One Green Jesus-Freak

Rural Recycling Concerns

2011-05-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

I've seen the recycling scene in Grand Rapids grow exponentially since the coming of the Single-Stream MRF to the Metro-Area. One area I see still lagging behind is the rural suburbs. Even though the MRF takes all the recyclables "mixed" together the transfer stations where Waste Management manages "drop-off" sites still require residents to separate things out by type. When I asked about this on a tour of the new MRF, the Director of the Kent County Recycling Center said they were looking into changing that. The trucks take and dump all those items into one pile anyway for the mechanized MRF to sort, why not pass the convenience of single-stream on to the rural recyclers? The waste haulers in the area are little better at passing on the convenience of Single-Stream to the rural population. Even though they would only need to say the word and people would pay for a curbside recycling dumpster of the type GR residents get for free, they continue to refuse to offer the option. I've spoken with the owner of one of these hauling companies and they claim the interest isn't there in the rural suburbs. From experience I can tell you that isn't the case. If we were able to offer large recycling curbside units to people there would be buy in and there would be interest. I see a future where rural communities not only have the option of a large curbside dumpster for recyclables and a smaller one for trash, but dare we dream even a curbside container for food scraps. The next step is to convince someone to make this happen, to take this project to the next level, to make the necessary connections and investments to make this a reality.

Earth Day is here. So how did we do?

2010-04-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to admit we have not reached the Absolute Zero threshold yet, but we've come as close as is humanly possible in my opinion, at least in West Michigan. We have put in a gallant effort for sure. The replacement of out kitchen trash can with a 3-tier recycling bin and a counter top compost container has really changed our way of life. My family has been stellar, averaging under 10 lbs of waste a month! My kids in particular have been remarkable! I am geeked when my 3 year old asks me if something is compostable. They really seem to get it and I am proud of them. I did the shopping today, it had been probably 10 days so I had to buy quite a bit. I was very conscious of packaging, but I am not an ogre either. I did buy my kids some fruit snacks to take to school even though I know there is no reuse for those packets. They were a treat and an exception I tolerated, but not the rule. I'd like to be able to buy most everything at the store bulk and package it in my own reusable container. I guess until we get a Whole Foods or a bulk food co-op in GR I am at a near stand still. I keep trying to whittle it down, but in the meantime I have to be content with a 99.9% reduction in home waste. I am just kidding I know that is awesome! The average family of 5 creates 8,000 lbs of waste a year, my family is averaging less than 120 a year that is something to be proud of for sure!

One step closer to absolute waste... 19 days until Earth Day

2010-04-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly the lid to our Rubber Maid kitchen waste basket broke the other day. I looked into just replacing the lid and of course that isn't possible, not only can't you buy just a lid, but they have changed the shape slightly since last year when I bought it and I wouldn't be able to find one to fit it anyway. So, I went to Meijer's and starting looking for a new one. I didn't see anything I liked and then I got to thinking, trash isn't the first thing we should be thinking about anyway. An actual waste basket should be the last thing we have close at hand since we are aiming for absolute zero waste. So I didn't replace it! Say what? You read correctly, I didn't buy a new waste basket. Instead, a bought a stackable 3 bin recycling center to place where our waste bin was and I relocated the "trash" to the garage. Now everyone's first instinct will be to ask, "Is this compostable or recyclable?" And then and only then, if it is neither will they walk out into the garage and place it in the barrel. I was wandering around Meijer's last night at 11:45 p.m. and it just hit me, if we are to cope and adjust and beginning living/creating a post-waste culture we need to get rid of the crutch of having a trash can handy. If we make it harder to toss our trash maybe we will be less likely to bring it into the house in the first place. I want to raise my children to ask, "where is your compost bin" or "where are your recycling bins" instead of scouting for the trash when they are visiting other people. As Rage Against the Machine sings, "it has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime. What better place than here? What better time than now?"

Taking the plunge...

2010-03-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

If I can't reuse it, compost it, or recycle it I won't buy something in it. That is the bottom-line with zero waste and it has to be a conscious effort and a decision.

23 days until Earth Day, w/ Absolute Zero looming

2010-03-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

I am a little disappointed that I am beginning to think that Absolute Zero may be unattainable. This is the second week I've weighed our garbage can since I got rid of our curbside dumpster. We had 4 lbs of garbage this week, almost double what we had our first week measuring. Now, just to be fair, we had 30 house guests this week, between the 2 separate birthday parties we had for our oldest daughter Micah, but still... This only makes me think an Absolute Zero waste home is a near impossibility. You can try and try to avoid wrappers and containers that don't compost, but someone is bound to bring over some pop-sickles or some such rubbish that have a non-recyclable and non-compostable wrapper, not to mention all the packaging associated with 8 year old girl dollies and the like. I guess I can just be thankful that in my absence Saturday my wife kept the dream alive and secretly trash picked the compostables out of the waste basket. She deserves a medal, go Nellie!

Earth Day is a Month Away

2010-03-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

I am excited to see Earth Day just around the corner. That date will be the 1 year anniversary of the roll out of our recycling program at Mel Trotter Ministries where I work. I think at the time I thought 50% removed from our waste stream would be doable immediately, we got closer to 70% reduction of waste our first quarter with the addition of a food waste composting service and doing away with disposables. Over the course of the next several months I studied and scoured for recycling sources learning some great stuff along the way. At the present we are almost to 90% waste reduction at the Mission and looking to do some recycling at our warehouse and stores. Things are looking really good for these green initiatives. I never would have guessed last year that we would take this this far. We've been certified as a 4 of 4 star recycling center and been recognized in the news. Then more recently I've been aiming closer and closer to that zero mark for waste and studying the sustainable practices involved in obtaining true zero has been eye opening.
On May 18th of this year I will be co-leading a seminar at the 29th Annual Michigan Recycling Coalition Conference entitled Zero Waste Now (see page 5 of the linked pdf). Preparing for this conference session I have been reading and blogging about zero waste and taking my own stab at joining the post-waste movement. I am very excited to be sharing my research and my current zero waste home project as well as tips I've picked up along the way.

