We just returned from a trip to Sweden to see my husband's family. During our 10-day visit, we saw more than just cousins, aunts and uncles, we saw what an environmentally aware country looks like.
The Swedes definitely have us beat in recycling convenience. Recycling bins are conveniently located outside of fast food restaurants - Burger King has a 6-hole collection system for trash, liquids, compost, kid's meal boxes, empty cups and bottles. Multi-bin recycling stations (like the one pictured here) are located at the zoo, around the marketplace, near schools, anywhere shoppers might have a recyclable. (The photo is from
www.xonus.com.) Outside the only grocery store in the very small, country town of Rattvik, there were two additional bins for recycling batteries and light bulbs!
Did you know that fluorescent lights are 100% recyclable? (Standard incandescent bulbs are not - one more reason to switch to those energy-saving CFLs.
Wikipedia does a great job of
comparing bulb types.) Recyclers remove the mercury inside the light, then recycle all of the components - glass, metal and the mercury. Why take the trouble to recycle these bulbs? According to an
article in the San Francisco Observer:
When fluorescent lights are put in the trash the glass can break, which releases mercury into the environment. Mercury evaporates easily and travels long distances in the atmosphere, contributing to local, regional and global pollution. Once mercury gets into a body of water, biological processes can transform the mercury into a highly toxic form that builds up in fish and aquatic animals. When people consume fish containing mercury, the mercury concentrates in their bodies. High levels of mercury can lead to neurological damage.
You can find a recycler in your area by going to one of my favorite sites:
earth911.org. The closest recycler to me requires the bulbs be wrapped in newspaper or placed in their original containers. Considering that CFLs are guaranteed for 8,000 hours (an entire year if left on 24/7), I'd say you'd have to be a real pack rat to still have the original box!
Just in time for Earth Day (April 22nd), today we sent out our first national press release announcing "Just the tips, man for protecting the environment". Writing this 365-page tip book (one for every day of the year) has been a labor of love for me. I started it about a year and a half ago after reading several eye-opening books on the environment including John Robbins's amazing book, "Food Revolution", Julia Butterfly's "One Makes a Difference" and "The Better World Handbook" by several authors. Books chocked full of examples, statistics, facts, etc. Books I could never get my "I want to help save the planet but don't know what to do and don't have the time to figure it out" friends to read.My idea for this book was not dissimilar from our other "Just the tips, man" titles. I wanted to combine the information from a multitude of books, web sites and magazine articles, update the facts and statistics, and rewrite it in our concise, fast-reading, Nerdy Book format with a dorky character making a relevant comment on every page. I was so excited after writing the first 8 or 9 pages that I contacted Julia Butterfly's publicist. (Julia is that amazing woman who sat in a giant redwood tree "Luna" for two years to help save the redwood forest from deforestation.) I told him that I thought the information in Julia's book, reformatted in our Nerdy Book style, would really work. He told me that Julia was booked solid for over a year. Oh well. Her loss.
When your ready to start making a difference, check out a sample of "Just the tips, man for protecting the environment", read our press release, then order an ebook or pre-order the printed book here. If you like what you see, tell 3 of your "I want to help save the planet but don't know what to do and don't have the time to figure it out" friends! And, thanks.
POSTED BY Wendy Richardson co-author of Nerdy Books AT 3:58 AM 1 comments
At least that's what the sign says. I've had this t-shirt cutout sitting next to my home computer since January. (I've been a little preoccupied trying to get our "Just the tips, man for Protecting the Environment book completed...)
Last December, my son's first grade teacher handed out "Happy New Year" t-shirts to color, cut out and fill in with each child's New Year's resolution. After the little shirts hung on the school wall all of January, my son brought his home and proudly showed us his work. As you can see, the t-shirt reads:
Now I doubt this shirt would sell in the t-shirt shops around town, but those 5 little words made my day. My husband and I have always been open and honest with our kids about the reasons we gave up meat. Our goal is to inform them so they can make that decision on their own. We give them age-appropriate information: water use, land use, animals treated unkindly, etc. They're not quite old enough to comprehend articles like this one but when they are, I'm sure my son will do at least one school project on the subject!
Full disclosure... the same little boy who wrote the words on the t-shirt back in December also handed me this coupon last week:
POSTED BY Wendy Richardson co-author of Nerdy Books AT 7:26 AM 0 comments
