Domestic Violence Awareness

October was both Breast Cancer Awareness month and Domestic Violence Awareness month. I'm sure you saw all the 'pink' around for the Breast Cancer Awareness, so I wanted to focus this blog entry on Domestic Violence Awareness and a sustainability related project that MCC Southern/Dobson is doing between now and the end of the semester.

Many people don't know that when a woman finally decides to leave an abusive relationship, that is the hardest part she will face. She may lose her home, her job (from missing work due to hospitalizations or embarrassing bruises), many of her personal items and maybe even her vehicle, her childcare or even her children, and many of her friends and emotional support (neighbors, etc.). She will have to try to find a place to stay and help reestablish herself on her own. She will undoubtedly have self-esteem problems and poor direction or goals.  Many women leave their situation and don't have the time or the means to take enough of the correct clothing. For that reason, the MCC Women's Leadership Group, the MCC Career and Reentry Center, and the MCC Sustainability Team are collaborating on a project to ensure that these women have the clothing they need to get or keep their jobs. This can eliminate just a small amount of the stress that goes along with their situation. This project also involves Cup O' Karma (the wonderful coffee shop across Southern from MCC), and the Support, Education, Empowerment & DirectionS (SEEDs) program to which all of their proceeds are donated. For more information on the coffee shop and support program, click here: SEEDS and here Cup O' Karma

Our clothing drive begins on Monday November 1 and the collection bins will be in the Library. There will be bins to place purses, women's shoes, accessories (jewelry, belts, scarves), toiletries, and a clothing rack for suits, skirts, pants, and blouses. You can also support the effort by stopping in for coffee or snacks at Cup O' Karma Community Cafe for a Cause at 1710 W Southern in Mesa.

Domestic violence isn't just about battered women. The victims can be men, women, children, or even beloved pets. The abusers can be parents, siblings, significant others, or adult children. The Bravery Project is a local organization to support survivors of domestic violence. On their website, you can read many stories of survivors, and unfortunately, some stories are of the surviving family members of victims that did not survive their abuse. Please take a few minutes to click here to read the stories and see the scope of the violence of abuse: The Bravery Project  You may even know someone that is currently experiencing problems. You should be there to listen and support them, and help them when they are ready to leave their situation. But most of all, you need to be aware that this sort of abuse is happening all around you, every day.

Public Service Announcement Please view this powerful PSA and remember the message.

New and fun projects coming up

Hi all you greenies! It's been awhile since a post, so I thought I would take a few moments to tell you about a few fun things we have coming up at MCC Southern/Dobson campus.

First up, we'll have Homecoming on Saturday, October 23. MCC has signed up to participate in a national recycling challenge at our Homecoming game. It's called the EPA Game Day Recycling Challenge.

More than 80 colleges and universities (plus our one lone community college / sole Arizona school!) are participating in a competition to see who can divert the most waste from one football game in October. We haven't done recycling at the stadium before, so we are going to try it out for the first time as part of this challenge and we'll see how we do. If you think about it, a lot of water and juice bottles are tossed out at the stadium all the time: during games, events, and even during the day when community members come to run, walk, and exercise. Leading up the game day, we hope to roll out some information to get folks aware and interested. At the game, we'll reduce the number of trash cans available and pair up the ones that are left with a recycling bin, creating several recycling stations. We'll have some fun games and prizes too. We'll need someone at the main gate letting all entrants know about the recycling competition and encouraging them to recycle. We'll also need some folks to be at the recycling stations and make sure the right waste goes to the right place. If YOU are interested in volunteering before or during the game, contact us at recycle@mcmail.maricopa.edu and we'll be in touch with more information.

DUMPSTER DIVE, NUMBER FIVE

Our 5th Annual Dumpster Dive is soon approaching, this year's date is Friday, November 19. This coincides with America Recycles Day earlier in the week. If you haven't been to our Dumpster Dive before, it's quite fun and a big eye-opener (so we have been told!). We sort through one 24-hour period worth of trash generated at the Southern/Dobson campus to find out what we are sending off to the landfill. Everyone is always surprised at how much trash is generated at MCC in just one day, and about all the things that are not being recycled but could have been. Here's a link to some photos from last years, and the captions include some of the statistics and info gathered. Dumpster Dive 2009 

Here are some of the comments about last year's Dumpster Dive:

• It was a very interesting experience. I never knew how much material that was not recyclable was put into recycling bins. I know a lot more about which materials are recyclable and I respect the process of it. 
• It was very shocking to see how much recyclable material was mixed with regular trash. I learned that it doesn’t take much to recycle and everyone should! It was a satisfying feeling to know I was of help for the project.
• That was actually more fun than I thought. If you worked around a good group of people, the time flies and you definitely have more fun. People really don’t think before they throw stuff away. We need to watch ourselves.
• I had fun. It’s good to get out of the class and go to the next level, even though it was digging through garbage. It was good to see so many people out helping out in the Dumpster Dive. There were some rather unpleasant items found. But all in all it was a somewhat clean process.
• When you throw something away you never really think about it again. For this reason alone, it might be a beneficial requirement for all school children to experience a dumpster dive day. If you have to think about trash still existing, after you're through with it, then you will be more conscientious about how you behave, with regards to consuming and recycling.

There were dozens more comments, but these are the types of things people are saying after they experience the Dumpster Dive. We hope you can come join us this year and see for yourself how important it is to police our waste and take care of our resources. Even if you don't have time to help us out, please at least wander by the lawns by the Clock Tower to see how it's going. Even 5 minutes there will teach you something! We'll have a few info tables as well, like City of Mesa and SRP.

