Future of Web Design Conference

A little short notice, but The Future of Web Design is holding a conference in New York on November 3 & 4. The schedule looks fabulous and if you are a student, tickets for the conference are only $45!

Call For Photographers

There are two organizations that are putting together a collection of photographs of farms in Pennsylvania. The first, Farm to Table Pittsburgh is putting together a commemorable poster for their upcoming annual Farm to Table conference on April 3 & 4, 2009. The poster is entitled "Farms of Western Pennsylvania."

The contest deadline is November 30, 2008 and the photographs must be of farms in the Western Pennsylvania area. Read more about it on their web site: www.pathwayswellnessprogram.com/farm_poster.html

I am actually organizing and designing the poster, as well as their marketing collateral and event program this year. It is a great event to learn more about the opportunities available to eat locally and to meet the farmers around the western Pa area.

The second photography contest is for PASA, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.

The organizer, Don Gibbon, emailed me and asked me to spread the word. He included this little blurb about it:

Fourteen photographers participated in the exhibit "Loving Your Mother:
Farming as if The Earth Matters." projected continuously at the
February,2008, conference of the PA Assoc. for Sustainable Agriculture.

Some 290 excellent images were shown on a large screen in the main exhibit hall
in a continuous loop during the entire three days of the conference. They
were seen and admired by some 2000 conference attendees.

Images made by professional or amateur photographers are sought for the 2009 version of the exhibit. To participate, please submit two or three jpeg files, max 500Kb each, illustrating the nature of your work to Donald L. Gibbon, curator of
the show. Don will respond to your submission.

Final submissions will be called for in mid-December, 2008. We will ask for a maximum of 10-12 high-quality images showing your impressions of what it means to farm sustainably in Pennsylvania. We had a huge range of responses to that
question last year, from photographs of a community barn-raising followed by
the barn blowing down and a farm house in flames to all manner of crops,
people and livestock, growing, planting, harvesting.

Not everyone stuck to the rules: one photographer submitted some really interesting images of a sprout-growing operation in New York City. The farm was underground, bathed in fluorescent lights! One photographer submitted lovely rich images of work
on a cooperative farm in Illinois. So there's obviously room for artistic
license. This exhibit is co-sponsored by the Silver Eye Center for
Photography in Pittsburgh.

Email your photos to Donald Gibbon: dongibbon@earthlink.net

Here's two of my submissions:

A few Announcements

First, I would like to pass on a link to the web site for Blog Action Day. This year on October 15 bloggers worldwide will come together to post about this years topic, Poverty.
What is Blog Action Day?

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

Click on the graphic below to learn more or particpate by blogging:

Also in the news, Dell has announced it will use Mercury-Free LED monitors for it's laptops, starting on December 15, 2008. Whether Dell has a better marketing strategy or they are the first of the big computer manufacturers to go green is my question. They have also announced they will design their desktops and laptops to consume 25% less energy by 2010.

A quick loook at Hewlett Packards site shows they have an environmental impact statement, but they do not publish any actual numbers associated with this. This "Design for Environment" statement was created in 1992...maybe it's time they update, hm?

If you like Wierd Al Yankovich and computers, you'll love this song: "It's All About the Pentiums"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj3MrY6DP-s

What is the world coming to?

I've recently moved into a new office near my home in Titusville, PA. Although I do miss trudging around in my pajamas all day, I have found a few perks. One of them is listening to NPR on my way in and out of the office.

Recently I was listening to "All Things Considered" and they pointed out a study that looked into how people deal with feeling powerless. (Study: 'Lack Of Control' Plays With Our Minds)

This story really hit home for me for several reasons. First, because I was moving into an office for the first time in my life there was a little adjustment period when my diligent 16 hour work days turned into a panicked chaos: finding wireless internet connections so I could download emails ; settling into a new schedule; not seeing my baby girl until 5pm. I don't make changes very often so it was stressful trying to set up internet connections at my office, getting furniture, and getting dressed everyday!

I also learned that my daughter is not as resilient as I previously thought. The change in routine made her start trying to control her almost 2-year-old world more, screaming "don't!" at me and telling me to "stop!" when I was in a hurry to get everywhere and throwing her in and out of the car seat. We were all in limbo as I waited weeks for my internet service to be fully functional, my office not to smell like the chemicals in fresh paint and remembering that I have to bring lunch.

Although this may not be true for everyone, I find that I don't realize that I'm trying to adapt until I stop and think about all of the things I'm trying to accomplish; spreading myself thin, working a lot and getting little done. Then I realized, much to my pleasure, that things just take time to settle down. It's a never ending lesson for me and maybe a reason why I don't like to shake things up too often.

