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Welcome to my "Weekly Green Tips" thread! Beginning in synchronization with Earth Day 2010 (which is this Thursday, April 22nd), for one full year I will post a new "green" tip each week. Some things you will have heard before but I promise to always try to provide some information, ideas, resources and/or challenges that are new to you.

Please feel free to interact on this thread. Questions and comments are most welcome.

Topics from the following areas will be covered throughout the coming year:

Energy
Food
General
Personal
Transportation

If there are any specific topics you would like me to present please send me a PM.


Here is a list of topics that have been covered thus far:

Week 1: General: The 3 Rs: Reduce (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showpost.php?p=263362&postcount=2)
Week 2: General: The 3 Rs: Reuse (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showpost.php?p=264403&postcount=19)
Week 3: General: The 3 Rs: Recycle (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showpost.php?p=265184&postcount=25)
Week 4: Transportation: Driving Efficiently (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showpost.php?p=266698&postcount=26)

While we will traverse deep topics over the next 52 weeks we must start with the basics. The first 3 weeks will cover "The 3 Rs":

Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

As this is the first week I will cover the first R: Reduce

Reducing the amount of resources we consume as well as the amount of waste we create as individuals is important because the Earth only has so many resources to offer. There is only so much arable (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arable) land, fresh water, oil, metal, mineral and other resources upon and within it, and its atmosphere, oceans and waterways can only withstand so much contamination before they can no longer properly sustain us.

The United States contains just 5% of the world's population yet we consume 25% of its resources and produce 30% of its waste. While this has afforded us an unprecedented standard of living it has come at a tremendous cost to the planet and our fellow inhabitants in the developing world. This simply cannot last, and therefore will not last, but the less resources we use now the more there will be available for the future of all of humanity - including your own loved ones and offspring.

There are an innumerable number of ways we can reduce the amount we consume and waste, but I will give a brief list here:

Use reusable bags. Keep a few in your car, keep a few at home, keep one at the office.
Use reusable containers instead of foil, wax paper, plastic bags, etc. to store food and other items.
Avoid accepting anything disposable. Bring your own cup to the coffee shop, bring your own dishes and utensils to barbecues and other events, bring your own reusable container to the restaurant for leftovers. Never accept a bag at the checkout.
A tremendous amount of the waste we each generate is food packaging. Shop the bulk bins and reuse bags for it.
Produce doesn't grow in plastic bags and it doesn't need to go home with you in one.
Donate to thrift stores. Doing so adds nothing new to the waste stream.
Shop at thrift stores. Buying something that was already created and used by another takes nothing new from the resource stream. The coolest part of this is that the items at these places already survived at least one owner intact. This means the item will likely last you a long time, unlike most of what can be bought brand new today.
Think before you buy anything. Do you need it or just want it, and are you sure that you know the difference? Either way, does it have to be purchased new? Are you sure that the functionality and/or happiness it will bring you will last? Are you buying it from a place that treats its employees, vendors and everyone else it deals with fairly?
What are other ways you can think of for reducing our consumption and waste?

Please take a few minutes to watch a wonderful presentation on this topic: The Story of Stuff (storyofstuff.com/)

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it: The next time you go grocery shopping bring home all of your items in reusable bags. If you already do so (yay!) then please measure and mentally categorize all of the trash your household produces in a single week, and come up with ideas for reducing it.

Hi Brian! Thanks for this thread.

The shopping bag is a great idea that is very easy. I have several bags that I keep in the cars and at home. When I go to the store for groceries, I use some big bags that I got from Aldi's, They are less than a $2, will hold a ton, fold up nice and neat and wash well if soiled. Oh yea, they are a subtle light tan color too.

The big retailer clerks and small grocery store clerks all question me when I say that I don't need a bag if I am only getting 1 or 2 items.

BTW: I took your words to heart a couple of years ago and am making "small steps" towards the "3 R's."

