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Welcome to Weekly Fast Facts - Receive weekly helpful tips from GSE - Sign up now!
Dec 29, 2006
On, Packaging:
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Quaker Oats are packaged in 100% recycled fiberboard tubes. (Grocery Manufacturers of America, 1998) |
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If all the roughly 60-Million boxes of Froot Loops sold each year were sold solely in plastic bags, the material savings would equal approx 11,250,000 lbs per yr. (American Plastics Council, 2004) |
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Extract, manufactured by McCormick & Co., is packaged in 62% recycled glass bottles. They are shipped to customers in 100% recycled fiberboard cartons. (Grocery Manufacturers of America, 1998) |
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Anheuser-Busch brews, packages & distributes the Bud, Mich, and Busch families of beer in cans made from more than 50% post-consumer recycled aluminum. (Grocery Manufacturers of America, 1998) |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Dec 15, 2006
On, Waste-to-Energy Plants - Responsive to the Environment:
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New Clean Air Act rules for municipal waste combustors ensure that waste-to-energy is one of the cleanest sources of power in the world. Energy is produced from trash as cleanly as it is produced from natural gas, reports a recent booklet jointly released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and others. |
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The U.S. Department of Energy has labeled waste-to-energy technology as a major part of a plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. By replacing fossil fuels, waste-to-energy reduces the buildup of carbon dioxide in the air. Combusting biomass - materials such as paper, wood and food waste - does not add to the buildup of greenhouse gases. |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Dec 1, 2006
On, Trash:
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According to Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB) a national organization dedicated to empowering individuals to take greater responsibility for enhancing their community environment, there are seven primary sources of litter:
- Pedestrians
- Motorists
- Uncovered Trucks
- Loading docks
- Construction sites
- Improper residential refuse set-out
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Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Nov 17, 2006
On, Phone Books:
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If Americans recycled their phone books for a year, we could save an estimated 650,000 tons of paper. (Recycler's Handbook, 1990). |
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If all our phone books were kept out of landfills, we could save some 2 million cubic yards of landfill space. (Recycler's Handbook, 1990). |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Nov 10, 2006
On, Junk Mail:
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In 1981 the average household received 59 mail order catalogues, and by 1991 the # had increased 140% to 142. (Use Less Stuff, 1998) |
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If each household canceled 10 mail-order catalogues, it would reduce trash by 3.5 lbs per year. If everybody did this, the stack of canceled catalogues would be 2,000 miles high! (Use Less Stuff, 1998) |
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In 1988, over 9 billion pieces of third class mail were discarded without ever being read. (Stop Junk Mail & Save a Tree, NYS DEC) |
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On the average, 42% of the mail that a household receives is advertising. (Use Less Stuff, 1998) |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Nov 3, 2006
On, Appliances:
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Oct 13, 2006
On, At The Office:
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Oct 6, 2006
On, Steel:
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For every ton of steel recycled, we save enough energy to run a 60-watt bulb for 26 hours. (NYS DEC ARD Calendar, 2004). |
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Producing new steel from scrap results in energy savings of about 1/3. (Energy Educators of Ontario, 1993) |
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It takes about 4 times as much energy to make steel from virgin ore as it does to make steel from scrap. Annually, enough energy is saved by recycling steel to supply the city of Los Angeles with almost a decade's worth of electricity. (Recycler's Handbook, 1990) |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Sept 29, 2006
On, Aluminum:
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Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of gasoline. (Aluminum Association, 2004) |
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For every ton of aluminum recycled, we reduce energy use by 90 percent. (NYS DEC ARD Calendar, 2004) |
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Last year 54 billion cans were recycled saving energy equivalent to 15 million barrels of crude oil - America's gas consumption for one day. (Aluminum Association, 2004) |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Sept 1, 2006
On, Paper:
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Notebook paper gets made into copy paper, newspapers, game and puzzle boards when recycled. (American Forest & Paper Association, 2002). |
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In 1988, Americans used enough kraft paper for a person to take a brown bag lunch to school or work for 64 million years. (Recycler's Handbook, 1990). |
