“HAVE YOU MOVED YET?”
“When are you moving?”
“Are you at your new site yet?”
“Where should I take stuff?”
We know everyone is eagerly waiting for us to move into our new home–and we are too. We’re getting closer every day, but it’s difficult to fix a “move in” date because it depends on contractors, permits, weather and other such variables.

At the time of this writing, we still have several projects to finish before we can make the big move, including installing the shelving and pallet racks in our retail area; constructing the interior of our customer service area; finishing our ADA accessible walkway (see photo) and, of course, actually moving all our stuff. We’ll make the big move in stages, with the office following a few weeks after we move our used building materials yard.

We could really use your help. We have lots of volunteer opportunities. Give us a call and come on down and get involved. You’ll have fun–and we’ll BRING it home sooner!

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION 2007
Come celebrate the Earth at the 8th Annual Earth Day Celebration!
“THE SPIRIT OF SUSTAINABILITY”
Saturday, April 21, 2007 • 11AM to 5PM
EWEB’s River Edge Plaza • Free and open to all ages

Kids get a special place at this year’s event with an Art & Writing Contest addressing the question: What part of the Earth is most sacred to you? Is it a place, an object, a system, or something else? Ideas for preserving this sacredness are also encouraged.

Submissions of artwork, essays, and/or creative poetry or prose are being accepted until April 13, 2007. Great prizes will be given to winners including $50 to each age group: K-2nd, 3rd-5th, 6th-8th, 9th-12th. Individual or group work is acceptable. Select contestants will also have the opportunity to present their work to the public at the event. For more information click here or Jo Rodgers at BRING, 746-3023 or jor@bringrecycling.org. This contest is sponsored by BRING and MECCA (Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts).

Other activities at the Celebration include live music, lectures, films, crafts, a Procession of All Species at 2pm, a Book Sale & Swap, tree climbing, bike tune-ups, alternative vehicles, $5 raft trips down the Willamette River, and tours of the Short Mountain Landfill.

There will be free LTD bus service from the Eugene Station, Saturday Market, and EWEB on Earth Day, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The event is produced by the volunteer efforts of the Earth Day Steering Committee and See Development, Inc.

Thank You
Many people and businesses have been helping BRING take the mighty step to our new site, the Planet Improvement Center. They’re giving their time, energy, expertise, materials, and more. We honestly could not do it without them and are so grateful for their generosity. If we’ve left someone off the list, please let us know! If you’d like to become one of our esteemed volunteers or businesses, let us know that too.

BRING Volunteer Angels Spring 2006 *
JF Alberson
Helen Berg of Berg Productions
Bohman Birthday Party Group
Tim Boyden
Janet Dahlgren
Stephen Diercouff of Oregon Internet Properties (OIP)
Paul Edgecomb
Tom Faxon of NW Door & Sash
Charlie Fleishman of Millrace Design
Nora Hagerty
Heather Heinrichs
Greg Howarth
Annah James
Tim Jordan
John Lawless of TBG Architects & Planners/Inc.
Scott Lesko
Kate McGee
Janet Morrison
Sandy Otto
Hal Petersen
Karen Ramus of Berg Productions
Ruby the Resourceress
Ben Rippe of TBG Architects & Planners/Inc.
Bob Roelke of Silicon Silver Photos
Paul Sassone of Paul Sassone Irrigation Services
Tomoko & Aya Sekiguchi
Fred Wittkop & Builder’s Electric
Yukumi Hosono

* We haven’t listed our amazing volunteer Board Members here but they are working away behind the scenes all the time. Thanks, Board Members! We couldn’t do it without you.

Folks who donate to our General Fund realize that our operational expenses keep piling up, especially these days when we’re stretched between two sites. This type of contribution is so appreciated!

General Fund Donors
Anonymous
Andrea Callahan
George & Brenda Clarke
Floyd & Susan Prozanski
Robin Weil

Like the New Used News?
We love it. Tim Jordan, the designer for Oregon Quarterly in the University of Oregon’s Creative Publishing Department, has created a fabulous new look for Used News. We're so happy to have him on board for this Spring issue to give us the springboard to a new Used News. Thanks so much, Tim, and thanks to Ariel Kahn who assisted!

