Books I've Been Reading

In preparation for a lecture by Beth Conover, I've been reading the compilation she edited, How the West Was Warmed. This book of essays tells the story of different Rocky Mountain residents' responses to climate change.



One I liked especially was "The Universe on Blacktop (My day of saving 66 million BTUs)" by Laura Pritchett. She tells an entertaining tale of her family's adventures in dumpster diving and makes clear the advantages of recycling.

"Recycled cans take 95% less energy than those made from aluminum obtained from bauxite. About thirty aluminum cans are produced from one pound of aluminum, and each aluminum can requires about 3,000 British thermal units (BTUs) to produce it. So... every two or three cans we recycle basically saves one pound of coal."

Tap vs. Bottled Water

The best way to save resources is to not use them in the first place. One easy way to shrink your global footprint is to not drink bottled water.

Reasons to drink from the faucet:
1. It's free! It costs about $0.49/year to drink the prescribed 8 glasses/day tap water, and about $1,400.00/year to drink bottled. 40% of bottled water is just filtered municipal water. What a scam!
2. 9 out of 10 bottles are NOT recycled. There are 30 million discarded bottles per day in the U.S.
3. It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to make one year's worth of plastic bottles.
4. It takes fuel and releases emissions to transport bottled water.
5. Disposable plastic bottles can contain toxic substances.

So, instead of spending money for water you could get for free (in addition to utilizing resources unnecessarily), carry a reusable drinking container and fill up at any faucet!

Want to learn more? Check out these news items from NPR.

BYOB

BYOB, aka 'Bring Your Own Bag'. This is a really simple way to incorporate sustainable principles into your own life. Next time you go to the grocery store, grab a couple canvas bags, or even the plastic bags you brought home with you last time. If you drive to the grocery store, keep some spare bags in the car so they're on hand if you make an impromptu grocery run.

Here are a few statistics to really get you motivated (from idealbite.com):
- In the U.S. 12 million barrels of oil go to producing plastic bags and 14 million trees go to producing paper bags.
- Some stores will give you a 5 cent discount if you bring your own bags (thats 5 cents per bag, it could add up... eventually).
- Plastic bags often escape the trash and become a nuisance to marine life. They are one of the most commonly found items in coastal cleanups. If you do end up bringing home plastic bags, try and find somewhere to recycle them (Whole Foods stores usually have a bin for those), or if you toss them tie them so they can't catch air and fly out of the land fill and into the ocean.

To get resusable bags, pick some up at the grocery store, or you can check out one of these links to buy some online:
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/plastic-bags-blow-tote-reusable-shopping-p-523.html
http://www.biobags.com
http://www.chicobag.com
http://www.wolavers.com/home/merchandise.html
http://www.bluelotusblankets.com/products/bags/
http://www.cafepress.com/ecoresponsible.59429148
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/shopping-bags-c-2.html

Or, make your own! Check out these links for directions on how to knit sturdy bags (or other things) out of your old plastic grocery bags:
http://www.knitting.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://oma57.tripod.com/cleobag.html
http://www.homesteadweaver.com/plasticbagrugs.htm