This Earth Day will mark an amazing transition for my household and later in the year possibly for my work. I would like to see the Downtown Area G.R. become a Zero Waste Zone. It has to start somewhere!

I am very excited as well tomorrow we are taking a truckload of plastics 3-7 unsorted to our new recycler and I am hoping that all goes well, we've been studying up on our plastics and have included a number of unnumbered things that we are fairly certain are actually 4s, 5s and 7s. I'm guessing we will know for sure tomorrow.

2 adults, 3 children, 7 days = 2.5 lbs. of waste Arggh!

2010-03-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

Zero=0

Time is ticking away 36, 35, 34 days left and I am both excited and a bit disappointed. At our 1st weigh in our trash, I mean the real waste I can't compost or recycle, weighed 2.5 lbs. That means each of us created a .5 lb of trash on average. I know this seems like a low number, but it isn't ZERO! That being said I know that next week will be better. I am finally out of the Keurig cups that I had purchased several weeks ago and those will no longer be part of that weight. Other waste is cyclical and only cycles around every so often. I think we can easily cut this 2.5 lbs in half or better by next week. That is my goal then, next Sunday no more than 1.75 lbs! We are whittling it away with a little over a month remaining before we proclaim 6124 Kuttshill a Zero-Waste Zone.

In 12 hours my curbside dumpster is HISTORY. 38, 37 the countdown continues...

2010-03-18T19:34:00.001-07:00

Well, as of tomorrow morning the Merren Family will officially be curbside dumpster free! For a family of 5 with 3 young children this alone is a pretty remarkable feat. Last week I cut loose my recycler and this week they are taking away my curbside dumpster for good. For 7 years now I have been hauling one of these babies out to the end of the driveway, for you city folk this is how we roll in burbieland, literally. For months now though this relic of another era, of a passing historical age, has been parked without incident or motion by our garage door. I can't recall the last time it made the trek the 50 feet down to the end of the driveway. Tomorrow it will make this journey for the last time. I remember when I first saw this curbside trolley I was impressed, it was brand new and pristine, a light brown with crisp white lettering. It came to us to replace one that cracked under the pressure of a mechanized lift on a bitter January morning a few years ago. That previous unit had seen better days and split almost in half. This one has probably never received a load larger than 30 gallons, less than 1/2 its designed capacity. I hope that they give it a good scrub and put it back to work for someone else. This is a bitter sweet day and I rejoice that this sorry tub is going. Surprisingly, I am not even anxious about when or how I will receive my box of "by the bag" stickers. I have less than 1 lb of trash in my kitchen waste bin right now and a full bag is weeks away at this rate. Although, I did have a close call the other day. My mother-in-law came over earlier in the week to watch one of the girls who wasn't feeling well and while she was here she managed to tear 3 lbs and several months worth of credit card receipts into my bin. I almost died when I saw it! More than triple my family's waste for the week came out of her purse in an afternoon. I scrambled for a bio-plastic bag and packed those receipts all in to it and tossed it in my car. The next day I took them to work and added them to the food waste soup on our back dock, a safer alternative to a shredder for destroying sensitive receipts I can assure you. I love my job!

39 Days Remaining: Changing Habits

2010-03-16T03:51:00.000-07:00

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do it is increased." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Like so many things zero waste living requires change and change isn't always easy or even desirable. I've been thinking a little recently about what it takes to change one's own mind, one's own home and then to think what it would take to change a nation and ultimately the world. The issue of recycling seems like a real no-brainer to me. When I was just 18 I spent a semester abroad at University in the foothills of the Alps in Austria. Even then in 1991, almost 20 years ago, recycling was the standard. Every household recycled into plastics, glass, paper, food waste... under penalty of law! Yes, it was against the law in Austria 20 years ago to toss a bottle in the wrong bin, you could get a pretty steep fine if they found you hadn't recycled a glass bottle, and yet to this day, in the United States recycling, even the basics is not the law, not the norm, and in some places hardly even acceptable.

I know most Midwesterners think of California as another planet and the West Coast in general as riddled with liberals and hippies (yeah, liberals & hippies!), but many of the municipalities there have the idea and it isn't about politics! If you want to keep from piling mounds of trash outside the city, does that make you a liberal? Can you not be a conservative, a Republican if you decide to buy a cup of coffee and use your own mug instead of Styrofoam? I guess I don't see why you have to be labelled a bleeding heart if you compost.

I have other questions for my Midwestern friends as well. Why, can't I get a 64 gallon bin for my recyclables here? They have them on the West Coast! Why can't I get get a dumpster for food waste? They have them on the West Coast! Most municipalities on the West Coast are switching up the sizes of their containers: small for waste, medium for compostable food, and large for recyclables. The use Capitalist models to make recycling pay for itself and some municipalities even pay their residents for their recyclables! My recycler here in Rockford said that not enough people recycle, even those that pay for recycling don't tend to do it, so they can't afford to collect weekly. I've decided that as we approach the completion of the single stream recycling center I am going to petition my recycler to provide us with dumpsters for recycling. The city of Grand Rapids is intending to provide them for their residents. [Grand Rapids hopes more than 70 percent of its residents will recycle after the plant becomes operational. The city plans to provide 40,000 households with free 60-gallon wheel carts and an incentive plan offering discounts or coupons at local retailers for recycling, Deputy City Manager Eric DeLong said.] I believe that we can make the change, one person at a time.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/08/kent_county_gets_started_on_si.html