Capital Campaign Update
Thanks for helping us build the Planet Improvement Center!
New & renewing donors from Dec. 9, 2006 – March 8, 2007

RETHINKERS
($100,000+)
Lane County Government

RESTORERS
($50,000+)
Don & Dolly Woolley

REBUILDERS
($10,000+)
Fred & Sandra Austin
Philip & Florence Barnhart
Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation
Coquille Tribal Community Fund

REDUCERS
($5,000+)
Balzhiser & Hubbard Engineers
Robin & Roger Best
Dave & Ann Fidanque
Audrey Garrett & Craig Seidman

REUSERS
($1,000+)
Tom Agamenoni
Ruth & John Bascom
Marvin & Joan Cypress
Don & Laurel Fisher
Mary Globus & Gary Harris
James & Nadine Harrang
Jane & David Huntington
Ken & George Maddox
Cathy Miner
Paul Nicholson & Virginia Lo, in honor of Auntie Yang and the Yang family
Laura Niles & Robert Benedict
Molly & Jonathan Stafford
Rick Varnum & Denise Jessup
Peter & Josephine von Hippel
Ruth Miller & Dick Hayward, in memory of Nancy McCroskey Hayward

RECYCLERS
(up to $999)
Frank & Dorothy Anderson
Sue Archbald
Roger Bailey
M. Steven Baker
Tom & Patti Barkin
Beverly Barr
Bob & Merle Bottge
Brookrod
Holly & J. Norton Cabell
Andrea Callahan
Cameron McCarthy Gilbert & Scheibe Landscape Architects LLP
Gaylene Carpenter
George & Fanny Carroll
Liz & Neil Cawood
Frances Cooper
Terry & Lynne Copperman
Deborah Coulthard, in honor of Lorraine Boose
Mary & Brian Cox
Peter DeFazio & Myrnie Daut
David DeVore
Barbara Dewey
Christine Donahue
Laurie Doscher
Debra Ehrman
Margot Fetz
Steve Gab & Hillery Kyablue
Sue Goldish
Hannah & Dan Goldrich
Cheryl Good
Pete Gribskov & Laurie Swanson Gribskov
Hannelore Hagen
Eldon Haines & Linda Rose, in honor of Jan Dymond
Terrell Halaska, in honor of Chris Halaska
Ralph Hatleberg
Kelly Hoell, in honor of Mr. & Mrs. Frank H. Hoell, Jr. and Dick & Amelie Hoell
David & Donna Hosfield
Robert Huffman
Jonas Jackson-Moses
V. K. Jensen
Joan Kelly
Matthew Kirk, in honor of Scott Wolfe
Ed & Barbara Kousky
Harold & Adrienne Lannom
Nena Lovinger & Robert Emmons
David Luebke & Yoshiko Shioya
Jill & Gary McKenney
Judy & Bob Mieger, in honor of Julie Rogers
Michael Mooser
Teressa O'Caer
Karen Perkins & David Simone
Scott Pope & Diane Greenwood
Dan & Kay Robinhold
Janet Robyns & George Jones
Thomas & Linda Roe
Julie Rogers
Donna Rose
Dick & Jeanne Roy
Cathy Russell & Mel Mann
Joe & Jeri Russin
Sacred Heart Medical Center Dietitians
Leslie Scott
Brian & Marcia Seymour
KJ Smith Assoc. Marketing
Carol Stineman
Hugh Stump
Jean & Wayne Tate
Elizabeth Thorin
Devon Trottier
Clair Van Bloem
David West
Sue Wineland & Charles Spencer
Mark & Jennifer Wyld
Nancy Young

Click here or a complete list of campaign donors, click here.

Campaign tops Phase 1 goal
Thanks to four major year-end grants, and donations from hundreds of individuals and businesses, we have reached our Phase 1 goal, raising more than $1.7 million and setting the stage to move to our new home this summer. Many thanks to all the generous donors and volunteers who have contributed to this important milestone!

