Without getting too technical, these rare earth elements are believed to be in somewhat limited supply, with the bulk of them located in China. Until the last decade or so, there wasn’t much concern with the world’s supply of lanthanides. However, there is increasing demand for these 15 rare earth elements as new clean energy technologies emerge. This includes advances in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, energy-efficient lighting like CFLs and even wind turbines. Rare earth elements are also being used in high-tech consumer electronics, like your cell phone.

So, now more companies around the world need more lanthanides to meet consumers’ demand for electronics. However, there is a limited supply of these elements and exporting them is costly. Companies are going to need to find other sources for lanthanides, and this is where the concept of urban mining emerges.

Urban mining is a great concept — e-waste is recycled and the precious metals are removed, refined and reused. This keeps toxic e-waste out of landfills and reduces our dependence on expensive-to-import metals. This includes the rare earth elements used in the high-tech industry like neodymium, europium, yttrium, cerium and terbium.

The process of extracting rare earth elements from cell phones is not as refined as the process used to remove gold, silver, copper and the like. However, companies around the world realize the importance of harvesting lanthanides from existing electronic products and are working to advance this technology. Harvesting these rare earth elements through recycling also prevents them from seeping into the ground and possibly causing problems for humans, animals and the environment.

Although neodymium can be toxic if inhaled in the working environment, the biggest toxicity concern comes when the element is allowed to accumulate in the body. If neodymium builds up in your body, it could be toxic to your liver. The more electronic waste that makes its way to landfills, the higher ground levels we will see. As is the case with all ground-contaminating products, it is only a matter of time before it makes its way into the human body. Recycling electronics can prevent this process.

To learn more about urban mining and the rare earth elements, read “A ‘Gold Mine’ of Precious Metals in Discarded Electronic Devices.” In this article, Masao Yamada with Dowa Holdings and Yasuharu Yanai with Kosaka Smelting explain how their company is expanding their urban mining operation. Next time you’re ready to upgrade to a new cell phone, recycle your old phone so these rare earth elements can be extracted for future use.

After all, the need for cell phones is as equally important for the environment as it is for the people. According to ChairtyGuide.org, more than 500 million unwanted cell phones are either hidden away in homes or seeping hazardous lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants and arsenic into the environment. The life of a cell phone is now estimated to be at 18 months. Perhaps we can thank the iPhone for that in big part, though that is a personal opinion. The fact is that by releasing new technology so often, more than 125 million cell phones and their batteries are tossed into landfills every year.

For the sustainability minded with financial needs, or even just purchase wishes, old cell phones can mean cash when handed over to sites like cellforcash.com. After choosing the manufacturer and submitting the phone info, simply ship in the old phone, and the funds are credited to your account or sent to you. Sound too good to be true? Many similar sites on the market are legitimate, but of course, watch out for any suspicious behavior, including asking for too much of your personal information upfront. Any credit card or social security number requests are scams. Bypass the fraud, and you’ll make anywhere from $25 to $240 for your old phones.

As for store credit, most of the time, the credit for dropping off a cell phone will be a “thank you,” but can result in occasional promotional discounts when dropped off. Stores including Radio Shack, Office Depot and Staples have mobile phone recycling centers, where an in-store recycling bin makes the process a fast one. For a recycling option with a much bigger personal trade-off, consider donating the phone to charity. Charity.org has some great suggestions.

To use snail mail when donating phones, send them to The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, which collects and distributes working cell phones to victims of domestic violence so that they may call 911 for help in emergencies. Phones For Life gives seniors a lifeline by providing them with a working mobile phone. According to Charity.org, their drop-off locations are in a number of states, or you can donate your mobile phone by mail. Donate A Phone and Call to Collect have partnered to accept cell phones at convenient locations throughout your state, refurbishing and distributing the cell phones to domestic violence shelters in need. More information about cell phone recycling and donation is available from The Recycling Alliance, Charitable Recycling, Collective Good and Wireless Recycling.

