Milk Cartons–5 years

Filter Tip Cigarettes (as if any dumb ass smoker throws these anywhere other than outside their car window)–10 to 12 years

Plastic Bags–10 to 20 years

Leather Shoes–24 to 40 years

Plastic Containers–50 to 80 years

Disposable Diapers–75 years

Aluminum Cans–200 to 500 years

Styrofoam–NEVER

You don’t have to put all that crap in the garbage.  You can recycle just about all of it:

Just about any type of paper not used for food can be recycled.  Items which can’t include pizza boxes, Milk Cartons, dirty paper plates, and the like.

Cigarettes–let’s face it:  if you smoke, you’re not concerned with your personal environment; much less the environment in general.

Plastic Bags–hopefully you’re shopping with a re-usable tote or taking your own bags to the store.  But if you have some to recycle, many grocery stores like Publix have receptacles exclusively for plastic bags.

Disposable Diapers–I’m guilty of this one.  I use cloth diapers with my son but not exclusively.  Luckily, there are alternatives for those parents who want the convenience of disposable diapers.  Check out http://www.world-wire.com/news/0902040002.html as well as http://www.knowaste.com.  Also, some companies are producing environmentally friendly disposable diapers like Ecobaby http://www.ecobaby.ie/ecobaby_home_01.htm.

Aluminum Cans–why are you drinking out of aluminum anyway–you should be drinking water!  But if you’re drinking or eating out of aluminum, you can recycle these just about anywhere.

Styrofoam–just don’t patron companies which still utilize this crap for packaging.  And one of the most easily avoided is TAKE OUT from a restaurant.  Tell them you want GREEN alternatives or you’re not dining there again.

Chief Seattle’s reply in 1854 to a U.S. government offer to purchase the remaining Salish lands:

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us.

If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

The white man’s dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man — all belong to the same family.

So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children.

So, we will consider your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us. This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you the land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.

The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.

We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father’s grave behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care. His father’s grave, and his children’s birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.

I do not know. Our ways are different than your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of the insect’s wings. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around the pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine.

The air is precious to the red man for all things share the same breath, the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow’s flowers.

So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition - the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.

I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be made more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children that we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.

Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know which the white man may one day discover; our God is the same God.

You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.

But in your perishing you will shine brightly fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.

That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.

Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone.

The end of living and the beginning of survival.

Andrea Thompson
Senior Writer
LiveScience.com andrea Thompson
senior Writer
livescience.com Wed Mar 18, 6:19 pm ET

Our bottled water habit has a huge environmental impact, including the amount of energy it takes to make the plastic bottles, fill them and ship them to thirsty consumers worldwide.

A new study breaks down just how much energy is used at each step of the process.

An estimated total of the equivalent of 32 million to 54 million barrels of oil was required to generate the energy to produce the amount of bottled water consumed in the United States in 2007, according to the study, detailed in the January-March issue of the journal Environmental Research Letters. Of course, this is but a third of a percent of the energy that the United States consumes as a whole in a year.

In 2007, the last year for which global statistics were available, more than 200 billion liters of bottled water were sold around the world, mostly in North America and Europe. The total amount sold in the United States alone that year (33 billion liters) averages out to about 110 liters (almost 30 gallons) of water per person, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation.

Since 2001, bottled water sales have increased by 70 percent in the United States, far surpassing those of milk and beer. Only sodas have larger sales.

The energy required to produce bottled water is particularly of interest now, at a time when many nations are looking for ways to reduce their energy use and associated climate impacts.

Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a nonpartisan research institute, and his colleague Heather Cooley recently realized that no one had done a comprehensive survey of the energy use involved in the complete production cycle of bottled water, so they took on the task.

Plastic and transportation

The energy use breaks down into roughly four parts of the production cycle: that used to make the plastic and turn it into bottles, to treat the water, to fill and cap the bottles, and finally to transport them.

“Energy is used in a lot of different phases,” Gleick said.

Most plastic bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Little pellets of PET are melted and fused together to make the bottle mold. Gleick and Cooley estimated that about 1 million tons of PET were used to make plastic bottles in the United States in 2007, with 3 million tons used globally; the energy used to produce that global amount of PET and the bottles it was turned into was equivalent to about 50 billion barrels of oil, they found.

(Some companies have been shifting toward using lighter-weight plastics for their bottles, which reduces the amount of PET produced by about 30 percent and would therefore lower the amount of energy required to make them. The transition to less energy-intensive plastic is slow though, and not all companies use them.)

The amount of energy involved in that first step was a surprise to Gleick: “I didn’t know how much energy it takes to make plastic or turn plastic into a bottle,” he told LiveScience.

The energy required to treat water is substantially less and depends on how many treatments are used on the water and doesn’t account for the bulk of the energy spent in production. Likewise, the energy used to clean, fill, seal and label the bottles is only about 0.34 percent of the energy built into the bottle itself.

The energy used to transport the bottled water depends mainly on how far it is shipped and what transportation method is used. Air cargo is the costliest energy method, followed by truck, cargo ship and rail shipping, in that order. A different study on the carbon footprint of wine also found this breakdown of energy use for transportation methods.

In their study, Gleick and Cooley used the examples of different types of water shipped to Los Angeles: water produced locally and shipped by truck involved the least amount of energy, followed by water sent by cargo ship from Fiji, with water produced in France and shipped by cargo ship and rail having the highest energy costs.

Individual choices

The final tally of 32 million to 54 million barrels of oil may be only about a third of a percent of the total U.S. energy consumption, but it could be considered an “unnecessary use of energy,” Gleick said. (Roughly three times as much oil would have been needed to produce the global amount of bottled water consumed.)

The amount is 2,000 times more than is required to make tap water, “and we live in a country where we have very good tap water,” Gleick said.

