Single-Stream Recycling, Potatoes, Taxes and More

Throughout the week we share a number of articles and posts by others on the Green Lifestyle Consulting’s Facebook Timeline and through our twitter account @grnlifestyle.  Here are a few items that particularly caught our attention this week:

Waste Management Single-Stream Recycling: Take a Tour of our Philadelphia MRF – Waste Management –

We have single stream recycling in our city, and Waste Management is our waste hauler.  It is fascinating to see how a modern single stream sorting facility is a mix of machines and manual labor.  It also helps you better understand why it is ok to mix all those things together.  Studies have shown that higher quality materials come out when individuals sort their own recycling, however, for community-based recycling there is a much higher participation rate when people can just toss everything in together.  This video is a much watch!

Growing Potatoes In Containers (Repurposed Garbage Cans  – The Frugal Greenish Mama

Growing Potatoes in Garbage Cans

Potatoes are very easy to grow, and you don’t even need a lot of space. This is a great way to repurpose an old trash can that now is no longer useful due to holes in it! Don’t have a trash can, well check with a local nursery to see if they have any of those big tree pots, they would make a great container! Have you ever grown potatoes? (I mean, other than crazy sprouts in a drawer by accident.) This sounds like a brilliant way to do potatoes and I’m inspired! I hope to start mine this weekend.

What to Do in the Garden Right Now – Mahoney’s Garden Centers

Gardening in the Boston area? Here are tips from a local garden center on what to do right now. My plan? “Now is a perfect time to plant lettuce, broccoli, collard greens, peas and other cold crops.” I’ve planted broccolli, carrots and snap peas!

Why Trees Matter  – New York Times

They offer much more than shade. They cool and clean the earth and reduce stress.

Support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs)  – www.whitehouse.gov

This is a petition to President Obama asking him to look into the issue of labeling genetically engineered foods. We have a right to know how the food we eat and feed our families is produced, but under current FDA regulations, we don’t have that ability when it comes to genetically engineered foods (GMOs). More than forty countries, including Russia and China, already require labels on genetically engineered foods, but not the US.

The Buffett Rule –  www.whitehouse.gov

Your Buffet number is the number of millionaires that pay a lower tax rate than you do.   Calculate your Buffett number on this site.

Honor the Earth Giveaway Hop: $250 in Eco-Friendly Prizes! –  Happy Mothering

A number of blogs that we follow and that support each other with advice and referrals are having a giveaway hop with Earth Friendly Prizes!  Check out the blogs and enter their giveaways.  Each of the participating blogs has a prize package worth at least $20 that will help you live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Getting the Market to Tell the Truth – TreeHugger

If the world is to move onto a sustainable path we need the market needs to tell the truth, through full cost pricing. I am so glad to hear this idea getting more notice. Thank you Tree Hugger!

Pennies Per Pound Energy Tax & Energy Stamp Program 19 cents for the 19 pounds of CO2 emissions from a gallon of gasoline

I have been developing a similar idea I call Pennies Per Pound  which is a tax on carbon at a few pennies per pound of CO2 emissions for all energy use combined with an energy stamp program (think food stamps aka SNAP) to assist the most vulnerable handle the true cost of the decisions they are making.

Having us, the consumers, pay closer to the true cost of energy will enable us to make better decisions and empower the market to drive innovation and change.

Please sign our Pennies Per Pound Petition to Congress at  http://penniesperpound.org/ and and share it with your friends.

You can like us on facebook and/or follow us on twitter to get these stories as we share them throughout the week. We love it when you join in the discussion through comments and share your own links on our wall.

 Happy Greening!
 Alicia