10 Little things I do to try to respect the environment (Page 1 of 5)

Ouch, touche'...

As long as I know, pretty much everything a windsurf or surfboard is made of is bad for the environment.
There's a lot of chemicals involved in the contruction of a surfboard and a lot of... leftovers (sorry, can't find a better word). Once built, a board itself doesn't damage the environment (unless you hit a turtle). It's the building and what you do with it when it's time to throw it away that's bad.

Jeff, wonna add something about the envinronmental impact of building and disposing of a sail?

10 Little Thoughts to understand the Others

1. Cashier at the grocery store has been trained to give out several plastic bags, because if bags are too heavy they may brake, and consumers may complain.  Just ask for recycled paper bags, almost all stores have them, in addition you can always bring the plastic bags to redemption center.
2. Working population may find the dryers useful, by the way how many laundries do you make in a year?
3. Working population has its playtime at night, so they go out, watch TV, study, if they are in school and so on. It is not about living following the nature,  it is about living!
4. About "rich" people I would not be that judgemental, how can you know that most of rich people do not reclycle? Is there any reserch on that?
5. I believe that people can spend money as they like, and for someone it means to have a 6 cylinders  SUV, someone else wants a 2 milllion dollar home, or 20 surfboards and winsurfboards in the garage. As long as one respects others persons and properties it is fine.
6. Bottled water is handy, bottles are recycleable, the industry creates jobs, and again when a person is busy filling up a bottle or two every morning can be difficult to remember.
7. What do you have against canned tomateos? I can make a great spaghetti sauce with organic canned tomatoes and save money, organic fresh tomatoes are expensive, and the one that are not organic involve the use of pesticides, which are not healthy for the environment.
8. I miss walking everyday, but how one can walk on Maui, besides walking on the beach, at the Mall, or to the post office when shopping at the grocery store in Paia?
9. Do you really think that there is a lot of rubbish around here? Maybe compared to North and Middle european countries, yes, but think about the "Bel Paese"? However, there is room for improvement here, that's for sure.
10. According to Darwin's theory of "The Survival of the Fittest" the stronger will survive and the weakest will disapperar, it has been like this for million of years, humans and non humans adapted to  environmental changes several times, what we can do is containing the damages we did, since I believe that each adult person has somewhat contributed to this situation, even Al Gore and Leo Di Caprio,(and would check which cars they have in their garages) and see what will happen.
Maybe the cute turtle of the picture will develop a digestive system which will enable it to digest all plastic and other rubbish and it will become the stronger specie and run the world.
That's my take in on it. Have a great day!

Last edited by girl next door (2007-07-20 13:20:08)

Dear girl next door,

thank you for your post. There's a couple of points that show how completely clueless and unaware we can all be.

1. corporations train the cashiers to give away many plastic bags and I train them to give few. It's one of my ways of trying to change things. This post is another. Maybe not particularly effective, but at least I'm doing something.
And now that you make me think about, I'll print out that photo of the tree with the plastic bags, make hundres of photocopies and hand them to all the cashiers of all the big stores in Kahului. I may even hand it out to the clients at the exit. Cool, it's gonna be fun... let's see if I can get a few phone numbers too.. ;-)
Plastic is extremely hard to recycle. Please, PLEASE, read this http://www.healthgoods.com/Education/En … lastic.htm and learn something. Recycling is WAY overrated. Reusing is the way.
Recycled paper bags? Never seen them at walmart (if there are they are so well hidden that nobody knows about them) and plus they are made out of paper products... that are made out of trees!
2. working population have the chance to choose to do their laundry on sundays and use a line instead of a drier if the weather allows. It all comes down to their priorities.
Thanks to the warm weather of Maui, I pretty much only wear shorts, so I rarely do laundries on my own. I just throw a couple of shirts a week in a friend's laundry, so that I don't have to do a full cycle of washing machine for just a few clothes (other common habit).
3. fine. I'm not saying that everybody should live like me. I'm just trying to provoke constructive thinking.
4. no research, don't take me too literally. The people that throws cans and bottles in the garbage are evidently richER than the people that pick them out to make a few bucks... right? That's what I meant.
5. a big SUV that burns a gallon of gas every 15 miles or less contributes to air pollution and global warming more than a more efficient car. We'll talk about respect for the others when Kuau will be submerged by the ocean...
6. geez... difficult to remember? Again, it's up to everyone's priorities...
7. what do I have against canned tomatoes? ... THE BLODDY CAN!!!!
8. you're welcome to borrow my bycicle.
9. there's way too much garbage in the world. Again, please watch "Hawaii a message in the waves" and start acting as the animal lover you claim to be.
10. exactly. It has been natural selection for million of years. Too bad that the human species have introduced way too many artificial things that are NOT NATURAL at all in the last few hundred years...
If the turtle developing a digestive system capable to digest plastic bags was a joke, it wasn't funny.

Ok, 'nough of that.

This post had the double purpouse of raising awareness (hopefully it worked next door), but also to learn from all the readers new ways of respecting the environment. Any suggestions out there?

Madrussian,

agree with everything. But that is a different and even bigger problem that, as you say, only science will hopefully fix.
Yes, let's imagine a world in which there was such a source of renewable and clean energy. It will be a lot better from the pollution point of view, but it won't change the humans' habit of using and unnecessarily disposing all kind of polluting shit.
Come on, how many out there wash their ziplocks (when possible) and use them again? I personally know less than five...

