Question:

What inspired you initially to begin your Trash Talk venture?

Answer:

As a society, we are bombarded with negative information about the environment and our resources constantly. Feeling powerless because we cannot afford to donate cash or time to a cause, we begin to feel overwhelmed by the immense environmental problems our world faces. Psychologists know that simply performing one positive action helps to define a positive outlook on life and will inspire further participation from the individual.

Question:

How long did the Trash Talk column run?

Answer:

The column began in 1999, and was published for about 5 years, before being compiled into Trash Talk. For the last couple of years, we have focused all our energies towards compiling the articles into a book that matched our expectations and the publisher’s deadline. However, we continue to write articles, which are published across North America.

Question:

Why the title?

Answer:

We talk about trash so we simply called it Trash Talk. It was an eye-catching title for readers of our column, so we kept the title for the book. The concept of the book is to reduce, reuse or recycle items that were formally destined for the landfill. The idea of refusing to buy products with excessive packaging is another essential element discussed. You are sending a powerful message to manufacturers when their sales figures decrease.

Question:

What kind of book is Trash Talk?

Answer:

Firstly, Trash Talk is meant to inspire participation from the individual in easing the world’s environmental strain. The entire book is focused on bringing the reader inspiring facts, useful ideas, and a real sense of hope. We show how recycling benefits us all and discuss how the 4-R’s of waste management are implemented. By treating waste as a resource, the reader will save money and better the environment.

Question:

Where is the likely readership? What type of person would be attracted to this book?

Answer:

Anyone that creates waste, that likes to save money and who would like to lessen their personal impact on the environment would get something very useful out of this book.

Anyone who is feeling overwhelmed or depressed about the state of the earth can find some comfort in our pages. Individuals and businesses will learn how to save money and time. Our financial consultant tells us that if people could find a way to save just $7 a day they could contribute to their retirement monthly. We show people how to accomplish this simply by improving their waste and resource management.

Question:

What is the sales potential of the book? What are the interests of the book?

Answer:

Zero Waste initiatives are gaining popularity in communities across North America. Education systems are teaching recycling and environmental sciences in their curriculum. The last time we checked – landfills were not getting any smaller. It is in the best interest of all of us on this planet to make it as healthy and non-toxic as possible in order to remain. With this in mind, we felt it was vitally important to have this book published, aiding communities in their waste reduction efforts.

Question:

What makes this book unique?

Answer:

Trash Talk is about implementing the Refuse-Reduce-Reuse tactics first, in that order, before even considering recycling. In this, we are not trying to pronounce that recycling is a negative approach by any means – more a final solution when all other options have been considered. By taking matters into our own hands we can ease the burden that is upon the recycling industry, decrease our own household costs and help preserve our resources.

In all our research, we could find only four, or five, books on this subject throughout North America. Most of these are regionally based and were written up to 10 years ago. We have written Trash Talk for a wider, North American audience. We included a list of over 140 magazines, Internet sites, books and reports that were used in the writing process, as well as providing statistics throughout the book.

It is focused on providing the reader with a sense of hope and the knowledge that their actions have a direct impact on their own pocketbook as well as the health of the community. In fact, many chapters close with a list of the direct benefits attained by taking the suggested actions and the chapters can be read in any order.

Question:

Why should anyone care?

Answer:

We think it is vital that people recognize the volume of waste generated in homes and businesses. Each bag sent to the landfill increases municipal costs and the need to create new landfill space. The ideas in this book will help individuals and businesses to not only manage their waste and resource consumption, but also purchase less.

We show readers how to turn their yards into organic, wildlife paradises. Individuals will learn how to increase the value of their real estate. Employers will learn new ways of decreasing sick days and increasing staff production.

Communities will learn how to reduce smog and waste issues. Each – and every one -of these things we just mentioned can have a huge effect on the financial state and health of people within our communities.

Question:

What makes this book so enjoyable that people keep referring back to it?

Answer:

The hands-on reuse ideas make it easy to start right away with simple projects around the home or office that make a difference. The positive approach gives the feeling that there is hope and that no matter how small you start it is just that – a start. In no time, the inclination to look at anything twice before discarding it will be a reflex action. Because readers learn of the direct benefits of each action they make, we hope they will find the courage to further their management journey. This book could very well be one of the best tools for individuals and businesses to meet Zero Waste goals.

Question:

What is the best way to get started in recycling?

