The economic downturn has decimated the market for recycled materials like cardboard, plastic, newspaper and metals. Across the country, this junk is accumulating by the ton in the yards and warehouses of recycling contractors, which are unable to find buyers or are unwilling to sell at rock-bottom prices. Ordinarily the material would be turned ( Read more... )

Now and then I will save a magazine with an article in it I particularly like. Over time there end up being a few magazine piles around my home, and as I'm winnowing through items these days, I go through these caches, taking the time to quickly look through the table of contents to see why I saved one to begin with. Every now and then there's an ( Read more... )

Hmmph. I just finished reading an article in the Wildlife Conservation Society magazine, about their on-going study of Diamondback Terrapins, their efforts to support the species, and the two greatest threats to the turtles -- habitat loss and pollution (no surprise those), and commercial crab fishing. Why crab fishing? Because crab pots -- if ( Read more... )

Today's New York Times has articles on:

People in the U.S. stealing fast food grease: As Oil Prices Soar, Restaurants Learn to Lock Up Old Grease. Did you know the mucky stuff is traded on the commodities market? And I remember not so long ago when I worked at a restaurant that had to pay a disposal company to cart the fat away ( Read more... )

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