That's great to hear, Mike! :)

I, too, experience odd looks at the checkout stand though I've noticed this is decreasing at retail and grocery stores. Where I still see a lot of it is when I whip out my reusables at a restaurant. For example, if a restaurant's utensils come wrapped up in a paper napkin I just set it off to the side where it will stay clean, dry and intact, then bring out my own reusable napkin which is wrapped around a set of my own utensils. This is guaranteed to get a strange look from the staff.

I've even had nearby patrons ask me where I got my napkin. :D

Great Thread Bailout. I'll look forward to reading it each week!

I think one of the best phrases in your post is:

...can only withstand so much contamination before they can no longer properly sustain us.

Because it is about us. The Earth will be just fine, with or without us, and it will regenerate itself in whatever its next form will be.

Many people think that we are trying to "save the Earth", which does not resonate with them, because their priorities place themselves before the Earth. So driving home that we are trying to save them and ourselves might change some minds. Well, we can always hope.

Anyway, back to this week's topic ... it is very difficult to break the disposable cycle that we have created. For example, despite my best efforts, plastic ziplocs still show up in the kids lunches. So I combat it a couple of ways:

Whenever possible, I pack their lunches in reusable containers. Mostly tupperware.
I have the kids trained to bring back any ziplocs that do get into their lunch. I wash them and put them neatly back into the box they came in. Tougher, but worth it.
Have the kids report back to their "other lunch maker" ;) if anything gets crushed. That will sometimes get it put into tupperware the next time for them.


On to this week's assignment ... We have gotten to the point were we fill about 1/4 of the 90 gallon can each week. Most of it is food scraps: banana peels, apple cores, egg shells, etc. So I have been scheming plans for a compost bin. I just need to make it invisible, odorless, and easier for them than pitching it into the kitchen garbage. Any one doing this at their place?

Avoid accepting anything disposable. Bring your own cup to the coffee shop, bring your own dishes and utensils to barbecues and other events, bring your own reusable container to the restaurant for leftovers. Never accept a bag at the checkout.
Produce doesn't grow in plastic bags and it doesn't need to go home with you in one.


We each take a cup of water with us when we go to work and take a cup to shared when we go places. It reduces drive-thrus. But maybe I could suggest to my wife to take a cup and go inside if she's going to buy coffee.

I've suggested taking reusable containers to restaurants but my wife said she'd be embarrassed. I'll guess I'll just have to do it once sneakily. ;) I've managed to get my wife to use reusable containers for much more storage now. Baggies are really used just for .

Bringing our own dishes to barbecues/events is an excellent idea but might get strange looks from our friends. Nice people, but, not like us. Maybe we could offer to bring plates along with any food my wife brings because we understand they might not have enough dishes. ;)

When we get take-out (at least once per week, and a source of some of our reusable containers) we try to remember (but often forget) to ask for no cutlery, paper plates or napkins. It's something we need to be more proactive about. If we do get napkins and/or cutlery I take them to work where I use them if I forget to bring something I need. Oh, and each week I take a clean towel to work to use when I go to the bathroom. The hand-dryers are too slow and it saves and is faster than using paper towels. (Although it's hard to make up for one person who works there who uses 12 paper towels each time he goes to the bathroom). Oh yes, when I wash my hands in the bathroom I soap up with the hand soap and then run the water: more efficient that way

I refuse bags where possible on small shops. I'll take my small backpack with me if I'm just going out to get something. We take reusable bags on our grocery shopping but often forget them on other trips. We really do need to keep spare bags in the cars. (But what about the extra weight?!).

It's a bit hard to buy apples without having a bag for them so I do use the thin plastic bags but I avoid knotting them so they can be reused Our supermarket (Hannafords) also has twist-ties available so you don't have to knot the bags. We have plenty of saved twist-ties so if I could just remember to take the existing bags and twist ties I'd reduce consumption further. We do refuse separate bags the baggers often put on meats and some other products.