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Did you know: Aseptic packages - or juice boxes - are made with three materials. Paper comprises 70 percent of the package, polyethylene plastic 24 percent and aluminum 6 percent. (APC, 2004) |
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Aseptic packages by themselves represent a tiny fraction - less than three one-hundredths of one percent (0.03%) - of all solid waste. (APC, 2004). |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Aug 25, 2006
On, Clothing:
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In 1988, America exported 135,000 tons of used clothing to Third World countries. (Recycler's Handbook, 1990). |
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Recycling textiles saves resources. About ½ the clothes Americans wear are made of synthetic fibers produced from oil - a non-renewable resource. (Recycler's Handbook, 1990). |
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The rest are made of natural fibers like cotton, often produced with pesticides, chemical fertilizers etc. Making them has already had an effect on the earth; we owe it to the planet to use them as long as they last. (Recycler's Handbook, 1990). |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Aug 11, 2006
On, Safe Ash Management and Reuse:
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Ash landfill studies conducted over the past decade show that Leachate is like salty water with metals content at about the same level as the standards set for drinking water. |
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More than 300,000 tons of ash is used annually as daily and final cover in place of soil in landfills and in roadbed construction. Ash is used as a substitute for aggregate in road base materials, building construction and artificial offshore reefs. |
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Waste-to-energy residue ash is safe for land filling. The ash exhibits concrete-like properties causing it to harden once it is placed and compacted in a landfill. This reduces the potential for rainwater to leach contaminants in landfills into the ground. |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
Aug 4, 2006
On, Waste-to-Energy Supports Recycling:
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Communities with waste-to-energy plants recycle an average of 33% of their trash. |
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Waste-to-energy enables the recovery of materials that would not otherwise be recycled. Ferrous metals remaining in the ash are extracted by powerful magnets and sent to recycling centers. Since these metals are often combined with non-recyclable materials during manufacture, extraction of the metals would not be feasible without combustion. Nearly 788,000 tons of steel is recovered for recycling each year at waste-to-energy plants. |
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Each year, an additional 939,000 tons of glass, plastics, white goods, batteries, paper, cardboard, metals, yard waste and ash are recycled on-site at waste-to-energy plants. |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
July 28, 2006
On, If you're thinking of getting a hybrid, you might find these facts helpful:
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The hybrid combines a gasoline-powered engine and a battery-operated motor to achieve superior fuel efficiency. No outlets needed. |
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A process called regenerative braking recharges the car's battery by using its momentum as energy. This not only allows the hybrid to use less gasoline, but also emits less carbon dioxide. |
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Compared to their "traditional" competition, hybrids often pack better acceleration because of their additional electric motor. |
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Some hybrid models get 50 miles per gallon in the city. |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
July 21, 2006
On, Plastics:
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Toothbrushes represent more than 100 million lbs of plastic waste each year. |
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In 2003, plastics accounted for 11% of the total materials discarded in the US by weight. |
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Producing new plastic from recycled material uses only two-thirds of the energy required to manufacture it from raw materials. |
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Each year in the North Pacific alone, nearly 100,000 marine mammals are killed by ingesting or getting tangled in plastic Debris. |
Please Recycle! Have a great weekend!
July 14, 2006
On, Transportation:
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Today nearly 92% of downtown Tokyo travelers commute by rail, and the Japanese do only 55% of their traveling by car. Western Europeans now use public transit for 10% of all urban trips, and Canadians for 7%, compared with Americans at only 2%. |
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The typical SUV today has a fuel economy 29% lower than that of the average car, resulting in a CO2 emissions rate roughly 40% higher. |
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The US has the highest rate of Carbon emissions in the world, with close to 1,600 million metric tons of carbon released annually (about 25% of the world's total). |
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Cycling accounts for some 12% of all trips in Germany and 27% of trips in the Netherlands. In contrast, in the U.S., bicycle infrastructure is much less extensive and less sophisticated. As a result, cycling accounts for less than 1% of all trips. |
Have a great weekend!
