Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Point Food Waste

There is little to no awareness of the damage caused when sending food waste to landfills. We hardly pay attention when discarding food waste; we do it automatically. In the United States we generate 31.7 million tons of food waste each year; that is 12.5% of the total waste stream and the second largest component of the national waste stream. Only 2.6% of the food waste does not end up in landfills.

1. To put things into perspective, every day in the United States we generate approximately 86,900 metric tons of food waste; that is enough waste to fill 6,310 garbage trucks. That's 2,300.000 truck loads a year.
2. One hundred billion pounds of food is wasted in this country per year. That is equal to 1900 pounds of food every minute of the day.


Rotten food accounts for 34% of all methane emissions, and it is twenty times more damaging to the environment than CO2. Landfills are the second largest single human source of methane emissions in the United States, accounting for 23% of all methane sources. Treating food waste onsite avoids the increased production of CO2 from transportation and methane, leachate, and potential pollutant runoff into local water sources at landfills.

If we can remove wet waste from our waste stream, we can immediately save money by decreasing disposable costs, which are charged by weight, reduce CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions, minimize vehicle traffic risks at the site, and reach sustainable goals, among many other positive things. Consume less, eat proper portions to insure well being, spend less and buy what you need when you need it and keep waste out of the landfills.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

P/CP - Renewable Energy

POINT

Renewable energy, does not deplete natural resources and creates little to no pollution when it is generated. The use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy production is harmful to the environment and depletes natural resources. Mankind must provide environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuels, and limitless and virtually pollution-free renewable energy offers the best hope for our future energy needs. The environmental effects of a particular type of power production and consumption, forms the basis that includes the knowledge that carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned, is creating a lot of harm to the planet and its systems.

COUNTER POINT

Renewables are not Green.
Contrary to what many people think, renewables are not green—sustainable and good for the environment. Renewables must contribute meaningfully to energy production, they will use up vast amounts of land and cause serious environmental damage. Nuclear power is the greenest energy choice because it can generate large amounts of power while using a relatively small amount of land. Society's energy system needs to shrink in size and cost rather less rather than grow larger under renewables.

Friday, July 8, 2011