Now, we’re busy installing the shelves and finishing up the last pieces required for occupancy. We’ll move the resale outlet first, then continue raising funds for Phase 2, which will add educational features, demonstration gardens, art and expanded sales capacity.

In January, the Coquille Tribal Community Fund awarded us $10,000 to help build a covered, ADA-accessible walkway, now under construction. Based in North Bend, the Fund shares profits from The Mill Casino and Hotel with community organizations in five southwest Oregon counties. Other year-end grants (announced in last newsletter) were $50,000 each from Spirit Mountain Community Fund; Edwards Mother Earth Foundation; and Lane County.

Campaign Goal $2,340,000
Raised to date $1,755,000
Phase 1 Goal $1,700,000

PROJECT FACTS

WHAT: The Planet Improvement Center is BRING’s new home in Glenwood, blending reuse sales with hands-on education and demonstrations of sustainable building practices.

WHERE: 4446 Franklin Blvd. in Glenwood, one mile north of our current site.

WHEN: We’ll be moving the resale outlet soon!

PROJECT TEAM:
Architect: TBG Architects & Planners
Civil Engineer: Balzhiser & Hubbard
Structural Engineer: Hohbach-Lewin
General Contractor/Phase 1: Morris P. Kielty
Landscape Architect: Kate McGee

Here’s what your support will help us do:
1) Move the resale outlet into our new covered sales pavilion—so you can shop in comfort!
2) Complete the interior of our new office/public gathering building, which features a green roof, passive solar, reused materials and many examples of sustainable building.
3) Plan and design the second bioswale and other infrastructure improvements that open up the back half of the site and pave the way for Phase 2 enhancements.
4) Complete BRING’s transformation into a community action and learning center.

Take a tour
Call BRING and reserve a tour time for yourself or your group. Walk through the new Planet Improvement Center. Hear about our vision and see the progress we’ve made. Tours last less than an hour.

How you can help:
• Donate online. Designate “capital campaign.”
• Make a gift of stock. See our donation page or call for details.
• Make a regular monthly gift by electronic transfer. Call and we’ll help you set it up.
• Volunteer your time and talents.
• Tell your friends about us.

For more information about the Planet Improvement Center, or to set up a tour, call 746-3023. Visit this Web site for project updates.

Hey Kids! Hey Educators!
Enter Art for Next Year’s Calendar.
The 20th annual RecycleArt Calendar Contest is underway. Teachers, group leaders and homeschoolers who wish to involve their students in a community project can send us their students’ drawings about recycling, composting, waste reduction or reuse. Students whose artwork is chosen will have the satisfaction of knowing that over 10,000 families in Lane County will be appreciating their talent.
The 2008 RecycleArt Calendar Contest deadline is May 15th, 2007.

Artwork must:
• be on 8 1/2 x 11-inch page in the landscape direction.
• on white paper with clear, bold images (can be in color!)

On the back of the page lightly write in pencil:
1) student’s name
2) teacher’s name and contact info (email or phone #)
3) school or program
4) grade level

This contest is open to kindergartners through high school seniors. Sorry, art cannot be returned unless special arrangements are made.
Contact Jo at BRING if you have questions at 746-3023 or jor@bringrecycling.org.

That’s My Farmer
One of the sweetest events in town, come meet some of the area’s best farmers, enter the raffle for great door prizes, sing songs, have a chance to see Mayor Kitty Piercy in a silly gardening hat and get more warm fuzzies than you can stand…oh, and eat homemade ice cream to top it all off.

Tuesday, April 17
6:30pm to 8:30pm
First United Methodist Church (1376 Olive St.)

Donations at the door go to subsidize CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes for low-income families.

Even if you can’t make the event, check out the amazing array of CSA farms in our area and consider signing up for one. Getting a weekly box of fresh, local produce is one of the best things you can do for yourself and the planet. Visit www.lanefood.org/content/cp-3-foodirectory.htm for more information. And of course the Lane County Farmers’ Market is another fantastic way to infuse your life with local goodness -- opens on Saturday, April 7th (9am-4pm) in Eugene on 8th and Oak.

