I’ve always been what you would call an environmentally conscious person. It’s just the way I was brought up. My dad has been known to go around our home not only turning things off, but actually unplugging them. See, even when something is plugged in it is actually draining minute amounts of energy. Being an environmentally sound person encompasses a lot of things, even as minute as not littering, to something more complex like efficient resource management.

Being green is not a type of person; it’s not something one does for fun in their spare time. Thinking sustainably is something that every person and every business needs to be doing. It is an essential. We eat to survive. Being environmentally responsible is a necessity for our survival. If we do not act in sustainable ways then how are we supposed to go forth? It’s a serious topic that gets a lot of attention and yet it is not enough attention. One particular aspect that many people overlook and I myself overlooked for quite some time is electronic waste.

Technology is advancing faster and faster every day. This means that items such as our phones, printers, computers, TVs, microwaves, etc. are becoming obsolete faster and faster. Well the problem is one can’t just throw these items out in the trash. The bigger problem is most people do. The even bigger problem is that most people don’t know that they shouldn’t or don’t know why they shouldn’t.

Electronic waste, otherwise known as e-waste, contains things harmful to not only our environment but the human body. These hazards include mercury, lead, arsenic, and a whole lot more things that cause cancer in humans. A poignant article on Green-blog.org puts it this way, “In the process of taking apart the electronics, these overseas workers are exposed to dangerous toxins, putting themselves, their families and their environment at risk. These toxins include heavy metals such as lead, beryllium and mercury, as well as chlorinated solvents, flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). These are all deadly chemicals. Why should people in developing countries have to pay for the greed of our wasteful consumer society?”

Let’s stop letting these chemicals leech into our environment and into our bodies. Let’s recycle our e-waste! We can reuse the precious metals and keep our home nice and clean. Everyone from individual citizens to companies of any size should be properly recycling all of their e-waste. Check your local listings to find out a place near you.

Anyone in or around the New York area should check out 4th Bin. They have been issued an e-Stewards certification. “Certified e-Stewards recyclers adhere to the e-Stewards Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment®; written by the environmental community with leaders in the industry to protect human health and the global environment.” This is important because a good amount of places that claim to recycle ship the e-waste overseas where the metals are reused but the chemicals still leech into our environment.

e-Stewards make sure that e-cycling is carried out to the highest standards. 4th Bin is one of the great mindful companies bringing us into the future. Tuesday March 27th 4th Bin will be attending the CBSAC/NY hosted event, “Cash for Trash.” The CBSAC/NY (Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York) “Provide convenient networking opportunities that encourage members to get acquainted, forge business contacts, make new friends, keep up with old friends, have fun, facilitate access, and pursue shared interests in a stimulating, receptive, supportive, and collegial environment.”

Cash for Trash will be held at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP 300 Madison Avenue, PwC Auditorium SW Corner of 42nd Street from 5:30 – 9:00. CBSAC/NY members will receive a discounted entrance fee. Registration in advance is suggested and cheaper. There will be networking and exploring opportunities to turn trash into money through proper recycling. Artists and furniture designers have even figured out how to make money from electronic waste! So remember, recycle your electronic waste, don’t spread cancer.

For those of us who live in or border a state with an active bottle bill the sight of automated bottle and can recyclers is not new. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about — the recyclers are known as reverse vending machines and are typically located in the front of your local market and give you a nickel or dime for every bottle or can you deposit.

As a child I used to love going to with my Aunt to return the endless amounts of cans that her side of the family seemed to produce…You put the can in a slot, it makes a crunching noise and then it’s on to the next one. When you were finished a receipt would print and you could take that to the customer service people and get cash for your trash! In the end her good recycling efforts were rewarded when in the early 1990′s she put a  $5,000 deposit down on a brand new Jeep entirely out of recycling money! Fast forward to 2010 and in walks the Pepsi Dream Machine

The Pepsi Dream Machine is similar to traditional reverse vending machines except they provides on-the-go recycling. Ever finished a can or bottle of soda and had nowhere to recycle the bugger (shakes head yes)? In the past you either had to throw it away or if you could pack it and take it home for recycling…well now you can redeem it for prizes. Yes folks…recycling for prizes — get your gold stars ready to take home for Mom to put on the fridge!