Answer:

Returnable bottles and cans are probably the easiest to begin with, and have the additional incentive of receiving money for bringing them to the depot. All office paper, envelopes, cereal boxes, newspaper and junk mail can be put in one box and taken to the depot. Cardboard is also easily recycled. However, not all glass is recyclable. Very few depots accept ceramics or drinking glasses. Because mixed glass is less valuable than separated colors, many depots require glass to be sorted by color. Tin cans and aluminum foil can be put in another box. Labels on jars and cans are also recyclable.

It is easiest to start recycling these resources. When the family becomes used to these, they can consider recycling plastics, metals and many other things. Recycling is the first step in taking responsible measures to deal with our waste problems.

Question:

Do you have outlets for all your recycled items?

Answer:

Most communities have big recycling bins, reuse centers and take-it-back programs available for the public. There are differences in each depot. For instance, some require labels to be taken off cans and bottles – others do not. Some accept all rigid plastics from #1-#7 – others accept only translucent milk jugs. It is important to become familiar with local depot requirements because the wrong thing can ruin the whole bin.

Question:

How does one “save time and money”? Provide some examples of how reuse works.

Answer:

Even before recycling, a plastic container can be reused for various storage means numerous times. This means the container is not going to the landfill, contributing increasing municipal costs and loss of land. The individual saves money by not purchasing a storage container.

A corn pellet stove is one of several types of pellet stoves – kitchen appliances that burn either wood pellets or biomass pellets that are fed into a burning pot. These pellet stoves are used in residential and even industrial sites mostly for heating and sometimes even for cooking. They can be free-standing or they can be inserted onto fireplaces and vented towards a chimney. The use of biomass matter for pellet stoves and heaters came about as a result of the global fuel crisis that necessitated the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy.

Fuel for pellet stoves

Users of pellet stoves utilize cherry pits, sunflower seeds, even wheat as biomass fuel, but a lot of these pellet stoves’ makers opt for the use of another biomass fuel – corn. While wood may be the original choice, and the other seeds and pits additional choices, most pellet stove users swear by corn pellets. Pellet stoves that are specifically made to use corn pellets are becoming more and more in demand because they have been proven to be more fuel efficient and less maintenance-intensive. Although a corn pellet stove looks almost exactly like a wood pellet stove, the former usually does not require a chimney as it is highly efficient. It can simply be vented through pipes to an outer wall. As such, corn pellet stoves may be used to heat almost any room in a house.

How it works – the basics

Like any other pellet stove that has a hopper, auger, blower, firebox, vacuum, and control box, a corn pellet stove feeds the biomass pellets from the hopper through the auger or screw onto the firepot. The auger is used to control the heat. The blower is used for combustion and exhaust as it blows combustion air over the pellets and forces smoke outdoors. The stove mechanisms allow for efficiently clean performance. The intense heat that is produced by the stove is highly concentrated. The convection blower and heat exchangers allow for the circulation of the heated air towards living or cooking spaces.

The use of corn pellets ensure clean, pollution-free burning so that chimneys are no longer required for the corn pellet stove. A vent from the stove towards a window or opening outdoors will suffice. With its highly combustible nature, the use of corn in the pellet stove enables the heating of average-sized homes on less fuel, and less money spent for fuel of course, compared to other traditional and conventional fuels. Like a traditional furnace, a corn pellet stove is combustion-based – burning the corn pellets and warming up the surroundings as heat radiates from the flames. The secret is in the gradual feed of the corn pellets through the hopper, allowing for consistent heat which is not possible if the biomass fuel lot is simply dumped onto the fire. The larger the hopper, the longer the stove is able to continuously burn to provide long-term heating.

Another aspect of the corn pellet stove’s efficiency is the heat-exchanger inside the furnace. The heat exchanger, like that in a gas-furnace, extracts heat from the exhaust. The result is a more efficient heating system that allows for more space areas to be heated for less fuel consumption. It will only be a matter of strategically positioning the corn pellet stove in a residential or industrial structure to get the optimum heat from the contraption. Facility of locating is addressed easily as the stove is simply vented, no need for a chimney, so that smoke exhaust is forced outdoors.

Over and above the efficiency is the environmental issue. There are a lot of contentions that corn is a cleaner fuel, with less harmful emissions than traditional wooden fuel. Burnt corn leaves less ash, reportedly, less than the ash resulting from burning wood of equal quantity to the corn fuel. The construction of a corn stove pellet also allows for the ability to push ash out of the stove’s top towards a pan for easy emptying. The fire is thus allowed to burn continuously for a consistent, continuous heating. Then there is the safety issue, where fire is more controllable in a corn pellet stove, and outside areas are shielded and protected through the use of the blower that has an effect similar to bellows where despite hotter flames generated, the flames are confined to the stove area and are in no danger of accidentally touching on external or surrounding combustible materials.

