Trash reduction

Build a trash castle in July!

rebecca carpenter — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:45:13 GMT

Go ahead, get dirty! Join Razoo's contest of the month by building a masterpiece from your weekly trash. Snap a photo of it and upload it to this Trash Reduction cause. The most creative "castle" wins a $100 iTunes gift card!

If you're not in the building mood, you can still participate by helping us choose the winner. Check out the photo entries on the Trash Reduction cause, and cast your vote for the most creative by commenting on your favorite photo. The photo with the most comment-votes wins!

Entries are due by midnight on July 31.

Have at it!

Before Brad Pitt, there was Leonardo. And Raphaelâ€¦and Donatello.

Robin Weekley — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:34:23 GMT

So, and this is disappointing at best, I just discovered a huge gap in my childhood memory. All this time Iâ€™ve thought my memory was close to perfect, Iâ€™ve even used it as a bargaining chip in arguments and discussions between friendsâ€¦but now, I rest a little uneasily. How could I NOT remember that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the first celebrities gone Green? Beyond their sweet ninja shells, the TMNT episodes included little pearls of wisdom about the environment, recycling, pollution and other relevant green issues. Prior to all the celeb hype surrouding global warming, the turtles were actually gettingâ€™ it done. After eating some pizza and using their turtle fighting tools to fight off Shredder and Rocksteady, the turtles (usually Donatello, I think heâ€™s the softy of the crew) would essentially deliver a public service announcement on recycling their pizza boxes. Brilliant.

The best part of this whole discovery is that loads of these environmental clips are available on YouTube for our education and, yes, enjoyment. Check â€˜em out here

Redefining Trashy

Robin Weekley — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:04:14 GMT

Naples, a well-known and well-loved tourist destination for people all over the place is in a bit of a compromising situation. Due to government disorder and a flurry of organized crime, the trash has not been picked up since May. I know, itâ€™s a little hard to understand how trash pick up and organized crime go together, but apparentlyâ€¦the Naples mob crew owns a few of the city dumps and has shut them down, thus bringing on a crazy flow of trash all over the city streets. Residents are protesting and the local government is doing its best to procure new landfill sites in the surrounding areas; theyâ€™ve even considered shipping their trash to other countries. Romania was their pick for lucky trash recipient, but, unfortunately for Naples, Romania turned down the generous offer.

The US Embassy in Rome has issued a warning to US Citizens saying:

"US citizens traveling to or through the area may encounter mounds of garbage, open fires with potentially toxic fumes and sporadic public demonstrations by local residents," the embassy warns in its advisory note.â€

Yummyâ€¦Toxic fumes. This whole story really spotlights the amount of trash we produce n a regular basis. When the trash doesnâ€™t get picked up and instead forms walls along city streets, garbage takes on a new relevance in our lives. What you throw away is no longer lost and gone, but is in your face, reminding you of the Oreos you ate last night, the 20 magazines you got in the mail and never read or the plastic bags you carted home from the grocery store.

To learn more about Naples and what really happened behind the trash disaster there, check out this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6287228.stm, article from the BBC.