Re-Gain

Annette Mills embodies the gift of thrift. Ms. Mills’ transformed her community from a waste reduction rate of 39% in 1991 to a rate exceeding 65%. Because of her leadership, Falls Church has one of the best recovery rates in the country and a leading state recycling rate of 46% . For seventeen years, Annette has been a trail blazer for various environment improvements in the DC region. Annette ingeniously enlisted the help of more than 130 citizen volunteers or “Recycling Block Captain Program” resulting in many successes. Annette’s believes that education through personal contact is paramount to their success. She has created a “tipping point” by empowering many to serve as their community’s conservation leaders. In her words, “The most effective models are those people who are actively working together to build relationship with each other and the natural environment”. Ms. Mills leads by example. Attending lunches, outside events or meetings, she br...

Background In July 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy Used Oil Re-refining Study [1] indicates that the United States consumes about 25 percent of the total worldwide demand for lube oils. Congress mandated this inquiry under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Section 1839. Most European countries are more advanced in reduction, reusing and recycling used oil. For example Europe has three times more re-refining capacity or the ability of making used oil back into a lube oils. Millions Sources of Pollution A key issue is the non point source of used oil pollution by oil changers. Presently DOE estimates that 80% of the Do-it-Yourself (DIY) used oil is improperly disposed into our environment. Also this study concludes that the annual volume of disposed oil has decreased from 426 million gallons in 1996 to 348 million gallons of an estimated million gallons in 2004. This is an interesting finding since that amount of vehicle miles driven in the US and the nu...

The debate over global warming raises a question: can we afford to wait? Even if you think this planet is not in any peril, despite the current scientific evidence, is it wise to wait and simply see what happens? What do we do if-- in 10 years our actions result in a “tipping point”: a point where our destruction of the earth becomes irreversible? What is your life experience with what you have seen thus far with your own surroundings? Are you being honest to both yourself and your children to believe global warming is not happening? Whether you agree or disagree that the burning of fossil fuels, increases in population and other factors are creating life threatening greenhouse effects the greater question is—are the facts gathered by experts alarming enough to act? Are the facts below in the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” just convenient lies? Out of 925 recent articles in peer-review scientific journals about global warming, there was zero (no...

Deliberate waste directly depletes our earth’s resources. It eventually results in many forms of loss through a degradation of our planet. Improved inventories of what we discard will stimulate a greater understanding of how we can best manage waste. There is a critical connection between waste and prosperity. Our living standards have provoked increased consumption. However, such resource mismanagement taps our limited energy and materials. Better tracking of the entire material generation cycle and material use flows can provide us with a more holistic approach to “best use” of our scarce resources. Over six billion people now live on this earth. In the next 30 years, another 2.5 billion people are estimated to increase our ranks, making the world’s population estimate in 2030 around 8.5 billion. How we determine to best measure, manage and sustain our current resources has crucial future implications. Each year Americans use, discard and recycle more than 17.3 billion tons of waste ...

A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend who had hired me 25 years ago to build and manage a used oil recycling facility in the Washington DC region. My friend commented how remarkable it is that we have made such few improvements. Interestingly, in the early 1990’s, this friend and his partner in the oil recycling company founded another company that revolutionized the golf industry. Their company, Softspikes Golf Cleats, created a tipping point when they championed a ban on metal spikes, thus forever preserving golf greens around the world. You would think we could show similar innovation with used oil. Tragically, Americans have learned little regarding the price for our vast wasteful consumption of petroleum. We need a car fluid recovery tipping point! How we can collectively better manage oil has global significance. Years ago there was a Pogo cartoon with a picture of an oil tanker in a backyard, and the caption read, “We have met the enemy and it is us.” At George Washi...

How many people understand how water touches every living thing? Water is not just life; it connects all living things. Are we aware that only less than one percent of the world’s water is drinkable? How we share this precious resource directly impacts peace and prosperity on this earth. Most people do not know that one-third of the water used on the East Coast of the United States in the summer goes to watering lawns! Why are we taking the equivalent of bottle water for irrigating our yards? We are rapidly awakening to how water affects all aspects of our life. Hundreds of millions of women each day in the third world spend their time carrying water long distances. What’s more, they do it in difficult and dangerous circumstances: woman run the risk of being raped when they distance themselves from the group to answer the simple call of nature. There are no sanitation facilities in many parts of the world. Clean water is a critical issue Half the people ...