July 7, 2006
On, Tire Recycling:
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Scrap tires pose 3 environmental threats: they are an extremely difficult to extinguish fire hazard; they trap rainwater which can breed mosquitoes that spread diseases; and they are bulky, virtually indestructible hazards that often work their way back up to the surface of landfills after burial. |
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About 27 million scrap tires (9.3% of the total) are estimated to be disposed of in U.S. landfills. |
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In 2001, 38 states banned the land filling of whole tires, and 11 states banned all scrap tires from landfills. |
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Using ground rubber as an additive to asphalt paving has increased from 3 million tires in 1994 to 12 million tires in 2001. |
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If the markets could be developed so that all suitable passenger and light truck tires were retreaded, the number of scrap tires generated per year would be reduced by almost 10%. |
Have a great weekend!
June 30, 2006
On, Trash:
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The EPA has concluded that all landfills will eventually leak into the environment. (U.S. Geological Survey, "What Happens to the Waste in Landfills?", Fact sheet 040-03, 2003. |
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Americans waste, or cause to be wasted, nearly 1 million lbs of materials per person, per year. |
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In the U.S., we generate enough trash each day to fill 44,919 garbage trucks that hold 9 tons of trash each. |
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Each individual generates about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year - about 4.5 lbs per person, per day. If we continue this pattern, we will have each created 90,000 lbs of trash in our lifetimes. |
Have a great weekend!
June 16, 2006
On, Oil:
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200 Million gallons of oil are improperly disposed of each year. |
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Just one gallon of used oil has the potential to contaminate up to one million gallons of drinking water. |
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One part per million (ppm) of oil can be detected by odor and taste, 35 ppm can cause a visible slick & 50-100 ppm can disrupt bacterial action. |
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It takes 42 gallons of crude oil, but only 1 gallon of used oil, to produce 2.5 quarts of new, high-quality lubricating oil. |
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Recycling just 2 gallons of used oil can generate enough electricity to run the average household for almost 24 hours. |
Have a great weekend!
June 2, 2006
On, Climate Change:
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According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Earth’s surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming in the past 2 decades. |
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Rising water temperatures have caused sea levels to rise 4 to 10 inches in the past 100 years, and it is predicted to rise another 20 inches over the next century (with some estimates as high as 35 inches). |
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Fifty-three % of the U.S. population resides in coastal counties. |
Have a great weekend!
May 17, 2006
On, Household Hazardous Waste and Pesticides:
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About 5% of the U.S. population aged 20 yrs and older has cadmium levels that put them at risk for kidney injury and low bone-mineral density. |
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The insecticide diazinon, used in homes and on lawns, is one of the most frequently found pesticides in air, rain and fog. |
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On average, 18 lbs of pesticides are used, per acre, per year on golf courses. This compares to 2.7 lbs used, per acre, per year, in agriculture. |
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2 oz of ethylene glycol antifreeze can kill a dog, 1 tspn can be lethal to a cat and 2 tablespoons can be hazardous to children. |
Have a great weekend!
May 12, 2006
On, Glass:
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The average American generates 79.5 lbs of glass per year. |
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It takes approximately one million yrs for a glass bottle to break down at a landfill. |
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Recycling one ton of glass saves the equivalent of 10 gallons of oil. |
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The energy saved from recycling one wine bottle will operate a 100-watt light bulb for 3 hours |
Have a great weekend!
May 5, 2006
On, Food/Waste:
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In 2003, food wastes accounted for nearly 12% of the total materials discarded in the U.S. |
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27% of the food produced for human consumption in the U.S. is thrown out as waste, equaling 48 million tons annually. |
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Recovering only 5% of U.S. food waste would represent one day's worth of food for four million people. |
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Putting this good, usable food into landfills costs Americans $50 million each year. |
Have a great weekend!
