Sunday 24 June 2012

BPNFC - Chickens and Sustainable Living


Reading Br Paul Noonan Formation Centers post Chickens and Sustainable Living was encouraging.  BPNFC had a Sustainable Development Workshop in which they recognized how we all play a part in affecting our environment.  They then pledged to increase the centers' sustainability.  The pictures show the animals the centre has acquired and the post mentions one very important effort: "disposing of garbage, recycling, attempting to make the novitiate a plastic free area".  Disposing of garbage is important in keeping the streets clean, as well as the gutters, parks, peoples’ homes, etc.  Recycling reduces the amount of waste that accumulates.  This can be seen just by breaking down the word, re – again, cycle – circle, in other words you are bringing the product back into the circle of use.  The thing is, this is not always enough, as many products cannot be recycled or are very difficult to do so, particularly plastics.

Through the centers' goal of becoming plastic free, they are starting a very important initiative that will hopefully be mirrored throughout the country.  We existed for millennia without plastic, yet we are completely dependent on it in our capitalist culture.  This is the culture that has dissipated through much of the world.  Around the world, people can be found trying to reuse plastics and trying to reduce their use of it.  One example I found a while back is in India.  The electronic waste is more thoroughly sorted than in Ghana.  These people don’t merely search for the valuable metals, but also use every other material.  When electronic waste reaches India, even the plastic casings are taken apart and sent to factories, where the plastics are sorted and then melted to produce new products.  Plastics are terrible products.  Plastics take so long to break down completely that they become magnets for toxins as this happens.  The smaller the plastic pieces, the more surface area for these toxins, which means the higher levels of these toxins. By creating new products in India, these people are continuing the use of what we already have.  It is a use of energy that should not have been brought about in the first place.  This use of energy, however, reduces the amount of toxic waste.

There are many ways to reduce or minimize plastics in our living.  Like I already stated, we existed for millennia without plastics.  Why can’t we go back to not using them?  It is amazing how easily we could minimize our plastics.  Sure, the computer I am using to write this blog has plastic.  That is something I could not control.  The bottle I use to carry my water, however, is a reusable one.  I only use bottled water in Ghana and even then, I try to avoid that.  When in Canada, I have safe drinking water flowing out of almost every tap I encounter.  Because of that, I use the aforementioned reusable bottle.  I have a metal one and when that one is not available, I use a glass jar.  Both are reusable, last longer than the plastic one if I take care of them and the glass jar is less expensive!  Remember, plastics break down.  One-time-use plastics break down more quickly, but even the sturdier plastics eventually break down into the water we store into the bottles.  We cannot see these plastics in our water, yet they are there and likely have attracted toxic materials and/or bacteria.  It is ridiculous to knowingly introduce these materials into our body when safer products are available.

I may have discussed the bottle, but this is not the only place plastic is found.  Every time you go to use plastic, ask yourself what other option could have been used.  The other option is likely healthier and less wasteful.  If it is something that would still need to be disposed of, could this other product be composted?  Because plastic can never be composted.

This weeks’ quote is a bit outdated, as we are now at approximately a little bit over seven billion.  Also, inhabitants of the earth should really also include all other living organisms.
I wish everybody could have the experience of looking back at the Earth and realizing that it's really no different from a spacecraft. The five and a half billion inhabitants of Earth are all astronauts living on a spaceship that has limited resources. We have to use these resources very wisely if the ship is to keep us alive. – Captain James Lovell

Monday 18 June 2012

GI - Poisoning the Poor


In 2008, Greenpeace International put out an article called Poisoning the Poor – Electronic Waste in Ghana.  I found it when I was writing a paper about waste management in Ghana.  This article angered me terribly.  I have since used this article in other papers.  I cannot believe our need for electronics has gone this far.  Then again, this is nothing, compared to how this same need is affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo, though I will discuss that topic in a later post.

