news that you can use again

An interview with the Sierra Club’s Rod Muir

pg 2

Preparing for the Unavoidable

Mark Hertsgaard and his latest book: Hot

pg 3

Planting Trees

How trees may be our best bet in fighting climate change

pg 6

Fighting Climate Change

Special two-page infographic

pg 4-5CHANGINGTHE CLIMATE Climate Change &Waste Diversion Win an iPad 2

Take a quick online survey

pg 8

Volume 2 | Issue 1

A former marketing ex-ecutive and the founder of Waste Diversion Canada, Si-erra Club Canada’s Rod Muir brings a fresh perspective to the solutions and challenges of diverting solid waste.

USAGAIN: What is the con-nection between waste diver-sion and mitigation of climate change?

MUIR: The main green-house gas CO2 is produced through the burning of fossil fuels for the production of en-ergy. Now, if you look at what we use this energy for, the facts surprise most people. Only 15% of energy used in the U.S. is used for personal transpor-tation. Only 20% is used for heating, lighting and cooling your home. If you look at the amount of energy we use to make things – all the things we purchase, consume, and get rid of – it adds up to more than 40% of energy used in the

U.S. We use more energy mak-ing stuff than we do driving around in our cars, and heat-ing, lighting and cooling our homes combined. No doubt, there is a huge connection between waste diversion and climate change. I’d argue that when we are asking people to take action – or what action they can take – waste diversion is the quickest, cheapest, and easiest means of mitigating cli-mate change.

USAGAIN: When you reuse something, like a T-shirt, how does that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save resources?

MUIR: Let’s talk in par-ticular about a cotton T-shirt, and how energy, fertilizer and pesticide-intensive it is to grow cotton. If you can reuse that T-shirt, you have completely eliminated all the greenhouse gases that come from begin-ning to end – literally, what it takes to put that seed in the ground all the way to what it takes to get it to Wal-Mart. You have eliminated every sin-gle one of those energy costs. That’s in the case of reuse. In the case of recycling, an ordi-nary aluminum can takes 100 units of energy to make. If you recycle the can, so it’s melted down and made into another can, it only takes 5 units of energy to do this. The ratio of energy consumption is 20:1 in favor of recycling. I admit though, it’s the gold standard

for recycling. Paper is more typical with an energy con-sumption ratio of 5:1 in favor of recycling. But the impact is still quite tremendous.

USAGAIN: Why do you think that textile recycling rates are stagnant at 15%? Why are we not seeing recycling rates going up for textiles? What is holding people back?

MUIR: I think it’s a com-bination of things. One is the “been there, done that” men-tality – that most of what could be recycled is being recycled already. That is absolutely the farthest thing from the truth. There is just so much more we could do. Secondly, a lot of it also has to do with politicians, who are the decision makers when it comes to municipal diversion of waste. Most of the influen-tial ones have grown up in an era when the importance of environmental issues wasn’t generally well u n d e r s t o o d , and hence, were never in-grained like they are today. Finally, indi-vidual residents need to realize the importance of reuse and recycling and care about it.

USAGAIN: It seems you have consistently campaigned

for legislation to drive sustain-able behavior by companies and individuals. Would you tell us more about it?

MUIR: After newspaper, food scrap is the biggest form of residential waste – almost 30% by weight. And the con-cern here is methane, the second most prevalent green-house gas after CO2. It is a much graver greenhouse gas, with a warming potential over 100 times more potent by vol-ume than CO2. The fact is, oth-er than farm animals, landfills are the single biggest source of methane on earth. There seems to be a growing consen-sus that we should be focusing on methane reduction because of its much greater potency in the short term. There’s no question that the best way to reduce methane is to eliminate

the landfilling of materials that produce meth-ane when buried. Sixty percent (by weight) of what we bury in the U.S. has the po-tential to decom-pose and produce methane, includ-ing most textiles!

USAGAIN: Do you have any specific suggestions for what people can do to help the environment as soon as they put down this newspaper?

MUIR: People need to look at their waste stream and find a way to increase their recycling and waste diversion. We need to get organics out of the waste stream, and we need to get the last bit of waste into the recy-cling stream. When you press on the gas pedal in your car, you get a sense of using en-ergy. You watch that fuel gauge go down and you pull up to the gas station and pay $100 to fill up the car. There’s a sense of using energy. In the same way, you go into a room and turn on the light, the light comes on, and you have a sense of us-ing energy. The problem is, if you throw out that soda can, or a perfectly fine T-shirt, or a banana peel, there’s no sense what-so-ever that you are us-ing energy, and that’s what is missing.

