America's Effort, Global Impact

Two Alternatives when Building Roads!

Taylor Houghton

Roads made from waste plastics and Solar Roadways:

I can across a video on Facebook that has left my jaw wide open. Engineering Toby McCarthey has invented paved roads that made from Image result for toby mccartney plastic roadsrecycled plastic and plastic that is in the ocean! He replaced bitumen with recycled plastic pieces and created something better than what we had before. The plastic roads are 60% stronger than the traditional asphalt roads and last 10 times longer. The popularly of these plastic roads is rising! It is time for the United States to take part!

Image result for toby mccartney plastic roadsImage result for toby mccartney plastic roads

Currently, there is over billions of liters of oil make up our roads and over trillions of plastic materials that have no use or that are just simply floating in our oceans. This is yet another great use for plastic! This will help solve some of the plastic waste problems, help reduce global carbon emissions, and in return make our roads more durable! Plastic paved roads are the future!

Another alternative this made me think of was solar roadways. It was popular a couple of years ago and I’m sad it didn’t take off because I was really excited about it. I am going to share this with you anyways! 

Solar Roadways is basically solar panels that replaced our roads, sidewalks, driveways, etc. They were invented by an engineering couple named Scott and Julie Brusaw.Image result for solar roadways

Because their solar panels, they basically pay for themselves, so it lowers the cost of energy. Not to mention these are heated! You never have to worry about ice or snow on roads! YES! That includes no more Image result for solar roadwaysshoveling in your driveway! You can ride your bike, moped and motorcycle year round! Think about the salt we put down on our roads. Not only does it destroy the roads themselves but it also rusts your car!

Solar Roadways are so easy to replace, and you won’t have to worry about filling in pot holes. They each are an individual panel. They are also pressure censored so they can warn people telling them to slow down for people crossing, deer crossing, or even branches falling. The solar Image result for solar roadwaysroadways also light up with LED lights! They light up the lane changes, warning signs, parking spots, etc. And you never have to worry about repainting them because all you have to do is re program them! It also helps with water run off. It re directs the water and doesn’t contaminant it like traditional roads do!

The best part of it all… the solar panels are made from recycle materials!

 

 

Both of these are great Eco-friendly alternatives! I am excited to see our future paved roads! 

 

Check out this video below. It goes into more details about Solar Roadways! 

Individual Change

Food Waste into Cooking Gas?!

Taylor Houghton

Homebiogas:

Can you even believe that there is a device that will allow you to turn your food waste into cooking gas! Honestly, your throwing away your food waste anyways, might as well put it to good use. Literally, all I hear is savings!!!

The blow up machine just sits in your backyard! “Homebiogas is an off-grid system that generates clean energy without any electricity AND allows you to properly treat your household waste! The system produces up to 2 hours of cooking gas every day solely from your food scraps or animal waste, ” Homebiogas tells us themselves.

How it works:

The process is easy to assemble and doesn’t require a professional technician, HomeBiogas is a DIY kit!
The system is sent to your home with all the tools and a detailed guide, so it is super easy! All you have to do is activate your system and have a healthy colony of bacteria growing in the digester right in your backyard. Literally, your able to toss your food scraps and/or animal waste into the system and then after that it generates up to 2 hours of cooking gas and fertilizer DAILY. Talk about savings!! $$$

12664

 

 

Below is a video that shows the HOMEBIOGAS in action!

Turn your food waste into cooking gas! Music by Joakim Karud

Turn your food waste into cooking gas!Music by Joakim Karud

Posted by Genius Club on Monday, November 20, 2017

Individual Change

Year Round Veggies Grown in your OWN home!

Taylor Houghton

The O Garden:

I found is this amazing video on Facebook! This is a device that allows you to grow your own veggies in home year round! It’s called the O Garden. It is designed for people who live in the city or a place where the yard space is limited. Really anyone can have this garden in their home. I know what your thinking. When you first think of  a garden in your home, you think it is going to take up a lot of space. The O Garden actually only takes up the space that a small desk would take up. Not to mention that it only uses one lamp and produces about 100 plants.
the OGarden project1
Greentumble said, “The O Garden uses space and gravity differently. The plants rotate around a central light source that gives optimal lighting to each one. As they slowly turn in the wheel, they are exposed on the side, with the leaves hanging down, and then they make their way back to the bottom. These changes in position make them stronger and they develop leaves that are more dense and vigorous.” Image result for o garden

ogarden-day-background-blue

The downward motion allows the plants to receive a small quantity of a certified organic liquid that allows them to grow strong. Not only that but there is no use for pesticides, preservatives, or exposed to air pollution.  AND the process only takes about 30 days! 30 days of waiting for delicious food right from your own home- I think it is worth it!

