Recycle, recycle, recycle

A plastic bottle recycling bin in Tel Aviv, Israel

We've been hearing for many years now that the environment is in trouble. But recently this is becoming more and more apparent. The weather all over the world seems to have gone crazy. For the last few years now England has had heat waves during summer that were once unheard of. OK, whilst this might make the UK bearable ;-) it isn't good and it is disrupting our ecosystem. Glaciers are melting, whole species are disappearing and I know that in Tel Aviv we've been having crazy weather: heat wave after heat wave and then suddenly rain. So what do we do? We have to change our current habits to ensure that there is a future for planet Earth. If you think that your efforts will be futile see my first post and realise that every effort makes a difference.

Recycling has now become a common household word. Various recycling bins are readily available in most countries. The most common recycling bins are for glass, plastic, paper and aluminium. This is easy. We've been given the bins all we have to do is use them. Instead of throwing away these products along with the rest of your garbage, put them in the correct recycling bins. Read this interesting site: http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/science.html to find out what happens to these products when they're recycled and find out why recycling is so important.

Mount Everest - The Biggest Rubbish Heap?

A while ago I read the book "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. It was really interesting to read about the different groups who take on Everest and all the blood, sweat and tears involved in climbing the world's highest mountain. But something disturbed me about the book. No it wasn't the fact that this was a personal account of the Everest disaster where eight climbers died. That was upsetting, but not as disturbing as the mention of litter that has been left on Mount Everest. What an awful thought. It changed the way my mind's eye pictured Mount Everest forever and I feel shame (once again) to be a member of the human race.

But while I sit and worry about it and try to block it out of my head, there are people who care enough to get up and do something about it. Ken Noguchi from Japan along with other Japanese and Nepalese climbers climbed Mount Everest and picked up 500 kg (about 1,000 lbs) of tins, old tents, food and medicines which had been left behind by mountaineers. Click here to read the full story. Hopefully we will have learnt from this. Thank you Ken for leading the way.

Making the Difference

As the old man walked along the beach at dawn, he noticed a young woman ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Finally catching up with the woman, he asked her why she was doing this. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left until morning.

“But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish,” he said. “How can your efforts make any difference?”

The young woman looked at the starfish in her hand and then threw it to safety into the waves. “It makes a difference to this one!” she said.

~ Author Unknown