For the climate, 2012 was a rough year. With 356 new all-time heat records and almost half the country in the most severe drought recorded in 50 years, plus flooding and super storms, the insurance industry believes that the world is enter-ing a period of more frequent and severe weather patterns. As evidence they cite that ten of the twelve most costly storms struck the U.S. between 2004 and 2012. When Hurri-cane Sandy wreaked havoc on coastal areas around New York in October 2012, it caused over $71 billion in damage, almost 3 times the insurance payouts after 9/11.

So what’s going on with the climate? The science is clear; a warming globe produces more

violent weather, and 2012 is the hottest year on record so far. The average temperature in 2012 was a full degree higher than in 1998, which was pre-viously the hottest year on re-cord.

One degree isn’t such a big increase, is it? One degree is hardly noticeable, right? Wrong. As measly as one de-gree may seem, it isn’t. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we need to keep the global average temperature from rising more than 3.6 F to avoid catastroph-ic climate effects.

Did your ears perk up when you read “catastrophic?” Ours did.

To avoid climatic catas-trophe, there are two things

we – everybody – must do. We’re talking about mitiga-tion and adaptation. Mitiga-tion addresses the root causes by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. An easy way to think of mitigation is avoiding the unmanageable. Adapta-tion means taking measures to cope with the climate change that has already taken place or will take place in the near future. Think of it as manag-ing the unavoidable, or at best bracing ourselves for what is likely or certain to happen.

Both mitigation and ad-aptation are key if we’re to successfully combat climate change. Climatic changes which have already occurred will greatly impact the next 50 years on Earth, and the effects,

like rising sea level and in-creasing global temperatures, are unavoidable.

Reducing emissions and moving towards a decarbon-ized planet isn’t something that can be done unilaterally – governments worldwide need to take significant action. As individuals we can, however, make lifestyle changes that will go a long way toward a better future. Recycling is one such avenue for positive change.

Everything we don’t recycle either winds up being incin-erated or landfilled, both of which pose serious threats to the environment. Incinerators burn trash, which emits a sig-nificant amount of carbon di-oxide. Landfills release meth-ane, a greenhouse gas 72 times

more detrimental than carbon dioxide .

Governments and industry alike are starting to realize ac-tion needs to be taken imme-diately. Portland, Ore. is at the forefront of green urban policy – the city’s Climate Action Plan requires greenhouse emissions to be cut 80% by 2050. The city also boasts the nation’s largest percentage of bike commuters at 7%.

Corporations like Dell are taking steps to reduce emis-sions by 40% by 2015 and re-cycling all of its own products for free – as well as recycling competitors’ products.

On the next pages of this newspaper you’ll discover an array of methods to combat climate change.

&NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAINwww.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | [email protected]

2 Volume 2 | Issue 1

The Debate is Over. It’s Time for Action.Citizens, corporations and governments unite in the fight against climate change.

InterviewsNews

Strong Connection Between Climate Change and WasteSierra Club Waste Diversion Campaigner Rod Muir provides simple steps to curb climate change.

Rod Muir’s rule to waste diversion: Keep it all separate. Mixing it all together makes it garbage. You bought a can of beans, a cell phone and a banana separately, paid for them separately, put them in the bag separately, and consumed them separately. We are only asking you to keep them separate when getting rid of them.

If you can reuse that T-shirt, you have completely eliminated all the greenhouse gases that come from beginning to end.

“

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Independent author and journalist Mark Hertsgaard has spent 20 years covering global warming for media out-lets such as the New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Time. His lat-est work, Hot, is a blueprint for how people, communities, companies and countries can navigate the proverbial and literal winds of climate change.

USAGAIN: You have dedi-cated “HOT: Living Through The Next Fifty Years On Earth” to your daughter Chiara. How do you expect the first five de-cades in her life to be different from your own?

HERTSGAARD: Part of how it will be different has already been decided – sci-ence makes that clear. Much of it will also depend on what we do, as citizens, and as par-ents. Science makes it clear that we are already locked into a significant amount of tem-perature rise, and with that, a significant increase in ex-treme weather. We are going to see more events like the 2012 summer, which had the hottest July on record and the worst drought in the last 50 years.

