Gray.

It’s almost April, why is there snow on the ground? It was 68 degrees and sunny outside yesterday.

Recycling Program – Part 1

So, I’ve started a rudimentary, unofficial recycling program at my new job (tomorrow begins week 2). When I got there, I was nearly overcome by the amount of recyclable material we throw away as solid waste each day. I mean, tons…literally. We don’t have a bottle return/recycle service (yet), nor were we recycling paper before now. The organization I came from has a zero-waste policy – all purchased paper and plastic consumables are recyclable and/or biodegradable. That which can be composted is (and believe me, I was shocked to find out how much stuff can be tossed into a compost bin! , and the rest gets sorted into designated recycling bins. Given the stark contrast between the 2 companies, I decided to start dropping the idea of a recycling program around the office. After a couple of positive comments (admittedly, though, there were several not-so-positive ones), and with the help of a few well-meaning co-workers, I’ve placed recycling bins around my building for collecting paper (that I’ll empty at the recycling center near my home). The word has spread rather quickly, and over 100 lbs of virgin paper were dropped off today alone. I also went and talked to the Facilities Manager about what else could be done and he is very open to the idea…as long as it doesn’t cost the company any more than what we already pay for our trash disposal. Um, okay. I’ll have to get back to him on that one.

Bottom line: it’s going to take additional research and creative planning to get the Powers That Be on board. But (hopefully) the act of recycling will catch momentum and prove itself worthy of the company’s support. We had a group of potential investors tour our facilities this morning, and the thought occurred to me: how much more attractive would we be to them if they knew we could re-invest their resources into sustainable business practices, for the benefit of our environment and for future generations?

My goal is to recycle 1 ton of paper by the end of this year. I chose that figure because one of my helpers found a blurb on the internet that says 1 ton of paper is the rough equivalent of 17 large trees. I thought it was nice to have a more tangible comparison to gauge our progress by (most people can imagine standing in front of 17 trees, as opposed to imagining standing in front of 1 ton of loose paper). For every “tree” we recycle (roughly 3 of our recycling boxes filled with paper, or 100 lbs) I have permission to hang up a small paper one in our hallway.

Hopefully, if things look like they’re moving along, I’ll set out boxes for co-mingled containers, too.

The passing of a great Thinker.

I was very sad to learn today that prominent scientist and prolific science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, has died. The current Age, due in large part to this man’s intelligence and candor, has seen the passing of another great mind.

Rest in Peace.

“I’m sure we would not have had men on the Moon if it were not for Wells and Verne and the people who write about this and made people think about it. I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books.” ~ACC

Ahhh, the weekend.

The sky is a crisp shade of pale blue, and I am happy to see the sun today.

I’m feeling much better now. The laryngitis subsided over a week ago, but the sinuses took a while longer to clear up. I’m glad that’s finally on it’s way out, too. At the moment I’m watching The Associate on the television (I loved Whoopi in this role; Dianne Wiest is one of favorite actors, too), sipping on a fresh cup of Boulder Green Tea and pensively eying my yoga mat. My lower back could really do with a good stretch.

This last week has been full. For starters, while having my car serviced for brake repairs on Monday, I asked the mechanic to look into some trouble I experienced shifting from second to third gear (fingers crossed, right?). Very expectedly, but still unhappily, I ended up having to replace the transmission, too. That led to a reluctant, new relationship with RTD and a heart-wrenching breakup with a serious wad of cash. Then, later in the week, a bunch of urgent Board business cropped up out of the blue which meant keeping up with a ton of email conversations and even more time spent getting to know RTD (we are over, by the way – having failed to show up on more than one occasion, I decided RTD was too inconsiderate of my time – LOL). A fun thing I managed to accomplish this week, though, was to plan a weekly Friday “Earth Talk”/Game Day at my job during lunch. I enjoy gathering people together around a worthy cause, and this seemed like an interesting way to break up the work day. We had our first gathering yesterday and it was a lot of fun!

Happy Saturday!