Reusable Bags News

In case you had not already heard, the state of Florida has a rather strange occurrence taking place. An area landfill is sinking into the Earth and, as a result, poisons are expected to leak into the area water supply. This is just one instance of how our brimming landfills are racking up the points against us while we still use up and discard, and not embrace more completely the concept of recycling and reusing. We’ll take a look at the situation in Florida and talk about just how it illustrates the potential for landfills worldwide to end up being recognized as bona fide nightmares of an ecological sort.

In accordance to a current report from WUSF http://www.wusf.usf.edu/news/2010/12/16/sinkhole_under_landfill_is_growing), the radio station of the University of South Florida, it appears that a sinkhole is opening beneath a landfill that serves Hillsborough County roughly 20 miles away from Tampa, Florida. While the powers that be continue to try to figure out what to do about this problem, it seems to be a terrifying one, to say the least. Official measurements say the sinkhole is as deep as a 4 story building is tall. Literally heaps of waste from Tampa Bay area households has already fallen into the hole.

What is a significant reason for concern is the indisputable fact that leachate could very well begin to leak downward into the area water supplies. Leachate is a substance that is a fluid containing adverse chemical elements, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leachate). Any such poisonous fluid seeping into the area’s wells is certainly bad news for the drinking water in this part of the Tampa area, but it is also a potential signal of a larger scale problem.

Tampa, Florida is certainly not the only soft soil area located in the world where all the tons of human compiled waste could plunge through the earth and then directly into the water supply. While solid waste is generally considered easier to manage than different types of human created pollution, once it begins to break down into leachate, the situation changes. Items like detergent containers as well as typical plastic shopping bags contain petroleum based chemicals we don’t want in our drinking water.

Even as it is certainly arduous to singlehandedly take on the impact of a whole landfill, these waste disposal areas are all comprised of trash from countless individuals. That means each of us plays a role in how swiftly they are filled. Such alternatives as utilizing eco friendly recycled shopping bags instead of typical plastic bags could seem insignificant, but when you consider how things add up, it carries a large impact. Once we choose to recycle through the use of green bags rather than choosing conventional bags, we are putting a foot forward for a cleaner world.

So while a sinkhole will possibly not open in the Planet beneath a landfill near you any time soon, rest assured that if we take no action like events are prone to continue happening worldwide. Because of this, it is not just Florida facing this dilemma – we all play a role in making daily decisions that impact the planet.

What does green mean? It used to be a color, but now “The Green Movement” is a historic environmental revolution. The green movement in America has a long history that dates back to the 1830’s and 1840’s when intellectuals of the era began questioning the negative environmental effects caused by the actions of governments, industry and society as a whole. With the onset of the industrial revolution and ever increasing evidence of a serious problem at hand, the green movement began to grow in popularity.

After the 2nd World War, a wider awareness of environmentalism began to take hold in the collective consciousness of society. One of the primary causes was the population explosion that was occurring on the planet. Well-known scientists began to publish works that drew attention to growing pressure on the world’s natural resources as a result of human activities. During the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, events such as highly publicized major oil spills in England and Santa Barbara, humans being exposed to radioactive materials resulting from irresponsible tests of the H-Bomb, nuclear proliferation as a whole, photos of earth from space, and new government agencies designed to protect the environment greatly increased public awareness.

Today, public awareness of the green movement is at an all time high. The rise of social media has increased communications and the exchange of information and ideas like never before. Global Warming has taken center stage and films such as Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” have helped cement this issue in our social consciousness. Still, as the planet approaches a population of 7 billion humans, many of the world’s most brilliant scientists are warning that if much more is not done, the human race itself faces extinction.

Professor Peter Barrett, a top New Zealand researcher recently stated “After 40 years, I’m part of a huge community of scientists who have become alarmed with our discovery, that we know from our knowledge of the ancient past, that if we continue our present growth path, we are facing extinction,” Barrett said. “Not in millions of years, or even millennia, but by the end of this century.” The basis for Barrett’s claims are based on the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1000 scientists from 100 nations and can be viewed at http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/114245/index.php .

It is no fun to hear this kind of news. But it’s becoming obvious we all need a greater sense of urgency. So what can you do to go green? It all starts with individual habits. Recycle everything you can. Only buy organic. Get an electric car or hybrid car or get rid of your car and live a more simple life. Use green bags, reusable green bags, or green shopping bags, rather than disposable plastic or paper bags. Make a decision to only do business with companies who are truly making an effort to go green and reduce their carbon footprint. In a capitalist economy, how you choose to spend your money is as important as voting on election day. Giving a dollar to a corporation, is like saying “I approve of what you’re doing”. Start a blog and educate and inspire people through your writing and tell them about what you’re doing in your own life to go green. Help take the green movement to a whole new level. Be a part of history.