Come volunteer for Dumpster Dive. We have both 'clean' and 'dirty' jobs, but both are very fun. The event runs from 8am-noon, but we could also use help at 7am and from 12-2pm with set-up and clean-up. Contact recycle@mc.maricopa.edu for more information.

We hope you volunteer or show up at one or both events. Recycling is VERY important; it protects the limited resources that this planet has to offer, and it reduces the amount of stuff that we bury in the ground and try to forget about.

Please, share this blog with our new 'share' feature below, and comment here and let us know what you think of our events and about recycling in general!

That's it for this post. Have a wonderful week!

Going green costs me more, right?

Many people say that they don't make 'green' choices because "it costs more". But does it really?

 

One of the concepts of being 'green' or doing things in an eco-friendly manner involves something called life-cycle analysis. This means that you take into account the costs of something over its lifetime, not just the cost to buy it. A good example is compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL). When you go to the store, you see the regular ol' bulbs that are a dollar or less each, and next to them you see the CFL bulbs marked above $3 each. The 'old' way of thinking is to buy the cheaper bulb because, well, it costs less. But when you think 'green', you consider the whole life cycle of that bulb you are buying. The chart at this link (Bulb cost analysis) shows you the TRUE cost of a CFL vs. the cost of an old-style bulb. The bulb you thought was cheaper because it was less than a dollar is really costing you FOUR TIMES MORE than if you had bought that $3 bulb. Why on earth would you want to pay four times more for each bulb in your home?

 

 

 

 

Here's more proof that 'green' costs less.

Water conservation SAVES MONEY. If you use the water you pay for more wisely, you will use less.

• Take shorter showers (no baths). Turn water off while you soap up, shave, and wash hair.
• Fix leaks
• Cleaning your patio? Use a broom, not the hose
• Don't water the yard or garden during the hottest part of the day; most of it will evaporate. Wait until evening hours and make sure it's done before the sun comes up
• Catch rainwater and use it for the yard. The Phoenix Permaculture Guild  http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/events offers a class where you will make your own rain barrel and take it home with you.
• Reuse other types of water. For example, after you boil water to make pasta, allow the water to drain into another pot. After it is cool, use it for your plants, pets, or trees. Extra big clumps of ice in the freezer? Don't throw it in the sink to get rid of it, put it by a tree or in the dog's water bowl.
• Turn off the tap when you are soaping up your hands and brushing your teeth.
• Does your shower need to run for a minute to warm up? If so, catch that water in a bucket and use it elsewhere.
• Stop buying bottled water! All you are paying for is the brand, packaging, and shipping so that a company can make money. Buy a reusable bottle. Use a carbon filter on your tap or directly on the reusable bottle.

Energy conservation SAVES money. Use less, spend less.

• Turn your thermostat up a degree or two and take advantage of your ceiling fans instead.
• Don't leave ceiling fans on if no one is in the room. The fans cool your skin, not the room.
• If you don't need the light on for something, don't turn it on. Take advantage of natural light.
• Don't use the heat cycle on your dishwasher to dry the dishes.
• Use a toaster oven instead of the big oven whenever possible.
• Wash clothes in cold water.
• Set your water heater to 120 instead of 140
• Unplug things that aren't needed. After you use the toaster, unplug it. After your phone is charged, unplug it.

BUY SMART. Everyone knows a used car costs less. That same concept applies to a lot of other things too.

• Books. Use the library; it's FREE. They have books, music, and movies.
• Secondhand stores. Clothing, household items, books, and toys and games are some things you can get for quite a bargain at a secondhand store. If the kids are going to outgrow that shirt in a month or two, why not get one at the secondhand store that was probably only used for a month or two by some other kid?! And getting some board games for the family will also help save on spending for costly outings like going to the movies. Just stay home and have some fun interacting with your family over a game instead!
• Furniture. Check Craigslist, Freecycle.com, or secondhand stores. You can get great desks, chairs, tables, and wall hangings, and other decorative items at great prices.
• Groceries. Buy generic when brand isn't an issue, and use coupons. Just 10 minutes of clipping coupons from the Sunday paper can save you a lot of money on your monthly grocery bill. Keep an eye out for sales on items you have coupons for, and for double and triple coupon days. A triple coupon often saves you $1 per each item!
• Stop buying a plain old coffee from a store or vendor every day. Make your own.
• Stop going out to lunch all the time. Take your lunch with you to work.
• Learn how to make your own gifts, and use reusable types of wrapping (gift bags, fabric).
• Research re-use. The blog that we follow (Blah-to-Tada) gives some great examples of how to reuse things from around the house in neat ways.
• Be creative. See a scratched up wooden coffee table at Goodwill? Buy it, take it home, sand the top, and restain it. A little work and a few bucks can save you hundreds over the cost of a brand new table, and you will have the satisfaction of displaying your handiwork.
• Buy sponges and use them instead of paper towels. You'll create less waste and save on buying something you just throw away anyway. You can toss the sponge in the dishwasher when it needs cleaning so you can get more use out of it.
• Grow your own veggies so you don't have to buy them. If you do buy them, buy from a farmer's market instead of grocery store.

These are just dozens of tips out of millions out there. Take 15 minutes each day to research Re-Use ideas on the internet, or spend a weekend morning wandering through your local Goodwill store. You'll be amazed at what you can find and the money you can save by GOING GREEN!!!

