Beth Terry with Brita water pitcher filters she's ready to return for recycling.

In today's GreenSpace column, I wrote about Beth Terry, an accountant from California — why is it that everything on the forefront of green comes from the Golden State? — who is trying to rid her life of plastic.

There was tons of information I couldn’t fit into the article. So for those interested in pursuing the topic further, here are a number of links:

One of the first things that brought Terry’s attention to the problem of plastic was an article on Capt.  Charles Moore, who sailed through the plastic sea, which appeared in Best Life Magazine.

Moore has since founded the nonprofit Algalita Research Foundation. The website is fascinating; you can download many of its research papers (pelagic plastics, biological impacts, etc.) and learn about educational efforts, like a traveling “junk raft.”

The nonprofit advocacy group, Greenpeace, did a report on marine plastics. I can no longer find it on their website, but it’s here on the United National Environment Programme site.

LA Times reporter Ken Weiss wrote a four-part series, “Altered Oceans,” in 2006, and the fourth part was this: “Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas.” Read it and find more links here.

In March, the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy will release its report, “The Rising Tide of Ocean Debris,” which it touts as the world’s only country by country, state by state analysis of the problem of trash in our ocean. Meanwhile, you can read their short take on marine debris here.

One of Terry’s early inspirations was “No Impact Man” — aka Colin Beavan.  He in the thick of what describes as an “experiment with researching, developing and adopting a way of life for me and my little family — one wife, one toddler, one dog — to live in the heart of New York City while causing no net environmental impact.” He blogs about it here. (And it's soon to be a book and movie.)

One of the few plastics Terry was unable to rid her life of was the Brita water pitcher filters. Plus, they couldn’t be recycled! So she launched a campaign, and not long ago the company agreed to take back the filters. On Jan. 30, Terry delivered her collection filters to her local Whole Foods store, which is participating. (Note: Not all Whole Foods stores are.) Here’s the website dedicated to the campaign.

Some of the things Terry found to help her manage life without plastics: Glass straws from the GlassDharma and portable cutlery and containers from To-Go Ware.

One of the groups that Terry belongs to is Green Sangha, which is “to restoring our sense of oneness ? healing our communities and the earth through mindful practice and awakened action.”

And, of course!, Terry’s own blogsite, www.fakeplasticfish.com, is a virtual encyclopedia of additional information.

To learn what the plastics industry has to say, they have a website, "Better Living with Plastics," that talks about the convenience plastic offers and gives recycling tips for the plastic you do have.

Happy investigating!

 

A scene from “Sand Dancer”

Wanna see some great outdoor flicks?

On Thursday, Feb. 12, from 6 to 9 p.m., the Stroud Water Research Center is planning a “Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival.” It will be held at the Unionville Elementary School on W. Doe Run Road in Kennett Square, Chester County.

The ten films include:

* “Homegrown Revolution” — a 12-minute piece about a family downtown Pasadena that, among other things, grows three tons of organic foods on one-tenth of an acre.
* “Burning the Future: Coal in America — a 30-minute look at mountaintop mining in West Virginia.
* “Sand Dancer” — 10 minutes about a New Zealander who creates art in the sand.
* “Weather We Change” — 30 minutes, about a group of athletes in search of a greener ski-bum lifestyle.

The event is presented nationally by Patagonia, Inc. and sponsored locally by the outdoor gear purveyor, Trail Creek Outfitters. Tickets are $15 and proceeds benefit the Stroud Water Research Center. Read more about it here.

I've written several stories recently about white-nose syndrome in bats. It's been a dismal progression.

In the first, the Pennsylvania Game Commission was finding a white fungus associated with the syndrome in bats, but there were no deaths. New Jersey said it was investigating.

In the second, New Jersey reported massive bat deaths at its two major bat "hibernacula" -- the place where bats spend the winter.

In the third, Pennsylvania reported hundreds of deaths in Lackawanna County -- bats flying from their caves in search of nonexistent insects, falling from the sky, their little carcasses piled atop the snow.

The Game Commission has said it wouldn't be possible to take me and a photographer into one of the mines. They're too inaccessible and dangerous. But here's a video they posted on You Tube that gives a sense of what it's like in there.

The first thing I always think when I see one of these castle wannabes is, how must does it cost -- both financially and environmentally -- to heat and cool it? How the heck do they furnish it? Why do they want it anyway?

And I have delicious recollections of a seminar earlier this year, at which former Maryland Gov. Paris Glendenning and others predicted a massive population shift from the outer suburbs to inner suburbs, where there's better transportation and access to services.  The McMansions would, they predicted, remain empty, the owners would be unable to afford their mortgages, the banks would take over and, eventually, two and three low-income families would move in, plant massive vegetable gardens and keep chickens and goats in the front yard.

But that's just me. Now, a professor at Ohio State University and his colleagues have studied just what it is many people find so offensive about McMansions. They found that observers particularly dislike the houses when they are more than twice as tall as surrounding homes and "when their architectural style is not compatible with the neighboring homes," according to a report on the study.

Read a press release here.

And find out more about the main researcher, Jack Nasar, here.  

