Today's Topics:
1872 Mining Law - 125th birthday
A question for Carolyn Chase
Recycling hurting Tipping Fee Collections
Wants Help Explaining Recycling To Kids
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Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 07:15:30 -0700 (PDT)
From: "David A. Kirkpatrick" <dkirkwks@igc.apc.org>
Subject: 1872 Mining Law - 125th birthday
MINING BIRTHDAY: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt joined Sen. Dale
Bumpers (D-AR) in a dubious "celebration" of the 125th birthday of the
antiquated 1872 Mining Law, according to a Mineral Policy Center press
release. Under the law signed by Pres. Ulysses Grant, multinational
mining corporations pay under $5 per acre for valuable mineral-rich
lands. Mining companies have purchased lands containing $15 billion
worth of minerals for only $23,601 since 1994. "The framers of the
law could not have imagined the scale of environmental damage that
takes place at today's mine sites," said Mineral Policy Center
President Phil Hocker. "This is no longer a pick-and-shovel affair,
and there's no mule in sight."
GREENLines, Tues., May 13, 1997 from GREEN,
the Grassroots Environmental Effectiveness Network,
A project of Defenders of Wildlife.
(202)789-2844x290 or email rfeather@clark.net
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Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 21:56:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Amy Perlmutter 354-5456 <amyperl@ksgbbs.harvard.edu>
Subject: A question for Carolyn Chase
Carolyn:
At the end of your messages you have in quotes a line about everyone being
in politics. To whom/what is it attributed? Is it a quote from somewhere
else, or is it your own, and may I quote your quote? I was at a seminar
recently that explored why people distrust government. I think your quote
sums it up pretty well-- people do not feel like they have a voice in
government, and keep having politics done to them. I think in part it is
because our political "leaders" take the attitude of trust me, I'll take
care of you, and then they don't. And they don't include people in creating
solutions that effect their lives.
Thanks.
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Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 19:21:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: STEVESUESS@aol.com
Subject: Recycling hurting Tipping Fee Collections
Paul Hawken proposes the very kind of "Green Taxes" exemplified by
charging tipping fees that then go to promoting recycling. If the system
works the amound of recycling goes up which then requires increasing the
tipping fee to keep the same income level goping, which in turn improves
recycling by the very nature of the increasing dumping costs. Ultimately
nothing is dumped and everything is recycled - and then you find the real
cash crunch - unless you can mange to make the recycling pay for itself by
then.
Alternatively, you don't fund recycling from tipping fees, but rather
from hauling fees. With such a system you have the alternative problem of
not having any built in system to promote recycling over landfilling, unless
you build in a gradual shift in the money going from supporting landfills to
recycling - which could be helped along by an outright ban on new landfills!
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Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 23:48:51 -0400
From: WOODY GETZ <WGETZ@FRE.FSU.UMD.EDU>
Subject: Wants Help Explaining Recycling To Kids
jennie.alvernaz@sfsierra.sierraclub.org wrote:
>
> To: Bill Sheehan
> From: Jeanne Becker, Freelance Writer
> Re: Recycling Information Request for article in Myse
>
> I am on assignment with Myse magazine, a new children's
> magazine published by the publishers of Smithsonian Magazine
> and Cricket. My assignment is to write a 2,000 word article on the
> pros and cons of recycling.
-------------------> 2 paragraphs snipped! <-----------
> Given my audience, I am not interested in industrial or heavy
> commercial recycling but rather in the types of recycling in which
> children are engaged: curbside, dropoff, and school-based
> recycling. Whatever information you can share with me will be
> helpful.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When I talk to children/people of any age about recycling/solid waste
management, I emphasize that:
* Humans are the only species that create waste. Nature does not
create waste.
* Recycling is the way humans try to imitate composting. The
closer we come to that the less waste humans create.
* Human waste creation largely lead to waste disposal (landfill
and/or incineration) which is a linear process while composting
and other natural systems (air & water systems, for example)
are cyclical.
* Short term benefits often have long-term consequences and/or
delayed disadvantages. Current convenience often creates
postponed problems even to the point that they skip
generations.
* We all live down the stream of life. What past generations did
impacts us now. What we do now will impact future generations.
======================================================================
>
> Based upon your research, how would you answer this question:
> If kids were to spend just one hour a week "protecting the
> environment," how should those 60 minutes be spent? Should
> they be spent using bikes as transportation, recycling, conserving
> water, practicing waste reduction measures, picking up litter,
> etc.? I realize that this is an artificial question, but my goal is to
> translate complex cost benefit analyses into concepts which kids
> aged 10 to 12 can understand.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I would suggest spending half the time "learning" and the other half of
the time "doing".
I would like to see kids grow up learning about their use of energy,
natural resources, food, water, and solid waste management at their
local level as well as in regional/national/global contexts.
Field trips to local waste water treatment plants and recycling and
landfill facilities, etc. should become part of their formal education.
Understanding the various levels would include biological, social,
financial, ethical, et. al. approaches.
True, ultimately the doing level must be reached or the learning is for
nothing. Yet I often see people learning to "blindly" do something and
not have the broader understanding to support why. Without the
principles provided by the bigger picture, they are unable to make the
application to other issues.
The mix of learning and doing is much stronger than either one alone.
Best of luck with your article!
Woody Getz
Sierra Club/Western Maryland Group
Frostburg Area Recyclers
Allegany County Solid Waste Management Board
======================================================================
>
> Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to your reply.
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End of GreenYes Digest V97 #108
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