Free Essays on Recycling

The topic of recycling has been around for almost thirty years. It was realized that simply "throwing" our problems out the window and into the landfill wasn't a permanent solution. Slowly we have tried to upgrade our process of recycling, reusing and reducing. Though the question remains. Do we do enough for recycling? How much longer can we wait to act until we are buried under our own trash. The time has come to bring recycling into the global spotlight. On April 22, 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated. First of many it kicked off a major Earth movement. That same year President Nixon passed the Environmental Protection Act. Complementing it six years later was the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The Recovery Act regulated disposal and treatment of solid waste. Prior to this, trash was either incinerated, burned in an open dump or landfilled. Seventeen years after this law was passed recycling still hadn't picked up immensely. 75% of trash still went to landfills, 13% was incinerated and only a meager 12% was recycled. That was in the year 1993, only four years ago. Of course a nation wide comparison doesn't truly do justice to waste disposal because of concentration of people and exporting of waste. However on a local comparison the statistics are very similar. In 1993 16 thousand tons of garbage were produced in Tioga County and only 4 thousand tons were recycled. Three years later in 1996 our production of trash went up to about 17 thousand tons while we still only recycled 4 thousand tons of it. With statistics like these it is not a matter that requires much thought. Landfill space is constantly being used up; and even the most advanced incinerators still pollute the air, one option stands. Prices on natural resources are escalating and their abundance is dropping, one option remains. What kind of future will we leave for our children, one option stands. Before we go into discussion of recycling some ground ru... Free Essays on Recycling Free Essays on Recycling An ancient practice with many modern applications, recycling is the recovery and reuse of materials from spent products. In recent years recycling, also called materials salvage, has become a major part of environmental policy, due to the increased costs of solid- and hazardous-waste disposal, the scarcity of natural resources, and the growing concern over polluted land, water, and air. There are two types of recycling operations: internal and external. Internal recycling is the reuse in a manufacturing process of materials that are a waste product of that process. Internal recycling is common in the metals industry. External recycling is the reclaiming of materials from a product that has become almost obsolete. An example of external recycling is the collection of old newspapers and magazines for the manufacture of newsprint or other paper products. In some areas, industries are required to pre-treat wastewater before it is funneled into a waterway. In homes, wastewater is sent t o a sewage-treatment plant, where it is purified, recycled, and put back into the water-supply system. Many gardeners recycle organic, biodegradable kitchen scraps by mixing them with leaves and grass clippings in a compost mound. There the organic waste decomposes and is biochemically transformed into usable soil. Successful recycling programs depend on several factors. There must be a general awareness of the problems caused by solid-waste disposal and an effective, inexpensive method for separating and collecting the recyclable materials. It also must be economically feasible for industries to use and market recycled materials. In 1976 the United States Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, encouraging states to formulate solid-waste recovery plans. Many states set up special departments to assist local communities in their recycling efforts. Some communities adopted legislation that gives consumers the option of returning contain... Free Essays on Recycling Recycling is an extremely important issue in our world today. Recycling is returning materials to their raw material components and then using these again to supplement or replace new materials in the manufacture of a new product. It is important for every person to take responsibility for his or her own contribution to the recycling effort. Recycling not only means reusing and restoring our garbage but can also include donating old clothes to charitable organizations, reusing plastic containers to store food in the refrigerator, and many other activities we already participate in. Although recycling encompasses many areas of our lives, this paper will focus on our everyday waste products, how to recycle them, and if it is a worthwhile cause (Carless 3). With thousands of curbside recycling services operating nationwide, people can no longer make excuses for their lack of recycling. Consumer education is important so people can make informed decisions about buying products which are recyclable and minimize the amount of garbage that cannot be recycled. Recycling has several healing affects on the Earth such as helping to slow global warming, diminishing acid rain, reducing water pollution, conserving landfill space, and lowering pollutants in the air (Stein 13). For four consecutive weeks, I collected my personal garbage and counted and/or weighed the respective products. I learned that many of the products I use can be recycled, however, I also realized that I need to make a more conscious effort to buy recyclable products. Appendix A details the garbage I collected and is divided into several categories which are: aluminum, other metals, glass, plastics, newspaper, white paper, other paper, and food products. I will discuss each group and