By Delana
Do you know what really happens to your electronics after you’re done with them? If you send them to a recycling facility, there’s a good chance that they’ll actually end up in countries like China, India or Ghana, where local workers risk their health to scavenge valuable materials from the discarded objects. The harmful waste resulting from these recycling centers often ends up in the local air and water stream, endangering the health of everyone in the vicinity.
Read the entire article at WebEcoist.
(Nan’s Note: Knowing how much I love the desert, John Peter Thompson, a friend and invasive expert, warned me of this potential disaster. I don’t think the general public realizes the negative effect of invasives on native species. Get involved in your area with a Native Plant Society to find out what you can do to help eradicate invasives.)
by Leo W. Banks
Local scientists say buffelgrass may be on an unstoppable march—and the saguaro is in its way
Buffelgrass is forcing us to think the unthinkable: A Sonoran Desert in which the saguaro cactus is no longer the master of the landscape.
Is this really possible? Could Arizona’s cherished icon vanish from a substantial portion of its range?
Actually, yes. The problem is fire.
Read the entire article at one of my favorite desert newspapers, The Tucson Weekly.
Check out John Peter Thompson’s informative blog about invasives. He has taught me a lot!
(Nan’s Note: Freecycling is the free exchange of items needed or items to give away. There is no money involved. This idea is as old as bartering and hand-me-downs. A more modern version is the freebox begun in the 1960s in cities across the country. Now it’s organized and global!
I have used the freecycle group in Taos to find an old oak office desk and give away my unused flea market tent set-up. I constantly peruse the listings to see how I can help someone out. I frequent our freebox at the recycling center to drop off unneeded items. I have also found decent clothes there that I have remade into something unique.
Check out this awesome article to learn more about the why and how of freecycling!)
By Stephanie Hicks
Its been years since we first started hearing about the benefits of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Today, people in many areas of the world are doing a much better job minimizing waste than they were 20-30 years ago. But, while we are working on keeping everyday packaging materials out of the landfill, what more can be done?
Enter Deron Beal of Freecycle.org.
Read the rest of this information packed article at Peachy Green!
(Nan’s Note: This is my favorite news story of the day! Not being a fan of dams, changing the world’s ecosystems and displacing people, I smiled when I found this.)
By Lori Pottinger
It’s been a bad week for dams – and a very good one for the world’s rivers.
In Queensland, Australia, river protectors thrilled to the news today that their long fight to Save the Mary River from the ravages of a large dam is, finally, over.
Read about other dam projects going by the wayside in Mexico, Brazil and California in the entire article at Alternet.
By Melinda Burns
Biologists seek to “do no harm,” improve island health, get rid of human-introduced predators and untangle complex relationships that developed on the fly.
In the northern Channel Islands off California, a cat-sized native fox is making a dramatic comeback, thanks to a 10-year, $22 million multifaceted program to save it from extinction.
The last of the resident golden eagles, a nonnative species that was snacking on foxes like kids in a candy store, was removed in 2006 and transported to the far-off northern Sierra Nevada. Also, fish-eating bald eagles, a territorial sort that was once native to the islands, were reintroduced to help chase off its red-meat-eating cousins.
Read the entire article at Miller-McCune.
by Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man
(My note: This is not a count-down a la Letterman, but I am going to post #10 so you can see the big picture. Anyone not familiar with Colin’s work can find more information at the end of the original article.)
10 – BELIEVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART THAT HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE MAKES A DIFFERENCE We are all interconnected. Every step toward living a conscious life provides support to everyone else who is trying to do the same thing—whether you’re aware of it or not. We are the masters of our destinies.
Read #1-9 at YES! Magazine – one of my favorites!
Bees teach us how to live our life in a way that by taking what we need from the world around us, we leave the world better than we found it.
Beekeeping is rising in popularity — from urban rooftops to backyard hives, the world is abuzz with interest in homemade honey. And who better to comment on the nature of bees than the former president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association, Ross Conrad.
Read the interview at Alternet.org.