Congratulations to Bill Kent, Winner of the Earth Machine Composter from This Year’s Good Earth Home Show!
Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth. To all of you who entered the Earth Machine raffle and didn’t win, don’t be sad! BRING’s warehouse has lots in stock now that are just itching to turn your food scraps into beautiful, useable compost.

New Federal Guidelines for Prescription Drug Disposal
Do you have expired, unused, or unneeded prescription drugs? The federal government recently issued new guidelines for prescription drug disposal meant to protect the environment and reduce the rising rate of prescription drug abuse. Here are the new guidelines:
• Check with your pharmacy (or White Bird in Eugene!) to see if they will take back your unneeded or expired prescription drugs.
• Otherwise, take unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs out of their original containers and mix with an undesirable substance, like used coffee grounds or kitty litter, in an impermeable, non-descript container (e.g., an empty cans or sealable bag).
• Throw these containers in the trash.
• Flush prescription drugs down the toilet only if the accompanying patient information specifically instructs it’s safe to do so.

A couple notes of interest and concern:

• 6.4 million Americans report using prescription drugs for non-medical purposes (teens and young adults are increasingly the ones abusing these drugs).
• Pharmaceuticals in water sources pose a health hazard—fish in the Puget Sound have been found with detectable levels of Prozac!

For more information, please visit www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov.

Kudos to…
Not to toot our own horn but, okay, we will—BRING is going to save about 13,764KWh a year by participating in the Energy Smart Design program run by SUB (Springfield Utility Board). We’re upgrading the lighting system at the Planet Improvement Center to save energy, not to mention about $652 on our electric bill each year. Improving efficiency is a no-brainer. Check with your utility company to learn about energy and water efficiency and ask if they have any incentives to offer.

Eugene’s City Council approved an ordinance to create a Sustainability Commission in late February that was recommended by the Mayor’s Sustainable Business Initiative Task Force. Stay tuned for ways you can help make this important effort succeed.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) came out with groundbreaking work in the last few months uncovering the driving forces behind why Oregon is making more garbage. A task force (of which our very own Julie Daniel is a member) is working on waste prevention strategies that will counteract this disturbing trend. To learn more, click here. But you don’t need experts to tell you that a smaller house means fewer resources used in its construction, operation, and decoration; that excessive packaging is a waste; or that durable, higher quality products pay themselves back environmentally and financially.

The State of Oregon is flexing its proactive muscle by coming up with legislation that tackles global warming ahead of the federal curve. Governor Kulongoski’s push to get Senate Bill 373 passed is one sign: it would require utilities to have 25% renewable energy by 2025. Regionally, Oregon has joined four other Western states pledging to cut green house gas emissions and to establish a regional carbon trading system. While there are mixed reviews of carbon trading (see the letter to the Eco-Meister), combined with everything else, these are hopeful signs that global warming won’t be kept on the back-burner any longer.

Business schools around the country are recognizing the importance of offering courses on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Now 54% of U.S. business schools require students to take a class in these areas. A professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management said, “We thought it would be popular among a niche of do-gooders, but even the investment banker types are interested." In other countries, too, similar courses are starting to fill up like India’s Institute of Management series on carbon markets and global warming. A Grist columnist remarks, “This is totally going to ruin environmentalists' grand scheme to wreck the economy and pour patchouli on the ashes.”

Al Gore’s film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won two Oscars. Melissa Etheridge, whose accompanying song won Best Original Song, applauded Gore for “…showing that caring about the Earth is not ... red or blue. We are all green." Time to show our true color, everyone.

Speaking of Gore, did you hear that he teamed up with Sir Richard Branson to offer a $25 million Global Science and Technology Prize? The so-called “Virgin Earth Challenge” is meant to inspire inventors of a commercially viable tool that can remove human-caused greenhouse gases. Gore implores us that “…the dangers are clear. But the opportunities, if we take action now, are innumerable." For more information or to enter the challenge visit www.virginearth.com. Of course, we’re going to need more than a techno-fix to save us.