Check this out!

Hey all, keep an eye on this blog http://projectcompost.blogspot.com/
This is an MCC student that is working on developing a composting project for the school! She's going to journal her progress on her blog.

Oil, Oil, Everywhere

The United States uses about 700 million gallons of oil every day.
The world uses nearly 3 billion gallons each day.
You may not be aware of all the ways we use oil. We use it:

• to fuel our cars, trucks, and buses, and to heat our houses.
• to lubricate machinery large and small, such as bicycles or printing presses.
• to make the asphalt we use to pave our roads.
• to make plastics, such as the toys we play with and the portable radios or CD players we listen to.
• to make medicines, ink, fertilizers, pesticides, paints, varnishes, and electricity.

(Source: noaa.gov)

Unfortunately, scientists know from experience about how oil spills affect wildlife. Hopefully this blog will give you some insight into that, too.

There are lots of kinds of oil, categorized by the 'light' kinds or the 'heavy' kinds. The lightest, like auto and jet fuels, evaporate quickly after a spill and usually damage the wildlife only in the upper layers of water. The heavier oils stay on the water, in the water, and move with the currents that carry them even further out to sea or to the land, where they contaminate even more species of plants and wildlife.

The harm to the wildlife can be from physical contact on their feathers, fur, and skin. It weights the animals down and makes it hard for them to fly, swim, and walk, thus leaving them without their defenses or normal functional abilities. They can ingest oil, either directly or by eating other things on the food chain that have been coated with or ingested the oil. They can also inhale and absorb the oil, making it hard or impossible to breathe.

The oil can affect algae, plankton, fish, mammals, birds, and plants. This destroys entire food chains. Even birds that are nowhere near the spill can migrate, eat oil-contaminated plants or animals while foraging, and then become harmed themselves. The contaminants can affect shell formation of invertebrates. Even if wildlife survives the initial contamination, contamination can last decades, affecting reproduction and future wildlife.
Source for all above is http://alaska.fws.gov/media/unalaska/Oil%20Spill%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

According to http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/facts/qanda.cfm
The Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska released approximately 11 million gallons (257,000 barrels) of oil. The amount of spilled oil is roughly equivalent to 17 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Approximately 1,300 miles of shoreline was impacted. It took more than four summers of cleanup efforts before the effort was called off. Not all beaches were cleaned and some beaches remain oiled today. At its peak the cleanup effort included 10,000 workers, about 1,000 boats and roughly 100 airplanes and helicopters. Exxon says it spent about $2.1 billion on the cleanup effort. The carcasses of more than 35,000 birds and 1,000 sea otters were found after the spill, but since most carcasses sink, this is considered to be a small fraction of the actual death toll. The best estimates are: 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, up to 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs. As of 2001 (12 years after the spill), survey results indicate a total area of approximately 20 acres of shoreline in Prince William Sound are still contaminated with oil. Oil was found at 58 percent of the 91 sites assessed.
After reading all of that, know that the Exxon Valdez spill is not even in the top 50 worst spills worldwide.

  

The current spill in the news (after the explosion and sinking of a BP oil well off the Gulf of Mexico) is not the first spill for BP. In fact, while the Exxon Valdez spill is well known, some don't know that BP was responsible for 213,000 gallons spilled into the delicate North Slope of Alaska, all due to a dime-sized hole in the pipeline caused by corrosion.

Here is a history of oil spills up until 2004. There are dozens more since then. Every spill causes environmental damage.  http://www.marinergroup.com/oil-spill-history.htm

The noaa.gov website sums it up best:
Because oil and oil products in the environment can cause harm, we need to prevent problems when we can. For example, by avoiding dumping oil or oily waste into the sewer or garbage, we avoid polluting the environment we live in. Sometimes, we can find ways to avoid using oil in the first place: for example, we can bicycle, walk, or take the bus rather than taking a car to some places we need to go. When we use less oil, less needs to be transported, and there's a lower risk of future oil spills. We should understand that it is because we rely on oil that we run the risk of oil spills. That means that all of us share both the responsibility for creating the problem of oil spills and the responsibility for finding ways to solve the problem.

This is corny!

Hello again. School is over, but MCC Sustainability will keep on providing you with information all summer long to keep you informed of issues in sustainability.

Today's topic is corn. Corn is a vegetable, so it must be good for you, right? Well, yes and no. Corn is a vegetable, and corn itself is good for you in moderation. But the more you know about corn, the less you might like it.

Think you hardly ever eat corn? Think again. I bet you eat corn every day, probably at every meal and in every snack, and you don't even know it. But, corn is a vegetable so that is OK, right? NO!

Do you eat meat? Do you buy grass-fed beef? If not, then you are eating corn, because most commercial cattle are fed corn now because it is cheaper to grow than grass, which is what cows were born to eat. They are also fed corn because it fattens them up much faster so that more cows are ready for slaughter sooner. If it fattens them up faster, what does that say about the meat they provide? Yep, it's higher in fat, and you will be too. There are numerous other things a beef-eater should know about the beef they are buying. Read about some of them here: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/cows.html

Do you eat bread? Candy? Drink soda? Use ketchup? Sauces? Salad dressing? Crackers? All of these contain high fructose corn syrup. Open your pantry and fridge, pick out some products, and look at the ingredients. Most will have HFCS in them. Here is a list one website compiled of everyday products containing HFCS: http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct  Here is another one that focuses on fast food chains: http://www.foodfacts.info/high-fructose-corn-syrup.shtml So why does this matter? Now that you know it is in so many products that you eat, maybe you will start to realize that you are getting bombarded with sugars in every meal, snack, and drink you have during the day. Maybe you are dieting and trying to cut out soda and candy. Bet you didn't even realize that you are still getting that same poor version of sugar in so many other places. No wonder it's so hard to lose weight and so easy to gain it! The processed parts of the HFCS affect your body's leptin differently than sugar, so it reduces your ability to feel full. Read more here: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537 Then read labels when you shop, and try to buy things that don't have HFCS in them.