European and American electronic waste is being illegally sent to Ghana.  When it reaches there, the workers take these electronics apart so they can sell the precious metals found within.  These workers are unprotected and many are children.  These products already contain toxic materials, which may affect sexual reproduction and child development, however this is not the end of exposure to toxins.  Many of the metals are within other materials such as plastic and the workers often burn through the outer materials.  This kind of smoke has a terrible effect on the local and global atmosphere but it also has detrimental  effects on the workers’ health.

This electronic waste gets to Ghana from the Netherlands, Korea, Switzerland and Germany under the guise of second-hand goods.  By calling it second-hands goods, the companies appear to follow the rules AND make money off of these materials.  The problem is, these containers are filled with broken and faulty products with low numbers of working products.  What is more, traders have reported that to get the working materials, they must accept whole containers of faulty products.

With any problem should always come a solution.  Greanpeace does offer a solution.  That solution is to pressure electronics companies, primarily the biggest ones, to stop using toxic chemicals in their products and to also take responsibility for recycling their products at the end of their life.  Some companies have been working to make this change but as of publication of this article, Philips and Sharp refuse to take any responsibility.  These companies maintain that there will always be a digital divide, one that has dangerous effects on workers in developing countries, and these powerful multinationals hope to keep this hidden from the general public.

Lastly, if you don’t read the article, I do recommend you at least watch the video found on the same page.

And let’s not forget the weekly quote, this one from Ike Skelton:
Congress must make it clear that common animal waste will not expose farmers to liability under Superfund, while ensuring continued action to clean up legitimate hazardous waste sites around the nation.

Monday 11 June 2012

For the River


This is a song I found about a year ago.  It is called For the River and is by Wanlov.  Usually he does satirical songs with FOKN Bois.  I do recommend you check out the other songs, some of them are really funny and the beat changes with most of them.  This post, however, is about For the River.  It is a song about water and waste.  Wanlov sings that he wants to “go bath for the river” but then explains that he can’t because when plastic came, it polluted the waters.  In polluting the waters, it is now a bad idea to bath, since most rivers are far too polluted.  They even name a few of the major rivers in Ghana and how polluted they are.

This song shows how everything is linked in some way.  WaPreG is about waste prevention.  The thing is, waste prevention isn’t just about the street being pretty.  It is about preventing pollution of waterways, soil, organisms, etc.  One point I learned in Garbage Island a few weeks ago is that plastic particles are found throughout our bodies.  This could be acceptable if the plastic was not active, however another point in the film is that as plastic breaks down, it becomes active.  The way it becomes active is that it becomes a kind of magnet for toxic particles.  That is the problem with plastic pollution in terms of when it breaks down.  Sure, we cannot see this, but it really does make a difference.

Though our bodies are an important part of pollution, this song is about water.  In Ghana, most people have to buy pure water, which is quite wasteful due to the sachets' one-time use, if they want safe drinking water.  The problem is, many people cannot afford this, so they drink polluted water.  Where they get this water depends on their location, but one thing is sure: the more polluted the water they drink, the worse it is for their health.  In Montreal, I have spent a few years working with TAPthirst, though admittedly I have greatly reduced my involvement in recent months.

TAPthirst (tap drinkers against privatization) is an initiative dedicated to promoting awareness of the social, environmental and monetary costs of the bottled water industry, and water privatization as a whole. We aim to empower people at a grass roots level by supplying them with the information and tools necessary to question the bottled water industry and its impacts on our environment, health and communities. In doing this we hope to bring people one step closer to ethical water consumption in the fight against privatization of one of the world’s most important resources.

Our major goals are to eliminate bottled water from the University campus, improve infrastructure of public drinking water (i.e. improving numbers and maintenance of fill stations/water fountains) and educate the public as to the realities of water privatization, on both a local and global scale. 

I couldn’t change it because I find it is so eloquently written.  When I first came to Ghana and realized I wanted to work in Ghana, I saw how water and waste are interlinked and that was something I wanted to bring together in my work.  With Alfred and WaPreG, I am working primarily with waste, however our success will be a success with water in terms of at least pollution.