No matter what the recycling choice, remember: A cell phone in a drawer is just clutter, so why not take the call to recycle it?

So, how do yesterday’s mobile phones fit into the equation? With roughly 130 million of them cast aside on a yearly basis in the U.S. (a mere 10% are actually recycled), our society needs some serious cell phone intervention. Unless we resist the perpetual urge to upgrade to the latest greatest bells-and-whistles model, our cell phone habit will continue to fuel an ever-escalating e-waste problem that results in soil and water contamination via toxic materials.

Even though “old” cell phones are deemed obsolete by the public and manufacturers, they’re still made of various recyclable materials such as platinum, palladium, gold, copper, silver and plastic that could conceivably yield millions upon millions of dollars in precious metals when harvested in bulk. Additionally, the EPA says that water, energy and greenhouse gases could be significantly cut even if just 1 million old cell phones were properly recycled (the equivalent of getting 33 vehicles off the road for 365 days).

Fortunately, there are more unique recycling options available to well-intentioned consumers than ever before. The following programs are designed to lure us into dusting off our unwanted cell phones so we responsibly divert them from the landfill. In many cases, compensation is even offered for helping the planet, so what are you waiting for? Green it like you mean it!

• Gazelle: Using their online form, enter specific details and the estimated condition of your unwanted cellular device. Print out a postage-paid label, send your phone to them and once Gazelle confirms that the details and condition of your phone are accurate, they’ll issue you a check for fair market value within a few days (you can also choose to donate the sum to charity). Even if Gazelle determines that your unwanted phone has no market value, they will responsibly recycle it for you.

• EcoSquid: Eliminating endless hours of Internet research for the consumer, EcoSquid enables you to find out which companies will pay top dollar for your unwanted cell phone(s) just by typing the brand and model number into their search bar. Once you select the most appealing offer, EcoSquid automatically links you to the company website of your choosing in order to finalize the deal.

• Plant My Phone: For those who want to pass on the cash in favor of doing something selfless and equally beneficial for the planet, Plant My Phone offers two different ways to ship your unwanted phone to them at no cost. Once they receive your hunk of hardware, they’ll responsibly break the phone down into its recyclable components and use the money earned from the sale of the materials to bankroll an ambitious tree-planting project in 12 countries. For each 2-year-old cell phone they receive, they’ll plant as many as 15 trees (depending on the value of the device and accompanying accessories). As a nice thank you, they even offer donors the chance to win $1,000!

• Call2Recycle: While Call2Recycle offers no financial or immediate environmental incentive for recycling old phones, they do offer convenience. With collection boxes in more than 50,000 locations across the U.S. (including Best Buy, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Sears locations), the service appeals to mainstream yet well-intentioned consumers who desire instant “greenification.” Plus, it feels good knowing that you’re doing right by Mother Nature.

• ecoATM: Modeled after coin-to-cash self-serve kiosks, this system — so far only available in select California, Nebraska and Kansas locations — enables consumers to receive cash or coupons when they deposit their electronic devices (such as old cell phones) directly into ecoATM stations. Like PlantMyPhone, this company partners with organizations such as Trees For The Future and Sustainable Harvest International in an effort to help offset carbon emissions and make the world a greener place.

Image: Steven Tyrone

Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument made of massive standing stones in the heart of England, has inspired many an artist. For decades, people have been making their own reconstructions of the ancient site of worship, with whatever materials are at hand.

The craze, however, hit a new pace in the summer of 1986, when Stonehenge became a world heritage site and was fenced off. Since then, various ‘Henges have cropped up all around the world, their spirit unbroken — and some of the greatest take the druid’s credo as their own, reusing and recycling materials to create truly green creations.

7. Foamhenge

Image: Alun Salt

Though perhaps not spectacular sounding, Foamhenge probably comes the closest to recreating the real thing, because foam, if painted and cut to the right size, can emulate almost any material. Grey-colored foam does in fact look surprisingly like the real rock. This full-size replica of Stonehenge is located in Natural Bridge, VA.