42, 41, 40 days until I take the zero-waste plunge

2010-03-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Building up to zero-waste living is giving my family and I an opportunity to look at what we might want to cut down on or eliminate from our daily lives gradually. A little too gradually for my taste. Sooooo I've decided that I am going to start weighing our kitchen waste bin each week to see where we stand. The can is empty today and I am going to the take the empty weight so that I can weigh that against our goal of zero and measure week to week to see if we are making progress. I can see the family got a little lax this week as our 12 gallon kitchen bag was nearly full and it has only been 2 weeks since I last emptied it. I am noticing they are still putting paper towel in there, which since our switch to green cleaning agents is unnecessary (when composting you want to be weary of the chemicals you use to clean as they end up in your finished product).

"You're fired!" In the countdown to ZERO 44, I mean 43 days left...

2010-03-12T04:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I did something I hadn't expected to do yesterday; I changed my waste removal service about 44 days earlier than I had anticipated. So this is how it happened and what I did. I drove down Rogue River Dr. the other day and saw all these sweet blue plastic curb bins out next to the 64 gallon trash dumpsters of a competitor of my waste hauler and the bins were full! I got excited so I checked out their website when I got home. Despite my enthusiasm for their bins I was very reluctant to get too excited because one of their drivers on that same route turned his big trash truck around in someone's driveway last year and pulled out right in front of me sending every loose item in my car airborne and giving me and my children kinks in our necks from the seat belts. I finally was won over while looking at their website by the prospect of having recycling picked up each week, my current provider only does it once every two weeks. That coupled with the idea of paying by the bag for trash removal seemed really exciting. So I called my trash hauler (a beloved local and I mean very local company) and told them I was ready to cancel my service. They asked me if they had done anything wrong and I explained that with every other week recycling service I was always forgetting which week to put it out. I went on to tell her that I only put out a 12 gallon kitchen bag worth of trash every 3 weeks or so and that I was trying to eliminate that as well. The gal gave me some food for thought saying that her drivers had seen the drivers of a certain unnamed waste hauler dumping recyclables at the transfer station on 2 different occasions rather than taking them to the recycling center downtown (saving themselves time and money). Now, to be fair, I tried to confirm that claim with the BBB, but there was no report concerning them there. That probably means that if my waste hauler did complain about this other company it wasn't to the BBB, but maybe with the transfer station authorities. But, that type of behavior on the part of the drivers of that unnamed company seems very consistent with the kind of yahoos who would turn around a trash truck in someone's driveway and then pull out in front of a car full of kids! So my plan to switch companies was a bust. I tried to talk my waste hauler into coming once a week and giving me a recyclable bin to which she replied, that to drive the recycling truck out on an off week just for my recyclables wouldn't be a sustainable practice and the bins tend to lose items up and down the road and that just isn't acceptable in burbieland. I couldn't argue with her. So she asked me if I absolutely needed to recycle curbside, to which I replied, no I can do it at work. So this is what we came up with for now. I am taking my recyclables to work and they are going to take my 64 gallon dumpster away. I am getting a roll of stickers, $2.50 a piece, and as I need it, which will be once a month or so probably, I can put a bag out. So zero-waste it isn't, but it is pretty darn close. Now I can keep track of how much waste I produce by the frequency and weight of my occasional bag of trash and I can keep trying to find new ways to reach zero without paying an arm and a leg for waste removal service.

So did I ever tell you I have some fairly strong feelings about this... 45 days

2010-03-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

Zero waste is a mindset, a paradigm shift as to what we consider acceptable. Because I care I will not buy things in containers I can't reuse or recycle. I mean honestly, even if you don't believe that sustainable practices can reduce greenhouse gas emissions or you're one of those few who don't believe that greenhouse gas emissions are a problem, you can't deny that having packaging that can be reused or made into something reusable sure as hell beats filling a big hole with stuff and leaving it for someone else to worry about! Landfill dumping is the grande scale equivalent of urinating in a bottle and leaving it on a park bench for someone else to take care of!

Reduce Garbage to Zero Waste(re-BLOGged) Day 46

2010-03-09T04:44:00.000-08:00

By Lu Stitt

Larson Newspapers

Thursday, 04 March 2010 15:58

Seminar teaches how to reduce, reuse and recycle

During the last half of the 20th century, the United States was a throw-away society with disposable dishes, utensils and containers.

Now, those items have piled up in landfills — most of them made of plastic.

In the past few decades, people have become more environmentally conscious and look for solutions to the mountains of garbage. Recycling was one solution. It has grown into a large program in many communities, including greater Sedona.

Many states have adopted a reduce-reuse-recycle program which not only targets end users but manufacturers.

In November 2008, the Sedona City Council approved a Zero Waste Resolution, making it one of the first cities to so.

The city of Sedona in conjunction with Yavapai College is presenting a three-session Zero Waste seminar at the Sedona Center for Arts and Technology beginning Saturday, March 27. The program will be presented by Richard Anthony, of Richard Anthony Associates Consulting. Anthony is an experienced leader and consultant on zero waste and has more than 40 years experience working with dozens of governments and private businesses and industries.

After the seminar, attendees will receive a certificate for having attended nine hours of instruction through An Introduction to Zero Waste, Waste Assessment and Implementing Zero Waste at Your Business. To register go to www.yc.edu and click on Lifelong Learners.

Zero waste encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused, creating commodities out of traditional waste products. A key component is recycling.

“When you look at this world up to 1945 we recycled. Even during World War II they had a mandatory recycling program. Afterward, we moved away from that, especially with the dawn of plastic,” Anthony said.

