In honor of Earth Day, Girlawhirl's taking a minute to reflect on some of the good things she's noticed when it comes to reducing carbon emissions, recycling and re-using, and getting “green” into the main stream. She's aware there's a long road ahead, but still, it's nice to see that strides are being made in the right direction. So here are a few things that she's happy about on this Earth Day...
• The eco-fabulous electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, began production on March 17, 2008, and the first few cars have already been completed. While the production run for 2008 is sold out, reservations for 2009 are being taken and a new model is being added for 2010 – a five passenger sport sedan. The Roadster can go 200 miles between charges and is the only zero emission electric vehicle in production.
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| Photo Courtesy of Telsa Motors Electric Car |
• Coke has set a goal to recycle or re-use all the plastic bottles it uses in the US. To that end it's building the largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in the world in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Over the course of the next 10 years, the plant will save one million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of taking 215,000 cars off the road.
• A company called RecycleBank has increased household recycling from 7% to 90% in areas of the country where it operates. Each bin is bar coded for a particular household and is weighed before the recyclables are dumped into the truck. Households earn RecycleBank Reward Points that can be used to shop at hundreds of stores. The program was recently adapted for college students at Columbia University and was a smashing success. Girlawhirl can't wait for it to hit her neighborhood! Click here for more information and to see if RecycleBank operates in your area.
• The city of Los Angeles announced on March 4, 2008 that it will use paper that's 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Other cities and counties that are part of Green Cities California have also made the pledge, and Santa Monica's been using 100% post-consumer recycled paper since 2004. And while this might seem like a no-brainer to Girlawhirl, truth be told, paper companies say that there isn't much demand for – and therefore not that much of a supply of – 100% post-consumer recycled paper. If all the cities, and offices, in America chose to use this paper, there'd be more of it to go around.
• Last year, at a party held by a dear Super Pal, Girlawhirl noticed that there were no provisions for recycling the cans and bottles that beverages were being poured from. She collected as many as she could, carried them home and included them with her own recyclables that week. At the last gathering she went to at this Super Pal's home, there were clearly marked receptacles for all kinds of recyclables!
• And last but never least, today's the day that Whole Foods Markets has proclaimed the end of plastic bags! Girlawhirl's been toting her own bags for months but it still makes her smile to think that so many stores are no longer offering the plastic option. This will mean the production of 100 million fewer plastic bags this year alone!
related articles:
| Apr 17, 2008: | girlawhirl's doing a bit of prep work for next week's earth day. read full entry |
| Apr 21, 2006: | earth day. read full entry |