With all these advantages of a corn pellet stove, including efficiency, economy, environmental-friendliness, and safety, a lot of residential and industrial users prefer it over the traditional wood-fed stoves.

We live in an energy conscious world today and more and more people are seeking ways to reduce carbon emissions and help protect the environment. Cutting down on fossil fuels and the use of renewable energy is a key part of protecting our planet.

Wind power has emerged as one of the most effective ways of harnessing the Earth’s natural resources to produce a clean form of energy that doesn’t damage our environment.

As oil prices continue to rise and pressure mounts to cut down on carbon emissions, the benefits of wind power and other alternative energy sources are becoming more and more apparent.

According to experts, wind power could meet 10 per cent of the world’s electricity within 20 years, even if the amount of electricity used doubled. At present, the annual growth rate of wind power is more than 40 per cent and it should soon supply electricity to 100 million people worldwide. Europe is currently the world leader when it comes to wind power with Germany and Spain providing the most electricity through wind power. The United States is third on the list, followed by India and Denmark.

Wind power is the fastest growing source of alternative energy in the United States and around the world. Every year, more an more households get their electricity through wind power. However, this cheap and clean source of energy is still only being used to a fraction of its potential. However, this is likely to change in the next few years for a number of reasons.

Wind power is clean

The chief advantage of wind power is that it is clean. There is no smoke, no fumes, no smog and no dirty air for us to breath. A turbine simply harnesses the energy of the wind and produces electricity without producing any waste whatsoever.

Wind power can produce electricity that can be fed directly to homes and factories, replacing the power supplied by major power plants. Today, power plants are among the biggest polluters in the United States. However, a single 1-MW wind turbine can save on 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide in one year. This is the same of planting one square mile of forest. And that is just from one turbine, imagine what one hundred turbines will do to help save our environment.

Wind power is cheap

Wind is free so wind energy is cheap. In fact, it is the most competitive of all the renewable energy sources when it comes to cost and can easily rival the cost of other more tradition fuels like gas or oil.

Wind power is a relatively new technology and at the outset it was quite an expensive source of power. However, developments in the technology means that costs have reduced drastically and are continuing to fall. Meanwhile, the cost of power provide by fossil fuels is going up so wind power is likely to become the cheapest for of electricity in the near future. And once it becomes the cheapest, we can expect to see a significant rise in the number of wind farms in the United States.

Wind power is local

Wind is everywhere so there is the potential to build wind farms anywhere. Of course, some areas are better than others for harnessing wind power but the ability to have wind power as a local source of energy is a real plus. It can save on miles and miles of cabling, provide jobs and investment in local areas, and generally boost local economies.

Wind power also benefits society on a wider level. It makes for a cleaner environment which means healthier people and fewer air pollution-related medical problems. It can also be put in place quickly, cheaply and easily to deliver a reliable source of energy in a relatively short space of time.

Wider issues

The future of wind power is affected by any number of larger, global environmental and geo-political issues. With world leaders currently developing a new agreement on how the world is going to tackle climate change, a number of major changes can be expected in the world’s energy supply. A move to greener, cleaner sources of energy is inevitable.

This signals a busy future for wind power. At the moment we have barely scratched the surface of this valuable resource. In the United States, wind power supplies less than 1 per cent of the country’s total electricity needs. However, there is the potential to have 60 per cent of electricity supplied by wind power, and the figures are similar on a global scale.

So, in the coming years we are likely to see the number of wind farms around the world rocket as more and more countries harness this clean and cheap source of electricity.

As the cost of conventional sources of energy continues to rise solar power is now more than ever a clean and viable source of energy for the home and for business. Billions of dollars have been spent in the United States over the past couple of decades in promoting and developing this technology. In this article we look at some of the benefits of solar energy.

It is estimated that the cost of the equipment to power a home with solar energy is 90 per cent cheaper than it was in the 1970s. And with energy bills rising rapidly it is now an increasingly attractive source of electricity.

In most cases, using solar energy to provide electricity for a home involves installing special solar photovoltaic cells in the roof of your home. It is true that the initial investment is quite expensive but this money should be recouped in savings on electricity bills over time and significant savings can be made in the long-term.