Image: Ben Schumin

Creator Mark Cline of Enchanted Castle Studio made it entirely out of Styrofoam, even opting to include the Altar Stone behind the Great Trilithon — a construction still debated by historians.

6. Phonehenge

Image via coasterimage

In a similar vein is Phonehenge, a performance area made from red British-style phone booths. The installation is part of Hard Rock Park, a 140-acre rock ‘n’ roll theme park located in Myrtle Beach, SC, now called Freestyle Music Park. After a grand opening on April 15, 2008, the park has remained closed since the 2009 season. If only they’d move Phonehenge off site and let us admire it year round!

5. Fridgehenge

Image: Jim Rosebery

Fridgehenge in Santa Fe, NM, is made up of dozens of unwanted white fridges that have been arranged in a circle. The lower ones have since been decorated with graffiti, making Fridgehenge a true contemporary counterpart of the ancient mystic place.

4. Tankhenge

Image via zoneofthefree

Tankhenge was built by guerilla art group Mutoid Waste in Berlin in 1992. Just three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, its location, close to the Reichstag, was more than symbolic. Decommissioned German tanks were painted bright colors and then stacked one on top of another to form Stonehenge’s trademark arches. Speaking about the project at the time, the artists said, “If you want the stones, you can keep them… We’ll build our own!” And thus the worldwide motto of ‘Henges was born: “Mutate and Survive.”

3. Banksy’s Port-a-potty-henge

Image: Mark Crossfield

Who but guerilla artist Banksy would dare erect a mock Stonehenge so close to the real thing, in the Sacred Space field of the Glastonbury Music Festival? To top it off, he chose reclaimed chemical toilets as his medium. Ingenious, no doubt, and we’re wondering if the energy field created might help one’s bowel movements. If so, this discovery might have gastroenterologists flocking from all over the world…

2. Snowhenge

Image: MichiganArchaeologist

There was a special purpose behind this rendition of Stonehenge carved out of snow: a group of amateur archaeoastronomical and physiological scientists, calling themselves the Michigan DRUIDS, built Snowhenge last winter to understand some of the site’s ancient mysteries. According to some historians, Vikings, Phoenicians, Egyptians and the lost tribe of Israel may all have been in Michigan at one point. As anthropological remains suggest — especially a stone circle similar to the one in Stonehenge, found on Lake Michigan’s Beaver Island in 1985 — any one of these ancient groups could have built and left monuments in Michigan.

Image via Snowhenge

Snowhenge is a one-third scale replica of Stonehenge and was built at the MacKay-Jaycees Family Park in Grand Rapids, MI, where it will stay frozen year round. Each of Snowhenge’s pillars is 6.5 feet tall, and all are perfectly aligned, according to astronomical markers, forming a circle 30 feet in diameter. All in all, nearly 1,000 cubic feet of packed snow was used.

1. Carhenge

Image: Kevin Saff

Carhenge in Alliance, NE, is made up of 38 vintage cars that were rusting on local farms and dumps until creator Jim Reinders and a crew of 35 helpers recycled them to build a memorial to his father, who had once owned the farm on which Carhenge now towers.

Image: Plumbago

Photographer Kevin Saff overheard the following conversation about Reinders: “The thing is, the guy is basically nuts… he wanted me to help him do it, but he wanted to do it the traditional way, with mead and all that.” Carhenge was dedicated on the summer solstice day of 1987 and, though locals still have mixed feelings about the installation, it draws 80,000 visitors from all over the world every year — which is comparable to the real thing!

All this creativity is an inspiration for creating new versions of Stonehenges. There are many materials yet unused — glass, straw, wool, matches. Is anyone listening? We’ll keep our eyes open for new versions.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Cell phones are like potato chips — you can’t have just one. Whether it’s because a new, more desirable phone came out or because we changed carriers, we’ve all ended up with a few old phones lying around somewhere, gathering dust, waiting for that day when we’ll get around to recycling them like we always say we will. And, chances are, that dusty box in the closet also contains a few extra batteries from days of yore.