My biggest issue is that I really need to learn to cook and prepare more from fresh. (My wife does the main cooking). I usually take a can of soup to work with me and heat it in the microwave (obviously I swill out the can with a minimal amount of water and take it home to recycle (oh god some people are so wasteful with water when washing things in the kitchen at work)) but I'd be better to vary and take some sandwiches and salads. Lots of salad stuff and other vegetable end up being thrown out uneaten as my wife, while an excellent cook, likes variation and doesn't plan cooking to use all the vegetables she buys as she does with any meat. I should act as the family pig and use up the leftovers.

That's great to hear, Mike! :)

I, too, experience odd looks at the checkout stand though I've noticed this is decreasing at retail and grocery stores. Where I still see a lot of it is when I whip out my reusables at a restaurant. For example, if a restaurant's utensils come wrapped up in a paper napkin I just set it off to the side where it will stay clean, dry and intact, then bring out my own reusable napkin which is wrapped around a set of my own utensils. This is guaranteed to get a strange look from the staff.

I've even had nearby patrons ask me where I got my napkin. :D

Refusing a bag doesn't get us any strange looks. We've even once had a comment of approval when we refused a bag. Everybody knows why you're doing it and it's good for the business to reduce the use of the bags.

I'm not sure re-usables at a restaurant will help, unless you are substituting for disposables that you have to select yourself. But it's something I'll try to remember to do. I think they may have to (or just do) clear off all items when they clear the table for the next customer. They may even throw out unused sachets of condiments. I'll have to watch the next time I'm somewhere with disposables to see if that's the case. That health-and-safety-law over-disposal can be a reason why it's actually better to take all the toiletries and condiments away with you when you check out of a hotel room.

(We've used reusable napkins at home for quite some time now. We purchase far fewer paper towels now. For us, a napkin recovers 1c to 1.5c of its cost each time one is used.)

If you already do so (yay!) then please measure and mentally categorize all of the trash your household produces in a single week, and come up with ideas for reducing it.

Our local recycling place* takes paper, cardboard (not egg cartons), glass, cans, foil (at least we dispose of it there) and plastics 1 and 2. Maine has redemption for glass, metal and plastic drinks containers (except milk but that's a 1 or 2 anyway).

I also now have a "compost heap"**

By recycling and composting everything we can we've cut down to 1 or 2 trash bags per week. This offsets the cost of recycling slightly by reduce trash bag purchase.

Our remaining trash is non-compostable food scraps, food wrappers and containers, plastic wrap, high-number plastic and bits of junk mail that's not recyclable.

Some junk mail comes in the names of my wife's brothers who have passed away. I've had some success removing names from some charities' mailing lists but I refuse on principle to pay the ridiculous $1 fee to the junk mailing association for removing dead people from their lists. Being new to the US I don't get so much junk: mine is Dell and Capital One. In the last month I've started collecting the Capital One credit card mailings that come in my name: all but one I've received over the past year has been for exactly the same card, with exactly the same interest rate. I see every piece of junk as a 100 million pieces of junk and think how much of a waste it is.

* Recycling's about a mile away. It's not so far from the supermarket so we make a small diversion on our weekly grocery shopping so that the process of going to recycling doesn't consume so much energy. The trip's made more efficient in an efficient vehicle too. :)

** I don't look after it well so I don't know that it's producing much compost but it's not stinking yet.

Thanks for the thread and all the good suggestions. Perfect for Earth Day.

