Recycling, Does it Really Make a Difference?

     Plastic packages in all shapes and sizes now display the ubiquitous recycling mark. But when so much energy is used to collect, clean, and re-manufacture products from recycled materials, does it make sense to go through the hassle of recycling?  Does it really make a difference?

    Acknowledging that it's best to limit packaging and unnecessary purchases, and reuse whenever possible, once the package or container is no longer useful, is recycling is the most environmentally sound option?  The answer begins with energy consumption, but goes well beyond.

 
     The amount of energy needed to extract raw materials is, in fact, greater than the amount required to collect and process the recycled material for reuse in manufacturing.  Popular Mechanics reports that on average it takes “10.4 million Btu to manufacture products from a ton of recyclables, compared to 23.3 million Btu for virgin materials; collecting, hauling and processing of those recyclables adds just 0.9 million Btu.”1 That is significant energy savings.

The difference in energy use when comparing processing recycled, rather than "virgin" materials, varies a great deal from product to product:
 (videos describing each process are included)

Recycling an aluminum can uses only five percent of the energy needed to make a can from bauxite ore, the natural source of aluminum.

Newsprint, the paper used in newspapers, can be recycled into new newsprint using only 55 percent of the energy needed to make it from wood and other raw materials.

Recycling glass into new products uses 80 percent of the energy required to make new glass. While this is a smaller energy savings than some other materials, it still adds up when the huge amount of glass used worldwide is considered.

Many plastic water and drink bottles are made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic. While it can be difficult to recycle these into new bottles, PET can be recycled into other plastic products using roughly 33 percent of the energy needed to make plastic from scratch.² 

 Recycling does far more for our environment, however, that save energy.

• Recycling avoids wasting valuable materials (a recent study that found that about 90 percent of the material going to landfills has a market value³).
• Using recycled material in manufacturing creates less air and water pollution than using unprocessed, virgin raw materials.⁴
• Compared to incinerating, recycling significantly reduces the amount of CO² in the atmosphere.⁵
• Recycling saves natural resources: trees, ores, sand, and petroleum.
• Recycling makes it unnecessary to deface the land by logging and mining.
• Recycling avoids utilizing land for landfill.
• Recycling creates jobs.  The US Bureau of Labor lists a variety of jobs related to recycling: drivers, sorters, mechanics, technicians, and machinery maintenance workers, material recovery facility managers, route managers, and sales representatives⁶. 

Recycling reduces the need to extract, process, refine, and transport timber, crude petroleum, and ores. It lessens the toxic air emissions, effluents and solid wastes that these manufacturing processes create.⁴  

     So when you find the familiar triangular arrows on packaging, know that it is worth the effort to recycle.

1 Recycling Statistics - Is Recycling Worth It - Popular Mechanics 

² http://www.ehow.com/facts_5519046_recycling-save-energy.html

3 http://earth911.com/recycling/plastic/plastic-bottle-recycling-facts/

⁴ http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/chap1.asp

⁵ http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/recyc/recytbls.asp

⁶ http://www.bls.gov/green/recycling/

Purchase Power

To view a larger, more readable version, of this chart go to Cornucopia.org;
 click on the chart to enlarge.

       Money is power--politically speaking--and when I make purchases, I am channeling my money to companies that can then use that money in the political arena.  When I spend money on a product, I support the company that sells that product.  When I withhold spending on  a specific product, I withhold my support for not only the product or label, but the larger company, as well.
     Cornucopia's chart shows the amount of money different companies spent to support or oppose Prop 37, which would have require labeling of GMO’s.  Since I support GMO labeling, a concrete action I can take is to purchase organic products from companies that support my “right-to-know”.   It's a simple, effective way to make a personal statement.
     I can't compete with the millions of dollars spent to fight the labeling legislation, but I can funnel my family's grocery money to companies that support the causes we value.