Gleick said that the purpose of the study was not to propose that bottled water be banned, but to help consumers “understand the implications of our choices.” With the information on the energy impacts, “we may choose to do different things as individuals,” he added.

Understanding the energy costs of the process also sheds light on the greenhouse gases that energy use emits. “Energy is sort of the first piece of the puzzle,” Gleick said.

There are six Foundational Factors which, if followed correctly, can give virtually everyone a life of health and happiness. 

BREATHING: it’s the first thing we do when we’re born, and it’s the last thing we do before we die.  The healthy human body can survive weeks without food and days without water.  But we can only last a few minutes without oxygen.  Breath IS life force!  Yet we’ve recently twisted the simple act of breathing into a task which directly or indirectly accounts for 70-75% of all doctor visits.  We have begun to breathe exactly the opposite of how nature intended.  This inverted breathing pattern creates a host of issues from trigger points in the neck and upper back to hormonal responses that affect literally every cell in the body.  And know this: the average person breathes an amazing 25,000 times a day!  This practice makes permanent, not perfect, so we better make sure we’re breathing correctly. 

Our mouths are designed for eating, communicating, and love making (a form of communication), not for breathing.  Unless you’re being chased by a saber tooth tiger, you should be breathing through your nose.  This warms and filters the air.  And that breath should be drawn in diaphragmatically, or into your belly.  But most of us are chest breathers, taking shallow breaths in though the mouth in rapid succession.  Consequently, our accessory respiratory muscles (i.e. the scalenes) become overworked, resulting in tonic painful musculature which your massage therapist LOVES to find.  Even worse, our subconscious keep looking for that tiger, and a cascade or stress hormones continuously circulates through the body.  And even though that tiger’s really just in our subconscious, the body is innately tied to what and how we think. 

THINKING is the next Foundational Factor.  The average person has 60,000-70,000 thoughts running through his/her head a day.   And since 80-95% of stress comes from your thoughts, it would behoove us to make those thoughts positive instead of negative.  Heaven and hell have the same address as the only difference between happiness and unhappiness is a choice.  So choose to be happy.  When you wake up in the morning, choose to be healthy.  Think proactively such that your life is molded by your thoughts rather than your thoughts being manipulated by your life.  As is often said, why water something you don’t want to grow? 

Speaking of water, HYDRATION is the third foundational factor critical to health.  Our bodies are 72% water, and every physiological task the body performs depends on both the quality and quantity available for those processes.  For example, one of the key roles water plays in the body is to aid in the elimination of the waste which gets produced in cells as a byproduct of daily functioning.  The average adult has some ten trillion cells, each performing specialized functions.  And if the liquids consumed only contribute to their pollution, just like mopping the floor with a bucket of dirty water, our cells remain contaminated.  Health cannot thrive in such an environment.

So how much should you drink?  Dr. Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, states that optimal hydration levels occur when one drinks half of his/her body weight in pounds in ounces of water each day.  So 150lb person would need to drink 75oz of water every day.  This amount would, of course, increase with exercise or in hot climates.  And if you think you can reach this daily total by dinking soda, coffee, or pasteurized juice, think again.  These beverages actually contribute to dehydration as well as a host of other adverse health effects ranging from Syndrome X (i.e. insulin resistance) to tooth decay.  Our bodies were meant to drink water and nothing else.  Fresh squeezed juices, in moderation, can be used judiciously by some metabolic types, but they should really be designated not as hydration but as…

NUTRITION, the fourth Foundational Factor.  It’s the one on which people focus so much, trying to make it rocket science.  But it’s so simple your grandparents could do it.  In fact, our generation is probably the first which has really deviated from what our ancestors realized was common sense:

–if God didn’t make it, don’t eat it.
–if you cannot pronounce an ingredient in a food, don’t eat it.
–if it hasn’t been on this earth for 5000+ years, don’t eat it.
–if it won’t keep your dog alive, don’t eat it.
–the more ingredients in a food, the worse it is for you.

–the longer the shelf life of a food, the worse it is for you (the exceptions to the rule are raw seeds/nuts and fermented foods like sauerkraut).
–stay away from HYDROGENATED /PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED foods (baked goods are a major culprit).
–stay away from ARTIFICIAL COLORS/SWEETENERS/FLAVORS or PRESERVATIVES (just about anything pre-packaged).

–eat organic/local—it’s better for you and the environment.

–eat a balance of macronutrients (carbohydrate/fat/protein) at every meal/snack.

See, what we put into our mouths is recognized by the body as either a food or a toxin.  Food supports and nourishes the body, allowing a miraculous array of chemical reactions to take place to run our metabolic machinery.  Toxins, on the other hand, must be eliminated before they can reach dangerous levels and threaten the very survival of the body. 

Of course, it takes nutrition from REAL food to “take out this trash.”  When these nutrients are unavailable, as so often happens from eating typical, processed to death non-foods (foods so void of nutrition that they take more from the body than they give), the body cannot get rid of these toxins.  Nature has provided us, however, with an ingenious method to store these toxins safely until such factors are present that allow us to eliminate them.  It’s called FAT!  That’s right—one of fat’s major roles in the body is to attract toxins and store them away from essential bodily organs.  So just like a farmer fattens a cow more quickly by feeding it grains instead of grass, humans, too, get fat when we consume things we weren’t designed to eat. 

The average American eats approximately 150lbs of carcinogenic food additives each year.  Our nutrition is so poor that we could not hope to assimilate and metabolize all of the C.R.A.P. (Caffeine, Refined sugar/flour, Alcohol, Pasteurized dairy/juice) not to mention pesticides, artificial colors/flavors, and preservatives commonly found in the American diet.  The result is weight gain as the body shuttles this barrage of toxins into our fat stores.  Additionally, all of these processed non-foods actually rob us of nutrition: to digest this mountain of C.R.A.P., the protein, vitamins, and other essential nutrients our food should have provided are stolen from our tissues.  This creates inefficient organs, weaker muscles, and brittle bones and teeth.   We’re literally starving to death on full stomachs!  Unsatisfied on a cellular level, we’re constantly hungry and looking for nutrition somewhere.  The result finds more than 1 in every 3 adults in the United States either overweight or obese.  Those other two Americans?  Well, they probably believe they’re immune to these injustices because they belong to a gym.

