It's A Blizzard, Auntie Em!

Okay, so here's the deal:

The average temperature increases by a degree or two from all the garbage in the atmosphere.  This causes the ocean temperature to rise by a degree or two.  This warmer water causes the glaciers at the North Pole to melt just a little bit.  Then, because it's just a hair or two warmer than usual, those glaciers start to deteriorate.  Once this happens, they begin to break apart. Our natural solar reflector is now in pieces and floating away into much warmer water, where the pieces melt completely.  This causes the average temperature to rise a few more degrees.  More precipitation in the air means more severe storm activity.  See where I'm going with this yet?

Anyone who tries to deny that man has any effect on the environment only need take a look outside today.  This is what we've done.  We have no one to blame but ourselves.  Did we foresee this coming 100 years ago?  Nope.  Did we see it coming 50 years ago?  There were some wacky theories making the rounds at that time.  Did we see this coming 20 years ago?  You betcha!  Could we have prevented our Northern ice cap from melting?  We could have done a lot more to prevent it.  I don't know if we could have stopped it altogether, however I do know that we could have slowed it down considerably if we had only taken the initiative to do something about it.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the result of Global Warming.  Ain't it fun?

Schrodinger's Cat

I sometimes look at my inbox and want to run away from it.  A lot of what I get is junk, some is not expected yet worth keeping and some of it I have been waiting impatiently for.  Does this sound like you?  Or do you see how many unread messages are there and don't bother looking, you just move on to something else?

When designing my weekly newsletter, I sent out the mock-up to many people asking for feedback.  I worked hard to implement the suggestions given.  Some of them just didn't work and were scrapped.  Others made my newsletter so much better than I had originally planned.  I needed it to be something that was easy to read, informative and something that people looked forward to receiving each week.

Have you seen it?  I send out a new one every Monday morning.  In it you will find a recipe for dinner, information about current eco-issues and questions from subscribers.  You'll find the sign-up form just to the right of this post, please take a minute to fill it out and subscribe.

Is Your Business In The Green? part 1

I have said before that I do a lot of networking here in the valley.  Every week I meet business owners who may recycle at home, yet they don't in their business.  I find this very strange.  I know that part of the reason is that there is no recycling service as part of their regular waste disposal in most cities here.  I try to impart this little nugget of information to each business owner I meet; greening your business is more than just recycling.  Recycling just happens to be the most popular place to start for most people.

Does your business have a break room or kitchen?  Do you supply the cups, cutlery and plates/bowls?  There are amazing products available to business owners to make a HUGE difference in just this one area.  There are cups, cutlery, plates and bowls made from corn, made from sugarcane and other plants, that are biodegradable/compostable.  There are garbage bags made from corn that break biodegrade so that the contents can properly break down.  Next week, keep an eye on your break room or kitchen and take a mental note of the waste and types of waste produced in five days.  Once you have an idea of the amount, now multiply that by 51.  Now think about this; what if all of that completely biodegraded and didn't exist after a few months.

I Know I Should Do More part 2

Do you feel your curb-side recycling takes enough?  They don't.  Most city recycling centers are still in "landfill" mode and don't see the benefits to increasing their recycling capabilities.  This doesn't mean that you can't do more.  You can recycle as much as you want.  If you take a little time at the beginning, the process is simple, quick and actually makes you money.

You can recycle almost anything.  Here are the steps to recycling more:

1. Look at what you are putting in your regular garbage can.  Make a list.  Are you putting in plastics, papers or glass that you suspect could be recycled?

2. You want to locate a good recycling center near you.  To do that, you want to visit this link: Earth911.

3. Almost all recycling centers require you to separate everything once you are there.  Save yourself all that work and separate it before hand.  Look at the list you made in step one and pick up a container for each type of material you are going to take to the center.  Now when you throw that stuff out, it's already sorted and you don't have to do it at the center.

4. Decide when you are going to take your materials to the recycling center.  Will you need to go once a week, two weeks or maybe only once a month?  You'll have a better idea of when you need to take it in once you start collecting it.

5. Take your containers to the recycling center.  They will normally have bins to transfer the materials into.  Since you don't have to stand there and sort everything out, this is super easy and quick.  They will weigh everything and give you a receipt and send you to the office where you will get paid for the materials you brought in.

What are you going to do with that extra money?  I really want to know how you do with this.  Leave a comment telling everyone how your efforts are going and what you are going to do with the extra money.

Compostable vs. Degradable: Know the difference!

With interest in composting on the rise, one question I get asked a lot is the difference between products that are compostable versus degradable. This issue relates to various products in the OnlyGreen catalogue.

Compostable products, such as OnlyGreen’s BioBags, hot cups, plates, cutlery, etc, are made from plant materials, including corn, potato, soy and sugar, which will all naturally break down in a compost environment. Under the right conditions (ie. warm and moist) these items will fully compost anywhere from 30-90 days. Using compostable products wherever possible will help to eliminate the need for landfill sites at all.

Degradable products, however, are made from traditional oil based plastics. Although these cannot be composted, they are designed to break down in a landfill setting, over a longer period of time. This gives all of the waste inside the bag a chance to decompose as well, which can reduce our landfill levels in the long run. Degradable garbage bags, such as OnlyGreen’s Bully Bags, offer a safer alternative than traditional black bags, but maintain a stronger durability.