Filed under: Cars + Transport, Nature + Travel, Society + Media, Waste + Recycling | Tags: Adopt a Highway, Kansas, Keep Kansas Clean, litter, Matt Bristow, pollution, trash
An old man walks through the grass on the side of the highway. He stabs trash with a sharp pole and places it into a bag. This stretch of road runs along his property and he was just trying to keep it clean. When passing motorists throw trash from their vehicles they are littering on people’s property. Someone has to pick it up. In this circumstance it was the guy who lived closest to the trash.
Throughout the state of Kansas there are organizations dedicating their time to help collect roadside trash. The Kansas Adopt a Highway program has been operating since 1990, relying on volunteers to pick up the trash of their fellow Kansans. Highways are adopted for two years and the organization’s name is posted along the side of the road.
There are many miles of roadway that are not currently adopted. In the windy state of Kansas the trash can blow far from the roadway where no one will come across it for years. When it rains the water will carry this trash into our streams and rivers. This poses a threat to wildlife and pollutes our agricultural land.
It’s bad enough that we are filling up landfills with trash. However, people will continue to throw trash from their vehicles, despite looming littering citations. As long as there are organizations to donation their time, these roadways will appear cleaner. Only if people learn to Give a Hoot, don’t Pollute, will we curb this litter problem
-Matt Bristow
photo credit: johnnygeo-blog.blogspot.com
video credit: youtube.com
Filed under: Society + Media, Waste + Recycling | Tags: addiction, cigarettes, death, litter, smoker, social smoker, waste
I never grew up with cigarettes. My parents both smoked, but never in the house and never in the car. Everyday after dinner they would go outside and smoke a cigarette on the porch and talk about their days. My Mom quit a few years ago, citing acupuncture and will power as how she quit, but my Dad still smokes to this day.
Everyone knows smoking is bad for your health. We all know that “Cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer mortality (death) in the United States.” But what about the environment?
The air pollution emitted by cigarettes is 10 times greater than diesel car exhaust?
Not so surprising is how much it takes to make a cigarette.
4 miles of paper an hour to roll and pack cigarettes. To the tobacco industry and smokers all a tree is good for is to produce 100 cigarettes.
But What about the butts? Many people don’t like to litter, but some think that this doesn’t apply to smokers.
This post isn’t about these alarming statistics, it’s about me. I started smoking when I was a sophomore living in Hash hall. People would socialize and smoke cigarettes out on the porch, and that’s how I got sucked in. Though I at first thought of me as a “social smoker” (whatever that is) but am now addicted.
What will make me quit?
The smell didn’t.
The coughing didn’t.
The disgusting interior of my car didn’t.
The wasted money didn’t.
Will these facts about the environment? Maybe it will help. I haven’t smoked all day.
-Tyler Waugh
Filed under: Local Events + Action, Waste + Recycling | Tags: "reduce, 3 r's, crap, debris, diaper, filth, garbage, junk, landfill, Lawrence, litter, poo, poop, recycle, reuse, rubbish, waste
Has the poo crusade of Brad Pooterish had an impact in America? Let’s take a look at waste reduction and recycling in Lawrence, KS to find out.
Use less CRAP, people! Reuse your crap! Recycle your crap!
~ Sarah H
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Filed under: Local Events + Action, Waste + Recycling | Tags: "reduce, 3 r's, debris, diaper, diapers, filth, garbage, junk, landfill, Lawrence, litter, poop, recycle, reuse, rubbish, trash, waste
This is the account of a poo expert’s crusade to save landfill space for dirty diapers. Brad Pooterish, founder and CEO of Daddies Using Diapers (DUDs) shares a dirty little secret behind America’s looming landfill crisis.
All statistics in this video are true and based on real reports from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Diapers really do make up only 1.4% of the waste stream, while paper products and yard waste make up 47%. NO, paper and yard waste do NOT decompose in landfills. Landfills are designed to be a “dry tomb” environment; waste becomes mummified due to the lack of moisture and air flow.
What’s in your landfill?
REDUCE – REUSE – RECYCLE
For more info, visit http://www.epa.gov/msw/facts.htm
~ Sarah H
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