7. Neighborhood and Global Stewardship

2007

2007 December 22. As Cars Hit More Animals on Roads, Toll Rises. By JIM ROBBINS, NY Times. Excerpt: BOZEMAN, Mont. - On a dark highway near Anchorage, Specialist Steven Cavanaugh of the Army, who had survived 300 missions in Iraq, was critically injured in December when his vehicle hit a moose. Specialist Cavanaugh died Dec. 6. ...In the early morning darkness in Lincoln, Mont., in October, a pickup slammed into a 830-pound grizzly bear. The driver survived, but the bear was among seven grizzlies - a record for one year - killed by vehicles this year statewide.
Wildlife-related crashes are a growing problem on rural roads around
the country. The accidents increased 50 percent from 1990 to 2004,
based on the most recent federal data, according to the Western
Transportation Institute at Montana State University here.
The basic problem is that rural roads are being traveled by more and
more people, many of them living in far-flung subdivisions. Each
year, about 200 people are killed in as many as two million
wildlife-related crashes at a cost of more than $8 billion, the
institute estimated in a report prepared for the National Academies
of Science....The human death toll has risen from 111 in 1995 to around 200 in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available....Pennsylvania has the most vehicle-wildlife crashes. Drivers there struck nearly 97,000 deer in the last half of 2005 and first half of 2006, according to estimates by State Farm, the insurance company....In recent years, the institute estimates based on insurance
industry data, the number of crashes ranged from one million to two
million....The accidents can also take a toll on precarious wildlife
populations. The report prepared for Congress found that vehicle
collisions were a major source of mortality for 21 federally
endangered or threatened species, like the red wolf, kit fox, Key
deer and Florida panther. "It's a new and dubious record," Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, said of the seven grizzlies killed this year on Montana roads. "There are more bears and everybody drives faster, and so roads are more of a problem."While the accidents are not threatening the bears' long-term survival, Mr. Servheen said, they do threaten the species' ability to expand its range....

2007 September 11. 21 Things You Didn't Know You Can Recycle-Garbage. Americans produce more and more of it every year, when we need to be producing less.
COOP America's list of 21 recycling strategies you may not yet know about:

1. Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them. 800/YES-1-CAN,

2. Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110,

3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women's shelters to see if they can use them. Or, offer them up at your local http://Freecycle.org listserv or on http://Craigslist.org. If your workplace collects at least 100 boxes or more each month, http://UsedCardboardBoxes.com accepts them for resale.

4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CDs, DVDs, and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to AuralTech for refinishing, and they'll work like new: 888/454-3223, http://www.auraltech.com.

5. Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or shelter. Donate wearable women's business clothing to Dress for Success, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, 212/532-1922, http://www.dressforsuccess.org. Offer unwearable clothes and towels to local animal boarding and shelter facilities, which often use them as pet bedding. Consider holding a clothes swap at your office, school, faith congregation or community center. Swap clothes with friends and colleagues, save money on a new fall wardrobe and back-to-school clothes - then donate the rest.

6. Compact fluorescent bulbs: Take them to your local IKEA store for recycling: http://www.ikea.com.

7. Compostable bio-plastics: You probably won't be able to compost these in your home compost bin or pile. Find a municipal composter to take them to at http://www.findacomposter.com.

8. Computers and electronics: Find the most responsible recyclers, local and national, at http://www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html

9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others at http://www.videofitness.com.

10. Eyeglasses: Your local Lion's Club or eye care chain may collect these. Lenses are reground and given to people in need.

11. Foam Packing peanuts: Your local pack-and-ship store will likely accept these for reuse. Or, call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site: 800/828-2214. For places to drop off foam blocks for recycling, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, 410/451-8340, http://www.epspackaging.org/info.html

12. Ink/toner cartridges: http://Recycleplace.com pays $1/each.

13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items into the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local Freecycle.org or http://Craigslist.org listserv, or try giving them away at http://Throwplace.com or giving or selling them at http://iReuse.com. iReuse.com will also help you find a recycler, if possible, when your items have reached the end of their useful lifecycle.

14. Oil: Find Used Motor Oil Hotlines for each state: 202/682-8000, http://www.recycleoil.org.

15. Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your phone and sell it to someone in a developing country: 770/856-9021, http://www.collectivegood.com. Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: http://www.donateaphone.com. Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, http://www.reclamere.com.