Anthony said the last sink for all of the items thrown away is the ocean because even the landfills leach.

“You’ll find plastic residue in the sand or in the fish,” Anthony said. “People didn’t know 30 years ago.”

There is little that cannot be reused or recycled. Anthony thinks he could sell about 83 percent of recycled items.

“About six percent of what’s left is diapers. Another six percent is painted wood and the rest is composite materials,” Anthony said, who is one of the founders of the Recycling Coalition.

“We need to change the wasting paradigm. We need to get our heads together on sustainability.”

The concept, and the responsibility, goes upstream as well as downstream.

“Basically we’re trying to give people information about waste management by encouraging reducing, reusing and recycling as well as [trying to] encourage manufacturers to make recyclable products and use recycled products,” Anthony said.

Zero waste guides people to change their lifestyle and practices to emulate natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources. The end result is elimination of discharges to land, water or air. Zero waste is one of the fastest, cheapest and most effective strategies for combating climate change, Anthony said.

Another benefit of zero waste is jobs, Anthony said.

“We’re really paying for not having these jobs through disposal processing and manufacturing. It’s one source we’ve left on the table,” Anthony said.

47 days left until I FIRE my trash hauler

2010-03-06T04:40:00.000-08:00

I noticed the other day on my way to work a disparity in the ratio of recycling bins to trash (bagged or piled w/ no tags) in a Grand Rapids neighborhood. The SE side is an interesting place. Fuller seems to be the socio-economic divide between affluent and impoverished, between two parent households and single female head of household, between college/possibly graduate educated and drop out/ possibly high school educated. As I drove down Benjamin on the East Town side of Fuller I saw an average of 2 recycling bins in front of each home, some had as many as 3, every household had at least 1. As I drove down Thomas towards Eastern (which is where my wife and I lived prior to having children) I saw 3 bins total and even though it was recycling day not trash day I saw 3 piles of untagged trash piled up, a TV in a snowbank and 3 bags of waste with tags curbside. This disparity really got me thinking about the why. Neighborhoods where the couples or families were more affluent, more educated, and likely 2 parent homes were recycling probably at least 30% of their waste. Those who had less education, less income, less of a classical family structure were not recycling a full 1% of their waste. And my thought was with very little effort those who can least afford to pay for trash bag tags could recycle for FREE! Is this a just a matter of education. Would a recycling education program be appreciated or would it be resented as an intrusion? Is saving money not a motivator for those who live in abject poverty? Do we who are more affluent care about the planet, because we are privileged enough to have the free time and leisure to think those things?

49, oops 48 days left...

2010-03-05T03:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was in need of a break. I needed to go to bed early rather than stay up and research my interests or even write this BLOG. Zero-waste and the need for rest are intricately related. So the topic of the day, oops these 2 days is REST. The idea of a time for work and a time for rest is as old as humankind itself. In the Hebrew Scriptures, in the very beginning, in Genesis it says that God accomplished his creative works in a period of 6 days and then took a day of rest. Later in the post-exilic period the idea of jubilee entered Jewish tradition. Probably stemming from the agricultural roots of the semitic people, Jubilee was a time of rest for certain fields, a time of reprieve and freedom for people who were indentured to someone as a servant and a time for forgiveness of debts and grievances.

The idea of rest, of Jubilee could really mean something to those of us who, in addition to 50+ hour work weeks have families, coach sports or activities, volunteer at Church, sit on advisory panels and boards. Just slowing down can also mean we consume less and give not only ourselves, but our resources a rest. Our busy lives mean we consume more "on-the-go" go, more "drive-thru", more coffee, more gasoline and in general purchase more stuff as we bounce along on our busy paths.

I've been rereading the Michael Pollan book, "In Defense of Food" and have been thinking more and more about whole foods and natural foods and this movement called "slow food," which is really just a return to eating as a family (whatever your family may look like) and taking the time to enjoy the company of others. A big meal together, made with nutritional, whole foods and consumed slowly is less likely to produce a considerable amount of waste. The packaging of those foods will be less extensive and the leftovers will be more likely to be consumed since they won't be an unrecognizable paste like so many overly processed foods in our daily arsenal against hunger. Our entertainment will be each other and conversation rather than i-pods and televisions and all in all we will spend less time sucking the life out of our resources.

50 days to zero-waste at the Merren house

2010-03-03T04:06:00.000-08:00

Well I'm 3 days into my countdown and I have confronted one of my greatest fears, that I would lose my popcorn popper because of its filters, which I had assumed were made of mixed materials and hence hard or impossible to recycle. Those assumption having turning out to be false I was beginning to feel confident my popcorn fetish was safe from this zero-waste life change. Then I realized my popcorn fetish is actually more likely a "butter flavor" fetish. I go through a few 8 oz. bottle of 0 calorie butter spray each week waxing my popcorn in that false cacophony of partially hydrogenated soybean oil and msg. The bottle is indeed recyclable and I always rinse and recycle them, but the spray top, hmmmm, not so recyclable. The sprayer consists of at least 2 two different plastics, a metal spring and a little foam rubber seal. Parkay has recently begun to make the tamper proof wrapper on the top from a compostable corn product instead of plastic, but the sprayer would have to be disassembled and that seems like a lot of work. I'll have to do some more research on this it seems.

At present in my "garbage can" I have 2 spray tops, 2 K-cups pod discards (I cancelled my order but still have 3 boxes to use up) and a baggy which I am forthright removing and placing in the recycle bin.

