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Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Recycling Milestone
Only in the wacky town of Davis would I start to
celebrate my status as an awesome recycler!
I don’t think I have ever had as much
satisfaction on taking out my trash as I did last Wednesday. As I took out my
trash can I noticed the huge plastic 50 gallon can had only one small trash bag
in it. While my recycling (paper, plastic, aluminum and glass) was extremely
heavily and hard to push.
I felt so proud! I had arrived! I had reached a point in my life where I finally had more recycling than trash! I supposed this all has to do with living in Davis. We affectionately call this town the "People’s Republic of Davis". Why do we call it this? People of this town can get up in arms about the strangest things. We had a women arrested in Davis for snoring (she was disturbing the peace and a local noise ordinance since her snoring was so loud). We also had a major protest about a bridge project that would have cut across a major "Toad Thoroughfare". So being the environmentally friendly people that we are in Davis, we built a $14,000 "Toad Tunnel" that allows those little toads to hop across to and from their ponds without being run over. It was a very altruistic idea, but unfortunately the poor little toads couldn’t read the sign that said “Toad Tunnel” and continued to hop across the road. They became flat little toad pancakes and our poor toad tunnel has fallen into disuse.
And of course none of that could even compare to the latest Davis ruckus. Would you believe that in order to put a Target store in town that we had to vote on it ? And even more beguiling, there were actually voters in Davis who were dead set against putting a Target store in town. Their rallying cry was "Don't Big Box Davis". They also complained that Target donates large sums of money to the Republican party and therefore should not be allowed in town. Hey, I'm a registered Democrat--but I voted for Target anyway. Personally, I don't want to have to drive over 20 miles just to buy my family socks, shoes and underwear! Now by the way, this particular measure has passed despite a flurry of protest. Only in Davis would a Target store provoke public protests! In case you think I am joking I will provide a link to the "No on Measure K (Target Store) Website".
Yes, this is Davis—the town I love. We’re a bunch of wacky liberals and the city has slowly but surely affected my way of life. It all started slowly at first. When I first moved into Davis in 1993 my boyfriend (soon to be husband) and I would not recycle. Aluminum cans and glass bottles would routinely be thrown into the trash along with everything else. However, a long-term Davis resident (and personal friend of mine), Jodie, couldn’t condone such wasteful acts. She would regularly come over to our home and pull plastic, glass and aluminum cans out of our trash! It became such a routine of hers that I felt profoundly guilty about putting recyclables into the trash. If only to keep her from digging through my trash cans every time she visited--I would start to separate my trash from my recyclables. Soon I had three different recycling storage bins.(one for plastics and aluminum and glass, one for plastic bags and one for paper). I would even go so far as to take a cardboard box from my spaghetti and rip out the "plastic window" so that the box could be recycled. I have even done that with most of my junk mail (which also have many plastic windows)!
And now I have arrived! I have more recyclables than trash this week! But as I have said, this is Davis and I have not yet begun to recycle! To keep with the overall goal of helping the environment and reducing my footprint on the world I have taken up a few other tasks.
#1: I try to bike whenever possible. Now it is not always possible for me to bike everywhere. In fact, my teaching jobs are at least 30 miles away from my house. However, I bike when I can. Close to where I live is our local Nugget grocery store and University Covenant Church. (Hopefully there will also be a Target store nearby as well!) If the weather is nice I plan on biking to church every Sunday. My little 6-year-old daughter, has a "Trail-A-Bike" that hooks up on the back on my ten-speed bike. (Only a Davis nut would have such a contraption and they are all over town!) I also try to bike to our local grocery store area whenever possible. Now I cannot bike to the store when I have 10 bags of groceries to cart to and from my home. But if I’m not in a hurry, it’s not raining and need only two bags of groceries, then I take the bike to our local Nugget Market—and I feel good about it. Not only am I saving on gas bills, but I am also helping the environment and getting some exercise! (Trust me, I sorely need the exercise!)
#2: After the 2001 energy crisis in California I ended up buying Solar panels for our home. The solar panels provide 4kW (or about $60 worth of energy savings every month). However, it’s not about the money savings. It’s really about feeling good about the environment. What if every house in sunny California had solar panels? I think we could easily avoid building more nuclear power plants, it would probably prevent another energy crisis and it would help the environment all in one fell swoop!
