WASTED
WASTED is a 30 minute show on the Planet Green Channel. The host (Annabelle Guriwitch
and Holter Graham), go into peoples homes and teach them how to cut down on their
waste thereby lowering their ecological footprint.
They developed an internationally recognized, ecological footprint calculator that
measures factors like waste, energy and fuel consumption and translates that data into
land size.
For example, in the episode I watched, a couple in an 1300 sq. ft. apartment in New
York City, calculated like this. Their living space is 0.03 acres, which should be
their footprint. However, their eco-footprint = 49.8 acres, 1600 times the size of
their property.
They go back after 3 weeks to see how well they are doing. This couple managed to
reduce their footprint 35% to 32.6 acres, not perfect but they are getting there.
The show is chocked full of helpful tips and interesting tidbits.
- Throwing a glass bottle in a landfill, instead of recycling and it will
sit there for 1 million years.
- Organic (food) waste in a landfill makes methane gas which is 23 times
worse for the environment in terms of climate change, than CO2. They
advocated worms, I say go with the trash composter.
- In an average year, a typical coal burning power plant spews out 4 million
tons of earth choking CO2 into the atmosphere.
- By taking Public Transportation, Americans are saving 45 million barrels
of oil a year. That’s enough fuel annually to power a quarter of all the homes in the U.S.
- Apparently there are eco-friendly dry cleaners which use natural chemicals
as opposed to the traditional dry cleaning chemicals which have been linked
to an increase in cancer and is also really bad for the environment.
Search for one near you. Also, the dry cleaning industry uses at least
3.5 billion wire hangers every year and that equates to the amount of
steel used to build 60,000 automobiles. So, take those hangers back to
the dry cleaners, people!
The Planet Green channel has certainly been doing their homework!
Tags: acre, apartment in new york, atmosphere, chemicals, cleaning chemicals, climate, climate change, compost, composter, dry cleaners, earth, eco footprint, ecological footprint, energy, environment, environment search, food waste, footprint, fuel, fuel consumption, gas, glass bottle, green, holter graham, interesting tidbits, landfill, landfills, living, methane, methane gas, natural, natural chemicals, nature, organic food, power, recycling, savings, spews, sq ft apartment, trash, waste, waste energy, wire, wire hangers
June 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
A glass bottle in a landfill stays there for a million years? Wow! I live in Panama and I’ve been trying unsuccessfully for about 8 months to get a glass company that also recycles glass to put a container in the building where I live so that people can recycle glass and then they pick it up once a week. Now that I have this fact on glass I’m going to push even harder to get that recycling bin! Thank you for this information. I found you through Blogging Without a Blog.
Marelisas last blog post..Meditation in Ten Easy Steps
June 10th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
hi,
You go girl! Give them enough information and maybe they will put a bin out for ya! BWAB is a great blog and thanks for coming by.
Lindas last blog post..WASTED
June 10th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Annabelle posted her first blog entry on the PG site today. I don’t know why that’s relevant, but I think she’s very cute so it matters to me.
She is also very stern and blunt which helps get her ideas through to the families she’s consulting.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Annabelle is very good at what she does! I really like her style!
Lindas last blog post..WASTED
June 10th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
If enough people just do their individual part then we might still save ourselves from global warming.
Chriss last blog post..The Best of Times and The Worst of Times
June 10th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Thanks for mentioning the eco-friendly dry cleaners thing, it is worth of paying attention!
Concerning throwing bottles in landfills, I hope that bioplastics packaging could elminate the problem.
AxeCitys last blog post..A word to remember
June 11th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Hi Linda,
I saw a show on TV where this guy came up with the idea (invention) for cardboard hangers for drycleaners, and people could buy ads which were printed on the hanger. How ingenious. Advertising on a recyclable product.
Who uses wire hangers anyway?
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..Step Away From The Blog
June 11th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Hi Chris,
There is a chance!
Hi AxeCity,
I know that there are a few eco-friendly cleaner just not enough of them. What is the bioplastics packaging?
Hi Barbara,
I thought wire hangers went out a long time ago, I sure was wrong!
Lindas last blog post..WASTED
June 12th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Bioplastics packaging materials are derived from renewable resources, are considered safe to be used in food applications compared to conventional plastics derived from petroleum.
Bioplastics are biodegradable materials made from the crop and other plants, so it can be broken down into simpler substances by the activities of living organisms, and therefore is unlikely to persist in the environment.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Bioplastics packaging materials are derived from renewable resources, are considered safe to be used in food applications compared to conventional plastics derived from petroleum.
Bioplastics are biodegradable materials made from the crop and other plants, so it can be broken down into simpler substances by the activities of living organisms, and therefore is unlikely to persist in the environment.
AxeCitys last blog post..Tools and tips for a successful blog
June 14th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Hi
Many thanks for the add in entrecard, if your advert goes well, then I would like to offer you some entrecard as a token of good will for subscribing to my blog.
Many thanks.
PS Regarding this post on waste. I am afraid to say that we live in a throw-away, consumer hungry society. Changes need to be made from the top, and tiered down to all levels of consumerism. Packaging of products would be the first one on my hit list. Penalize any manufacturer who places too much emphasise on branding and over-packaging. Surely if the product is half decent we don’t need to be told so in the form of great big glitzy cardboard packaging. Easter eggs would be the first to get a full makeover – the packaging for such items sickens me.
Regards
SolReka
Perhaps the only way forward is to live in a barcode society, where everyone and everything is dog tagged.
SolReka – Barcode Society
SolRekas last blog post..Evidence Of NASA Airbrushing Out Anomalies On The Moon
June 14th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Well, I am not into being a barcode so that will not be for me. However, your statement covering packaging is spot on. It does need to be a shrinking advertisement and not bigger!
Lindas last blog post..Forced Green Happenings