51 days to zero-waste

2010-03-02T04:54:00.000-08:00

So this morning as I contemplated what i might have to do without to reach my goals it suddenly struck me that I might have to do without my air popped popcorn. About a year ago, I was looking to get rid of the microwave bags of popcorn I had been paying through the nose for. I looked around the usual stores, but was unable to find an air popper. I happened across this microwave (no oil needed) popper, endorsed by none other than Orville Reddenbacker. I have literally used it almost every day for a year!

So what to do? I can't get rid of my popcorn maker. Will I have to scour thrift stores looking for an old air popper? Well I decided I'd had enough of this line of speculation so I dissected the Power Cup, made for my Presto Microwave Air Popper and found that it is in fact entirely made of paper, which means it is recyclable and I can keep making my daily popcorn. I had been throwing these away when they burned up once every ten uses or so because I was convinced that they have some sort of metal or plastic covering, but it seems thankfully that I was mistaken.

Day 1: Step 1 Tell the wife

2010-03-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

52 days until Earth Day 2010, the day I fire my garbage man. My wife in her usual manner has shrugged this off and said the equivalent of "o.k. whatever." What she actually said was, "but what are you going to do with that one kitchen bag of garbage we have every month?" and I told her we weren't going to have it anymore. That is when she shrugged, and said "alright I'm going to go watch some mindless television (a.k.a. the Bachelor)". I spared her more details, but told her we could get rid of that bag of waste too, that the girls could do without the squeeze tubes of yogurt, to which she replied, "duh!" So I guess the plan is a go!

I am going on-line right now and cancelling my automatic shipment of K-cups for my Keurig. Wow, that was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and not because I enjoy the coffee so much, but rather because they make you call them to cancel. I always find that soooo incredulous that you can order anything you can hardly afford as long as you have credit, but you can't cancel a voluntary membership to a coffee club without phone ID-ing the order cancellation. They act as if there are just all kinds of people out there hacking passwords and cancelling orders. I'm laughing inside, kind of.

Sooooo, I think I am going to fire my trash man...

2010-03-01T15:09:00.001-08:00

I've decided that I am going to try something totally wild for someone who lives in the burbs with a family of 5; I am going for zero!

When I look at our 64 gallon cart, near empty week after week (I only take it to the curb once every 3 or 4 weeks and usually it only has a few inches in the bottom) I feel confident that I can do it; I can obtain a Zero-Waste bottom line at my house; and I can fire my trash man!

We recycle probably 80% of what we would have thrown away already and with composting that reduces it even more. We'd have to make sacrifices of course: my kids would have to give up the tube yogurts (I have a place to recycle the little cartons though so they'd still get their dairy) and I'd have to give up my Kerio K-cups (I did buy a refill filter for it, but that lacks the variety and convenience of the pods). I will almost certainly have to train my munchkins about composting waxed items (sucker wrappers) and I'll have to shop for a different soy milk (tetra pak are still not recyclable in our area).

If I watch what comes in the door, then I can guarantee it isn't going to have to go in the big ugly dumpster and maybe, just maybe I can fire my trash man before Earth Day 2010.

Good Earth Farm and Common Friars

2010-02-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Paul P. Clever founded the Good Earth Farm and Common Friars, two inter-related ministries, in Athens, OH. These ministries strive to make a connection between discipleship and sustainability by growing food for the hungry, engaging people in meaningful work and community, and fostering intentional prayer. In 2009, with Paul as the only full time farmer, they were able to grow and donate more than 10,000 pounds of food for 25 local food pantries. Paul did this through hosting three volunteer days a week with more than 300 different people volunteering on the farm over the course of the year. "I did not expect my favorite part of this work to be lunch," says Paul. "Our volunteer days often have a diverse crowd, all of whom sit down for lunch and enjoy interesting conversation. I have learned that this is at the heart of what we do. The farm table brings together the teachings of the Gospel, the workings of our hands, and the practice of our heart. It is not always easy." Since the growing season wrapped up in late fall, Paul has been busy establishing a new religious community, the Common Friars. The Common Friars' pursuit of the "religious life" balances monastic tradition and community engagement. They seek to form, support, and send out servants of Christ. In this first year the Common Friars have grown from three to seven. With this growth comes a lot of creativity and excitement. They are looking forward to next year when they will have four full time people working on the farm. Watch the VIDEO!

Good Earth Hunger Mission

The Good Earth Hunger Mission grows and gleans fresh produce for food pantries, women's shelters, and free meal programs in Athens County. In addition to feeding the hungry, this ministry educates volunteers about local, sustainable agriculture and helps reconnect people from a variety of backgrounds with the earth. Volunteers help in the garden each week doing everything from planting to harvesting. We serve lunch at noon for anyone here, and we have work projects for all different skills and abilities. On Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m., we celebrate the Eucharist together at the farm, followed by a community meal. We are located at mile marker 5.5 on the bike path or 10011 Armitage Road.

Please contact Paul Clever (594-2425) pclever2@yahoo.com there is also a Facebook group.

What should Christians do to protect the Earth and its people?

2010-02-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

A new book out: What should Christians do to protect the Earth and its people?

Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living

By: Nick Spencer, Robert White, Virginia Vroblesky

Hendrickson Publishers / 2009 / Paperback

Amounts and patterns of consumption and production in the West have reached a level that cannot be maintained. Lifestyles based on our present way of creating and using energy are no longer environmentally sustainable-and are threatening the health and well-being of both planet and people. Our activities and the policies that shape them need to change.

In light of those realities, Spencer, White, and Vroblesky offer serious Christian engagement with the emerging issue of Sustainable Consumption and Production. They analyze the scientific, sociological, economic, and theological thinking that makes a Christian response to these trends imperative and distinctive. And they offer practical conclusions that explore and explain what can be done at the personal, community, national, and international levels to ensure that next generations will have the resources necessary for life.

