Saving the Earth Rant

Started by P.C., Apr 12 08 10:06

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P.C.

Apr 12 08 10:06
OK....I'm all for conserving, recycling and generally being less wasteful.....but frankly, I'm getting a tad suspicious of the statistics that are spewed out daily.  Where are they coming up with this stuff ?  Is there any validity to some of these claims ?

  This is the one I heard this morning from a little segment on the news....about some woman (basically advertising her business).  She had all kinds of 'earth friendly' clothing and products....one of them being a staple-less stapler.  

Now here's the part I'm not buying.  She said if every office worker in Canada used ONE less staple per day for a year.....it would save 120 MILLION TONS of steel.  Does this sound out of whack to anybody ?
Sir Isaac Newton invented the swinging door....for the convenience of his cat.

Sportsdude

#1
Apr 12 08 10:41
"Canada used ONE less staple per day for a year.....it would save 120 MILLION TONS of steel"

no that's not a crazy statement. Canada isn't made up of a couple hundred people.
If the U.S. increased average fuel economy standards to 35 miles a gallon roughly, they'd save about as much oil that is in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refugee which is in the millions.

Like Nanaimo and its water, 4 million litres of water is wasted by leaky pipes.
Emails in offices contribute in billions of dollars anually lost because of unproductivity.

in other words, stuff adds up.
 
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

Lil Me

#2
Apr 12 08 11:25
If we believe those numbers....My office stapler is busted and I waste at least five staples a day.  That must add up to a million pounds of steel a year...  
"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it."  Robert Heinlein

Gopher

#3
Apr 12 08 11:26
Think how many you'd save over the course of a year if you just added magnets to your shoes.
A fool's paradise is better than none.

Lil Me

#4
Apr 12 08 11:29
lol
 
 Who needs confetti at weddings?  let's re-use our staples!!!
   
"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it."  Robert Heinlein

Gopher

#5
Apr 12 08 11:30
Ouch!
A fool's paradise is better than none.

P.C.

#6
Apr 12 08 11:37
[FONT face=Arial size=2] [P align=left]

 [P align=left]

 [P align=left]The steel industry in [FONT color=#800000]North America[/FONT] has been recycling steel scrap for over 200 years. The automotive recycling industry alone recycled about 14 million vehicles in 2001 through more than 200 car shredders to supply more than 14 million tons of shredded steel scrap to the steel industry for recycling.

 [P align=left]More than 12,000 vehicle dismantlers throughout North America resell parts. In the United States alone, an estimated 69 million tons of steel was recycled in steel mills and foundries in 2003.

[FONT face=Arial size=2] [P align=left]Raw steel production in 2003 was an estimated 91.4 million tons, slightly less than that of 2002; capacity utilizationwas about the same as that of 2002.

[/FONT][/FONT]

  [FONT face=Arial size=2] [/FONT] [P align=left]So...here's my point.  If it takes 14 million vehicles to make 14 million tons of steel....it would stand to reason, that it would take 120 million vehicles to make 120 million tons of steel....?  How on earth are we taking the leap that one less staple per day for a year  by maybe 15 million people is going to equal 120 million tons of steel...or the same as 120 million vehicles.  (and we're talking, just Canada here)

 [P align=left]It just doesn't make any sense !

Sir Isaac Newton invented the swinging door....for the convenience of his cat.

P.C.

#7
Apr 12 08 11:47
Let's exaggerate, and say there are 20 million office workers in Canada.

An average staple weighs 32.4mg.  It would take 29 392 785 576 staples to make ONE ton......times 120.

  Do these people making these claims actually  research anything before making such stupid statements ?  
Sir Isaac Newton invented the swinging door....for the convenience of his cat.

Gopher

#8
Apr 12 08 11:49
Now then, don't get carried away, PC.
A fool's paradise is better than none.

Sportsdude

#9
Apr 12 08 11:50
hahaha  
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

P.C.

#10
Apr 12 08 11:58
I may be getting a little carried away Goph....but I'm noticing these claims daily.....and we all suck it up like it's gospel.  Use one less square of toilet paper per pee and we could build 43 million Taj Mahals....drink one tablespoon less milk a day and we could build 63 trillion cows....it's just getting ridiculous that they are allowed to make such unsubstantiated claims through the news.  I think the information should at least be reasonably close to accurate.

  Like I said....I'm all for being thrifty and cutting back on waste....but come ON !
Sir Isaac Newton invented the swinging door....for the convenience of his cat.

P.C.

#11
Apr 12 08 12:17
Here's another one.  

   [FONT color=green]1 - It takes 75,000 trees each week to produce the Sunday edition of the New York Times. 2 - If Americans recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save 25 million trees a year.

 [FONT color=#000000]Maybe it's my math.....but the way I calculate that is.... they are claiming that we would save over 21 million more trees than it took to produce the original paper.[/FONT]

[/FONT]
Sir Isaac Newton invented the swinging door....for the convenience of his cat.

Sportsdude

#12
Apr 12 08 12:49

uh oh don't get me started on papers....
NYT Sunday is 4 regular papers in one.
2k-5k papers go to each depot roughly
there's at least 2 depots in every major city
so you're looking at a minimum of 5k Sunday times which in reality is 20k.
Then you take in counties and not the major cities...
its a lot of paper that gets thrown away after a couple hours.  
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

P.C.

#13
Apr 12 08 12:51
I understand.  But that's not really the point.
Sir Isaac Newton invented the swinging door....for the convenience of his cat.

Lil Me

#14
Apr 12 08 05:46
.  
"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it."  Robert Heinlein
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