ENVIRONMENTAL TRASH~WHAT CAN YOU DO?

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OCEAN GARBAGE VORTEX THE SIZE OF TEXAS

Take a look at the video from you tube!

I could not believe my eyes when I first saw this trash vortex presented by Jacque Cousteau's grandson Fabian on Oprah.  It made me sick to see what we are doing to our oceans.  The video is very compelling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM

On September 18th of 2008 a worldwide group of volunteers gathered together for the 24th annual International Coastal Cleanup. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU THAT PARTICIPATED!        http://www.oceanconservancy.org

This is how much trash was cleaned up at this annual event:

• 6.8 MILLION POUNDS OF GARBAGE (ABOUT 3,400 TONS, OR THE EQUIVALENT WEIGHT OF 18 BLUE WHALES!) 

• 3.2 MILLION CIGARETTE BUTTS (THAT'S AROUND 160,850 PACKS)

• 1.4 MILLION PLASTIC BAGS

• 942,620 FOOD WRAPPERS

• 509,593 STRAWS AND COFFEE STIRRERS

• 441,053 PLASTIC UTENSILS, CUPS AND PLATES

• 26,585 TIRES (ENOUGH FOR 6,646 CARS PLUS A SPARE

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE VORTEX SEE LINK BELOW

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

WHAT CAN YOU DO? ITS SIMPLE, PLEASE DISPOSE OF YOUR TRASH PROPERLY, DON'T BUY OR USE STYROFOAM IF YOU CAN AVOID IT,  AND PLEASE USE THE CLOTH SHOPPING BAGS INSTEAD OF THE PLASTIC BAGS FROM THE STORE.  IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO GET USED TO USING THEM.  I NOW KEEP THEM ON THE FRONT SEAT OF MY CAR SO I DON'T FORGET TO USE THEM AND NOW MY HUSBAND IS USING THEM TOO.
 
START A COMPOST BIN, AND PURCHASE A RAIN BARREL TO HARVEST RAINWATER.

PENNY WISE AND POUND FOOLISH

Today I decided that I was going to count the amount of batteries I collected over a year period.  You would think I had nothing better to do but believe me I have my plate full.  Why did I do this you ask?

It all started when our city of Fort Worth sent a notice out last year announcing that you can recycle certain items, one item being batteries. I was happy that our town would make it easy for me to recycle. I decided to set up a little recycle center in the garage.  I used some plastic shelving that outlived its usefulness for anything else as a recycle station. I located it in an area that you had to walk by to get out of the garage to our cars.  It was in your face! Cardboard, plastic bags, batteries, magazines, phone books, fluorescent bulbs, old insecticides, paint, etc. would be conveniently placed on the shelves so I could easily gather it and take it to the recycle center. I have always thought I was using a lot of batteries but since I didn't see them, I had no idea.  Now,  there they were in my face daily, every time I went to the car or did the laundry there they were sticking out like a sore thumb breeding in the box I stored them in.  They must have been breeding as I could not have possibly used that much.

I gave a lot of thought to buying a battery charger over the years but just was too cheap to pay the initial layout for the charger and then the batteries. So I went along like I always did and just kept buying batteries as I needed them.  I noticed that AA'S seemed to be the battery I used most.  They came from my camera, keyboard, remotes, computer mouse, clocks and God only knows where else I used them.

In our last City of Saginaw newsletter, it was announced that they would designate a day where you could take certain items and dispose of them properly.  That day is Oct. 10th, this Saturday.  I decided that since they were making it even more convenient for me to get rid of them that I would gather up all the items that I was saving to take to a drop off in the Fort Worth location and instead take it to the Saginaw location closer to my home.

I looked at the box of batteries and was horrified and then curious how many batteries might be in that box.  Hence the battery inventory.
101 AA'S
  34 AAA'S
    3 9 volt
  33 D's
    1 C

I conservatively priced them at .85 each.  After doing the math, the total spent came to $146.20 spent on batteries in one year!  What a fool I have been by taking the "pay me now or pay me later" position!

Since I scour Ebay for deals I decided to see how much a battery charger for the AA's would be.  Oh My God, I found a charger with four batteries for $15.84 with free shipping.  I bought the charger and now am on my way to committing to buy other chargers for the other batteries.  I am stopping the breeding, or bleeding, both apply.







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