Today's Topics:
Buttoned-up
Fwd: more job opportunities w/ SF Recycling...
Remove from list
Reply to Guttentag's Reply in #234 to Suess on Zero Waste
Zero Waste in Principle to Zero Waste in Practice
Zero waste yes/Personal attacks no
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--- ----------------------------------------------------------------------Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 10:23:06 -0700 (PDT) From: fullcirc@halcyon.com (David L. Stitzhal) Subject: Buttoned-up
I appreciated the soul searching quality of Ed's comments as much as I enjoyed Steve's reports from the trenches. I thought I would add my own quick two bits here.
I have no bumper stickers on my car. I didn't wear a zero waste button at NRC. I didn't even pick one up (in hopes of achieving zero waste personally). Fortunately noone was hounding me to put one on at every urinal or after every seesion.
I do support the zero waste idea unwaveringly, and I do support GRN, and I believe I won a few converts to zero waste through detailed conversation at NRC, converts I am convinced I would not have won over if indeed I had been wearing my button.
Cheers,
David
David Stitzhal, MRP President Full Circle Environmental, Inc. 2955 36th Avenue South Seattle, WA 98144 206-723-0528 206-723-2452 fax Fullcirc@halcyon.com
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Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 21:46:47 -0400 (EDT) From: CRRA@aol.com Subject: Fwd: more job opportunities w/ SF Recycling...
--------------------- Forwarded message: From: Karen_Schkolnick@ci.sf.ca.us To: crra@aol.com Date: 97-09-29 20:41:44 EDT
Hi Gary, =20 Here's another opportunity. The deadline for this position is October= =20 6th. =20 =20 POSITION AVAILABLE SAN FRANCISCO RECYCLING PROGRAM =20 =20 Title: Assistant School Education Coordinator =20 Position Available: Immediately =20 Application Due: October 6th, 1997 =20 =20 Program Description: =20 The San Francisco Recycling Program is part of the Solid Waste=20 Management Program of the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer=20 in the City and County of San Francisco. The Recycling Program is=20 responsible for developing and implementing programs which will enable= =20 the City to meet and exceed the State mandated goal of recycling and=20 reducing 50% of its Solid Waste by the year 2000.=20 =20 Responsibilities and Tasks: =20 Under the general Supervision of the School Education Coordinator,=20 assist in the development and the day-to-day administration of=20 education programs and activities focusing on waste prevention,=20 re-use, recycling and composting for all K-12 schools in San=20 Francisco. =20 =20 Example of Duties: =20 Promote and develop recycling related activities in City schools 1. Conduct classroom presentations, field trips and activities to=20 educate students about solid waste and recycling.=20 2. Work with the School Education Coordinator in developing=20 activities, lessons and curricula.=20 3. Represent the program in various educational fairs and workshops.=20 4. Assist in producing the semi-annual newsletter for teachers. =20 =20 =20 Maintain the Teacher Resource Library 1. Oversee the lending library for educators. Manage and update=20 inventory of videos, books, learning boxes and other materials on a=20 regular basis. =20 2. Respond to requests and prepare materials for lending. Evaluate=20 materials for purchase.=20 3. Maintain recycling related information files.=20 =20 -over- =20 Administrative Duties: 1. Respond to mail requests for the school education program,=20 coordinate mass mailings of materials such as the newsletter, and=20 maintain a log of materials mailed.=20 2. Promote, collate, and distribute curricula to schools. 3. Order and assemble all materials needed for specific workshops and= =20 programs.=20 4. Distribute teacher's packets and other educational materials to=20 schools. 5. Maintain and update database on schools in San Francisco and track= =20 related school programs. =20 =20 Additional projects may include: 1. Assist in implementing waste prevention programs at school sites.=20 2. Supervise the school education intern projects.=20 =20 Minimum Qualifications: =20 Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies, Education, Liberal Arts or= =20 a related field. A minimum of 2 years full-time work experience, including one year of= =20 experience working with children and conducting classroom=20 presentations. =20 Excellent writing, speaking and presentation skills. Must be detail-oriented and good with follow-up.=20 Ability to work independently and in a team environment. =20 Four years of work experience may be substituted for the required=20 education on a year-for-year basis. =20 =20 Desirable Qualifications: =20 Working knowledge of computers; IBM windows, WORD, and Paradox=20 database program Familiarity with San Francisco's school system (public and private). = =20 Familiarity with and interest in recycling principles. Fluency in Spanish, Cantonese, or other non-English language commonly= =20 used in San Francisco.=20 =20 Compensation: Salary range $35,366 to $42,856 annually, 40 hours per=20 week. =20 (Appointment is to lowest step unless approved by the=20 Civil Service Commission.) =20 Some evening and weekend work required. =20 =20 How to Apply: Send resume and cover letter to: Assistant School Education Coordinator Recruitment San Francisco Recycling Program 1145 Market Street, Suite 401 San Francisco, CA 94103 =20 Applications must be received no later than 5 PM, Monday, October 6th,= =20 1997 (Deadline may be extended) =20 An Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities, Women and Disabled=20 candidates are encouraged to apply. =20 =20 (Persons with disabilities who might need accommodations during the=20 application and selection process should contact Annie Cabatuan at=20 554-3400).=20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20
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Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 12:57:33 -0700 From: Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority <mickeyy@tlk.net> Subject: Remove from list
My personal account has ended up on your mailing list, please remove this account (mickeyy@tlk.net) and make sure you have my work account (recycle@tlk.net).