You may think that a rechargeable battery that no longer works is not worth recycling, since it can’t be repurposed the way old cell phone parts may be, but in reality, it’s extra important to recycle your cell phone batteries. According to the advocacy group Californians Against Waste, more than 80% of rechargeable batteries contain the hazardous heavy metals nickel and cadmium — stuff you do not want seeping into your water supply. However, as of only a few years ago, less than 20% of rechargeable batteries were recycled. In California alone, more than 34,000 tons (tons!) of batteries were sent to landfills in 2004.

It doesn’t have to be this way. There are a growing number of cell phone and cell phone battery recycling options out there, many of which are organized by major retailers, making them convenient for most Americans. You can search 1-800-RECYCLING.com to find recycling locations near you. Near my home, you can drop off rechargeable batteries to be properly disposed of at several AT&T, Verizon and Radio Shack locations — and many other facilities as well.

So, you no longer have an excuse to allow that dusty box to sit in the closet for one more day! Get out there and recycle those batteries!

Let’s focus our sustainable minds on the products college students need. To make sure life in the dorms is as comfortable and efficient as possible, there are a few key areas to address: technology, clothing and school supplies.

Technology

Unlike the school days on campus that your parents reminiscent over (perhaps way too frequently for your taste), today’s supplies include some high-tech gear. While laptop computers, MP3 players and digital readers are energy sinks, they do offer some sustainable benefits. Most notably, these products are eco-friendly in that their existence makes other products unnecessary.

One can take an endless amount of notes in class, thus limiting the necessity for notebooks. The fewer notebooks used, the fewer trees cut down. And, if you want to take it one step further, read how to find the most energy-efficient laptops. The same goes for MP3 players: One of these puppies means you don’t need to buy CDs (if anyone even does that anymore). No CDs, no plastic discs, no packaging, no paper booklets. And, lastly, one Kindle requires a lot less material than a library of books — textbooks, novels or otherwise.

Clothing

Along with a new grade level, every person needs some new stitches for the year — it’s the American way. That being said, think about how much you might really need that new hat or belt that you’ll wear… oh, maybe three times. One of most common “green” challenges these days is making something new with something old — by altering some of your least favorite clothing into a new, fashion-forward and not-so-harmful-to-the-earth style. And hey, if you mess up then you just have a new set of rags to wash your car with on the first day back to campus.

However, if you’re like most people, you’ll end up purchasing at least a few new pieces. When doing so, look for clothing that comes from sustainable materials like bamboo or hemp. Again, unlike our parent’s generation, today’s clothing made from such natural materials can actually look stylish and most importantly not be so itchy. Companies like Project 571 offer “college-supporting organic clothing that is trendy, fashionable, fair and earth friendly.” This way you can be proud of your school and be green!

Supplies

Today’s university bookstores offer a much wider selection of products than the simple notebooks and binders of yesteryear. Think spiral notebook with post-consumer recycled paper, pens that utilize soy-based ink and planners that combine both green-thinking practices. The pen-and-paper medium is quickly becoming obsolete, but in the interim, those supplies we still find necessary can be as sustainable as possible.

Amy Ridener

Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program collects no-longer-used wireless phones, batteries and accessories from any wireless service provider at our Communications Stores nationwide. These unused phones provide a valuable connection for victims of domestic violence — a hopeline — thanks to the nation’s most reliable wireless network. Donated phones provide a safe way to stay in touch with family, counselors, employers and landlords as victims work to rebuild their lives.

More than 200 tons of electronic waste and batteries have been kept out of landfills through HopeLine while helping to address a social issue that knows no social or financial boundaries. The statistics across the program are inspiring: Since October 2001, when Verizon Wireless launched the national recycling program, 7 million phones have been collected, and the equivalent of 300 million minutes of free wireless service has been provided.

A multi-faceted program, HopeLine’s recycling effort also provides financial support for local and domestic violence organizations, community and corporate awareness programs, and partnerships with law enforcement agencies, professional sports teams, educational institutions and corporations worldwide.