Thankfully it only lasted a month. (I've been called a drama-queen before!) I was disappointed that the anti-climactic event of getting an office didn't contribute to a burst of unprecedented new business. I often think in best-case-scenarios and the fact that I had to deal with so many things I didn't take into account seriously tapped my energy.

Anywho, the NPR program that I listened to was fascinating. It talked about a phenomenon you may have experienced but haven't heard it discussed before. The study hypothesized that when people feel out of control they start looking for patterns as a way to find some sense in their world. After messing with the heads of the study volunteers, they then showed them a series of images that were likened to static on a t.v.

"We literally found people seeing images in static – they were given pictures that were just pure noise, like static on a television set – and we had those who felt that they lacked control saying that they saw significantly more images," she [Jennifer Whitson] says.

The realization that I was doing the exact same thing started to sink in right about then. As all of these things in my life started to transform and take on new meaning, I started to think that everybody thought I was a slacker and nobody could rely on me because I couldn't answer their midnight emails and weekend web site requests. Sorry Todd, Nathalie and Bob!

This could explain the saying "When it rains, it pours." When something starts to go bad in your life, lots of things start going bad. Also during September, I saw my cousin who is six months older than me get diagnosed with Hodgkins disease. My sister's sister–in–law had a bone marrow transplant to help cure her Non–Hodgkins lymphoma, my dog died, I ran out of gas and locked my keys in the car twice.

If all of these things don't make a person feel out of control, what would it take? Although I hate the end of summer and the burgeoning number of cold days, I thank Jupiter that October is shaping up to be a beautiful finale to these turning points in my life and of those around me.

The woman who conducted the study, Jennifer Whitson, concluded her radio interview with this little gem of advice:

" Maybe this could help in real life, Whitson says. When you're feeling powerless, maybe you should stop and think about what you really care about – something you do have control over."

These are some things I'm looking forward to in October:

• Watching the ever–fabulous Troy Polamalu (Steelers, #43) consistently be where he needs to be. My hope this football season is to see Troy get a touchdown interception. He deserves the glory.


• Sending my daughter to daycare! I found a great little daycare right by my office. It's affordable, accredited, and the kids were play–feeding baby dolls when I looked in on them. Precious!


• Meeting more people from Titusville. This town is like a little city. Having lived in the country for the past 7 years, I am welcoming the site of sidewalks, coffee shops and getting to know the city-minded people that I work near. It truly is a great town.

Until we meet again!

My Profile is up at Business Owners' Idea Cafe

I am proud to announce that MK Digital Media is being featured on the Business Idea Cafe web site.
Read all about how I got started in this circus! Click the graphic link below.

Recycling Part III: Recycling Metal, Fun Stuff!

My world has been changed ever since I found out you can drive a truckload of metal directly to the metal recycling plant and get paid for all of it. I'm loving it! It all started when my in-law's neighbor told me he got paid $150 for recycling the aluminum rims from his car.

Being as I live out in the middle of nowhere, former owners of my property thought it would be clever to dump all of their old appliances and metal scrap into the field and let it sit there. Since I heard about recycling metal yourself, I have sold around 4,000 lbs. of steel scrap and netted about $500. I have also set up recycling cans where I work and I sell the cans for about $.80/lb. Most recently, I've sold about 100 lbs of cans for $80. Right now, that's about what it takes to fill up a tank of gas.

Sure, it's not winning the lottery. But recycling is important and so is driving so it works hand in hand. I mentioned this in a past blog entry, but if you've never been to a metal recycling plant I suggest you go just to see the monstrous cranes lifting piles of cars at one time with a huge magnet...20 feet away from you! It's exhilarating just being there and driving out alive.

Going to the recycling plant is kind of like down-hill skiing. There is a tremendous amount of anxiety as you look down the hill of a black diamond trail so steep you can't see the next 50 feet in front of you. Since you can't climb back on the chair lift and you have too much dignity to scream for the nearest ski-patrol member, you just let gravity pull you down, taking each mogul, tree, and ice patch as it comes. (I grew up skiing in Pennsylvania, ice patches are common!) Once you are at the bottom of the hill, you get back on the chair lift and do it again.

This is a picture that I took, while in a panic, from my cell phone.

For some reason, I felt the need to remember this moment. Perhaps because I didn't know if I would get out of there alive, or maybe because I thought nobody would believe the scale of this place. If you look closely on the left, you can see the truck I was cowering behind.

