kamaral’s Recent Comments

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  Try freecycle!

  You might also want to check out if there is a local "freecycle" or craigslist. It's a great option for keeping items out of landfills, be they tapes, CD cases, or just about anything! Yahoo.com has freecycle groups all over the country, where people can join, post items they'd like to see gone, get items for free, and even request stuff. Craigslist.com has essentially the same thing under their "free" category in many areas. (Heck, if you think someone might actually want that "Color me Badd" tape, you might even be able to sell it on craigslist!) I checked out the CD recycle place Umbra listed in Massachusetts, as we're looking for a bunch of DVD cases at work for storage, but they do only crush up the plastic and metal for recycled material. Something like freecycle could give those cases yet another life before they got crushed.On Umbra on recycling tapes and videos posted 3 years, 4 months ago 2 Responses

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  Needs vs. available resources

  Umbra--though usually right on--misses the point when it comes to education/income and footprints. It's very easy to minimize your footprint if you live in the city (preferably an energy efficient apt. building), take public transportation to work (or even work from home), and still manage to purchase locally grown/organic food (often found in more expensive supermarkets). Income has a lot to do with a person's footprint. For instance, whether or not you can even afford the expensive rents of a city, or even the cost of public transportation hinges on income. In my case, there are commuter buses I could take to work, but it's actually quite expensive, as they're the ones that also take folks to the airport. While I don't work in the city, I do work in an expensive part of the world, and can't afford to live close by. I purchased the best car I could that was most efficient (an Echo), but couldn't afford the 4x higher pricetag of a hybrid, with minimal mileage improvement. I buy local foods when I can--usually in the summer from farmer's markets--and cannot always afford to buy organic foods. My home is modestly sized for the area (where many places are knocked down for McMansions). I have a housemate but no children, so I don't have as many people banging around my house than if I contributed to population growth.

  While we all need to be responsible for our own actions, the design of our cities and towns need to be reevaluated--and where possible, changed. I lived in England for a year, and never owned a car. I didn't need one to get to work or the supermarket. But our system of highways--while very convenient--make it dangerous, if not impossible to walk or bike to work or the store. Holding our local, state and federal governments responsible for this sprawl is necessary. And hopefully the idea of more cohousing (which Umbra also covered recently) will catch on as well.On Umbra on ecological footprints, again posted 3 years, 11 months ago 3 Responses