As I tried to argue in HOT, we need to change our way of responding to the climate cri-sis, and realize now that it re-ally is what military strategists would call a two-front war. We have to avoid the unmanage-able and manage the unavoid-able. We have to prepare for the impacts that are now unavoid-able – there will be more hur-ricanes like Sandy, and there will be more droughts like the 2012 summer. We need to take steps to increase our commu-nities’ defenses and resilience to those. But, at the same time, we absolutely have to reduce the carbon that is up there in the atmosphere. If we don’t do that, it’s not going to matter how much adaptation we do, how much resilience we try to build-up. The World Bank just said that a temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius would es-sentially create conditions that are incompatible with an orga-nized civilization.

USAGAIN: One example of grassroots action you describe in “HOT” is the greening of the

Sahel in Africa. Can you tell us what you learned there and what some of the important benefits of trees are?

HERTSGAARD: It’s the most hopeful story in HOT. The Sahel region of Africa right below the Sahara des-ert is already extremely hot and dry. As climate change advances, it will become hotter and dry-er and become essentially un-i n h a b i t a b l e . And that’s where the trees come in. Trees are about the closest thing to a miracle that we have in the fight against cli-mate change. The farmers in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and neighboring regions planting trees are a perfect example of how they are fighting both fronts in the climate crisis. As the trees grow they inhale carbon dioxide and store it

in their leaves and branches, which keeps it out of the at-mosphere. But in the short term, what is much more

important is the adaptation. When you plant trees on your land, the trees first of all lower the temperature in the field because of the shade. And second they increase the fer-tility and above all the water retentiveness of the soil. As the leaves fall off they fertilize the soil, they also provide fodder for animals. If there is a hun-ger crisis even people can eat those leaves. So there are a lot of advantages to the trees. It is actually a very old form of agriculture in that part of the world. The final point here is if these poor-est people on the planet can do so much in the climate fight by plant-ing trees, we – who are so much richer and more com-fortable – can find ways to do more of our share.

USAGAIN: What different

roles do you see government, private enterprise and grass-

roots initiatives playing in the fight to protect us from climate change?

HERTSGAARD: Unfor-tunately, I think today what most people have been told to do is make lifestyle changes – change your light bulbs to

more energy efficient ones, take the bus rather than drive a car – and these are good start-ing points but they are by no means on

the scale of this problem. The things that are really going to create change are the big drivers of climate change and economic polices in particu-lar; we need to put a price on carbon emissions. As long as it is free to pollute the atmo-sphere, people are going do it – corporations in particular are going do it. So we have to get involved in changing poli-cies and that means people will have to get politically active.

USAGAIN: Unfortunately, we hear very little out of Wash-ington on the question of cli-mate change. Why do you think this is?

HERTSGAARD: The oil and gas industry has been so powerful in the U.S. for so long that it essentially functions as the fourth branch of govern-ment. So, it’s not surprising that big oil has in effect en-joyed veto power over much of what the federal government does. It’s very hard for any U.S. president to take on the big-gest industry in history unless

there is mas-sive pressure coming from the public in form of not just votes, al-though that is important. You have to do all the things that activists be-gan to do last year when the Keystone pipe-

line looked like it was guar-anteed to be approved. After 15,000 marchers surrounded the White House, President Obama backtracked and said “we need to study this more.” I guarantee you if those 15,000 people had not been out there

the pipeline would have gone up. Going forward, we need to ratchet up the amount of citizen involvement by people who care about this issue. For the president to take on big oil he needs support from a really active, mobilized and outspo-ken general public.

USAGAIN: What were some of the most surprising things that you learned while researching this book?

HERTSGAARD: One was a terrible surprise, which was early in the book when we were covering the climate ordeal and the scientists were talking about these massive impacts by the year 2015. I was sur-prised it would come so soon. The other surprise was just how much you can do about it. I was surprised by what [for-mer King County, WA, execu-tive and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development] Ron Sims, the federal govern-ment, and the stakeholders in Seattle and King County, Washington, have done. A lot of times people despair and think it’s all too dark. But that’s

a false premise – we can do a lot about this. Ron Sims shows us that, and farmers in Afri-ca, in their own different way, show that it’s time for the rest of us to step up.