    

Yoga, Sustaining Body and Mind

     While standing on one foot in a contorted yoga balancing pose…for what seemed like an eternity…I thought, “Yoga deserves space on this blog, because it sustains me, body and mind”.  It helps me feel refreshed, strong, flexible, balanced, and focused, while adding very little to my ecological footprint--especially when done at home or at a location that's close enough to ride my bike.

     One of the best aspects of yoga is that there are few, if any, supplies needed.  A mat is useful, but a carpet works just as well.  Comfortable clothes and some relaxing music are helpful.  Poses can be done indoors, outdoors, in small rooms with a few people, in large studios, or in any room where the furniture is simply moved aside.

     Yoga is one of those life-long exercises that is practiced everywhere along the age continuum.  It can be adapted to meet most people’s needs, even well after many other exercises are no longer possible.  There is rigorous yoga, regenerative yoga, and even chair yoga.  It relieves stress and anxiety, increases range of motion, builds bone density, strengthens muscles, increases flexibility, and improves balance--to help prevent falls.

   

Local yoga classes that fit a variety of schedules and budgets:

Pawling Library 

Dover Library 
Inner Balance Studio in Patterson

Holmes Whaley Lake Civic Association 

World Gym at the Atrium on Route 22 

Pawling Recreation Department

Ensure a minimal footprint by purchasing "eco-responsible" mats and recycling your old mats at RYM.

     Yoga keeps me on my "tiptoes" physically, mentally, and ecologically.

Starting The Day off Right

    Eating breakfast is an effective way for adults to help control body weight, because it keeps us from overeating during other meals--perhaps it would be a perfect way to start the day tomorrow, before the Thanksgiving feast.  A healthy breakfast also supplies children and teens with the needed energy for improved: memory, concentration, attention, creativity, mood, productivity, behaviors and school performance. (http://www.ufl.edu)

     Eating granola for breakfast is a terrific way to begin the day with a hearty whole grain meal. Choosing a granola sold by a company committed to organic food production using only organic ingredients, without GMO's, is simple with the Cornucopia Institute organic cereal score card.  It rates brands using a one to five "wheat" rating system. Companies with the highest rating have the strongest commitment, "100% of the brand's cereal and granola products are certified organic/by fully committed organic company."

     Or, you can make your own granola.  Then you control all the ingredients, and choose the nuts, spices, and sweeteners, so you can create hundreds of different varieties by experimenting with a basic recipe.

Granola

Mix in large bowl: 

10 cups uncooked regular oats

¾  tsp. cinnamon

¼  tsp. cardamon

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup chopped nuts 

¼ cup brown sugar (optional)

Combine and add to dry ingredients, mix well: 

½ cup honey and/or maple syrup

½ cup Safflower oil

¼ c water  

1 tsp. vanilla

Add after baking:

1 cup dried fruit 

1. Combine dry and liquid ingredients.
2. Spread on two lightly oiled cookie sheets.
3. Bake at 275°F for 50 minutes (until crispy), stir only once after 15 minutes.
4. Let cool.
5. Stir in fruit.
6. Store in glass preserving jars.

   Eating organic granola, whether it is purchased from a responsible company or created in you own kitchen, is a great way to begin the day.

Saying “No” to GMO’s

     The full length documentary, Genetic Roulette--The Gamble of Our Lives, details the negative health effects of GMO's, genetically modified organisms (the above video is a 10 minute remix). GMO’s are created by taking a DNA from the cell of one species and inserting it into another species to create a desirable trait.  In food, those traits include longer shelf life, pest resistance, and herbicide resistance. This scientific manipulation is widely used; it affects much of our food supply and, as mounting evidence indicates, our health.

     As consumers, we have the power to force the food industry to reject genetically modified foods, by simply refusing to buy them.  The "Non-GMO Project" offers four ways to avoid GMO’s in our food:

Buy Organic

Certified organic products cannot intentionally include any GMO ingredients.

Look for "Non-GMO Project" verified seals.

