8 March 2010 From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk: I work for an office equipment company selling copiers, fax machines, computers and printers. Each year new models come out making old ones obsolete. As a result, we have loads of trade-ins with nowhere to go. What can we do with this old equipment? – Jeff P., Worcester, MA
Electronic waste, or “e-waste” as it’s called, is a growing problem in the United States and abroad, as obsolete or broken computers and other electronic equipment are taking up increasingly precious amounts of landfill space and potentially leaking hazardous substances into surrounding ecosystems.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition reports that
70 percent of the heavy metals in U.S. landfills are
from discarded electronics. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency reports that
Americans trash two million tons of unwanted
electronics each year - six times the amount
they recycle. Pictured, e-waste in Ann Arbor,
Michigan readied for recycling. George Hotelling, courtesy Flickr
The nonprofit Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition reports that 70 percent of the heavy metals in U.S. landfills are from discarded electronics—even though the e-waste itself accounts for only two percent of the trash by volume. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that Americans trash two million tons of unwanted electronics each year—six times the amount they recycle. To make matters worse, U.S. companies often ship old equipment to poor nations whose landfills and incinerators are ill equipped, subjecting already struggling populations to lead, cadmium, beryllium, and other contaminants.
So what can be done? If your old units still work but have merely been eclipsed by newer models, then by all means donate them to a needy cause that will either put them to good use or resell them to help fund their programs. You’ll earn a tax deduction for a charitable donation and, by keeping the equipment alive, prevent the manufacture of new units and thus, if ever so slightly, reduce the footprint of your operations. Read the rest of this entry »
1 March 2010 From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk: When the plug-in Prius is released, how much electricity will it use? Will my electric bill double if my Prius is plugged in each night? Or will the increase be minimal? Also, will all this recharging put a strain on the existing electricity grid? – G.C. Marx, Colorado Springs, CO
It is difficult to pinpoint the answer to this question right now since Toyota has not yet released its much anticipated plug-in hybrid, but most analysts believe the increase in your electric bill from overnight charging will be minimal. According to the blog Futurewheels.com, electric cars and plug-in hybrids (those that have been converted by owners) currently average about two cents per mile to recharge (electric rates vary greatly by region), while gasoline-only cars average about 10 cents per mile to refuel.
Plug In America, a California based network of electric vehicle and (self-converted) plug-in hybrid owners, estimates the cost to charge a typical plug-in hybrid overnight to be less than a dollar. So while your electric bill might go up $30/month due to recharging, your gas bill will decrease by somewhere between 80 and 100 percent depending on your driving habits and what you were driving beforehand. Read the rest of this entry »
22 February 2010 From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Dear EarthTalk: Some time ago there were issues with Native American tribes storing nuclear waste on their land, something that was both unhealthy to the communities and caused considerable controversy among tribal leaders. Where is this issue today?
– M. Spenser, via e-mail
Native tribes across the American West have been and continue to be subjected to significant amounts of radioactive and otherwise hazardous waste as a result of living near nuclear test sites, uranium mines, power plants and toxic waste dumps.
And in some cases tribes are actually hosting hazardous waste on their sovereign reservations—which are not subject to the same environmental and health standards as U.S. land—in order to generate revenues. Native American advocates argue that siting such waste on or near reservations is an "environmental justice" problem, given that twice as many Native families live below the poverty line than other sectors of U.S. society and often have few if any options for generating income. Read the rest of this entry »
Have you ever imagined the amount of paper that is used by companies to send out flyers, catalogs, and solicitations to millions of homes across the country? On a daily basis?
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 44 percent of all junk mail is thrown away without being opened. This amounts to 4 million tons of waste each year. And this doesn't even account for the waste phone books — and duplicate phone books — generate. With three to five different directories delivered to each residence per year, about 8 lb of paper, the amount of waste staggers the mind.
You can put a halt to both junk mail and telephone books from being delivered to your residence, and here's how:
Go to the Direct Marketing Association's website (dmachoice.org) and submit a request to opt-out from thousands of direct mailers. You'll be able to discontinue delivery of catalogs, credit offers, and magazine offers, among other types of mailings.
To opt out of phone book delivery, you'll need to call the individual organizations that generate the directories:
12 February 2010 by Eliza Strickland 80beats Discover Magazine
It seems that every day brings a new electronic gadget to the market, whether it's a smart phone, an electronic reader, a laptop the size and weight of a magazine, or a television the size of a wall. But each advance adds to the world's electronic waste, which is the fastest-growing component of solid waste. Much of the electronic refuse ends up in developing countries, where workers strip down the gadgets to get at the copper and other valuable metals inside, often exposing themselves to toxins in the process. Now, scientists are calling for federal regulations in the United States to stem the tide.
Although the U.S. is one the world's largest producers of electronic waste (e-waste), it is hardly a leader in addressing this problem, given that the country has "no legally enforceable federal policies requiring comprehensive recycling of e-waste or elimination of hazardous substances from electronic products," the researchers say [Scientific American]. Instead, e-waste policies are left to the states, not all of which have laws on the books. In the article, published in Science, the authors note that the United States has not ratified the Basel Convention, which regulates the movement of hazardous wastes across international borders and has the support of 169 of the 192 United Nations member countries [Scientific American].
