Recycle, Freecycle and more

We see it everyday, RECYCLE, but where does all of that stuff being recycled go?  Is it really helping anything to separate the plastics, paper, cardboard and glass from regular "garbage".  The short answer: sorta...the longer answer, it depends on what happens to it once it leaves your neat little recycling bin.  A better way to make sure things that can be recycled  do not wind up in the landfill or potentially adding to waste and pollution is to deliver the items directly to people, programs and businesses that can use them.

A very popular and not-so-new way to keep items out of the landfill, from mattresses and furniture to tv's and cell phones to notebooks, art supplies and more is Freecycle.  You can find your local freecycle group on Facebook and Yahoo!  Join up and you'll get offers and wanted emails for everyday items.  You can join a daily digest or individual emails.

The good:

•  The items are kept out of landfills and put to good use
•  You can get some great stuff, especially if you are handy and know how to refinish or repair items
•  It is FREE!
• You can get rid of things that you no longer want or need and feel good about giving to someone who does want and/or need it.

The bad:

• You have to be careful of the sanitary nature of the items you get
• Be careful and don't give out too much information, you are talking to strangers that you do not know anything about
• You need to be quick in larger, metro areas because items go FAST!

My personal experience has been a great one!  I've got some great bookcases, a vintage style desk, floor lamps, an aquarium with a fish, bunk beds, a bread maker, printers, hard drives, shower curtains and so much more.  Plus the hunt and competition or "Pick me!" syndrome is fun.  


Another idea is very new to me, but I am looking into it as a way to provide funding for my children's schools.  It is called Terracycle.  It is a fabulous business idea that I wish I had thought of!  Basically, the idea is this: Kids drink tons of juice equivalents that come in pouches, those pouches get thrown away and sent to a landfill.  Instead of allowing all of these to go to the landfill (we know every bottle or pouch doesn't get put into the recycling bin) or simply recycled into new products; collect the pouches, send them to Terracycle and they will send your charity 2 cents for each one.  I don't know about your kids' schools, but mine go through a LOT of juice pouches, soda bottles, candy and bar wrappers, etc.  Once Terracycle receives them, they give them a new purpose in life from tote bags and purses to bird feeders and more.  I'm hoping to make it a new part of my kids' school habits...just gotta get through that red tape :-)  Maybe you wonder why this is better than simply recycling, well the first reason is educating children to be conscious of their environment and making use of all parts of a product and losing the "disposable" mindset.  Second, raising money for the ever money-crunched schools.  I think it is far better than purchasing overpriced candy, nuts and wrapping paper!

So what does happen to all of that recycled stuff that we put in the neat little blue crates?  I've heard rumors that some "recyclable" materials meet their demise in a landfill, even after all of our careful efforts to sort and send to be recycled.  However, this is not the case in all areas.  I suggest checking with your locality to find out if your recycled items are really being treated as such.  Many cities, counties and states have programs in place to keep the recycling organizations in check, however it never hurts to check and make sure your jurisdiction is behaving responsibly.  If you find out they aren't, contact the local authorities or media to make sure our efforts are for nothing.  



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Corn - providing energy of all kinds

Corn - providing energy of all kinds

102 years ago, yesterday, the Ford Model T hit the market...how is it that we haven't advanced mainstream fuel any farther than where we are in over a century? Granted we have a ton of technology in cars these days, but the most hazardous component is still based on oil. Sad. We should worry less about fuel "efficiency" and more about alternative fuels.

Hindsight is 20/20 but sadly the reason for not converting from oil is simply money.  Politicians and big oil companies padding their pockets at the expense of society. Most people would be surprised how much of their everyday items come from oil, they can easily be replaced with biological sources (corn, for example, it is amazing) that can make equivalent products. The stronghold Big Oil has on our society is sickening.

Some would argue that sugar cane may be as effective, however the potential for corn is not limited to just fuel, you can use it for plastics, clothing, fuel, personal care items like shampoo, lotions, soaps, etc....the list goes on and on. http://www.cornproducts.com/.  While sugar cane, or any biological product would do better than the fuel sources we have now, one thing about corn is that it doesn't require the same climate as sugar cane and it provides more sustainability and less dependence on foreign nations for resources. Much of America and the world can grow corn, while sugar cane would be limited to our more tropical climates.

The best thing about using biological alternatives to fossil fuels is that they are renewable. Eventually we will have to adapt to using these alternative resources, because we are depleting the fossil fuels from the earth. We should take a proactive stand and recognize the need and make every effort to transition over to these renewable products. Let's face it, wind, solar and water are options, but they are dependent on the weather and non-renewables, renewable biological resources may be susceptible to disease and the effects of weather, but they are more reliable than wind and solar as a major source. I agree there should be a good mix of all of these.

Consider not only corn or sugar cane as an energy source to eliminate fossil fuels, if we combine all of the possibilities, there is a viable solution. How can we pay farmers to not farm while much of our food products are imported in from other countries. I believe that if we became more reliant on our own country the result would be surprising about how well we could support ourselves if we do not look at it from an instant gratification, strictly capitalistic mindset.

Big oil and Cancer

If you think about it, the root of all of the evil cancer causing products is petroleum. If we were not so dependent on these products, how much of our society would benefit? The benefits of phasing out our dependency on oil and developing clean energy-wind, sun, vegetable, etc, and using the resources that are readily available to us to replace the petroleum-based plastics, such as corn products, are immeasurable, not only for the air we breathe, but for our overall health and well-being in all facets of life.

Maybe the solution is not more research on how to kill cancer, but to prevent it in the first place. How much money have big oil companies made causing the very disease that we spend billions on to research? We need to be a more responsible and educated society, in order to make the right choices for the future of our children and grandchildren. Why do we want to leave this mess for them to clean up? Our industrialization seems to have progressed very quickly, but realistically we are still in the revolution. When you develop something new, for example the invention of the automobile, you do not know the best way to do it, because it is new. We need to get real about the possibility that we should improve and choose better fuel sources.

Our society has become stagnant and lazy, because we accept all that is around us, without question all too often. It is too bad that the auto industry did not evolve as quickly as the computer industry. That is a prime example of constant improvement, from vacuum tubes to handheld computers that are far superior. If we had the desire to understand that the way we have always done it may not be the best way to do things, we would be better off. Join me in my fight against big oil, before it destroys the beauty, majesty and life of our planet. It goes far beyond just banning off-shore drilling, which I am highly passionate about, it is about protecting our people, our planet, our future.