What can you grow: Lettuces, all kind of cabbages, Swiss chard, kale, endive, parsley, leeks, fennel, celery, basil, and other fine herbs, etc. 

“The O Garden is the all-in-one solution to growing healthy and organic foods affordably. For a fraction of the cost of buying leafy vegetables, it will now be possible to harvest your own salads and herbs, grown with organic substances, on a certified organic device, directly at home, year round, and for only 20 cents per vegetable,” Green tumble said.

Image result for o garden

Below is a video of the O Garden working it’s magic! 

This device lets you grow vegetables from home

This device lets you grow vegetables from home

Posted by YOO on Monday, July 17, 2017

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

The Last Straw!

Taylor Houghton

Straw’s Suck…LITERALLY!!!

Image result for no straw please

This week I heard about about not using plastic straws. They started campaigns called The Last Straw or No Straw Please, which I thought was very clever! I have always been one to not use a straw if I didn’t have to. I’m glad the rest of the world is finally taking notice as well!

Disposable straws are not recyclable. I actually told some of my friends this and they were surprised and didn’t know this. They often end up in landfills, oceans or our environment! According to the National Park Service, Americans throw away a half a billion straws everyday! That’s insane! It is insane to think that a tiny little piece of plastic could have such a big impact on our Earth. It is also crazy to not realize how many times you use a straw! Eight million tons of plastic enter our marine environments every year! They say by 2050 there will be more plastic then there is fish! These fish are also eating these plastic materials! This matter because we eat fish! I eat fish! This means were eating plastic! We are killing ourselves!

Image result for plastic straws in the ocean

CNN tells us that the average American uses two plastic straws a day, “Every day, Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws, enough to circle the Earth twice, or fill 125 school buses. That means the average American uses over 35,000 of them in a lifetime.” Image result for turtle and plastic straw

The movement started in 2011 by nine-year-old boy named Milo Cress. His campaign was called Be Straw Free.  It started when he went to restaurants and they gave him a straw without him even asking. He really didn’t need one and they gave him one without asking! He started going to local restaurants and asking them to not give anyone straws unless they ask. Those restaurants reported that they used 50% less straws!

Image result for restaurants saying no to straws

 

This campaign, however, started in our very own Seattle. The campaign saved over 2.3 million plastic straws in as little of three months! Restaurants are switching to paper straws. The city is even looking into having an official ban on straws and plastic utensils! Image result for no more plastic straws

 

I’m not asking you to stop using straws. I simply asking you to not use plastic straws! There are other alternatives like reusable glass, stainless steel, copper, bamboo, and several other kinds of reusable straws. I challenge you to go straw free for a full week! I am asking you to make the switch and say no to plastic straws!!

Image result for alternatives to plastic straws

 

Check out this video! 

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

11 Facts about Recycling

Taylor Houghton

On a previous blog post I talked about what can and cannot be recycled. I can across this neat website! They gave such interesting facts about recycling I had to share!! Image result for recycling

11 Facts about Recycling:

  1. The average person generates over 4 pounds of trash every day and about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year.
  2. Americans make more than 200 million tons of garbage each year, enough to fill Busch Stadium from top to bottom twice a day. Next time you’re at a sporting event or tailgate, host a trash-free tailgate using only recyclable materials sign up for Trash-Free Tailgate.
  3. The EPA estimates that 75% of the American waste stream is recyclable, but we only recycle about 30% of it.
  4. We generate 21.5 million tons of food waste each year. If we composted that food, it would reduce the same amount of greenhouse gas as taking 2 million cars off the road.
  5. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to listen to a full album on your iPod. Recycling 100 cans could light your bedroom for two whole weeks. Sign up for 5 Cans Challenge to save energy and show off your creative side.
  6. The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) estimates that the 36 billion aluminum cans land filled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million.
  7. Americans throw away about 28 billion bottles and jars every year.
  8. Over 87% of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs.
  9. In 2009, Americans threw away almost 9 million tons of glass. That could fill enough tractor trailers to stretch from NYC to LA (and back!).
  10. In 2010, paper recycling had increased over 89% since 1990.
  11. A glass container can go from a recycling bin to a store shelf in as few as 30 days.Image result for recycling the world

Be the change! Recycle! This may be something small that you are doing but it makes a BIG difference!!! Image result for recycling the world

The link is below:

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-recycling

America's Effort, Individual Change, Uncategorized

Update on Pescetarian Diet

Taylor Houghton

The Pescetarian Diet:Image result for pescetarian diet

In my last post I talked about how I was going to try the pescetarian diet. If you don’t remember, the pescetarian diet is when you are pretty much a vegetation but you still eat seafood for the omega 3’s. For the entire month of February I tried new recipes and stayed true to my values. I am going to be honest… I had one slip up. It was after a late night outing, one of of my friends made pizza rolls. I ate two pizza rolls which contained meat. I wasn’t all there in my head but I am sad that that was the only factor that caused me not to be meat free. I am happy to say that  I enjoyed the diet and will continue to follow through with it.

