By Cassie Walker •
October 25, 2007
Where is that universe "far, far away?" And how do they like all of our garbage?
When we throw something away, it doesn’t actually go "away." It doesn’t leave the planet or magically disappear into thin air, but instead ends up in a landfill. In California, we produce garbage to the tune of 46 million tons of trash each year.
According to Sustainable Works here in Santa Monica, landfills are filling at
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By Gavin Hudson •
July 27, 2007
If you steer clear of Styrofoam, crave non-disposable cutlery, and believe that beer in plastic cups is a discredit to your pursuit of fizzy-cool hoppiness, never fear. Become a garbage-free gourmand, and even improve your city with a daily dose of activism.
Why avoid disposables? Try getting an Italian to enjoy his espresso from the ridged lip of a Styrofoam cup and he’ll tell you all about the importance of real cups
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Photo Credit: recyclethis.co.ukThe search for opportunities for recycling stretches beyond individual desires to be able to recycle more, as Jennifer discussed earlier this week in our Q & A feature.
While Jennifer discussed some ways of increasing the amount of recycling that individual households participate in, there are websites that are engaging with the ideas of finding new uses for materials that will otherwise end up as waste
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Have you been curious about the impact that your home has on the environment? Maybe you’ve tried carbon calculators, but weren’t sure what to do with the results? If this sounds like you, check out Los Angeles-based LowImpactLiving.com.
The easy to use site provides a breakdown of the resources a typical home in your area uses, as well as waste produced. Though the company is working on a personalized tool to calculate
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In nature, there is no waste. Or, perhaps a bit more accurately, "waste" from any source becomes the feed for another. Everything is a raw material for some other process or system. Sometimes the changes are minor, as with the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in respiration, while at other times they are hugely transformative, such as the use of soil to grow into a structure like a tree.
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By Amy Stodghill •
February 26, 2007
Image from Popular SciencePlasma gasefication has the potential to turn garbage into energy. It sounds futuristic, but it is being done today.
The process can take everything from household waste to toxic chemicals and "poof" turn them into nothing. Literally. The by-products are an obsidian like glass, and synthesis gas (or syngas) that can be converted into fuels like natural gas or highly sought after hydrogen.
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In the age of overconsumption, even the thriftiest among us find themselves with perfectly good items that we no longer need. Green folks want to keep that stuff out of landfills and give it a new home. Websites like Freecycle and Craigslist provide forums for people to advertise things they'd like to give away, but St Louis-based web developers Peter Schmalfeldt and John Kramlich wanted to provide a
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