Inquirer columnist extraordinaire Karen Heller wrote a splendid piece this morning about the auto show and the huge gas guzzlers on display.

As only she can, she noted of the Nissan Armada: "I needed a running start to get in the thing  ... It's not a car. It's a second home."

While the nation awaits a fleet of domestic cars that can legitimately tout their fuel economy, Ford today released its plans.

Bottom line, the company says it is going to "accelerate its electrification strategy, including bringing a full battery electric vehicle (BEV) van to market in 2010 for commercial use, a small BEV van ... by 2011" and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) by 2012.

The nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute is providing "financial and logistical support" for  studies and real-world testing of Ford Escape PHEVs with various utilities.

Lisa Jackson testifies Jan. 14 in Washington before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on her nomination. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

Too bad we’re not hearing more from Lisa Jackson these days.

Both supporters and cautionaries alike want to know more about how the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator — formerly the head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection — will move forward.
Last Friday, in what was touted as her first public appearance as EPA chief, she spoke to a national conference of environmental justice groups meeting in Manhattan.

NY Times staffer Mireya Navarro wrote about it on the Green, Inc. blog.

Navarro wrote that Jackson “assured the audience that the new president understands urban issues and the concerns of low income communities who feel disproportionately affected by pollution and other environmental problems. She pledged ‘a listening ear and a heart’ and a commitment to address climate change ‘based on sound science.’ “

Jackson also said that as long as Obama is “committed to the idea that you don’t have to choose between environmental protection and the economy, we have a leg up on the previous administration.”

Inquirer gardening columnist Ginny Smith has written about this, and now, thanks to Philadelphia's Dana Henry, I was just reminded of a plan for a White House plot -- of veggies. There's an online petition asking President Obama and his family to plant a large organic garden -- a la the old victory gardens -- on the White House lawn.

"The White House is 'America's House' and should serve as a model at a time of economic and environmental crisis," notes the website, www.eattheview.org. With such a garden, the Obamas would be "leading by personal example on global challenges such as economic security, food security, climate change, healthcare policy and energy independence."

As someone who just finished picking out the seeds for her own family vegetable garden, I can only concur. Plus, think what it would mean for Melia and Sasha.  When I was a girl, my parents always made sure that my sister and I had our own plots. We picked the seeds, planted them, picked the weeds and reaped a lifetime of appreciation for gardening.

The site notes some historic precedence for the idea, fessing up that "we at the Eat the View campaign are the first to admit that we didn't really come up with the campaign idea ourselves: we stole it from John Adams!"

A few tidbits:

1825: President John Quincy Adams plants fruit trees, herbs and vegetables to help support his own household.
1835: President Andrew Jackson builds an “orangery” for growing tropical fruit.
1918: President Wilson and First Lady Edith Wilson recruit a flock of sheep to mow and fertilize the First Lawn at a time when the country was trying to conserve resources - human, financial and fuel – for the war effort.
1943: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt plants a large Victory Garden on White House lawn over the objections of the US Department of Agriculture, inspiring millions of Americans by her example.

Check out the video on their site, too: "This Lawn is Your Lawn."

The creator of the campaign is Roger Doiron, Founding Director of Kitchen Gardeners International.

I think the nation is divided into two lighting camps: CFLers and non.

I'm among those who are gonzo about the energy savings -- they use 75 percent less than incandescents. 

Many of the nons don't like the light quality, although that is changing.  You can pick from warm white to cool white, and if it's not bright enough you can easily pick a bulb with a higher wattage.

But then comes the mercury. People who initially find out about it are horrified.  True, it's there. And if you break a CFL, you have to clean it up carefully. But that was always the case with regular old fluorescents, too, and nobody minded then.

Today, the EPA has weighed in again, after a Pennsylvania resident to ask if the energy advantages outweighed the mercury risk. According to an EPA press release, electronics recycling specialist Dan Gallo responded to the writer, saying the advantages did outweigh the risk.

He pointed out that CFLs contain only trace amounts -- five milligrams -- "an amount that would cover the tip of a ballpoint pen." Okay, that's meaningless, I grant you. It's not how much, but how toxic. Anyway, he also said it would take 100 CFLs to equal the amount of mercury in older thermometers. And somehow we all survived them.

A researcher at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Rochester, N.Y., has concluded that the mercury released by a coal-fired power plant to light a single incandescent also is more than that in a CFL. Of course, the power plant mercury emissions aren't concentrated in the living room where you just broke the bulb, butterfingers.

So if you do break one, here's the word from Gallo:

"The first thing you want to do is to get everyone out of room, including pets. Open a window to air out the room for at least 15 minutes. If you broke the bulb on a hard surface, take a piece of stiff paper or cardboard and scoop up as much of the debris and residue as you can."

Gallo advises to use an old glove or sock to protect hands and then wipe up any remaining residue with a moist paper towel. "If you broke the bulb on a carpeted surface, you’ll want to use sticky tape to blot up any residue. Put everything in a plastic bag or a jar that can be sealed with a lid and dispose of it with the regular household trash."