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07 Dec 04 - electronics; life cycle; consumption; holidays; methyl bromide
** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM **
-- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition
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Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org
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From Gina Hawkins, City of Gainesville Solid Waste Division, Gainesville,
FL:
According to an article by Michelle Kessler in USA Today, 11/29/04: "...By
the time flat-panel and digital TVs are mainstream in 2006, more than
163,000 TVs and computers are expected to become obsolete in the USA every
day, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition says."
Wow, 163,000 EVERY DAY!!!
E-mail: hawkinsrm ( A T ) ci ( D O T ) gainesville ( D O T ) fl ( D O T ) us
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Excerpted from an 11/30/04 press release from the University of Warwick,
United Kingdom (forwarded by Jeff Gaisford from the Environment News
Service):
CALLING ALL SUNFLOWERS
Researchers at the University of Warwick in the UK, led by Dr Kerry Kirwan,
have worked with high-tech materials company PVAXX Research and Development,
and Motorola, to create a mobile telephone case or cover that when discarded
can be placed in compost in such a way that just weeks later the case will
begin to disintegrate and turn into a flower.
A special formulation of PVAXX's biodegradable polymer range was developed
in conjunction with materials researchers at Warwick, producing a
high-quality finish that also biodegrades easily in compost. Secondly, the
engineers at Warwick created a small transparent window in the case or cover
in which they can embed a seed. The seed is visible to the
environmentally-aware mobile phone user, but will not germinate until the
phone cover or case is placed in the compost. The researchers have drawn on
the specialized seed expertise of researchers to identify which types of
seeds would perform best in this situation. For the first prototype
telephones, they have used dwarf sunflower seeds.
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From David Allaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Solid Waste
Policy and Program Development, Portland, OR, responding to the 11/29/04
posting seeking books or posters that describe the lifecycle of products:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has some neat posters on the
life cycles of cell phones and CDs/DVDs:
- The Life Cycle of a Cell Phone:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/education/pdfs/life-cell.pdf
- The Life Cycle of a CD or DVD:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/students/finalposter.pdf
- The Life Cycle of a CD or DVD (in Spanish):
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/general/espanol/sp-lifecd.pdf
You can order these posters from EPA at no charge, from this web page:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/pub-l.htm
E-mail: Allaway (DOT) David (AT) deq (DOT) state (DOT) or (DOT) us
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From Julie Rhodes, independent contractor, Indianapolis, IN, responding to
the 11/29/04 posting seeking resources on the causes of increased waste,
including advertising to young children:
A friend of mine works for the New Mexico Media Literacy Project
(http://www.nmmlp.org ), which provides good
resources for how the media affects children's habits. The project tries to
help educate children on how they are being manipulated by advertising and
other media. There is also a national center, the Center for Media Literacy
(http://www.medialit.org ). Not all the
information is on consumption, as it also links smoking and behaviors to
what kids see in the media, but it also addresses brand names and things
like that and how companies target children. I also heard a woman named
Juliet Schor on the Diane Rehm radio show. Schor has written a couple of
books about the media and how it impacts kids' buying, especially how
McDonald's and Coke, as well as other companies, target children using media
that seem innocent enough, such as Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
sponsorships.
E-mail: jrhodes4 [AT] indy [DOT] rr [DOT] com
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Excerpted from an article by Steve Lohr in the 12/5/04 New York Times:
CONSUMPTION WOES
The majority of American households have attained a level of affluence where
added consumption no longer improves welfare, says Juliet Schor, an
economist and professor of sociology at Boston College. Indeed, she points
to studies that show materialistic attitudes - wanting more and never being
satisfied - increase the likelihood that a person will suffer from
depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.
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Excerpted from a letter to the editor in the 11/28/04 Miami Herald, written
by Rev. Bud Klippen, Big Pine Key, Florida:
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE GIFTS
The Christmas consumer orgy is in high gear, and why not? It's good for the
economy. There's a problem, though, for those who still want to adhere to
the Christian faith. It comes in the subtle but persistent insistence that
the whole sorry business has an integral connection to religion. There is
the belief that the occasion behind the orgy is the birthday of the
religion's founder and that the spirit of the season means that we have to
be perpetually jolly when there's not necessarily anything to be jolly
about. Shower people with products that you might not be able to afford and
believe that holiday consumerism enhances a healthy and creative family life
- assuming one is in place already.
People who want to adhere to the Christian faith might decide that
consumerism has nothing to do with religion. The secular world wants to have
this annual winter festival with elves, trees, lights, mistletoe, gifts and
Santa Claus. But no one should be confused; though it's called Christmas, it
is not related to our faith.
Christmas, as currently celebrated, far from expressing the Christian faith,
is in radical conflict with it. The conflicts must be addressed. For
example, Christmas is not anybody's birthday. It is, rather, an observance
of the ancient belief that at one time and place, humanity was invaded by
divinity, and that this was done for our infinite good.
People could hold low-key observances in their homes and churches, possibly
calling the day the Festival of the Incarnation. But leaving the secular
world alone won't work. There is enormous pressure on families to go along
with the Christmas frenzy. Imagine trying to tell your children that, "In
our family we don't have a tree, and we don't exchange gifts."
The custom of showering children with gifts must be seen as a way of
beginning the next generation's addiction to manufactured toys. Listen to
our enemies, such as militant Muslims, and they say that consumerism is a
religion itself and a threat to theirs.
Consumerism does not encourage healthy family life, it helps cause its
dissolution. Broken families are good for the economy. Each fragment of the
family must get its own housing, car and television.
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Link to holiday waste reduction resources on the Snohomish County (WA) Solid
Waste Division website (forwarded by Marcia Rutan)
http://www.co.snohomish.wa.us/publicwk/solidwaste/information/swasteinfo.htm
These resources include a holiday checklist, pledge forms and no-waste
gift certificates.
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Link to information on the 2004 Waste Free Holidays program, sponsored by
King County (WA) Solid Waste Division and the City of Tacoma:
http://www.wastefreeholidays.com In
this program, participating businesses and organizations offer discounts of
15 to 50 percent on music, plays, sporting events, museums, restaurant
meals, massages and more. The slogan is "Give Experiences Instead of
Stuff!" The idea is to reward people for reducing waste.
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Excerpted from the 11/30/04 Gallon Environment Letter, published by the
Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, Fisherville, Ontario,
Canada:
METHYL BROMIDE CAMPAIGN TARGETS U.S. SUPERMARKETS
The United Kingdom-based environmental group Environmental Investigation
Agency is launching a campaign to convince U.S. supermarkets to stop selling
food such as tomatoes, strawberries and nuts treated with methyl bromide.
The group says use of the pesticide leads to various environmental problems.
Since some of the parties to the Montreal Protocol (which phases out the use
of the pesticide) are dragging their feet, the group is trying to get U.S.
supermarket chains "such as Safeway, Whole Foods, Albertson's, Kroger and
Wal-Mart to ensure that their shelves are free of produce grown or treated
with this deadly chemical."
For more information, see this 11/23/04 Environmental Investigation Agency
press release:
http://www.eia-international.org/cgi/news/news.cgi?a=227&t=template.htm
Also see this new Environmental Investigation Agency report on methyl
bromide:
http://www.eia-international.org/cgi/reports/report-files/media90-1.pdf
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