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Should Berkeley Collect more Plastics for Recycling? Perspective from the Ecology Center and CCC
Last November, Nate Seltenrich wrote an article in the East Bay Express that delved into Berkeley’s resistance to collecting more plastics for recycling. He wrote, “… For more than a decade, Berkeley’s approach to plastics has hinged on urging residents to cut down on use rather than expanding the amount the city recycles. But waste statistics show that the effort hasn’t worked. The disposal of plastics in Berkeley has skyrocketed in recent years, even as the city’s total waste has shrunk.” To see response from Ecology Center’s Martin Bourque and Sara McKusick of the Community Conservation Centers, read on.
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The Economist: the End of America’s Coal Era?
EarthJustice blogger Brian Smith says, “When an environmental organization tells you the age of coal is over, it’s fair to dismiss that as mere wishful thinking. But when an international economic magazine says the same thing, people sit up and pay attention.” The Economist recently published “A Burning Issue,” an article heralding the beginning of the end for US coal. Tighter regulation on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and other toxins spewed by coal stacks and the falling costs of renewable energy are signaling coal’s sunset. Read it at the Economist, and EarthJustice’s response…
http://www.economist.com/node/21543563
http://earthjustice.org/blog/2012-january/the-end-of-america-s-coal-era
[Photo by Mike.Hanlon]
Bag Bans and Mandatory Recycling: Big Wins for Zero Waste in Alameda County!
On Wednesday night, the Alameda County Waste Management Authority adopted two major Zero Waste ordinances that we are thrilled to announce. The first ordinance requires that larger businesses and multi-family properties recycle. The second prohibits the free distribution of single-use plastic bags at stores that sell packaged food.
Read Stopwaste.org’s news release for more details:
http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=33&recordid=294
And Californians Against Waste has a great summary as well: http://www.cawrecycles.org/whats_new/recycling_news/jan26_alamedaco_ordinances
[Photo by catbagan]
Economics of Happiness Screening Next Thursday, 2/2/12
Join us for a film and discussion about The Economics of Happiness, next Thursday, 2/2/12, from 7-9pm. The film describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, an unholy alliance of governments and big business continues to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, people all over the world are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.
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