Those who live far from oceans may not give much thought to coral reefs. However, coral reefs are very important to the health of the ocean, as well as providing many benefits to people. The article at the link below describes ways that coral reefs are beneficial. The article doesn’t cover how to protect coral reefs, but here are a few ideas from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
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Recently I was talking to a friend about vampire energy, which is the electricity used by many devices to maintain a standby condition. Many of these devices use small amounts of electricity even when sleeping or turned off. Devices with clocks and internal thermostats to maintain a specific temperature as well as many “smart” electronic products use vampire energy. My friend was interested in knowing how much power is used worldwide for this vampire energy, so I went looking for a number. According to the article below, “Studies from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have found that more than 100 billion kilowatt-hours are wasted every year because of vampire energy, costing American consumers over $19—about $165 per US household on average—and 50 large (500-megawatt) power plants’ worth of electricity.” “Cutting vampire energy consumption in half, in the US alone, would be the equivalent of turning off the carbon emissions of a medium-sized country, like Jordan or Lebanon.” The article points out that “at the industrial level, 21 percent of all electricity consumed by buildings is wasted”. Most of us are not in charge of industrial facilities, but when at work we can at least turn lights off and unplug our phone chargers before we go home. Other things to consider:
I recently read some articles that state that many of the top US brands of toilet tissue contain no recycled content and are made with wood fiber from Canada’s boreal forests. Boreal forests cover vast expanses in Canada, Alaska, and Russia and are crucial to our planet, as they store 30% to 40% of land-based carbon. These forests make up one of the world’s last remaining stretches of true wilderness and are filled with centuries-old conifers and birches. Each year, industrial logging operations clearcut approximately one million acres of intact forest, feeding demand for Canada’s wood products—of which the United States is the largest purchaser. Much of this logging goes to make toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissues that consumers use once and then just throw away. Several of the typical brands of toilet paper in the US have no recycled content and are made with virgin forest fiber from the boreal forests.
There are many reasons to reconsider the brand of toilet paper you use. Boreal forests are important for our planet’s future. Toilet paper made with recycled content has one-third the carbon footprint of toilet paper made from virgin wood fiber from trees. Some companies offer these products made from more sustainable plants. Also, there are several types of bleaching processes used to manufacture toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissues, and some of the processes are more harmful to the environment than others. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has researched various brands in the US and has developed a report that uses several factors to evaluate the sustainability of various US brands of toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissue. The report is titled “The Issue with Tissue” https://www.nrdc.org/bio/ashley-jordan/2022-tissue-scorecard-tps-future-lies-sustainability and was last updated in 2022. I believe the report covers only US brands, but I hope non-US readers can use the information in the NRDC report to find information to evaluate your local brands. One other thing – evaluate your own habits. Are you using more toilet paper, facial tissue, or paper towels than required for each use? A reader reminded me of the phrase “Reduce, reuse, recycle” and these are listed in the order of importance. “Reduce” means that the use of the resource never occurs, so the resource is available for the future and the use of the ancillary resources to produce and transport the item also never occurs. Ending your use of single-use plastics is a simple example of an easy way to reduce. Reducing our use of resources (and our production of pollutants) is the most beneficial to our goal of a healthy planet.
Second is “reuse”. Use your creativity to reuse or repurpose an item that already exists rather than buying something new. A coat of paint might allow you to use an item for several more years. Food packaging containers that would normally be discarded could be used to store small items in a workshop or to bring home leftovers from a restaurant (and eliminate your use of a disposable restaurant take-home container). I have a very nice pair of wool mittens made from an old sweater that could no longer be cleaned or repaired. Buy previously owned items when you can. Reuse of an existing item means no resources will be used to produce something new, although smaller amounts of resources might be used for repairing, refurbishing, or repurposing an item. Recycling is important, but many items cannot be recycled for a variety of reasons. Don’t rely on recycling to solve the problem of our insatiable use of the earth’s resources, and make sure you know your local recycler’s guidelines. Putting the wrong thing in a recycling bin can ruin a whole batch of recyclable material. And be sure to buy items with recycled content when possible to help build the market for recycled materials. |
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