This metal recycling center is in Erie, Pennsylvania. They literally carry piles of cars over your head while you quickly throw all of the metal off of your car/truck/trailer into the mass of other scrap metal.

Recycling metal is fun. In the US right now, the cost of metal is way up. You often hear about home owners having their gutters and pipes stolen right off of their house or construction lot because you can get a lot of money from copper. When I first bought my house, the cost of 250 feet of wire for electricity was around $45. That was seven years ago. Now the same roll is up to $75.

You can recycle ferrous and non-ferrous metals. In layman's terms, this is iron and steel and non-iron-metals, such as aluminum.

Just like #1 plastic, the demand for recycled aluminum is higher than the supply, hence the high cost for returning your cans and aluminum scrap. It is easier and cheaper to make aluminum products out of recycled aluminum. When I took an Environmental Science class one time, we learned that the value of a certain material is measured by the quantity and cost of getting that quantity into the finished material.

So, for aluminum, the most valuable form is the aluminum cans and other scrap that people use every day and which is littering our roads and parks, since it is easier than digging it out of the ground and processing the raw ore. According to the Wikipedia recycling site, recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy it takes to make aluminum from raw ore! That's huge.

I once watched an episode of Judge Judy where she told a 'deadbeat' dad that he should start looking for cans to cash in if he didn't have enough money to pay child support. I think Judge Judy had it right on. Imagine all of the money that is littering the streets!

To recycle your own metal, look up your local metal recycling plant online. I just searched for metal recycling on Yahoo! yellow pages and clicked on "beyond my zip code" to see all of the centers close to me. Call them and ask what type of metals they will take.

When you get to the plant your vehicle will be weighed and you'll give your name to the person who works there. Then you drive into the heart of the operation and unload. Then you'll drive back out to where you get weighed and they'll get your empty weight. Park your car, walk into the office and they'll hand you your check. Now you've done something great for the environment and you got free lunch. Loving it!

Insider's tip: You might feel safer if you wear a helmet!

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Recycling Plastics

I was inspired to investigate the whole plastics recycling issue one week when I got an email from a reader and read about the "Junk Raft" in a news story online. Plastic is in one sense a god send, and in another, the root of all evil. A god-send because I have a one year old daughter and I know how easy it is for stuff to get dirty, and with all of the plastic toys, furniture and utensils, it can all be as clean as new again.

But is the convenience worth the effects plastic has on our environment?

From a reader:

it is very difficult on sight to recognize corn-based plastics vs. petroleum based, and too much of the former will corrupt the recycle batch of the latter. Added, at present, there are very few compost centers in the US that can maintain the 150 degree temperatures for the number of days (5-10) that are required to compost the corn-based product. I, a fool at first, thought I could just toss them in my big (20' x 30') bin. Nope. So that's not so terrific as it sounded when I first learned about it. Don't I wish it were that easy...

Yes, it would be fabulous if we could just throw our plastic containers in a compost bin and they would disintegrate into carbon. Let's hope somebody comes up with a way to do that. In the meantime, I didn't even know there was petroleum and corn based plastic products. And what do all those numbers (1-7) mean on the bottom of plastic containers anyway?

Because plastic is a polymer (a string of molecules strung together) and there are a variety of polymers that make up plastic, each type has a different number. You can't make a #3 plastic into a #6 plastic through recycling. Here is a list of the different numbers and what they mean, conveniently gleaned from The Daily Green. Read their whole story for more details.

#1 Plastics: (PET or PETE) This plastic is commonly used in beverage containers because it is inexpensive and easy to recycle, although the demand is higher than the supply for 'remanufacturers'. So start recycling these more often! I'm sure people throw these in the bottom of their car and then just forget about recycling and throw it away. According to The Daily Green, the recycling rate for this plastic is a paltry 20%. It can be recycled back into "Polar fleece, fiber, tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, straps, (occasionally) new containers"

#2 Plastics: (HDPE: High Density Polyethylene) This plastic is more sturdy than #1, so it is used for laundry detergent bottles, motor oil bottles and trash bags, among other things. "It is readily recyclable into many goods."

#3 Plastics: (V: Vinyl or PVC) Here's a direct quote from The Daily Green:

PVC is tough and weathers well, so it is commonly used for piping, siding and similar applications. PVC contains chlorine, so its manufacture can release highly dangerous dioxins. If you must cook with PVC, don't let the plastic touch food. Also never burn PVC, because it releases toxins.