USAGAIN: Any final words to our readers?

H E R T S -GAARD: We need you to join this fight if we want to have a livable planet over the next 50 years. We need as many people

as possible to get active. If you are a parent or a grandparent I invite you to join the group climateparents.org that is try-ing to give a voice to parents on this issue. People can get involved with The Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and others. You absolutely have to get involved with changing the politics and economics around climate change. You have to change those big drivers of the prob-lem and that requires govern-ment action. You have to put a price on carbon and shift sub-sidies away from the fossil fu-els that are killing our kids’ fu-tures, and lean towards green energy and energy efficiency that can save our kids’ futures.

NEWS THAT YOU CAN USE AGAINwww.usagain.com | 800.604.9533 | [email protected]

3Volume 2 | Issue 1 & InterviewsNews

‘We Need You to Join This Fight’Mark Hertsgaard on his book Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, adaptation to a warming planet, and why trees may be our best bet in fighting climate change.

Mark Hertsgaardand his daughter, Chiara.

Much of it will also depend on what we do – as citizens and as parents.

“

”

Author Mark Hertsgaard considers his six-year-old daughter as part of a generation of two billion young people who will spend their lives coping with the effects climate change – “Generation Hot.”

Trees are about the closest thing to a miracle that we have in the fight against climate change.

“

”

There will be more hurricanes like Sandy. There will be more droughts like the 2012 summer. We need to take steps to increase our communities’ defenses and resilience to those.

“

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A lot of times people despair and think it’s all too dark. But that’s a false premise – we can do a lot about this.

“

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The scientific evidence behind climate change is overwhelming. Average global temperature has increased 1.4 F since the Industrial Revolution, and with it has come change in precipitation patterns, storms, and other natural extremes. The result is a planetary transformation into a world that’s becom-ing less habitable for hu-mans and other species.

Thousands of organi-zations around the world agree on the occurrence of climatic warming, in-

cluding the Environmen-tal Protection Agency and the National Climatic Data Center. Such organizations agree that the tempera-ture increase of the past 130 years c a r r i e s very seri-ous conse-quences.

T h e g l o b a l sea level has been rising at a rate of 1.7mm per year due to the melting of polar ice-caps and glaciers, putting

coastlines and islands at serious risk of flooding or being submerged entirely. Depreciating snow cover-age has also contributed to rising global sea level.

Higher sea levels lead to increased storm surge when land-fall occurs, which can mean in-

creased damage in terms of dollars and human life.

Increased greenhouse gas emissions can’t be

solely blamed for climate change, but they are the major factor. Research from the National Oce-anic and Atmospheric Ad-ministration shows that solar radiation has not increased, which means human activity has been integral in climate change. Curbing our wasteful hab-its, and recycling and reus-ing as much as possible can all help the long-term sus-tainability of our climate.


SPECIALsection

The Greenhouse Effect

is REAL.

Removing carbon from the atmo-sphere is an important tool for mitigating

the effects of climate change. While some facilities are being developed to store carbon

emissions underground, a tried and true method already exists. Trees can be a crucial natural partner in our fight against a changing climate. By planting new forests, and avoiding the destruc-tion of current forests, CO2 can be removed from

the atmosphere and converted into trunks, branches, roots and leaves when combined

with the sun’s energy via photosynthesis. A tree planted in the tropics seques-

ters an average of 50 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly.

Climate Change Indicators

SUPER STORMS FLOODING DROUGHT HEAT

July 2012 was the warmest month on U.S. data record, with some states recording temperatures above 110 F. Combined with drought, wildfires burned 9.2 million acres in 2012, the third worst fire season in U.S. history.

Nearly 62% of the contigu-ous U.S. was in moderate or greater drought in July 2012 – the largest area since the Dust Bowl of 1939 – causing crop damages of nearly $35 billion and record-breaking evapora-tion rates.

A large percentage of heavy precipitation and flooding comes in the form of intense single-day events. Duluth, MN, saw nearly 10 inches of rain fall in a 24-hour period, causing extreme flood dam-age in June 2012.

Deadly storms of increasing power and devastation are on the rise. Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 hit the north-east coast of the U.S., causing 125 deaths and over $71 billion in damage.