There are two things that I think I might try but I’m not sure yet. I might want to have meat once a month in case I want to go back to my normal ways. Going vegetation could mess up your digestive system if you go without meat for a certain amount of time and then all of sudden try to bring it back. Your digestive system gets used to not having meat. I have also heard of a weekday vegetation. Image result for eating less meatThis means during the week you continue to follow through with not eating meat but on the weekends you are allowed to have meat. This still follows my same values. You are still helping the environment, you are reducing your meat consumption, and it is a lot more healthier than eating meat everyday. It is something I am going to think of. One top of that, I still do enjoy some meals that contain meat. That is why with the weekday veggie or once a month meat eater, you can still enjoy that. I also don’t like to be an inconvenience for people. Not everyone provides a veggie option.

Somethings I learned while trying to go pescetarian:

It is not as hard as you think. When you do try it, make sure you don’t have any meat in your house because it could cause some temptations. Talk to people who support and talk about the struggles. I have also found out that it is not the meat that I love so much.

Image result for eating less meat

It is the seasoning. There is a substitute for almost everything. All you need to do is find a substitute for the meat or meal you are making and add that same seasonings. It also always taste very similar if not better in my opinion.

One example that I can think of is tacos. I love tacos but I can’t eat ground beef. A way I found to make this work was to use beans instead of meat. I am not talking about deep fried beans but actual beans like pinto or black beans. I then added tacos seasoning to the beans and a little bit a lemon and it was amazing! Of course I had cheese and tomatoes as well! Literally, I enjoy the tacos just as much as I did before and feel a little bit better about it as well. You just have to be creative.Image result for beans

I have also tried a lot of new fish recipes. I have never had fish until I came to college. My mom doesn’t like it so it wasn’t something that was never cooked in my house. I have actually have  grown a real love for fish and have now cooked it often.

One struggle I had was when the weather was nice, my friends had a cook out. They grilled up hamburgers. The hamburgers smelled and looked so good. I held my ground and didn’t have one although I wanted one. Later I found a substitute for hamburgers although I have not tried it yet. I am excited to see how that turns out.

I still challenge you to try the pescetarian diet, you might actually really enjoy it and it might change your life!! Good luck!

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

Saving the BEES!

Taylor Houghton

What would the world be like without bees? Image result for a world without bees

My first thought is oh no honey! I love honey but would I die if I didn’t have it? Probably not. What about coffee? Clothes? Bees do a lot more that what we think!

Image result for bee colony collapseIn US over these last 10 years, over 40% of the bee colonies have suffered Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). CCD is caused by the increased usage of pesticides. This is a problem because we won’t survive without bees!

BEES ARE LITERALLY THE LIFE BLOOD OF THE FOOD CHAIN! FOOD CHAINS WILL COLLAPSE!

Plants can’t bear fruit unless they have been pollinated. Bees pollinate 70% of the crops that feed 90% of the world! This is about 1/3 of the food you consume. Image result for bees pollinating

What kinds of foods are we talking about? 