EXERCISE!  Is this really the panacea which will nullify the effects of a crappy diet?  Well, while it may help offset some of the harm done by the two greatest weapons ever developed by man—the fork and spoon—done incorrectly, it only magnifies the dietary destruction.  The three most common mistakes made by gym goers are working muscles in isolation, exercising exclusively on machines, and doing a workout not designed specifically for you.  The last of these errors you’d think would be common sense.  One man’s medicine is another man’s poison.  So why are people copying the workouts done by some guy in the gym or some model in a magazine?  They’re getting their prescription from their subscription!  Again, if you look at how your grandparents (or at least your great grandparents) stayed healthy, you’ll realize that papa and grandma knew more about fitness than the junk you find on the pages of some health rag; or being espoused by your average personal trainer.  You would never catch either of them hammering out five sets of seated bicep curls or destroying their knees on the leg extension machine. 

Some may argue that their grandparents never even worked out.  But if you analyze the common movements in their lives, you’ll realize they got a “workout” every day.  After she woke up, grandma would probably hurry to the kitchen where she’d squat down to get a pan out of a cabinet, bend over to get meat out of the ice box, pull the breakfast table out of the corner, push chairs into place, and twist back and forth as she pulled utensils out of the drawer to set the table.  Heck, the only movement she hadn’t performed by six a.m. was a set of lunges! 

The above actions are all primal patterns—movements in which our caveman ancestors needed to be proficient in to survive.  The saber tooth tiger wasn’t just in their heads!  If you couldn’t squat, lunge, push, pull, bend, or twist, natural selection made you the best choice for that tiger’s lunch!  Admittedly, the modern conveniences we enjoy today have made the cost of faulty movement patterns less severe.  Now the price for an inability to squat properly is the going rate for spinal surgery which results from over using your back.  But you’ve got insurance, right…

The take away message here is to get up off machines and perform compound movements which will actually lessen the likelihood of meeting your yearly medical deductible.  Use free weights and cable systems which work in all three planes of motion.  Also use body weight exercises which force you to maintain your center of gravity over your own base of support.  And if you’re not currently working out and really de-conditioned, just perform the same activities you do daily/weekly and take it up a notch.  For example, park farther away from your work or the mall or the post office or the grocery store and simply walk to your destination.  Try to work up to a minimum of twenty minutes each day.  It takes energy to build energy.  So simply moving more is an investment in your self.  As you become fitter, you can progress to more traditional forms of exercise.  But remember, a tradition is something which has been done for a while.  So stay away from those machines—they’re so new and unnatural that your grandparents would probably have nightmares about them.

SLEEP is the final Foundational Factor crucial to health.  Now I love Thomas Edison—he’s one of my boys—but his invention of the light bulb precipitated an epidemic of sleep dysfunction from which many disease states manifest.  See, our bodies are rhythmic, following predictable cycles which have become deeply ingrained in our physiology.  One of these cycles is sleep.  For generations, humans have gotten up with the sun and gone to bed within a few hours of sunset.  Our bodies are literally designed to function on, not just a sufficient amount of sleep, but on a specific time for sleep, as well.  The release of growth hormone and other anabolic hormones happens predominately between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. while the second half of the sleep cycle is devoted to psychogenic repair between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.  Staying up until midnight to watch T.V. or work on the computer robs the body of two hours of physical recovery.  This error results in an inability to recover from exercise or the activities of daily living.  Aches and pains soon become chronic and the immune system weakens, allowing the body to become susceptible to pathogens from both inside and outside the body.  In fact, medical professionals recognize shift work and ignoring our circadian rhythms as second only to smoking in the number and severity of adverse effects on our health.  So turn off those lights, shut off the television, get into bed by 10 p.m., and turn those dreams of health into reality.     

All six of the Foundational Factors are the basis on which wellness is built; only with a solid foundation in every one of them can we build high levels of vitality and peak functioning.  Of course, each of the subjects above has only been briefly introduced.  For a more thorough discussion on how you can take responsibility for yourself and be in control of your own health destiny, catch me on my soapbox (which I stand on often—and not just  because I’m short), treat yourself to a session with me, or visit my website at www.triumphtraining.com.              

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?pagewanted=1

This guy’s a GENIUS!

You MUST read the article.

Important Precautionary Advice Regarding Cell Phone Use

Recently I have become aware of the growing body of literature linking long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer. Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use.

An international expert panel of pathologists, oncologists and public health specialists recently declared that electromagnetic fields emitted by cell phones should be considered a potential human health risk (see The Case for Precaution in Cell Phone Use, attached). To date, a number of countries including France, Germany and India have issued recommendations that exposure to electromagnetic fields should be limited. In addition, Toronto’s Department of Public Health is advising teenagers and young children to limit their use of cell phones, to avoid potential health risks.

More definitive data that cover the health effects from prolonged cell phone use have been compiled by the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer. However, publication has been delayed for two years. In anticipation of release of the WHO report, the attached prudent and simple precautions, intended to promote precautionary efforts to reduce exposures to cell phone electromagnetic radiation, have been reviewed by UPCI experts in neuro-oncology, epidemiology, neurosurgery and the Center for Environmental Oncology.