SOURCES: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, THINKPROGRESS.ORG, and THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing with the regions’ first ice-free summer expected by 2040.

“

”

Global Sources ofGreenhouse Gas Emissions

3.6% 1.8%

37.6%

16.3%

13.8%

13.6%

13.6%

Electricity, heat, etc.

Net deforestation

Industry

Transportation

Agriculture

Waste

Other land-use changes

SOURCE: WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE

Adapting to Change

Even though steps are being taken to mitigate the causes of climate change, adaptation will be necessary as the effects will be felt for years to come. Listed below are just a few ways people around the world are planning ahead to adapt to the impact of climate change.

Flood ControlWith sea levels rising and extreme weather events becoming more common, coastal communities are planning ahead to keep their homes above water. Some states, including North Carolina, Maryland and Virgina, are re-evaluating their shorefronts in order to bolster resilience to future sea level rise.

Local Energy ProductionChanges in the climate will affect how energy is produced, delivered and consumed. Traditional power lines waste energy before reaching end-users and are vulnerable to extreme weather. Establishing local renewable energy production , such as wind, solar and geothermal, could make our energy consumption more efficient and reliable.

AgroforestryCombining trees and agricultural pro-duction on the same plots of land can increase crop yields, improve soil and water quality, increase biodiversity, and lower greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration. In Malawi, maize yields have increased up to 280 percent1 when they are grown under the canopy of a Faidherbia, an indigenous African acacia tree known for its nitrogen-rich leaves.

Local Food ProductionAgriculture is one human endeavor most vulnerable to climate change. The average meal travels 1,200 km from farm to plate.2 Growing and buying food locally would reduce transportation emissions, support local farmers, decrease the need for pro-cessing and reduce spoilage.

1 www.trust.org 2 www.davidsuzuki.org

Volume 2 | Issue 14

Surrounding our planet like a “blanket” to protect us from the freezing cold of the universe is a dense layer of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and other gases which help slow the escape of heat. Without this “blanket” the Earth’s average surface temperature would be 60 degrees cooler. As a result of human activities, more of these heat-trapping gases are being created, increasingly warming our planet.

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap some solar radiation from reflecting back into space, warming the planet.

Some solar radiation reaching Earth is reflected back into space.

A Warming Planet

Nearly 70% of sunlight that reaches Earth is absorbed, not reflected. Over the past 100 years, Earth’s average tempera-ture has increased 1.4 F and is expected to increase by up to 11 F in the next century. These minute changes in tem-perature can have a devastating effect on our climate, weather, transportation, economy, health, and much more.

5

Declining snowpack will reduce sum-mer streamflow, straining water resources including those needed for hydroelectric power. Increased water temperatures will threaten salmon and other fish species. Land will be lost due to sea-level rise. Increases in wildfires, insects and species-shifts will alter ecosystems.

Northwest

Scarcer water supplies, increasing temperatures, drought, wildfires and invasive species will cause tourism and rec-reation opportunities to suffer. Rising temperatures would threaten the Southwest’s ability to produce a significant portion of the nation’s food supply, as well as temperature-sensitive specialty crops like wine grapes.

Southwest

Increased temperatures, evaporation, and drought will lead to water scarcity issues, putting stress on agriculture, ranching and natural lands.

Great Plains

Heat waves and air quality problems will increase. Great Lakes water lev-els will lower, affecting shipping, infrastructure, beaches and ecosystems. Flooding and water deficits will increase. Diseases and invasive species will threaten native fish and wildlife.

Midwest

Increased air and water temperatures will de-crease water availability, affecting the economy and natural systems. Increased sea-level and hurricane intensity will cause serious impacts and severe weather events will affect coastal communities.

Southeast

Declining air quality and increased heat will pose health risks. The produc-tion of milk, fruits and maple syrup will be adversely affected. Flooding due to sea-level rise and storm surges will increase. Lobster and cod fishing will be adversely affected.

Northeast


SPECIALsection

Volume 2 | Issue 1

Great Plains

Midwest

Northwest

Southwest

Southeast

Northeast

Regional Effects of Climate Change in the U.S.

SOURCE: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Removing carbon from the atmo-sphere is an important tool for mitigating

the effects of climate change. While some facilities are being developed to store carbon

emissions underground, a tried and true method already exists. Trees can be a crucial natural partner in our fight against a changing climate. By planting new forests, and avoiding the destruc-tion of current forests, CO2 can be removed from

the atmosphere and converted into trunks, branches, roots and leaves when combined

with the sun’s energy via photosynthesis. A tree planted in the tropics seques-

ters an average of 50 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly.

