Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Top 50 Things To Recycle!

There are many things that can be recycled that most people are not aware of. Here are the first 10, and if you want to read the next 40 go to the website listed at the bottom.

1Cars
Instead of selling your car or sending it to the junk yard, donate it to a charitable organization. Not only will you keep the car out of the landfill, you will receive a tax deduction as well.



2.Clothes
Clothes are one of the easiest things to recycle as so many charitable organizations will accept them such as Goodwill, Veteran's Support Groups and most churches. In addition, you can possibly sell them at a consignment shop if they are still in good shape and in style. In Fort Myers PLATOS CLOSET



3.Christmas Trees
Most local city governments set up Christmas Tree recycling drop off's across the community after Christmas. They will accept the trees free of charge. The trees are generally turned into mulch which is then used in city parks. OR USE ARTIFICIAL TREES THAT CAN BE REUSED MANY TIMES!



4.Food
Yes food. Start a compose heap in your backyard. Instead of throwing old food in the trash, throw it in the compost heap. You can use it to fertilize your garden.



5.Food Containers
Before throwing a food container in the trash, check the label to see if it is able to be recycled. Glass jars and bottles, cardboard boxes such as some cereal boxes and paper wrappers can all be recycled in many cases.



6.Computers
If your computer still works, you can donate it to a local library, school system or charity. If it no longer operates, contact your local recycling center. In addition, you can contact a local electronics retailer to see if they have a computer recycling program.



7.Phones
There are numerous charities that accept cell phones
notably many charities that assist women. In addition, many companies that can be found online will pay you for your used cell phone if it still works. Finally, cell phone can be recycled for their parts which are re-used in new cell phones.



8.Smoke detectors
Some smoke detectors can be returned to the manufacturer. Check with your manufacturer to see if the recycle your particular model. Some smoke detectors are considered hazardous waste because they contain small traces of Americium 241. If this is the case the manufacturer will recommend they're disposed of as hazardous waste.



9.Ink Cartridges
Many office supply stores will take these. Some pay $1 per cartridge. Check with you local office supply store.



10.Tires
Tires are horrible for landfills as they take up a lot of space, can leach dangerous chemicals over time and can pose a fire hazard. Tires are taken by local recycling centers and can be used for a variety of purposes such as be shredded for rubber mulch, recycled into new tires, and recycled into rubber containers.

http://www.recyclingcenters.org/Top_50_Things_To_Recycle_and_Reuse.php

Find a Recycling Center in your area


Not sure if recycling is available in your area? Most of us know that recycling is available in Lee and Collier county, but there are many counties and cities out there that make it difficult to find recycling facilities. Check out this great website that links you to your local recycling facilities.


Recycling is process of reusing or reconditioning materials or products so they can be used to make new products. Recycling, when done correctly, conserves natural resources and lowers the impact of producing goods and services using new or virgin material.
There are many types of recyclables, sometimes called recyclates, including but not limited to Batteries, Plastic, Paper, Glass, Aluminum, Steel, Motor Oil, Tires, Toxics, Refrigerators, Computer Printers. Organic matter is also recyclable through the use of composting
Typically you must take your recyclables to a recycling center although some communities are fortunate enough to have curb-side pick up of recycable materials. If you do use a curb-side pick up service for you recyclable materials it might be a good idea to take a trip to their facility when you have some free time to ensure that they do indeed recycle all of your waste.
You can also reuse products or materials for their inteded or new purposes but this isn't classified as recycling. In order for it to be recycling the material would need to go through some type of reprocessing.





"High Schools for 350Posted May 21, 2009 by Alisha Fowler

By Jamie Henn. Cross posted from 350.org's blog

There's a lot of talk about college students getting involved in the global warming movement, but what about younger students? It's never to early to start caring for the environment, being a positive force in your community, or, for that matter, getting involved in 350.org.

I got out of the office last week and took the train over to Lincoln High School on the other side of San Francisco. Lincoln sits on a tall hill looking over the Pacific Ocean. It was hard to believe looking out over the water, but across the ocean, one of our newest 350.org field organizers, Abe Woo, was also preparing a series of high school presentations in Malaysia. Talk about acting globally! The students at Lincoln were great (check out the photo in this post) and had me excited about getting high schools around the world involved in the 350 Climate Day this October 24.

If you're a high school student, teacher, or parent (or know someone who is), make sure to sign up your school for October 24 and check out some of our friends and allies who work directly with high schools, like the Alliance for Climate Eduction."

It is refreshing to see that people of all ages (even younger than us) are getting involved in this big event!

350 Summary


This 350.0rg fact sheet gives a great summary of many impacts that climate change can have on our world, as well as what the number 350 means to us.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Everyone participating in our blog receives one of these badges to show that we are fighting for climate change!



