The trick to solving these two looming problems is to make each issue the solution for the other: The over-consumption of goods leading to massive waste, much of it filling our landfills, polluting our waters, fouling our air, often caused by the overuse of chemicals in business and medicine must now become the job-solution for this recession and gloomy economic outlook.
Employment downsizing in growth-of-goods-businesses, must reinvent itself by creating jobs that solve the problems causing greenhouse gases or that find other alternatives for our energy needs. So far, government has failed to address these issues in a timely manner. I have faith though that President to-be Barack Obama and his administration will show considerable more interest and creative initiative to overturn the bad practices leading to global warming than the previous Republican administration that has instead, helped to encourage.
UCLA professor Jared Diamond's book "Collapse" (a must-read in my opinion) clearly demonstrates how practically all civilizations across the globe throughout millennia, have collapsed and gone extinct, simply for their failure to wisely use and recycle their resources - mostly by over-using wood from cutting down too many trees, used for building huts and making fires for cooking. Civilizations have used the planet's natural resources faster than nature could replace their losses, drying up rivers and streams without the shade provided by trees, creating arid zones and ultimately, desert wastelands. If planet Earth does not learn how to implement sound ecological practices, then we are probably doomed for extinction. At present there is only about 5% of fresh water left on the planet! Is planet Earth destined to become a giant microwave where we all bake to death, or can we dramatically reverse our bad habits and save our planet? We must start now.
If every state and city and town in America would recycle whatever is no longer usable, we would have so many more resources at our disposable for free, while at the same time, addressing our energy needs. Everything starts with wise use of resources and ends with recycling.
The general public across America should become more involved in recycling. Other than the weekly recycling of plastics, glass, paper and metal which many of our cities are now thankfully doing - food-garbage is yet another means of recycling that should be seriously considered. Methods of compensation for each food-garbage participant donor could be in the form of:
1. Vouchers that can be redeemed to buy food or fuel made from alcohol only, supporting this industry, helping America to get off our dependence on fossil fuels.
2. Cash
3. A tax deduction on a state and/or federal level.
I. ALCOHOL AS CAR-FUEL DISTILLED FROM ORGANIC MATTER
A great way to get off our dependence on oil - whether foreign or domestic, because of the multitude of problems oil poses when used as fuel - is to use alcohol instead. Organic matter is broken down and turned into alcohol, going through a distillation process before it can be used as fuel in autos. See David Blume's website, alcoholcanbeagas.com that sells affordable kits for converting vehicles to run on alcohol. This is the most practical hands-on method that I have seen so far. Alcohol burns much cleaner than fossil fuels and is easy to make. The distillers are also affordable, costing less than $1,500. A conversion kit that is easy to attach to my Volvo, for example - costing less than $500. I hope that the Obama administration will seriously look into David Blume's method of producing alcohol as fuel for cars instead of oil. United States could create a wonderful green revolution by getting off fossil fuels, using alcohol instead of oil.
II. FOOD GARBAGE FOR COMPOSTING
Food garbage waste, including meat products and cardboard can be:
A) Broken-down/composted and added to soil to grow trees in desert zones or deforested areas to offset the effect of greenhouse gases and to add more oxygen to the planet; keeping our planet cooler and helping to offset the effects of greenhouse gases. Trees provide also shelter for animals, helping to shore-up or reinvigorate natural ecological habitats. No distillery necessary. A donation to The Arbor Foundation will provide the trees that are suitable for any zone.
B) Organic matter, especially raw food scraps, added to compost or directly to soil itself, brings many vitamin and mineral nutrients to the earth and necessary enzymes. As long as the organic food matter is not tainted by chemicals or poisoned or diseased in any way, it can greatly increase the strength of the plants because the soil is made loamier, richer, healthier, darker. I know this from my own personal experience in composting my raw veggie scraps into dirt.. Plants that have been almost dead for years, start to grow new buds. No distillery necessary.
Additionally, raw-veggie scrap-waste can be:
1) Added to compost/soil to grow food (vegetables; fruit and nut trees) as well as flowers in community gardens.
2) Used to feed non-carnivorous animals, for example, pigs, chickens, horses, goats.
State or city governments can start programs that ask people to recycle their food wastes, by having them drop off their deposits once a week at any of several drop-off points around. The Raw-veggie scraps are weighed for which depositors are compensated, in cash, by vouchers, as or as tax-deductions.
To help solve the unemployment problem caused by this recession, the government can create jobs in the following areas.
UNSKILLED LABOR EMPLOYMENT:
1. Individuals to collect the food-waste at drop-off sites, where the food waste or other organic matter is weighed and depositors/donors are compensated.
2. Individuals to drive trucks run on alcohol, picking up the food-waste at the drop-off points across each town/city (preferably at early morning hours when there is hardly any traffic), and dropping off the food-waste at composting center/s. A certain percentage of the collected food-waste garbage could be used for:
a) Making alcohol-fuel for vehicles.
b) Composting for desert and deforested restoration areas, to plant more trees.
c) Community gardens to be added to existing compost heap to grow food, plant trees, etc.
d) Feed non-carnivorous animals, such as farms or animal sanctuaries for dogs and cats, especially meat products.