Thank you. Mickey
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Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 12:21:23 -0500 From: RecycleWorlds <anderson@msn.fullfeed.com> Subject: Reply to Guttentag's Reply in #234 to Suess on Zero Waste
In #234, Roger Guttentag replied to Steve's "Letters from Orlando", he =3D says:
"I can appreciate Steve's strong enthusiasm for Zero Waste as I perceive =3D at the core of his arguments that, fundamentally, Zero Waste is morally =3D right and that is why you should support it. I agree that there is a =3D moral grounding to Zero Waste but I also believe that not every Zero =3D Waste supporter will see it in the same moral light as Steve does or in =3D any moral terms at all."
I share much of what Roger is alluding to. God Steve has a freight =3D train load of enthusiasm and energy that's invaluable.
But, his missives from the NRC Conference strike me as having gotten =3D rechanneled from creative thinking into coercive group-thought which is =3D something that has always scared me as to close for comfort to the =3D emotional process used by lots of terrible forces in human affairs (e.g. =3D crass patriotism, witch hunts, fascism).=3D20
That's why I also can emphasize so well with Ed's discomfort that his =3D letter noted with pressed by Steve. When framed this way to conform or =3D else, my gut response is to say no as a matter of priniciple without =3D regard to the merits of the issue.
So, while Steve's enthusiasm is great, I'd also like to weigh in urging =3D Steve to reorient his direction. Speaking just for myself, I can relate =3D a hell of lot better to Eric Lombardi's pitch (calling the effort a =3D "design principle") than to a demand to sign or else.
Beyond my own non-conformist proclivities, I suspect that Steve's =3D approach doesn't sells very far outside of the choir either.
We have to find ways to reach people where THEY are, not to demand that =3D they jump out of their socks to leap into our shoes: they won't.
Some of the ways that I've been thinking about are:
1. Developing a campaign to educate the public that the current "state =3D of the art" landfills are designed to and will leak and, when in =3D proximity to groundwater that serves as public water supplies, =3D contaminate our grandkids' drinking water.
2. Don't attack consumerism (acquiring more as a prescription for =3D happiness) as morally corrupt: instead ask people who mindlessly follow =3D that path whether they're getting what they're paying for, that is to =3D say is more stuff, in fact, making them happier in proportion to the =3D time taken to earn the funds to buy it all -- and helping people think =3D in those new pathways instead of attacking them like environmental =3D moralists are too prone to do.
For, when that enthusiasm comes across as effectively attacking someone =3D like Bill Sheehan for not being pure enough, it sounds to me more like =3D the reign of terror during the French Revolution than something I'd want =3D to join. It's time to stop eating our young.
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Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 23:12:49 +0900 From: oldxeye@crisscross.com (Hop) Subject: Zero Waste in Principle to Zero Waste in Practice
Sorry for repeating this message, but I've discovered that if you begin a paragraph with "From" (as I did yesterday) the server 'spits the dummy'.
(Not wishing Ed's comments to be taken out of context, refer to GreenYes #233 if necessary) Ed Boisson said,
>I still think "zero waste" is >a bit trite, and itself evasive in that it conveys the vision, but not >the enormity of the task, at hand. But if it's helping to get folks >bought in, well, I can't knock that.
To which I say:
The benefits of "Zero Waste" result not from its adoption as a philosophy, nor in it becoming policy, but rather from it being put into practice by individuals, members of households, and employees of organisations. To attain these benefits en masse however requires each of us to first adopt the philosophy, and then see value in the policy, so that we can each, in our individual ways, put the principle into practice in everyday ways.
