Earth wasting away Updated 12:00 PM ET March 22, 2001

By Erin Demuth Daily Orange Syracuse U.

(U-WIRE) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- While the darkness of power outage engulfed California, the world's largest tanker sank off the coast of Brazil and is now perilously close to releasing its 400,000 gallons of crude oil into the Atlantic Ocean.

In the current state of our nation's energy crisis we can not afford to consider these tragic events as isolated, nor can we assume that they will be the last.

What happens in one place relates directly to what happens in another. If we want to alleviate this domino effect before the shortages of oil and electricity become impossible to move beyond we must act now, not only as a nation, but also as individuals.

Unfortunately, most of us have no idea where to begin, even though we've been bombarded with slogans like "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle".

In all honesty, every piece of trash we recycle or reuse dramatically increases the success rates of conservation of energy, land and resources.

For instance, during the last 30 years, tanker accidents, like the one mentioned above, resulted in a loss of tremendous quantities of oil. This places the environment at risk, not to mention the economy and our way of life.

Our fossil fuel-guzzling way of life has got to change. But until it does, we can at least recycle the oil we use in our cars.

A staggering 120 million gallons of oil are wasted and improperly disposed of by Americans who change their own oil every year. Just one change consists of enough benzene and lead to contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's Web site.

Not only are we being wasteful and foolish, we're polluting our most essential beverage -- water.

If we waste 120 million gallons of oil each year, not including shipwrecks and other accidents, it's no wonder we're running out of this natural and non-renewable resource.

Petroleum, a main ingredient in plastic, warrants immediate attention as well.

Just about everything society uses depends on some type of plastic. If we neglect to recycle it, we'll be burying ourselves in cemeteries that have to compete with the filth of landfills for space.

To help us avoid this unpleasant fate, try buying food in bulk. We can avoid paying extra cash for packaging and simultaneously save space, energy and lives. If society faithfully begins buying food that isn't wrapped in unnecessary plastic packaging, we'll be cutting down on about 30 percent of all consumer waste. This is something worth working for.

Also, not only recycle plastic containers, but buy products ensuring environmental safety on the label.

Household cleaners are everyday items that contain harmful chemicals. Products made with lemon juice or vinegar are a chemically safer choice. Both vinegar and lemon juice are naturally acidic and will not damage the environment around our homes.

Clearly, doing your part to keep the environment healthy is as easy as turning off a lamp you're not using.

If we recycle, we are conserving and creating energy that will aid in our recovery from this mounting crisis.

After all, no one wants to live in a world that's toxic, cold and dying.

If the amount of chemicals in one car's oil change can contaminate 1 million gallons of water the effects of 400,000 will be catastrophic, not only for the environment but for humanity as well.

(C) 2001 Daily Orange via U-WIRE

http://news.excite.com/news/uw/010322/university-185

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 28, 2001