I try to always follow the 3 R's. As a result our garbage bag for this week amounted to one small plastic store bag. Despite using canvas bags at stores, I still get the occasional store plastic bag so I use those as garbage bags. I've never purchased a Hefty bag or anything like that.
I also tend to smash my trash so it takes up less space. For instance, where my husband would throw out an empty product box as is, I would recycle it or if it's not recyclable I break it down to a smaller volume so it takes up less space.
I have a compost bin outside in the corner of the backyard. I keep a plastic container with a lid under the kitchen sink, and put vegetable and fruit scraps into it, as well as egg shells, coffee grinds and dried tea from used tea bags. All that goes into the compost bin about every other day. Every spring I dig out the compost from the bottom of the compost bin and put it over the space where I grow a small organic garden.
I like going to the local farmer's market. Not much packaging there. I hope this year I can remember to get there every week; I have a bad habit of forgetting that Monday is farmer's market day in our town. I should try to be really good about it and ride my bike there instead of driving.
I haven't bought paper towels in years, using cloth towels or rags instead. Cloth napkins long ago replaced paper ones, and I bring a cloth napkin in my lunch bag when I go to work. Much of the time I am the "leftover-eater" in our house, so that's what I bring for lunch (actually for me, it's supper since I work evenings).

I'm always looking for further ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle, so thanks again for all the suggestions and ideas.

Great thread!

I bought a few of the reusable bags at Walmart a few years ago and they didn't last long. One of the handles came unstitched and the other got soiled pretty bad sitting in the trunk. I ended up throwing them out. :(

I've been an avid compost recycler for about 2 years now and it really makes a difference in the amount of waste that goes into the trash. I sort all of my mail and throw away the shiny paper, the cellophane windows and gummed parts of envelopes. I reuse the plastic bags to keep the compostables next to the trash can before they go into my compost pile, I have two compost piles 5' in diameter by 42" tall.

Those plastic bags also line the bathroom waste basket. To bad those bags aren't biodegradable. I take the empty cardboard toilet paper roll and tear it up for compost also.

The 1/2 gallon waxed paper containers that hold milk and juice get washed out and saved as planting containers for my vegetables. I cut the tops off. Twist ties go in the "anything drawer in the kitchen" for reuse in the garden. I scavenge old mop and broom handles that I find on my way home from work to be used as stakes in the garden.

I also will bring home the plastic containers that others throw out from plants they killed. If it has dirt so much the better. I keep a hot compost pile so any pathogens will not survive after decomposing.

I'm eating at least 1 or 2 vegetarian meals a day, I've found an India market that has frozen and sealed pouch meals, they have a good selection of foods always with no additives or preservatives. It's also a great place to buy spices which is why I originally went there. I also eat American vegetarian meals by companies like Amy's and Moosewood. These often have certified organic ingredients. I still eat meat but it is much less of a constant requirement in my diet.

All of the bread I buy is whole wheat 14 grain or more, no preservatives, no corn syrup, no enriched or bleached flour.

My diet is more expensive than someone who lives off of processed nonfoods but I feel better when I eat healthier. I figure the money I spend now on better food choices will reduce my expenses on medical bills from bad eating habits.

And lastly of course I grow my own vegetables. This year is going to be my first 100% no chemical pesticide or fertilizer garden. I'm doing a raised bed garden and if everything goes according to plan I'll be installing drip lines to conserve water usage.

Thanks again Brian for a great thread idea. :D - Dale

Dale, it's ironic that you deliver pizza.

My garden is nearly organic. I use a bait for fire ants. They are everywhere, but especially love the soft soil in the garden. If I didn't manage them, the garden would be one giant ant nest. I use a bait, which they take into the nest for me. It also requires MUCH less of the toxic substances, since it's a targeted application.

Dale, it's ironic that you deliver pizza.I gained 30lbs in the first 8 years of delivering pizza. The last day that I ran 2 miles was the first week I started. :o

My garden is nearly organic. I use a bait for fire ants. They are everywhere, but especially love the soft soil in the garden. If I didn't manage them, the garden would be one giant ant nest. I use a bait, which they take into the nest for me. It also requires MUCH less of the toxic substances, since it's a targeted application. You need one of these (http://news.discovery.com/videos/news-giant-anteater.html). Organic! :D - Dale

You need one of these (http://news.discovery.com/videos/news-giant-anteater.html). Organic! :D - Dale

LOL! :p

Actually, the zoo in the next town has one of those. It won't touch fire ants. They're too "spicy" it seems.