For more in-depth information on this subject, please see the complete article (pdf file, 100kb)

Practical Advice to Limit Exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation Emitted from Cell Phones

1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.
2. While communicating using your cell phone, try to keep the cell phone away from the body as much as possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic field is one fourth the strength at a distance of two inches and fifty times lower at three feet. Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a wireless Bluetooth headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal cell phone. Use of a hands-free ear piece attachment may also reduce exposures.
3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields.
4. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put it on “flight” or “off-line” mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions.
5. If you must carry your cell phone on you, make sure that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside so that the transmitted electromagnetic fields move away from your rather than through you.
6. Only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes, as the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure.
   For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones.
7. Switch sides regularly while communicating on your cell phone to spread out your exposure. Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait until your correspondent has picked up. This limits the power of the electromagnetic field emitted near your ear and the duration of your exposure.
8. Avoid using your cell phone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, as this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.
9. When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the proximity to the body.
10. Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for “sar ratings cell phones” on the internet.

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Sorry I haven’t written lately. Life (son, work, documentary, training-in that order) has gotten in the way.

I got an e-mail from a friend of mine saying that, though she wasn’t a vegetarian, her partner was. She said she wanted to include some sort of protein in the meals she cooked (it’s good to have all the macronutrients represented on your plate) and was wondering what my thoughts on soy were.

Well, I used to think soy was the bomb! After all, the health claims surrounding soy were ubiquitous. You literally couldn’t take a step without stepping in a claim–which, if you can pick up on my not-so-subtle analogy, you’ll see what I now think of those advertisements. And that’s what they were, ads to convince people that soy was good for you. Now, have you ever seen a commercial for breathing? Breathing is good for you. So they don’t need to do ads for it (though as our air gets worse, I’m sure those commercials are coming). Deprived of oxygen for 3-4mins, a person will die. Everyone knows this. But what everyone should realize is that the more strongly something is marketed as being healthy for you, the worse it probably is for you.

But a billion Chinese and Japanese folks can’t be wrong, can they? While it’s true that the soybean first appeared during the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 BC), it did not become part of the Chinese menu for some time. Instead it was used in the process of crop rotation, fixing levels of nitrogen in the soil so that the Chinese could grow grains more suitable for human consumption like rice and millet. Indeed, it wasn’t until the Chinese discovered fermentation did soy, in the form of miso, tempeh, natto, and soy sauce, become widely consumed.

See, the Chinese knew that unfermented soybeans contain many different substances which make it unsuitable for human consumption. Foremost among these is phytic acid. Phytates block the absorption of calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc. So even if your diet is rich in these nutrients, the consumption of soy can very easily lead to a deficiency in any one of them. And they are all essential for health. Vegetarians who shun animal products like meat and diary and who opt for soy to “replace” this staple in the diet are, therefore, at a greater risk for a deficiency in any one of these nutrients.

Secondly, a large amount of trypsin and other enzyme inhibitors are present in soy blocking the absorption of these enzymes which are necessary for protein digestion. In tests, rats fed a diet of soy failed to grow normally. And everyone hates to see a malnourished rat…

Consuming soy that has been fermented lowers the levels of these “anti-nutrients” and makes items like miso, natto, and tempeh o.k. to eat. Tofu, on the other hand, has these anti-nutrients concentrated in the liquid and still present in the curd–thus its consumption is wrought with the same risks as soy in general.

So how do the Chinese and Japanese stay so healthy on a diet so rich in soy? Well, maybe they don’t eat as much as you thought.   8 grams/day in Japan and 9 grams/day in China–that’s less than 2 teaspoons. And while the Japanese do suffer less from some forms of cancer than here in America, cancer of the esophagus, liver, and stomach are much higher among the Japanese population than people in the U.S.

Healthy? That’s what the United Soybean Program, which spends 80 million dollars a year to “strengthen the position of soybeans in the marketplace and maintain and expand domestic and foreign markets for uses for soybeans and soybean products” would like you to believe. 72 million acres of U.S. farmland is now devoted to soy, and it’s one of the most highly pesticide ridden crops (and now genetically modified) grown today. Brazil, the second largest exporter of soy in the world next to the U.S., sacrifices millions of acres of rain forest to meet the demands of a growing number of people duped into eating isolated soy protein and textured vegetable protein for the reported health benefits. Cholesterol lowering is one of these wonders. But the “benefits” were only seen in individuals whose serum cholesterol levels were 250mg/dl or higher!

Soy is also high in isoflavones, a class of organic compounds and biomolecules related to flavonoids which act as phytoestrogens in mammals. These phytoestrogens, specifically genistein, are potent endocrine disruptors, causing infertility, reproductive problems, thyroid disease, and liver disease in test animals. But that’s for animals in experiments which were fed an extreme amount of soy, right?? From an article by Sally Fallon:

“Twenty-five grams of soy protein isolate, the minimum amount PTI claimed to have cholesterol-lowering effects, contains from 50 to 70 mg of isoflavones. It took only 45 mg of isoflavones in premenopausal women to exert significant biological effects, including a reduction in hormones needed for adequate thyroid function. These effects lingered for three months after soy consumption was discontinued.

One hundred grams of soy protein - the maximum suggested cholesterol-lowering dose, and the amount recommended by Protein Technologies International - can contain almost 600 mg of isoflavones, an amount that is undeniably toxic. In 1992, the Swiss health service estimated that 100 grams of soy protein provided the estrogenic equivalent of the Pill.”

In fact, male children fed soy formula had reduced testicle size while female children experienced an earlier onset of puberty. Alarming statistics like this prompted the New Zealand government in 1998 to issue a health warning about soy in infant formula.  While animals on soy based feed need supplementation with lysine for normal growth, the presence of soy in school lunch programs goes widely unnoticed (except by the wallets of the soy producers) and, therefore, a growing number of our children may be at risk of the health consequences mentioned here and in countless other scientific publications and resources.