Because of the water pollution in Ghana, TAPthirt’s kind of initiative cannot take place.  WaPreG wants to change that.  By preventing waste, we are preventing further water pollution.  What is important to remember is that considering the amount of time it will take for the waters to come anywhere near clean, we need to make the change now.  And just a note, by clean, I don’t mean purified.  I mean allowing the water system to run its course, which is a natural filtration system.

And now a quote by Joe Henderson:
Our favorite: a former garbage dump converted into a riverside park. I first ran there more than 30 years ago when a marathon passed through this park that later became home to Pre's Trail.

Saturday 2 June 2012

Something More Personal


Originally I was going to review Toxic: Imperial Valley.  It is a documentary that is both relevant to WaPreG and well-made.  It is about a few environmental problems occurring in Imperial Valley, in terms of pollution.  The one pollution that intrigued me the most is the dumping of waste near Slab City.  I do very much recommend it, despite my not writing about it.  I enjoyed it, however I felt no inspiration to write the review.  That is odd, since I have felt inspired by many different pieces – documentaries, articles, websites, songs, etc – that were not necessarily even fully related to WaPreG that I even have a list.  I doubt I will ever finish that list, it is so long.  This weeks’ post is going to be inspired by the reason I cannot move to the next piece on my list, the one that would have followed the documentary.

In mid-March, my power cord stopped working.  It is a two-piece power cord, so I was hoping to only replace the part that was broken.  The problem is, these things are not universal, even though they could easily be.  Even within a brand, parts often vary from one model to the next.  Because of this, I had to buy a whole new cord to replace my four year old cord.  The cord whose box and part connecting to the wall were both still in working condition (however the box is attached to the part that plugs into the computer, so the box working is a bit irrelevant).  Luckily, the replacement is universal, so I will be able to use it on future computers when their cords break.

Within a week, the new cord stopped working.  Oddly enough, the same part stopped working as with my original power cord, albeit a different problem.  Anyways, this cord has a warranty, so I was able to have it replaced.  It worked well for a week, then I had a bit of trouble with it until Wednesday, the day I handed in my incompletes.  I was fortunate enough to get it back two days (I went the day after it arrived at the store, so really only one day) after bringing it in, despite being advised of a weeks’ wait.  Though I was expecting four to six weeks, this really just shows how dependent we are on technology.  One of my friends is also a great example.  She got her computer back only the day before I got mine back and she went through the whole week without a computer (it is so short but feels much longer for those of us depending on this technology).  Her laptops hard drive gave out, so while waiting for the replacement, she had a hard time functioning even though she didn’t need a computer.  She then realized that she wastes so much time on the laptop, ending up much more focused on her schoolwork and she procrastinated less during that week.

Coming back to my few days without my computer, all of my work went to a standstill, since it is all computer-related, despite having finished my semester.  The replacement turned out to be an upgrade, so hopefully it will last through the warranty (which was not renewed ...makes me wonder how much confidence the store has in its products) or the same four years as the original or an even better eight years, double the original!

As nice as it would be to get eight years out of the new power cord, I highly doubt that will happen.  The reason: planned obsolescence.  Ever hear your parents complain about how things just don’t last as long as they used to?  They are not crazy, it is true!  Companies used to make high-quality products but now, many companies purposefully manufacture their products so they will break in not too long a time.  When they break, the part that breaks no longer exists or else is so expensive to replace that the consumer often chooses to replace the product, rather than to repair it.  As a socially and environmentally aware individual, this worries me.  When it comes to electronics, most of which contain conflict minerals, this means further exacerbating the conflict (hence the term) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  When it comes to any of these products, this means increasing the amount of waste pollution.  Though recycling exists for most of these products, this recycling only exists in certain regions and even within those regions, many people do not know of these initiatives.

I could say so much more about these two issues, however I will further discuss the DRC in the future and WaPreG is all about waste, so I do hope all my posts enlighten you.  I know this was a rather brief post, however it could get very long if I do not restrain myself.  To know more, I do recommend that you all look at the pieces I use, as they have a different point of view and additional information to that which I discuss in my posts.

This week’s quote is by Elizabeth Beresford: make good use of bad rubbish.