Electronics can contain a host of dangerous materials, from heavy metals to toxic chemicals. Toxic e-waste shows up in forms as varied as high lead levels in the blood of children in Guiya, China, where millions of tonnes of e-waste are illegally dumped, and as fire-retardant chemicals in the eggs of California's peregrine falcons [CBC News].
One of the world's largest tiger populations could disappear by the end of this century as rising sea levels caused by climate change destroy their habitat along the coast of Bangladesh in an area known as the Sundarbans, according to a new WWF-led study published in the journal Climatic Change.
Tigers are among the world's most threatened species, with only an estimated 3,200 remaining in the wild. WWF officials said the threats facing these Royal Bengal tigers and other iconic species around the world highlight the need for urgent international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"If we don't take steps to address the impacts of climate change on the Sundarbans, the only way its tigers will survive this century is with scuba gear," said Colby Loucks, WWF-US deputy director of conservation science and the lead author of the study Sea Level Rise and Tigers: Predicted Impacts to Bangladesh's Sundarbans Mangroves. "Tigers are a highly adaptable species, thriving from the snowy forests of Russia to the tropical forests of Indonesia.
"The projected sea level rise in the Sundarbans will likely outpace the tiger's ability to adapt." Read the rest of this entry »
Right now, at 7am in Colorado, it's -2° F. We might get up to 20° F today, if we're lucky. I finally gave in and bought some Blizzak tires since I got tired of sliding around on the slick roads that have been happening every now and then since October of last year. As I'm sitting here whining about the wintry weather, the Midwest is getting socked with minus double digits everywhere: -52° F with wind chill factor in North Dakota, -27° F in Nebraska, and Iowa is expected to receive another 10 inches of snow on top of the 2 feet it received in December. Chanhassen, Minnesota, has had five straight days of minus double-digit weather.
But yet climate scientists are saying that 2009 will be one for the record books, being one of the top 10 warmest years on record. How in the world can this be? Read the rest of this entry »
2 January 2010 by Ramón Stevens AlexanderMaterial.com
The universe is eternal and without beginning or end, in the sense that it was not "born" and will not "die"; these are anthropomorphic projections of your own mortality. Since ultimately all time is simultaneous, the universe has "always" existed as a venue of activity for bodies of consciousness seeking to explore matter-based existence. Like any physical structure, the universe must be organized into coherent, stable, self-sustaining patterns which endure through time, while allowing sufficient flexibility so as to weather the likely events and fluctuations inherent in the system. Thus, the placement of celestial bodies is not random, but follows patterns and principles ensuring the system's stability and endurance.
The Cosmic Web
There are two basic types of celestial body: energy-absorbing and energy-releasing. We might call the former "sponges" and the latter "generators." All solid objects are sponges: planets, moons, asteroids, human beings, etc. They absorb energy from the cosmos in far greater proportion than they release it; they transmute cosmic and solar radiation into the building blocks of solid matter. Read the rest of this entry »
America spends an average of $450 billion every year on Christmas. Advent Conspiracy proposes that people buy less and give more–of their time and love through relational giving.
In 2006, five pastors decided to create Advent Conspiracy and revolutionize the increasingly commercialized holiday of Christmas by encouraging their congregations to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all.
Part of the Advent Conspiracy message is a simple suggestion that people buy one less gift, and spend the extra time with people they care about and put the extra money toward projects such as drilling for fresh water wells in India, Liberia, Peru and Sudan. For three years, Advent Conspiracy has partnered with Living Water International to tackle providing clean water to the 1.8 million people who die every year from water-borne illnesses. The $10 billion Advent Conspiracy estimates it would take to solve the world's water woes pales in comparison to the $450 billion Americans spend each year on Christmas.
Advent Conspiracy is a movement that proposes people "spend less, give more."
4 December 2009 by Eliza Strickland 80beats Discover Magazine
From an ancient Peruvian civilization comes this warning: Don't chop down all your trees, or there will be hell to pay.
The Nazca people are famous for the enormous earthworks they carved into an arid plateau, in designs that range from simple geometrical forms to representations of animals like hummingbirds, lizards, and monkeys. They were previously known to have disappeared around A.D. 500, when massive floods powered by El Niño ravaged the valley where they made their home. Now, a new study that examined the pollen in buried layers of soil in order to trace the horticultural history of the land may have revealed why those floods were so devastating.
The Ica Valley, about 120 miles south of Lima, is barren today but was once a riverine oasis — a fertile landscape capable of supporting many people. The key to that fertility was a tree called the huarango [Los Angeles Times]. The huarango tree provided wood for building and fuel, and seed pods that can be ground up and used in flour or beer. Its branches caught the water in morning mists, and its roots stabilized the topsoil. Says lead researcher David Beresford-Jones: "These were very special forests…. It is the ecological keystone species in the desert zone enhancing soil fertility and moisture and underpinning the floodplain with one of the deepest root systems of any tree known" [BBC News]. Read the rest of this entry »
Dear EarthTalk: I work for an office equipment company selling copiers, fax machines, computers and printers. Each year new models come out making old ones obsolete. As a result, we have loads of trade-ins with nowhere to go. What can we do with this old equipment? – Jeff P., Worcester, MA