Firmly rooted in the good news of the Christian faith, this is, above all, a constructive and hopeful book that offers a realistic vision of what the future could and should look like.

Farming expert will speak on sustainability

2010-02-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

By By John Darling

for the Mail Tribune

February 06, 2010 5:00 AM

Joel Salatin of Virginia-based Polyface Farms, whose innovative, sustainable farming practices have been featured in books and a documentary film, will share his vision for establishing local food systems during a presentation Feb. 19 in Medford.

He will speak from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at North Medford High School, 1900 N. Keeneway Drive.

Salatin believes farms should be open to visits from consumers, rich in earthworms and offer a grass-based "salad bar" to livestock.

"Pasture-based livestock means a farming system that's aesthetically, aromatically and sensually romantic" for animals and people, joked Salatin, in a phone interview.

"It looks pretty and smells nice and you move the animals around — cows, pigs, chickens, rabbits and turkeys — so they're in a new paddock daily," he explained. "It lets the grass rest and grow and gives animals new pasture. They get fresh air, sunshine and exercise, which is as important to them as it is to us."

Salatin and his family farm in Swoope, Va., are featured in the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan and in the documentary film "Food, Inc."

Noting a dislike of stereotypes and a desire to "keep people off balance," Salatin, a graduate of the conservative Bob Jones University, calls himself a "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist farmer."

As a libertarian farmer, Salatin said the answers for successful farming "come from the grassroots, from individual entrepreneurs and from the bottom up — and, as for capitalism, don't apologize for making a profit. As much as I like to talk about massaging the earth, none of that pays the taxes. You've got to make business sense. Sometimes, environmentalists don't get that through their heads."

Salatin said he is able to reconcile the polarities created between capitalism, the environment and the Christian ethic.

"The conservatives love me for my business and profits and the environmentalists love me for being warm and fuzzy," he said. "Eventually, both sides have a problem with me and for the same reason. I bring environmentalists back to the realities of business and I bring capitalism back to the needs of nature."

The Salatin family bought "the most worn-out, eroded, abused farm" near Staunton, Va., in 1961. Using nature as a pattern, the Salatins began innovations that now support three generations, says their Web site, www.polyfacefarms.com.

Will Reishman of the Jackson County Local Action Coalition says his group is one of the sponsors of Salatin's visit because it wants to help people support local agriculture and improve their nutrition. It also wants to reduce government regulation of farms that is aimed at corporate agriculture but is "bludgeoning the family farm "¦ to the point of extermination."

"The ideal," said Reishman, "is 30 to 50 percent of food grown and processed here, with (some) for export to neighbors north and south of us and people recognizing the need to pay a premium for nutrient-dense food."

Annie Hoy, outreach director for the Ashland Food Cooperative, another sponsor, praised Salatin's message that "it's possible to make a living on a diverse farm that's healthy for people, animals and vegetables, as well as the planet, instead of industrial-scale farms with monocrops."

Everything — compost, manure piles, excess vegetables going for feed — is all interconnected and "a closed loop" on the Salatin farm, said Hoy, noting that scale and complexity needs to be brought back and supported as the local food system.

Christian beliefs, said Salatin, "are too often used to justify exploiting the earth, instead of nurturing it. We are stewards, not dominant players. I don't worship the earth, like some environmentalists. I worship the Creator, not the creation."

Salatin, who is author of "Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal," said the main impediment to a working local food system is not research, pro-farmer organizations or investor networking, but the "demonizing and criminalizing of virtually all indigenous and heritage-based food practices."

He noted, "From zoning to labor to food safety to insurance, local food systems daily face a tsunami of regulatory hurdles designed and implemented to police industrial food models but which prejudicially wipe out the antidote: appropriate scaled local food systems. A call for guerrilla marketing, food choice freedom legislation, and empirical pathogen thresholds offers solutions to these bureaucratic hurdles."

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.

Green Cone Food Scrap Digesters

2010-01-29T21:44:00.000-08:00

The Green Cone is an in-ground digester that breaks down all food scraps-including meat, fish, dairy, and bones. Green Cones are sited in yards and gardens, even right next to the house. They don’t require turning or special material combinations to work so they are ideal for our busy workaday world.

The bottom part of the cone is buried in the ground, enabling micro-organisms and insects in the soil to break down the food scraps underground. The sun heats up the top part of the cone, helping to speed up the decomposition process. Unlike compost bins, the cones do not produce compost. Rather, the nutrients are released into the soil during decomposition, nourishing plants near the cone. So if you are a gardener looking for something to put in your flowerbeds this is not an ideal solution, but if you are looking for a sustainable solution for food waste or you are worried about the work involved in tumbling this is a perfect choice.

Once installed, you simply open the lid, add food scraps (and carnivores you can even add meat scraps and bones safely unlike in those composting bins), and close the lid. That’s it! A sunny location and good or modified drainage are also critical to the process. Decomposition quickens during warm weather and slows during cold weather. But since much of the material is underground, it never stops altogether — even in cold climates.

For some great information check out this pdf from the seattle.gov website.

11 commandments of a healthy spirituality of consumption

2010-01-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

From the margin of Steve's book, The Out of Bounds Church, Postcard 5:

Consume no logo
Consume Ad Busters
Consume no meat
Consume fair trade
Consume using your own shopping bags
Consume recyclable packaging
Consume second hand clothing
Consume at sales
Consume no pirated software
Consume no CFCs
Consume the body of Jesus

How Practical is a Chapel Made of Recycled Bottles?

2010-01-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

Prince Edward Island a video of a chapel made of recycled bottles. Probably not very energy efficient, but makes for a cute tourist attraction. There is always a use for those crazy things you can't think what to do with and though this use is only kitschy there are more practical uses such as this lovely shower.