So, please make sure your unused phone has nine lives and drop it off at your nearest Verizon Wireless Store or mail it for free by downloading a postage-paid label at verizonwireless.com/hopelinemailinglabel.

For more information, please visit verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

Amy Ridener is the Manager of Verizon Sustainability.

“Woman With Connections,” 2005, electronic connections. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

Federico Uribe’s torso pieces might all come in roughly the same shape, but consisting of a vast array of recycled everyday items, they couldn’t be more different.

“La Femme Fatale,” 2000, baby bottle nipples. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

Reusing the commonplace is fundamental to Uribe’s artwork. Items are stripped of their practical purpose by being reassembled into new shapes, leaving only the color, form and texture of the original objects. By recycling seemingly boring shapes, Uribe hopes to reawaken an appreciation of their beauty as if they were being seen for the first time.

“Dominatrix,” 2004, dominoes. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

While having a distinctly modern flavor, suggesting pop art’s reappropriation of the everyday, Uribe’s torso pieces also recall the marble forms and contours of classical art — as if Roman sculpture had been reworked in cans of Campbell’s soup.

“Cybersex,” computer keys. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

In fact, Uribe’s pieces are made from all manner of materials, from dominoes, screws and computer keys, to plastic forks, brushes and cleaning supplies, as well as a host of other found objects. The only requirement is that they must inspire the artist’s “aesthetic instinct” of beauty.

“La Bocalista,” 2000, rubber lips. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

The creation of the sculptures is a labor-intensive process, requiring compulsive repetition as the disparate elements are weaved together to form a whole. In the piece above, rubber lips have been brought together into the human form — with the lips meeting as flowers. Meanwhile, below is “Still Life,” which sees plastic fruits stitched together in a subversion of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s well-known paintings of vegetables, piled into human figures.

“Still Life,” 2000, plastic fruits. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

Several pieces use similar objects to very different effects — for example “Bleeding Bride,” below, uses pencil heads to form a spiky, cactus-like form from color pencils, while La Fautive uses pencil erasers to form a smooth, calmer form.

“Bleeding Bride,” 2005, pencil heads. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

“La Fautive,” 2005, pencil ends. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

Disarmingly, the pieces have been given humorous names, using simple wordplay and recycling popular metaphors to affirm their basic positivity. The playful titling explores the way that that the names of the objects fit into the language, while subtly highlighting the extraordinariness and the oddness of the everyday. For example, a series of busts made of screws is called “Everybody gets screwed,” combining a simple pun with the unpleasant notions of having screws driven into oneself and the metaphorical notion of “being screwed.”

“Screwed,” screws. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

In the early part of his career Uribe was concerned with similarly dark themes, working as a painter to explore dark and brooding canvases, preoccupied with Catholic themes of sexuality, pain and guilty.

“Dominatrix,” dominoes. Used with permission of Federico Uribe and Annina Nosei Gallery.

His great turning point came in 1996, in Guadalajara, Mexico, when he began trawling street markets for odds and ends, looking for baby-bottle nipples, screws and plastic forks. With an assembled collection of shapes, it was only a short step to reusing them to assemble sculptures of the human form.

“Secretary,” 2004, computer keys. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

“Mujer Embalada,” 2004 bullets. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

This new period came with a change of heart: his pieces would endeavor to instigate positivity. His ultimate ambition became to inspire a lasting sense of humor, beauty and love in the memory of his audience.

“Candidata,” 2004, padlocks. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

Uribe says, “I have the hope that people who relate to my sculptures and live with them will see the love I put into them. I want people to feel that I do this with a lot of careful attention and the purpose of beauty. I give my life to my work and I want people to see it.”

“Mujer Domestica,” 2005, clothes pegs. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

“Hooker,” 2006, safety pins. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

Uribe is serious when he talks about passion. The sculptures are intended to assume a physical, sensual presence, enticing the viewer to feel their form and texture, stripped of the mundane origins of their components by the radical transformative process.

