Melanie Steed
-oz and US'
No. not Oz as in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz But this Oz is older than
my childhood pet rock. Gor 0/ lives way. way up there (six to thirty miles
in the Air) No. Oz is not an immortal bird fossil Oz is an invisible blanket
above that shields us and the earth's surface from those ominous ultravio
let rays
You guessed it, Ozone1 To you and me Oz helps protect us from skin
cancers, cataracts and suppression of our immune systems Oz also pro
tects crop yields and fish populations For us. Oz is somewhat of a hero
and yet. we are Oz s worst enemy Creatures of convenience, our use of
products such as aerosols, styrofoam and especially freon, which con
tains CFCs, have created a hole in the ozone layer over Antartica the size
of the United States In the U S the ozone layer has decreased by as
much as 3% since 1979 Penetration of U V radiation to the earth s sur
face will increase by 2' for every 1° decrease of the ozone layer A 10‘ ,
increase of U V radiation leads to a 7 5°o increase in melanoma and a
10°o increase in basal and squamous cell carcinoma a 1% increase in
U V radiation leads to f> . increased incidence of cataracts I have my #25
sunblock body lotion and U V . sun protected sun glasses but I'm wonder
mg if my pet turtle will need a set of mini, U V . sun protected glasses too!
The culprit, cloroflourocarbons (destroyers of Oz) rise up about 25 miles
into the atmosphere where ultraviolet rays from the sun free the chemical
chlorine from the cloroflourocarbons or CFCs Only one atom of chlorine
destroys about 100.000 molecules of ozone1
Here are some suggestions from the book 50 Simple ways to Save the
Earth to limit CFCs escaping into the atmosphere
— Avoid using aerosols especially those with CFCs in them
Does your car really need that air conditioner'7 When air con
ditioners break they release CFCs into the atmosphere Make
sure tfie au conditioner is fixed properly before you refill it with
freon again
Avoid hard foam insulation with CFCs in it There is non
CFC foam insulation available that is effective
Avoid polystyrene foam This is the kind of foam used in
form fitting packing materials used for electronics, peanut"
foam and picnic coolers
CFCs are the target of an international phaseout by the end of the
1990 s CFCs total about $28 billion annually in the value of goods and ser
vices in the U S and ozone-safe alternatives are neither cheap nor easy to
find Steps to save Oz won t be painless but will definitely be worth the
A
• • •
How Tos
Where Tos
•* If you eat cereal, buy cases of pop or beer, boxed rice, baking mix, crackers
or anything that comes in a waxy cardboard box, you can recycle that by re
moving the liners, flattening it and placing it in a grocery sack When the
sacks pile up, take them to Weyerhaeuser Paper Company s Secondary Fi
bers Division 2070 Cross Street If you have questions, call 688-2123, Sec
ondary Fibers also takes newspapers, all waste paper grades, magazines,
books, egg cartons and coated paper
Make a stack next to your desk for notebook, typewriter and computer pa
per. Rather than tossing this in the trash, carry it to one of the many recycl
ing bins located throughout every campus building If you are a student, you
probably go through a small forest of paper products in one term . please
recycle this!