Welcome to week #2! We are continuing "The 3 Rs":

Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

As this is the second week I will cover the second R: Reuse

It is important for each of us to reuse things whenever and wherever it is practical because new items always require new materials or re-manufactured materials and lots of energy to create. The harvesting or extraction of raw materials for manufacturing is often directly linked to ecological devastation, human exploitation, economic exploitation, loss of human and wildlife habitat, impacts to agriculture, impacts to fresh water sources, etc.

The raw materials must be shipped to a processor and/or on to a manufacturer. Once a new item is created even more resources and energy must be used to create the packaging for it, and then to ship it. With much of North America's consumer goods being produced in China those goods are often shipped thousands of miles to reach us, then are railed and trucked all across the country to depots, then are trucked to your retail store. We then burn through yet more energy to get to the store and back.

Using the above paragraph as a model, let's walk through an example. We'll watch a pair of new pants from seed to your home.

1) A farmer in Brazil grows cotton which requires lots of fresh water. When harvested she ships the cotton to a gin operation 200 miles away using big trucks and lots of fuel. The gin uses huge amounts of electricity to separate the seeds from the fibers.

2) The cotton fibers are bailed, which requires some metal, and is then sent to Pakistan on a big ship which uses metric tons of fuel for the voyage and must skirt the southern coast of Africa on the way there. Once in Pakistan workers, often underage and underpaid, spin the fibers into thread.

3) Huge spools of cotton thread are then sent around the southern coast of India to Sri Lanka on another ship, using more fuel. Once in Sri Lanka the cotton thread is woven into cloth, again by underpaid and often underage workers. It is then dyed a desired color using dyes shipped to them from Egypt in conditions that are often toxic.

4) The dyed cloth is bailed, using some metal again, and shipped around Singapore to China, using more fuel. Near the coastline yet more underpaid workers are exploited to cut and sew the clothing into a pair of pants. Buttons made elsewhere in China from Russian oil or metal are added. To hold the size during shipping the pants are washed in toxic chemicals, then dried, boxed in cardboard that came from a nearby clearcut forest, then shipped thousands of miles to the west coast of the U.S., using another huge amount of fuel.

5) Once in the U.S. the boxes are railed and trucked to near their destinations, then trucked to retail outlets, using more fuel along the way. The retail outlet displays the pants on a hangar made in Mexico from Canadian oil. You then drive your vehicle to the store, interact with a low paid employee or two, then drive back home with your purchase.


All along this path people have been exploited and unimaginable amounts of fuel have been consumed. I didn't even touch on the economics of the farmer or the impact her pesticides and fertilizers have on not only her local environment but also on things a large distance away thanks to water always running downhill, nor the discharge of toxic sizing chemicals right into the ocean, nor the waste created during cloth cutting, nor product losses during shipping, nor the energy your local big box retail outlet goes through each day.

All of that just so you can buy a pair of pants for $19.95 at some big box store. Astounding, isn't it? :eek:


Now let's look at gaining a pair of pants from a second hand store:

1) A local person donated the pants so no new farming, processing, nor manufacturing is needed, nor is any round-the-globe fuel drain.

2) You still make a trip to a local store but that store is smaller, requiring less energy. The pants are displayed on a hangar that has likely been reused dozens or even hundreds of times, and may even be older than you are. ;) You then make the trip back home.


Tada! You just bought a great pair of pants that already survived one owner, proving some toughness, for just a few dollars, and you did not directly contribute to any new human/resource/economic/political exploitation. Thrift stores are my favorite places to shop! :)


There are simple ways that folks reuse things every day. Reusable shopping bags, plastic food storage containers, using old socks and t-shirts as rags, composting, etc. I am always looking for other ways to reuse such as offering my wife's mint tins on CraigsList for free (I used the first stack of them to organize my spare parts in the garage, and now they are always quickly snatched up by folks involved in crafts), replanting the pots I get seedlings in (when my own seedlings fail), donating my old cellular phone each time my employer provides me with an upgrade, etc.