There’s a good article in the current Maui Weekly about the ‘ban the bag’ campaign here on Maui. Retailers would be required by law to change their ways and here’s a website with some clear facts www.reusablebags.com

On the other spectrum how mental is this…..I heard a report yesterday on NPR (www.npr.org my plagiarized version here)) that Whole Foods stores were mobbed with customers lining up to buy limited edition canvas bags printed with: "I'm not a plastic bag." !!!!! And all because they were designed by a top fashion designer chick whose bags usually sell for more than $1,500. Plus it gets crazier; a similar offer at a store in Taiwan caused a stampede of shoppers, the riot police were called in, and 30 would-be buyers were hospitalized!  Wotdafuk is that all about?!

In Australia every supermarket and department store sells very cheap fabric bags at the checkout, most will still supply plastic bags but fortunately there has been a real shift in the culture away from them. The fabric bags are reusable and strong, every year when my mother in law comes from UK she takes home a heap to give to friends. (Maybe Jeff could print up some Hot Sails ones when he's doing the T-Shirts!)  The biggest chain of Home Depot equivalent stores doesn't even have bags any more, just beyond the checkout area is a big enclosure where they put all the suitable sized cardboard boxes that the goods on the shelves came in, you just grab the one that suits the stuff you are buying.

I'm not trying to say we are different to people anywhere else, the funny thing is that some simple stuff like this becomes "normal" very quickly. Seems to take a "shove" from some enlightened people in the community to change direction. As a nation, Australia is right down there with the U.S. in terms of greenhouse gas per person, hopefully doing a whole lot of little things spreads some awareness.

On our recent trip to Maui it was interesting to see the reaction of the checkout people dealing with us having the supermarket trolley full of apples and bananas rolling around in with everything else, the tough fruit and vegies don't need another bag. Refusing bags at the checkout was either greeted with elation or some funny looks!

Good on you Giampaolo for this contribution to awareness, and for the one on one checkout person re-education.

As far as paper bags, what I meant was paper bags made out of recycled paper, and as far as plastic bags one can recycle those as well. www.mauicounty.gov/recycle

http://www.co.maui.hi.us/departments/En … rintview=Y

FYI

Sharon,
good sites! Even though the first is a .com one, I like the facts reported in here: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=2.
I also like the Carbon atom cartoon on the npr one. Thanks.

Jonathan,
good job at stepping out of the box while in Maui. There might be a lot of caring individual behaviors over there, but I can't forget that Australia was the only country together with the States not to sign the Kyoto protocol for CO2 emissions... I hope you guys changed the government since then. The States unfortunately didn't...
Also Costo (the store I hate most here, because it's the symbol of Babilonian consumerism) doesn't give any plastic bags at all, but offers used cardboard to their customers. Too bad that every single item sold in the store is packaged in plastic. Now even wine bottles corks are plastic.
Our society that has become so incredibly plastic dependent. Time for a turn...

G.N.D.,
recycling has probably done more damage than good. I know too many people that keep getting unnecessary stuff just because... "Oh, no problem... I recycle!"

Here's a few facts about recycling in Maui.
Alluminum cans recycling is probably the most effective, since they are turned into a component of what will be used to build roads.
Glass bottles are recycled into glass. From Wikipedia: "Every ton of glass used for producing new glass items saves 315kg of carbon dioxide": good. A ton of reused glass would introduce NO CO2 AT ALL: better!
Plastic bottles and bags are by far the most difficult to recycle and the process is very polluting. As long as I know there's no recycling facilities in Maui, so I don't really know what happens to that.
The fact that the Maui county has a recycling program doesn't mean that they really recycle it. I'll investigate on that.

Again, REUSING is the way.

You are giving mixed messages, that's what i call Passive Aggressive!

Farts, poops, and too many babies,

Here is a piece that Chantalle, my wife, wrote for submission to the Harvard Review.
I am very proud of it. 

http://www.standupzone.com/thunder.htm

Great article, Chantalle.
I wasn't happy to find out how much of a fart polluter I am, specially considering that I read it sitting on the throne... The fact that I have no kids (at least that I am aware of...), made me feel a little better.

Yes, we are way too many. We can't stop pooing, but we can stop making too many kids and producing that much garbage.
Let me be more passive agressive (?) and remind everyone to make an effort to try to reuse instead of recycle.

HSL, thanks for the contribution.

Also, let me report here two comments I received on my blog. For some reasons (maybe the registration process?), some people seem not to like the forum idea...

Anonymous, better late than never. If there's something I don't like, I try to change it (and enjoy my life at the same time). You sound like you're dead instead.

Thanks for the contribution.

Once again, anyone with some little, easy to achieve ways to pollute less at home, at work, at the beach.. please share it here. Thanks.

Last edited by cammar (2007-07-23 06:31:27)

Here are a couple of things:

-if you drive, combine errands into one trip instead of multiple single trips
-maintain your vehicle (tires, oil changes, tune ups, etc) to keep up mpg
-fly as infrequently as possible, and if you do fly, purchase quality carbon offsets
-consider an alternative fuel vehicle. I drive a jetta powered by biodiesel. There are many options.
-consider eating less meat. The meat industry is a major environmental polluter and livestock contribute methane to global warming, plus deforestation to create grazing lands.
-purchase less plastic. for example, don't buy bottled water in plastic. Municipal tap water is often better and safer than bottled water, and costs many times less. Take a bottle, fill it up and put in the fridge if you want cold water. Try a reusable cup for coffee instead of a new paper one every time at starbucks.
-energy and water efficiency measures in your home: high efficiency toilets, showerheads, lightbulbs, etc. Fix leaks in your plumbing and irrigation systems.
-try riding a bike to work or for errands if possible.
-consider solar pannels if you own a home and can afford it
-at work, set up recycling containers, encourage recycled paper purchasing, turn off unnecessary computers and lights
-for water quality, don't wash anything into storm drains that feed directly into bays, rivers, or oceans.

Other ideas?
-Ben