ECO BITES

I just returned from a backpacking trip in the Trinity Alps. Hiking with five friends, being self sufficient, breathing clean air, listening to birds (including a crazy chirper at 5 am), identifying over sixty different wildflowers... who could ask for a better way to revitalize one’s environmental spirits and enjoy the beauty of this planet without its political strife.
This constant hum from my computer now brings me back to city life and reality. Here are some interesting Ecobites for you to chew on.

You may want to check out www.greenmaps.com. The Green Map System is a locally directed but globally connected public relations service for community sustainability. Green Maps highlight sites of natural and cultural significance. Each map is created locally in a unique way. This web site is a collaborative effort to cultivate community health and citizen action.

On the east coast, the Natural Resources Defense Council has teamed up with grassroots activists to protect the Appalachian forests from being flushed down the toilet. Vast stretches of biologically rich forestland on the Cumberland Plateau in the southern Appalachian Mountains are being decimated to produce throwaway paper products such as newsprint, copier paper, and, yes, toilet tissue. A quarter of the world's paper is made from trees in the southeast, though it could easily be made from recycled material instead. Or we could just use yesterdays news in the ....nah.

Throughout North America and the world, biologically diverse and irreplaceable forests are being cut down to make paper. These same forests are then converted into biologically sterile tree plantations which typically host 90 percent fewer species per acre than do the natural forests.

The Japanese have taken a different approach to the problem of using too much paper. NewScientist.com reported that Toshiba has developed disappearing ink. This erasable ink can be used in ordinary laser jet printers and pens. A printed sheet is wiped clean by passing it through an erasing machine. The "decolorable" ink, which has been tinted blue to help distinguish it from ordinary ink, has been named "e-blue". It consists of three different chemical components. Two of these naturally combine to give the ink its color. The third element reverses this process when heat is applied, causing the ink to become transparent. The paper can then be printed on again. It takes roughly 2 hours to erase 200 pages of paper using Toshiba's desktop erasing machine.

Last but not least, there is a great story coming from Chicago. Many columns ago I wrote about flying across our country at night and watching the shape of the Great Lakes unfold by a rim of city lights. This excessive lighting can throw off the flight patterns of migratory birds. They are drawn to lights in skyscrapers and often crash into plate-glass windows or die of exhaustion after flying around the light source. Chicago has set the bar for addressing the problem. Four years ago it launched a lights-out program that has convinced the managers of the vast majority of big buildings in the city to turn off lights between 11 PM and dawn. Toronto has also made notable strides. Michael Mesure of the Fatal Light Awareness Program reported that when lights are turned off, the problem disappears. An added benefit is the energy saved.

A little aluminum trivia: Throwing away one aluminum can is like pouring out six ounces of gasoline. The aluminum cans that you just recycled will be back into circulation in as little as 60 days.

It’s not too late to apply for your WRAP award. Log onto www.ciwmb.ca.gov/wrap to download your Waste Reduction Awards Program application. The deadline for entering is June 30, 2004.

VALCORE Recycling Vice President Jane Bogner's "A Sorted Affair" is published every other week in the Times-Herald, Community Outlook Section. For recycling information call Genie Kaggerud, VALCORE Recycling manager at 645-8258 or visit www.VALCORErecycling.org.