Posts Tagged ‘awareness’

Small Changes Have Big Impacts On Us and The Earth

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

So how’s that 2010 new years resolution coming along? Now then, for those who’re like many of us, you may have already given up.  It can be extremely difficult to change one habit.  In fact, we could go year after year making the same pledge to ourselves to break a nasty habit.  Subsequently we violate the vow of breaking that practice (sound familiar smokers, routine soda drinkers, or fast-food eaters?).  It’s a vicious cycle! How can we break it?

I suggest we adopt a strategy of fixing many different simple things in our lives, now, rather than developing just one target for change.  What if shifting in just one approach isn’t enough? As we tend to make decisions to change, even in lesser ways, we obtain momentum and assurance in our ability to generate helpful adjustments regarding a few of the harder things like working out frequently and eventually losing that additional weight.  So let’s start building that gaining confidence!

I estimate two simple yet significant ways I know how to adjust our planet along with myself.  First, I’ll employ eco friendly reusable or recycled bags rather then plastic one use bags and paper bags whenever I go to the grocery store.  Secondly, I’ll keep in mind to use reusable water bottles. Chances are you’ll be shocked by what a positive sway these two simple practices will surely have on the world.

These practices are simple, painless as well as inexpensive.  Furthermore, in spite of widely held belief, plastic containers and bags are not addictive (we promise, no withdrawals or cravings)!  Numerous aren’t aware of how our consumption of these products impinge on our planet’s wellbeing.  Once upon a time not way back, we weren’t aware of the detrimental effects of cigarettes.  We accepted cigarette smoke for the status quo.  A number of us still smoke or live in places where smoking is permissible inside public spaces.  Utilizing reusable grocery bags and reusable water bottles will be fresh healthy routines and so easy in comparison to something similar to quitting caffeine, high fructose corn syrup or eliminating fast food from our diet programs.  Stock a reserve of eco bags in the vehicle or your pack.  Make a small investment in a stainless steel reusable water bottle and bring it with you everywhere you go.  You won’t only decrease the destructive influences of disposable bag and disposable bottle waste in the environment, additionally you will encourage people to produce these effortless adjustments in their lives at the same time as well. The best element is how you might feel in regards to yourself when you comprehend you’re now a part of the answer, instead of the crisis.  Check out the stats in addition to the facts:

Disposable bag usage:
Plastic bag waste pollutes our lands, forests, creeks, rivers, lakes, and oceans.Just since year begun (as of March 1st, 2010), its estimated that more than 82 Billion plastic bags have been consumed inside the USA.
According to the EPA this contributes in the deaths of hundreds of 1000s of aquatic mammals (who ingest and subsequently gag or depart this life of hunger as a result). In California single-handedly, an estimated 19 billion plastic bags wind up within landfills each year. Although there’s dispute concerning which one (plastic opposed to. paper) is worse for our eco systems, there is no arguments that the widespread adoption of eco friendly reusable shopping bags is by far the most effective answer for this momentous environmental problem.

Plastic bottle usage:
According to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), more than 21 billion beverage cans and bottles have been land-filled, littered and incinerated so far this year (yes just since 2010 began). CRI also states that Americans consume an estimated 34.6 billion single serve plastic bottles every year and hundreds of millions end up in the same places that disposable bags end up.

We all dream of a day when we finally break loose of our bad habits:  quitting smoking, eliminating fast food in our diet, or just getting off the couch and working out!  You already know you are able to do it!  Determine what you’ll be able to easily change at this moment, and act on it.  So compose a simple change within your life today: Adopt a reusable shopping bag and reusable water bottles habit and start building momentum intended for larger lifestyle improvements that are beginning with your destiny right now!

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Paper Made From Seeds A Novel Idea

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Visualize for a moment, a future world where all of the paper goods we use up can bud into a flower if planted in soil.  Similar to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory where everything is edible, except in such a ideal world: all the paper is seeded and sproutable, plus the schnozberries still taste like schnozberries!  As it turns out, seed paper makes this possibility into a reality.

