Plastic Power!

Okay, everyone's been on a major "Go Green" kick this week on the blog and for the past few years in the rest of the world. That's great. No, seriously it's GREAT!

The only thing is- what can one person do all by themselves? What can you accomplish by putting your empty soda can or water bottle in that special green container? What's the power of your plastic?
RECYCLING:
1 aluminum can will save enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a tv for 2 hours. That same can might return to the grocer's as a new and filled can in 90 days or less after the recycling process.
1 1-Liter soda bottle is enough plastic to make a ruler for next school year.
5 to 11 1-Gallon milk jugs is enough to make a frisbee.
14 20-ounce greens soda bottles can make an extra-large t-shirt.
85 20-ounce soda bottles will make enough material to fill a sleeping bag.
96 1-Gallon milk jugs can make a 6 ft long piece of 2x4 lumber.
125 aluminum cans will save enough energy to power the average home for an entire day!
1000 1-Gallon milk jugs is enough material for a park bench.
1200 plastic bottles is enough for a 200 lb. railroad tie.
12000 plastic bottles is enough for a boat! See below...
1 ton of plastic can save 1-2 thousand gallons of gas and 7.4 cubic yards in a landfill!

What else can your plastic do for you? A Mr. De Rothschild is building an entire boat out of empty bottles! This year, he is going to try and sail it from California to Australia. Check out the Plastiki here!

What's the value of your glass and your paper? Visit the Bergen County (NJ) Utility Authority.
And just where does that bottle go to be made into all this cool stuff?
For more statistics check out Earth911.

Iris
enter Sam's Space now!
Read Just One of the Guys and find out how the band uses its water! On sale now!

Shocking Facts

Everyone is “going green” these days. It’s not just a fad or the new cool thing to do; this is the way of the future. We all know that right? Still, just about everyone is not “pure green” meaning you still will use Styrofoam, or you might throw away a can or two if taking it home isn’t convenient. The question is do you really know why we are going green? Sure you know about climate change, and greenhouse gasses, but let me share with you a list of facts that will make you think next time you throw away that soda can or take separate cars to parties.

Recycling one aluminum can saves an amount of energy equivalent to half that can filled with gasoline.

Every Sunday, more than 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled.

North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

Every year some 45,000 tons of plastic waste are dumped into the world's oceans. One of the results of this is that up to one million seabirds and one hundred thousand marine mammals are killed each year by plastic trash such as fishing gear, six-pack yokes, sandwich bags, and Styrofoam cups.

Food waste includes leftover portions of meals and trimmings from food preparation activities in kitchens, restaurants and fast food chains, and cafeteria. Food waste is the third largest component of generated waste (after yard waste and corrugated boxes) and second largest component of discarded waste, after yard waste. The amount of food waste generated in the waste stream has increased by 1.2 million tons in the last 25 years; this is one of the lowest increases on a percentage basis of any component of the waste stream.

The United States generates approximately 208 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) a year. That's 4.3 pounds per person per day.

This information courtesy of your friends at http://www.green-networld.com
How about that for putting things in perspective? I know you all do your part when it comes to being green and no one is perfect, but the next time you think it’s a pain in the neck to take that soda can with you or you're going to get a Styrofoam box for your leftovers, think about this blog and think again.

Go above and beyond… Sound off on the creative things you do that might be a little out of the box to be green. I am always looking for that neat new tip to save energy, money and our planet.


http://nickvalentino.blogspot.com

It's Easy to be Green!

Going Green. I'm loving how it seems to be a growing trend right now because it's so important to protect our environment! And it's so easy to go Green! So I guess that means today I'll be talking about...

Teens going Green!

As a teen myself, I find that protecting my environment is so important. And it is so easy to do! There are so many different things that teens, themselves, can do in an effort to go Green.

- When using a camera, use rechargeable batteries instead of the one-use batteries. Everytime you recharge the batteries, which also have a longer lifespan, you are saving the environment from numerous batteries being thrown out into it.

- When going shopping, bring your own reuseable bag for the cashier to put your purchases into. It really helps to cut down on the amount of plastic bags being wasted each year. And if you happen to forget your reuseable bag, reuse the plastic bag or throw it into the recycle bin instead of the garbage.

- Recycle! This one is huge! So many items are simply thrown away when they could easily be recycled! Paper, plastic, cans... They can all be tossed into a recycle bin instead of a trash can. It makes it easier, too, when a recycle bin is placed next to a trash can in a house! That way it becomes easier to recycle!

- Turning out lights and shutting down appliances (yes, the computer included!) when not in use cuts down tremendously on the amount of electricity used! And they are so easy to do! When leaving a room, just flip the light switch off or shut down the computer so it is not wasting electricity running all night while you're asleep!

- Carpool! When going out to lunch with your friends, instead of all driving separately, conserve gas and have one person drive everyone to lunch! And you can alternate who drives so it's fair to everyone! This way gas is not wasted unnnecessarily!

These measures are all so easy to use when deciding to go Green. But they're not nearly all the methods available for use. So let's share! What are some of the methods you all use to go Green?

Alyssa Montgomery
http://amontgomery99.blogspot.com/
Author of Where Are You?, Mr. Mysterious, and 9:53 PM (from the Heat of the Moment Anthology).