This image goes to show that people with different interests, cultures, hobbies, etc. are all interested in promoting climate change and making a difference by doing their part.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Timeline for 21st Century “Climate Change Events”

The Timeline for 21st Century “Climate Change Events”
Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), reported that there is a 90 percent likelihood that humans are significantly contributing to the change.
Scientist Stephen Hawking described climate as a greater threat to the planet than . Hawking made the remarks earlier this spring as other prominent scientists turned the giant hand of the Doomsday Clock — a symbol of the risk of atomic cataclysm — closer to midnight. The move marked the fourth time since the end of the Cold War that the clock has ticked forward and Hawking warned that "as citizens of the world, we have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day."
The international panel of scientists predicts the global average temperature could anywhere from 2 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 and that sea levels could rise by 2 feet.
A slight increase in Earth's rotation rate could result. Glaciers would disappear completely. Some areas would face intense flooding, while others would experience severe drought, along with many other global shifts.
The following is a predicted timeline for events that will likely occur this century:
2007—More of the world's population now lives in cities than in rural areas, which is changing patterns of land use and rainfall patterns. The world population will surpass 6.6 billion.
2008—Global oil production will peak between 2008 and 2018. Once “Hubbert's” Peak is reached, global oil production will begin an irreversible decline, possibly triggering a global recession, food shortages and conflict between nations over dwindling oil supplies.
2020—Flash floods will very likely increase across all parts of Europe.
Less rainfall could reduce agriculture yields by up to 50 percent in some parts of the world.
World population will reach 7.6 billion people.
2030—Up to 18 percent of the world's coral reefs will likely be lost as a result of climate change and other environmental stresses. In Asian coastal waters, the coral loss could reach 30 percent.
World population will reach 8.3 billion people.
Warming temperatures will cause temperate glaciers on equatorial mountains in Africa to disappear.
In developing countries, the urban population will more than double.
2040—The Arctic Sea could be ice-free in the summer, and winter ice depth may shrink drastically. However, some researchers argue that the region could still have summer ice up until between 2060 and 2105.
2050—Small alpine glaciers will very likely disappear completely, and large glaciers will shrink by 30 to 70 percent. Austrian scientist Roland Psenner of the University of Innsbruck says this is a conservative estimate, and the small alpine glaciers could be gone as soon as 2037.
In Australia, there will likely be an additional 3,200 to 5,200 heat-related deaths per year. The hardest hit will be people over the age of 65. An extra 500 to 1,000 people will die of heat-related deaths in New York City per year. In the United Kingdom, the opposite will occur, and cold-related deaths will outpace heat-related ones.
World population reaches 9.4 billion people.
Crop yields could increase by up to 20 percent in East and Southeast Asia, while decreasing by up to 30 percent in Central and South Asia. Similar shifts in crop yields may occur on other continents.
As biodiversity hotspots are more threatened, a quarter of the world's plant and vertebrate animal species could face extinction.
2070—As glaciers disappear and areas affected by drought increase, electricity production for the world's existing hydropower stations will decrease. Hardest hit will be Europe, where hydropower potential is expected to decline on average by 6 percent; around the Mediterranean, the decrease could be up to 50 percent.
2080—While some parts of the world dry out, others will be inundated. Up to 100 million people could experience coastal flooding each year. Most at risk are densely populated and low-lying areas that are less able to adapt to rising sea levels and areas which already face other challenges such as tropical storms.
Between 1.1 and 3.2 billion people will experience water shortages and up to 600 million will go hungry.
Sea levels could rise around New York City by more than three feet, potentially causing extensive flooding around the city.
2085—The risk of dengue fever from climate change is estimated to increase to 3.5 billion people.
2100—A combination of global warming and other factors will push many ecosystems to the limit, forcing them to exceed their natural ability to adapt to climate change.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will be much higher than anytime during the past 650,000 years.
Ocean pH levels will very likely decrease by as much as 0.5 pH units, the lowest it's been in the last 20 million years. The ability of marine organisms such as corals, crabs and oysters to form shells or exoskeletons could be impaired.
Thawing permafrost and other factors will make Earth's land a net source of carbon emissions, meaning it will emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than it absorbs.
New climate zones appear on up to 39 percent of the world's land surface, radically transforming the planet.
Nearly up to one third of all species of plants and land animals-more than a million total-could be driven to extinction.
The IPCC reports warn that current "conservation practices are generally ill-prepared for climate change and effective adaptation responses are likely to be costly to implement."
Posted by Rebecca Sato

This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial Revolution. (Source: NOAA)

PhD in going green: the campus green movement

I stumbled across this article from thedailygreen.com about the increasing green trend on college campuses across America. Since the group I am in is researching alternative energy here at FGCU and elsewhere, I thought it would be cool to take a look at what other campuses are doing. You can check out the article and some of the related topics for yourselves if you want, but I especially liked how other colleges didn't stop at alternative energy, other Florida schools like FIU looked at ways to reduce the energy they already spend, which I thought was a good idea.