This independent groups verifies that individual products have not been genetically modified. 

    

Buy Products listed in the Non GMO Shopping Guide 

                                                        "Avoid at-risk ingredients including: 

                                                                          soybeans

                                                                            canola

                                                                         cottonseed

                                                                              corn

                                                                sugar from sugar beets

If a non-organic product made in North America lists “sugar” as an ingredient (and NOT pure cane sugar), then it is almost certainly a combination of sugar from both sugar cane and GM sugar beets. 

 GM alfalfa is also fed to livestock.
Dairy products may be from cows injected with GM bovine growth hormone,
look for labels stating No rbGH, rbST, or artificial hormones."*

*http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com

The Sustainability of India's Modernization

                Akash Kapur, an Indian born Rhodes Scholar, addresses sustainability on a national level. After living and working in New York City, he returns to India in his twenties with the hope of raising a family in the idyllic Indian countryside of his childhood.  He describes the economic and cultural changes that have taken place during the decade he was away through interviews with people of differing ages, lifestyles, and locations.  Although he acknowledges the recent economic development has brought some benefits: less caste discrimination, more non-agricultural jobs, wealth for some, and improved infrastructure, he questions the development’s sustainability.   The impacts of over population, air and water pollution, economic inequity, loss of tradition, and geographic separation of families are significant, as people rush blindly toward modernization.

The author comes to terms with how India’s development is impacting the environment and the health of the people he is studying, as well as his own young family’s.  He wonders if the growth is, “built on the backs of the poor and the ruins of the environment,” rather than, “economically inclusive and environmentally sustainable.”  He realizes that the new materialistic attitudes in India have created serious waste issues.  Product life cycles are not taken into consideration when the new found wealth encourages people to purchase more and more, adding tons of non-biodegradable garbage to overfull landfills.  He is torn between his enthusiasm and excitement over India’s short term modernization, and the concern he has for the country’s future.  

Plant Garlic Bulbs in the Fall.

Five Reasons to Plant Garlic this Fall

·         When the gardening season winds down and the harvest is waning, it's great to initiate new life in the garden by planting bulbs.

·         It offers a practical use for the season’s final leaf / grass collection.  (A thick layer of mulch protects the garlic bulbs from the winter’s freezes.)

·         Once planted they require no attention until spring.

·        Like crocuses in the flower garden, they bring the first hints of color to the spring vegetable garden.

·         After the first season's purchase, bulbs from each year's harvest are used to plant the next year's crop.      

 Plant garlic in October (here in Dutchess County), 

by simply separating and then planting the individual cloves two inches deep.

         If you've never grown garlic, this Kitchen Gardeners You Tube video shows you how:

Local Wild Wineberries

 

     An exceptionally juicy treat is growing wild all throughout Pawling right now. Wineberries are currently ripe on their vines, and can be found in parks, at the edge of wooded areas, along roads, and along hiking paths.

     They are easy to identify due to the conic stub that remains when the berry is pulled off the plant, so even those who are generally leery of eating wild berries can partake. The flavor is an unique mix of sweet and tart.

     When the berries turn from burnt-orange to red, they’re ready to harvest. The berries easily slide off the cone shaped tip when ripe. There are many thorns on the stem and along the leaf spine, so they must be picked carefully. The flavor, however, is definitely worth a few thorns.

Wineberries do not store well, so once picked, they should be eaten or preserved:

     They are excellent eaten plain, in cereal, over ice cream, baked in tarts, canned or dehydrated.

     Wineberries can be used to replace raspberries in canning recipes.   They have an intense berry flavor so they make excellent jams and sauces.

     Wineberry "leathers" can be made by mixing apple sauce with berries and dehydrating. The leathers create an easy to carry fruit snack or can be broken apart and added to cookies, muffins, and granola. (See below.)