Oregon’s Bottle Bill: It’s Time to Get on the Ball
Did you know that Oregon’s Bottle Bill has hardly changed since it was passed in 1971? It has fallen way behind the times, meaning that modern day beverage containers are being left, literally, in the dust. Only carbonated beverage containers currently have a deposit on them and the rest—all the water bottles, sports, and other new drinks enjoyed today—do not have the deposit-ensured likelihood of being recycled. For example, about 125 million water bottles were thrown away in Oregon in 2005 (about 35 bottles for every person in the state!).

Your representative needs to hear from you about why Oregon needs to modernize our state’s Bottle Bill. There are three versions of the Bottle Bill filed in Salem (#s 481,634, and 706). Get onto the Association of Oregon Recycler’s Web page (www.aorr.org) to learn more and then let your opinion be heard! The Web site will tell you the status of this legislation and what actions it recommends. With a better bottle bill in place, we’ll be able to reduce the increasingly higher amount of good quality recyclables getting trashed.

Dear Eco- Meister PETER REPPE

Dear Eco-Meister,

I am toying with the idea of replacing my deck with a patio that incorporates recycled materials. Do you have any good and exciting ideas?—Susan in Eugene

Dear Susan,

If it's a true patio (i.e., sitting in the soil), not a deck, then these would be my suggestions:

• Bricks or stone from dismantled buildings or sidewalks

• “Urbanite” (pieces of concrete slab from dismantled buildings, walkways, driveways, retaining walls)—this could be the perfect time to tear out your concrete driveway or other impervious surfaces on your property and help rainwater infiltration on-site

• Create mosaic out of floor and wall tiles (seconds or rejects at stores, or reclaimed at BRING)

• Look around at BRING for other durable materials, that are flat and non-slippery

• Avoid standard concrete or concrete pavers, as cement manufacturing carries significant environmental impacts. The only concrete paver product I can recommend is by ECG, Inc. (104 Corporate Dr. Elizabeth City, NC 27909; (252) 333-1002; www.glass-recycling.com), which uses 80% post-consumer recycled glass in its mix

• Opt for laying the patio material in sand as opposed to mortar or concrete (to reduce use of cement and help rainwater infiltration).

I hope that helps. Send photos of what you come up with!—EM
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Eco-Meister,

Hello. I’m interested in learning more about carbon footprint reductions and offsets through the use of purchasing carbon credits. Is this strategy just hype? If not, where can an individual or a business purchase offsets locally?
Thanks.—Laurie
Eugene

Dear Laurie,

While I think that it is a good idea in theory (almost like the good ol’ idea of communism), I still have my doubts that all of the money paid into such funds actually does what the "purchaser" was led to believe. Check out a report done by a Portland-based company about 30 companies who offer carbon offsets.

In general, I'd advocate for "investing locally," with the same benefits of "buying locally," such as: fewer middle "men", recipient is more likely to minimize unethical use of the money because he/she is invested and known in the community, helps the local economy, etc.

How to do this? Instead of paying some far-away organization to offset your travel-related carbon emissions, use that same money to:
• invest in energy efficiency or renewables directly in your own home/business/vehicle;
• identify family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues who could use help getting the improvements;
• encourage your investment company to establish a local renewable energy and energy efficiency fund.

This topic might garner a Part II response at a later date so stay tuned…—EM
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Eco-Meister,

Here's a question I've wondered about for a long time. If you need boiling water for cooking—say, to make tea or to cook noodles—which is more energy efficient and environmentally frugal: 1) letting the tap water run until it is hot (wasting water but saving the energy used by the stove), or 2) taking water immediately from the tap, even if it's still cold, and letting it boil on the stove (wasting gas or electricity but saving water)?

Please help me out of this quandary!

Signed—Doug, New Mexico

Dear Doug,
Good one. Assuming that you cook with electricity AND have an electric water heater, it'd be more efficient to take the cold water from the tap and heat it on the stove (even more efficient is to heat it in the microwave, especially if it's justa cup, or in one of those self-contained electric kettles). Running the water until it's hot not only wastes water, but energy. How? The amount of water in the pipe that is cold was warm the night before (after the last use of hot water), and has cooled off over night.