Do you think global warming is another example of Chicken Little freaking out? International expert and NASA climate scientist Jim Hansen is outspoken against the editing done by the White House saying that Climate Change is 'real', and that human activity is the most likely cause. Hansen speaks out stating, "the natural changes, the speed of the natural changes are now dwarfed by the changes that humans are making to the atmosphere and to the surface.” What James Hansen cites is that global warming is accelerating. New data reveal massive losses of ice to the sea melting in the arctic and Antarctica . There is widespread consensus from the scientific community that carbon dioxide and methane, and chlorofluorocarbons and other greenhouse gases, are collectively increasing due to human activities. White House political censorship of this life threatening development has been recently documented in two 60 Minutes features. [1] Can we ignore not just the facts but ...

Our nation’s largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay , is threatened due to nutrient over-enrichment. How we better manage our home lawn and yard waste provides us with an opportunity to “Save the Bay”. Composting is one simple way we can help improve our water quality and allow aquatic life to flourish. Compost can directly lessen the loss of sediment. Both nutrient management and storm water runoff controls can be achieved by a well managed and placed compost pile. If we wish to reduce nutrients by 40 percent yard owners can preserve our Bay for future generations. Million of sources of contamination or non point pollution jeopardizes our quality of life. Just leaving your clippings on your home lawns makes a big difference and provides your yard nutrients and moisture. C itizens who compost their yard and food not only recycle new earth not lessens the need to use more fertilizer. Test your soil out. Also we lessen more airborne nitrogen by not having to truck th...

For the past 30 years I have advocated for conservation measures in the D.C. area. Each year, do-it-yourself motorists dump the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez spill just from their discarded motor oil, car filters, and anti-freeze in the metro area. It is, indeed, a slippery slope; if we can shift from rampant consumerism to resource conservation, we may be able to safeguard human survival. Just read the Washington Post’s Sunday, January 29th front page article, “ A Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change ,” about Global Warming. Some experts warn that we may be reaching a point of no return after which it is too late to act. In the meantime, Exxon Mobil announced record-breaking profits for 2005 to the public -- $36.13 billion, the largest profit ever recorded by any corporation in America . Yet, a few weeks ago when I was at the Department of Energy, one official told me that no funds are presently available from the government or the oil companies to address consumer...

We may be approaching a crossroads today in the emergence of the human spirit. Those aware may question if our future is ecologically more endangered each day. Given the exponential growth of our human footprints our world’s survival depends upon sustaining life. As we become more sensitive to how delicate the carrying capacity of our eco-systems we can see a direct connection to our very soul. This is reflected by diverse spiritual and religious leaders appeal to one common universal concern- the fate of our beloved planet earth. Simply we depend on our environment to live. Everyday you see increased evidence of how people of all walks are sensitive whether our distant generations are left a legacy. Without investing in our future a pandemic of despair may erupt among the young and cause unprecedented societal problems. Developing more sustainable ways of living are becoming critical. For example European agricultural subsidies now are economically enco...

Currently, we suffer a shortage of gifted leaders. There is a lack of skillful gatekeepers who both provide us with future direction and motivate us by their example. Many in leadership positions lack the courage to tackle today's tough issues. This because they are unable to be emotionally present and act from a source of fear rather than love. Both governance and democracy are in question. This crisis forces us to each of us to lead by example. We, the people, must respond to our current crisis of despair by each one us acting mindfully. Also we must deeply explore how we feel. This process can awaken us to make more compassionate selfless choices becoming both more gentle and kind with all things. I believe that once I respect all things I find a form of grace and psychic well being. Also becoming apart of my community gives me both insights that helping others helps me. Making greater connections allows me to become a more engaged leader. In 1989, in “Seven Habits of Effec...