Environment

Ontario Electronic Waste Program

- Adam Clare

Starting in April 2009 people living in the Canadian province of Ontario will start paying a levy on electronic products that are costly to recycle. These added fees will go to fund the expensive recycling procedures for electronics, while also expanding the program.

The fees will go to an arm’s-length organization established by Waste Diversion Ontario and will be used to fund the collection and recycling of the products from hundreds of drop-off locations to be established across the province.

The program for TVs and computers is just the beginning of the province’s plans. Waste Diversion Ontario, which creates and runs recycling programs for the province, will today begin drafting the next phase of electronics recycling in Ontario. By next summer, the agency will put forward a plan to recycle nearly all other electronic products.

The ultimate purpose of adding recycling fees is to force manufacturers to create more environmentally friendly products.

Under the program, the fees, which are expected to total $62 million in the first year, could drop in future years if, for example, the cost to recycle the products decreases because manufacturers have removed lead or mercury components.

Things Are Good’s occasional writer, Cam Proctor, will be working on the program! Congrats to Cam!

Recycling is so Awesome!

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Recycling is perhaps the easiest think one can do for the environment and it’s very very effective at reducing the amount of raw materials that get consumed.

Why is recycling so efficient? According to Alcoa, recycling a ton of aluminum uses just 5% of the energy required to make virgin metal. Every ton of recycled aluminum that Alcoa uses saves about 14,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that the average American household consumes 920 kilowatts of electricity per month. Consequently, using 1 ton of recycled aluminum as opposed to 1 ton of virgin aluminum would make enough conserved energy available to power an American household for over 15 months.

A Good Reason for the British Royal Family

- Adam Clare

Celsias has an interesting piece on how the British royals can serve a good purpose- protecting the environment. And, no this is not an ironic post.

The Prince has also long promoted small, local, organic farming. Leading by example, his own Gloucestershire farm has been organic since 1986 and was among the first to provide organic products in Great Britain long before it was eco-chic. His Duchy Originals brand is made from products grown on his farm in a sustainable manner, with special attention to crop rotation and soil management with the proceeds going to charity, including environmental and alternative health organizations that he has founded. He’s kind of like the Paul Newman of Great Britain!

Urban Living Better than Sub-urban Living

- Adam Clare

From the blatantly obvious department comes a short piece on how people can be kinder to the environment by living in an urban setting. The suburban lifestyle isn’t the best for the environment for many reasons, so everybody move downtown to show the world some love!

The fact is, urban living is kinder to the planet, and Manhattan is perhaps the greenest place in the US. A Manhattanite’s carbon footprint is 30 percent smaller than the average American’s. The rate of car ownership is among the lowest in the country; 65 percent of the population walks, bikes, or rides mass transit to work. Large apartment buildings are the most efficient dwellings to heat and cool.
And guess what high-speed means of transportation emits less atmospheric carbon than trains, planes, and automobiles? The humble counterweight elevator put into service in 1857, which has made vertical density possible from Dubai to Taipei.

Video on NY Environmental Artist

- Adam Clare

This landed in my email today from Parisa:

I’d like to share with you a video from Current.com that I thought you and your blog would appreciate; in the piece, Fritz Haeg–green architect/artist, discusses his current art project called Animal Estates where he makes homes for animals where people live in cities, suburbs, private properties, institution, etc. Based on the Manhattan Project, Fritz’s intention is to make homes for animals that used to live four-hundred years ago on locations where he’s placed his art. In the video, Fritz discusses his inspiration, roots, concepts and the ideas behind this project

.

Scroll To Top