Tag Archives: Green

Year End Donations Needed For Household Hazardous Waste Event

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Ecology Action Center Plans Household Hazardous Waste Event for 2012

Donations Critical to the Success of this first ever Public/Private Partnership for HHW in McLean County

Dear Friend of the EAC:

It’s been four long years since McLean County saw its last Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Event. Since the fall of 2007 area residents have patiently waited for a safe way to dispose of their old herbicides, fertilizers, oil-based paints, chemicals, and other hazardous materials. We are fortunate that many in our community are aware of the risks of improper disposal of HHW items. The threat of polluting our drinking water supply is real—conventional landfills are not designed to contain hazardous wastes.

Unfortunately the budget crisis at the state level has taken its toll. No Illinois EPA funded HHW collection events are being scheduled. The state’s Solid Waste Fund was “swept” by the General Assembly for other purposes. I regularly check in with the IEPA, hoping for some indication that funding for HHW collection events will resume, but my inquiries always result in disappointment.

It’s high time we take matters into our own hands – so that’s exactly what we are doing. The Ecology Action Center, with a growing list of community partners, is planning for a HHW Collection event for September 2012 for McLean County residents. This first-ever public and private partnership for HHW has an ambitious goal of raising $125,000 to cover the necessary expenses of a one-day HHW event.

To make this event happen, we need your help. We are asking our members, friends, and supporters to consider making a year-end tax deductible contribution to the EAC’s HHW Fund. No contribution is too small or too large. For example, if each of the 2000 households that participated in the 2007 HHW event contributed as little as $10, we would be $20,000 closer to reaching our goal!

Please contribute to the HHW Fund. You may make an online contribution using your credit card or PayPal account at www.ecologyactioncenter.org.

Or you may make donation checks out to “Ecology Action Center” and mail to:

Ecology Action Center 

Attn: HHW Fund 

202 W College Ave 

Normal, IL 6171 

All contributions are tax deductible. All donors will receive an acknowledgment for tax purposes.

Businesses or organizations interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact me at (309) 454-3169 or mbrown@ecologyactioncenter.org.

Thank you for supporting safe disposal of hazardous wastes in McLean County,

Michael Brown

Executive Director

Vintage Hankies A Green Alternative To Kleenex

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Remember hankies??

I adore the florals, the bright colors and the feeling of vintage cotton hankies

I think they are just beautiful.

I started using hankies several years ago.

I had this collection and I thought gee I should really use them.

Ever think about how much Kleenex you use?

Kleenex use could be reduced simply by using a hankie instead.

A hankie is always in my purse. Another in the car.  Of course they are in the house or in all my pockets.

What great alternatives and green solutions hankies are!

If you ever leave one in your pocket it will never ever make a mess in your laundry. I promise.

Not into vintage hankies ?

Consider this local and handmade soft flannel source from MilkweedMercantile

Blog Action Day 2011 – Topic: Food – Do Burgers Harm The Environment?

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This year Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day, a time that focuses the world’s attention on food,  something we all have in common.

The purpose of Blog Action Day is discussion.

In the past Blog Action Day has focused on such topics as Poverty, Water, Climate Change and The Environment

There is SOOOOOO much to say about food.

I think it’s true… we ALL have food in common.

We all have to eat.

Food for some is taken for granted and for others – they are starving.

The issues and concerns around the topic are vast, overwhelming and complicated

My personal “say” about food isn’t particularly the voice I want to have, but it’s a commentary that keeps finding me …an activist by accident.

Let’s talk about this fact  (sourced from blog action day’s site )  

It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger.

Think about this for a moment – For every burger you eat imagine 24 Liter bottles sitting on your table. TWENTY FOUR!

Ask yourself WHAT are you eating? And is it worth it?

Is depleting water, the most valuable natural resource we have worth what you just ate?

Water is something you can not give back.

Does the production of a hamburger make sense in the bigger picture of things?

All this for the convenience of something fast, salty, caloric and yummy tasting ?

What if that water was used to grow food, or quench thirst instead?

Doesn’t that make more sense?

Do We Really Need ALL This Back To School Stuff?

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The calendar page turns.

Holy smokes  - it’s August.

It’s that back to school time.

Can you feel it?

Time to spend absolute crazy amounts of money for “Back To School” things.

Must all those back to school things be brand spanking new?

I know it’s time to stand in squeaky new shoes, fresh haircuts, have sharpened No. 2′s ready to write, color matching notebooks and folders.  We all gear up for the delicious smell of crayons, book day, committee work, making school lunches and car pooling. We are all beginning to endure the registration lines.

I get this ritual. I did this year after year. and i love the feeling of back to school.

I use to actually save the entire year for the volume of cash I laid out at this time. I had an envelope titled school and each month I put money away.  The three major cash outlays each year;  back to school, the holidays and summer activities.

I think it’s time to pause and re-think this marketing ploy.

I think that some of the back to school expenses are not necessary.

I’d love to suggest a bit of restraint.

A bit of anti-consumerism.

Ask ourselves do we really really NEED all of this stuff?

If the shoes we have now fit, and are in good condition – could we wait to buy the new ones until we need to ?   Is there someone in school noticing if your daughter’s hair has just been cut?  Perhaps there are pencils, markers and crayons from last year that still function?? How can we re-use the binders and folders from the year prior?

I ask this not only to have one save money, but also from an environment perspective too.  So much is just pitched these days.   Mass purchasing lead to more pitching.   Where does it begin and where does end?

Think about it.