Adventures in Sustainability

Posted by AJ! Clonts
AJ! Clonts
AJ! Clonts was born in Murphy, North Carolina and moved to Ohio three years ago.
User is currently offline
on August 15, 2012
in Community Voices

My fianc??, Sharon Pearson, introduced me to the world of sustainability. Much of my life I had some knowledge of recycling and energy saving practices: however, I did not realize the full impact I had in making my community a better place, both now and for generations in the future.

Upon arriving to Ohio from North Carolina, my recycling efforts began quite simply, with saving aluminum cans and taking them to a recycling center for money.  With further knowledge and education, I began recycling at home by sorting metals and plastics labeled as recyclable for trash day, using a recycling bag as a separator. This bag was placed next to the trashcan as a reminder to consider recycling over throwing our waste away. After a short period of time, we were filling up the recycling container much faster than the ???regular??? refuse container.  In fact, we do not place the refuse container out on the curb but every few weeks.

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When in Doubt...

Posted by David W. Orr
David W. Orr
David W. Orr is the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies
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on July 30, 2012
in Community Voices

We've warmed the Earth by more than 0.8??C, with that much more likely on the way. A 2??C increase by 2050 is likely with absolutely no assurance that we can stop it there. Even in the early stages of climate destabilization we're now witnessing weather extremes that were not supposed to occur until mid-century or later.

There's more. Since CO2 remains in the atmosphere for a long time, we have committed posterity to centuries of rising temperatures, rising sea levels flooding coastal cities, ecological chaos, and collateral effects including famine, violence, political and economic turmoil, and psychological trauma. This is emphatically not an argument for doing nothing. On the contrary, the stark reality ahead is the best reason we have to act with the kind of urgency and creativity that we once showed in World War II and in the creation of the Marshall Plan. The picture is clear: If we humans want to hang around for a while we will have to quickly "disinvent fire" or else we'll fry. The big numbers that govern climate and Earth systems don't give a damn about Capitalism, the Dow Jones, or the American Dream. They work with no remorse whatsoever.

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