Corn is everywhere, not just in your food. Check this out: http://www.ontariocorn.org/classroom/products.html And now, corn is being used for biofuels and to make degradable 'plastic'-type products like food containers and disposable flatware. Why is this bad? Well, all this use of corn results in a larger and larger need for corn. So instead of alternating crops to maintain a healthy balance of nutrients in the soil, the same crop, corn, is planted over and over in more and more places. With that, bugs that like corn will always have corn available to them. This increases the need for soil additives and pesticides. Anything going into the soil and plants is going into you. Read more about the problems with monocultures here: http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~agroeco3/modern_agriculture.html

If you get the chance, see the movie King Corn. If you can't find the movie, check out this site with lots of information from the movie: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/film.html
You will learn a lot and you will rethink the way you eat.

Trees, trees, trees

April 30th is Arbor Day! So what does that mean?

Remember in your basic science class back in elementary school, you learned that people breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, and trees take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen? Well, that is one of many reasons why trees are so important to society. They are cleaning the air of the carbon dioxide (CO2) and giving us back good, clean oxygen. And not only are the cleaning the CO2 that people are exhaling, they are also cleaning the CO2 that is in the air from our daily polluting activities. They also provide shade and habitats for various ecosystems.

Here are some statistics:
Deciduous (leafy) trees planted on the south and west sides of your home will keep your house cool in the summer, and when the leaves drop in autumn, they let the sun through to warm your home in the winter, reducing energy use. (U.S. Department of Energy)

Just three trees, properly placed around a house, can save up to 30% of energy use. (U.S. Forest Service Center for Urban Forest Research)

Trees or shrubs planted to shade air conditioners help cool a building more efficiently, using less electricity. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun. (U.S. Department of Energy)

Neighborhoods with well-shaded streets can be up to 6–10° F cooler than neighborhoods without street trees, reducing the heat-island effect and reducing energy needs. (U.S. Forest Service Center for Urban Forest Research)


On a hot, sunny summer day, the sun can heat dry, exposed urban surfaces, such as roofs and pavement, to temperatures 50–90°F (27–50°C) hotter than the air, while shaded or moist surfaces (i.e. tree areas) often in more rural surroundings remain close to air temperatures. (EPA)

One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Deforestation contributes to erosion by exposing soils to wind and rain. When the ground surface is stripped of vegetation, the upper soils are vulnerable to both wind and water erosion. Soil is washed into rivers when it rains, and then out to sea. This destroys the ability for the land to regenerate because it has lost its topsoil. It also destroys marine environments. (Wild Again Reforestation Trust)

Forests have a natural ability to absorb water when it rains, and to release that water slowly into rivers. Following deforestation in a rainfall catchment area, the water moves more quickly from the land to the rivers, causing erosion and stripping the topsoil. Because the rivers fill more quickly they are much more prone to flashfloods. Floods that break the banks of the rivers then exacerbate the problem by changing the path of the river and causing additional severe erosion where the water now flows. (Wild Again Reforestation Trust)

So, keep these things in mind whenever you use paper or wood items. Trees are important, and we need to conserve them. Always buy/use recycled paper products, and always recycle paper products when you are done with them. When you need some new wood furniture, try to refurbish something instead to save a few trees. And, every so often...plant a tree.

Click on the title of this blog entry to link to the Arbor Day Foundation website where you can learn about the best trees to plant in your area and how you can help have trees planted all over the world without ever leaving home.

Happy Arbor Day!

Whose fault is it for our waste?

Welcome to another blog post. This time, let's take a look at who is responsible for most of our waste. It may not be who you think...

Go to the store and buy a product, and it is almost a sure thing that there will be some packaging waste. Even a piece of fruit has a little sticker on it you have to get rid of. Electronics seem to be the worst when it comes to packaging...those hard plastic cases that require heavy duty tools to help cut them open, and every part of an electronic device seems to come in its own little bag inside a bigger bag that is inside a box that is packed with foam and then sealed shut with tape. Most of the time, no matter what brand you choose, YOU come home with all that packaging YOU have to throw out. It makes YOU look like the bad guy that is generating the waste. But you aren't. That company did it. Obviously, some packaging is needed for a variety of reasons; shipping, storage, reducing damage to products, and theft prevention at the store. But when YOU are paying the city bill for your waste pickup, and most of the waste you put out for pickup is product packaging, YOU are the one getting the raw deal. So what can you do about it?

