life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica, CA
Going to high light a few other friends of mine who are reaching out in creative, proactive ways to the world whether through their art, jewelry, blogs.
RECYCLING RANT CONTINUED:
trash collected for 20 minutes
2 pounds
398.9 pounds total
COMMUNITY COUNT COLLECTION: Tracy of Recycled Bride and Recycled Tyke
Day 25
.5 pounds
155.4 pounds total
Oregon is taking up the BAN THE PLASTIC BAG idea by introducing legislation to make Single Use Plastic Bags banned statewide: to read more
It is disheartening that the Plastic Bag industry is doing a great job of convincing courts, like the one in Manhattan Beach CA that just shot down 2-1 their proposed plastic bag ban, that PAPER BAGS are more harmful than plastic! There are many problems with paper too,
BUT THE OBVIOUS OBVIOUS SOLUTION TO PAPER OR PLASTIC IS NEITHER!!!!!!
GO REUSABLE!
I get so steamed thinking about their BS machine. Did you know there is a site called:
SAVE THE PLASTIC BAG? Really? I can hardly read it.
AND earth911 is fully funder/supported and written by The American Chemistry Council!
Why you may ask? Read on.....
Going to high light a few other friends of mine who are reaching out in creative, proactive ways to the world whether through their art, jewelry, blogs. My professor for a semester at Cal State Northridge - Lynette Henderson
- incredible muralist and proponent of Art Education for all.
My friend from High School - Liza Curtis
- mom, fierce friend, ceramicist, muralist, painter, and now jeweler
My fellow blogger and friend - Kiss My Country
- got a killer interview with Roger Bayley - Design Manager of the Olympic Athletes Village in Vancouver, and guess what? It's 100% sustainable!
I know this isn't styrofoam but this came into my inbox so I have to pass it on.
I know this isn't styrofoam but this came into my inbox so I have to pass it on.some disturbing facts about how you can't recycle the stuff:
Less than 1 percent of the 165,000 pounds of Styrofoam we use in California every year gets recycled.
Why so little? A couple main reasons:
1) Once you get food on Styrofoam, you can no longer recycle it.
2) It's 95 percent air, meaning it's bulky and expensive to ship and store -- and then you need to degas it.
3) Processed, recycled Styrofoam yields a low-grade substance which isn't really much good for anything.
4) Very few facilities actually have the equipment to recycle Styrofoam in California.
1) Once you get food on Styrofoam, you can no longer recycle it.
2) It's 95 percent air, meaning it's bulky and expensive to ship and store -- and then you need to degas it.
3) Processed, recycled Styrofoam yields a low-grade substance which isn't really much good for anything.
4) Very few facilities actually have the equipment to recycle Styrofoam in California.
RECYCLING RANT CONTINUED:"We use 6 BILLION SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS IN LA COUNTRY ALONE EACH YEAR!" - Mark Gold, Heal the Bay
"What we have now is: out of sight, out of mind + hope for the best = back to the mall to consume some more.
Why is it our duty to "recycle" waste at all? Who makes the decision to create all this junk? Do you choose how your printer is packaged? Do you choose how your coca cola is bottled? Some make a profit by shoving that waste into our households, to the detriment of all. And then we need to worry about "recycling", cleaning up or banning that stuff.
How come producers are not resposible for the end life of their products? That should be a part of the product design an cost analysis.
I think it is really dangerous is to go on without asking the big questions.
Another big question would be what recycling means. For me recycling is when you turn something into something similar. One bottle into another bottle, one can into another can, etc. You know that none of that happens with the "good plastics" that now get "recycled". We are calling it "recycling" when we mean "recovering" and the best that can happen to a tiny percentage of what gets recovered is that it gets turned into... different items like plastic lumber, fill, fleece.. which will end up in landfill anyway at some point.
So.... if we should ban styrofoam because it's not recycled..... How about all plastic? How about all plastic bags? How about all toothbrushes? How about bubble wrap? How about milk cartons? Etc, etc etc
Recycling of plastics is a myth, designed to perpetuate a business built around the generation of waste." - Manuel Maqueda, Plastic Pollution Coalition, The BlooSee and Manuel Maqueda.
Help fight with the Sierra Club to gain protected habitat for our endangered Beluga Whales. They only need 300 more signatures!! SIGN HERE
Why is it our duty to "recycle" waste at all? Who makes the decision to create all this junk? Do you choose how your printer is packaged? Do you choose how your coca cola is bottled? Some make a profit by shoving that waste into our households, to the detriment of all. And then we need to worry about "recycling", cleaning up or banning that stuff.
How come producers are not resposible for the end life of their products? That should be a part of the product design an cost analysis.
I think it is really dangerous is to go on without asking the big questions.
Another big question would be what recycling means. For me recycling is when you turn something into something similar. One bottle into another bottle, one can into another can, etc. You know that none of that happens with the "good plastics" that now get "recycled". We are calling it "recycling" when we mean "recovering" and the best that can happen to a tiny percentage of what gets recovered is that it gets turned into... different items like plastic lumber, fill, fleece.. which will end up in landfill anyway at some point.
So.... if we should ban styrofoam because it's not recycled..... How about all plastic? How about all plastic bags? How about all toothbrushes? How about bubble wrap? How about milk cartons? Etc, etc etc
Recycling of plastics is a myth, designed to perpetuate a business built around the generation of waste." - Manuel Maqueda, Plastic Pollution Coalition, The BlooSee and Manuel Maqueda.
Help fight with the Sierra Club to gain protected habitat for our endangered Beluga Whales. They only need 300 more signatures!! SIGN HERE
Tracy came to meet me for a joint cleanup on Tues.. I had a lot of fun meeting someone else who lives in Santa Monica working towards sustainability in their own way.
We covered many topics on our walk as we bent to collect the usual plastics, STRAWS, and odds and ends (mostly plastic).
One part of our conversation sticks out to me that I want to share. We discussed how if you want to reach people with awareness about environmental issues that need to be addressed that it is counterproductive to approach them with any thing but kindness. People all have their own journey, so it is important to reach out to them wherever they are on the "green" continuum in a way that doesn't make them feel shame, or become defensive of their life style.
Like minds unite! Thanks Tracy - Looking forward to next time.
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