Recyclemania losing its luster?

Ok, so after several weeks blogging about ‘green issues’ this is the first week when I actually struggled to find blogging material. To be honest, I thought this moment would have happened much sooner. So, I took a look around me and tried to think of a blog idea.

A corner in my tiny dorm room was overflowing with recyclables. As part of recyclemania, “a friendly competition among college and university recycling programs in the United States that provides the campus community with a fun, proactive activity in waste reduction,” I have been hording my recyclables to try and earn points for my building at the University of Arizona. But, recyclemania or not I usually hoard my recyclables until I get the chance to take them downstairs to the recycle bins. That thought prompted a different thought…how much does recyclemania actually help?

Based on the numbers, it doesn’t seem like recyclemania is doing much good. Compared to last year, the UA as a whole is recycling less. Check out the results.

The recyclemania program measures three different types of recyclables, paper, corrugated cardboard and bottles/cans. The results for paper this year are slightly above the results from last year…but the numbers in cardboard and bottles/cans are way down. How is this possible, especially after the University of Arizona department of Residence Life has hired a full-time coordinator of sustainability education.

"I have no idea what is going on," said Liz Zavodsky, coordinator of sustainability education for the department of residence life at the University of Arizona. "I know there is a ton of recycling material that is going into the trash. This makes me very sad to see." But despite the disappointing performance in recyclemania this year, Zavodsky remains positive. "This is the first year we have had my position and have taken the education piece to new levels other than just recycling," said Zavodsky. "So I might not have given (recyclemaina) the attention it needs."

Compared to the leader in recyclemania, Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the UA is far behind. Last week, the eighth week in the ten week competition, Kalamazoo recycled 7.36 pounds per person where as the UA recycled a measly .69 pounds per person.

At least we’re beating Arizona State University. They don’t seem to be participating this year, or last year…there are no scores recorded for our big rivals. At least we beat them at something this year, even if it is recycling.

Check out this video made by recyclemania advocates at the University of Arizona.

Green beer...but not really

San Diego, Cali. - This week was spring break for University of Arizona students and I took the opportunity to get out of Arizona. I packed my bags and headed for San Diego, Cali. A trip to a local brewery is the inspiration for this week’s blog.

Located about 40 minutes from San Diego, Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens is paving the way in green technologies. But, you wouldn’t necessarily know it at first glance. The reviews all rave about the brewery’s world famous beers brewed on site, the gourmet dishes and impressive structure but few talk about the brewery’s green practices.

“Everything we use is all natural,” said general manager Jim Hurley. The property is home to an impressive a one-acre beer garden used for water reclamation and purification and the occasional after dinner stroll.

From the outdoor beer garden to the bathrooms, Stone is thinking green. “We done use any paper towels,” said Hurley. The waterless urinals in the men’s bathroom also help conserve water and surprisingly do not smell, according to my boyfriend who was quite impressed.

The food was delicious and all organic and locally grown. There are even local farmers that grow specifically for Stone Brewery.

The restaurant and brewery offers the queen of all green dinners once a month. “We do ‘Fresh’ dinners where everything is fresh to us the day of the dinner,” said Hurley.

As my friends and I stood in the garden after our meal we looked from the beer garden towards the massive glass and concrete structure offering a view of the silver brewing vats in the background. It’s looked like an adult equivalent of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, the only thing that was missing was a beer waterfall.

Give me a break...green sports?

The CatScan is an online eco-magazine and reports about anything from how to recycle your newspapers to policy change and environmental sustainability. My role working with The CatScan has increased my awareness about ‘green’ issues but has also reduced the amount of material I will accept as true.

Going green or organic or eco-friendly or carbon neutral seems to be used as a marketing ploy stuck on just about every product, political campaign or even sports team. But, what does ‘going green” mean, especially in the sports arena? Well, this week I decided to find out. This week my blog is inspired by an interview I did for an article I am working on for another journalism class.