LEARN. Educate yourself on products, brands, and stores. Use your almighty dollar to buy (i.e. 'vote for') brands and companies that take responsibility for packaging. Companies need to use recycled material for packaging, and the packaging needs to also be recyclable when you have unpacked your product. This is called EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (EPR), or sometimes it is called PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP. Think of it this way: in 'the old days', you bought a product and expected it to work; the producer was responsible only for that, and usually your stuff came with a warranty of some sort. But now, EPR is the way things should be done: the producer of the product should be responsible not just for the functionality of a product, but also for the the entire lifecycle of the product. This means the product and packaging are both generated in a way that doesn't use up lots of our limited natural resources, the product itself should function in an economical and environmentally safe manner, and when the product and packaging reach the end of their useful life they should not be expected to just be tossed 'away' into a giant hole in the ground (see previous blog titled "Where is away?").

Many companies now take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their products, and those are the companies you should be buying from. YOU are the one that can help shift our entire economy to being green by doing this. When you buy from the responsible companies, the other less responsible companies will step up to change their practices so they can try to get your dollars too.  Let's look at a few examples:

• Preserve Brand Products: http://www.preserveproducts.com/ Their motto: Nothing wasted, everything gained. This company took a hard-to-recycle plastic (#5) and created a market for it. Buy one of their toothbrushes. The toothbrush handle is made of #5 recycled plastic (yogurt cups and such). The bristles are new of course. The package is made of #5 recycled plastic. Both the toothbrush and package are recyclable. But here is where they go the extra mile: The package doubles as a travel case for as long as you own the product. When your toothbrush wears out, you go to their website, print a pre-paid shipping label, put your toothbrush back into the package it came in, stick on the pre-paid label, and drop it in the mail. It goes back to their company, and they recycle both the brush and package back into their own products again. The only waste YOU generate: a tiny piece of plastic that goes around the package lid to ensure your toothbrush is sanitary when you buy it. This company is absorbing the cost of the shipping and handling the recycling itself. And that is just their toothbrush line; they also have a razor, cutting boards, mixing bowls, measuring cups, and plastic tableware. Their products are becoming more and more available, don't cost any more than other brands, and quality is comparable. The company does even more: they partner with Whole Foods and Brita on projects as well. Check out their website, check out their products, and show those other brands that EPR matters to YOU.
• Hewlett Packard: http://www.hp.com/united-states/hho/buyback-recycle/index.html?jumpid=ex_R602_go/ConsumerBuyback. HP has a great program that highlights their EPR. It is both a Consumer Buyback Program and a Recycling Program. You can go to their website to see lots of electronics items that they may be able to buy back from you, regardless of the brand; they even provide the shipping label for you to send your items to them. Or, if they don't offer you cash back for your items, they will take your HP or Compaq items from you (they'll pay the shipping) and recycle them for you at their own recycling center. They also provide shipping to return inkjet and laser cartridges, and they have multiple dropoff locations at stores around the country. They clearly don't expect YOU to just throw out the stuff when you are done with it, and they don't expect YOU to figure out what to do with it. They do it for you. They also sell refurbished products (i.e. perfect when you want to give a kid his/her first computer or camera without breaking the bank). They also have a program for recycling large banners and flags generated by companies. Clearly, this company is taking steps to reduce YOUR responsibility for THEIR waste.
• Clothing is often reusable (sold at yard sales, Goodwill, etc.), but often times we wear our clothing till it has holes, tears, or spills and can't really be re-worn. Sometimes it might become a rag to use around the house for a few months, but after that it ends up in the garbage. However, Patagonia http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=1956 will take back their clothing products (and sometimes other brands too) and recycle the fibers into new clothing. You just drop it off at their stores. Another fine example of a company taking steps to reduce what gets sent to a landfill.
• Nike: http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/ Tennis shoes eventually wear out, and when that time comes, Nike steps up to reuse those shoes. They will take any brand of tennis shoes in their donation bins and they separate the shoes down into their 3 main parts: fabric, foam, and rubber. Each part is then ground up and reused in sports surfaces, like basketball and tennis courts. They are another company that allows the consumer to enjoy the product while the company handles the waste at the end of the product's life.

I could go on and on, but how about this instead; a link to Newsweek's environmental ranking of the top 500 largest companies in the country. You don't even have to read the whole thing (though it is interesting to see what all those companies are up to with YOUR money). Just look at the top 20 companies or so, and when you have a choice between brands, buy theirs. http://greenrankings.newsweek.com/top500

Remember, YOUR dollar is the vote to help change our economy to be more environmentally friendly...spend it wisely.

Green Week, Earth Hour, and Earth Day

Welcome back to a new blog.

We hope you enjoyed Green Week at MCC and learned at least one new thing during the week. We will still do something to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, of course, but we thought it might be too hot to have too many outdoor activities going on that day, which is why we celebrated early.

We are coming up on Earth Hour this Saturday, March 27, at 8:30pm regardless of your time zone. The website for Earth Hour (http://www.myearthhour.org/home) describes it like this: "On Earth Hour, hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. The movement symbolizes that by working together, each of us can make a positive impact in this fight, protecting our future and that of future generations." Some people think, "Who cares if we all turn off the lights for one hour?". But just remember, the concept is just a symbol of how each of us, all working together, can bring about change.

