Fancy Facts about Recycling

While in college, I took a class called Quantitative Aspects of Global and Environmental Problems. In short, we learned how to assess the validity of numbers, statements, tables, maps, and graphs like those listed at a website on recycling facts I recently visited.

While I’m sure that many of these ‘facts’ are based off of academically based research, there are many qualitative factors that could go into a statement like: “During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 12-ounce aluminum cans are made.”

There are many concerns with a statement like this. If so many cans are made in a short time, than the various amounts of time it takes different people to read would drastically effect the number of cans produced.
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Wear your hat. and scarf. and mittens.

Shawl

Can you get a breath of fresh air indoors as well as outdoors? The Environmental Protection Agency says “yes” if a few guidelines and reminders help us along. From their online booklet:

People also react very differently to exposure to indoor air pollutants. Further research is needed to better understand which health effects occur after exposure to the average pollutant concentrations found in homes and which occur from the higher concentrations that occur for short periods of time.

But Mark Palmer asks in his article Too hot for your own good if overly warmed air indoors detracts from overall well-being. Reading the article, I am inclined to agree. In his case, it began with a “he said / she said” debate about the bedroom thermostat! Next, we begin to realize that humans adapted first to cold weather by wearing clothing – layers of clothing. (Mr. Palmer also says we can layer our favorite but unsightly clothing pieces deep underneath where no one else will be the wiser!)

There is something immeasurably satisfying about living in a big city, as I do, and experiencing the weather more or less as it is.

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