Call BRING recycling and ask how you can get involved in recycling in Lane
County
+ For all you environmental movers and shakers, stop by the Survival Center
and/or OSPRIG in Suite One of the EMU. Both of these organizations Offer
activities and educational services in a wide range of environmental and so
cial issues
■+ Save those luice jars, wine bottles, peanut butter jars, cider |ugs, ketchup
bottles, mustard jars and rinse them out When you're sick of them pil
ing up in the closet, take them to the Glass Station on 24th and Hilyard and
sort them into the bins there by color
■* Call your trash collector and ask them about curbside recycling
■* Next time you have to have a packet copied, a few articles, a survey, a term
paper ask the copy shop if they offer recycled paper
3 Re’s 4 U’s
1 re 2 re, 3 re. try to say that fast
ten times and you 'll be happy to know
it doesn t matter1 But what does mat
ter is knowing what these three
"Re s stand for — reduce reuse and
recycle Now you're on your way to
become an environmentally aware
shopper Did you know Americans
spend 1 of every 11 dollars on food
for packaging'? That's more money
spent on packaging than the net in
come of American farmers'
According to OSPRIG, packaging is
the largest source of
waste - compromising 50% of the
solid waste stream by volume and
30' by weight Packing constitutes a
large part of the wasteful use of pie
cious resources like trees Even more
dubious, some of this packaging
waste will still be around for our
grandchildren and their grandchildren
to see (something I'm sure they d
rather not see'i
The first Re." reduce our amount
of packaging is the best and cheap
est way of using and controlling re
sources wisely You can do this by
1) Select the product with the least
amount of packaging possible For
example, buy the larger quantities in
stead of individually wrapped pack
ages
2) Buy products with recycled pack
aging, packaging that is biodegrad
able or that can be recycled t.e glass
or aluminum
3) Avoid plastic containers They are
not biodegradable The "squeezable
I plastics are usually made up of differ
I ent layers of plastics which are more
k difficult to recycle
4) Buy products in bulk This uses
less packaging You can bring your
own container to cart away your gro
ceries with
5) Buy eggs in cardboard cartons rath
er than styrofoam
The second Re" is to reuse
1) Glass containers can be used over
and over again
2) Don't throw away those cardboard
boxes, chances are you'll use them
again
3) Repair your durable goods such as
clothes or give them away to some
one who can use them
4) Use cloth diapers Diapers take up
to 500 years to decompose in a land
fill
The third "Re" is to recycle Recycl
ing reduces pressure on forest re
sources and lengthens our mineral
ore resources Recycling uses fifty to
ninety percent less energy than pro
ducing the same product from virgin
materials Finally, recycling produces
less pollution than using virgin mate
rials Recyclable materials include
glass, tin cans, aluminum, paper,
plastic, soda bottles, milk cartons
Telephone books and more
As a consumer remember that you
possess consumer buying power
This simply means your money col
lectively dictates your wants to the
manufacturers The more eggs sold in
cardboard cartons the less the de
mand will be for styrofoam cartons
thereby lessening the destruction to
our environment Choose intelligently
and remember the three
re's — reduce, reuse and recycle
Recipes for the Toxic Revolutionist
Ail Fresheners St'! vinegar and lemon |uice out in an open dish or use herbal mixtures
Dishwasher Detergent Mu 1 part t>".u and 1 part washing soda
All Purpose Cleaner i floors counters, appliances etc I Mu t gallon ho! water '« cup am
monia. ' < cup vinegar and 1 T baking soda For a stronger cleaner, double the amounts ol all
ingredients except water
Carpet Cleaner Mix 2 pads cornmeal with 1 part borax Sprinkle liberally, leave one hour
and vacuum
Insect Spray Blend 6 (loves < rushed garlic 1 minced onion, 1 T dried hot peppers and t
tsp pure soap in 1 gallon ol hul walei Lei set 2 days, strain and spray
Laundry Detergent Use powdered or liquid biodegradable soaps
Furniture Polish Mu 2 tsp lemon oil and one pint mineral oil in a spray bottle Spray rub m
and wipe clean
(Many thanks to OSPRIG!)
FOR THE FACTOPHILIAC
• The (unk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heal
250.000 homes
• Annually America produces the equivalent o* 10 lbs o( plastic lor every person on
earth
• Packaging Mania About 501- of paper in the U S is used solely tor packaging
• Americans produce enough styrofoam cups every year to circle the earth 436 times
• 80% ol all ivory is taken Irom elephants that are illegally hunted and killed — and 30%
of d is bought by Americans
• It takes an entire forest — over 500.000 trees to supply Americans with their Sunday
newspapers every week
• Up to 60' of pesticides are used for cosmetic purposes only