Pragmatic Environmentalism

An exploration of urban sustainability.

Friday Green Links – 1/29/10 January 29, 2010

Filed under: links — Brenda Pike @ 6:00 pm
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A lot of interesting stuff this week. As always, if you come across anything you think I might like, shoot it my way.

In other news, I’m getting How to Be an Everyday Philanthropist from a book giveaway at The Good Human. It’s not an environmental book, per se, so I won’t be reviewing it on here, but look for it on my GoodReads feed.

 

Green Burials January 27, 2010

I’ve been debating whether this is too morbid a topic, but my father passed away last week, so I’ve been pretty morbid lately. My dad’s wishes were for a very simple, unintentionally environmentally friendly burial that included cremation and no viewing. Unfortunately, the option that the majority of Americans choose (wake, casket, etc.) is the least green option possible. Why?

  • Embalming fluid – The embalming process uses formaldehyde, a toxic chemical that may be the source of the increased leukemia rate in embalmers. In order to have an open casket viewing (which I find kind of creepy anyway), the body needs to be embalmed, by law, even if it’ll be cremated afterwards.
  • Concrete burial vaults – Concrete boxes enclose coffins so that the ground doesn’t sink as the body decomposes. Each year, 1.6 million tons of concrete is used for this purpose—in the U.S. alone.
  • Caskets - 30 million board feet of wood is used per year for American caskets. It seems so wrong to me that trees are cut down just to be buried.
  • Cemetery land use – Cemeteries aren’t quite as bad as golf courses for pesticide usage and landscaping footprint, but they’re close. And what a waste of good land!

While cremation does use fuel (roughly the same as a month’s energy use for a single person) and emit air pollution (it’s the second-largest source of airborne mercury in Europe), its total use of resources is far less than a traditional burial. Only a third of Americans choose this option right now, but the percentage is expected to rise to half by 2025.

Image from the Grave Matters blog

The absolute best option that I can find (after my organs are recycled, of course) is a burial that doesn’t include a casket or liner, just a simple shroud. That way the body decomposes and the nutrients from it are returned to the soil. Not many cemeteries of that sort exist right now, but Rainbow’s End in Orrington, Maine seems to be the one that’s closest to my family (thus cutting down on their travel footprint). If you don’t live near Orrington, the Centre for Natural Burial has compiled a comprehensive list of green burial sites in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Of course, in the winter this wouldn’t be an option, so cremation and scattering in the woods seems like the best alternative. Truthfully, I would like to be composted or buried on my parents’ farm, but I don’t think I’d ever be able to convince my family to do that, even if I made them listen to “Circle of Life” a million times.

 

Friday Green Links – 1/22/10 January 22, 2010

Filed under: links — Brenda Pike @ 8:00 pm
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I haven’t had much time to keep up on my green news the last couple of weeks, so this list is a little puny. Let me know if you come across anything interesting I should read.

In other news, my Fun With a Kill-a-Watt post was featured in this week’s Carnival of the Green over at Eco Joe’s and last week’s Festival of Frugality at Yes I Am Cheap. Thanks, guys!

 

Are Kindles Greener than Regular Books? January 20, 2010

I got a Kindle for Christmas (thanks, Jason!), and in Maine I was really happy to have as many books as I wanted at my fingertips, in a package far smaller than the fifth volume of A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. But as the book geek and tech geek in me rejoiced, the green geek in me wondered: are Kindles better for the environment than regular books?

A study by the Cleantech Group says yes. According to them, the Kindle breaks even after displacing 22.5 paper books. So far I’ve read 5 books in less than a month, so after 4.5 months it should be all gravy. (Veggie gravy, of course.)

This article in Environmental Science and Technology delves into newspapers and textbooks, as well, but it ultimately agrees.

On top of that, the Kindle is less disposable than, say, an iPod, because it’s designed with an easily replaceable battery. And once its useful life is over, Amazon provides free recycling.

On the other hand, buying books on the Kindle is so easy (and fast!) that I worry that I’ll buy more than I used to. It’s definitely more convenient than getting books from the library or Paperbackswap.com. Luckily the Greenest Dollar has some suggestions for free or cheap ebooks. I’ll have to look into that. Otherwise, this habit could get expensive really quickly….