We’ve been seduced by the beverage industry into believing only they can quench our thirst with colored, caffeinated, vitaminized, electrolyted water. We have become so parched that we can’t walk down the street without toting a single-use plastic bottle touting the magical effects of its water source.

Apparently, Kabbalah Water will heal us and Bling Water will define us. At the Bling H20 website, Bling Water “creator” Kevin Boyd describes noticing on Hollywood studio lots that “you could tell a lot about a person by the bottled water they carried.” First of all, didn’t god create water? Secondly, the water is bottled in Dandridge, Tennessee - since when is Southern Tennessee a spring of L.A. status? Yes, Dandrige’s water ranks very highly on EPA’s water quality index, but why are we spending so much money ($40 for Bling’s “Go Green” 750ml bottle) on cross-continental water instead of cleaning up our local waterways? Tinseltown’s water is so polluted with run-off and industrial contamination that perhaps water by way of Tennessee does make sense.

Here’s what the less blingy among us do:

While Bush noted that consideration would be provided for energy development, mining, and fishing, the EDF hopes that the areas will receive full protection. Without it, such activities “…could harm the seabirds, turtles, and other wildlife that lives in these areas.”

Rogue prefers his steak medium-well. But when it comes to sniffing out a rare plant, this dog performs work that’s very well done, indeed.

The 4-year-old Belgian sheepdog is part of a Nature Conservancy collaborative project to test the efficacy of using dogs to sniff out the threatened Kincaid’s lupine. The plant is host

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The average man living in forest-prone areas and who depends on meat from endangered apes and other wildlife for his proteins plays the role of a carrying agent for the hundreds of infectious diseases that humanity is suffering from.

Now experts are warning of the danger to humanity this lifestyle may be posing. Most of these diseases, identified in medical terms as zoonotic because of their ability to jump from animal to man, have been labeled as “emerging infectious diseases” or EIDs.

Over 60 percent of the 1,415 infectious diseases currently known to modern medicine are capable of infecting both humans and animals. Most of these diseases originated in animals and now infect people and include viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and helminths, with 175 pathogenic species associated with diseases considered to be ‘emerging’.