  • Apples
  • Mangos
  • Rambutan
  • Kiwi Fruit
  • Plums
  • Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Guava
  • Rose Hips
  • PomegranitesImage result for food we wouldn't have without bees
  • Pears
  • Black and Red Currants
  • Alfalfa
  • Okra
  • Strawberries
  • Onions
  • Cashews
  • Cactus
  • Prickly Pear
  • Apricots
  • Allspice
  • Avocados
  • Passion Fruit
  • Lima Beans
  • Kidney Beans
  • Adzuki Beans
  • Green Beans
  • Orchid Plants
  • Custard Apples
  • Cherries
  • Celery
  • Coffee
  • Walnut
  • Cotton
  • Lychee
  • Flax
  • Acerola – used in Vitamin C supplementsImage result for food we wouldn't have without bees
  • Macadamia Nuts
  • Sunflower Oil
  • Goa beans
  • Lemons
  • Buckwheat
  • Figs
  • Fennel
  • Limes
  • Quince
  • Carrots
  • Persimmons
  • Palm Oil
  • Loquat
  • Durian
  • Cucumber
  • Hazelnut
  • Cantaloupe
  • Tangelos
  • CorianderImage result for no food without bees
  • Caraway
  • Chestnut
  • Watermelon
  • Star Apples
  • Coconut
  • Tangerines
  • Boysenberries
  • Starfruit
  • Brazil Nuts
  •  Beets
  • Mustard Seed
  • Rapeseed
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Cabbage
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Bok Choy (Chinese Cabbage)
  • Image result for no food without beesTurnips
  • Congo Beans
  • Sword beans
  • Chili peppers, red peppers, bell peppers, green peppers
  • Papaya
  • Safflower
  • Sesame
  • Eggplant
  • Raspberries
  • Image result for no food without beesElderberries
  • Blackberries
  • Clover
  • Tamarind
  • Cocoa
  • Black Eyed Peas
  • Vanilla
  • Cranberries
  • Tomatoes
  • Grapes

This list can keep going. Not to mention all the recipes that require these foods!

And it’s not just produce that is at risk here! Were talking about: beef, milk, cheese! We wouldn’t have these either! Bees pollinate alfalfa and guess what? COWS EAT ALFALFA! Think about how much beef you eat? Do you see how these relate?  Image result for cows eat alfalfa

 

Farmers would have to convert to growing wheat and corn because they are wind pollinated. Our diets would lack nutrients, there would be health complications and have less diverse foods. Our economy would be effected as well! Crop prices would raise so much that their prices could be equivalent to gold!! I already think fruits and veggie prices are high enough! Even beautiful plants wouldn’t be able to grow without bees! Trees would even be effected! The Earth would be so bare and look like a desert. Image result for what would the planet look like without bees

Without bees we would have shirking food resources (plants and animals), lack of nutrients, famine, fertility rates would stop…this would eventually lead to extinction! We would BE dead without BEES!

What are the possibly solutions?

Hand pollination, scientist building robotic bees, pollinator drones? These are all being tested but might not be enough. Image result for hand pollination

What can we do? 

Plant flowers without pesticides! Image result for what would the planet look like without bees

 

Check out this ted talk about bees!

 

America's Effort, Individual Change

What can I Recycle?

Taylor Houghton

A lot of Americans are now recycling which is great! But… a lot of the times people don’t know what to recycle or if something is able to be recycled or not. To end this confusion and worry that I know we are all having, below is going to be that mystery list that contains what CAN and CANNOT be recycled!

 

I some found interesting information on ecoscapes.com. They had 3 general guidelines that I thought would be beneficial to share:

  1. Recycle all bottles, cans, and paper
  2. Keep items relatively clean
  3. Don’t mix plastic bags in with the rest of your recycled items

 

With that said let’s go over the DO’s and DON’T!

 

DO RECYCLE:

 Plastics/Bottles: This includes any plastic bottles or containers.

Paper and Cardboard: This includes cereal boxes, snack/cracker cardboard boxes, phonebooks, magazines, mail (recommend to take your information off first), all paper, newspaper, and cardboard.

Metals: This includes tin, aluminum, and steel cans.

Glass: This includes food containers, jars, soft drink containers, beer, wine and liquor bottles.

 

do recycle items

 

DON’T RECYCLE: 

Loose Plastic Bags: This includes plastic shopping bags and plastic stretch wrap.

Polystyrene Foam Cups or Containers: This includes egg cartons, take out containers and drinking cups.

Soiled Food Items: This includes food soiled containers and soiled paper products.

Others: This includes broken or sharp glass, fast food packaging and plastic utensils.

Don't Recycle Items

 

 

About 70% of our trash can be recycled

We only recycle 30% 🙁

LET’S CHANGE THAT!!

Start recycling!!!!

 

 

Image result for reuse recycle reduce

America's Effort, Individual Change

Why we should consider Indoor Farming

Taylor Houghton

Indoor farming!? Ever heard of it? I didn’t know much about it either until I did some research. Indoor farming is the future of urban farming!! You can grow your crops at any time of the year and anywhere in the world! Think of the possibilities! Not only that but we don’t have to worry about the use of pesticides! Why? Because it’s indoors and that means no bugs! We can create the prefect crops and plants! Especially with today’s food production. There is a demand for food increase. Crops are currently being grown where climate conditions and in land that allows. Indoor farming expands this by allowing the crops to be grown ANYWHERE and AT ANY TIME! (I had to restate that and put a little emphasis on it because that is just amazing to me!)Image result for indoor farming

Side note: Although indoor farming is great, this doesn’t mean we should just give up on saving and taking care of our planet. I believe this is just an alternate solution especially with the population increase. It is also great to get year round veggies and fruit!!