April 28, 2006
On, Electronics:
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In 2005, Americans used an average of six wireless products in their day-to-day lives (up from an average of 3 in 1999) with over 30% of Americans using eight or more. |
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The average lifespan for a common PC manufactured in 2005 is estimated to be two years. |
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Consumers are storing an average of 2-3 obsolete computers in garages, closets and storage spaces. |
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Every month approximately 100,000 lbs. Of CD's become outdated, useless or unwanted. |
Have a great weekend!
April 21, 2006
On, Tires/Rubber:
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It takes seven gallons of crude oil to produce one car tire. |
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Approximately 290 million scrap tires were generated in 2004. |
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There are at least 275 million scrap tires in stockpiles in the U.S. |
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It takes 3.6 billion gallons of crude oil to produce tires for all of the cars in the U.S, |
Have a great weekend!
April 14, 2006
On, Transportation:
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The U.S. rate of car ownership is the highest in the world -about 50% higher than in Western Europe. |
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If fuel economy were improved by 5 m.p.g., American consumers would save 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, more than half of what the U.S. imports from the Middle East. |
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The 8.2 million barrels per day of fuel consumed by U.S. automobiles nearly matches the amount of oil produced by Saudi Arabia. |
Have a great weekend!
April 7, 2006
On, Metals:
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Collection, crushing and melting of scrap metal back into new production makes steel the second most recycled material in the U.S. (asphalt pavement is the first). |
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More than 5,400 BTU of energy are conserved for every pound of steel recycled. |
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Some 220 tons of earth are excavated to produce just a ton of copper. |
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Recycling one pound of steel saves enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb more than 26 hours. |
Have a great weekend!
March 31, 2006
On, Compost Facts:
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Grass clippings contain valuable nutrients that can generate up to 25% of your lawn’s total fertilizer needs when left on the lawn. |
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Mature compost can control several plant diseases without the use of synthetic fungicides or fumigants. |
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If the 2.15 million tons of food residuals generated annually were composted instead of being sent to landfills, the resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to taking more than two million cars off the road. |
Have a great weekend!
March 24, 2006
On, Construction & Demolition Facts:
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Each year, 170,000 commercial buildings are constructed in the U.S., and 44,000 commercial buildings are demolished. |
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Total waste from an average 2,000-sq. ft. home adds up to about 8,000 lbs taking up 50 cubic yards of space. |
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About 12% of the drywall used in new construction ends up as scrap. |
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If 25% of the buildings demolished every year were deconstructed, approximately 20 million tons of debris could be diverted from landfills. |
Have a great weekend!
March 17, 2006
On, St Patty's Day:
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Saint Patrick, known as the Apostle of Ireland, was a high-ranking Christian clergyman. His legendary use of the shamrock as an illustration of the Trinity led to its adoption as Ireland's national symbol. |
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Ireland was Christianized by Saint Patrick in the 5th century. He and his successors founded churches and monasteries that became centers of Christian art and refinement. Saint Patrick's Day is the most important national holiday in Ireland. |
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Shamrocks have been considered good-luck symbols by the Irish since early times, and shamrocks or various representations of the plant are frequently worn on Saint Patrick's Day. The hop clover is widely accepted as the original shamrock picked by Saint Patrick. The name shamrock comes from the Irish Seamrog, which means "little clover." |
Have a great weekend!
March 10, 2006
On, Safe Ways to Control Pests Around Your Home:
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Make Sure Your House Is Clean and Dry |
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Seal Entryways |
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Try Chemical-Free Strategies: i.e. Vacuum for individual bugs or nests (bugs will usually suffocate in the bag) Lay traps (flytraps, jar-traps, pheromone traps, light traps, etc). |
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Choose Lower-Risk Pesticides. See www.beyondpesticides.org for details. |
Have a great weekend!
