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Photograph by Peter Cade, Getty Images

Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too

Article Credit: Richard A. Lovett for National Geographic News

Billions of bits of plastic are accumulating in a massive garbage patch in the Atlantic Ocean – a lesser known cousin to the Texas-size trash vortex in the Pacific, scientists say.

“Many people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” said Kara Lavender Law, an oceanographer at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

“But this issue has essentially been ignored in the Atlantic.”

The newly described garbage patch sits hundreds of miles off the North American coast. Although its east-west span is unknown, the patch covers a region between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude – roughly the distance from Cuba to Virginia.

As with the Pacific garbage patch, plastic can circulate in this part of the Atlantic Ocean for years, posing health risks to fish, seabirds, and other marine animals that accidentally eat the litter.

Full Article at National Geographic News

Article Credit: Richard A. Lovett for National Geographic News

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The Growing E-Waste Problem

E-Waste(Electronic Waste) is obsolete, broken, or surplus electronics that are discarded in the trash.  E-Waste is the fastest growing component of municipal waste in the world, with between 20 and 50 million tons generated annually and that amount is climbing rapidly every year. One of the largest problems with E-Waste is the toxic metals contained in much of it. These metals include lead, mercury and cadmium, all of which pose large health risks. Besides toxic metals, there are also large quantities of precious and rare metals such as gold, silver, copper, and palladium. These metals require enormous amounts of carbon dioxide to mine and they are just being thrown away by people.

The largest components of E-waste are computers, cell phones, tvs, printers, digital music players and digital cameras.  Many of the over 1 billion cell phones bought in 2007 are thrown away or improperly stripped of their precious metals. In 10 years the amount of computer waste will grow 400 percent in South Africa and China, and 500 percent in India. The United States alone produces the most E-Waste of all at 3 million tons a year.

So what can be done to help reduce the problem? Well it seems the greatest challenge is getting old electronics to proper recycling centers. Many consumers are unaware of the growing problem of E-Waste and all of the dangers it presents.

Manufactures are also being held accountable to an extent in some countries in helping recycle their products. There are many manufactures and stores that will take back old electronics and recycle them for free or for a small fee. In the case of a fee being charged, many of these stores will offer a dollar for dollar credit towards the purchase of newer goods.

Recycling Options

For the Chicago and Illinois readers here is a link to the Illinois EPA that lists where and how to dispose of old electronics. Illinois EPA

Also check out the Plug-In To eCylcing program at the EPA.

Donate Instead

For those of you wanted to donate your old phones to be reused instead of recycling them there are numerous places to do so such as:

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Donate A Phone

Cell Phones for Soldiers

More Information On E-Waste

ARS Technica

VOA News

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Photo courtesy Royal Canadian Mint

Winter Olympic medals go green

In an exciting historical first, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will feature medals containing recycled metals from E-Waste or Electronic Waste. The Olympic and Paralympic Games have long held a philosophy of sustainability and this is another opportunity to show it.

A Vancouver company called Teck Resources provided the metals used in making over 1000 medals for the Winter Games. 6.8 metric tons of discarded electronic circuit boards was shredded, separated and heated to recover the gold, silver and copper that was to be used. The recovered metals were then mixed with mined metal and sent off to the Royal Canadian Mint to be produced.

While the percentage of recovered metals in the completed medals is small, it still demonstrates innovative ideas for recycling and will hopefully become a long running tradition for the Olympics. I am hoping that it will help more people think about the growing issue of Electronic Waste and how to properly dispose of old electronics rather than just throwing them in the trash.

UrbanGreenSpot will be featuring a article on Electronic Waste soon so be sure to check back.

Source: ENS

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Clean Energy Week

Feb 1^st-5 is clean energy week. In honor of clean energy week organizations nationwide are working together to put clean energy at the front of national policy. These organizations aim to boost policy in the clean energy sector in order to boost the number of green jobs as well as help America become a leader in clean energy generation.

A gathering of conferences, workshops, outreach programs, and rallies in Washington D.C. will be held to educate government and industry members on applications for clean energy and the benefits of clean energy.

For more information visit: http://www.cleanenergyweek.org/

This would be an excellent week to let  your local policy makers know your opinions and demands of the clean energy sector going into the future.

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Chicago Green City Market

The Chicago Green City Market has started its Indoor Season on Jan 16^th. Green City Market is Chicago’s only year-round farmer’s market that promotes local, sustainable farmers, producers and chefs. The market seeks to connect the public with education programming and special events. Such events include chef demonstrations, community festivals, and programs to encourage youth to try new, local, sustainable foods.

Location: Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

2010 Saturdays: Jan. 16, Feb. 13, Feb. 27, Mar. 13, Mar. 27, Apr. 10 and Apr. 24
8:00 am- 1:00 pm

http://www.chicagogreencitymarket.org/index.asp

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Carbon Credit reduction opportunity right here in Chicago

Carbonfund.org has partnered with The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). The CCX is North America’s largest carbon trading market with an aim to reduce CO2 emissions through targeted emission reductions.

If you were thinking of purchasing carbon offsets and wanted to see the effects a bit more locally then I suggest purchasing through Carbonfund.org. You can easily calculate the amount of carbon to offset for activities such as flying, driving or just donate a flat fee.  During the easy process you can select which activities you want your offsets to be applied to. If you select the “Energy Efficiency & Carbon Credits” option your offsets will go towards the Chicago Climate Exchange program.

Carbonfund.org also has several other options for your offsets to be applied besides the CCX exchange program that include Renewable Energy, Methane Projects, and Reforestation.

UrbanGreenSpot is not affiliated with CarbonFund.org or The Chicago Climate Exchange.

See link for more information.

http://www.carbonfund.org/site/projects/profile/ccx/

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Chicago Green Drinks

On January 13^th, this monthly event that takes places in 300 cities around the world will continue featuring leaders in sustainability movement around Chicago.

The theme of this month’s event is Annual State of Sustainable Chicago (& Power Networking).

The event is an informal meeting featuring networking opportunities, panel speakers, informative table displays, as well as a business card repository. Hosted at Jefferson Tap, it appears to be a place to gather and share new ideas on sustainability and environmental awareness. Internships, volunteers and jobs have been attained from this event.

In the future I will attending this event personally in order to provide detailed coverage of the event and hopefully find leads to even more local green events to provide to the members of UrbanGreenSpot.

January 13, 2010
5:30–8:30pm

Jefferson Tap & Grill
325 N Jefferson St 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60661

Event does suggest preregistration.

See the following link for more information:

http://www.foresightdesign.org/greendrinks/

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Welcome to UrbanGreenSpot

We would like welcome all new visitors and members and hope you keep coming back to help us grow. As a content driven site we hope you further UrbanGreenSpot’s expansion by letting us know what you want to see out of the green living revolution. Voice your ideas, tips, opinions to a likeminded community and steer UrbanGreenSpot towards what you want.

UrbanGreenSpot aspires to provide knowledge, news, and involvement in the ever-growing and exciting green living revolution. From eco-friendly life style tips to green technology reviews to environmental sustainability. We also provide a wide reach of events and news from our local Chicago area to across the globe. So please come, learn, enjoy and participate in UrbanGreenSpot.

UrbanGreenSpot came about to fill the void in my life during endless job hunting. I grew tired of one sided emails and job applications and needed to get some substance and meaning back in my life. I decided to invest in a creative outlet for my passions. That outlet was the birth of UrbanGreenSpot.

As always in an effort to back up what we say at UrbanGreenSpot, this site is hosted using green technologies including  100% wind powered webhosting, Energy star and eco friendly monitors, green technology hard drives, and  80 PLUS Certified power supplies.

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