Category Archives: Not Green

Average American

” . . . in 2001, the average American spent 64 min daily in a vehicle.” (1)

Noooooooooo.  Someone rescue me — I am apparently on my way to becoming an average American, a species which I hold in great disdain.

What’s next?  Consuming lots of processed food, thereby effectively eating a diet consisting of corn, soy, and wheat?  Or watching over 4 hours of television a day?

1. From Hu, P, Reuscher, T, 2004. Summary of travel trends: 2001 national household travel survey. U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC, as quoted in Frank, L.D., Greenwald, M.J., Winkelman, S., Chapman, J., Kavage, S., 2010. Carbonless footprints: Promoting health and climate stabilization through active transportation. Prev. Med. 50, S99–S105.

Trashed: A Correction

All this time I have been under the mistaken impression that the city composted the contents of the “Yard Waste Only” bins. Well, you know what they say about making assumptions! Click on over and see the comment from the City of St. Louis Refuse Division.

All my beautiful, clean, mostly organic vegetable and fruit trimmings that would make such lovely compost when mixed with leaves and grass clippings? Straight to the landfill. My dumpster diving? Not necessary.

The upside? This revelation provides that extra bit of incentive I apparently need to move from contemplation to action (please excuse the nerdy health behavior theory reference) on vermicomposting. I just requested Worms Eat My Garbage from the library. With any luck, I’ll have the book in my hot little hands by the weekend.

Dumpster diving

Trash collection in St. Louis consists of shared dumpsters in the alleys.  All alleys have two kinds of dumpsters, one for trash and one for yard waste.  The trash dumpsters are clearly marked, “No yard waste,” and the yard waste dumpsters are clearly marked, “Yard waste only.”  The city collects the yard waste for compost.  Since we rent, we have not started our own compost pile, so we use the yard waste bins for our vegetable and fruit scraps.

The problem?  Some people fail to comprehend that, “Yard waste only,” means, “Do not put your regular trash here.”  Or they comprehend it and are too lazy to walk 30 feet farther to the appropriate dumpster.

I can’t stand to see non-compostable matter in the yard waste dumpster because it means that either a) everything in the dumpster, including the yard waste, will be thrown away, or b) the contents of the dumpster will be composted, with trash mixed in to it.

The other day, I noticed some non-sanctioned items on the very bottom of the almost empty yard waste dumpster.  The dumpster with, “Yard waste only,” clearly printed on it.  I rolled up my sleeves, gritted my teeth, and dove in to correct the matter.

Immediately after, I looked out our front window and saw that someone had set a million polystyrene take-out containers on the top of our recycling bin.  Not only does our recycling program not accept polystyrene (or any #6 plastics), but the presence of forbidden materials in our bin can cause them to skip our weekly pick-up.  Can you hear my screams of frustration through the computer?

In conclusion, memo to my neighbors: 1)there is a reason the yard waste dumpster says, “Yard waste only,” and 2)please do not put your dirty non-recyclable trash in my recycling bin.  It may come as a shock, but I don’t want those containers, and I don’t particularly enjoy pulling stuff out of the dumpster.

Carbon pawprint – Part I

What is the carbon “pawprint” of your pet?

This article talks about the environmental impact of pets.  It confirmed what I expected — that having pets is far from environmentally friendly.  The study/book claims that a medium-size dog generates twice as much carbon in a year (mostly through its meat-heavy diet) than driving a gas guzzler (i.e., SUV).  Now, I’m not claiming that this was a highly scientific study.  The book they mention probably contains more details, but the articles lacks mention of the mileage of the comparison vehicle.  The “twice as much as a gas guzzler” is also based on a calculation of driving only 6,200 miles per year.  While this may be average for other countries, in the U.S. we log closer to 12,000 miles a year.

What are the environmental impacts of pets?

The meat-based diet ranks as number one on the list.  This is similar to the impact the the average American’s meat-heavy diet has on the planet.  The problem is that, while humans improve their health by reducing and/or eliminating meat from our diets, dogs and cats (especially cats) cannot be vegetarian.

Pets poop.  Simple fact.  Irresponsible owners leave the poop on the ground for other people to enjoy. (My favorite way of enjoying such a treat would be by launching it in the general direction of the irresponsible owner.  Or there’s always the burning paper bag on the doorstep.)  Anyway, pet poop left outside eventually ends up in waterways, with negative effects on aquatic life and the health of the body of water.  Cat poo is particularly toxic and can infect water animals, like otters (which are cute), with a deadly brain disease.  Responsible owners pick up the poop, which usually makes its way to a trashcan, and then on to a landfill, where it gets buried, and then sits.  For years.  And years.

Our cute cuddly pets can also be ferocious predators.  Cats in particular, when left outside, are a serious threat to songbirds.

So, what’s a pet-lover to do?  Stay tuned for “Carbon pawprint – Part II.”

Green giveaway postponed

Due to the very underwhelming response, I am postponing the green t-shirt giveaway.  Since I failed to actually post a picture of the t-shirt in question, I hold some degree of responsibility for the lack of success this time around.

There was also the issue with our camera, which is on its last legs.  So nice to know that they make digital cameras to last an entire FIVE years!  Would you like a side of planned obsolescence with that electronic purchase?  No?  Well, today we’re going to give it to you anyway.  For free!  (Cue evil laughter.)