What other ways can you think of for reusing items that come into your life?

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it: Go through your possessions and trim the excess out for donation to a local charitable thrift store, then visit that thrift store if you have not done so at any point in the last 3 years or longer. If you have visited that shop more recently please visit a different one. If you already have a habit of visiting thrift stores for your durable goods shopping then the next time you go please take a friend that has never been to one, and help them find something they can and will use.


Helpful links:

Reuse Trash Ideas: http://www.recycling-revolution.com/reuse-trash-ideas.html
Recycle This: http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/
Reuse at Green Living Ideas: http://greenlivingideas.com/category/topics/simple-living/reuse
Trash to Treasure Crafts: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/craftsbyproduct/a/trashcrafts.htm
Craft Ideas for Recyclables (for kids): http://www.solidwastedistrict.com/fun/crafts.html

More great info as usual Brian!
RE Pants: I guess I recycle my own.

I usually dress in jeans. I buy them one time a year at a Lee Factory Outlet Store and usually 5 or 6 pairs at a time. I pay $7 to $11 dollars a pair. I wear them for about 1 year for casual. The previous years jeans are used for work and I have 2 stages of work jeans. I am in management and Monday through Friday day shift, I wear (non abused) work jeans. (No holes, major wear or stains) On midnight shift, I wear jeans that may have visual deficiencies. On days off, I do construction or mechanical work and wear jeans with visual deficiencies and near the end of their lives. After they get torn or usually thread bare, they go into my rag pile.

It is amazing the different brands that are sold through that store. Nautica and LL Bean to name two of the more popular. I like the Nautica heavy linen shirts and I get them occasionally for $10 to $14 as well. They are the very same shirts sold in stores such as Dillards for $50 to $75. I wear cotton shirts to work and usually denim. I have Nautica shirts in denim too. Shirts are ususally no more than $9.


I have a couple of aluminum bottles that I use for water. I fill them with filtered water from a Brita pitcher. They are heavy aluminum and keep water cold for quite a while if they are kept out of the sun and wind. TJ Maxx for $6 each.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/RRR_Bottles.jpg

We donate/rotate every spring and fall for the previous winter/summer clothes were either not worn or have been outgrown. There is a group of 10 or so families that exchange at about this same time each year. We all have 2-3 kids each and so the items that have been "outgrown" find their way to the kid the next size down. Many of the outfits have been passed between 4-5 of the girls, who definitely take better care of them than the boys do ;) Everything that doesn't find an new home is donated to the local thrift shops. We tend to know them well and donate items to each shop based on what they sell more of throughout the year. It is mostly clothes now, but when the kids were younger it was every type of toy you can imagine.

My favorite item from the thrift store are sport coats. I wear them at work Monday-Thursday and by going through them, I pay less than $10 for each. They are in great shape. I take them to the local eco-cleaner and they are good as new and I didn't pay $100-150 dollars for the same thing.

Now as for additional reuses, I wore each pair of jeans for 9 years, rotating through 3 pairs: the newest pair for "nice" occasions (work, go out with the wife, etc), the middle pair for hanging out with friends/family, and the third and oldest pair for yard work and painting. Once a pair reaches it 9th year, my mom uses it with other pairs to weave throw rugs that hold up really well and look good. She promises to teach me how to do that once I have more free time and the kids are out of the house.

We follow a similar pattern with running shoes, except that I buy a new pair every two years and replace the insole every 9 months. Then the second oldest pair is used for running around, when wearing the 1st of 2nd pair of jeans :) The subsequent pairs are used for yard shoes for me and any of the kids when they mow or garden with me. These pairs get powerwashed once a year and are used until they fall apart.

msirach, love the "not a plastic water bottle". We use Kleen Kanteens. They are more expensive, but it satisfies my family's fashion requires :rolleyes:

Brain, Great second addition! Keep up the good work!

