Archive for the ‘Eco News’ Category
Annie Leonard’s “The Story of Electronics”
November 30th, 2010 | 
Author: November 11th, 2010
Annie Leonard has a new video released this week called “The Story of Electronics” and I strongly recommend that you spend 7 minutes and 47 seconds of your time watching this video. I promise you it’s worth it.
Yes, it’s the very same Annie Leonard who brought us the viral video “The Story of Stuff” almost 3 years ago and her latest work is another communications masterpiece – powerful in it’s simplicity, disturbing without being preachy, fast-paced and extremely fun to watch. It succeeds, in my opinion, in explaining “why ‘designed for the dump’ is toxic for people and the planet” in the most basic and simple terms that my 7-year-old son can understand and think about.
Watch: The Story of Electronics: Why “Designed for the Dump’ is Toxic for People and the Planet by Annie Leonard
Full Article: http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/annie-leonards-the-story-of-electronics-video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PacebutlerRecycling+%28Pacebutler+Blog%29
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Restaurants Recycling Oyster Shells to Help Restore Chesapeake Bay
23 November 2010
Elizabeth Lee
Michael McWilliams works with with the Oyster Recovery Partnership to help restore the decimated oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay
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More than 50 restaurants, caterers and seafood wholesalers from Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia are participating in an unusual recycling program started earlier in the year by the Oyster Recovery Partnership. In nine months, they donated two million oyster shells to the University of Maryland to help restore the decimated oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay.
For anyone who craves oysters, one of the most famous spots in Washington is the Old Ebbitt Grill.
“We serve between 1500 and 2000 oysters a day, and that obviously creates a lot of waste,” said Christian Guidi who manages the restaurant.
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“We serve between 1500 and 2000 oysters a day, and that obviously creates a lot of waste,” said Christian Guidi who manages the restaurant.
In the past, these oyster shells would end up in the garbage, but that changed this year when the Old Ebbitt Grill found a new purpose for the used shells.
The restaurant is recycling them to help restore the declining oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay.
The Oyster Recovery Partnership picks up the used shells and brings them to Michael McWilliams.
“We send them through a washing process where they are sent through a machine hit with water,” said Michael McWilliams with the Oyster Recovery Partnership.
Full Article: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Restaurants-Recycling-Oyster-Shells-to-Help-Restore-Chesapeake-Bay-110202629.html
Just back from Asia, President Obama proclaims a need for more recycling, especially of electronics
November 15, 2010 | 6:52 pm
One of the really important jobs a president has is to issue numerous proclamations that show he (or at least his staff) is aware of countless audience niches that appreciate PR releases about them.
Today, President Obama sent a special Hajj message to the world Muslim community, especially those making the pilgrimmage to Mecca. He’ll soon be making the usual Thanksgiving proclamation.
As released by the White House on Monday, the Democrat also issued another of those profound presidential proclamations that go largely unnoticed by a busy world. This one named Monday, Nov. 15 as America Recycles Day. Try to control your excitement.
And please consider the environment before printing out several dozen copies:
Each small act of conservation, when combined with other innumerable deeds across the country, can have an enormous impact on the health of our environment. On America Recycles Day, we celebrate the individuals, communities, local governments, and businesses that work together to recycle waste and develop innovative ways to manage our resources more sustainably.
Americans already take many steps to protect our planet, participating in….
…curbside recycling and community composting programs, and expanding their use of recyclable and recycled materials. Recycling not only preserves our environment by conserving precious resources and reducing our carbon footprint, but it also contributes to job creation and economic development.
Full Article: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/11/obama-recycle-day-i.html
How D.C. Beat the Plastic Bag Lobby
This summer, California looked ready to outlaw the plastic bag. A bill passed the state House, and Gov. Schwarzenegger supported it. Then the lobbyists showed up. The American Chemistry Council, which represents oil companies and plastic manufacturers, spent millions on automated phone calls to voters, contributions to state Senate campaigns, and television ads that mocked lawmakers for caring more about plastic bags than the state’s budget crisis.
On September 1, the California Senate rejected the plastic bag ban. It failed just like similar bag-reduction measures over the past three years in cities including Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Dallas and Baltimore, and statehouses in Connecticut, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia and Massachusetts. Environmentalists say the ACC’s money and political muscle keep plastic-curbing measures — even when popular — from becoming law.
Full Article: http://www.onearth.org/article/how-dc-beat-the-plastic-bag-lobby
Beach Garbage Recycled As Vacuum Cleaners
Electrolux Wants Devices To Spur Conversation About Plastic Waste
AUDREY McAVOY, Associated Press Writer
POSTED: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
UPDATED: 1:31 pm EDT October 27, 2010
HONOLULU — There’s a story behind the blue, white and green plastic covering the surface of the Pacific Ocean vacuum cleaner. They’re tiny bits of plastic collected from one of Hawaii’s dirtiest beaches, Kahuku, where waves dump trash from the Pacific all day long.
The machine made by Electrolux AB is fully functional and can suck up dirt from a rug like any other vacuum. But the company said it wants the device to serve as an object that provokes a conversation about the large volumes of plastic trash that are polluting the world’s oceans.
The Stockholm-based company has also made four other vacuums, each from plastic trash collected in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, North and Baltic seas. None of the five are for commercial sale.
Cecilia Nord, vice president for sustainability and environmental affairs at Electrolux’s floor care and small appliances division, said many groups are doing their best to clean the ocean and beaches of plastic.
But the problem keeps growing because people continue to consume more plastic without recycling it afterward, she said.
“We – as a big manufacturer with a global reach – can start a debate and hopefully can contribute to addressing the root cause,” Nord said.
Electrolux received its Pacific Ocean plastic from a Hawaii-based volunteer group that cleans up Kahuku beach once a week. The remote shoreline is one of Oahu’s dirtiest, in part because current flows tend to deposit trash on that side of the island.
Full Article: http://www.clickondetroit.com/money/25535529/detail.html