Wineberry Leather

  

1.  Wash and clean berries. 

  

2. Crush the berries. 

 3. Mix equal parts berries and apple sauce. 

4. Spread on leather sheet on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate for 8 - 10 hours at 135°.

5. Cut into serving pieces. Store in jars; separate layers with wax paper .

Screen Curing Racks for Onions, Shallots, & Garlic

All my shallots and some of my onion plants looked withered this morning; many of the greens were laying on the ground, signaling the bulbs were ready to harvest. After loosening the soil around the plants, I pulled them out and brought them up to the garage to cure them for storage.

We salvaged a half dozen sturdy wooden French door screens when friends remodeled a few years ago, knowing they would be perfect surfaces to cure our alliums after harvest. Spreading the plants in single layers on these stacked screens has simplified the process.

The screens allow air flow from every direction.

Plastic nursery pots placed on the corners separate and support each level.  

The top floor of our garage offers protection from the elements and supplies the required air flow.  (If you do not have garage or barn space, they can be dried outdoors in a warm, dry spot—out of direct sunlight; just cover during rainy weather).  

In a few weeks I'll brush off the dried dirt—trying not to damage the papery coverings that help preserve the bulb; snip off the roots; cut the stems; and hang them in mesh bags in our cool, dry basement. As difficult as it is, I’ll set aside the best of the harvest to plant next year’s crop in the fall.

The garlic plants are still a week or two away from harvest time, but when they wither, I’ll add a few more levels of screen to cure the garlic and  remaining onions, ensuring an abundant supply of flavorful meals for months to come.

Garlic Scapes - A Fleeting Taste Sensation

     This morning, as the temperatures were predicted to rise well into the 90’s, I ventured into the garden early to choose greens for dinner.  The garlic scapes’ long fang-like curls beckoned me.  I cut a half dozen; picked beans and snow peas; snipped a variety of leafy greens (kale, collards, beet greens); and headed into the kitchen to create Pasta Salad with Garlic Scapes that I could prepare in the morning to avoid cooking in the heat of the day.

     When garlic plants curl their tops to form beautiful spiraling “scapes”, they offer a taste of the “coming attraction”, a sneak preview into the pleasures of the ultimate garlic bulb harvest.  Scapes, like scallions, are less intense than the eventual root crop, and can be used cooked or raw.  Scapes are cut off when they stop curling so that the plant's energy is directed into the garlic bulb.  Because scapes are available for only a week or two during the growing season, their flavor seems even more unique. Tomorrow, I'm planning to cut a few dozen scapes and try a no-cook garlic scape pesto.  

Constructing a Flower Press

Construct a flower press using easily available materials and basic shop tools:

• 1/2" plywood
• absorbent white paper (construction or drawing)
• 4 long bolts
• 4 washers
• 4 wing nuts
• recycled corrugated cardboard.   

(Using shop safety techniques will ensure injury free construction.) 

Begin by measuring the size of the absorbent paper you will be using to sandwich the flowers.  Then design a larger  rectangle or create the above shape using circles.  This one will hold 10” x 12” paper.

Draw the design directly on the plywood.  Repeat for the bottom piece.

Cut along the lines using a jig saw if there are curves or table saw if rectangular.

Use double sided tape to hold top and bottom together.

         Use a router to ensure top and bottoms match.

Mark 2” in from the edge in the center of each side to drill.

Drill four holes the size of the bolt you will be using, drilling through both top & bottom.

Remove double sided tape.

Then re-drill the holes in the top slightly larger so that is will slide easily over the bolt.

Sand off all marks and smooth to 220 grit.

Hammer bolts through the bottom so that they point up.

Test fit the top over the bolts.

Finish.

  Sand and use a tack cloth between coats.

Cut corrugated cardboard to the paper size and layer two pieces of paper between each piece of cardboard.

Fill the press with flowers; push down on the top; place the washers on the bolts; tighten the wing nuts; and place the press in a dry area for a month.  Tighten the wing nuts a few times during the first week of drying. 
 

For flower press instructions read, "Capture the Moment with a Flower Press".