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- Wellÿ actually that title is probably a
- little misleading. I'm not actually going
- to give you 101 ways to save the planet all
- in one goÿ if at all.
- What I AM going to do thoughÿ is give you
- a series of things you can do in the way of
- minimising the damage we are doing to the
- worldÿ as well as pointing out some of the
- frightening facts which underlie them.
- Before I startÿ just let me say thanks to
- the Earth Works Groupÿ and Friends of the
- Earthÿ from whom I stole a lot of this
- material.
-
- PHASE 1 - RECYCLE
-
- When I say we are trying to save the
- planetÿ the key word should be 'save'.
- Wherever possibleÿ don't throw things away.
- All of the carrier bags and bottles etc
- which we use every day may not seem much by
- themselves but it comes to a hell of a lot
- in the long run.
- When you've ploughed through your 900
- page sunday newspaper (and colour
- supplement)ÿ don't stick it under a cushion
- with all the othersÿ only to be removed when
- you can't sit down any more. Invest in a
- big box and stick all of your newspapers in
- it. After a few days the box will be full
- and it's time to take it to the nearest
- re-cycling bin. These are very common in
- Europeÿ and even England has one in most
- large villages - certainly your nearest
- town.
- If you are a large user of paperÿ it may
- be worth your while to get in touch with the
- re-cycling agency directly. If the quantity
- of paper is enough for it to be worth itÿ
- they will often be only too pleased to pick
- it upÿ and even pay you for it. To give you
- some idea of how much is enoughÿ they
- usually pay by the ton.
- THOUGHT: More than 130 million trees are
- pulped for paper each year in Britain alone.
- That's more than 2 trees per person. Why
- is only 35% of it recycled?
-
- Plastic bags. Didn't I mention them
- earlier on? We foul so much airÿ land and
- water during the production of plastic
- carrier bags and wrapping which is totally
- unneeded. When I say that we should
- recycle theseÿ I don't mean take them to the
- recylcing bins (although they do exist in
- some areas). Noÿ it makes more sense to use
- less of them in the first place. This is
- why it's a good idea to use the same bags
- over and over again. So keep those Tesco
- carrier bags. Walk out of Fine Fare with
- them and annoy the staff.
- Of courseÿ if you really want to annoy
- the staffÿ then unwrap your produce at the
- checkout and tell them that you don't want
- the packaging and they can use it again.
- They probably won'tÿ of courseÿ but many
- shops have stopped using excessive wrapping
- because of co-ordinated protests of this
- kindÿ it all makes a difference.
-
- Bottles too. Againÿ most towns have
- those very pretty bell-shaped bottle bins
- dotted about the place. Do use them. The
- companies that own them have to pay your
- local council rent for the land on which
- they standÿ and so if they aren't usedÿ they
- become unviable and vanish.
-
- Wellÿ you should be getting the idea by
- now. Don't forget metalÿ domestic wasteÿ
- nappies (ugh!) etc.
- Next issue - Compostÿ peatÿ and
- pesticides. Don't forget your gardening
- glovesÿ this could get messy.
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