Shades of Green - It's not all or nothing

You don’t have to go out and buy all new energy-star appliances, install sun panels, and build a wind turbine in your backyard to be “green” – although it’s nice if you can afford it! And you don’t have to completely change your lifestyle to make an impact on your carbon footprint. It’s all about getting started; doing what you can, and feeling good about it. Sometimes it’s hard to get started, and then hard to keep it up – believe me, I know! I vowed to stop using plastic bags when shopping … but I kept forgetting to put the reusable bags back in the car when I was done unpacking groceries. One quick solution was to buy one of those nifty nylon bags that scrunches up into a very small attached bag that fits into the smallest of purses, or can hook onto a belt or backpack. So now I always have at least one reusable bag with me all the time – and while it’s “only one bag”, if EVERYONE carried and used one bag, it would cause quite an impact!

Start with the three R’s – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, and see where it takes you. Simple actions like turning off lights when you leave a room (good; better – replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs), turning off your computer and other appliances when they aren’t in use (good; better – unplug them or buy a smart power strip), recycle plastic bags (good; better – use reusable bags when shopping). There are so many actions you can take that will make an impact!

I found an interesting web site called “One Million Acts of Green … when we all do one act, we act as one, and help the planet”. Check it out: http://bit.ly/uQK8i . There are suggestions for doing acts of green, checklists to check off what you already do, and what you pledge to do. You can create a free profile, and track your progress, as well as see the impact everyone is making. It’s packed with good ideas for green acts. It’s a start ….

Greenbeaver - Recycling Textbooks!

Greenbeaver will be working with Better World Books to recycle new and used textbooks, exam/desk/professional copies/instructor's edition textbooks, unmarked study guides, working papers, and course readers, published since 2005. These books will go to Better World Book's global literacy program, where books and funds will go to organizations such as Books for Africa, Invisible Children, National Center for Family Literacy, Room to Read, World Fund,and schools and libraries that are aligned with their mission of supporting global literacy.

This project will also support Greenbeaver's mission; and as a result of the recycling efforts, Greenbeaver will receive a donation for every book recycled. The money earned will be donated next fall. Faculty, staff, and students, please consider donating your new or used textbooks! Drop off locations: Information Desk, 8:00am-10:00pm daily. Hallway by the Cent Room, Friday, May 15 and Wednesday, May 20, 11:00am-1:00pm. Thank you!

Recycling Textbooks – the Gift That Keeps on Giving!

Greenbeaver just finished planting one tree for Earth Day – a beautiful Norway maple. It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times! If all of our newspaper was recycled, it would save about 250,000,000 trees each year. If everyone in the U.S. recycled just 1/10 of their newsprint, we would save the estimated equivalent of about 25 million trees a year.

More disturbing facts:

• Every day, Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw out 44 million. That’s the equivalent of dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week.
• The average office worker in the U.S. uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. That’s 4 million tons of copy paper used annually. Office workers in the US generate approximately 2 pounds of paper and paperboard products every day.
• In the U.S. we use about 85 million tons of paper and paperboard annually.
• Each year, more than 2 billion books, 350 million magazines, and 24 billion newspapers are published.

Paper and paperboard products represent the largest portion of our municipal waste stream (e.g., trash). So what can we do? Recycle!

One ton of recycled paper:

• Saves enough energy to power the average American home for six months.
• Saves 7,000 gallons of water.
• Save 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
• Saves 17 trees (35’ tall)
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions by one metric ton of carbon equivalent (MTCE).

Greenbeaver has the opportunity to work with a company that recycles used textbooks. They collect textbooks published in 2005 or later, and donate them to Books for Africa and the International Book Project. They also sell used textbooks and donate the money to these programs as well. They will pay college organizations (per book) that hold book drives.

Greenbeaver donates all money earned from recycling projects; think of the potential for continuous good this project can bring, particularly if Greenbeaver holds an annual book drive!

We can donate our used textbooks, and we can collect books from outside sources as well. This project truly supports the Greenbeaver mission! We will be working with Better World Books next fall, but we can start collecting books now. We encourage everyone to consider donating their used textbooks for this cause – watch for more information and details regarding drop off sites!