Mother Nature has two big anniversaries this year to celebrate. One of them is the 50th Anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is a 20 million acre area (the largest protected area in America) in northern Alaska that was set aside in 1960 to protect arctic ecosystems and wildlife. But as many of you know, even more oil and gas development is desired that will infringe upon the refuge, which will in turn threaten the ecosystems. There are already oil wells and the Trans-Alaska pipeline in that area, and with that comes 'incidents'. Like what? Well, according to the Northern Alaska Environmental Center (http://www.northern.org/), "Each year, there is a toxic spill a day -- and over 453 spills each year -- on average, from the oil and gas industry on Alaska’s North Slope, according to a new analysis and map derived from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s spill database for 1996 to 2008. There were a total of 5,895 spills with 2.7 million gallons spilled of 40 hazardous and toxic substances caused by operations of the North Slope oil fields, pipelines, and exploratory activities during the past 13 years. Over 500 spills were recorded for each of the two most recent years. Hundreds of toxic spills took place in offshore fields and exploration in the Beaufort Sea, including at Endicott (109 spills) and Northstar (148 spills)." So, let's look at the size of just one of the five oil fields in the North Slope of Alaska. Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is just over 213,000 acres; it is the largest in America, the other four in northern Alaska are much smaller. So in that few hundred thousand acres, they have that many oil spills. Now, consider that the government wants to take 1.5 million acres away from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in order to drill for more oil. Imagine how many more oil spills the wildlife and ecosystem will have to deal with! And for what? A small amount of oil (compared to what they get from Alaska now) that won't even be available to access or use for another 20 years. I would hope that in 20 years we have found a RENEWABLE resource to use for fuel and we no longer rely on the limited oil the world has to offer.

Due to the 50th Anniversary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, there is a push to urge the Department of the Interior to continue protecting the area, ecosystem, native people, and wildlife from further infringement of the polluting and toxic oil and gas industry. Please take a moment to check out this website for more information about the refuge and how you can help protect it: http://www.sierraclub.org/arctic/.

The other celebration this year is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Earthday.net describes the history of Earth Day: "On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his youthful staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts." Clearly, Earth Day has left a huge mark on the history of America, and since our first Earth Day, 184 other countries have also joined in the celebration to protect the planet.

This year, as April 22 rolls around, please take a moment to reflect on how you can make small changes in your life that will protect the earth for generations to come. Let's live today as if we plan to stay.

Where is 'away'?

What do you think about this:
The city is considering canceling all waste pickup services. Now, you will have to dig a giant hole in your yard and put all your waste in there. Sounds ridiculous, right? Your yard is only so big, and you have so much trash it would fill the hole pretty quick. Not to mention the smell and the bugs/rodents it would attract.

Well, this is what we all do everyday. It's just that you don't see the hole, or smell the smell, or deal with the bugs. You throw your trash 'away', and someone comes to take it 'away'. But where is 'away'? And why does society deem it acceptable to have that exact same ridiculous hole somewhere else on a much larger scale?  That hole is your local landfill. Organized city dumps have only been around since the 1920's. Guess what that timeframe corresponds with? It's about the same time as when people started inventing disposables and using plastic. That pretty much explains what those giant holes in the ground have been filling up with for the past 90 years. Click this link http://www.bfi-salinas.com/kids_trash_timeline-printer.cfm to read a really interesting "Timeline of Trash".

There are often cities that realize the need to build a new landfill, but when they make the public announcement and solicit feedback, no one wants the landfill near them. That phenomenon even has its own phrase called NIMBY...not in my backyard. So where do you put it? You find some far away 'empty' spot that the public doesn't have to look at, and you put it there. Why is that any better? Those landfills are HUGE. Someone has to clear all of the natural plant and animal habitat out of an area just so humans can put their trash there. Here are some stats we obtained about the landfill where the MCC trash goes:

• The Salt River Landfill receives trash only from Mesa, Scottsdale, Gilbert, and two nearby Indian communities.
• It is approximately 145 acres in land area. To put that into perspective, a football field is about an acre.
• In that space, the trash will be piled 180 feet deep. 100 feet of that will be below ground, and 80 feet above ground.
• It started being filled in 1993 and is expected to be full around 2020.
• 1,900 tons of waste is put into the landfill each day.
• Once any landfill is 'full', it must be closed and then monitored for dangerous emissions and water contamination for THIRTY YEARS before the land can be reused.
• MCC is facilitating a tour of that landfill and its adjoining recycling facility...visit our Facebook Event page for MCC Recycle or contact recycle@mcmail.maricopa.edu for details.

So what can we do?

Well, for starters, we only need landfills because of our own actions. Take a look at your lifestyle and what you throw 'away' each day. You will find that most of the things you throw away were just packages for something else. And, look at what that something else was...you will probably find it was one of two things...something disposable or food.

Packaging waste is a large and unnecessary part of our waste stream. According to the EPA, packaging is approximately 1/3 of our household waste stream. EPA also says that 28 countries have laws designed to help reduce packaging waste. But guess what? The US is NOT one of them. How can that be? We are the biggest consumers in the world!!

By now you are probably thinking, "I do my part...I recycle.". But did you know that recycling is the LEAST preferred method to handle the waste problem in our country? Think of the phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". That phrase is worded that way for a reason...your first goal should always be to REDUCE the amount of waste you create in the first place. This will save natural resources. Everytime you buy something, consider buying it used (this automatically also covers the second part of the phrase...REUSE). That way, you reduced the resources used to make a new item, plus reduced the packaging waste that comes with a new item. If you must buy new, look at how it is packaged. Check the label and make sure packaging is both made from recycled materials and is itself recyclable. Check into the company that makes the products. Your purchases keep them in business. Take a stand and encourage them to be more environmentally responsible. This can be for something as cheap as gum or pencils to something as expensive as plasma TVs. Most companies will follow the consumer dollars.