So what was my reply to my friend regarding preparing meals for her vegetarian partner?  Get her to eat fish or meat or something…just say it isn’t soy!

Aerosol cans. These can usually be recycled with other cans, as long as you pull off the plastic cap and empty the canister completely.

Antiperspirant and deodorant sticks. Many brands have a dial on the bottom that is made of a plastic polymer different from that used for the container, so your center might not be able to recycle the whole thing (look on the bottom to find out). However, Tom’s of Maine makes a deodorant stick composed solely of plastic No. 5.

B

Backpacks. The American Birding Association accepts donated backpacks, which its scientists use while tracking neo-tropical birds (www.americanbirding.org).

Batteries. Recycling batteries keeps hazardous metals out of landfills. Many stores, like RadioShack and Office Depot, accept reusable ones, as does the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (www.rbrc.org/call2recycle). Car batteries contain lead and can’t go in landfills, because toxic metals can leach into groundwater, but almost any retailer selling them will also collect and recycle them.

Beach balls. They may be made of plastic, but there aren’t enough beach balls being thrown away to make them a profitable item to recycle. If a beach ball is still usable, donate it to a thrift store or a children’s hospital.

Books. “Hard covers are too rigid to recycle, so we ask people to remove them and recycle just the pages,” says Sarah Kite, recycling manager of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, in Johnston. In many areas, paperbacks can be tossed in with other paper.

C

Carpeting (nylon fiber). The Carpet America Recovery Effort estimates that 5 billion pounds of carpeting went to landfills in 2003 alone. Go to www.carpetrecovery.org and click on “What can I do with my old carpet?” to find a carpet-reclamation facility near you, or check with your carpet’s manufacturer. Some carpet makers, like Milliken (www.millikencarpet.com), Shaw (www.shawfloors.com), and Flor (www.flor.com), have recycling programs.

Cars, jet skis, boats, trailers, RVs, and motorcycles. If these are unusable — totaled, rusted — they still have metal and other components that can be recycled. Call junkyards in your area, or go to www.junkmycar.com, which will pick up and remove cars, trailers, motorcycles, and other heavy equipment for free.

Cell phones. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, fewer than 20 percent of cell phones are recycled each year, and most people don’t know where to recycle them. The Wireless Foundation refurbishes old phones to give to domestic-violence survivors (www.calltoprotect.org); for information on other cell-phone charities, log on to www.recyclewirelessphones.com. In some states, like California and New York, retailers must accept and recycle old cell phones at no charge.

Compact fluorescent lightbulbs. CFLs contain mercury and shouldn’t be thrown in the trash. Ikea and the Home Depot operate CFL recycling programs; you can also check with your local hardware store or recycling center to see if it offers recycling services.

Computers. You can return used computers to their manufacturers for recycling (check www.mygreenelectronics.com for a list of vendors) or donate them to a charitable organization (log on to www.sharetechnology.org or www.cristina.org). Nextsteprecycling.org repairs your broken computers and gives them to underfunded schools, needy families, and nonprofits.

Crayons. Send them to the National Crayon Recycle Program (www.crazycrayons.com), which melts down crayons and reforms them into new ones. Leave the wrappers on: “When you have black, blue, and purple crayons together without wrappers, it’s hard to tell them apart,” says the program’s founder, LuAnn Foty, a.k.a. the Crazy Crayon Lady.

Crocs. The manufacturer recycles used Crocs into new shoes and donates them to underprivileged families. Mail them to: Crocs Recycling West, 3375 Enterprise Avenue, Bloomington CA 92316.

D

DVDs, CDs, and jewel cases. If you want to get rid of that Lionel Richie CD because “Dancing on the Ceiling” doesn’t do it for you anymore, you can swap it for a disc from another music lover at www.zunafish.com. But if you just want to let it go and not worry about it ending up in a landfill, send it (along with DVDs and jewel cases) to www.greendisk.com for recycling.

E

Empty metal cans (cleaning products). Cut off the metal ends of cans containing powdered cleansers, such as Ajax and Bon Ami, and put them in with other household metals. (Use care when cutting them.) Recycle the tubes as you would any other cardboard.

Empty metal cans (food products). Many towns recycle food cans. If yours doesn’t, you can find the nearest steel-can recycling spot at www.recycle-steel.org. Rinse out cans, but don’t worry about removing the labels. “Leaving them on doesn’t do any harm,” says Marti Matsch, the communications director of Eco-Cycle, one of the nation’s oldest and largest recyclers, in Boulder, Colorado. “When the metal is melted,” she says, “the paper burns up. If you want to recycle the label with other paper, that’s great, but it’s not necessary.”

Eyeglasses. Plastic frames can’t be recycled, but metal ones can. Just drop them into the scrap-metal bin. However, given the millions of people who need glasses but can’t afford them, your frames, broken or not, will go to better use if you donate them to www.neweyesfortheneedy.com (sunglasses and plastic frames in good condition can also be donated). Or drop off old pairs of glasses at LensCrafters, Target Optical, or other participating stores and doctors’ offices, which will send them to www.givethegiftofsight.org.

F

Fake plastic credit cards. They’re not recyclable, so you can’t just toss them along with their paper junk-mail solicitations. Remove them first and throw them in the trash.

Film canisters. Check with your local recycling center to find out if it takes gray film-container lids (No. 4) and black bases (No. 2). If not, many photo labs will accept them.

Fire Extinguishers. There are two types of extinguishers. For a dry-chemical extinguisher, safely relieve the remaining pressure, remove the head from the container, and place it with your bulk-metal items (check with your local recycler first). Alternatively, call fire-equipment companies (listed in the phone book) and request that they dispose of your extinguisher. Carbon dioxide extinguishers are refillable after each use.

