RelentlesslyOptimistic

Cigarette Butts: no small problem for the environment

 

Early in my career as an environmental activist I found the idea of litter as an environmental issue laughable and misguided. What can I say -- it's far from the only thing I was wrong about when I was young. Here's a few bits of butt information from the New YorkTimes:

• Keep America Beautiful and the Ocean Conservancy estimate that butts are at least 28% of all items littered nationwide
• Butts are not biodegradable [and] can release can release toxic chemicals including nicotine, benzene and cadmium
• [R]ecent experiments had shown that one butt has enough poisons to kill half the minnows in a liter of water — a standard laboratory test for toxins — in 96 hours

To avoid littering butts you can carry reusable or disposable pocket ashtrays, available locally from Keep Kansas City Beautiful and lots of places on the web.

From bootstrap analysis, a blog of "chronicles and musings of an urban field ecologist."

Image from SAS.org.

A rare example of good eco-humor

I love Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal!

Help the environment

From Bits & Pieces

Recycling

 

Via Bits & Pieces

Happy Earth day: Gasoline use decreases!

For the first time in almost 20 years, use of gasoline dropped in 2007!

 

The Wombat

 

I saw this at a recent Shadowcliff Sustainability event, where everyone laughingly applauded when it was through. It's a funny environmental flash video by the Foundation for Global Community
called The Wombat. Note that it'll start playing when you click the link.

Texas Pride: State ranks as 7th largest carbon emitter in the world!

According to TIME magazine:

"The headquarters state of America's oil industry spewed 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2003, enough that Texas would rank seventh in the world if it were its own country, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The amount is more than that of California and Pennsylvania — the second- and third-ranking states — combined."

Via Cake News. Image of Dallas from the Texas Transportation Institute

Ridiculous product of the week #92: Organic water

 

From J-Walk Blog via For Your Entertainment

Study shows that organic food really is healthier

Early results from a £12 million (US $24.6 million) four-year study funded by the European Union showed that food grown organically has significantly higher levels of anti-oxidants — 20% - 40% higher in organic grains and vegetables, 50% - 80% higher in organic milk. They also found higher levels of beneficial minerals such as iron and zinc. The study was reported widely in the British media (see the BBC and the Times Online), where they Food Standards Agency (FSA) has insisted for years that organic food is merely a lifestyle choice.

Note that aside from the health effects from eating it, food grown organically prevents a wide range of environmental damage that is caused when food is grown conventionally.

Image from Fnord

Laser Printers in Office May Harm Lungs

 

A study has shown that many laser printers emit tiny particles that can be breathed in, and may cause damage to the lungs.

"If a printer operates in an indoor environment, the concentration of ultra-fine particles would be of the same order of magnitude as if there was secondhand smoke in a similar environment," said author Lidia Morawska, director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health at Queensland University of Technology in an interview from Brisbane.

"Even very small concentrations can be related to health hazards," she said.

"The building had 62 laser printers. Of 42 different models found, 34 models were manufactured by HP, five by Ricoh, two by Toshiba and one by Canon.

After testing all of the printers at a distance of about 2 feet, the researchers divided them into four different categories. Twenty-three models fell in the non-emitter category, four in the low category, two in the medium category and thirteen in the high category.

The study showed that particle levels increased five-fold during working hours.

According to this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, HP has been working with scientists to understand the problem for two years. The article includes the full list of printers tested and a link to the complete study.

Via: Digital Inspiration