In sunnier areas solar power can meet and even exceed an average home’s electricity needs at certain times of the day. Excess electricity can be stored in batteries or in certain areas it can even be sold back to electricity supply companies.

Here are some of the main benefits of solar energy:

* It’s cheap – Once you make the initial investment to have solar technology installed in your home it is a free source of energy. Once it has paid for itself you can make make significant savings on your energy bills. You may even qualify for government incentives to help cover the cost. What is more it will add significantly to the value of your home. Green homes are becoming ever more popular in today’s environmentally aware climate so this investment will increase your home’s value and make it easier to sell if you ever move on.

* It’s clean – Solar is one of the cleanest and environmentally friendly sources of energy out there. If you want to do your bit to combat climate change solar energy is the way to go.

* It’s easy – Solar energy systems require very little maintenance. Once the system is installed you will have a constant source of energy and you won’t have to worry about adding extra fuel, paying bills and the other chores associated with conventional sources of energy.

* It’s consistent – If you use solar energy you do not have to worry about power failures. Even if your traditional source of electricity fails you will still have a back-up. In addition, if you live in a remote area that does not have easy access to centralized sources of electricity solar is an excellent alternative.

* It’s neat – Even if you live in a heavily populated area installing solar panels should be no problem. Since they slot easily into the roof of your home there is no need for them to take up precious garden space. Also, while the panels themselves are costly, they are very easy and quick to install.

* It’s wire free – There are a number of stand alone solar-powered appliances available today that eliminate the need for wiring. For example, you can install solar powered garden lights that you simply place in your garden that run of the sun’s energy. These even have light sensors so they switch off and on automatically depending on the light.

The use of photovoltaic cells in the home can be quite expensive. However, it is not the only way to make use of the sun’s energy. In colder regions homes are increasingly being designed to make the best use of the sun’s energy to provide warmth. This involves sensible design of houses by using methods such as having large glass windows on the south side of the home which will help warm the home during the winter. The home will need to be protected from too much sun in the summer so trees can be used for this.

Another option is to use the sun to provide hot water from the home. This method simply involves using thin water pipes, painted black, and running them through a ‘greenhouse like’ box that is exposed to the sun on the outside of the home. In warmer areas this can provide hot running water throughout the home for free.

Solar energy isn’t for everybody. Where you live will determine whether or not it is the right choice for you. If solar panels are not viable for you, or you are unsure if you are ready to take the plunge, you should still consider buying solar appliances when possible. There are any number of solar appliances available today including video cameras, watches, radios, fountains and much more. These all eliminate the need for batteries and/or wiring.

According to studies, a Hepa air filter can remove up to 99.97% of harmful airborne particles, including dust and dust mites, mold spores, pet dander and other allergens. In addition to regular cleaning and home maintenance, the use of a Hepa air filter can aid in reducing the quantities of allergens in the air. Because of its ability, a Hepa air filter is commonly found in most air purification units.

An air purifier is typically portable and compact, which makes them ideal for moving from one room to another. Because they are also inexpensive, most individuals purchase more than one Hepa air filter purification unit.

Hepa air filter purifiers are believed to prevent snoring due to their ability to remove allergens in the air. When an individual has difficulty breathing, which is often a result of allergies, they may be more likely to snore during the night. If a Hepa air filter is used, it is possible that the dramatic reduction in airborne allergens will prevent congestion and thereby eliminate snoring.

Many individuals, who do not necessarily suffer from allergies, simply wake up feeling congested and stuffy. This may be a result of having little or no air circulating in the room, which can be corrected with the use of a Hepa air filter. If you have a smoker in the house, these portable air purifiers can work miracles and filtering the smoke.

A Hepa air filter purifier can be purchased at most retail stores and is typically found in the housewares department. In addition, Hepa air filter units and replacement cartridges are widely available online. It is important to remember that filters must be changed regularly in order to maintain the air quality. Each manufacturer will recommend a time that the filter should be changed, which should be followed precisely. Otherwise, the air quality may diminish due to a dirty filter cartridge. If the replacement cartridges are difficult to find, they can usually be ordered directly from the manufacturer. If they are no longer produced, it may be necessary to upgrade to a new and improved Hepa air filter system.

The information in this article is to be used for informational purposes only. It should not be used in place of, or in conjunction with, professional medical advice. Individuals with mild to severe allergies should not use a Hepa air filter as their sole method of treatment, but rather should consult their physician for proper diagnosis and the need for any additional treatment.