A round-up of this week’s environmental, green and ecofriendly news and updates.
We know how widespread plastic is (it’s everywhere!). Because plastic is made from oil, it’s not sustainable and it pollutes.
But UK scientists have found a way to make plastic from pine trees! When pines are used to make paper, there are some waste products, and it’s that waste that they use to make plastic.
I would prefer that we got rid of plastic altogether – think of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and the amount of plastic that birds and fish eat – but I suppose I’m being naive. It will at least help if we can eventually make plastic from waste products.
Green living – it’s something we’re far more aware of now than we ever used to be.
But – is it a new concept? Well, maybe – here’s a fun story to entertain you as well as get you thinking about living green.
US scientists say that the North-Eastern USA will warm much more rapidly than the globe as a whole, and faster than any other other United States region.
They also say that the United States will reach a 2 degree Celsius warming 10–20 years before the rest of the planet.
That’s pretty scary! You can read the full details in The Guardian newspaper here.
Baby food.
Do you (or did you) buy it in the supermarket, or make your own?
There are pros and cons for both – see what I think in this useful article.
Becuase air pollution is so bad in China, there are many efforts to try to improve it.
One way is the bike share project in many cities – the colourful bikes can be rented on demand with a smartphone app, and then parked wherever the customer chooses. It’s a great concept that works well in many places.
But in some Chinese cities, you can see piles of discarded bikes – some wilfully damaged beyond repair.
“Some people these days just have really bad character,” said a man named He, who lives near where some stacks appeared. “When they’re done using [the bike] they just throw it away somewhere, because they’ve already paid.”
In the past few days he witnessed people demolishing the bikes before discarding them on the side of the road, he said. Residents said that bikes had been piling up over the past week, either parked haphazardly by careless users, or stacked by local security guards trying to clear narrow residential alleys and footpaths.
I just don’t get it.
You can see photos and the full story if you wish, here.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
Please spread the Green word and share this info.
And if you’re on Twitter, get a daily green tip by following me – @EcoExpert1 . See you there!
We were staying at a motel in Leavenworth, WA last spring when we noticed clear disposable cups that were made of organic, recyclable material. We were desperately trying to find the source as my former daughter-in-law owns a preschool and uses many of those cups. This green thing that we didn’t do all those years ago is hilarious. When I was growing up in Germany, we all took our own bags or baskets to the market to shop. Those string bags that hold a ton are my favorite and I still have one. I’m sad that the NE US is heating up so fast. It was inevitable. Plastic will never go away, certainly but I’m glad they are looking for alternative ways to make it. We recycle as much as possible. My city is very green and we all try hard. China has a lot of problems that are going to spill over soon. As for baby food, I didn’t really know how to cook much for myself when they were born all those years ago. Baby food was store bought and we were lucky to be able to get it. I wish I had know then what I know now. 🙁 Lots of information here. Thank you.
Love these articles. It puts a lot of things into perspective. We do our best here in Mauritius, but there is still a lack of education for the locals. Most of them don’t seem to realise the importance of recycling. Even educated people don’t bother, so how will we get the poorer people to think Green. Of course, having a car to transport our cargo to the collection point is a great help and I never go just with the recycling. I always incorporate other chores. More local collection places are required, but in the past these have been abused, hence done away with.
I live in the Northeastern portion of the US and can tell you we are definitely seeing the effects of warming. This year we are having spring-like temperatures in winter. Our snowfall is nearly non-existent and (finally!) people are starting to realize there is something wrong.
I’m with you on the plastic, I wish we would eliminate it all together, or at least limit it to uses that can’t be replaced with a sustainable material but if using waste from pine trees is the next step then it’s better than making it from oil and chemicals.
On baby food, I tried the store bought jars for my first child but found he didn’t care much for them. By my second child (and then my grandchildren) I simply blended up the foods the rest of us were eating. It was cheaper and I could control the additives in the food they ate.