Dog Sweater/Recycling

Here's a picture of Clyde, my littlest dog, in a sweater that I made last week. He seems to like it.

Just read that last year Southern Oregon University, located in Ashland -- where I live -- was named among the EPA's top 20 "green" schools.

The students purchased "green tags" from Bonneville Environmental Foundation -- these green tags fund sustainable alternate energy generation. Of course, the cost was extra for the students, I believe between $6 and $20. But they were willing to do it. Also, they worked with the local sanitary and recycling department to place recycling bins in each residence hall, and began practicing zeroscaping -- something I've always wanted to do. Essentially, it means using low-water use native plants in your landscaping...you maintain the natural look of your geographical environment while you beautify. I'm hoping that this practice will be mandated or incentivized in the future; rolling green lawns are one of the top wastes of water in areas that simply don't have the resources to sustain them. Living in Los Angeles last year when wildfires were raging and Mayor Villaraigosa was calling for responsible water rationing because we were in the midst of a terrible drought anyway, the sprinklers would still pop on in the morning. I just kept thinking 'Do we really need a lawn that much?' Plus, when you zeroscape correctly, your water and electricity bills drop exponentially. Here's an SOU webpage with links suggesting ways to green up.

Which reminds me: that local sanitary and recycling company (Ashland Sanitary and Recycling) has a special programs section that is as comprehensive as anything I've ever seen. Plus, they are running all of their trucks on Biodiesel from Rising Phoenix Organics, which is where I get my fuel. Back in 2007, when I was working for EnergyRushTV, we did a couple of stories on Ashland Sanitary and Recycling which were never released. Risa Buck, a coordinator there, let me on to an amazing program that they had recently begun at the time. She told me that it's commong for the average recycling center to cart recyclables sometimes hundreds of miles to the nearest repurposing plant (for example, for a long time they had been toting everything up to a center just south of portland -- that's about 250 miles worth of fuel just to complete the recycling). AS&R had worked out a plan to take their glass and locally grind it into aggregate that could be used to create road beds or give blacktop paint its reflective quality. While (as of 2007) they were still sending their plastics up north, the glass was all being dealt with locally -- and even better, it was being reused through a process that burned far less net energy and fuel than carting it so far away. It's worthwhile to mention that Ashland Sanitary and Recycling is privately owned -- which I believe has made sustainability easier to come by for them. They haven't had to negotiate the red tape that's inherent within publically funded agencies or wade through the bureaucratic processes of local government. I would recommend their site as a reduce-reuse-recycle resource in general (plus they sell compost and bring in adoptable dogs from the animal shelter that you can meet when you're down there doing your part).

--Nellamity Jane