how, or if, the products listed in the group can be recycled. By using recycled aluminum instead of virgin ore, we can eliminate 95 percent of air pollution, 97 percent of water pollution, save 4 ton... Free Essays on Recycling People Need to Recycle In the United Sates, where the population is inflated every year. The amount of space for landfills decreases every day. The need for recycling should not be asked, it should just be done out of habit. Everyone in America needs to recycle, to help the lamdfill problem, help the environment, and help produce new products from recycled goods. In America there is about two-hundred and eight tons of residential and commercial trash generated a year, 4.3 pounds per person a day (Prichard 1A). This is an overwhelming amount of trashed produced yearly. When people recycle this number can be drastically cut. But many people do not practice and use recycling. Consumers and businesses should use the three R’s; recycle, reuse, and recharge (Prichard 1A). Consumers and businesses are producing more garbage than ever before. As a result, we are rapidly running out of landfill space. In 1979 America had close to 18,500 landfills, and by 1991 that number was nearly cut in half (Prichard 10A). Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois will reach their maximum limit on landfills by the year 2005 (Prichard 10A). This whole garbage problem has forced us to try other options. Many of these options have been very unsuccessful. People have tried burning their garbage, that cause pollution to the environment. Some states even resorted to dropping their trash in the ocean, only to have the very same trash float ashore later. Dumping it on other states leads to feuding neighbors. Indiana passed a law to block imports of out-of-state trash, but a federal court ruled the law illegal (Prichard 10A). Instead of trying to find new ways to dump our trash, we need to find better ways to recycle it and save space in our landfills. In the 1970s there was a push to use recycled paper. A worker at a paper factory in Illinois states, â€Å"Then the issue was saving a tree. But trees are replaced. We plant them, we cut them, we plant them again† (Pendl... Free Essays on Recycling The topic of recycling has been around for almost thirty years. It was realized that simply "throwing" our problems out the window and into the landfill wasn't a permanent solution. Slowly we have tried to upgrade our process of recycling, reusing and reducing. Though the question remains. Do we do enough for recycling? How much longer can we wait to act until we are buried under our own trash. The time has come to bring recycling into the global spotlight. On April 22, 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated. First of many it kicked off a major Earth movement. That same year President Nixon passed the Environmental Protection Act. Complementing it six years later was the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The Recovery Act regulated disposal and treatment of solid waste. Prior to this, trash was either incinerated, burned in an open dump or landfilled. Seventeen years after this law was passed recycling still hadn't picked up immensely. 75% of trash still went to landfills, 13% was incinerated and only a meager 12% was recycled. That was in the year 1993, only four years ago. Of course a nation wide comparison doesn't truly do justice to waste disposal because of concentration of people and exporting of waste. However on a local comparison the statistics are very similar. In 1993 16 thousand tons of garbage were produced in Tioga County and only 4 thousand tons were recycled. Three years later in 1996 our production of trash went up to about 17 thousand tons while we still only recycled 4 thousand tons of it. With statistics like these it is not a matter that requires much thought. Landfill space is constantly being used up; and even the most advanced incinerators still pollute the air, one option stands. Prices on natural resources are escalating and their abundance is dropping, one option remains. What kind of future will we leave for our children, one option stands. Before we go into discussion of recycling some ground ru...

The Legendary Phoenix in Ancient History

The Legendary Phoenix in Ancient History Those who have seen the Harry Potter movies have watched the amazing power of the Phoenix. Its tear once cured Harry of Basilisk poison and another time, it went up in a puff of flame only to come back to life again. It would truly be an amazing bird, if only it were real. The Phoenix symbolizes rebirth, especially of the sun, and has variants in European, Central American, Egyptian and Asian cultures. In the 19th century, Hans Christian Anderson wrote a story about it. Edith Nesbit features it in one of her childrens stories, The Phoenix, and the Carpet, as does J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series. According to the most popular variant of the phoenix, the bird lives in Arabia for 500 years at the end of which, it burns itself and its nest. In the version described by Clement, an ante-Nicene (basically, before Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire) Christian theologian, the phoenix nest is made of frankincense, myrrh, and spices. A new bird always rises from the ashes. Ancient sources on the mythological phoenix bird, include Clement, the great mythographer and poet Ovid, the Roman natural historian Pliny (Book X.2.2), the top ancient Roman historian, Tacitus, and the father of Greek history, Herodotus. Passage From Pliny Ethiopia and India, more especially, produce1 birds of diversified plumage, and such as quite surpass all description. In the front rank of these is the phœnix, that famous bird of Arabia; though I am not quite sure that its