I go through jeans like crazy. I can maybe get 3 years out of a pair, and that's with using them until there are 6-inch holes at the knees. I don't even wear jeans at work, so it's just nights and weekends. :confused: At least they're biodegradable.

On the other hand, shoes last me a long time. I have a pair of yardwork shoes that are 12 years old.

I think the weirdest thing I ever re-used was the trundle bed that used to roll under my son's bed frame. When it was no longer being used for sleeping we used it for storage, keeping out-of-season clothing under the bed. When we no longer used it for that I took it out in the back yard, removed the wood at the bottom, leaving just the rectangular frame, and I used that as the basis for my raised organic garden bed.

I got rid of all my white clothes, to quit using bleach. I also stated using 7th Generation dish soap. It has no dyes, fragrances or chlorine and no phosphates.

Brian excellent thread again. I'll accept your challenge. I've been meaning to check out the "rich neighborhood" Goodwill anyway. - Dale

All the chicken discussion is split into another thread here: Andrew's Chickens (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31470).

Brian, thanks for the great work. It really gets me thinking, and has an impact on me over time. I certainly can and should do better in these areas.

One little nit to pick: Exploitation of human labor is also called jobs for people who need them. Children and forced labor aside, the world needs entry level and lower paid jobs. So your point about the clerk in the retail store being exploited (but somehow the clerk at the second hand store is not exploited?) weakens an otherwise stellar illustration, IMHO. Thank goodness I am exploited by my clients bringing their work to me and being demanding, so I have the luxury of contemplating how to trim my too large environmental footprint in air-conditioned comfort.

I'm glad that so many folks are enjoying this thread, and that it is producing some new ideas. :)


One little nit to pick: Exploitation of human labor is also called jobs for people who need them. Children and forced labor aside, the world needs entry level and lower paid jobs. So your point about the clerk in the retail store being exploited (but somehow the clerk at the second hand store is not exploited?) weakens an otherwise stellar illustration, IMHO. Thank goodness I am exploited by my clients bringing their work to me and being demanding, so I have the luxury of contemplating how to trim my too large environmental footprint in air-conditioned comfort.
I understand your meaning, ksstathead. Please allow me to explain my position. It is difficult to set aside child labor, forced labor and modern indentured servitude from the rest of the working world as it represents a huge portion of it. Great lengths are gone to in order to hide this where it occurs (for example, a certain cellular phone manufacturer's Chinese employees are forced to stay within the manufacturing compound and pay rent, and are given 2 paycheck stubs with each check: 1 for what they were paid, and 1 to show the ethics inspectors should they be questioned).

In many places of the world, including here in the U.S., entry level jobs are sometimes, or perhaps often, exploitative. A highly profitable U.S. retailer is well known for not allowing any full time employees except at the upper management level, holding employee training on how to apply to your State government for food and medical assistance in order to externalize their costs as an employer, and are under suspicion of going so far as to murder people in order to keep their employees from unionizing.

These things could be a entirely separate topic but I presented them here as extra impetus to cut back on our individual consumption habits. When you know there is a good chance that the new item in your hand was made through human exploitation as well as resource and energy exploitation perhaps it will not hold so much appeal. If you know those selling the item to you may also be exploited then maybe, just maybe, a different mentality will begin to form at the individual level. :cool:

I'm with you up until the part where the clerk at a retail store is exploited but the one at the thrift store is (implied) not. I expect the retail clerk has similar pay and benefits, and that both the thrift store and retail store have more applicants than positions. When there are such stark and well-stated distinctions, be sure not to imply others that may not exist.

As to differential resource consumption, pollution, and human rights at many points along the chain of production/distribution, spot on.

But you risk devaluing the abuse of child/forced laborers by seeming to equate their situation with that of a clerk. There are abused workers in the US, and prisons/courts for the abusers. Most workers here are rather glad to be employed (exploited).