UNSKILLED AND SKILLED LABOR JOBS FOR:
3. People to work at the food-waste and organic-matter (such as leaves) stations/centers creating the alcohol-for-fuel.
4. People can be employed to transport compost and collected veggie scraps; prepare desert areas or deforested areas set aside for revitalization by composting soil; and adding drip-irrigation methods to newly planted trees.
5. People can be hired to transport veggie scraps to community gardens or to unused or vacant lots - upon contacting and getting permission from rightful owner of said property, to revitalize theses areas by growing food and flowers. Each plot can also have a greenhouse for extreme cold weather and can become the pride and joy of each community by getting involved.
6. People who have hens or animals and who need vegetarian feed can pick up the veggie scraps at a particular place. Some processing of these scraps may be required.
All food wastes may have to pass through a poison detector before they are fed to animals.
II. RECYCLING NON-VEGGIE SCRAPS (IE MEAT PRODUCTS) FOR CARNIVOROUS DOMESTICATED ANIMALS (such as for dogs and cats in animal sanctuaries.)
Again, these (meat & fish products) can be recycled from home use as well as from fast-food centers. They are simply dropped off at points around the city and/or people can be employed to pick them up and transport them to each animal sanctuary.
EMPLOYMENT
-Individuals can be hired to separate and isolate cooked meat products. Products may have to be rinsed of mayonnaise, ketchup, salt and pepper before it can be donated to animal sanctuaries to feed dogs or cats.
III. RECYCLING FAST FOOD CONTAINERS
-All styrofoam cups, paper and plastic containers should be recycled. Fast-food places must provide separate bins for each.
- Eventually non-biodegradable fast-food containers and difficult to biodegrade utensils should be phased out in favor of more biodegradable, earth-friendly products made from sugar-cane; potato starch and bamboo.
EMPLOYMENT - UNSKILLED LABOR
- In collecting and recycling the existing fast-food containers and utensils; as well as in the making of new earth-friendly products.
-The Cattail plant can be planted to absorb any previous pollution, especially along water sites. It is a known fact that many drug ingredients (products of the giant pharmaceutical industries) are found in our water supply. Industries that pollute the environment should be stopped and made to pay hefty fines. New Zealand has used the cattail plant successfully to absorb pollutant-toxins, but a more sane solution would be to forbid companies from producing chemicals! If there is one thing that this planet can do without is more chemicals. Any responsible form of health care should be organic, not synthetic - not only because of the side-effects on the human body, but because synthetic drugs and chemicals poison our waters and lands.
IV. RECYCLING PLANTS NEEDED FOR PLASTICS: GLASS; PAPER PRODUCTS; METAL PRODUCTS; RUBBER PRODUCTS; SYNTHETIC MATERIALS; USED CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND EWASTE.
More people can be hired to collect these items to be recycled. This is mostly unskilled labor. Materials need to be collected, items sorted; cleaned and prepared for recycling.
Ewaste recycling is an ever-growing gold-mine waiting to be tapped, but is also seemingly, the most complex. For several reasons, instead of shipping our ewaste to China where the Chinese are being polluted, we should deal with our problem here. But ewaste recycling would appear to be the most costly investment for any investor/s because it seems to be the most hazardous. Ewaste materials have many toxic components that require proper protection for the workers to insure safe handling in the disassembly and recycling of ewaste materials.
Each main street in a town could have a giant drive-up to drop-off center for ewaste.
V. COMPOSTING TOILETS FOR RECYCLING HUMAN WASTE
In some European countries this is successfully done without blinking an eye. Composting toilets should be used because:
1. Some composting toilets completely eliminate the need for water-use in flushing. This is important as water is becoming increasingly scarce.
2. Recycling human waste in an odorless and a biologically acceptable manner eliminating the need for city sewage systems or personal sewage systems. This is the wisest choice as it precluding the possibility of waste-groundwater contamination from a decaying infrastructure; from rupturing pipes caused by earthquakes; or from ecoli contamination caused by flooding or other natural disasters.
COMPOSTING TOILET BRANDS
There are several composting toilet brands on the market with sites on the internet that are affordable and easy to install in any home or business made by Envirolet; Biolet; Sunmar and others.
EMPLOYMENT - SEMI-SKILLED TRAINED LABOR
The city or state could train people in human composting and how to install (and even manufacture) the toilets. The human odorless waste that is thoroughly composted can be recycled into the community garden or wherever trees are being planted. This is no joke and could totally work. Imagine the gazillion gallons of water to be saved!
Homes or business buying and using a composting toilet could also get tax-breaks.
VI. RAIN-WATER COLLECTING
With water becoming increasingly scarce, city governments across America should start using rain-water collecting tanks to provide its citizens with water.
- Individuals or businesses who choose to install these rainwater collecting tanks on their own should get tax credits or deductions or other compensation, as they will not rely on the city water at all, or be using less than other citizens who depend on city-water.
EMPLOYMENT - SEMI-SKILLED TRAINED LABOR
- Private businesses or government could train individuals how to make as well as how to install these tanks.
These are but some of the ways that we can save our planet both ecologically and economically. Recycling food waste costs nothing but time. People could do this for a community garden in their neighborhood, where people who cannot afford to buy vegetables, could be a part of growing food for their own use.
Other recycling efforts involve small amounts of money, but involve some amount of personal time and effort.
All these methods are doable, yes we can! Communities must become of one-heart and one-mind to succeed in saving planet Earth while at the same time giving people jobs.
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