Category: Climate Change

Environment awareness has increased around the world together with the necessity for better regulations that will allow automotive salvage become a safe environmental occupation. Under law enforcement, automakers should take care of their products from cradle to grave. Carmakers are subjects to great international pressure and urging that all dismantled car pieces, wrecks and carcasses should no longer pile up in waste metal yards, but be reused or recycled.

Is it just metal piling up in salvage yards, which has brought automotive salvage into the spot light? Only partially; as there remains the risk of chemical pollution and infestation due to all the vehicle fluids that pollute the soil, should there be any leakage. Those company owners that deal in car dismantling should follow some general basic environmental security rules when fragmenting cars to pieces.

The best way to minimize spill-over during automotive salvage operations is by evacuating fluids before dismantling and depositing these fluids to safe tanks or containers. Fluids should be immediately removed from all the constituents of the vehicle. If this were not possible, check for leaks, and in case you find any, isolate them and reduce the risk of contamination.

The fluids that result from dismantling automotive salvage should be kept in safe containers or tanks. These should be labeled and inspected on a regular basis in order to prevent alterations or leaks. In case they are deposited outside the salvage yard, they must be equipped with a double protection system from the external environment.

One great advantage that automotive salvage has is that it makes possible the reduction of the production price per component in big vehicle companies that can invest in recycling items or reconditioning them for reuse. Some automakers are also talking about increasing the number of recycling points, where automotive salvage might become the starting point for alternative building materials.

The question that has brought much heated debate is: “To whose expense?” Who pays for automotive salvage that is for dismantling, for reusing, for recycling? The answer to this may be the answer to a whole bunch of environment issues that originate in careless automotive salvage in junkyards.

Computer recycling refers to the practice of salvaging useable components from obsolete electronic devices or safely disposing off electronic devices. It is a practice that each one of us must inculcate because inappropriate handling of discarded computers and other electronic devices can cause environmental hazards.

Studies estimate that over 40 million electronic pieces become obsolete annually. These pieces have constituents such as lead, cadmium, barium, and mercury, which are hazardous to the environment. In a landfill, these materials seep into the ground and then into our food and water supplies. This can cause serious health concerns over a long period.

Obsolete Computers: Environmental Threats Obsolete computers that are simply dumped in the garbage drums are the biggest threat to the environment. The computer monitors have cathode ray tubes containing four to five pounds of lead that contaminates the environment acutely. Besides lead, the computers have many other hazardous elements such as mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium. When inhaled over a long period, these elements cause high blood pressure, liver and nerve disease, blood with poor iron, and even brain damage to the exposed group. This causes great concern, considering several million computers become obsolete annually.

Therefore, we must handle the obsolete electronic devices carefully. Moreover, different Environmental Laws have banned the illegal landfills by the disposals of computers and other electronic equipment. These laws necessitate sending the un-functional computers to a reputable recycler for harmless recycling. The laws also specify the need for regular recycling to avoid such computers from piling up.

There are several methods to deal with old computers. Some of them are as follows:

Give It For Reuse: If your computer is in a decent condition, you can sell it to a company or an individual so that it can be used further, or simply donate it to someone needy.

Trade It In: There are many computer dealers (e.g. HP) who offer trade-in promotions on computers and peripherals.

Auction It: You can sell the computer on eBay or any other auction site. You can also organize a quick garage sale and see if any of your friends or neighbors wants the computer.

Salted roe of sturgeon and other varieties of fish are popularly known as caviar. It is a delicacy used as a spread or garnish and with hors d’oeuvres. Caviar is a deviate of the Persian word Khag-avar which means “the roe generator” referring to roe of the sturgeon.

There is good news for environmentally conscious American citizens who also happen to be connoisseurs of caviar. Now new varieties of caviars are available which are produced from paddlefish and sturgeon farmed in the US. They taste good and at the same time are environmentally sustainable. The development of American caviar also addresses the worries of consumers and culinary experts about the decline of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea.

Caspian Sea Sturgeon is the major source for the caviar needs of the world. Sturgeons produce the famous beluga. Due to illegal trade, pollution, over fishing and habitat loss, there is a severe down spiral in the population of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea.

SeaWeb, Pew Institute for Ocean Science and Natural Resources Defense Council of University of Miami is urging the American consumers to support American caviars as a better alternative and to safeguard the endangered species of the Caspian Sea.

The caviars from Missouri and California are prominently supported by consumers, renowned chefs and media organizations.

Jacques Pepinand and Rick Moonen who are leading chefs of New York’s Restaurant RM and San Francisco’s Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere removed Caspian Sea caviars from their menu and replaced them with American caviars in an effort to help the environmental groups protecting the Caspian Sea sturgeons.

Most of the party givers would like to know how much caviar should be bought for their party. It depends on the number of guests attending the party and how the caviar is going to be served. With every ounce of caviar, you can serve 8 to 10 guests. Quarter teaspoon or less of caviar can be used for garnishing purposes. With caviar on top of an appetizer and to enhance the taste of caviar predominantly, use half a teaspoon.