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17 Mar 03 - schools; mercury; packaging; consumption; SUVs; faxes ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.reuses.com/nwpcarchive -------------------- From Susan Salterberg, Center for Energy & Environmental Education, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA: SEARCHING FOR RESOURCES TO TEACH WASTE REDUCTION TO 7TH-12TH GRADERS I am on the lookout for high quality resources that could be used by 7th-12th grade teachers. For three years, I have introduced Iowa teachers to resources that they can use to teach a unit about waste reduction. I would like to know what new things are out there that I'm not aware of. I'm particularly interested in "trade books" (nonfiction books that teachers can assign their students to read), and thought-provoking books that get to some core issues that are rarely discussed. I have considered adding "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices" (Union of Concerned Scientists) to my resource packets, but I'd rather have something with that content but a little more punch to keep students' and teachers' interest. Any ideas? Also, I've seen "The Cost of Cool," a video produced by the National Wildlife Federation. Has anyone used it in a classroom setting? If so, how have students responded? The resources I'm currently using include: "Material World: A Global Family Portrait" by Peter Menzel; "Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things" by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning; and "An Ounce of Prevention" by the National Science Teachers Association and Dow Chemical. I also make available the "Affluenza" and "Escape from Affluenza" videos and teacher's guides, the "Natural Connections" video and teacher's guide, and a few other resources. Thanks! E-mail: salterberg (A T) uni (D O T) edu -------------------- From Linda Walden, source reduction program, City of Newton, MA: Does anyone have experience with "green" classroom supplies? I am looking for vendors who provide recycled items - crayons, markers, construction paper, etc. - so that I can provide resources to teachers to go green. Thanks for any suggestions. E-mail: lwalden [ A T ] CI [ D O T ] NEWTON [ D O T ] MA [ D O T ] US Note from Tom: Because this listserv focuses on reduction and reuse, we don't run items that deal solely with recycling. However, because this query mentions "green" supplies, presumably Linda would be interested in hearing about less-toxic and reused supplies, in addition to recycled-content items. -------------------- From Lisa Friend, RE Sources, Bellingham, WA: Is anyone aware of any successful point-of-purchase education about the mercury in fluorescent tubes? Our community would like to provide shelf tags to merchants that would encourage buyers to take spent tubes to the local Disposal of Toxics site. I don't want to spend lots of time and money re-inventing the wheel if another community has already produced this type of tag. Please let me know. E-mail: recycle (AT) re-sources (DOT) org -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Dwight Mercer, waste diversion program, City of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: A company based in Ontario is exploring options to adopt a more environmentally friendly form of packaging for courier companies. They have requested ideas and information. They are specifically looking for Canadian products or suppliers. They are currently using soft plastic, sealable pouches that are discarded after only one use. However, they would like to move into a reusable package type similar to UPS's packaging, or invent their own environmentally friendly packaging. The product they are looking for, both hard-sided and soft-sided, must be durable. If possible, it should be reusable and the closing system should be resealable for several reuses. Also, it would be desirable if the product could have recycled paper content, and also be easy to recycle at the end of its life cycle. If you have any ideas or information on the availability of a suitable product or supplier in Canada, please contact Cynthia McCormack directly at: cynthia [ AT ] pureandco [ DOT ] com -------------------- Excerpted from a message from Marcia Rutan, Snohomish County Solid Waste Management Division, Everett, WA: This is a newsletter you might want to subscribe to: http://www.newdream.org/bulletin/inbalance.html Its the March 2003 edition of "In Balance - A news bulletin on environment and consumption," from the Center for a New American Dream. The Center is an excellent organization targeting reduction of consumption and creating a sustainable culture. -------------------- Link to the new "Don't Be Fueled" website for Mothers for Clean and Safe Vehicles, a group based in the San Francisco Bay Area (forwarded by Betsy Rosenberg): http://www.dontbefueled.org On March 13, 2003, this coalition launched a national campaign, demanding that Detroit automakers and Washington lawmakers accelerate production of higher fuel-economy vehicles and cleaner and safer family modes of transportation. The website includes "Ten Facts You May Not Know About SUVs" and "Ten Things You Can Do Right Now to Start Guzzling Less Gas." -------------------- Excerpted from an article by Eric Taub in the 3/13/03 New York Times: EASE OF PAPERLESS E-MAIL SIDELINES THE FORLORN FAX Two decades ago, the first phone-based fax machines took six minutes to send a page, used thermal paper that smelled like burnt rubber, and required the user to place the phone headset in the machine and call ahead to let the recipient know a fax was coming. Today, fax machines that use plain paper cost less than $100 and have become common in homes as well as offices. But the fax's days may be numbered, as companies and individuals realize that e-mail accomplishes many of the same tasks without creating a mountain of paper, running up telephone bills or requiring employees to leave their desks to see whether a document has arrived. Fax machine sales peaked in 2000, with close to 14 million sold worldwide, said Peter Davidson, owner of Davidson Consulting, a firm in Burbank, California, that researches the fax industry. By 2006, Davidson predicts, sales will fall to less than 13 million. More striking is the decline in the number of pages faxed. From 1998 to 2002, transmitted pages fell by more than 50 percent, to 170 million from 350 million worldwide. Many people now use e-mail instead of faxes, Davidson said. "But businesses are still sending invoices and purchase orders by fax, and those won't go away so quickly." While e-mail is faster and easily installed on each employee's computer, faxed correspondence still has its advantages. Fax machines are simple to operate and inexpensive to run. It is easier to send a hand-drawn document by fax than to scan the document in preparation for e-mailing it. And a fax arrives as an immediate hard copy, ready, for example, for a grocery employee to carry through the aisles to fill a customer's order. A signed fax is also accepted as a legal document. In July 2000, President Bill Clinton signed the Electronic Signatures Act, which made a document signed electronically as legal as one signed with a pen if both parties involved agreed. The newest version of Adobe Acrobat creates PDF files that can be signed electronically with a password-protected likeness of an individual's signature. If the document is later altered in any way, a warning appears next to the name. But electronic signatures have been slow to catch on as an alternative to faxed documents for legal purposes. To make the system work, both parties need the same software for creating the signature. What is more, the legality of electronic signatures has not been tested in the courts. E-mail is also more vulnerable to being read by electronic intruders with nefarious intentions or by a government agency. E-mail can be electronically intercepted, but because faxes use telephone lines, a court wiretap order is needed to read someone else's fax transmission. Faxes are also date-stamped and arrive virtually instantaneously, along with a confirmation. Although the time and date could be altered on the fax machine, the phone company's records will not lie when establishing when a fax was sent. Both e-mail transmission dates and text can be easily altered, and because of the vagaries of computer servers, e-mail may arrive hours or days after it was sent, or sometimes not at all, making it difficult to construct a timed paper trail. Faxes are still considered indispensable for the courts, insurance companies and financial institutions. - end -