Another way to REDUCE your waste: buy large sizes, and don't buy disposables. Don't buy paper towels to wipe off your kitchen counter...use a wet rag or sponge that you can wash and reuse. Don't grab a new fork and spoon in the cafe every time you go in there...bring your own metal ones, or wash and reuse your disposables until they break. Don't buy a few of the small bottles of shampoo, buy the biggest one. Don't buy the individual sized bag of chips...buy the biggest bag you can find and then portion it out into small reusable containers to bring with you. Or better yet, get healthy! Eat lots of fruits and veggies as snacks instead of the greasy chips...there is usually no packaging for fruits and veggies. (Read the previous blog post about Gardens for more details about that.)

Do everything you can to REDUCE your waste. REUSE things as much as you can. And then, finally, when there are no other options, RECYCLE. Compete with friends or family members to see who can generate the least amount of trash in a week. But no matter what, try your best to reduce the amount of trash you generate, because one day, that landfill might end up in your own backyard.

MCC Community Children's Garden

Hello again! The blog today is dedicated to gardening. Why? Because MCC is in the running for a $250,000 grant to put together our Community Children's Garden! Click the green heading above to link to the voting page. There, you will find information about the garden and how we want to use the grant money. Please take this opportunity to check it out and vote.

So, what's 'wrong' with veggies at the store? Well, for one thing, all of things you see there are not in season all year long, so they are being shipped in from all over the world or grown out of season, requiring pesticides(contaminates groundwater), geting picked early (less flavor) to allow shipping time, then packaged for shipping (waste created). Then they get shipped (use fuel), sit at the store until ready (waste electricity/space), and then put out on the shelves. You then go to the store (use fuel), find what you want, put it in a bag (waste packaging), and take it home. (Whatever the store doesn't sell gets thrown out in the dumpster!). When you prep the veggies for dinner, you throw out the dead edges, wilted parts, and extra leaves (wasted organic matter) and then you cook it, essentially killing all the nutritious vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.

So, what's so great about a garden? You can grow your own veggies without pesticides by using companion planting to benefit the soil and reduce pests naturally. You can just go out and pick them for use right away instead of going to the store and packaging them up to bring them home. Just think, fresh munchies that are always at your doorstep! You can prep them and save the food waste for your compost bin, which will later provide you with fresh and nutrient-filled soil for continued gardening, creating no wasted food matter. You will also get a lot of personal satisfaction from seeing the literal 'fruits' of your efforts, and when you have too much to use yourself, you can share them with friends and family.

It's not hard to garden, even for those that are unfamiliar or those that don't have space. Start small! Plant an herb or two that you like, and if you aren't sure of your gardening skills, plant one veggie that is easy to grow, like zuccini or cucumber. Once you see that you can grow it and you pick one, it will boost your confidence significantly and encourage you to add more variety. And use the Internet...you will find lots of useful information to get you started.

Very important in Arizona: do NOT use the package guidelines on seeds. We have a very specialized climate; when a package says 'full sun', it does not mean 'full Arizona summer sun', because then you just get a burned and dead plant. Check out the Phoenix Permaculture Guild. This place is amazing! They run on volunteers and donations, and they offer lots of free classes, all specific to Arizona climate issues. Their website is http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/. They have a wonderful 4-part veggie gardening class for beginners, herb classes, tree classes, and even classes to learn to harvest rainwater for your gardens. They have a FREE specialized planting calendar available, with details specific to Arizona. You will even find out from that calendar that you can grow veggies in Arizona all year long, unlike most other states that have frosts and freezes. (here's the link to the calendar: http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/forum/topics/2008067:Topic:6683)

If you can't do your own garden, please consider buying all your produce (and some other great items) at your local farmer's markets instead of big box grocery stores. This will support your local farmers, and you will enjoy knowing the people that grow your foods and being able to see where your food is coming from. You may even get to mingle with a few of your neighbors and make some new friends. See all the local farmer's markets here: http://www.arizonafarmersmarkets.com/azfmcalendar.htm.

Watch the movie "Food, Inc." to learn more about the importance of knowing where your food comes from.

And finally, don't forget to click the green heading at the top of the blog to go and vote for the MCC Community Children's Garden grant!

Thanks for your interest, and happy gardening!!

Climate Action Plan

MCC has submitted the Climate Action Plan for the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Click the words Climate Action Plan above to read our plans for a greener MCC in the future.

MCC CAN'T WAIT FOR EARTH DAY!!

MCC CAN'T WAIT to celebrate Earth Day, so we are having our own special Green Week. Starting Saturday March 6 and continuing through Friday March 12, MCC will have lots of 'green' events going on. We hope that you will take part so that you can learn or teach what you know about being environmentally friendly. So far, we have a trip to the Arboretum planned for 3/6 to do some Service Learning work. On 3/10 we will have Science Day, and on 3/12 we will have a Plant Sale. We will also spend some time focusing on alternative modes of transportation, energy and water conservation, maybe have a contest or two, and we are still trying to plan some other fun stuff.
Keep an eye out for more information as that week approaches...

Drastic Plastic

Hi greenies! Hope your 2010 is going well and you are staying strong with your resolutions.

It's time to get serious about plastic bags. This article will tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly about plastic bags. **Just a note: when we refer to plastic bags, this also includes plastic wraps, such as bread bags, newspaper bags, produce bags, ziplock bags, trash bags, air-pillows (the kind used for shipping), dry cleaning bags, shrink wrap, cereal bags, wrapping around diapers, wrappers for toilet paper/paper towels, and bottled water wrapping. But to make things easier to read here, we will put all of this nasty plastic under the term 'plastic bags'.

