Chicago’s 563 parks are now being covered in garbage. But it is in the form benches, playground barriers and other items composed completely of plastic donated by residents in the city’s Plastic On Parks (POP) program.

At the start of the two-year-old project, 400 pounds of plastic was being collected each week, said Fred White, director of recycling for the park district. Now, more than 40,000 pounds of plastic are brought to the city’s 260 recreation centers every week.

“When you contribute to a project and can see what your efforts are creating, it’s a lot easier to get excited about it,” White said. “They know their plastic bottles are becoming useful items.”

Under the program, residents bring their empty plastic milk, water and pop containers to their local city recreation ..

Source: recycling

Harper & Row in San Francisco developed the clause at the request of Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead music group, for his book, Drumming at the Edge of Magic. To research the book — a history of ancient musical and rhythmic customs — Hart traveled extensively and became concerned about the environment — rain forests in particular.

Hart approached Harper’s, asking if the publisher would be willing to plant as many trees as were felled to produce the paper for his book. Harper’s not only agreed, but also offered to double the number of trees.

The first printing of 50,000 copies of the book represented 45 tons of paper. Quick calculations revealed that 765 trees would meet their demise. With additional printings of the book, the ..

Source: tree-planting programs

But how many of these claims stretch the truth just to sell more product? By creating a set of regulations, Hubert Humphrey III says he hopes to stop what he calls green-collar crime.

Humphrey, Minnesota’s attorney general, has become a national leader in this quest for consistency and accuracy in the use of environmental claims. He currently heads a task force to address the situation with 10 other state attorneys general.

On behalf of all states, this task force prepared Green Report II, a 50-page list of recommendations on green marketing. The report has been submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for consideration and distributed to the corporate world, as well.

“Green Report II goes a long way toward establishing guidelines for marketers,” Humphrey said. “Many companies are ..

Source: environmental marketing claims

A perfect example has been under way in St. Petersburg, Fla., for several years now. By picking up used paper donated by various companies and eventually hauling it to a local paper company, a developmental training program is helping build better lives for its mentally handicapped trainees.

“It’s really been exciting — much more far-reaching than we ever expected,” said Kathy Roegiers, manager of the local Goodwill Industries’ program. “It has allowed our trainees to be more a part of the community, rather than a burden, which is the ultimate goal for our program.”

When the recycling idea was first conceived, most paper companies told Goodwill that the amount of paper was too small for them to deal with, Roegiers said. However, one local paper company said it would start referring ..

Source: earth news

Coal, oil and natural gas are non-renewable natural resources that we will exhaust one day. In fact many predictions made decades ago stated that these natural resources would even be in short supply by the year 2000.

Now, as we know, that gloomy scenario hasn’t materialized. However, many who have followed this situation closely for decades believed that they would have witnessed the transition to renewable energy resources - away from the dependence on fossil fuels - by now.

The solution now is to wean ourselves quickly off of fossil fuels as there are new alternatives. We can use energy much more efficiently, reducing our energy consumption overall and slowing the depletion of ..

Source: Solar

Well, it is constituted by poisonous byproducts of nearly every aspect of human life, from farming, septic systems, manufacturing, construction, laboratories, garages, hospitals and many other industries. It comes in a variety of forms—waste can be solid, liquid or sludge, and it contains chemicals, heavy metals, radiation and dangerous pathogens.  Even your own house creates hazardous waste from items such as used computer equipment, batteries, and leftover paints or pesticides. The toxins are harmful to all forms of life if encountered in streams, groundwater supplying the drinking water or buried in the ground. Some heavy metals persist, for instance mercury, and are consumed by both people and animals when eating fish.

So what happens with all these ..

Source: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND

1. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Swap a regular 110-watt bulb for a 32-watt CFL, which uses almost 70% less energy. Plus, it lasts 10 times longer!  (Savings: $30 in energy for the life of a bulb)

2. Put your computer on sleep mode. Your computer sucks up energy even when it’d idel, so program it to sleep for 12 hours a day.  You’ll help extend its working life, too. (Savings: $44 per year on your energy bill)

3. Don’t drive once a week.  You can reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 800 pounds a year just by taking the bus, carpooling, riding your bike or walking instead of driving one day a week. (Savings: 130 gallons of gas per year, or $390)

4. Shorten your shower. Using less H2O when you bathe means you consume less energy to heat the water.  Install a low-flow showerhead and you’ll conserve even more. (Savings: almost $250 per year)

5. Rearrange kitchen appliances. If you refrigerator is in direct sunlight, recruit someone to help you move it away from the window.  Heat from the sun makes your refrigerator work harder; For each degree above 70 around the fridge, it’ll use 2.5% more power. (Savings: up to $70 per year on your utility bill)

6. Don’t wash dishes by hand. All that rinsing wastes lots of hot water.  Use your dishwasher (be sure it’s a full load) and save 5,000 gallons of water as well as a whopping 230 hours of your time every year! (Savings: $40 per year if you own an Energy Star appliance)

7. Adjust your water heater. Peek at the thermostat on your heater.  You’ll save 3-5% in energy costs for every 10 degrees you turn it down.  Optimal is 120 degrees year-round. (Savings: $28 per year on your electric bill)

8. Fix leaky faucets. Repair a pesky drip and you’ll conserve 5 gallons of water per day, which adds up to more than 1,800 gallons each year! (Savings: only $3, but a lot of H2O)

9. Raise the thermomstat this summer. If you turn up the air conditioner just 3 degrees, your home will still be plenty cool but you’ll use less energy.  Change the filter as recommended and you’ll save even more. (Savings: about $180 on your utility bill)

10. Heed the speed limit. Driving 65 miles per hour instead of 75 on the highway can stop the emission of about 1,500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.  (Savings: 75 gallons of gas per year, or about $225)

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