16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, http://www.playitagainsports.com.

17. "Technotrash": Easily recycle all of your CDs, jewel cases, DVDs, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single-use batteries, PDAs, and ink/toner cartridges with GreenDisk's Technotrash program. For $30, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship them up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as shipping and recycling fees. 800/305-GREENDISK, http://www.greendisk.com.

18. Tennis shoes: Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. http://www.nikereuseashoe.com. One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti. http://www.oneworldrunning.com.

19. Toothbrushes and razors: Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline, and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber. Recycline products are made from used Stonyfield Farms' yogurt cups. 888/354-7296, http://www.recycline.com.

20. Tyvek envelopes: Quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Spot 197, Room 231, Richmond, VA 23234. Quantities larger than 25, call 866/33-TYVEK.

21. Stuff you just can't recycle: When practical, send such items back to the manufacturer and tell them they need to manufacture products that close the waste loop responsibly.
Become a sustainer for Co-op America today.

2007 August 1. In Praise of Tap Water. NY Times. Excerpt: ...Americans are increasingly thirsty for what is billed as the healthiest, and often most expensive, water on the grocery shelf. But this country has some of the best public water supplies in the world. Instead of consuming four billion gallons of water a year in individual-sized bottles, we need to start thinking about what all those bottles are doing to the planet's health. Here are the hard, dry facts: Yes, drinking water is a good thing, far better than buying soft drinks, or liquid candy, as nutritionists like to call it. And almost all municipal water in America is so good that nobody needs to import a single bottle from Italy or France or the Fiji Islands. Meanwhile, if you choose to get your recommended eight glasses a day from bottled water, you could spend up to $1,400 annually. The same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents.
Next, there's the environment. Water bottles, like other containers, are made from natural gas and petroleum. The Earth Policy Institute in Washington has estimated that it takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the water bottles Americans use each year. That could fuel 100,000 cars a year instead. And, only about 23 percent of those bottles are recycled, in part because water bottles are often not included in local redemption plans that accept beer and soda cans. Add in the substantial amount of fuel used in transporting water, which is extremely heavy, and the impact on the environment is anything but refreshing....

2007 April. Build your own rain barrel.
See also: http://www.aquabarrel.com, http://www.aridsolutionsinc.com, and http://www.gardeners.com

2007 March 23. The Window Box Gets Some Tough Competition. By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN. NY Times. Excerpt: CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. - ...While others nearby toil over grapes and artichokes, Cooper Scollan spends his days hunched over some 1.7 million baby sedum and other native plants destined for hillocks atop the green roof at the new California Academy of Sciences building, nearing completion in Golden Gate Park. Mr. Scollan, 30, is a green collar worker, responsible for the safety and well-being of what soon will be the largest continuous swatch of vegetation in San Francisco. The academy, designed by the architect Renzo Piano, whom Mr. Scollan has seen only on television, will feature the country's most technically ambitious eco-roof, the latest example of what is known in highbrow circles as "regenerative" or "living" architecture.
It is a growing movement that originated in Germany and now includes, to name a few, bottlebrush grasses and wild rye atop Chicago City Hall, succulents on the 10-acre roof of Ford's River Rouge truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., flowering chives and dianthus on the Bronx County building in New York, and, at an office building for the Gap in San Bruno, Calif., a coastal oak savannah landscape. Though green roofs are hardly new - think of the fabled hanging gardens of Babylon - eco-roofs may represent gardening's next frontier, as cities from Los Angeles to Chicago offer incentives, including fast-tracking development, to builders who forgo drab stretches of concrete in favor of a living roof. The reasons are pure Al Gore: the new California Academy of Sciences roof is expected to reduce storm water run-off by half. That water will then be used, instead of potable water, to flush toilets. The design is also calculated to prevent the release of more than 405,000 pounds of greenhouse gases and substantially reduce the urban "heat island" generated by roads, sidewalks and parking lots....

