As you might imagine in a city with a population of 17 million people who are developing bad Western fast food habits the issue of "where do I put my burger bag" is a problem. If it were just a burger bag a piece it may not be an issue but Beijing-ians are tossing out 18,400 tons of waste every day which is 7000 tons more than the landfills can handle.

So to prevent the Toxic Avenger from taking over the city, as reported by the Guardian.co.uk, "Beijing is to install 100 deodorant guns at a stinking landfill site on the edge of the city in a bid to dampen complaints about the capital's rubbish crisis."

So a giant can of "let's look the other way and hope the problem goes away" is going to be sprayed over the landfill while the other 200+ legal and illegal dumping sites around Beijing are bursting at the seams. Sounds like a plan.

Less than 4% of Beijing's trash is recycled (compared to a substantially better, but still pretty pathetic 35% in the UK and US) and 2% is burned, but the rest is dumped and buried with the hopes that Mother Earth likes stinky socks and broken laptops for lunch.

The second faze of the plan was to increase the incineration rate to 40% by building 82 incinerators between 2006 and 2010 which as you can imagine has had a little less than agreeable public support - a close second to "I don't want no stinkin' landfill in my backyard" is "I don't want no toxic waste incinerator in my backyard." With the dangers associated with burning the toxic chemicals in plastics and other waste materials the people of Beijing have good reason to protest.

So what is a good tirade without a solution? About as useful as a giant deodorant stick gun loaded with questionable "its better for you than the alternative" aerosol. Maybe they should load up those deodorant guns and shoot the trash to the sun.

Ok, my tirade is over - I'm going to do my part to save the planet and go fish a rubber ball out of the pond I've looked at every day for the past week, but did nothing about. And if I get lucky I'll find a plastic bag or two that I can send to the landfill where it belongs...

This Post Stinks, But Not as Bad as Beijing’s Landfill Problem is a post from: Earth Friendly Goodies

If you wouldn't call yourself a tree hugger (that's ok they don't give very good hugs) you might want to at least give these guys a quick pat on the back because tropical forests eat carbon dioxide for lunch - literally. They help regulate the atmosphere and stabilize the global climate by consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen - which of course we can't live without. Not to mention the 23 species of primates, 1000 species of birds and over 20,000 species of plants - including my new favorite the Ice Cream Bean Tree.

Plant a Billion Trees and Save the Ice Cream Bean Tree

So what are we supposed to do fly to Brazil and plant a couple million trees? Kind of, it turns out the Nature Conservancy is working hard to bring the Atlantic Forest back to its glory days by restoring 2.5 million acres of land and planting 1 billion trees over the next 7 years. They call it the Plant a Billion Trees campaign. For every dollar donated they will plant a tree - so empty your piggy banks, dig through the couch cushions, and clean out your cars to see how many trees are hiding in there. You can help plant a single tree, give a recurring monthly donation or even give trees as a gift which includes a quarterly publication to Nature Conservancy magazine as well as a few other fun goodies depending on the gift level.

So help save the Ice Cream Bean tree, and I'm sure they'll have a big banana split party to celebrate the 1 billion mark - you have to bring your own chocolate sprinkles.

Ice Cream Bean Tree Update 9-21-11:

When I wrote this post on the Ice Cream Bean tree nearly two years ago the Nature Conservancy was just getting started with the Plant a Billion Trees campaign. Today I happened to take a look and they are at 9,791,249 trees planted - the one billion mark isn't too far off.

Also, as an interesting side note thanks to the comment from Ed Musgrave I've discovered the Money Tree... Called the French Peanut tree it is a Brazilian tree that produces edible seeds that are similar in flavor to peanuts. Roasted seeds are also ground to make a hot drink similar to hot chocolate. The trees are easily grown in pots, and are cultured in bonsai form as “lucky trees” or “money trees”.

As fate would have it the money tree and the ice cream bean tree both grow in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil and thus would benefit from the Plant a Billion tree campaign. And of course who wouldn't like a nice cup of money tree hot cocoa with their ice cream bean tree banana split?

Save the Endangered Ice Cream Bean Tree – Help Plant A Billion Trees! is a post from: Earth Friendly Goodies