| IN THIS ISSUE |
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| In The News |
New Year’s Resolutions: Replenish & Recycle New Year's resolutions are opportunities to do something you have always wanted to do, often for self-improvement. In the spirit of the season, here are some that will help you improve the environment, too. Read more.
Look at the Bigger Picture – With all America's wealth and ingenuity, we should be the recycling model for the world. Higher recycling rates of 50 percent and even 80 percent are achievable and can lead us quickly to the nirvana of Zero Waste. Read more.
Schools Recycle for Africa Schools are helping our children understand the importance of recycling and how their recycling efforts can benefit others throughout the world. A recycling scheme has been developed in a bid to help grow fruit trees in the developing nation where towns and villages have been affected by de-forestation.
Recycling Reality in Schools - Kids in classrooms across Central Florida are being taught the benefits of recycling, but many schools don't practice what they teach - actual recycling in schools is often left up to the students, watch video. |
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| Inspirational Quotes |
“We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.” – Al Gore (see full speech)
"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." -Albert Einstein
“Don’t aim for success – if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.” - David Frost
“Joy is not in things, it is in us.” – Ben Franklin
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” - Winston Churchill
“The only gift is a portion of thyself.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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| Top Stories |
Black Gold - Microwaved tires: Fuel of the future? Frank Pringle turns a single 14-inch car tire, one small piece at a time, into 1.2 gallons of diesel fuel, 7.5 pounds of carbon black, 50 cubic feet of combustible gas, and two pounds of high-strength steel. See articles in The Philadelphia Inquirer & Popular Science & AZ Central. Watch video.
IBM to recycle silicon for solar – Refined silicon, the most costly and crucial element in solar panels, has been in short supply for the last four years. Since the silicon wafers used in computers, mobile phones, video games and other consumer electronics need to be nearly flawless, the imperfect ones are normally discarded. A new cleaning process allows for this waste material to be sold to the solar-cell industry, which has a high demand for the silicon material to use in solar panels.
Turning plastic bags into steel - Scientist Veena Sahajwalla said: "In making steel there's essentially no difference between the polyethylene plastic in shopping bags, packaging and some drink containers, and a natural resource like coal." Read more.
Styrofoam waste: turning packaging into moulding! This holiday season, the people who run Roseville's solid waste utility have visions of toys, computers and high-definition televisions dancing in their heads. But their eyes aren't all aglow over shiny, new gifts – it's the stuff they're packaged in. Roseville recently launched the region's first Styrofoam recycling program, just in time for the holiday shopping frenzy. Read more, or visit our site for moulding product info.Don’t just be the change – mass-produce it! We don't need more people living marginally greener lifestyles. We need thousands of people, millions of people, swarming out of their lifestyles and leading worldchanging lives: practicing strategic consumption, sure, but also inventing new answers, changing their companies (or quitting their jobs and starting better companies), running for office, writing books and shooting films, teaching, protesting, investing in change, mobilizing their communities, redesigning their cities, getting up off the couch and going to the meeting, and in every other way making it happen.
Catalog Choice – Is a free service that lets you decline paper catalogs you no longer wish to receive. Reduce the amount of unsolicited mail in your mailbox, while helping to preserve the environment.
How to Recycle Your Socks You've just cleaned out your drawer, and in front of you is a huge pile of old, holey, mismatched socks. You're thinking about throwing them away, but that's just wasteful. Here are some great ways to recycle those socks - perhaps you never realized just how useful socks can be beyond wearing them!
Salt Water as Fuel – Wouldn’t it be something if we could power our cars, our boats, our houses with salt water? Watch the video.
Chris Jordan on the Colbert Report & PBS – Running the NumbersPhotographer of the consumerism culture, depicting the scale of mass consumption of 300 million people watch video . Also, check out the artist & activist Chris Jordan on Bill Moyers Journal, watch the video. Chris states, “There is a contrast between the beauty in the images & the underling grotesqueness of the subjects. Using beauty as a seduction to draw the viewer in to sit through the piece long enough that the underlying message might seep in.” Chris Jordan wants people to realize that THEY matter! Visit Chris’s website at www.chrisjordan.com
Check out the new ZENN car – [Z]ero [E]missions [N]o [N]oise 100% electric vehicle - never visit a gas station again! There is an opportunity for small, smart, quick moving companies to move into electric car manufacturing. Watch the video. Watch the ZENN on Rick Mercer Report – no noise but the horn! Costs about $12,000 - available now! |
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| Green Building & Gifts |
| Since 2000, Close the Loop has been working with small US manufacturers making high-quality recycled products to increase markets & distribution and to create an awareness & demand for these products. Shifting our thinking from purchasing new, virgin materials to purchasing products with recycled content will have a profound effect on our environment. Before buying “new”, check to see if the product you are interested in exists from recycled materials. If you don’t know, contact us & we’ll search for it! Please visit our website for more information on our rubber mulch & tiles/pavers, timbers & plastic wood fencing, along with many, many nice gift ideas! New this month – mouldings made from Styrofoam & our own T-Shirts!Please give us a call ~ 866.629.8414, or visit us on the web anytime at www.closetheloop.com |
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| Upcoming Events |
| A very Happy & Blessed New Year to you & yours! |
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