March 3, 2006
On, Waste reduction fast facts - compost:
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If the 21.5 million tons of food residuals generated annually were composted instead of being sent to landfills, the result would be a reduction of about three million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents in greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to taking more than two million cars off the road. |
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When burned, yard wastes emit certain gases that contribute to the formation of smog-causing nitrogen oxides. In addition, leaf smoke can make breathing difficult for people who suffer from asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis or allergies. |
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One hundred pounds of grass clippings can generate and recycle as much as three to pounds of nitrogen, one-half to one pound of phosphorus and two to three pounds of potassium back to the lawn. |
Have a great weekend!
February 24, 2006
On, Things You Can Do To Help the Planet:
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RECYCLE aluminum, tin, newspaper and glass. Start a recycling program in your workplace and recycle at home. Use recycled paper and other products made from recycled materials. |
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SUPPORT environmentally sensitive businesses. |
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READ LABELS . Avoid toxic household products. Learn how to safely dispose of household hazardous waste. |
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REMOVE the caps from plastic bottles that get thrown away. This allows bottles to be compacted flat in the landfill, thus conserving landfill capacity. |
Have a great weekend!
February 17, 2006
On,
Tree Myths and Facts:
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MYTH: The early U.S. forest was a carpet of trees that extended from coast to coast. |
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FACT: The pre-Columbian forest of 1600 covered less than half of the present day United States. |
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MYTH: We're running out of trees. |
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FACT: We have more trees today than we had in 1970, on the first Earth Day even more than we had 70 years ago. In the middle of the last century, for example, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut were about 35% forested; today they are 59%. |
Have a great weekend!
February 3, 2006
On,
Why do grizzly bears matter? Why should Americans care about them?
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Grizzly bears are icons of the wild high country of the American West. When Lewis and Clark explored the West, grizzlies roamed from the Great Plains to California and from Alaska to Mexico. Today, however, the grizzly population in the lower 48 states is about 1 percent of estimated pre-colonial levels, and the few bears that remain are concentrated in shrinking pockets of the northern Rockies and North Cascades. |
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Any American who cares about this nation's history has a stake in conserving grizzly bears and their mountain habitat. Healthy bear populations mean that the land is healthy, and our children and grandchildren deserve the chance to experience for themselves these wild landscapes and their animals. |
Have a great weekend!
January 27, 2006
On,
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By turning down your central heating thermostat one degree, fuel consumption is cut by as much as 10%. |
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Insulating your attic reduces the amount of energy loss in most houses by up to 20%. |
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40 percent of the energy you use in your home is for heat. |
Have a great weekend!
January 20, 2006
On, How can we produce less hazardous waste?
Try these tips for a less-toxic household!
Have a great weekend!
January 13, 2006
On, interesting environmental facts:
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Here is an example of the water we use everyday:
3-7 gallons for toilet, 25-30 gallons for tub, 50-70 gallons for a 10-minute shower, 1 washing machine load uses 25-40 gallons, 1 dishwasher load uses 9-12 gallons
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Here is an example of how long it takes some things take to break down:
Plastics take 500 years, aluminum cans take 500 years, organic materials take 6 months, and cotton, rags & paper take 6 months.
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Have a great weekend!
December 29, 2005
On, Christmas Fast Facts:
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During the Christmas buying season. Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute within the U.S. |
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To solicit cash for a charity Christmas dinner in 1891, a large crab pot was set down on a San Francisco street - the first Salvation Army collection kettle. |
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Postmen in Victorian England were popularly called "robins" because their uniforms were red. Christmas cards often showed a robin delivering Christmas mail. |
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More than three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the U.S. |
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Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas carols. |
Have a great weekend!
December 16, 2005
On, Global Warming:
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Is global warming making hurricanes worse?
Global warming doesn’t create hurricanes, but it does make them stronger and more dangerous. Because the ocean is getting warmer, tropical storms can pick up more energy and become more powerful. So global warming could turn, say, a category 3 storm into a much more dangerous category 4 storm. In fact, scientists have found that the destructive potential of hurricanes has greatly increased along with ocean temperature over the past 35 years |
Have a great weekend!
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