Carbon Sequestration

Reducing, reusing and recycling curb greenhouse gas emissions by con-

serving energy. Recycle your plastic, paper, aluminum, electronics and textiles, reducing

the amount left to sit in landfills, and saving en-ergy that would be used during the extraction, manufacturing and disposal of these prod-ucts. In fact, reusing one pound of cotton

prevents the emission of 7 pounds of CO2. Composting food and yard waste

will reduce methane emissions from landfills while enriching the soil

of your home garden.

Reuse & Recycle Developing and using electricity generated from renewable sources –

wind, solar, geothermal or biomass – is an effective way to reduce our carbon

footprint. While windfarms and other new technologies can be expensive to develop initially, the payoff will be greater; afford-able electric power for generations with little to no carbon emissions as a byproduct.

Renewable Energy

Scientists Agree

According to a recent study, out of 13,950 scientific peer-reviewed papers published between 1991 and Novem-ber 2012, only 24 clearly reject global warming or endorse a cause other than CO2 emissions for observed warming.

SOURCE: WWW.JAMESPOWELL.ORG

99.8%

0.17%Did You Know?

For every ton of material reused or recycled, textiles account for more greenhouse gas savings than paper, plastics and glass combined. 0.3

1.6

2.8

7.0Tons of Greenhouse Gases Prevented

Glass Plastic Paper Textiles


6 Volume 2 | Issue 1Interviews

News

Climate scientists believe that human-induced global deforestation is responsible for 18-25% of global climate change. Organizations such as the U.N. and The World Bank also recommend planting trees as a quick and affordable meth-od for mitigating the effects of climate change. In response USAgain is launching a tree-planting campaign, which will result in 200,000 trees being planted in regions of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Honduras in 2013.

A reason for planting trees in the tropics rather than in more temperate climate zones is to maximize the global cool-ing benefits from the trees. Trees grow three times faster in the tropics than in tem-perate zones; each tree in the rainy tropics removes about 50 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. Tropical forestation also has a larger net cooling effect,

because it increases cloud for-mation.

The trees will be planted in partnership with Trees for the Future, an agroforestry re-source center based in Mary-land.

Trees for the Future works in develop-ing nations to create sustain-able land-use systems. Their i n t e g r a t e d a p p r o a c h of combin-ing trees and shrubs with crops and live-stock allows for a healthier e c o s y s t e m , as well as in-creased economic viability for local participants.

Planting trees carries a multitude of benefits, includ-ing: topsoil stabilization,

shade, expansion of the water table, and increasing fertility of nearby soil. Trees also serve as living fences, which offer shel-ter from wind, fire, and other forces of nature. USAgain’s tree-planting campaign will serve to advance three major

areas - carbon sequestration, environmental rehabilitation, and livelihood development.

Carbon se-quest rat ion , c o m m o n l y referred to as terrestrial se-quest rat ion , is the long-term storage of carbon in

trees and plants. A single tree planted in the tropics stores, on average, 50 pounds of car-bon dioxide for each year of its life. By funding the planting

of 200,000 trees, USAgain will contribute to the sequestration of 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to taking 5,000 cars off the road.

The planting of 200,000 trees will also lead to environ-mental rehabilitation in Ethio-pia, Kenya, and Honduras. In Ethiopia and Honduras, efforts will be focused toward refores-tation of degraded watersheds on communal land. Kenyan tree-planting will work toward reforesting degraded land in Mount Kenya National Park, an area desecrated by illegal logging in recent years. On all three fronts, other trees and plants in the area will benefit from USAgain’s reforestation efforts.

The USAgain tree-planting campaign will also contribute in the area of livelihood devel-opment. Trees will be planted on both communal and pri-vate land, but regardless of lo-

cation, the people planting the trees will be the primary ben-eficiaries of said trees. This will ensure that the trees are well-maintained, since the well-being of local residents will be tied to them.

In all three regions, USAgain’s tree-planting cam-paign will provide useful non-timber forest products that will either be consumed by local residents or sold for ad-ditional income.