 

Let’s talk about the benefits:

Indoor farming is more productive! It is so much more productive than traditional farming that it can produce 100 times more! It is because of the direction that one grows the crops. This may be confusing, let me explain. Indoor farms are designed vertically so it allows multiple different levels of production. For example, if you wanted to grow in your own home, traditionally you would have the plant sitting in a corner growing. Indoor farming allows you to grow on or behind the walls! Confused? Me too. Look at the picture below to get a better idea. 

This is just talking about your home. Imagine the possibles of a whole businesses or perhaps a warehouse of some sort. The production would overwhelming!

In the long run, indoor farming is more sustainable for a number of reasons! It uses less water (90% less), less power, less space and weather doesn’t have devastating effects on the crops like traditional farming does. Not to mention a recent concern with land space, no need to worry anymore! Indoor farming takes up not nearly as much space.Image result for indoor farming

We can grown organic food with out spending the extra money. We don’t need to use chemical pesticides or any chemicals in that matter to produce good crops. The environmental factors will not effect them because they are INDOOR! As I said before, fruits and vegetables YEAR ROUND! It is possible to harvest anything at any time! You want strawberries in December, not a problem! It’s so easy and simple!Image result for indoor farming

Technology is taking over traditional farming! There is no more for a need of fertilizers, getting down and dirty, or working harder than you need to! All of the requirements are good quality soil with nutrients, excellent lighting system, water, and of course space to grow. It’s that simple.Image result for indoor farming what do you need

Check out this Facebook video link!! Future farming might be in a warehouse in New York City!! Check out The Bowery Farming Company!! 

http://business.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/1384836634939790/

 

 

America's Effort, Global Impact

Do other Countries Recycle better than the US?

Taylor Houghton

Recycling in the US had become more and more common as the years come. I don’t remember recycling when I was little. Now, I don’t see a house in my neighborhood that doesn’t recycle. My family even adapted to the system as well. They have now have a indoor recycling bin when before they didn’t. I also remember everyone have different sizes of garbage bins. I may be wrong but I believe it is so the garbage truck can pick up the can easier. Also, at the same time, they also distributed recycle bins. I think that is truly when my family started to recycle and so did the rest of the US.Image result for recycling bins on road

Image result for recyclingTwice as many Americans recycle now, verse 20 years ago. According to IPSOS survey, younger generation’s poor recycling habits compares to 57% of adults of 55 years and older. But… that same survey found that college graduates recycle slightly higher than the average US. I was happy to hear this because college graduates are our future generations. I am soon to be a college graduate and I’d like to think my fellow classmates are taking notice on our environment. I think we are more inform today, then we were in the past. There is hope. I’m glad that recycling has become more prominent in the United States, but thankfully we are not the only country who is. There are actually other countries that recyclable better than us! In fact, the US doesn’t even make the top 10 list.

 

TOP 10 Countries that Recycle

1. Austria is the first country on the list. They have the highest rate out of any other country in the world. 63% of their waste is diverted from

landfills!! They have kept this high rating for the past decade! That’s impressive Austria! Keep it up!

2. Germany comes in a close second with 62% of their waste being diverted from landfills!

3. Taiwan– 60%

4. Cairo– alternate approach

5. Egypt-alternate approach

6. Brazil-alternate approach

7. Singapore– 59%

8. South Korea– 49%

9. United Kingdom– 39%

10. Italy-36%

11. France-35% (Number 11 but very close to Italy).

Now if we look at the United States we only divert 34.3 percent of waste. We as Americans generate about 254 million tons of trash and recycled and composted about 87 million tons of this material. We generate about 4.40 pounds of waste per person per day. Now if you ask me, that’s a lot of waste! On the other hand we recycle and compost about 1.51 pounds of that waste. That’s less than half. We can do better. Image result for recycling in us

Although, America has come a long way from where they started. I believe are efforts have just begun. When my grand-kid’s kids are born, my hope is that the trend continues and the United States strides of recycling continue to increase and our waste in landfill decreases. This will be a positive development! The world is taking notice.

Below are two interesting videos that I found about other countries recycling! Check them out!!! 

Recycling in Norway: Recycling = $$… watch below to find out why! 

 

Sweden is so good at recycling, their taking other people’s trash?? Watch below to find out! 

Sweden recycles

Sweden is so damn good at recycling, it just ran out of trash.

Posted by Mic on Thursday, December 15, 2016