Dream Machines have been popping up in states without bottle bills (only 11 states have such bills) where folks do not have access to trash to cash programs. Waste Management plans to operate with Keep America Beautiful and its 600 local affiliates  in the US, by the end of 2010 they hope to have 3000 kiosks in operation. Those inclined to use the machines can deposit aluminum cans or plastic bottles in exchange for points redeemable at the venue hosting the machine or online at Greenopolis.com, a community sponsored by Waste Management that promotes recycling and rewards those who recycle.

Overall I think it’s a pretty neat idea–especially since it does not compete with local bottle bills, and if it encourages people who don’t normally recycle the mass of plastic bottles thrown away each year, then I can’t complain.

Posted by Amanda| follow me on Twitter

Yesterday the nations first offshore wind farm project was approved off the coast of our neighbor to the north, Massachusetts. This made my hope of Rhode Island becoming the first state to approve and build such a project a little less bright. BUT!…there is always a but isn’t there. This decision could also be a positive development for those of us who support well planned and constructed wind farms in the (i’m not a fan of single turbines just being plopped anywhere…like over in Middletown and Portsmouth, RI) wind rich areas off of the coast.

For those of you that aren’t up to date with the green economy politics of the smallest state with the largest name, (free hug to any non-resident who knows it off the top of their head…if you had to Google it then I’m sorry but you are disqualified!) we recently had a proposal from Deepwater Wind, a New Jersey company who proposed building two offshore wind farms. One for eight turbines in state waters three  miles southeast of Block Island, and one larger scale project of one hundred turbines, fifteen miles offshore in federal waters. Supporters hopes were blown away on March 30th, when  the cost of usage per kilowatt hour raised questions of feasibility by the state’s Public Utilities Commission. The Commission rejected the contract, stating that the 24.4-cent-per-kilowatt hour starting price was not “commercially reasonable.”

Rhode Island was leading the pack of other East Coast states  including Delaware and New Jersey pursuing offshore wind. While Cape Wind was still entangled in a nine-year struggle for approval, in December of 2009 Deepwater announced that National Grid would  buy power from the Block Island wind farm.  Agreements with a utility like National Grid are crucial for offshore wind developers to obtain financing–it helps when they have contracts with a buyer(s).

Last week our own Governor Carcieri and five other governors from the East coast; Patrick of Massachusetts, Markell of Delaware, O’Malley of Maryland, Christie of New Jersey, Paterson of New York wrote to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in support of Cape Winds controversial project in Nantucket Sound because of the benefits it would have to the industry as a whole.

Rhode Island is not done fighting for the project–the  governor and General Assembly leaders are trying to reach a solution that would allow Deepwater and National Grid to renegotiate a few key elements including the price of renewable energy. The Block Island project was designed and targeted for state waters on purpose–the state permitting process can be more predictable and less cumbersome than the federal version.  If the parties involved can sit down and resolve a few of the impeding issues there is still a tiny chance that Rhode Island could beat out Massachusetts for the first offshore wind-farm.

It is thought that if Deepwater can be the first in our country to build offshore Rhode Island would have the upper hand in attracting the large European turbine manufacturers. Making our state a hub of green manufacturing based out of the Quonset Business Park, where Deepwater is currently leasing 117 acres.  The Cape Wind project could play a part in all of these as representatives from Siemens (German manufacturer of turbines to Cape Wind) have considered Quonset as a potential site for assembling turbines before transporting them east to Nantucket Sound.

As of  now no agreement has been drafted, but there is thinking that if a deal could be reached it could reduce costs for all parties involved, and help to draw manufacturers.

So  my question to you–as we sit here on the cusp of the summer driving season, with gas already rising here more than twelve cents in two weeks…are you willing to pay more for your utility bills if it meant our country wouldn’t be completely reliable on foreign sources of fuel?

I’m a little verklempt myself. Give me a second. Talk amongst yourselves

Posted by Amanda| follow me on Twitter