By limiting carbon emis-sions and revitalizing ravished ecosystems, the USAgain tree-planting campaign will help cool the planet, reduce the effects of climate change and bring environmental justice to areas where there has been little. In addition, the tree-planting program will forge meaningful relationships with people who need environmen-tal sustainability but are unable to provide it for themselves.

Over 200,000 Trees to be Planted in 2013USAgain partners with Trees for the Future in an effort to curb climate change.

EthiopiaWatershed Restoration in Duraite and Lehaite Villages of Konso

A semi-arid, mountainous region in southwestern Ethiopia, Konso is the site of USAgain’s tree planting partnership with Trees for the Future, helping to expand two watershed restoration projects in the villages of Duraite and Lehaite.

Since 2010, Trees for the Future has been helping to reverse systematic agricultural and overgrazing failures in the area, working to prevent the highly erosive soils in both villages from washing away each wet season.

Community nursuries were established in both Lehaite and Duraite where seedlings of native and naturalized species are raised for planting in watersheds, fields and gardens nearby. To-date, nearly 200,000 seedlings have been planted in the area, restoring most of the Duraite watershed and allowing native animals to return to this once inhospitable region.

KenyaReforesting Mount Kenya National Park

Due to illegal activities, including timber harvesting, charcoal production, and fuel wood collection, Mount Kenya National Park experienced massive deforestation in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in reduced river water flow, the endangering and extinction of animal species, changing weather patterns, widespread wildlife habitat destruction, and human food scarcity.

In an effort to reverse the negative effects deforestation has left on the region, nearly five million trees have been planted in and around Mount Kenya National Park, with USAgain contributing an additional 85,000 trees to be raised in six local nurseries. These trees will be planted in water catchment areas, along riverbanks and in degraded forest areas to increase groundwater levels and provide the necessary habitat for animals in order to reduce unecessary human contact.

HondurasReforesting Water Recharge Areas and Stream Courses in Corralito Wild-life Reserve and Las Lajas Municipal-ity

Two areas in Honduras have been selected for the USAgain tree planting project. An important watershed, source of irrigation and a stop for migratory birds, the Corralito Wildlife Reserve will receive 20,000 seedlings in 2013.

Las Lajas, a major hydroelectric resevoir that provides more than 40% of the electric power for Honduras, will receive 45,000 seedlings of various native species in a project meant to reforest the surrounding area. Timber producing trees will also be managed in the local nurseries to provide wood to the rural community. Trees will be planted along stream banks, the water recharge zone and where there are agreements with local land owners to reforest stream banks.

75,000trees to be

planted.

65,000 trees to be

planted.

85,200 trees to be

planted.

USAgain Tree Planting Project Sites

Learn more at: www.usagain.com/trees or www.treesforthefuture.org

USAgain is funding the planting of 550 trees per day in 2013.

50 pounds of CO2 are sequestered by the average tree each year.


7Volume 2 | Issue 1 & InterviewsNews

2012: A Year in Review

Donating winter coats to Boys &

Girls Clubs in ten states.

USAgain diverted 58 million pounds of textiles from landfills in 2012, preventing 406 million pounds of CO2 emissions, conserving 81 billion gallons of water, and saving 332,000 cubic yards of landfill space – the equivalent of 13,257 garbage truckloads of waste.

Picasso Preschool (El Grenada, CA)

First place winner, Earth Month Contest

12-year-old Erek “Eco-Erek” Hansen part-ners with USAgain to collect 3,600 pairs of shoes for recycling and reuse!

“Starting today, every day will be Earth Day at Larsen Middle School.”

Randy Hodges, PrincipalLarsen Middle School (Elgin, IL)

“The USAgain bins

at our school really

help better serve

the community.”

Diane Harty, Teacher

Abbott Middle School (Elgin, IL)

Third place winner, America Recycles Day Contest

Homecoming Goes Green dress giveaway event.

Manolo Garcia, Principal

Edwin Markham Elementary School (Vacaville, CA)

First Place America Recycles Day school contest winner

“USAgain has made

being environmen-

tally friendly... as

easy as I can possibly

imagine.”

Rev. Alfredo Lewis

Mt. Vernon Christian Academy (Daly City, CA)

Second place winner, Earth Month Contest

“USAgain’s program is a blessing for the community.”

Over 1,600 lbs of

clothes collected in

City of San Mateo,

CA, recycling event.

