Greenness of candidates in Tuesday's election

[Connecticut Avenue Pet Sitting]

I recently wrote to the campaigns of Patrick Mara, Vincent Orange, and
Sekou Biddle saying I was disappointed that the fliers they had sent me
contained no mention of being printed on post-consumer recycled paper.
Although I'm not a single-issue voter, I'm much less likely to support a
candidate when I see that he or she has so little concern for the
environment as to use what appears to be virgin paper for campaign fliers.

I've been impressed by the commitment that Alan Page and Bryan Weaver have
shown for the environment. Sekou Biddle also seems above average on
environmental issues, despite the apparent lack of recycled fiber in his
fliers. Other than the three of them, I'm not aware of any candidates who
have meaningful green platforms. If anyone knows of good resources for
checking out the environmental bona fides of council candidates, please
let me know. I'd like to make sure I support a candidate who is genuinely
green, not one who engages in superficial greenwashing.

Jen

[Virginia Johnson]

I'm just catching up on some podcasts, and listened to the Kojo show on recycling from mid-April. It was interesting for a number of reasons. One, I found out that our household hazardous waste (it's today by the way), is recycled and does stay within the United States. It is also taken apart by prison labor and there is some exposure to toxic materials. This is according to what I heard on the Kojo show.

The other interesting issue to me is how Kojo didn't really drill down when it came to mentions of recycling programs. The term "recycling program" is basically a facade that we have to get behind to find out which entity is doing the actual physical work, and how they are doing it and what they are doing with the materials. We can't just read the marketing blurbs, you gotta get to the nuts and bolts of it. Everytime, all the time.

It was something, a start, but still somewhat superficial. We are getting there, slowly. My fear is that the conversation can slow to such an extent that the efforts just derail.

On another note, last month I went to Ft Totten for the Saturday HHHW recycling day. I went by bus then walked up the big hill to get there. On the way back, I walked to the Brookland metro station, a very long walk. So I suggested to DPW and my ANC rep to provide some kind of transportation service for those without cars. DPW never responds to my repeated requests. Never. But my suggestion was picked up on by the ANC rep, at least in conversation, he refined it somewhat and says he wants to work on getting a mobile recycling truck to circulate the day of (maybe the day before) in my neighborhood to transport the stuff to Ft Totten for those without cars. This was heartening. I live in Adams Morgan, not CP.

Best,
Virginia Johnson

[Connecticut Avenue Pet Sitting]

Virginia, thank you so much for pushing for household hazardous materials
to be picked up from more locations than just Fort Totten! Not only is it
difficult to get to Fort Totten without a car, a lot of people (including
me) have just a few tiny items for household hazmat collection, and it'd
be ridiculous to travel for more than an hour each direction to drop off
something that weighs only a few ounces. If the city doesn't set up an
official program to collect hazmat from around the city, I wonder whether
businesses, houses of worship, or other non-governmental entities might be
willing to organize something.

I hadn't been aware of the Kojo show on recycling electronics. For the
benefit of anyone else who didn't hear the show, here are links to the
audio and transcript:
Audio: http://thekojonnamdishow.org/audio-player?nid=19059
Transcript:
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2011-04-12/afterlife-your-electronics/transcript

To me, the most interesting part was the discussion of the Basel
Convention, which limits the exportation of hazardous materials to less
developed countries. (Unfortunately, the United States didn't ratify it.
Wikipedia says that "Of the 175 parties to the Convention, only
Afghanistan, Haiti, and the United States have signed the Convention but
not yet ratified it." How embarrassing for our country!)

Another transcript that may be of interest to green-minded people is that
of the April 27, 2011 DPW chat on recycling and household hazardous waste.
It can be found at:
http://dpw.dc.gov/DC/DPW/Live+Chat
One of the things said by DPW during that chat contradicts what's
previously been said, so I don't know whether all the information is
accurate, but presumably most of it is. Some of it is confusing. For
example, virtually all hard plastic items are recyclable, but the black
plastic containers that are often used for carry-out food are not.
Another example: Even though grocery, produce, newspaper, and dry cleaning
bags are recyclable, plastic sheeting is not. I'm not sure what happens
when people put prohibited items in their recycling bins, which must
happen often.

Jen