There are very few good things to say about plastic bags. One good thing: almost every type of plastic bag is recyclable. That being said, almost every single curbside recycling program in the country, including the MCC barrels from City of Mesa, do NOT allow plastic bags.
WHY?
They jam up the machinery at the recycling facility. MCC Recycle will be arranging a tour of a recycling facility and landfill, hopefully for February, and if you take the tour you will see why. But for now, a simple explanation is this: the automated equipment at the recycling facility has the ability to filter things in different ways: they have fans that blow paper to one area, and they have other specialized conveyor belts that allow plastics to be sorted from cans. However, plastic bags are extremely lightweight, and as you have seen from littered public areas, they blow around like crazy. At the recycling facility, the bags will blow into the paper areas during the sorting by fans, and then they jam the paper machines. It's not unusual that the entire recycling line has to be shut down several times a day to remove plastic bags that jam equipment. They also have to hire people to stand at the conveyor and try to remove plastic bags as they enter the processing area. All bags filtered out are sent to landfill (NOT recycled). Obviously, these types of things slow the process when a facility is processing several tons of recycled materials per day, and ultimately this ends up raising the cost of recycling. There is one exception: shredded paper can go into the containers if it is inside a CLEAR plastic bag. This allows the manual sorters at the facility to see that it is paper, remove it from the production area, and then dump it into the paper recycling.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? You have 2 options:
Option 1: Never, ever, EVER put plastic bags in curbside recycling containers. Since all of your bags are recyclable, just save them up and take them to the grocery store next time you go. Almost every grocery store in town has a bin at the front where you can put plastic bags and plastic wrap. Also, you can reuse them for other things. Take your lunch to work in one until it tears (then recycle it at the store!). Line a trash can. Clean up dog poop. Use it as a shower cap. Reuse it the next time you go to the store (and they'll usually deduct a few cents per bag from your total bill if you do that). Heck, you can even 'knit' them in to a purse or a rug (check out this link for craft ideas: http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/138/1/Recycled-plastic-bag-crafts.html).
Option 2: Stop using them! Do you really need a bag to carry a soda, chips, and gum out of the store? Buy reusable bags and always have one with you. If you buy them at grocery stores, they are usually around $1 each. Ladies, they even have some that fold or zip up small to fit in your purse. Every time you go the store, USE THEM. If you don't have one with you and you are just picking up one or two things, just refuse the bag. MCC students: You use a backpack or your arms to carry books all semester; you don't need a plastic bag to carry your books from the bookstore to the car after you buy them!! Please tell the bookstore "NO BAG NEEDED!!"

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY RECYCLED PLASTIC BAGS?
Here's the good news. Plastic bags that are recycled (the correct way, of course) are made into products such as materials used to build decking, fencing, and even playground equipment. (visit the website for this local company for details: http://www.pjsfuncrafters.com/)

And finally, a few dramatic statistics* to scare the plastic right out of your life:

• About 89 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are used each year in the U.S.
• In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make plastic bags that Americans consume. (How much do you think that 'costs' us?)
• According to the EPA, only about 12 percent of plastic bags and wraps were recycled in 2007.
• A five-year-long study by the Ocean Conservancy found that small plastic bags made up about 9 percent of the debris found along various U.S. coasts.
• The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store.
• Approximately 500 nautical miles off the California coast sits a growing "plastic island," a gargantuan patch of floating plastic trash held together by currents stretching across the northern Pacific almost as far as Japan. This "plastic island" is made up of about 7 billion pounds of plastic garbage, and measures about twice the size of Texas.
• Annual cost to US retailers alone is estimated at $4 billion. Since you don't pay for the bag when you check-out at the store, this cost is passed on to consumers via the cost of products they buy.

*all stats from reusablebags.com

So, the moral of this story: Stop using plastic bags!!! Even if you buy reusable bags for shopping, you will obviously sometimes still get plastic bags/wrap via other means. Please make sure to recycle it all at the front of most retail stores and NOT in the curbside barrels. And, please share this info with friends.

Thanks for listening!

A new year!

It's the start of a new year, and MCC Recycle is looking forward to helping MCC become a more sustainable campus. How? Here's a list of things for January 2010.

• On January 13, there will be a special eco-event for employees...details will be available later this week, but here's a preview: FREE STUFF!
• On January 15, our campus Climate Action Plan is due. This plan is part of the progress we anticipate as a signatory to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/). As soon as we post the Plan on the website, we'll let you know the link. You will be able to see exactly what MCC hopes to accomplish over the next 10 years or so with regard to greening the campus.
• We are currently recruiting volunteers to participate in a recycling event at the PF Chang Marathon on January 17. Details are posted on the Facebook Event page for MCC Recycle. You can also email recycle@mcmail.maricopa.edu if you would like more info.
• January 18th is MLK Day, and MCC celebrates with a Day of Service. This event brings together our campus and surrounding community to teach, learn, and share about the wonderful benefits of service and volunteer work. More details on that event will be posted when they become available.
• The new semester starts January 16, and with that comes an opportunity for clubs to recruit new members. Make sure to join the MCC Environmental Action Club. If your schedule doesn't allow you to participate regularly, consider supporting the club by purchasing one of many t-shirts they offer, and get on the email list to take part whenever you can.

Thanks for reading our new blog. Always feel free to comment, make suggestions, or just share what you know. Enjoy the new year!