Carbon Cutters - Recycle

			Jump to:
Running on Empty

Required reading:

Chris Goodall "How to Live a Low-Carbon Life"

Richard Heinberg "The Party's Over"

George Monbiot "Heat"

Required watching:

The Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil - DVD

The End of Suburbia - Oil Depletion & the Collapse of the American Dream - DVD

The Revolution

This is a revolution. If you want to shut an airport then stop flying. Want an end to factory farming? Grow your own. An end to pollution? Change to renewables. An end to war & poverty? Microgenerate. Life for your childen? Stop needing oil. YOU have THIS Power. You do not need Government. Seize the initiative. Bring democracy to your community. Be an example to your children. Take responsibility. Change for good today.

Putting it all back

As the UK TV adverts say - "Recycle - The Possibilities are Endless". Indeed they are. Your Carbon Footprint is not all you should be working on. The more we throw away the more we consume. Consumption draws in disposable consumer goods which all require Fossil Fuels in manufacture. Oil, Gas and Coal are so ubiquitous in our lives that we don't see how they are used in every piece of food we have ever eaten, every CD we have listened to, everyplace we have driven to, every person we have ever met - everything.

So everything you have ever bought came into your possession through fossil fuels being burnt and CO2 released. These products all have "embedded carbon" for this reason. If you just throw it away and replace it with something new then all that Carbon needs to be dug up and released all over again. Hence the more you recycle the less you use and the smaller your Carbon Footprint. The less you use the more Fossil Fuels for your children to enjoy. Read on...

The Coming New Reality

Already across the UK Local Governments are cutting back on Rubbish Collection services. This is for two purposes - firstly the landfill sites are filling up quickly - secondly, this is causing costs to rise. In order to stop everyone's Taxes from rising our Councils have to cut back, they simply cannot find enough holes to bury everything in. For some reason this has become a Political hot potato. Candidates for local elections even stood for election on the principle that they would not allow any reduction in Rubbish Collection services.

Here at Carbon Cutters we say this is NOT a problem. If you need to have your Bin emptying EVERY week then you are doing something wrong. There is little or no reason why every green scrap can't be composted or every plastic bottle not recycled. All paper can be recycled as can all glass. So what is the problem? The average household can easily recycle over half of all waste. At the end of each week your bin should be a cavernous hole with plenty of space left.

So, what is the excuse? Normally "I can't be bothered". We have all seen the Bins overflowing haven't we? We see the households that don't put their recycling bins out. We know who you are. Soon there will be no where to hide. No excuses. Soon Councils will start charging offenders. Not recycling is not only socially unacceptable it is wrong and it will start to cost you dear. Good! It is wasteful and every perpetrator of unnecessary waste should be ashamed of themselves. The recyclers can stand proud.

Be an example to your community, friends and neighbours. Recycling is simply a good habit. In Carbon Cutter households it is simply inconceivable that any piece of recycling could ever end up in a bin. Most of us still have a long way to go. Some 'ultra-greenies' throw away a bin full only once every three or four MONTHS! That may be a bit extreme but these people have a seriously LOW Carbon Footprint and we can all learn new tricks from them.

So, go out there! Recycle. Be proud and create that new social 'norm'. Good luck.

Millablog

We recycle like crazy in our house. Our big wheelie bin goes out every Sunday night for collection but is only 1/3 full. Our neighbours bins are full to over-flowing. Why? We could get our collected once every two or three weeks without problem. We also recycle rain water for garden and car washing. All green waste is composted. We get our paper bin collected once every two weeks. Bottle, tins & plastic once a week.

Your Next Ten Steps

Organise
Powerdown
Recycle
Substitute
Stay
Generate
Grow
Invest
Make
Community

Resource

Act NOW

Stop consuming like it is going out of fashion
Stop throwing things away if they can be recycled
Reduce, reuse and recycle until you don't need your Bin emptying until every second week
Set yourself this target and then pride yourself, each week, in reaching or exceeding this target
Don't forget to compost all your green waste
Fit one or more water butts to the down-pipes outside your home to recycle rainwater for cleaning the car or watering the garden
Do NOT drive to the recycling center. Do this whilst making the trip for another reason.... And, please, switch the engine OFF whilst off-loading!
Buy reusable rather than disposable items - particularly Nappies. Use reusable's for your nipper

I'm not taking it any more!

Low Carbon Man Post-Carbon Man has had enough and he isn't taking it any more. He says "conspicuous consumption will be the death of us"! Those who won't act are "ignorant" and suffer from what he calls "moral blindness". Controversial stuff!

Learn what he has to say by clicking here for a popup.

Read this Book

"Twilight in the Desert - The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy" Matthew R. Simmons. The Saudis claim to have potential Oil reserves to meet global Oil Demand for between fifty to one-hundred years. Matthew believes this is wildly optimistic. They have been pumping many of their fields flat-out for years. This will deplete them artificially early. The Saudi's are pumping vast amounts of water into the fields to force the oil out. Saudi capacity is already falling according to Simmons.

Water Recycling

References	Notes

Blog

Any Questions about what you have read here? Do you have an opinion you wish to share with us? Want an update on Carbon Cutting topics hitting the news?