The Global Sports Alliance or GSA is a company based out of Tokyo, Japan focusing on changing the sports arena to be more environmentally aware. Their philosophy has been to focus on sports enthusiasts as role models and supporters of environmentally friendly practices. At first I was skeptical; no I was actually cynical about a program that uses sports to reduce the carbon footprint of an entire nation let alone the world. It seems like that lack of a sports community would be the best way to reduce negative environmental effects. I mean, c’mon, does it really matter how many napkins you throw away when you’re eating your hot dog at a ball park? Well, it turns out that GSA is not all that interested in the actual effects that sports have on the environment; they’re looking at the common ethic between sportsmanship and environmental sustainability. It’s like ‘fair play’ but with the environment. The GSA philosophy is:

“The fundamental cause of environmental problems is our failure to apply the basic scientific knowledge we learn in school, such as photosynthesis, the heat of evaporation, and the second law of thermodynamics, in society as a whole, widening the gap between ‘what we know’ and ‘what we do.’ Experiencing nature and developing a true consciousness are essential to understanding and applying this knowledge.

If we can promote action in over one billion sport enthusiasts that are truly aware of the importance of clean air and water through personal experience, then we will surely be able to tackle global environmental problems.”

This week I interviewed Jane Poynter made famous through her previous work as a TV host, Biosphere 2 crewmember, sustainability consultant, author, speaker, and technology company president. You might be curious as to how Poynter fits into this whole picture. Well, she says all of her life experiences have a common thread that has led her to join GSA. Jane Poynter is the president of GSA-USA whose headquarters will be located in Tucson, Ariz. My interview with Poynter revealed her goals for GSA-USA and how she’s going to make it successful in the states.

After coming to the realization that many other industries and organizations had or were in the process of tackling environmental issues, Poynter saw a need in the sports arena.

“Who doesn’t love sports?” said Poynter. “If you’re a lover of sports you already think about the air you breathe.”

Through harboring the sportsmanship ethic present in virtually every sport, Poynter and GSA-USA hope to promote the idea of ‘eco-play’. “It’s really very akin to the core of sustainability,” said Poynter.

GSA-USA plans on having ‘teams’ in every major city in the United States by 2010. The teams will be led by team captains and will work on contacting sports teams, sports enthusiasts and community members to foster awareness about environmental issues as well as ask what more can be done?

Although the exact plans for GSA starting up here in the US are still pretty vague, it’s obvious that their voice has been heard elsewhere with a thriving GSA presence in 29 countries. Keep your eye out for GSA in Tucson and around the nation in the near future.

Clean cars, dirty water

One of the items in my daily routine has inspired yet another blog. This past week I decided to treat my Toyota Camry to a much needed car wash. So, between classes I rushed over to Simoniz Car Wash located on Speedway Blvd. and Country Club Rd. As I watched the large scrub brushes covered in suds clean my car in a flash I started to think about water conservation. I went to the car wash on a Tuesday afternoon and I was one of three customers. But, the water kept on running. I decided to investigate what the car wash industry is doing to reduce water waste and encourage water conservation.

I called several car washes in the Tucson area and was unsuccessful. I attempted calling at 10:30 am and only one out of five even answered their phone. After being transferred from receptionist to manager to the corporate office I still didn’t have an answer about water conservation practices at local car washes. Instead, I found a report published by the International Carwash Association that answered my questions.

The report said that “Professional car washes typically use less than one percent of water used in a large or medium size municipality.” The report almost bragged about the “less than one percent of water” use, but I thought one percent was kind of high for just the car wash industry.

Fernando Molina, Conservation Program Manager for the City of Tucson said that the car wash industry uses a relatively small amount of water compared to one of the largest water users, the resort and hotel industry. Not including golf course water requirements, the resort and hotel industry in Tucson still ranks at the top when it comes to water usage.

“Most new carwashes do incorporate water recycling in their business because it pays off for them.” said Molina. “I know of only one that does not recycle their water, the Metro Car Wash on Oracle near Glenn.”

Although the City of Tucson does not currently have a program in place regulating the water usage at car washes, they are trying to find ways to encourage carwash owners to voluntarily make changes. But Molina says the carwashes with water conservation practices currently in place will be less likely to have restrictions on their hours of operation during a drought.

