Going "Green" - Fact or Fiction?

[Krummhorn]

With so much emphasis in becoming energy conscious and preserving our natural resources, the following questions are posed:

1. what is happening in your corner of the world towards this end?
2. what are you doing at home in support of saving energy resources?
3. should we just leave the situation 'status quo' and do nothing?

Your comments are invited.

[Ouled Nails]

Nice, Lars :
I used to own a GMC truck and got rid of it. I'm actually carless right now, except that my spouse who owns the Subaru Baja shares the vehicle or gives me rides to work. So, I take a ride in the morning and take the bus in late afternoon. Not much, but something. I should get back to biking (my work place is only six km. away).
Also, I have kept insulating this house, both outside and inside the walls, to keep the heating oil consumption as low as possible.
But, no, the status quo is not acceptable to me. Every now and then I draw attention to one-passenger cars as diplomatically as possible and my employer has begun an incentive program for car pooling.

[Sybarite]

With so much emphasis in becoming energy conscious and preserving our natural resources, the following questions are posed:
[LIST=1]
what is happening in your corner of the world towards this end?

Lots of talk about cutting emissions – we'll have to see what comes of it. The European Union is considering a new form of carbon trading – whereby companies are allotted a specific amount of carbon that they can emit. If they go under that, they can then sell the rest of their allowance to other companies who can't stay within their own limit and need more. The theory is that this encourages companies to cut emissions, because if the do so, they'll save – and possibly even make – money. There's a big issue in the UK about power generation – Tony Blair is in favour of nuclear power – but there was news just a few weeks ago that a business is going to re-open coal mines (we still have lots of resources) and build a power station that burns fossil fuels cleanly.

what are you doing at home in support of saving energy resources?

We have an improving recycling in the part of London that I live in – the council collects paper, fabrics, glass bottles and alluminium cans every week. They've now added plastic bottles to that list and, apparently, are rolling out new 'bins' for food waste (presumably they'll compost this for local parks and gardens). The flat we live in is relatively new build, so the insulation and double glazing were already there when we moved in. We're also getting energy-saving bulbs as the old ones give up the ghost. We don't have a car, so that isn't an issue for us.

should we just leave the situation 'status quo' and do nothing?

The status quo, as Ouled Nails says, is unnacceptable. We are custodians for the Earth and should feel responsibility for its continued health. In my opinion, much of the difficulty comes from the industrialisation of the developing world. But the West hasn't got a hope of doing anything there if it doesn't put its own house in order.

[rojo]

I was going to post this in the 'how`s your weather' thread, but here would be better-

Well, everything needs maintenance and care. People, animals, machines; all things, I guess. So I figure it certainly cannot be a bad thing to look after the environment. And no one can keep their eye on everything, so it`s good that there are people who bring these issues to everyone`s attention. Of course, I wouldn`t like it to swing the other way either. I`ve heard of some places where everyone is obliged to recycle, and must throw their trash out in clear plastic bags (I assume so that other people can see they are not throwing out things that could be recycled). I wouldn`t want a police state. Has anyone else heard of this? Is it true?

Surely some sort of balance can be found.

[Krummhorn]

... I`ve heard of some places where everyone is obliged to recycle, and must throw their trash out in clear plastic bags (I assume so that other people can see they are not throwing out things that could be recycled). I wouldn`t want a police state. Has anyone else heard of this? Is it true?

Surely some sort of balance can be found.

In my area, only shredded paper needs to be in clear plastic bags - my church has a recycle bin for paper, so I make those kinds of 'deposits' there. For homes within the city limits, everyone has two large containers, one for general rubbish and the other for all recycleable materials (plastic, glass, paper, etc). A crew at a recycle transfer station will separate that stuff into their proper catagorical bins.

[Sybarite]

... I`ve heard of some places where everyone is obliged to recycle, and must throw their trash out in clear plastic bags (I assume so that other people can see they are not throwing out things that could be recycled). I wouldn`t want a police state...

Yet what is the difference between something like that and the rules that are (presumably) already in place to say that you should put your rubbish in a certain type of container so that it can be collected by refuse collection?

In the UK, there are suggestions that, in the near future, local councils are going to start charging separately (over and above general local taxation) for collecting your rubbish. They'll weigh it and charge you according to the weight.

There are problems with such an idea (specifically, in my opinion, for people living in blocks of flats), but generally it will encourage recycling because that will save people money.

One of the reasons that recycling is becoming so important an issue in the UK is that our landfill sites are filling up very fast – before long, we won't have anywhere to dump all our waste. So government – nationally and at local level – needs to find ways of cutting down the amount that goes into landfill.

[zlya]

Here in South Korea, recycling seems to be purely a business. From what people have told me, there is no kind of government recycling program, all recycling is done by private establishments which are essentially in it for the money.

For example, if you want to recycle bottles, you can either take them back to the supermarket where you bought them, and the supermarket will buy them back from you, or you can take them to a garage which will sort them and sell them to a company which makes things out of them. Usually large apartment buildings will get together and recycle informally. Someone knows someone who can use something, old paper or whatever, so that person gathers all the paper from the apartment. (This is South Korea, so by "large apartment buildings" I mean thirty to sixty floors and a few hundred families . . . and that's just my small town!).

Generally, I love the idea of capitalist recycling. However, as I don't live in one of those huge apartment buildings, the supermarket doesn't take back bottles, and noone seems to know where there's a sorting garage, I'm finding it very hard to recycle. I don't have a car, so I can't exactly take my recycling to another town. I was a bit disappointed that the most common response to my question about how to recycle my plastic bottles and paper was, "Why not just put it in the trash?"

[Krummhorn]

Zlya,

Interesting about the bottles being bought back by the supermarkets in some areas. Do they then also charge a 'deposit' for these when the bottled product is purchased?
The US does this, but only in a few states.

Sad to say, I figure lots of recycleable material just gets thrown away with regular trash.

[rojo]

Yet what is the difference between something like that and the rules that are (presumably) already in place to say that you should put your rubbish in a certain type of container so that it can be collected by refuse collection?

Because I was assuming that the clear bags were so others could check up on people to make sure they do it 'right'. Maybe I`m just imagining some sort of recycling police being implemented or something. I think I got it wrong about the clear bags anyway though; I think it was as Kh mentioned; for shredded paper.

We recycle here as well.

There has been some sort of announcement on the news about a new 'green' plan in Ottawa. Unfortunately I missed what was said.

[rojo]

Ok, here`s a bit of what`s going on about reducing emissions, courtesy The Globe and Mail -

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home

If I heard correctly elsewhere, it basically means things will cost more. Oh well...

[Krummhorn]

That's an interesting article, Rojo. I'm not so keen about the consumer <again> being asked to pay the tab for this, but whatever we do it seems is going to cost $$. It's all a vicious and endless cycle ... but I still feel that corporations should be absorbing some of these new expenses instead of filling their coffers and top management pockets with bonuses, etc.

Two major oil companies in the US are bragging about their record profits so far in 2007 ... at about the same time, the pump prices rose another 12 cents. Go figure

[toejamfootball]

Zlya,

Interesting about the bottles being bought back by the supermarkets in some areas. Do they then also charge a 'deposit' for these when the bottled product is purchased?
The US does this, but only in a few states.

Sad to say, I figure lots of recycleable material just gets thrown away with regular trash.

lol, You are talking about my Cigarette money when I am broke.. (Pop Bottles)Michigan does it like South Korea I guess.