Pollution

For his Senior Project, Terrell Carter decided to study the environmental impacts of the pulp and paper industry, present some solutions to these impacts, and work to change his school’s purchasing habits and to increase paper consciousness. Carter succeeded in his goal of “Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling”: Lopez School faculty and students now give more thought to their paper consumption (for example, they print double-sided), reuse paper, and buy recycled paper.

Carter chose to focus on the paper problem because the American pulp and paper industry is among the most resource-intensive and highly polluting of all manufacturing industries. Moreover, most Americans don’t realize how much they damage the environment through paper usage: the paper industry is one of the largest consumers of raw materials, especially of water and wood. Throughout the production, bleaching, transportation, and decomposition phases, the paper industry emits greenhouse gases, degrades and destroys forests, lessens biodiversity, releases dangerous toxins as a result of fertilizers, and pollutes water and air.

Carter believed that something had to be done: people had to start to be more conscious about paper usage. He researched various kinds of recycled paper, possible suppliers, and what it would cost the school to switch to recycled paper. Then, he presented to the Board, the Budget Committee, and the faculty on his findings and his eco-friendly goals. In August 2007, the school first began purchasing 40% post-consumer waste recycled paper, which is processed chlorine-free, FSC certified, and made with 100% renewable energy. Soon after, the school purchased 100% recycled paper, and even went on to purchase 100% recycled paper towels and 20% recycled toilet paper.

Carter embodies Conscious Lifestyle’s ideas about individual and institutional social responsibility, and as a result of his efforts, Lopez School and its inhabitants are living a much more “conscious lifestyle.” If you would like to learn more about Carter’s project, please read his paper here (in this paper, he cites State of the Paper Industry and a paper calculator).

If Carter’s story has inspired you, and you have a project that increases individuals’ and schools’ social responsibility, consider applying to be a Conscious Lifestyle venture today! Or, if you want to support Conscious Lifestyle but not be a venture, you can support Conscious Lifestyle by using Good Search: every time you enter a search, Conscious Lifestyle gets funding!

Yes, we've all heard about the different instances where the Chinese government has banned something- whether it be access to the uncensored internet or people with "mental diseases" from the Olympics. However, this time the ban is something we should all be applauding- the ban of free plastic bags.

Now, all shops and supermarkets must require customers to pay for any plastic bags they use. The main reason cited is the vast amount of pollution and litter caused by the plastic- and with people using around 3 billion bags per day, the garbage adds up. (Still, on a per capita basis, the U.S. uses far more).

This practice may also economically benefit many of the stores. At the grocery store where I work, we are instructed to use paper bags unless the customer requests otherwise, simply because plastic bags costs more compared to how much they are able to hold. Paper bags cost the store 7 cents a bag, but can hold up to 10 items, whereas plastic ones rack up 4 cents a bag but only fit a few items. I'm not sure how much the bags in China cost, but there is no doubt that shopkeepers and owners will save money.

Other countries that have this same restriction on plastic bags include South Africa, Bangladesh, and Uganda. Do you see an irony here? All these poor, "backwards" countries have stronger environmental policies than the U.S., a supposed leader in the green movement. The same issue applies with standards on fuel mileage, where the U.S. lags behind on an international level.

People need to stop using and then wasting plastic.However, the emphasis should not shift to paper bags, which have their own problems, but reusable bags.

To learn more, read this CNN article.

This image is from Dwell.

Two members of the New York City Council have introduced a trailblazing bill, Intro. 104, the Electronics Collection, Recycling, and Reuse Act, which, if passed later this year, would be the first mandatory municipal electronics recycling law in the country. It would make manufacturers responsible for collection and disposal of products when no longer usable, instead of leaving this task to consumers, who often simply dump them in the trash.

The bill’s 43 council sponsors believe it would encourage manufacturers to adopt more environmentally friendly designs, since they would held liable if products are not disposed of properly. It would also reduce the more than 25,000 tons of discarded electronics New York City collects each year. These products comprise the fastest-growing part of the city’s waste stream, and can contain mercury, lead, cadmium, and other hazardous materials. When burned or deposited in landfills improperly, they leach into the soil and are released into the air.

Intro. 104 is supported by Consumers Union, and the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups, who are urging Mayor Michael Bloomberg to sign the legislation. If it is passed this year, companies would have a year to design collection plans, and the bill would take effect in 2009.

To learn more about the bill, visit
Intro. 104

To learn what you can do to support the bill, visit
NRDC's Action Campaign

Want to find out how much carbon your local power plant—or one in Neyveli, India, or perhaps Duvha, South Africa—is spewing out? Now, you can, using a new interactive map that helps you make informed decisions on which polluters need to reduce emissions.

Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA), a massive database containing information on the carbon emissions of more than 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide, was unveiled last week. It is the first global inventory of a major emissions-producing sector of the economy accounting for 40% of all carbon emissions in the United States and about one-quarter of global emissions. Data from CARMA will allow concerned citizens, investors, consumers, and environmentalists to pressure top polluters to clean up their acts, worldwide.

CARMA is produced and financed by the Confronting Climate Change Initiative at the Center for Global Development, an independent and non-partisan think tank located in Washington, D.C.

To try it out, visit carma.org.