11 reuse ideas for coffee grounds

2010-01-25T13:54:00.000-08:00

11 reuse ideas for coffee grounds

WWJD: recycle or not recycle?

2010-01-24T20:49:00.001-08:00

WWJD, what would Jesus do, is not something I'd usually ask myself, but it is something that many Christians do ask themselves each day. It seems, as to green initiatives, Christians are somewhat divided.
On the one hand, it seems that there are plenty of Christians who believe that the God who created the earth and gave humankind dominion over it (Genesis 1:26-28), appointed us stewards and guardians, caretakers as such, of it and therefore we should be concerned about clean air, clean water and the preservation of natural resources. Simple enough, biblical and something, in theory many Christians can get behind. I think though that often it is the frugality of reduction, reuse and recycling, the preservation that speaks more to these Christians. The thrift of their pocket books rather than care for their surroundings or the health and happiness of others. This isn't at all bad, but seems somewhat misguided.

There seems to be an equal or perhaps even greater number of Christians, often calling themselves Bible Christians or Evangelicals, that say that the Bible tells them that the earth is temporary and passing and should be treated as such. Those Christians say that no amount of recycling or green initiatives will forestall the end that God has planned for the earth. That may very well be true and of course thwarting the end game of God for humankind is not the mission statement of any green organization I've ever come across. I must confess that I am a bit put off by this fatalistic approach to "this world" as if the very planet somehow as material stands in the way of our spiritual reward. Following this fatalistic and gnostic view of the material world as being the equivalent of a "fleshly world" we run the risk of believing that what we do to the planet, what effects those choices may have on the health and happiness of others is not our concern since those concerns are "of the this world" as opposed to "the next world". This gnostic dualism, this fatalism plays out in a great deal of devastation, human suffering and pain. That isn't a legacy any Christian I know would want to claim. If we have this fatalistic view that this world is passing, and should be passing, since it stands between us and the Kingdom then we may be led to look at this planet as little more than a disposable paper cup, which has served its purpose.
These Christians quote passages like, “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10) and Romans 8:20-22, which speaks of a creation which groans in anticipation of the time when it will be set free from the bondage to the principle of decay. They say things like, "Soda cans can be recycled; people cannot. Therefore, our greatest efforts should be toward saving souls, not the planet" - gotquestions. And though this of course is true to a degree, if recycling our soda cans here means someone in the Third World doesn't have to work in a slavish and brutal work environment to harvest the raw materials for a fresh can is that not the Christian thing to do? If keeping our old computer a year or two longer means that a 10 year old playing in a pool of water in Sri Lanka isn't poisoned to death by the toxic metals leaching from our improperly "recycled" unit is that not the Christian thing to do?

Attention, Walmart Shoppers: Clean-up in Aisle Nine

2010-01-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

Reposted here from: www.fastcompany.com

Will Walmart's "Sustainability Index" Actually Work?
BY: KATE ROCKWOODMon Feb 1, 2010
The biggest retailer and its suppliers confront how to rate the sustainability of all consumer goods.

Activity and skepticism have been the first by-products of Walmart's audacious plan to create a label that would tell a shopper the environmental toll of every product it sells, from the greenhouse-gas emissons of an Xbox to the water used to produce your Sunday bacon.
The first part of Walmart's three-phase plan -- a 15-question survey asking its top suppliers to pony up info on the current state of their sustainability efforts -- was completed in October. Walmart began meeting with vendors, industry by industry, to discuss the next steps last month, and scientists are now starting trials to get a handle on what this labeling system might look like. "We're on the cusp of a major transition in the marketplace of what consumers demand to know and producers have to tell," says Dara O'Rourke, CEO of GoodGuide, which independently rates the health, safety, and environmental impact of 50,000 consumer products. Even though Walmart execs have said that its index won't be ready before 2013, the early discussions reveal just how roiling this initiative will be.
Although Walmart is framing its Sustainability Index as something positive for both consumers and companies, Matt Kistler, senior vice president of sustainability, acknowledges that "it is creating a new level of competition in ways that, historically, manufacturers have not competed. And when it comes down to it, it's going to be an algorithm that creates a score, and it will reward some suppliers better than others." Consumers won't be the only ones selecting or snubbing products based on their scores; Kistler confirms that high-scoring products will earn preferential treatment -- and likely more shelf space -- in Walmart stores.
Last October's survey added to companies' concerns. It touched on everything from investments in community-development activities to water-use-reduction targets, and "there's a wide variance of how prepared suppliers are to answer these questions," says Kyle Tanger, president and CEO of carbon-management firm ClearCarbon, who guided a number of companies through the questionnaire. More than 1,000 companies responded, according to Kistler, "the vast majority" of those asked. That said, analysts estimate that just 10% of Walmart suppliers are prepared to measure and report their sustainability.
To persuade 100,000-plus firms to spend the time and money tracking and lessening their environmental impact -- and to get buy-in from the scientific community and the government -- Walmart has tried to minimize its own influence over the project. It created an independent Sustainability Consortium, and while the Bentonville behemoth has a seat at the table, so do NGOs, government agencies, suppliers, other retailers, and researchers. "This has to be more than Walmart or it won't achieve standardization," says Jay Golden, codirector of the Sustainability Consortium, who has worked in environmental enforcement at the federal and state levels and has a PhD in sustainable engineering.
The consortium has attracted everyone from Monsanto to Disney, Seventh Generation to the EPA. To help manufacturers innovate more quickly and cheaply and to make life-cycle assessment an easier feat, it is currently developing a tool called Earthster. The open platform will pool existing databases and models, then tap participants to share data and research so companies can mine ideas.
But companies are just beginning to grapple with the big questions. "One fear is figuring out who gets to prioritize the different pieces of sustainability," says Karen Hamilton, VP of vitality and environment at Unilever, a consortium member. "Who's to decide if greenhouse-gas emissions are more pressing than water conservation?"
The labels could be designed so that consumers would be the ultimate decision makers. "We've been thinking of nutritional labels as a proxy," Kistler says, with carbon emissions, water use, and solid waste displayed like calories, fat, and sodium. Other ideas being considered: a minimum-standard, organic-style seal; a terror-alert-style color code (level-orange dish soap!); and a 100-point scale for judging a 26-point breakfast cereal against a 73-point one.
Chemical-intensive products (such as household cleansers), electronics, and food will be the first three trial categories this winter; the consortium will attempt to apply scoring and solicit feedback. "We thought about doing this in a traditional, academic fashion, picking one category and studying it to the nth degree, but as a society we can't take a long time to get it 100% spot-on," Golden says. Gannon Jones, VP of portfolio marketing at Frito-Lay, says, "There's definitely the hope that the Sustainability Index can help shoppers compare companies' level of commitment and push manufacturers."
More bluntly: When every package is awash in claims of using less plastic and water, a standardized measure would separate sustainability lightweights from products that truly deserve their green halo.

