This is a story near and dear to my heart.

I hate big-box stores. Absolutely despise them. Wanna know what I dislike the most about big box stores? The ‘End-of-Life’ problem. When the bog box store closes – sometimes to move to a BIGGER box just a few miles away – they leave a hulking derelict behind. There are not many alternative used for a six million cubic foot concrete box. The impact is staggering. Once the big box store – typically the anchor for the surrounding smaller stores – leaves, most of the shoppers go with it. The next thing you know, you have an abandoned shopping center in your neighborhood.

Here is a great story on Sustainablog about people finding new uses for those abandoned big box stores.

The nation’s recycling industry has taken a sharp downturn, but Phoenix officials say the city and its residents are somewhat insulated from the worst effects.

Click Here to read the article

The online version of The Times of London has an interesting article about the environmental impact of Google searches: <blockquote>Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research. While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental impact.”</blockquote> <a href=”http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece”>Click here to read the article</a>

With the looming death of analog TV channels, perhaps you’ve decided to replace that analog set with a flat-panel digital TV. OK, now what do you do with the old one?

You can find out where to recycle that old analog TV here

A great little article in Boing Boing brought me to this website that documents of our experiences and projects of a young couple living off the grid:

VelaCreations.com

SEATTLE – Washington residents looking to safely get rid of old computers and TVs can do so for free when a new statewide recyclingprogram begins next year.

A state law that starts Jan. 1 allows consumers to bring unwanted computer monitors, laptops and TVs to 200 permanent collection sites at no charge.

Click Here to read the article

I found this really great article on the PakBec blog about the whole notion of biodegradable plastics.

 

What we need to do is recognize plastics as a valuable material resource, and then collect and recover plastics much like they do in Europe.

Landfills are designed to entomb things, not to encourage biodegradation

Click Here to read the article

 

My friend Rachel Matesz has written a great blog post about Lava Lake Lamb:

Lava Lake Ranch raises certified organic lamb the way nature intended. The lambs drink their mother’s milk and graze on pesticide- and herbicide-free grasses, herbs, forbes and legumes, such as alfalfa, for their entire lives. They’re not confined and they’re never given grain, growth hormones, or antibiotics.

Click Here to read her article

 

Drake Landing Solar Community.

The Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC) is a master planned neighbourhood in the Town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada that has successfully integrated Canadian energy efficient technologies with a renewable, unlimited energy source – the sun. The result is the first community to obtain all its water and space-heating needs from solar energy.

SOlar panels on the roof of every garage heat a glycol solution. The heated glycol travels along the roof overhang, down the end of the garage, and underground through a shallow buried trench system until it arrives at a heat exchanger within the community’s Energy Centre. The heat exchanger transfers heat to the water stored in a short-term storage tank.

During the warmer months, the heated water is distributed from the short-term storage tank to the borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system via a series of pipes. The pipes run through a collection of 144 holes that stretch thirty-seven meters below the ground and cover an area thirty-five metres in diameter.

As the heated water travels through the pipe-work, heat is transferred to the surrounding earth. The temperature of the earth will reach 80 degrees Celsius by the end of each summer.

To keep the heat in, the BTES is covered with sand, high-density R-40 insulation, a waterproof membrane, clay, and other landscaping materials.

Click Here to learn more.

 

 

From Lighter Footstep comes this:

For years, we were advised to flush unused or expired prescription drugs. Unfortunately, most municipal water systems are unequipped to remove medications from treated water. Now scientists are increasingly concerned about the low levels of drugs turning up in watershed and marine life. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of great disposal options. Read before you flush. The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy has published revised guidelines on safer prescription disposal. When in doubt, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

As I’m making my Christmas list this year, my thoughts turn to my book-reading habits. I generally purchase and read a few dozen books every year.  It occurred to me that if I purchased an Amazon KIndle that I could save a few trees.

 

But what about the environmental impact of making – an eventually disposing of – all those electronic components?  Am I helping the environment or hurting it by buying a Kindle?  I’ve been reading a lot of blogs on this topic and almost without exception they talk about saving trees and preventing landfill waste.

The paper used to make books comes from tree farms, not endangered species trees or wild trees, and a book in a landfill should decompose pretty quickly.

Kindle, on the other hand, is made of plastic, a petroleum by-product.  Given the internal components, we are definitely talking hazardous waste here.

 

I dunno.  Kindle or paper?