New students if you are subscribing to the blog in response to my presentation at Orientation, please don’t forget to e-mail me…… shannan.george@life.edu.
Archive for September, 2010
27 Sep
The Way we Eat…from an 11 year old
Check out 11 year old Birke Baer talking about our current food system. What if everyone was this informed?????
21 Sep
Biodegradable Vs. Compostable
Biodegradable means that a product will break down into CO2, H20 and biomass within a “reasonable” amount of time in the natural environment. Essentially this means that biodegradable items break down into smaller and smaller pieces until microorganisms can consume it. The term biodegradable is loosely used and has no determined time frame for the product to break down.
Studies show that most consumers believe a product labeled biodegradable “will go completely away and on its own in year or less.” Consumers also believe that these products will biodegrade in landfills. The truth is, most landfills lack the sunlight, air and moisture needed for products to break down.
Compostable items are biodegradable but with a bonus: when they break down they release valuable nutrients into the soil. According to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in order for a product to qualify as certified compostable all the materials must break down into usable composts in a timely manner.
So while some products are considered biodegradable, they may not be considered compostable because they contain heavy metals or don’t break down in a “timely fashion.”
Thanks to EarthCycle.com
Photo: EcoRamblings.com
14 Sep
Which is more eco-friendly: Netflix or a Video Store?
A Sustainable Life will occasionally share Q&A’s with you from around the web. Today’s question comes from The Good Human.
“Which do you think is better for the environment, a service like Netflix or driving down to the video store here in my town?”
First up, Netflix. Netflix, in case you don’t know, is a video rental by mail service. They have been in business for many, many years, and I have been a customer for since the beginning. Once you pick the subscription rate of how many videos you want, both at a time and per month, you add movies to your “Queue” on the website and Netflix ships them out to you as you return the previous movie you had. We are on the “2-at-a-time at home, but unlimited per month” plan, which means I can rent as many movies as I can watch each month, but I can only have 2 at home at a time. But how about the eco-friendliness? Well, the movies come via regular mail, which is already coming to each house anyway, and they barely add any weight/carbon emissions to the postal delivery (1 oz, actually). The mailman is already coming to your house, and the addition of a single DVD is not going to affect his route weight too much. The envelopes are made from recyclable paper, and most of each one is used again to mail the video back to Netflix (it really was ingenious to use the same envelope for shipping both directions). I could not find this information out, but I do hope that they use recycled paper to make the envelopes in the first place. The company doesn’t use the plastic cases that video stores use and has less of a carbon footprint as they only have distribution centers and not stores on every block to heat/cool/maintain. I would say Netflix is much greener than their brick & mortar counterpart…
Next up, the neighborhood video store. Sure, in some places it might be considered “shopping local”, which is always great for a community, but oftentimes these stores are just one in a giant chain (like Blockbuster video). If that is the case, it kind of immediately takes away the benefit of a local store for the local community. As for the eco-friendliness of a video store, they have a long way to go to catch up with video by mail services. First off all there are thousands and thousands of these stores across the country – and each one has to be lit up like a Christmas tree, have TV’s playing during all hours of the day showing previews, and be heated and cooled according to the climate outside. Add to those facts that the all the plastic cases that they need and the promotional pieces/merchandise that has to be made and then discarded, and you have a much bigger waste stream than an online company. And when members want to pick up or return a movie, they have to get in their car (usually alone) and drive to the store 4 times, which emits more pollution than the postal worker who is coming by your house each day anyway.
So, there you have it – in my mind, Netflix wins hands-down. Now, getting movies streamed directly to your TV or computer would be even better, and they are starting to do that too. I have watched a few movies this way, and thus they didn’t even have to ship the movie out to me at all. There are, of course, environmental issues with Netflix too – do they recycle all those returned envelopes? Do they use recycled paper to make them? How do they take delivery of the movies (I would imagine in bulk and not in plastic cases though)? But all in all, this is certainly one case where “nation-wide” beats out “local” on a sustainability level. What do you think?
13 Sep
eBay shipping goes green
The mission of the eBay Green Team is to “inspire the world to buy, sell and think green every day.” With the roll out of their newest product the team is putting their mission into practice. Simple green shipping as the product is called is a durable box that has been designed to be used, reused and used again. eBay recognizes that the concept is simple but that the idea is powerful.
The company estimates that if each box (100,000 were produced) were used at least five times 4,000 trees, 2.4 million gallons of water would be saved and enough energy would be conserved to power 49 homes for one year.
One interesting feature of the box is that everyone who receives it has space to write a personal message to the next person in the chain. It’s like tracking the history of each box. Once the box has reached its useful life it can be recycled.
Source: earth911.c0m
Photo: ebay.com
9 Sep
Captain Planet Turns 20
Do you remember Captain Planet…..? I do. Captain Planet is celebrating his 20th birthday this year. The brainchild of Ted Turner in 1990, Captain Planet was created to “empower children to make a positive difference in their communities.” The Captain Planet Foundation, an organization dedicated to educating youth about the environment has declared September 15 “National Captain Planet Day”.
Captain Planet was created in Atlanta, GA and the city will celebrate with a series of events which will run through December.
- The Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell will show original episodes of the Capt. Planet series through Sept. 18.
- The Greater Atlanta Home Builders Assoc. along with the GA Tech School of Building Construction will host a Green Awareness 5K Run/Walk. Children are invited to come out and win prizes and to take photos with Capt. Planet.
- The Atlanta City Council has introduced an initiative to set up a fund for the children of the Gulf to recover from the oil spill.
- The celebrations will end on December 10, with a grand finale celebrity birthday bash at the GA Aquarium
The celebrations are not only meant to commemorate the “birth” of superhero but to inspire a new generation of planeteers.
Thanks to Susan Stewart, Director of the Life University Library for this information.
Photo: Captain Planet
7 Sep
The Government Wants You!
The U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are seeking public comment on proposed fuel economy labels to be displayed on new vehicles. These agencies are hoping to provide an easy way for consumers to compare the environmental and energy factors associated with all types of vehicles. The current timeline would have the new labels ready to appear on 2012 model year vehicles.
There are currently two design proposals…the first features a letter grade to communicate the vehicle’s fuel economy and greehhouse gas emissions performance. The second will keep the current label’s focus on miles per gallon (mpg) and annual fuel costs, but will feature an updated design.
For more information…or to weigh-in ….http://www.fueleconomy.gov
Source: Mother Nature News