2007 February 26. Excellent Packaging and Supply. Wholesaler of biodegradable packaging, utensils and dishes. Products:
SpudWareª - Biodegradable Cutlery made from 80% starch (potato or corn) and 20% soy or other vegetable oil.
BagasseWareª - Paper plates, cups, trays, bowls, and boxes made from plant fibers, either grown or recovered as crop residue: sugar cane, wheat bamboo or rice based pulps.
NatureWorksª PLA - Made from corn, PLA is used to make clear plastic cups, bowls, boxes, straws and can liners. Biodegradable, compostable.
BioBagª - Bags and can liners made from Mater-Bi, derived from cornstarch. Used for T-shirts bags and can liners. Biodegradable, compostable, recyclable and burnable.
Natureflexª - Food films made from renewable wood-pulp. Suitable for wrapping and bagging food. Ovenable, heat sealable, biodegradable, compostable and sustainable.
ecotainerª - Paper hot cups and soup containers made with a PLA lining, making them fully compostable, biodegradable and sustainable

2007 January 2.The Rancher and the Grizzly: A Love Story. By Bruce Barcott Excerpt: People, livestock, and a threatened predator are learning to get along in the new west. As an afternoon rainstorm sweeps down Montana's Madison Valley,…rancher Todd Graham stands inside a dusty barn and asks his neighbors for help….Graham addresses a veritable cross section of the new West: sheep ranchers, cattlemen, conservation biologists, government officials, retirees, and second-home owners. Seated in folding chairs, they've gathered for a Living With Predators workshop jointly organized by the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group (which defends livestock) and Keystone Conservation (which defends animals that want to kill the livestock)…..The Madison Valley today is the crash point of two demographic trends: a hot western housing market and rebounding populations of predators….About 7,000 people live in the valley, and cattle still outnumber them ten to one. But that's changing. Retirees and second-home owners, eager to claim their slice of Montana heaven, are snapping up 20-acre ranchettes carved out of 1,000-acre working ranches…....Humans aren't the only creatures attracted to the valley. Yellowstone's grizzlies, once threatened with extinction, have made a strong recovery....Having reached their population limit within Yellowstone -- these bears need plenty of territory to roam, forage, and mate -- they are fanning out beyond the park's boundaries…..As their numbers grow, Yellowstone grizzlies face a crucial test: Can they survive on land owned by ranchers, farmers, and the new wave of retirees, telecommuters, and vacation-home owners?.....One of the largest relatively intact temperate ecosystems on earth, the Yellowstone region hosts perhaps the greatest concentration of large mammals in the contiguous United States, including the nation's biggest populations of grizzlies outside Alaska. It's a region marked by concentric circles of wildlife protection.…..A final decision is expected from the Fish and Wildlife Service in early 2007. If the Yellowstone grizzly loses its threatened status, protection of the bear will be turned over to state wildlife agencies….

2007 Winter. Elephant Crackup? By Charles Siebert. Population Connection - The Reporter. Excerpt: All across Africa, India and parts of Southeast Asia, from within and around whatever patches and corridors of their natural habitat remain, elephants have been striking out, destroying villages and crops, attacking and killing human beings. In fact, these attacks have become so commonplace that a new statistical category, known as Human-Elephant Conflict, or H.E.C., was created by elephant researchers in the mid-1990's to monitor the problem. In the Indian state of Jharkhand near the western border of Bangladesh, 300 people were killed by elephants between 2000 and 2004. In the past 12 years, elephants have killed 605 people in Assam, a state in north- eastern India, 239 of them since 2001; 265 elephants have died in that same period, the majority of them as a result of retaliation by angry villagers, who have used everything from poison-tipped arrows to laced food to exact their revenge. In Africa, reports of human-elephant conflicts appear almost daily,from Zambia to Tanzania, from Uganda to Sierra Leone, where 300 villagers evacuated their homes last year because of unprovoked elephant attacks.... "Everybody pretty much agrees that the relationship between elephants and people has dramatically changed," Bradshaw told me recently. "What we are seeing today is extraordinary. Where for centuries humans and elephants lived in relatively peaceful coexistence, there is now hostility and violence. Now, I use the term 'violence' because of the intentionality associated with it, both in the aggression of humans and, at times, the recently observed behavior of elephants." ...now witnessing is nothing less than a precipitous collapse of elephant culture. It has long been apparent that every large, land-based animal on this planet is ultimately fighting a losing battle with humankind.