USAgain invites schools to participate in Earth Month, a monthlong green, educational, no-work, no-cost contest and fundraiser, earning cash for each pound of clothing and shoes collected. Throughout the month of April 2013, hun-dreds of schools will partici-pate in this friendly competi-tion to collect clothes, shoes and other textiles for reuse and recycling, diverting them from landfills, while raising funds for school activities, supplies, technology and more. It’s a fun and educational way to raise textile recycling awareness and win prizes for schools.

“Our school environmental club signed on to the program two years ago and has never looked back,” said Diane Har-

ty, science teacher at Abbott Middle School in Elgin, IL. “During our first year, our club won second place in the Earth Month contest thanks to col-leagues, students, and the community.”

This year, schools will compete to win cash prizes – $1,000, $750, $500, $250 and $100 to the top five winners, respectively. All participating schools can view their ranking and collec-tions on www.usagain.com

While current USAgain-partnered schools are auto-matically entered to take part in the Earth Month contest, schools looking to participate

and host a USAgain bin can sign up online at www.us-again.com/earth-month, or over the phone by calling 800-604-9533.

Downloadable promotion-al materials, including posters, handouts and flyers designed to help you spread the word in your school’s community, are available on USAgain’s web-

site: www.usagain.com/earth-month

The U.S. EPA estimates that 11.1 million tons of textiles end up in the landfills every

year. If collected, these trashed textiles are in a condition to be reused as secondhand cloth-ing by people in the U.S. and abroad, or re-purposed for use as in-dustrial wiping rags, insulation or furniture stuffing, among other uses.

A Certificate of Sus-tainability will be awarded to all schools, acknowledging their participation and proud-ly displaying the environmen-tal impact of their collection efforts.

In 2012, 520 schools par-ticipated in the Earth Month contest, collecting over 210,000 pounds of textiles, saving 1,202 cubic yards of landfills space and preventing 1,472,534 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

“We’re proud to support lo-cal education through our Earth Month Contest,” said Mattias Wallander, CEO of USAgain. “USAgain fundrais-ers are a great way to educate students and the community about the need for textile recy-cling and reuse.” Learn more or sign up at:www.usagain.com/ear th-month

USAgainCorporate Office: 1555 W Hawthorne Ln, #4W West Chicago, IL 60185www.usagain.com • [email protected] • 800-604-9533

2013 USAgain all rights reserved.©

About This NewspaperNews That You Can Use Again is a bi-annual newspaper published by clothes collection company USAgain to high-light environmental issues and the benefits of recycling textiles. USAgain (use-again), a green for-profit company, was founded in 1999, and now operates over 10,000 collection bins in 18 states. Our mission at USAgain is simple: to provide consumers with a convenient and eco-friendly option to rid themselves of used clothing, which we divert from wasting in landfills for resale here in the U.S. and abroad. In 2012 alone, USAgain collected 58 million pounds of discarded clothing. A profitable venture headquartered in Chicago, USAgain has over 200 employees nationwide. For more information, please visit www.usagain.com.

EmploymentUSAgain is a dynamic and fast-growing company offering opportunities for tal-ented, value-driven, difference-making team members. A variety of exciting careers are available at USAgain. Please check our website for the most current job offerings.

Check out our latest job openings: www.usagain.com/careers

facebook.com/usagain twitter.com/usagaintweets


8 Volume 2 | Issue 1Interviews

News

Get started in 3 easy steps:

1

2

3

Sign up at www.usagain.com and we’ll place a USAgain bin

Your school raises funds for every pound of textiles collected

The top five collecting schools win bonus cash prizes

$1,000 $750 $500– First Place – – Second Place – – Third Place –

Celebrate EARTH MONTH this April 2013.

Recycle & WIN.This April, join USAgain in celebrating Earth Month, raising environmental awareness beyond Earth Day while diverting clothes, shoes and other textile waste from landfills. The top five collecting schools will win cash prizes:

$250 $100– Fourth Place – – Fifth Place –

Sandra KeilPast USAgain iPad 2 Contest Winner!

SCHOOLS:

Missed Earth Month? Learn about our ongoing school fundraiser – USAgain’s Greenraiser – at www.usagain.com/schoolfundraisers

Printed on 50% post-consumer recycled newsprint.

news that you can use again

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