nice tidbit from Breszny

The Nashville Scene publishes Rob Breszny's Free Will Astrology every week, but you can get it at his website, too.

In the email he sent out this week (many thanks to my boss for passing this on every week), there was this very nice factoid:

REBORN STEEL

The North American steel industry annually recycles millions of tons of steel scrap from recycled cans, automobiles, appliances, construction materials, and other steel products. The scrap is remelted to produce new steel. Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone. The industry's overall recycling rate is 68 percent.

Thanks, Whole Foods!

Whole Foods finally got some biodegradable meal boxes that actually fit a whole meal. They're made of bullrushes.

Yay!
The plastic ones that I had to use when I forgot my rubbermaid one always irritated me.

I am really looking forward to this weekend - hopefully Monday I will actually have caught up with everything and can focus on having a regular schedule, complete with actual posts rather than silly posts. I am pretty proud of myself for providing a picture for this one, despite its simplicity :)

EPA air standards & Williamson county

Driving into work this morning on my insanely long commute really pinched this morning because of a story i heard on NPR - Apparently Williamson county is one of 345 counties in the US that is now above the new smog limit that's just been set by the EPA.

Besides the obvious (dirty air = yuck!), what bothers me about it all is this:

"The EPA's new smog limit is 75 parts per billion of ozone... The EPA's independent science advisory panel unanimously had said the standard should be no higher than 70 parts per billion...

Industry groups, which had said before the announcement that the limit shouldn't be lowered at all, said they were disappointed with the decision.

The new standard "could have a devastating effect on manufacturing employment," said John Engler, chief of the National Association of Manufacturers. "

ARGH!!!!!!! If you are doing something that is hurting/killing people, then you either need to stop or find another, non-lethal way! Good god! They're "disappointed"?!?!?!?!?!

Well, I'm disappointed that little kids in big cities have asthma at an alarmingly disproportionate rate! I'm disappointed that when i use a sponge to clean off my window sills or outdoor furniture, there's black nastiness that reminds me of what's in my LUNGS (read some more about air quality and health here). I know that Nashville isn't the Bronx, but if I remember correctly from my Geology class back in the day, Nashville is ituated in a 'geographic bowl', where, due to the topography, pollutants get trapped and sort of settle over the city. So there are air quality concerns here that are on my mind. But Industry is disappointed, so let's not get ahead of ourselves...

a 'green' St. Patrick's day

So, the new job is going quite well... but that means my green blogging - pobrecita! - is suffering.

Do as I say, not as I do - don't let your Green Life suffer because your financial, housing and professional life is in turmoil!

Be really Green this St. Patrick's Day - check out this awesome Slate article about the relatively green-ness of green beer.

Then, go even greener by buying some local suds from Yazoo Brewery.

And if you're going out, Dan McGuinness is the mainstream choice (I went last year and it was pretty fun but also super crowded), but you should also check out the Family Wash over in East Nashville, where they've got locally made beer brats and vegetarian shepherd's pie!