Plastic Patch in the Pacific



Here is a clip explaining how this plastic patch in the Pacific Ocean came to be. Many people don't even know that the garbage is accumulating in the ocean in this way. It is scary to think that in some areas there is more suspended plastic than plankton. That is why recycling your plastics is so important. 


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Recycling and 350



During last Wednesday's class Matt asked, "What exactly does recycling have to do with 350 and lowering our atmospheric Co2 levels?" So I did some research when I got home and found some pretty interesting facts concerning recycling and carbon emissions.
  • The U.S. recycles approximately 32 percent of its waste which saves an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases to removing 39,618 cars from the road.
  • Increasing that recycling rate to just 35 percent would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 5.2 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent.
  • Net carbon emissions are four to five times lower when materials are produced from recycled steel, copper, glass, and paper. They are 40 times lower for aluminum.
  • Just one person recycling their newspaper, magazines, plastic, glass, and metal for one year is enough to save 471 pounds of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere
Interested in how your own recycling efforts may affect greenhouse gas emissions? Check out the EPA's Personal Emissions Calculator to see how many pounds of carbon dioxide your household emits per year.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Dying to Be Green




Some people are green even after death! Check out this article by Living Green MSN Lifestyle about death and being environmentally aware of funeral ceremonies. I know its a creepy topic, but you will not believe how much goes into burying/cremating our loved ones.... Read on!


- at

350



ONLY 1 MONTH UNTIL THE BIG DAY!

What does the number 350 mean?

350 is the most important number in the world--it's what scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Two years ago, after leading climatologists observed rapid ice melt in the Arctic and other frightening signs of climate change, they issued a series of studies showing that the planet faced both human and natural disaster if atmospheric concentrations of CO2 remained above 350 parts per million.

Everyone from Al Gore to the U.N.’s top climate scientist has now embraced this goal as necessary for stabilizing the planet and preventing complete disaster. Now the trick is getting our leaders to pay attention and craft policies that will put the world on track to get to 350.

_Is 350 scientifically possible? _

Right now, mostly because we’ve burned so much fossil fuel, the atmospheric concentration of co2 is 390 ppm—that’s way too high, and it’s why ice is melting, drought is spreading, forests are dying. To bring that number down, the first task is to stop putting more carbon into the atmosphere. That means a very fast transition to sun and wind and other renewable forms of power. If we can stop pouring more carbon into the atmosphere, then forests and oceans will slowly suck some of it out of the air and return us to safe levels.

_Is 350 politically possible? _

It’s very hard. It means switching off fossil fuel much more quickly than governments and corporations have been planning. Our best chance to speed up that process will come in December in Copenhagen, when the world’s nations meet to agree on a new climate treaty. Right now, they’re not planning to do enough. But we can change that--if we mobilize the world to swift and bold climate action, which is what we're planning to do on October 24th.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Poor Polar Bears


Like seen in the videos from class, the Arctic is being effected by global warming the most right now. If the ice keeps melting the polar bears will not have much to hold on to in the near future. Its animals like the polar bears that are having a hard time finding food and shelter and are soon to become extinct if nothing is done to help restore their habitat.

Ecological Footprint

Hey guys, check out this website where you can calculate your's and your family's annual footprint!

<http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/>

Funny Cartoon/Sea Level Rise


Sea level rise due to global warming is one of the issues we have been dicussing in class. It is one of the major concerns of global warming because most big cities are located in coastal areas. If sea level continues to rise our cities can and will be destroyed...

"Global warming is expected to cause the sea level along the northeastern U.S. coast to rise almost twice as fast as global sea levels during this century" -Science Daily

Monday, September 21, 2009


350 video

Join me at www.350.org




Directly from the 350 website! www.350.org

"350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. 350 the safe limit to of carbon dioxide in the world, and we need to make sure that our solutions to the climate crisis meet the 350 test.

We're planning an international campaign to unite the world around the number 350, and we need your help. The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable. It needs to make sure we take the big, bold, and equitable steps needed to actually solve this crisis.

What we need most right now are on-the-ground examples for how to take the number 350 and drive it home: in art, in music, in political demonstrations, in any other way you can imagine. We don't have all the ideas and all the inspiration. We need you to act on yours.

Check out 350.org to get involved."

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Whats This About?

This blog site is a space where a small class from Florida Gulf Coast University will be posting their ideas, videos, music, pictures, and personal views about recycling and the 350 Program. The 350 event is recognized around the globe and this year we are bringing it to FGCU in a new creative way. October 24th is the day to look out for our way of expressing some of the goals of this 350 event:

-to recycle as much of our trash as possible
-to conserve our natural resources
-to extend landfill life
-to minimize the increasing cost of disposal, and
-to improve the quality of life in our community.


At Florida Gulf Coast University on October 24th we will seek to get the attention of students on campus about the reality of whats really being recycled on our sustainable campus!