If you have never heard of seeded paper you are not unaccompanied, who knew paper produced from seeds might create a flower or any plant for that matter? Yes, even with the paper making process, the seeds can still sprout which allows them to sprout when planted.  Seed paper is a wonderful, attractive, and easily recyclable product that can consist of many different plant seeds.

But why should we use and extend the word about environmental seed paper and all recycled paper for that matter?  As outlined by the CWAC (Clean Water Action Council) the answer is because of the environmental damage attributable to the paper industry, which is a good deal more than just deforestation. The following are some key harmful effects on our eco systems because of paper waste as outlined by Clean Water Action Council. Many polluted sediments trickle into food supplies and river systems containing several species of fish and ducks. There exists a perpetual continuation of toxic chemical pollution, as well as air contaminants such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxides, carbon monoxides and particulates. There is a intense quantity of energy utilization. Mills extract a large quantity of electrical power from public utilities, or mills are forced to build their very own power facilities. An extensive quantity of water is needed and also significant amounts of solid waste. Around the world, enormous tracts of forest are suffering from the paper industry, contributing to the earth’s scary deforestation trends. Politicians are a bit delayed to take action due to collaboration of government entities and the multi billion dollar paper industry interests.

Nearly all of us are conscious of global warming, man’s ever-growing carbon footprint, and dangerous artificial pollution of all types.  We see with our own eyes the detrimental toll to the environment attributable to the incremental effects of our personal human actions and behavior.  We wish to reduce, reuse, recycle, and make this earth a greater place for forthcoming generations, nevertheless from time to time we need to be confident, stimulated, and reminded.  We are making strides with companies promoting the use of eco friendly bags. Seed paper as well is an effective way to encourage each other to go green.

If you’re a company specialist, conservationist, business proprietor, salesperson, or simply sending your annual holiday letter to family and friends, using seeded paper as your correspondence stationary is an effective way to establish your personal or organization-wide obligation to reducing your carbon footprint while also saving trees.   Each time you hand out your seed business card, or send off your holiday seed cards you’re passing the great news about seeded paper, recycling, and the imperative need for all of us to carry out our lives and be eco friendly.  As the 40th anniversary of Earth Day comes to pass (April 22nd), there has never been a more proper occasion for businesses to show their faithfulness to reducing their carbon footprint by means of creating green practices to make this earth a greater place for upcoming generations.

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Lets Do Our Planet a Favor and Remember Our Reusable Shopping Bags

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

It’s time for BYOB! Yes, bring your own shopping bag!  As we keep on our path through a busy 2010, it’s outrageous to think about how much purchasing we historically carry out now in America and world-wide. Whether it be frequent visits to the supermarket as we keep our kitchen’s stocked for wonderful meals and tasty goodies or those sometimes dreaded (yet skillful) “6 bags on each arm” walks through the local shopping mall, it all adds up to so much needless waste.  Probably the most blatant examples of this waste is disposable grocery bags.

An estimated 100 billion plastic shopping bags are consumed every year in the USA, according to the Wall-Street Journal.  Most plastic bags wind up in landfills furthermore the rest time and again end up in rivers, ponds, lakes, streams or in the ocean, where animals can swallow or become entangled in them.  Considering the amount of shopping bags that are consumed and wasted each year, the time is now to extend the word in regards to the constructive benefits of eco-friendly reusable grocery bags.  After all, most of us want to give back to our families, friends and communities as often as possible.

Adopting a BYOB approach in our individual shopping habits is a simple method to do exactly that.  If we can raise awareness at this time, the positive outcome for the environment is immense for 2010 and well into the future.  Quite a few metropolitan areas have already made gradual but significant progress in promoting the usage of eco friendly bags in recent years.  Motivating consumers with plastic and paper bag bans, savings at the register for reusable bag usage and tax motivations are a few to speak of.

