Common Misconceptions | Plastic Pollution Coalition. The Recycling Myth Collecting plastics at curbside fosters the belief that, like aluminum and glass, these will be converted into new similar objects. This is not the case with plastic. The best we can hope for plastics is that these will be turned into other products such as doormats, textiles, plastic lumber, etc.
These products will still end at some point in the landfill – and do not stem the need for more virgin petroleum product. This is not recycling, but down-cycling. But not even down-cycling is happening. In the US, 93% of plastics are NOT recovered (put in plastic “recycling” bins). How big is the problem? Artist Chris Jordan offers the following visualizations. Please visit Plastic Free Times for great resources on recycling. Ocean Clean-ups By most estimates, hundreds of millions of metric tons of plastic debris currently floats in the ocean. Bioplastics Bioplastics are just plastics made from plants. New England Clean Energy Council | Accelerating New England's Clean Energy Economy. About Us. "No Impact Man" - Official Trailer [HQ HD] Transportation. The 25 Hottest Sustainability Professionals. Marks & Spencer’s Plan A is Hot Hottest lists, are well, hot.
So I thought I would start April with a list of the hottest 25 sustainability professionals. After all, sustainability is HOT–but the best way to comprise a list of sustainability stars is to focus on brains, compassion, dedication, impact and of course, more brains. We won’t wade into the spit-spat between Complex Magazine and Pando Daily, which recently issued some top 40 lists of the hottest tech professionals–again, this list is focused on intellect and results. Full disclosure: this is actually a list of 26. I wanted gender balance. And this is not a ranking . . . we are going in alphabetical order, so please no disputes between perceived numbers 2, 12 and 22 on the list. Elaine Cohen: Elaine’s knowledge and analysis of corporate social responsibility and sustainability reports ranks among the top leaders within this space. Susan McPherson: Running the CSR practice for Fenton, Ms.
Marcy Murninghan: Dr. Post Carbon Institute | Leading the transition to a resilient world. 300 Years of FOSSIL FUELS in 300 Seconds. Upcycling. Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value. Upcycling is the opposite of downcycling, which is the other face of the recycling process. Downcycling involves converting materials and products into new materials of lesser quality. Most recycling involves converting or extracting useful materials from a product and creating a different product or material.[1] The term downcycling was first used in print in an article in SalvoNEWS by Thornton Kay quoting Reiner Pilz and published in 1994. [2] We talked about the impending EU Demolition Waste Streams directive. Upsizing was the title of the German edition of a book about upcycling first published in English in 1998 by Gunter Pauli and given the revised title of Upcycling in 1999.
Upcycling has shown significant growth across the United States. In art[edit] In music[edit]
City Green Services & Programs | City Green Solutions. Opower. Opower connects with utilities Opower connects with energy companies to automagically pull in your usage so that you can easily compare, compete, and discover. Currently participating utilities include: Austin Utilities (Minnesota) Burbank Water & Power Chugach Electric Association Clark Public Utilities Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) Connexus Energy Consumers Energy Direct Energy Glendale Water & Power Hawaii Energy Loveland Water and Power National Grid Owatonna Public Utilities Pacific Gas and Electric Company City of Palo Alto Utilities PPL Electric Utilities Rochester Public Utilities Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) What the heck is Opower?
Opower works with utilities around the world to help their customers make smarter decisions about their energy use. Together, we've already helped people save tens of millions of dollars on their energy bills and in the process stopped more than a billion tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Customer Engagement Solutions | Opower. About Clean Energy Canada – Clean Energy Canada.