Friday, December 25, 2009

Recycling Electronics

As the holiday season is coming and going, you may have received new electronics of some sort. Now, you could just toss the old ones, but there may be a greener (and more profitable!) way to dispose of old electronics.

STWF, our organization, is looking into collecting electronics (in particular, cell phones, but we'll take anything you need to recycle!) for a fundraiser. The organization that we're looking to work with is Gazelle.

Now, we need your feedback. Would you be willing to donate your old electronics to us in order to recycle them through Gazelle? Do you think Gazelle is a good organization, or have you recycled your cell phone through another organization?

Please view the website (http://www.gazelle.com/) and tell us what you think about recycling electronics!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Live Christmas trees vs fake Christmas trees

**Excuse this for being two days late, I'm a horrible blogger at the moment**
In the last STWF meeting, we touched on this subject briefly. Is it more environmentally friendly to buy a live tree or a fake one? Lets weight out the pros and cons.
Pros(live tree):
* buying a tree can become a family tradition
*the trees are renewable resources
* compostable
*smell great
Cons(live tree):
*fire hazard
* more work
* allergies
* non re plantable (if you buy it without the bulb)
* less trees in the environment
Pros(fake tree):
*last for years
* easy to set up
*almost no effort into up keep
Cons(fake tree):
*made from non renewable petroleum
*cannot be recycled
* the environmental effects that go into making the tree
Many people have their own ideas. So decide, real or fake? Leave us a comment!


Work cited: http://www.thelaboroflove.com/articles/the-pros-cons-of-artificial-versus-real-christmas-trees/

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Cheap Fun

If you're reading this, you're probably on a computer. Well, depending on how long you've been on the computer, it may be time to turn it off and do something else (and I don't mean go watch television).

As we become more dependent on technology, we forget to value the simple things that we had before. Some of these things are actually low-cost and low-energy:

1. Hiking (If you're in San Diego, Florida Canyon is amazing!)
2. Camping
3. Walking
4. Enjoying old photo albums
5. Reading

What are some things that you do that require no electricity/energy consumption? Leave a comment below!