Food Processors. Some communities accept small household appliances for recycling — if not in curbside collection, then in drop-off locations. (New York City will even pick up appliances left on the sidewalk.) “If an appliance is more than 50 percent metal, it is recyclable,” says Kathy Dawkins, director of public information for New York City’s Department of Sanitation. Most appliances are about 75 percent steel, according to the Steel Recycling Institute. So unless you know something is mostly plastic, it will probably qualify.

Formal wear. Finally, a use for that mauve prom or bridesmaid dress: Give it to a girl who can’t afford one (go to www.operationfairydust.org or www.catherinescloset.org).

G

Gadgets. There are many ways to recycle PDAs, MP3 players, and other devices so that any money earned from the parts goes to worthy causes — a win, win, win scenario (for you, the environment, and charity). Recycleforbreastcancer.org, for example, will send you prepaid shipping labels, recycle your gadgets, then donate the proceeds to breast cancer charities.

Glue. Many schools have recycling programs for empty containers of Elmer’s glue and glue sticks. Students and teachers rinse out the bottles, which are then sent to Wal-Mart for recycling. Find out more at www.elmersgluecrew.com.

Glue strips and inserts in magazines. Lotion samples and non-paper promotional items affixed to glue strips in magazines should be removed because they can jam up recycling equipment (scented perfume strips, on the other hand, are fine). “One of the biggest challenges we get is pages of promotional stickers and stamps,” says Matsch, “which can adhere to the machinery and tear yards of new paper fiber.”

H

Hangers (plastic). These are not widely accepted at recycling centers, because there aren’t enough of them coming through to make it worthwhile. However, some cities, such as Los Angeles, are equipped to recycle them. You might consider donating them to a thrift store.

Hangers (wire). Some dry cleaners and laundromats will reuse them. Otherwise, they can be recycled with other household metals. But be sure to remove any attached paper or cardboard first.

Hearing aids. The Starkey Hearing Foundation (www.sotheworldmayhear.org) recycles used hearing aids, any make or model, no matter how old. Lions Clubs also accept hearing aids (as well as eyeglasses) for reuse; log on to www.donateglasses.net/hearingaids.html to find designated collection centers near you.

Holiday cards. After they’ve lined your mantel for two months, you could throw them into the recycling bin…or you could give them a whole new life. St. Jude’s Ranch for Children (www.stjudesranch.org), a nonprofit home for abused and neglected youths, runs a holiday-card reuse program in which the kids cut off the front covers, glue them onto new cards, and sell the result — earning them money and confidence.

I

Ipods. Bring in an old iPod to an Apple store and get 10 percent off a new one. Your out-of-date iPod will be broken down and properly disposed of. The catch? The discount is valid only that day, so be prepared to buy your new iPod.

J

Jam jars. Wherever there is container-glass recycling (meaning glass jars and bottles), jam jars are eligible. It helps if you remove any remaining jam, but no need to get obsessive — they don’t have to be squeaky clean. Before putting them in the bin, remove their metal lids and recycle those with other metals.

Juice bags. Because most are a combination of a plastic polymer and aluminum, these are not recyclable. But TerraCycle will donate 2 cents for each Honest Kids, Capri Sun, and Kool-Aid Drink pouch and 1 cent for any other brand you collect and send in to the charity of your choice. The organization provides free shipping, too. What does TerraCycle do with all those pouches? Turns them into colorful purses, totes, and pencil cases that are sold at Target and Walgreens stores throughout the country. To get started, go to www.terracycle.net/brigades.

K

Keys and nail clippers. For many recycling centers, any metal that isn’t a can is considered scrap metal and can be recycled. “There’s not a whole lot of scrap metal we wouldn’t take,” says Kite. “It’s a huge market now.”

L

Leather accessories. If your leather goods are more than gently worn, take them to be fixed. If they’re beyond repair, they have to be thrown in the trash — there’s no recycling option. (A product labeled “recycled leather” is often made from scraps left over from the manufacturing process, which is technically considered recycling.) Donate shoes in decent condition to www.soles4souls.org, a nonprofit that collects used footwear and distributes it to needy communities.

M

Makeup. Makeup can expire and is none too pretty for the earth when you throw it in the trash (chemicals abound in most makeup). Some manufacturers are making progress on this front. People who turn in six or more empty MAC containers, for example, will receive a free lipstick from the company in return; SpaRitual nail polishes come in re-usable, recyclable glass; and Josie Maran Cosmetics sells biodegradable plastic compacts made with a corn-based resin — just remove the mirror and put the case in your compost heap.

Mattresses and box springs. Mattresses are made of recyclable materials, such as wire, paper, and cloth, but not all cities accept them for recycling. (Go to www.earth911.org to find out if yours does.)

Metal flatware. If it’s time to retire your old forks, knives, and spoons, you can usually recycle them with other scrap metal.

Milk cartons with plastic spouts and caps. Take off and throw away the cap (don’t worry about the spout — it will be filtered out during the recycling process). As for the carton, check your local recycling rules to see whether you should toss it with plastics and metals or with paper.

Mirrors. These aren’t recyclable through most municipal recyclers, because the chemicals on the glass can’t be mixed with glass bottles and jars. You can donate them to secondhand stores, of course. Or if the mirror is broken, put it in a paper bag for the safety of your trash collectors.

N

Nikes and other sneakers. Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program (www.letmeplay.com/reuseashoe) accepts old sneakers (any brand) and recycles them into courts for various sports so kids around the world have a place to play. You can drop them off at a Nike store, other participating retailers, athletic clubs, and schools around the country (check the website for locations), or mail them to Nike Recycling Center, c/o Reuse-A-Shoe, 26755 SW 95th Avenue, Wilsonville OR 97070. If your sneakers are still in reasonable shape, donate them to needy athletes in the United States and around the world through www.oneworldrunning.com. Mail them to One World Running, P.O. Box 2223, Boulder CO 80306, or call 303-473-1314 for more information.