#3: This hasn’t happened yet, but I want to get an electric car. You would probably think this would be an easy thing to do. At one point in the 1990’s increased production of electric cars were mandated by the California State Legislature. The state legislature required that 10% of all cars sold in California had to be electronic vehicles. The auto industry fought the law in court and won. Soon afterwards the major automakers (GM, Toyota, Ford) who made these wonderful, electric cars pulled them from production and even in some cases destroyed the very cars they had built and sold. (Almost all GM EV-1’s were totaled even when the owners begged GM to let them keep their electronic vehicles.) Because of this there are only a few electronic vehicles on the road that are still fully functioning and those cars that are still on the road now command prices that are higher than when they were originally sold! I hope to buy a new electric car sometime. There are plans to put some electric cars into production in the near future. With gas prices as high as they are I hope this will be sooner rather than later!
Here’s a few links you might want to peruse:
Zapworld
Mitsubishi EV
#4: I wasn’t able to get an electric car, but I have gone "enviro-happy" and I bought a "Toyota Prius" last night (Nov. 11th). (It’s not as environmentally sound as an electric car—but since the only affordable electric car I can buy goes only 40MPH (i.e. can’t be driven on the highway to work) then the Prius will have to do for now.) I must say that I have been getting some satisfaction out of driving a car with only the electric battery making the car go. The electric battery is all that powers the car when I am going 0-30 MPH. Once I get to about 35 MPH, the gas engine kicks in and gives my car the extra "OMPH" that it needs to drive on the highway. It’s a little disconcerting when I drive the car and start to slow down, the gas engine kicks off and the car is SILENT! It’s a little unnerving as I start imagining that the car is dead. But it isn’t! The car glides ahead smoothly without a sound! I can see why the Army wants these hybrids for it’s "stealth" benefits. I just like the fact that the car gets 50MPG in the city (due to high battery use while driving around town and 35MPG on the highway. For highway driving it is almost entirely running on the gas engine, so you don’t see as many benefits on the highway. And the best benefit of all is the "Car Pool Lane" vehicle bumper sticker that I have on my car. I can now drive to and from San Francisco and drive in the carpool lane even if there is only one person in the car! That’s just worth the $23,000 I paid right there!
Should I be proud? Well, I feel proud. It’s my little attempt to affect the earth in a positive way. The more I recycle—the more I am helping to preserve the environment. Each week that I pile paper and cardboard into the recycling bin, is probably one less tree that needs to be cut down. The self-same tree that helps reduce the carbon-dioxide in the air. It’s just a little step—but if perhaps others do the exact same thing we might make a difference together!
I felt so proud! I had arrived! I had reached a point in my life where I finally had more recycling than trash! I supposed this all has to do with living in Davis. We affectionately call this town the "People’s Republic of Davis". Why do we call it this? People of this town can get up in arms about the strangest things. We had a women arrested in Davis for snoring (she was disturbing the peace and a local noise ordinance since her snoring was so loud). We also had a major protest about a bridge project that would have cut across a major "Toad Thoroughfare". So being the environmentally friendly people that we are in Davis, we built a $14,000 "Toad Tunnel" that allows those little toads to hop across to and from their ponds without being run over. It was a very altruistic idea, but unfortunately the poor little toads couldn’t read the sign that said “Toad Tunnel” and continued to hop across the road. They became flat little toad pancakes and our poor toad tunnel has fallen into disuse.
And of course none of that could even compare to the latest Davis ruckus. Would you believe that in order to put a Target store in town that we had to vote on it ? And even more beguiling, there were actually voters in Davis who were dead set against putting a Target store in town. Their rallying cry was "Don't Big Box Davis". They also complained that Target donates large sums of money to the Republican party and therefore should not be allowed in town. Hey, I'm a registered Democrat--but I voted for Target anyway. Personally, I don't want to have to drive over 20 miles just to buy my family socks, shoes and underwear! Now by the way, this particular measure has passed despite a flurry of protest. Only in Davis would a Target store provoke public protests! In case you think I am joking I will provide a link to the "No on Measure K (Target Store) Website".
Yes, this is Davis—the town I love. We’re a bunch of wacky liberals and the city has slowly but surely affected my way of life. It all started slowly at first. When I first moved into Davis in 1993 my boyfriend (soon to be husband) and I would not recycle. Aluminum cans and glass bottles would routinely be thrown into the trash along with everything else. However, a long-term Davis resident (and personal friend of mine), Jodie, couldn’t condone such wasteful acts. She would regularly come over to our home and pull plastic, glass and aluminum cans out of our trash! It became such a routine of hers that I felt profoundly guilty about putting recyclables into the trash. If only to keep her from digging through my trash cans every time she visited--I would start to separate my trash from my recyclables. Soon I had three different recycling storage bins.(one for plastics and aluminum and glass, one for plastic bags and one for paper). I would even go so far as to take a cardboard box from my spaghetti and rip out the "plastic window" so that the box could be recycled. I have even done that with most of my junk mail (which also have many plastic windows)!