“Puzzled,” 2003, jigsaw puzzle pieces. Used with permission of Federico Uribe and Annina Nosei Gallery.

Uribe explains: “If a sculpture makes viewers smile or compels them to want to touch it, then, I believe, it becomes a permanent and amiable memory, which generates affection and love.”

“Mujer Centenaria,” 2003, coins. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

“Blonde,” 2005, jute. Used with permission of Federico Uribe.

Federico Uribe’s work can be found at his website, here.

Everybody likes brand new goodies, but the majority of the staples that children must have at the beginning of each school year are practically the same as the previous year. The only thing that really changes is the way in which manufacturing companies package and design their supplies, ensuring the ongoing cycle of purchasing and purging.

Before you head off to the office supply store or big box retailer this year, dig through your closets to see what basic materials you already have on hand. Chances are pretty good that amid the recycled gift bags and other items that you’ve stashed there for a rainy day, you’ll be able to unearth many of the requisite notebooks, writing implements and other materials itemized on your child’s school list.

Recycle already-used materials.

It’s not uncommon for students to blow through multiple notebooks in the course of a school year, which inevitably leads to the age-old quandary about what to do with their partially used remnants. You know, spiral binders with just 20 out of 150 pages written on, chewed-up pencils that may not be cosmetically pleasing but still have a good two months left in them and erasers that have plenty of bounce remaining despite their haggard Keith Richards appearance. Rather than chucking them in the closest garbage can, give these still-valuable school supplies a sense of renewed purpose instead.

Try adding used notebook pages to your newspaper collection bin and spruce up any battered, mangled covers with strategically placed stickers or artfully applied duct tape (in contrasting colors). The same DIY mentality can be applied to folders, loose-leaf binders and other supplies that are still functional despite their slightly worse-for-the-wear condition. Be sure to enlist your children in this exciting customization project, and if they’re skeptical, keep a big smile plastered on your face while whipping out the items they’ll need to turn their school supply trash into one-of-a-kind treasures.

Purchase high-quality, durable items that will take a licking but keep on ticking.

With the U.S. economy still putting the crunch on most people’s wallets, it can be incredibly tempting to fulfill your child’s back-to-school supply list by buying the absolute cheapest materials possible. But, when they come home from school 35 days later with a folder that looks like it has been regurgitated by a small songbird, you might rue the day you were ever motivated by the lowest price tag.

If at all possible, seek out well-made supplies that will stand the test of time (not to mention the probing and highly destructive fingers of miniature human beings). In the event that this is an entirely cost-prohibitive option, you can always go the cheap route and reinforce your purchases by hand with a little (or a lot of) DIY ingenuity.

Precycle your back-to-school list!

If you have no other choice but to buy new, then commit to purchasing items that are made exclusively with recyclable, planet-friendly materials rather than buying anything made with plastic. Yes, that’s a tall order, especially when it comes to supplies manufactured for the younger set, but it’s not impossible, particularly if you consult the Back to School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies.

Many feel that TerraCycle paved the way for the currently robust eco-friendly school supply market, which is now teeming with diverse green options such as 100% recycled cardboard folders and sugar cane/banana fiber paper and notebooks. Pay attention to labels and channel your hard-earned dollars toward products that help rather than harm our environment. If you do end up buying conventional items, stick with paper-based materials and recycle them when they are obliterated beyond reason!

Host a trade/swap event with parents in your area.

As children mature and move onto the next grade, supplies that were once imperative for their educational experience (such as crayons and glue) are suddenly banished in favor of ho-hum materials such as plain-Jane loose-leaf paper and protractors. The cycle continues on and on until they move out of the house and you’re left with enough odds and ends to open up your own mini Office Max.

Every parent within a 50-mile radius of you will experience a similar dilemma: “What should I do with this pile of __?” whether it’s colored pencils, binders or notebooks. Why spend one solitary penny on new supplies when you can trade no-longer-needed items with fellow parents who happen to have exactly the goods that your child needs? Turn the event into a potluck, and you’ll be the hero, fiscal savior and resident greenie of your entire school district!

