EarthTalk Q&A

Green New Year’s Resolutions

Since December 31 is almost upon us, what New Year’s resolutions might my family and I make to lessen our impact on the environment?

Is it better for the environment to burn synthetic oil or conventional oil in my car’s engine?

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 85 percent of the motor oil changed at home by do-it-yourselfers—about 9.5 million gallons a year in that state alone—ends up disposed of improperly in sewers, soil and trash. Multiply that by 50 states and it is easy to see how used motor oil might well be one of the largest sources of pollution affecting groundwater and our nation’s waterways. The implications are startling indeed, as one quart of oil can create a two-acre sized oil slick, and a gallon of oil can contaminate a million gallons of fresh water.

Are there any toothbrushes that are recyclable?

Small as they are, tossed toothbrushes certainly do create a lot of waste. Indeed, some 50 million pounds of them are tossed into America’s landfills each year. If we followed our dentist’s recommendations and replaced our toothbrushes every three months, we’d be throwing even more of them away.

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What Are The Implications Of Losing Antarctica’s Ice Shelves

Ice shelves are thick plates of ice that float on the ocean around much of Antarctica. Snow, glaciers and ice floes feed these large plates in the colder months. In warmer periods, surface melting creates standing water that leaks into cracks and speeds the breaking off (calving) of icebergs, decreasing the continent’s mass in a natural cycle as old as Antarctica itself.

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