The chlorine makes me nervous...is it leaching out from our water pipes? This is my theory, but could the increase in asthma and lung related chronic illness be related to the increase of chlorine in our water supplies? I know that exposure to large amounts of chlorine does contribute to asthma. This reminds me of a guy I met, and this is digressing, but he was my taxi driver when I visited Montana. He lived near a railroad truss and one day a train car carrying a load of chlorine derailed close to his house. He received a $2000 settlement to take care of the lung damage, and subsequent chronic asthma, he received, a rip off in my opinion. I asked him what he did with the money and he told me he got huge speakers that filled up the living room of his trailer!

I digress.

#4 Plastics: (LDPE: Low Density Polyethylene) This plastic is literally a flexible plastic used in squeezable bottles, bread bags, and the bags they put over your dry-cleaning. There are not many places that will accept this plastic for recycling.

#5 Plastics: (PP: Polypropylene) This plastic is used in food containers, medicine bottles, etc. It can withstand high temperatures so it is often used in containers that accept hot liquids. It is becoming more recyclable.

#6 Plastics: (PS: Polystyrene) The dreaded Styrofoam!!! 'Evidence' suggests that dangerous chemicals can leach out of these containers into your food. It can be recycled but not many places offer programs for this. I would like to share a little story with you to scare you to never eat at a certain 24 hour family restaurant that starts with a 'P'. I used to be a waitress there for a year or so...I quit before I totally lost my mind. Anyway, their home-cooked meals had side-dishes that were pre-prepared, frozen, shipped to the store, proportioned out into handy little Styrofoam containers and MICROWAVED before slapping the container upside down on your plate! Mmmmm, reminds me of mom's home cooking. The Styrofoam had burned edges when it came out of the commercial microwave. I implore you to never eat at these places, or ask them not to microwave it in plastic.

Next!

#7 Plastics: Every product category system must have a 'miscellaneous' category and lucky #7 is it. The miscellaneous plastics make up bullet proof materials, DVD's, IPods, computer cases, etc. Some of the plastics that fit into this category are made from plants (polyactide) and are compostable. A harmful plastic that is lumped into this category was recently in the news because it leaches a synthetic form of the hormone estrogen. Ironically, this is what they make baby bottles, pacifiers and other baby products out of. Makes you wonder!

Is your brain full yet? Basically, the most highly recyclable containers and those in most demand are not being recycled. The best way to find out what types of plastic you can recycle in your area is by contacting your municipality or checking out their web site. You can also visit the web site of Waste Management to view your local recycling rules. I'm not sure if Waste Management is everywhere but it seems to be everywhere!

To effectively recycle your plastic bottles, the lids need to be removed. The label can stay on. It's also best if you rinse the container. First so that your garbage doesn't stink! Secondly, so that it doesn't mess up the recycling process. Read this article on the eHow's plastic recycling page to read all of their pointers about recycling. The EPA has set a lofty goal of recycling 25% of our nations waste. Way to go EPA!

The interesting thing here is biodegradable plastics. How come I've never heard of this before? Indeed, corn-plastic has it's issues. And as my reader suggested, it corrupts the batch if mixed in with regular plastics. According to an article written for Dear Earth Talk, an environmental advice columnist:

it will take far longer in a compost bin or in a landfill packed so tightly that no light and little oxygen are available to assist in the process. Indeed, analysts estimate that a PLA bottle could take anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill.

Dear Earth Talk susggests that while corn-based plastics are not more environmentally harmful than petroleum based products, they are still not the answer. They are made up of 'polylactic acid' and it is derived from plants, so it does have a few things going for it.

When it is recycled, according to Elizabeth Royte, writing in Smithsonian:

PLA may well break down into its constituent parts (carbon dioxide and water) within three months in a "controlled composting environment," that is, an industrial composting facility heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and fed a steady diet of digestive microbes.

Read her article in the Smithsonian Magazine online for a more detailed perspective.

While all of the experts are trying to figure out the best alternative I'm just going to keep recycling and helping my neighbors recycle. Since we all have to drive our recyclables to the local recycling center, we take turns taking each others trash out.

One more thing, before I go, if you still use plastic grocery bags when you go food shopping, remember to recycle them when you go back to the store. Most grocery stores have bins outside that you can throw away your plastic bags. The best thing to do is to bring your own bags! It takes a little practice to get used to but you'll appreciate not having to deal with those plastic bags anymore.

Go to the Junk Raft Synopsis Page to learn more about the who and what of reforming how we think about plastic.