Despite not having official restrictions or certification programs, carwash owners can look to International Carwash Association for that certification.

There is a Carwash Conservation Certification Program that adds extra protection to carwash owners. The certification protects carwash owners from being shutdown during severe drought.

Here are some of the recommendations the association made in a report to carwash owners to reduce water waste and protect them from being shutdown:

Specific Measures for Reducing Water Consumption

• Install lower flow nozzles and run at lower pressure.
• Alignment of nozzles should be checked on a regular basis.
• Check for and repair all water leaks as they occur.
• Replace brass or plastic nozzles, which erode more quickly, with stainless steel or hard ceramic nozzles.
• Route reclaim water, or RO reject water to landscaping (be sure plants can tolerate first!).
• Use “water friendly” plants in the landscape.
• Time arches precisely in the conveyor to come on as car arrives and shut off as car moves out from under arches.
• Adjust weep systems to come on at 320 F.
• Install positive shut off valves in extractor sinks.
• Create a dwell time for water to run off the vehicle into the reclaim pit before vehicle can exit the bay.
• Install automatic high-level water cut-offs in all towel and chamois washing machines.
• Use less water in towel washing machines by doing fewer but fuller loads.
• Maintain all water using devices to original or improved specifications for the conservation of water.
• Replace all spray nozzles utilized at the vehicle wash regularly to assure maximum efficiency of water used.
• Utilize ultra-low flush toilets at the vehicle wash facility.
• Use positive shut off valves on all hoses or faucets.

Carwashes are so important even Jim Croce wrote a song about it!


Check out a new carwashing technique that reduces water use!

Field trip: Biosphere2

I moved to Tucson, Ariz. three and a half years ago to study at the University of Arizona. Upon arriving, I made a list of all the things I wanted to do before graduation. It was a great way to learn about my new community and all the neat things close by. Well, this past weekend I saw something that was not on my list but definitely should have been. I went to Biosphere2.

Funded by Texas billionaire Edward Bass in the late 1980’s, the biosphere2 attempted to create a closed biosphere in space. The biosphere2 was created with the hopes of producing important research about how to create a sustainable environment on other planets. The size of two and a half football fields in the middle of the desert, the biosphere2 is basically a huge test tube. The glass structure is sealed off to the outside world. It uses trees, animals, human researchers (biospherians), etc to create a miniature biosphere within Earth’s biosphere. The structure produces its own air, recycles its water and can grow food. Despite it’s sheer size and $150-$200 million in investments, the biosphere2 has yet to produce any notable research. Oh well, walking through the Brazilian rainforest in the middle of the Sonoran Desert was enough to impress me.

But, what does this have to do with sustainability or “green issues?” Well, that billionaire Edward Bass recently sold the biosphere2 and the 1600 acres it sits on to a development company under the agreement that the University of Arizona can manage it for the next two years. The UA has to pay $100 per year to lease the property! Anyway, after two missions that yielded very little in the way of actually research Edward Bass let Columbia University in New York City manage the site. Well, Columbia wanted out of the experiment early and also failed to establish the biosphere2 as a legitimate research institution. So, perhaps the third time is a charm. With the UA taking the reigns and managing the biosphere2 signs of research are already underweight.

So, with a turbulent past filled with unsuccessful research, is the biosphere a total failure? I don’t think so. During the tour the guide shot statistic after statistic at our group. The biosphere2 trucked in 250,000 gallons of ocean water into the facility for the ocean habitat. At the end of the two year research mission where eight researchers lived in the closed structure for two years and 20 minutes, all 250,000 gallons remained in the closed structure.

This made me wonder. If eight people could live in just over three acres for over two years on only what was available in the structure itself…well, that would make them entirely self-sustainable right? They were able to use plants to create the oxygen needed to breathe, sunlight to feed plants, soil to nurture their crops for over two years! They recycled everything! My trip to the biosphere served to be more than a history lesson of the failed experiments and wasted money, it taught me about true sustainability and how it is actually possible!