What I've learned so far in this class is to be more aware. I've learned about how much I personally impact or affect the environment, and how humans in general impact the environment. Putting into perspective how many resources I use, I realized that although I recycle, I really don't do too much to help the environment or be eco-friendly.
I also learned how to blog. I didn't know about all the gadgets you can put on a blog. I think I'm getting pretty good about doing everything on blogger now. From blogging, I learned that it's a really good way to get information out that you want others to see or be aware of.
After seeing the Bagley Classroom, I learned that there are different materials out there that are better for the environment that we could be using to save energy. It was really interesting to learn how they made the building and what they made it with.
The book I'm reading is teaching me all about the plastic waste we use and how it affects the environment. It's a very interesting read and I can't wait to read more. So far this class has been a big eye-opener and I'm excited to learn more!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Share and Voice: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
I found this video when looking for pictures for my Read'n'Seed. I can't believe I have never heard of this before. I feel so out of the loop. It's so sad and disgusting.
Have any of you heard of this before? What's your reaction?
Have any of you heard of this before? What's your reaction?
Read'n'Seed: First quarter of "Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World"
In "Paper or Plastic: Solutions to an Overpackaged World," I covered 9 chapters, pages 1-26. The main topic that these chapters are about are the packaging of products. Packaging has become an essential part of our lives in our daily needs. American's have a tendency to overpackage.Think about how many things you buy that are covered in plastic wrap. Containers and packaging represent the largest amount of U.S. municipal solid waste (household waste) at 75 million tons. An interesting survey result done in 2001, reported that 80 percent of the people surveyed bought Christmas presents for their pets and 67 percent wrapped them. I personally have never thought about that waste before and have to admit that I'm guilty of doing this. I mean, do pets really need to have things wrapped up?
Packaging uses a lot of energy because to make packaging they are turning raw materials into finished products. Producing 1 ton of paper consumes over 98 tons of resources. Recycling glass saves about 1/4 of the energy over virgin materials production. Unfortunately, plastic has has been steadily replacing glass since the 1970's. I myself recently have noticed some drinks in the store that have always been in glass bottles and are now in plastic.
One chapter talks about the impact of food and packaging production. For every 100 pounds of food waste Americans throw away, 65 pounds of packaging waste was also thrown away. All this packaging waste uses a lot of energy and resources. We could save so much by buying locally grown food. It saves energy because it's not being transported from far away,it saves waste because it's not in packaging, and it is also probably healthier than most foods that are packaged seeing as how most packaged foods are processed foods. I don't think we really want the rest of the world to increase it's packaging. If Americans waste this much, how much more waste would their be if every other country did the same? Plastics are increasingly being co-mingled with other materials, which decreases the recyclability of plastics. Even though you may recycle, not every plastic is. It's hard to make a change, since it's the companies packaging everything in plastic, but you personally can start by buying foods locally. It wouldn't hurt to spread the word either. Teach others about how much damage plastic can do and, oh yeah, don't wrap presents for pets.
Image is of a river in Indonesia.
Packaging uses a lot of energy because to make packaging they are turning raw materials into finished products. Producing 1 ton of paper consumes over 98 tons of resources. Recycling glass saves about 1/4 of the energy over virgin materials production. Unfortunately, plastic has has been steadily replacing glass since the 1970's. I myself recently have noticed some drinks in the store that have always been in glass bottles and are now in plastic.
One chapter talks about the impact of food and packaging production. For every 100 pounds of food waste Americans throw away, 65 pounds of packaging waste was also thrown away. All this packaging waste uses a lot of energy and resources. We could save so much by buying locally grown food. It saves energy because it's not being transported from far away,it saves waste because it's not in packaging, and it is also probably healthier than most foods that are packaged seeing as how most packaged foods are processed foods. I don't think we really want the rest of the world to increase it's packaging. If Americans waste this much, how much more waste would their be if every other country did the same? Plastics are increasingly being co-mingled with other materials, which decreases the recyclability of plastics. Even though you may recycle, not every plastic is. It's hard to make a change, since it's the companies packaging everything in plastic, but you personally can start by buying foods locally. It wouldn't hurt to spread the word either. Teach others about how much damage plastic can do and, oh yeah, don't wrap presents for pets.
Image is of a river in Indonesia.Image from deputydog
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)