And now I have arrived! I have more recyclables than trash this week! But as I have said, this is Davis and I have not yet begun to recycle! To keep with the overall goal of helping the environment and reducing my footprint on the world I have taken up a few other tasks.
#1: I try to bike whenever possible. Now it is not always possible for me to bike everywhere. In fact, my teaching jobs are at least 30 miles away from my house. However, I bike when I can. Close to where I live is our local Nugget grocery store and University Covenant Church. (Hopefully there will also be a Target store nearby as well!) If the weather is nice I plan on biking to church every Sunday. My little 6-year-old daughter, has a "Trail-A-Bike" that hooks up on the back on my ten-speed bike. (Only a Davis nut would have such a contraption and they are all over town!) I also try to bike to our local grocery store area whenever possible. Now I cannot bike to the store when I have 10 bags of groceries to cart to and from my home. But if I’m not in a hurry, it’s not raining and need only two bags of groceries, then I take the bike to our local Nugget Market—and I feel good about it. Not only am I saving on gas bills, but I am also helping the environment and getting some exercise! (Trust me, I sorely need the exercise!)
#2: After the 2001 energy crisis in California I ended up buying Solar panels for our home. The solar panels provide 4kW (or about $60 worth of energy savings every month). However, it’s not about the money savings. It’s really about feeling good about the environment. What if every house in sunny California had solar panels? I think we could easily avoid building more nuclear power plants, it would probably prevent another energy crisis and it would help the environment all in one fell swoop!
#3: This hasn’t happened yet, but I want to get an electric car. You would probably think this would be an easy thing to do. At one point in the 1990’s increased production of electric cars were mandated by the California State Legislature. The state legislature required that 10% of all cars sold in California had to be electronic vehicles. The auto industry fought the law in court and won. Soon afterwards the major automakers (GM, Toyota, Ford) who made these wonderful, electric cars pulled them from production and even in some cases destroyed the very cars they had built and sold. (Almost all GM EV-1’s were totaled even when the owners begged GM to let them keep their electronic vehicles.) Because of this there are only a few electronic vehicles on the road that are still fully functioning and those cars that are still on the road now command prices that are higher than when they were originally sold! I hope to buy a new electric car sometime. There are plans to put some electric cars into production in the near future. With gas prices as high as they are I hope this will be sooner rather than later!
Here’s a few links you might want to peruse:
Zapworld
Mitsubishi EV
#4: I wasn’t able to get an electric car, but I have gone "enviro-happy" and I bought a "Toyota Prius" last night (Nov. 11th). (It’s not as environmentally sound as an electric car—but since the only affordable electric car I can buy goes only 40MPH (i.e. can’t be driven on the highway to work) then the Prius will have to do for now.) I must say that I have been getting some satisfaction out of driving a car with only the electric battery making the car go. The electric battery is all that powers the car when I am going 0-30 MPH. Once I get to about 35 MPH, the gas engine kicks in and gives my car the extra "OMPH" that it needs to drive on the highway. It’s a little disconcerting when I drive the car and start to slow down, the gas engine kicks off and the car is SILENT! It’s a little unnerving as I start imagining that the car is dead. But it isn’t! The car glides ahead smoothly without a sound! I can see why the Army wants these hybrids for it’s "stealth" benefits. I just like the fact that the car gets 50MPG in the city (due to high battery use while driving around town and 35MPG on the highway. For highway driving it is almost entirely running on the gas engine, so you don’t see as many benefits on the highway. And the best benefit of all is the "Car Pool Lane" vehicle bumper sticker that I have on my car. I can now drive to and from San Francisco and drive in the carpool lane even if there is only one person in the car! That’s just worth the $23,000 I paid right there!
Should I be proud? Well, I feel proud. It’s my little attempt to affect the earth in a positive way. The more I recycle—the more I am helping to preserve the environment. Each week that I pile paper and cardboard into the recycling bin, is probably one less tree that needs to be cut down. The self-same tree that helps reduce the carbon-dioxide in the air. It’s just a little step—but if perhaps others do the exact same thing we might make a difference together!
Posted: Mon - November 13, 2006 at 12:48 PM