How to recycle everything from corks to crayons

2010-01-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

Reposted here from: www.dallasnews.com

12:00 AM CST on Saturday, January 23, 2010

By RITA COOK / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Rita Cook is an Arlington freelance writer.
Almost anything can be recycled, but sometimes it takes a little extra effort. After all, even the most tattered furniture might be perfect for someone else who's willing to work on it. If you donate to charities, it's tax deductible.

Check out the Web site Freecycle (www.freecycle.org), where you can get rid of almost anything locally. Otherwise, here's a handy list of items that you can recycle either through a mail-in program or locally.

Home salvage
1Old doorknobs, windows, old bathtubs and even chandeliers are recyclable. Donate or sell these items to salvage firms or restoration projects. SalvageWeb (www.Salvageweb.com) is an international site allowing buyers and sellers to connect.

Eyeglasses
2The next time you replace your eyeglasses, frames or even eyeglass case think about donating the old ones to a local Lions Club, or check out the Give the Gift of Sight Foundation (www.onesight.org). Both give used eyeglasses to people in need locally and around the world. You also can donate used glasses at stores such as Pearle Vision Center or LensCrafters in the area.

Toothbrushes
3How about recycling your toothbrush? The Gimme 5 program (www.preserveproducts.com) takes part in a toothbrush- recycling program and manufactures its Preserve brand toothbrushes from Stonyfield Farm yogurt containers. Every used toothbrush, razor or tongue cleaner it receives is repurposed into plastic lumber for outdoor furniture. You also arrange for the company to mail you a new toothbrush every three months when you send in the used one.

Corks
4Make your next bottle of wine make a difference: Save the cork. According to ReCork America, 13 billion natural-cork wine stoppers are sold in the world each year, and most end up in landfills. It takes about 300,000 wine corks to yield a ton of cork for recycling. Natural cork used for wine is perfect for recycling: It's 100 percent natural, biodegradable and renewable. ReCork America (www.re corkamerica.com) offers information on its recycling program and how corks can be turned into floor tiles, building insulation, footwear, automotive gaskets, bulletin boards, packaging materials, soil conditioner and sports equipment.

Bridesmaid dresses
5Help make dreams come true by donating your bridesmaid or formal dresses to the Prom Shop Project (www.promshop project.com) in Dallas. There is a once-a-year Spring Giving Dress Drive. Otherwise, dresses can be dropped off at Kenny's Cleaners at 2610 Oak Lawn Ave. year around. The dresses are given to local girls who can't afford to buy dresses for the prom or other occasions.

Paint
6Instead of putting that half-empty paint can on the shelf, how about donating it to a church or charity that might need to touch up a building? Or you can recycle old latex paint into new by having a local paint retailer mix paint from different cans to create a new color. Note: Be sure you do this only with latex paints and, even better, next time opt for the low-VOC or a lead-free paint.

Trophies
7 How long can you display and stare at all those trophies before you get tired of dusting? Although you will have to mail the trophies to Pennsylvania, at Creative Images (www.gccreative images.com) your trophy will be reused and sent to children's groups or causes like the Special Olympics.

Total Awards & Promotions Inc. (www.awardsmall.com) in Wisconsin also has a mail-in program in which your trophies will go to charities or nonprofit organizations for reuse.

Crayons
8Don't throw away those used crayons. Consider donating to the National Crayon Recycle Program (crazycrayons.com /recycle _program.html) operated by Crazy Crayons LLC. This company already reportedly has diverted more than 47,000 pounds of crayons from landfills. Mail in unwanted, rejected and broken crayons and feel good knowing that old crayons are being recycled into fresh, new ones.

Hair
9Many salons are already doing it and so can you. The Matter of Trust (www.matteroftrust.org) Web site details how individuals can recycle their own hair to help save the planet. The hair is woven into what is called oil-spill hair mats, which have, for example, been used to help contain petroleum spills. You can also send in your pet's hair.

Athletic shoes
10Perhaps that old pair of Nikes in your closet isn't being worn anymore. Check out Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe (www.letmeplay.com, click on Take Action) program, which turns old footwear into a material called Nike Grind, which is used to surface playgrounds, gym floors and running tracks. A local option is the Shoe Bank (www.shoebank.org) in Rockwall, founded in 1989. This organization provides running shoes to 20,000 people every year, primarily children.

Rita Cook is an Arlington freelance writer.

Stay up to date on green at dallasnews.com/greenliving NEW THE GREEN LIFE