Thanks, again, and well done.

Welcome to week #3! We are continuing "The 3 Rs":

Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

As this is the third week I will cover the third R: Recycle

Once we have reduced the amount of items we bring into our lives and reuse as much as is practical our remaining waste stream must be dealt with. Most people are good about throwing things away, but "away" is a place, usually a landfill or incinerator which are both great at releasing harmful chemicals into the local environment.

Each locale usually has their own recycling program and the items they will accept vary wildly. It often takes effort to understand what you can and cannot recycle, and what the turn in method and schedule is, but any recycling is better than no recycling. Aside from the obvious benefits such as natural resource conservation here are some facts to support that statement:


Glass is infinitely recyclable, meaning no material is lost in the process.
Aluminum cans are also infinitely recyclable and are generally only in the recycle stream for 60 days before being turned into a new can and placed back onto store shelves.
It takes 60% less energy and 50% less water to recycle paper products than to create them.
While plastic bottles are only 15% recoverable the global population goes through almost 3 million tons of them each year. This means that if everyone recycled plastic bottles it would cut annual extraction and conversion requirements by over 400,000 tons!


While your local recycling setup may have a highly limited acceptance list they may not be your only source. For example, several of my local metal smelters pay cash for bulk metals. CraigsList regularly has posts from folks that pay cash to pick up large metal objects from people such as junk cars and engine blocks. A local composter takes all bottom-of-the-barrel paper products such as egg cartons.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it: Call your local government to inquire about recycling programs that are available to you, and use them. If you already do so (yay!) take a look at the things you cannot currently recycle and try to find a business or organization that will accept some of it.


Related reading:

Plastic Recycling Facts: http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottle-recycling-facts/
Recycling More Obscure Materials: http://www.obviously.com/recycle/guides/hard.html
Paper Recycling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_recycling

Welcome to week #4! This week's topic is driving efficiently.

(I know that this is preaching to the converted here on CleanMPG, but this is not the only site that this information is posted to.)

Oil is a precious, energy dense and finite resource unlike anything the world had seen before it, and unlike anything we are likely to find on our planet again. The current world economy runs on it, wars have been fought over it and ecological devastation has been its byproduct at varying degrees since the first time our species learned it was flammable.

Most experts agree that we have achieved peak oil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil), meaning we cannot pump the oil out of the ground any faster than we currently are and that the rate of production is entering a terminal decline. The more of this precious resource that we conserve now the longer it will last for everyone.

Even the intolerably slow U.S. government is coming to realize these things and has recently enacted the first overhaul of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAFE_standard) in 30 years, with the new target each automobile manfufacturer must meet (as an average of all of their vehicle offerings) at 35 MPG by 2020. This is a tremendous increase over the 18 MPG previously mandated by the 1978 CAFE standard.

Driving efficiently is easy, it saves you money and is both relaxing and surprisingly addictive. Please see this thread (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510) for ideas on how to get started.


Additional resources:

Book: "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock" by Matthew R. Simmons
Documentary: "The End of Suburbia"
Documentary: "A Crude Awakening"
Pseudo-fictional movie: Syriana

If you grow most of your own food, you can greatly reduce the amount of garbage that you generate. Veggies out of the garden don't come in disposable containers and parts that you do throwaway (rinds, pulp, some seeds etc.) go right back out to the garden for composting. Home canning glass jars get washed and reused, the only throwaway part being the small metal lid. Compare that with grocery store cans and have lots of metal to throw away and an interior plastic liner containing bisphenol A.

Welcome to week #4! This week's topic is driving efficiently.

(I know that this is preaching to the converted here on CleanMPG, but this is not the only site that this information is posted to.)

Preaching to the choir is what it's called!:D

Thanks for posting it though. A succinct reminder often helps. It's so easy for many to forget the multiple reasons for achieving higher MPG. $$$ often drive many, but there are other reasons.