Notebooks (spiral). It may seem weird to toss a metal-bound notebook into the paper recycling, but worry not — the machinery will pull out smaller nonpaper items. One caveat: If the cover is plastic, rip that off, says Marti Matsch, communications director for Eco-Cycle, in Boulder, Colorado. “It’s a larger contaminant.”

O

Office envelopes

·  Envelopes with plastic windows. Recycle them with regular office paper. The filters will sieve out the plastic, and they’ll even take out the glue strip on the envelope flaps.

·  FedEx. Paper FedEx envelopes can be recycled, and there’s no need to pull off the plastic sleeve. FedEx Paks made of Tyvek are also recyclable (see below).

·  Goldenrod. Those ubiquitous mustard-colored envelopes you see in offices are not recyclable, because goldenrod paper (as well as dark or fluorescent paper) is saturated with hard-to-remove dyes. “It’s what we call ‘designing for the dump,’ not the environment,” says Matsch.

·  Jiffy Paks. Many Jiffy envelopes — even the paper-padded ones filled with that material resembling dryer lint — are recyclable with other mixed papers, like cereal boxes. The exception: Goldenrod-colored envelopes must be tossed.

·  Padded envelopes with bubble wrap. These can’t be recycled. The best thing you can do is reuse them.

·  Tyvek. DuPont, the maker of Tyvek, takes these envelopes back and recycles them into plastic lumber. Turn one envelope inside out and stuff others inside it. Mail them to Tyvek Recycle, Attention: Shirley B. Wright, 2400 Elliham Avenue #A, Richmond VA 23237. If you have large quantities (200 to 500), call 866-338-9835 to order a free pouch.

P

Packing materials. Styrofoam peanuts cannot be recycled in most areas, but many packaging stores (like UPS and Mail Boxes Etc.) accept them. To find a peanut reuser near you, go to www.loosefillpackaging.com. Some towns recycle Styrofoam packing blocks; if yours doesn’t, visit www.epspackaging.org/info.html to find a drop-off location, or mail them in according to the instructions on the site. Packing pillows marked “Fill-Air” can be deflated (poke a hole in them), then mailed to Ameri-Pak, Sealed Air Recycle Center, 477 South Woods Drive, Fountain Inn SC 29644. They will be recycled into things like trash bags and automotive parts.

Paint. Some cities have paint-recycling programs, in which your old paint is taken to a company that turns it into new paint. Go to www.earth911.org to see if a program exists in your area.

Pendaflex folders. Place these filing-cabinet workhorses in the paper bin. But first cut off the metal rods and recycle them as scrap metal.

Phone books. Many cities offer collection services. Also check www.yellowpages.com/recycle, or call AT&T’s phone book–recycling line at 800-953-4400.

Pizza boxes. If cheese and grease are stuck to the box, rip out the affected areas and recycle the rest as corrugated cardboard. Food residue can ruin a whole batch of paper if it is left to sit in the recycling facility and begins to decompose.

Plastic bottle caps. Toss them. “They’re made from a plastic that melts at a different rate than the bottles, and they degrade the quality of the plastic if they get mixed in,” says Sarah Kite, recycling manager of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Plastic wrap (used). Most communities don’t accept this for recycling because the cost of decontaminating it isn’t worth the effort.

Post-its. The sticky stuff gets filtered out, so these office standbys can usually be recycled with paper.

Prescription drugs. The Starfish Project (www.thestarfishproject.org) collects some unused medications (TB medicines, antifungals, antivirals) and gives them to clinics in Nigeria. They’ll send you a prepaid FedEx label, too.

Printer-ink cartridges. Seventy percent are thrown into landfills, where it will take 450 years for them to decompose. “Cartridges are like gas tanks,” says Jim Cannan, cartridge-collection manager at RecyclePlace.com. “They don’t break. They just run out of ink. Making new ones is like changing motors every time you run out of gas.” Take them to Staples and get $3 off your next cartridge purchase, or mail HP-brand cartridges back to HP.

Q

Quiche pans and other cookware. These can be put with scrap metal, and “a plastic handle isn’t a problem,” says Tom Outerbridge, manager of municipal recycling at Sims Metal Management, in New York City.

R

Recreational equipment. Don’t send tennis rackets to your local recycling center. “People may think we’re going to give them to Goodwill,” says Sadonna Cody, director of government affairs for the Northbay Corporation and Redwood Empire Disposal, in Santa Rosa, California, “but they’ll just be trashed.” Trade sports gear in at Play It Again Sports (www.playitagainsports.com), or donate it to www.sportsgift.org, which gives gently used equipment to needy kids around the world. Mail to Sports Gift, 32545 B Golden Lantern #478, Dana Point CA 92629. As for skis, send them to Skichair.com, 4 Abbott Place, Millbury MA 01527; they’ll be turned into Adirondack-style beach chairs.

Rugs (cotton or wool). If your town’s recycling center accepts rugs, great. If not, you’re out of luck, because you can’t ship rugs directly to a fabric recycler; they need to be sent in bulk. Your best bet is to donate them to the thrift store of a charity, like the Salvation Army.

Shopping bags (paper). Even those with metal grommets and ribbon handles can usually be recycled with other paper.

Shopping bags (plastic). “Americans recycled 812 million pounds of bags in 2006, up 24 percent from 2005,” says Keith Christman, senior director of packaging at the American Chemistry Council Plastics Division, which represents plastic manufacturers. If your town doesn’t recycle plastic, you may be able to drop them off at your local grocery store. Safeway, for example, accepts grocery and dry-cleaning bags and turns them into plastic lumber. (To find other stores, go to www.plasticbagrecycling.org.) What’s more, a range of retailers, like City Hardware, have begun to use biodegradable bags made of corn. (BioBags break down in compost heaps in 10 to 45 days.)

