Article 3: Recycling

Is Recycling Soda-Pressing?

Recently I have been working very hard at recycling as much as possible. All of this recycling lead me to the question, how valuable is recycling? To my gleeful surprise it is very valuable! At least for most things. In order to make more sense of this I have broken recycling down into product categories.
Glass Worth it? YES
Glass is made from natural materials, this means that glass can be recycled endlessly into the process of making more glass. 95% of the raw material to make glass can be found in recycled glass. Not only that but the recycling process saves energy and the environment. When it comes the the environment, recycling 6 tons of glass reduces the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 1 ton! By recycling 10 glass containers one could save enough energy to operate a television for 2 hours.
How many times can it be recycled? Infinite

Metal Worth it? Yes
Recycled aluminum uses 90% less energy that that of processing new aluminum. This means that by recycling  6 aluminum cans one could save enough energy to power an air conditioner for an hour. Steel can also be recycled and eliminates the need to mine as many materials when producing new sheets.
How many times can it be recycled: Infinite

Paper Worth it? YES
Recycling paper is very efficient. By recycling just a ton of paper we are saving enough energy to power a home for 6 months! Also according to the EPA, "recycling paper causes 35 percent less water pollution and 74 percent less air pollution than making paper from raw materials."
 How many times can it be recycled: 5-7 times

Plastics Worth it? NO and YES

The set up required is difficult at best. The main issue that really lies with plastics though is that it simply doesn’t go away and it can only be recycled a few times. Once it has been recycled those few times it breaks down into microscopic pieces. Plastics unlike metals and paper also come with a rating system. When this system isn’t sorted correct, it can derail the recycle process. It is also much cheaper for companies to produce more plastic then reuse what is currently available so the insensitive to use recycled plastics is small.

How many times can it be recycled: A few times

Electronics Worth it? YES

Electronics are full of valuable resources. One million phones can provide 35lb copper, 75lb gold, and 33lb palladium. This lessens the need to strip mine these materials. We just have to make sure that the social aspect of recycling phone is fare. There are reports of human right violations in other counties when it comes to work such as dismantling old phones.

How many times can it be recycled: Infinitely

Source Link: http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/is-recycling-worth-it-zm0z15fmzsor.aspx?PageId=1#axzz3QAqIKRn2

Article 2: Cars

E = EC² ? (Electric = Efficient Cars)

With electric vehicles appearing to be the car of the future I can’t help but ask, are we ready for them? I was recently reading an article on CBS News which argues we aren’t. The article points out many well known facts which makes me worry about our compulsive bet on electric cars. The first being obvious but yet often ignored, electric cars are powered by the grid. It’s a simple fact that has many implications. For example what if the grid is powered by primarily Coal energy? Well according to the University of Minnesota electric cars, “produce 3.6 times more soot and smog deaths than those powered by gas” and “They also are greater producers of heat-trapping carbon dioxide that worsens global warming”. With countries such as Asia, China and India, focusing so heavily on coal energy and the demand of electric cars being stimulated by countries such as the US and Europe will we find ourselves doing more harm than good? Also here in the US we are still very dependent on coal as an energy source, according the EIA, in 2013 39% of the country’s electricity was produced using coal power. What this means is 39% of the cars that where powered by coal in the US where doing more harm to the environment than good. This also makes me wonder just how sustainable the product life cycle for electric cars is but I’m sure that’s a topic for another post!

Now I’m not trying to say electric cars are going to doom us all, in-fact they could very well be our transportation savior (Which I’m sure Elon Musk would agree on). It just that I’m hesitant about the possible impacts of everyone driving electric cars because they presume they are more sustainable when in fact a clean diesel might serve a better purpose for the time being (until we utilize more green energy). I should point out that the study also says that when power from the grid is supplied by natural gases the electric car only produces half has much pollution and even less when it is produced from wind, water or wave energy. Consumers could also take actions into their own hand and take the electric cars off the grid using their own solar panels or other sources. What do you think?

Link love

Main article

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/think-electric-cars-are-truly-green-not-if-their-power-comes-from-coal/#postComments

US coal consumption 2013

http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_1_01

Great Top Gear short on emissions (normal cars)

Written Assignment #2: Personal Hygine

Personal Hygiene?

When thinking of a personal care product that I use every day my first thought was my toothpaste but after an unexciting glance into the contents I settled for deodorant. The deodorant I currently use Degree Adrenaline series, sports defense. I use it once to twice a day depending on if I take a shower mid-day. The product itself comes in a black container classily stamped with the words “new improved” on the top.

Upon further inspect I noticed a few key ingredients which where worrisome. Fragrance, BHT, PEG-8 distearate, Cyclopentasiloxane, and a few more. A short search later reviled that most sources rated fragrance as the most concerning but in the end I decided to do research on BHT for two reasons. One being that googling fragrance seemed like a search nightmare and the second being that I have taken enough toxicology classes (one) to know that a chemical is always more dangerous when it has its own abbreviation. (PCBs, DDTs, DDDs and so on)

What I found wasn’t disturbing when the data was looked at by itself rather it was disturbing when I looked at what it was used for. BHT or butylated hydroxytoluene is often used preserve products in both the foods and personal care product industry. The product itself has quite a few health concerns such as endocrine disruption, which is a fancy way of saying it messes with the way our body produces chemicals. This can effect everything from development of the human body to reproduction. BHA is also a carcinogenic, meaning that it can cause cancer. After seeing this it seems crazy that we would eat this product.

Knowing what I know now I won’t be completely avoid BHT in personal hyine products I will however, be making an effort to avoid it within my food. The reason being that BHT is unable to penetrate skin, however it does get absorbed into the skin. What this means is that the levels of it found in your skin can increase (it does degrade over time) but it will not enter into your body. However, if you ingest BHT this no longer holds true. That along with the fact that BHT in my body will without doubt come in contact with other chemicals which could have many outcomes that are very unpredictable. As Paracelsus once said “the dose makes the poison”, so long as I am not putting large amounts of BHT under my arm I am not too worried. That being said I could see myself looking for a non-toxic deodorant solution next time I go to the store, I'm just not going to slam dunk this full deodorant stick in the dumpster.

Sources

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/536211/Degree_Men_Adrenaline_Series_Adventure_Invisible_Stick/

http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=1160

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/carcinogenic

Article 1: Trees

Trees getting axed... Illegally

        All puns aside Tanzania forest's are in a serious danger(for those of you. such as myself who are just awful at geography I have provided a map). Local logging gangs have started to emerge and in a similar fashion to poachers are killing off hundreds of tons of trees every month. They are going out at night armed to the teeth in an organized fashion and chopping down tree after tree. It is believed that over 70% of harvested wood in this country is unaccounted for. Officials say they are adding security, however locals say that a lot of the officials are being bribed.
  
        What does this mean for Tanzania? Well the government is losing money, due to a lack of taxation and fees being applied to the smuggled goods. People are losing their homes and potential job opportunists. Finally many species are on the brink of local extinction. So how does this sort of thing come into play? Well according Africans country's controller and auditor its "the result of poor planning and the governments inability to manage its forestry resources." However, as far as I am concerned it a simple supply and demand equation. These smugglers would not be present in the first place if the illegal chopping didn't have value. Its a shame that at times we are willing to destroy not only our environment but entire governments for short term profits. So I leave you with this question who should be held responsible?

Link to article