It hasn’t been all that long since I went off to college (well, OK, a decade, but who’s counting?) and yet the lives of college students are so different now, especially when it comes to technology. Facebook has revolutionized the way students interact, digital archives have changed the way they do research and now e-textbooks are changing the way they study.

In my day, textbooks sometimes came with CD-ROM companion guides, but e-readers like the iPad, Kindle and Nook hadn’t been invented yet, so it was impractical, if not impossible, to exclusively use a digital version of a textbook. (iPods hadn’t even been invented yet when I went to college. Boy, do I feel old right now.)

Over the past few years, as e-readers have become more available and affordable, digital textbooks have started to really take off. They’re a great money saver for students, since there are no printing costs involved; they’re much easier to carry around than those huge tomes most of us had to schlep; and, most importantly, for our purposes today, they’re better for the environment.

There has been some amount of skepticism about whether e-readers, with all of their hard-to-recycle electronic parts, are better for the environment than traditional books for the public at large, since most people only read a book or two a month and often buy used books or check them out from the library rather than buying new. But college students aren’t the public at large. Think about how many textbooks you hauled with you to your first apartment after college; if you were anything like me, you had a lot, and most of them you bought new because textbooks often get updated every year or two. Replacing the dozens upon dozens of books one student accrues in his or her college career with one e-reader would make a pretty significant dent in the worldwide production of paper.

If you’re curious about where to find e-textbooks, you can look at online stores like Zinio, iChapters and eCampus, or download a tool like the recently launched NOOKstudy app, which allows students to browse and search multiple books and write annotations, among other functions.

Paper and notebooks

Paper Mate's recycled EarthWrite pencils

Ah, the things kids scribble, doodle and occasional write perfect notes on. When it comes to paper, the plethora of post-consumer used content claims and alternative products used can make a parent’s head spin. There can be a high price attached to sustainability. There is never a promise that just because paper is better for the environment that it will be easy to write on, either. Notebooks offer even more of a hazard where paper is concerned; if the pages aren’t of a quality texture, the whole thing will fall apart.

Green Earth Office has some pretty cool alternatives in an affordable price range. The most budget-friendly idea is a $25 paper sampler pack. It includes a selection of Forest Saver obsolete map paper, Eco 21 hemp/flax/cotton paper, Genesis 100% post-consumer recycled paper, New Leaf 100% post-consumer copy paper, Everest 100% post-consumer recycled paper, 100% denim blue paper, banana/post-consumer paper, coffee/post-consumer paper, Nepal Lokta paper and Hemp Heritage 25% hemp/75% post-consumer paper. Now how is that for multiple choices?

Pens and pencils

Pens and pencils are notorious for being the first items to disappear during the school year. They are often lost, stolen or forgotten about. Thanks to the Internet, there is no need to wander through aisles of Crayola and claims; there are specialty stores online that won’t charge (much) more than that.

What will $10 get you? To name a few possibilities: a pack of Papermate Earthwrite recycled pencils from BuyOnlineNow.com, made with reclaimed wood; recycled mechanical pencils from WholeSale Industrial Supply; and retractable recycled pens with a soft grip from Eco Green Office. Another hint: Papermate is the most widely available recycled pencil supplier.

To bust a common myth, many recycled pens and pencils look like run-of-the-mill pens and pencils. The moral of that story is to always be on the lookout while shopping for school supplies; the masses won’t be looking, and there will be plenty for the taking. Now sharpen those pencils and hit the aisles; school is almost in session!

d-CON Mary (detail), 2008. All images used with permission of Jason Clay Lewis.

It’s often said that you’re never more than 8 feet from a rat in London, and in the even more densely populated urban sprawl of New York, lordy those scuttling vermin must be within touching distance — and you may not even know it.

