Mimicking Nature’s Wisdom
Antonia Felix
Friday, August 21, 2009
Learning from nature, an ancient idea, has been taken up in astonishingly high-tech ways.
In the field of biomimicry, engineers and scientists look to the natural world to solve tough problems: recently, the sleek speed of the diving kingfisher bird perfected the design of high-speed trains, shark skin became the model for bacteria-free hospital surfaces and termite mounds inspired energy-efficient apartment tower design.
The last 40 years have also shown the benefits of imitating another natural system: recycling. Nature recycles everything — water, soil, rock, carbon, oxygen — and since the recycling surge that began in the 1970s we’ve witnessed how it saves vast amounts of energy, reduces water pollution, protects natural habitats and saves trees.
In Emporia, the city’s recycling center on South Avenue recycles about 2,300 tons of waste every year. People bring in cardboard, newspapers, office paper, junk mail, aluminum cans, phone books, plastic bottles, milk containers and other items instead of throwing them in the trash. And the city picks up even more from area schools and businesses.
Those who view recycling as a “lefty” activity of a few radically green people have got Emporia all wrong. The business owners and school and college administrators who choose to recycle — and this covers virtually every bar, restaurant, shop and school in town — are putting their values and sense of responsibility about the environment into action on a daily basis.
Every effort counts. If taking out the trash is a daily chore at your house, you may not be surprised to learn that every Kansan generates about 3/4 of a ton of trash every year. That’s a lot of Hefty bags.
Only about 15 percent of that trash is recycled, but if the longstanding national trend continues, that figure should increase. Nationally, the percentage of trash that gets recycled has risen from 6.4 percent in 1960 to 33.4 percent in 2007, the last year reported by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Energy savings, which spurred recycling during the energy crisis in the 70s, is once again promoting recycling efforts here and across the country. Recycling just 1 ton of aluminum cans, for example, conserves more than 207 million Btu by eliminating the steps of starting to make cans from scratch. This is the equivalent of 36 barrels of oil or 1,665 gallons of gasoline. One ton of recycled paper saves the energy equivalent of 185 gallons, and in 2007, the 85 million tons of waste recycled in the United States saved the energy equivalent of nearly 11 billion gallons of gas.
In our town, dedicated recyclers bring their items to the very user-friendly city recycling facility or somewhere else to make a bit of cash. Emporia Sanitation Supervisor Keith Senn noted that iron prices hit all-time highs last year, which drew many people to local scrap metal dealers. “I’m sure that they saw record volumes of material coming in their gates in 2008,” he said. “There were many people taking in metal items that I’m sure had never recycled before.”
Even with the slow economy, when people may be producing less trash as they consume less, Senn observes that Emporians are keeping up their recycling habit.
It takes some effort to shift into recycling mode. Storing stacks of newspapers and bins of glass and cans takes up space and packing everything up to take to a facility is a haul. But the inconvenience is a small price to pay for respecting the environment.
The positive effects in terms of the water supply, public health, eco-system and industrial-level energy savings are massive. It’s just the right thing to do.
Year after year, those who understand that and act on it are transforming us from a throw-away society to a recycling society. It is a gradual but sustainable process, like most culture-shifting phenomena.
My philosophy-scholar friend Ed pointed out that Marcus Aurelius advised using nature as the model for our best behavior because, as the Roman emperor stated, “nothing is evil which is according to nature.” In the last century, Sioux medicine man Black Elk explained that his actions reflected the cyclical aspect of nature: “You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles.”
With recycling, we’ve adopted their wisdom in a valuable way.
I have always been a nature lover, intrigued and inspired by the miraculous and efficient cycles that sustain life in and around me. The least I can do to show my respect, I keep reminding myself, is keep my pop cans out of the trash.
Where to recycle
• City of Emporia Recycling Center (free drop off for most items), 3100 W. South Ave., 340-6360
• Lyon County Hazardous Waste Department (free drop off of car batteries, paint, computers, TVs [$10], etc.), 3000 W. South Ave., just east of the recycling center, 340-6365
• The Green Door ($15/month curb pickup service, no sorting necessary) 620-794-1663
• Advantage Metals Recycling (pays for your items) 342-1122
• Gibson’s Recycling (pays you) 341-9766
• Aluminum Recycling (pays you) 343-1188