existence is not all a fable. It is said that there is only one in existence in the whole world, and that that one has not been seen very often. We are told that this bird is of the size of an eagle, and has a brilliant golden plumage around the neck, while the rest of the body is of a purple colour; except the tail, which is azure, with long feathers intermingled of a roseate hue; the throat is adorned with a crest, and the head with a tuft of feathers. The first Roman who described this bird, and who has done so with the greatest exactness, was the senator Manilius, so famous for his learning; which he owed, too, to the instructions of no teacher. He tells us that no person has ever seen this bird eat, that in Arabia it is looked upon as sacred to the sun, that it lives five hundred and forty years, that when it becomes old it builds a nest of cassia and sprigs of incense, which it fills with perfumes, and then lays its body down upon them to die; that from its bones and marrow there springs at first a sort of small worm, which in time changes into a little bird: that the first thing that it does is to perform the obsequies of its predecessor, and to carry the nest entire to the city of the Sun near Panchaia, and there deposit it upon the altar of that divinity.The same Manilius states also, that the revolution of the great year 6 is completed with the life of this bird, and that then a new cycle comes round again with the same characteristics as the former one, in the seasons and the appearance of the stars; and he says that this begins about mid-day of the day on which the sun enters the sign of Aries. He also tells us that when he wrote to the above effect, in the consulship7 of P. Licinius and Cneius Cornelius, it was the two hun dred and fifteenth year of the said revolution. Cornelius Valerianus says that the phœnix took its flight from Arabia into Egypt in the consulship8 of Q. Plautius and Sextus Papinius. This bird was brought to Rome in the censorship of the Emperor Claudius, being the year from the building of the City, 800, and it was exposed to public view in the Comitium.9 This fact is attested by the public Annals, but there is no one that doubts that it was a fictitious phœnix only. Passage From Herodotus There is another sacred bird, too, whose name is phoenix. I myself have never seen it, only pictures of it; for the bird seldom comes into Egypt: once in five hundred years, as the people of Heliopolis say.Herodotus Book II. 73.1 Passage From Ovids Metamorphoses [391] Now these I named derive their origin from other living forms. There is one bird which reproduces and renews itself: the Assyrians gave this bird his name-the Phoenix. He does not live either on grain or herbs, but only on small drops of frankincense and juices of amomum. When this bird completes a full five centuries of life straightway with talons and with shining beak he builds a nest among palm branches, where they join to form the palm trees waving top. As soon as he has strewn in this new nest the cassia bark and ears of sweet spikenard, and some bruised cinnamon with yellow myrrh, he lies down on it and refuses life among those dreamful odors.-And they say that from the body of the dying bird is reproduced a little Phoenix which is destined to live just as many years. When time has given to him sufficient strength and he is able to sustain the weight, he lifts the nest up from the lofty tree and dutifully carries from that place his cradle and the parents sepulchre. As soon as he has reached through yielding air the city of Hyperion, he will lay the burden just before the sacred doors within the temple of Hyperion.Metamorphoses Book XV Passage From Tacitus During the consulship of Paulus Fabius and Lucius Vitellius, the bird called the phoenix, after a long succession of ages, appeared in Egypt and furnished the most learned men of that country and of Greece with abundant matter for the discussion of the marvellous phenomenon. It is my wish to make known all on which they agree with several things, questionable enough indeed, but not too absurd to be noticed. That it is a creature sacred to the sun, differing from all other birds in its beak and in the tints of its plumage, is held unanimously by those who have described its nature. As to the number of years it lives, there are various accounts. The general tradition says five hundred years. Some maintain that it is seen at intervals of fourteen hundred and sixty-one years, and that the former birds flew into the city called Heliopolis successively in the reigns of Sesostris, Amasis, and Ptolemy, the third king of the Macedonian dynasty, with a multitude of companion birds marvelling at the novelty of the appearance. But all antiquity is of course obscure. From Ptolemy to Tiberius was a period of less than five hundred years. Consequently some have supposed that this was a spurious phoenix, not from the regions of Arabia, and with none of the instincts which ancient tradition has attributed to the bird. For when the number of years is completed and death is near, the phoenix, it is said, builds a nest in the land of its birth and infuses into it a germ of life from which an offspring arises, whose first care, when fledged, is to bury its father. This is not rashly done, but taking up a load of myrrh and having tried its strength by a long flight, as soon as it is equal to the burden and to the journey, it carries its fathers body, bears it to the altar of the Sun, and leaves it to the flames. All this is full of doubt and legendary exaggeration. Still, there is no question that the bird is occasionally seen in Egypt.Annals of Tacitus Book VI Alternate Spellings: Phoinix Examples: Harry Potters magic wand has a feather from the same phoenix that gave a feather for the wand of Voldemort.