Right here in America, the San Jose City Council recently passed among the nation’s strictest bans on plastic and paper shopping bags.   This is a big victory for the Bay Area, that has 1 million plastic bags per year accumulating in and along the San Francisco Bay.  San Jose becomes the latest bay area town to enact some type of ban on disposable shopping bags; others include San Francisco and Palo Alto. Tracy Seipel of the San Jose Mercury News reported that it was actually ONE man who truly jump-started the ban, another impressive example of the power of one individual.  Here’s a an excerpt:

“While visiting his sister-in-law in Taipei, (Kansen) Chu (elected to San Jose city council in 2007) went grocery shopping and was surprised to get charged for plastic grocery bags. The next day, he brought his own cloth bags back to the store.  “I guess the question,” said Chu, “was, ‘Why not San Jose?’ ” He began a conversation with the city’s environmental services staff, which later moved to council committee discussions.

Save the Bay’s 4th yearly report on the most garbage-strewn places in the region further demonstrates the need for BYOB.  The 50-year-old environmental advocacy group focused on 10 particular bay-area sites where approximately 15,000 plastic bags were retrieved in one day last year in their account.   Here’s an excerpt of an article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Kelly Zito.

According to (Save the Bay’s) research, Californians use about 19 billion plastic bags each year, 3.8 million in the Bay Area. The average use time for the bags - made using about 12 million barrels of oil each year in the United States - is about 12 minutes. In addition to the hundreds of years it can take for a plastic bag to decompose in a landfill, the bags also force downtime when fed into traditional recycling equipment. Typically, the bags get wound into conveyor belts or gears and must be cut out by hand.

Ten US metropolitan areas have banned plastic bags thus far, five throughout the past year. Even Mexico City enacted a ban on plastic shopping bags, which went into effect in August.  The city of 20 million at present faces the realities of effective enforcement, which is not easy when the Mexico City Chamber of Commerce estimates there are 35,000 vendors in Mexico City’s downtown area alone.

Bans on plastic bags aren’t really the only effective way to cut back dangerous waste brought on by disposable bags.  PlasTaxes, which tax consumers at the register for using plastic bags when shopping, had been first introduced by the Irish.  John Roach of National Geographic reported in 2008 relating to the worldwide momentum that’s been building from the time when Ireland instilled a PlasTax in 2003.  The Irish confirmed they could reduce plastic bag utilization by 90% or more.   Momentum is on the rise the world over, predominantly in America.  From Washington, DC to Edmonds, WA to North Pole, AK, communities and governments are spurring an international trend to scale back the harmful environmental effects of disposable shopping bags.  In the great state of Hawaii, the governing body is at this time considering a bill to ban single-use plastic bags (SUP), or to ascertain a small fee to utilize SUP bags.

Even key retail stores like Target and CVS are taking action by enacting special discounts at the register for customers who choose to BYOB or just carry-out their items without a bag.  For those naysayers, it’s opportune to pay no heed to recent momentum in reducing disposable bag waste.  But to some, the wide-spread adoption of recycled grocery bags is inevitable.  Look at just how smoking is becoming taboo in America.  Indoor smoking bans have caught on like wild-fire.  In the same way, who is to say the use of disposable bags won’t become taboo one day in the (hopefully near) future?  The use of eco-friendly recycled grocery bags is certainly picking up steam.  Our individual decisions to carry our recycled shopping bags can go a great deal farther than we imagine.  That’s what BYOB is all about.

Needless to say, plastic and paper bags need to be recycled and it’s crucial to take into account a bunch of huge retailers including Albertsons and Wal-Mart will recycle plastic bags for you (just need to bring them your accumulated stash).  That being said, a BYOB shopping plan can make your life a whole lot less difficult because there is no longer a need to accumulate that cabinet full of plastic bags or determine what and when to handle it.  Keeping a couple of eco friendly bags in the car or backpack is a good way to ensure you possess them when needed. So give back this year by remembering to BYOB!   No matter whether it be at a convenience store, the shopping mall, or while grocery shopping, we can make a difference for the environment and help increase awareness one transaction at a time.  For the battle to eradicate disposable shopping bag waste, 2010 is our moment.

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