Perhaps it was thoughts like these that first drove Jason Clay Lewis to reach for the rat poison. But then somewhere along the line, the Big Apple-based artist decided on an alternative use for this deadly means of pest control — repurposing both the poison and its packaging as the very materials from which to create his next sculptural works: portrayals of religious icons, at once beautiful and strangely repellent.

Among the diverse pieces of art that make up Lewis’ Renewal Series are various iconographic reproductions covered with d-CON rat poison packaging. Towering above the others, both in scale and in notoriety, is a 5-foot-tall sculpture of the Virgin Mary — the lurid yellow of the layered poison packs that form the skin of this life-size Madonna a stark reminder of art’s capacity to shock and unnerve, particularly in a still strongly Christian country like America.

d-CON Mary

As with any artist, the medium within which Lewis works is fundamental to the meaning of his pieces and some of the aesthetic ideas with which he is playing, such as the relationship between pleasure and disgust. However, we were also curious as to how he first discovered and settled upon these specific materials, and how the concept of recycling — or at least reuse or repurposing — figures in his work. Lewis told 1-800-RECYCLING:

“I am a very tactile person, so I am drawn to materials that are slightly odd or have the potential for having double meanings. It has been a long transition, as I have used so many different materials. I try to push my work, so the poison pieces came about because it just seemed like the craziest thing to use for a sculpture. By using the d-CON boxes — with their prominently displayed bar codes — I believe it pushes the idea of what religious symbols can be, and questions not only the innocuousness of religion, but also the commercialization of religious iconography.”

Poison Christ, 2008

The phantom of the afterlife and instruments of death pervade Lewis’ body of work in a variety of forms (“The Black Death,” engraved bullets). What’s more, he does not stop at using the packaging of poison, just as he does not restrict himself to the representation of Christian religious icons. His statues of Christ and Buddha are composed of rat poison itself — the former, part of the “Drop Dead Gorgeous” series that spawned d-CON Mary, standing over 6 feet tall.

What are we to make of the use of “found substances” that would normally spell death for vermin having artistic life breathed into them by Lewis’ hands and mind? It certainly makes us ponder when that which would exterminate the lowliest of animals assumes an exalted status in the image of our most revered and recognizable religious forms.

The statement accompanying a recent exhibition explained: “The poison pieces reference empathy: As we go up the food chain, our empathy increases until we reach the ultimate form represented by the crucifixion. Lewis’ fascination with religious topoi — seen throughout his work — this time focuses on semiotic ambivalence of Christian iconography.”

Poison Buddha

But, as mentioned, the icons of other world religions are not exempt from Lewis’ critical gaze. Buddha puts in an appearance at the party — the enlightened one also awakened in the blue-green hues of rat poison. Shedding some light on this uneasy balance between repurposed form and recycled content, Lewis told 1-800-RECYCLING:

“My work is at its most powerful when I place extreme opposites together, such as good and bad or positive and negative. This is highlighted most profoundly when I use my favorite topic of life out of death and the cycle of life. By juxtaposing the spiritual iconography with poison, I hope it brings about in the strongest way possible the idea of the fragility of life and how religious icons are used as representations of the afterlife.”

Poison Easter Bunny

Lewis’ challenges to the perceived order of things — questioning concepts such as beauty, passion, life, death and creation — do not always have such a sober incarnation. His Poison Easter Bunny references a character that is only part of Christian folklore in its broadest sense. Yet even beneath the toxic surface of this more playful and not strictly religious icon, there lurks a serious intent from an artist for whom art is:

“A matter of life and death, where one senses the only response to death is art. Without glossing over the violence of the natural world I ask questions about man’s suicidal folly, the one we call progress, a merger into a religion of commerce and profit, of false façades… ”

Through his unique choice of media, his reuse of dark and sometimes dangerous materials, Lewis is an artist who seeks to go beyond the limits imposed by culture and tradition, all the while exploring his ideas of “attraction verses repulsion.” Could the scratching of rats be music to your ears? Doesn’t poison and d-CON packaging almost look good enough to eat?

Special thanks to Jason Clay Lewis for answering our questions and for permission to use the images from his website.