Shower curtains and liners. Most facilities do not recycle these because they’re made of PVC. (If PVC gets in with other plastics, it can compromise the chemical makeup of the recycled material.)

Six-pack rings. See if your local school participates in the Ring Leader Recycling Program (www.ringleader.com); kids collect six-pack rings to be recycled into other plastic items, including plastic lumber and plastic shipping pallets.

Smoke detectors. Some towns accept those that have beeped their last beep. If yours doesn’t, try the manufacturer. First Alert takes back detectors (you pay for shipping); call 800-323-9005 for information.

Soap dispensers (pump). Most plastic ones are recyclable; toss them in with the other plastics.

Stereos and VCRs. Visit www.earth911.org for a list of recyclers, retail stores, and manufacturers near you that accept electronics. Small companies are popping up to handle electronic waste (or e-waste) as well: Greencitizen.com in San Francisco will pull apart your electronics and recycle them at a cost ranging from nothing to 50 cents a pound. And the 10 nationwide locations of Freegeek.org offer a similar service.

T

Takeout-food containers. Most are not recyclable. Paper ones (like Chinese-food containers) aren’t accepted because remnants can contaminate the paper bale at the mill. Plastic versions (like those at the salad bar) are a no-go too.

Tinfoil. It’s aluminum, not tin. So rinse it off, wad it up, and toss it in with the beer and soda cans.

Tires. You can often leave old tires with the dealer when you buy new ones (just check that they’ll be recycled). Worn-out tires can be reused as highway paving, doormats, hoses, shoe soles, and more.

Tissue boxes with plastic dispensers. The plastic portion will be filtered out during the recycling process, so you can usually recycle tissue boxes with cardboard.

Toothbrushes. They’re not recyclable, but if you buy certain brands, you can save on waste. Eco-Dent’s Terradent models and Radius Source’s toothbrushes have replaceable heads; once the bristles have worn out, snap on a new one.

Toothpaste tubes. Even with all that sticky paste inside, you can recycle aluminum tubes (put them with the aluminum cans), but not plastic ones.

TVs. Best Buy will remove and recycle a set when it delivers a new one. Or bring old ones to Office Depot to be recycled. Got a Sony TV? Take it to a drop-off center listed at www.sony.com/recycle.

U

Umbrellas. If it’s a broken metal one, drop the metal skeleton in with scrap metal (remove the fabric and the handle first). Plastic ones aren’t accepted.

Used clothing. Some towns recycle clothing into seat stuffing, upholstery, or insulation. Also consider donating clothing to animal boarders and shelters, where it can be turned into pet bedding.

Utensils (plastic). “There is no program in the country recycling plastic flatware as far as I know,” says Matsch. “The package might even say ‘recyclable,’ but that doesn’t mean much.”

V

Videotapes, cassettes, and floppy disks. These aren’t accepted. “Videotapes are a nightmare,” says Outerbridge. “They get tangled and caught on everything.” Instead, send tapes to ACT (www.actrecycling.org), a facility in Columbia, Missouri, that employs disabled people to clean, erase, and resell videotapes. You can also send videotapes, cassettes, and floppy disks to www.greendisk.com; recycling 20 pounds or less costs $6.95, plus shipping.

W

Wheelchairs. Go to www.lifenets.org/wheelchair, which acts as a matchmaker, uniting wheelchairs with those who need them.

Wine corks. To turn them into flooring and wall tiles, send them to Wine Cork Recycling, Yemm & Hart Ltd., 610 South Chamber Drive, Fredericktown MO 63645. Or put them in a compost bin. “They’re natural,” says Matsch, “so they’re biodegradable.” Plastic corks can’t be composted or recycled.

Wipes and sponges. These can’t be recycled. But sea sponges and natural sponges made from vegetable cellulose are biodegradable and can be tossed into a compost heap.

Writing implements. You can’t recycle pens, pencils, and markers, but you can donate usable ones to schools that are short on these supplies. At www.iloveschools.com, teachers from around the United States specify their wish lists. And there’s always the option of buying refillable pencils and biodegradable pens made of corn (like those at www.grassrootsstore.com) so that less waste winds up in the landfill.

X

Xmas lights. Ship your old lights to HolidayLEDs.com, Attention: Recycling Program, 120 W. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1403, Jackson MI 49201. The company will send you a coupon for 10 percent off its LED lights, which use 80 percent less energy and last 10 years or more. And they’re safer, too. LEDs don’t generate much heat, whereas incandescents give off heat, which can cause a dry Christmas tree to catch fire. Ace Hardware stores accept lights as well; search by ZIP code at www.acehardware.com.

Y

Yogurt cups. Many towns don’t recycle these because they’re made of a plastic that can’t be processed with other plastics. But Stonyfield Farm has launched a program that turns its cups into toothbrushes, razors, and other products. Mail to Stonyfield Farm, 10 Burton Drive, Londonderry NH 03053. Or you can join TerraCycle’s Yogurt Brigade (currently available only in the Northeast) to recycle Stonyfield containers and raise money for your favorite charity. For every cup collected, Stonyfield will donate 2 cents or 5 cents, depending on the cup size. Go to www.terracycle.net.

Z

Zippered plastic bags. Venues that recycle plastic bags will also accept these items, as long as they are clean, dry, and the zip part has been snipped off (it’s a different type of plastic).

Tip: When shipping items to be recycled, prevent waste by skipping packing peanuts and bubble wrap in favor of used newspaper. And opt for the smallest box possible.

Tip: Some parts of the country recycle wrapping paper. It’s OK to leave some tape on the paper. Large amounts, though, can gum up the machines.

Tip: Not all recycling centers accept everything. To find out what yours takes (or what your municipality takes), call 800-CLEANUP or go to ?www.recyclingcenters.org.