According to Ed's further words, it seems the process has begun:
>..... Maybe I should be adding my perspective to the soup, >rather than drinking from a different bowl. > >..... In short, Steve Suess can count another convert to his ranks. His >perseverance hit the mark, and I agree: the zero waste campaign is a >good thing.
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Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 08:16:52 -0400 From: "Bill Sheehan" <bill_sheehan@mindspring.com> Subject: Zero waste yes/Personal attacks no
I am responding to various messages posted over the past week about (1) getting the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) to adopt a zero waste resolution and (2) my work as chair of the GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN).
1. My strategy for getting the National Recycling Coalition to endorse zero waste is based on the premise that we will accomplish more if we respect the intelligence of our potential allies than if we disrespect them by hitting them cold and trying to embarrass them into compliance.
Hitting the NRC cold could well have alienated our allies on the board. We knew that NRC's rules state that a motion must be introduced 30 days before a vote, so that board members can adequately consider the issue (the zero waste resolution was proposed less than two weeks before the Sept. 20 board meeting). Substantive motions on major policy issues are not taken up right before the installation of a new board of directors. Both of these provisions serve to respect board members' intelligence =96 rather than heard them into hasty decisions. =20
If getting NRC to endorse zero waste is an important objective, we need to build our support with the skill and determination that will be needed to achieve zero waste. Last November, I got the NRC board to change the organization's mission statement to recognize that recycling is not a subsidiary of waste management, but rather an alternative way of managing discards. Getting the NRC board to endorse zero waste, as well as John Young's virgin subsidy resolution, is doable this coming November.=20
But I need help persuading NRC board members and in follow-through. Passing a resolution by itself will mean little without commitment of NRC resources and staff time. Frankly, advocates of the zero waste resolution need to do more spade work. In the long run, we need board candidates who are dedicated to zero waste. (It should not be difficult; this year, only 11 people submitted applications for 10 board slots.)
Reforming the National Recycling Coalition has never been a priority of GRRN's steering committee. Reaching out to NRC's 4,500 members is more important. GRRN's strategy is to reach out to diverse constituencies, of which professional recyclers are only one component. And we are succeeding.
2. I see my role as chair of GRRN as one of melding together a coalition of diverse yet like-minded groups that I believe can together accomplish a revolution. I was inspired to focus on zero waste by Dan Knapp of Urban Ore, who had been talking total recycling for over a decade and who brought news in December 1995 from Australia that a major government (Canberra) had endorsed no waste by 2010. I publicized that and generated discussion by establishing a moderated email discussion group. I ran it for six months until it became too large and CRRA was kind enough to host the unmoderated GreenYes listserve at UC San Diego.
GRRN is a network of volunteers with a national focus. This influenced my decision to take the first steps of our national platform in the political arena in my home state of Georgia. We got zero waste raised at five State Senate hearings in 1996 and we raised money through the Georgia Sierra Club to bring some of the leading lights of our GRRN zero waste efforts to those hearings. As a result, an African-American State Senator, Donzella James, introduced the first zero waste bill in the U.S. and is courageously promoting corporate responsibility for wasteful packaging through a bottle bill in the Land of Coca-Cola.
We are making headway in reaching out to diverse constituencies. For instance, Alicia Lyttle is doing a great job mobilizing college students around zero waste and the Coke campaign. We have persuaded the half-million-member Sierra Club to establish a Zero Waste Task Force and are developing a campaign within the forest campaign to connect zero cut and zero waste activists. Waste facility fighters and environmental justice advocates -- for whom zero waste means no new dumps =96 are responding to our messages (for example, the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Waste and facility fighters in Louisiana). GRRN's Coke campaign is starting to resonate with consumers in Georgia and elsewhere.
In all of this my goal has been to create as diverse a coalition as possible and to tackle real issues affecting real people. At the same time, I believe there is more than one way to promote zero waste. For example, I greatly admire the economic analysis of The Natural Step and their efforts to get corporations to make voluntary declarations for zero waste (and more). But I envision the role for GRRN as more than congratulating good practices and intentions. The Natural Step, NRC, EDF and others already do a good job of that. GRRN should likewise recognize positive efforts towards zero waste, but there also needs to be an advocacy organization with a strong message, political sophistication, sustained organizing, and faith in people power.
Together we can make a revolution =96 and end the Age of Waste.
************************ Bill Sheehan Zero Waste Associates 268 Janice Drive Athens GA 30606 Tel & Fax 706-208-1416 bill_sheehan@mindspring.com ************************
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End of GreenYes Digest V97 #235 ******************************