This summer, starting in June, look for a green display at the Manitowoc Public Library. The Library has multiple publications, periodicals and books regarding green efforts.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Reasons to Recylce Toner & Ink Cartridges
~ Fast Facts ~
- It takes about a gallon of oil to make a new laser cartridge.
- About eight cartridges are thrown away per second in the United States.
- In North America alone, over 350 million cartridges per year are discarded in our landfills, and that number increase by 12% annually!
- A laswer cartridge thrown into landfill can take up to 450 years to decompose. Some components made of industrial grade plastics will take over a thousand years to decompose.
- Every remanufactured cartridge saves nearly 3 and 1/2 pounds of solid waste from being deposited in landfills.
- 70% of used printer cartridges throughout the world are currently being thrown out.
- In one year, if the world's discarded cartridges were stacked end-to-end, they would circle the earth over three times.
- The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that businesses use toner cartridge refill services or buy refilled toner cartridge products.
So do your part and Refill not Landfill.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Going Green Takes Root
It was recently noted that the INCR (Investor Netowrk on Climate Risk) asked the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to require listed companies disclose climate change risk in their financial performance.
Paradigm Shift...
...Caring for social capital and natural capital as much as we have traditionally cared for finanical capital. --Ray Anderson
7 Generation Philosophy
Meeting our needs today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Legitimate Function of Government is to Protect & Serve the Common Good
Consider City Government as both customer and steward of our environment and resources ... logically must, therefore, incorporate the principles of sustainability to ensure the needs of tomorrow can be met.
Irish Take Action on Plastic Bags
--The Sacramento Bee, Feb. 2, 2008
In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them for their purchases must now pay 22 cents per bag at the register. Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94%. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable. "I used to get half a dozen with every shop. Now I'd never ever buy one," said Cahtal McKeown, 40, a civil servant carrying two large clack cloth bags. "If I forgot these, I'd just take the cart of groceries and put them loose in the boot of the car, rather than buy a bag." The tax is not so much, but it completely changed a very bad habit. The government collects the tax which is used to finance environmental enforcement and cleanup programs.
While paper bags, which degrade, are in some ways better for the envrionment, studies suggest that more greenhouse gases are released in their manufacture and transport than in the production of plastic bags.
On a similar note, according to the Associated Press, Japan will urge citizens to carry their own chopsticks instead of using disposable wooden ones.
In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them for their purchases must now pay 22 cents per bag at the register. Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94%. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable. "I used to get half a dozen with every shop. Now I'd never ever buy one," said Cahtal McKeown, 40, a civil servant carrying two large clack cloth bags. "If I forgot these, I'd just take the cart of groceries and put them loose in the boot of the car, rather than buy a bag." The tax is not so much, but it completely changed a very bad habit. The government collects the tax which is used to finance environmental enforcement and cleanup programs.
While paper bags, which degrade, are in some ways better for the envrionment, studies suggest that more greenhouse gases are released in their manufacture and transport than in the production of plastic bags.
On a similar note, according to the Associated Press, Japan will urge citizens to carry their own chopsticks instead of using disposable wooden ones.
Locavore
A locavore is someone who eats food grown or produced locally or within a certain radius such as 50, 100, or 150 miles. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with the argument that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Local grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.
"Locavore" was coined by Jessica Prentice from San Francisco Bay Area on the occasion of World Environment Day 2005 to describe and promote the practice of eating a diet consisting of food harvested from within an area most commonly bound by a 100 mile radius. "Localvore" is sometimes also used.
The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore, a person who seeks out locally produced food, as its word of the year 2007. The local foods movement is gaining momentum as people discover that the best-tasting and most sustainable choices are foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home. Some locavores draw inspiration from the 100-Mile Diet or from advocates of local eating like Barbara Kingsolver whose book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles her family's attempts to eat locally. Others just follow their taste buds to farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and community gardens.
For more information about Local Food: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_food
Manitowoc's Farmers Market: http://www.manitowoc.org/comm_farm_home.html
"Locavore" was coined by Jessica Prentice from San Francisco Bay Area on the occasion of World Environment Day 2005 to describe and promote the practice of eating a diet consisting of food harvested from within an area most commonly bound by a 100 mile radius. "Localvore" is sometimes also used.
The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore, a person who seeks out locally produced food, as its word of the year 2007. The local foods movement is gaining momentum as people discover that the best-tasting and most sustainable choices are foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home. Some locavores draw inspiration from the 100-Mile Diet or from advocates of local eating like Barbara Kingsolver whose book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles her family's attempts to eat locally. Others just follow their taste buds to farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and community gardens.
For more information about Local Food: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_food
Manitowoc's Farmers Market: http://www.manitowoc.org/comm_farm_home.html
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