So, in fact, you’d be consuming energy for the amount of hot water actually needed, and the amount of hot water that was sitting in the pipe, cooling off over night. Every time. Make sense? And most likely running the water until it’s warm takes much longer than the amount of time it takes to fill the pot, therefore more heat was wasted by the hot water sitting in the pipe.

Hopefully you don’t have the spirally burners on your stove. Their lack of evenness makes for relatively little contact between the hot burners and pot, losing a lot of energy this way. A more efficient solution would be to follow the Eco-meister's lead and install a $500 cooking stove with the glass top (self-cleaning ones are even better, because they're better insulated).

There’s something to think about over your next cuppa tea.—EM
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Eco-Meister,

I help run a church and we were wondering which is better:
A) use paper plates (the uncoated, compostable kind) or B) real plates which must be scraped and cleaned? (FYI, we use a Hobart sanitizer dishwasher on a 3-4 minute cycle that heats water in the appliance, not in a tank).

Looking forward to getting your expertise on this—Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

If you are here in Western Oregon/Washington, the dishwasher would be my recommended option for these reasons:
• electricity for water heating in the sanitizer comes from the local grid: about 75% hydropower

• those Hobarts are actually pretty efficient (per plate washed)

• your energy source could be further improved by either A) signing up for EWEB's windpower or its successor, or B) installing a solar hot water system (to preheat the water for the sanitizer and/or double-employ it for space heating)

• water is relatively abundant in the region (our groundwater aquifer is not being depleted like in most other regions in the West)

• there’s great potential to further “green” this whole system in the future (e.g., 100% green power, greywater infiltration on site)

Some of the drawbacks of the paper plate option include:

• the raw material going into them is either being depleted faster than it can renew itself (forests) or requires significant inputs of non-renewable energy for recycled-paper collection, processing, transportation (plus the various chemicals associated with the industrial process)

• cumulative impacts from the product’s life cycle (transportation, packaging, whole-sale storage facilities, marketing, disposal)

• you have very little control over the above and fewer opportunities for improvement

• consider the negative environmental message this sends and how food looks when presented on paper.

I hope this helps you decide!—EM
-------------------------------------------------
Dear Eco-Meister,

We just retired an old, well-worn goose down quilt. The feathers still seem good, but the fabric has disintegrated. How can we recycle this quilt?

We've called several places to see if they would take it. None would. The Extension Service suggested that we sew a new quilt cover and use the old feathers in it. Do old down quilts contain allergens or mites which make the feathers not recyclable?
Where can we send this quilt so we know the feathers will be reused properly?

Thanks for any help you can give us.

Curious in Cottage Grove

Dear Curious,

Don’t let an old comforter get you down. I made a quick call to St. Vincent’s (345-0595) and they said they do take used down quilts. But if you feel like it has truly served its life as a quilt, then you could just lay it to rest in your compost heap (at the risk of making your yard look like the site of a chicken massacre). Alternatively, maybe you or someone you know is handy with the sewing machine and could turn it into a down jacket or pillow. A good cleaning in hot water and soap should take care of any mites and the like.

Fowly—EM

A Little Help From Our Friends

You probably hear about Earth Share most often in the fall, when workplace-giving campaigns that include Earth Share happen in hundreds of workplaces in Oregon. But in addition to giving at the office there are other ways to help Earth Share help our environment thrive.

1. Recycle an old cell phone (and help your co-workers recycle theirs, too!)
It seems everyone these days has one or two old cellular phones just taking up space at home or in the office. We look at them and think, “I can’t just throw these into the garbage, but what can I do with them?” Earth Share of Oregon has the solution.

You can arrange for Earth Share to place a cell phone recycling collection box in a common area of your office, such as a lunchroom or front desk. Anyone can drop their old cell phones, PDAs, Blackberry Devices, Digital Cameras, phone batteries, chargers and accessories in the box any time during the drive. ESOR has partnered with Recellular, the top cell phone recycler in the country to ensure they are recycled, refurbished and reused to the highest standards. In turn, Earth Share receives a small portion of the value for newer phones.

To have Earth Share help you run a cell phone recycling drive in your office, church or other group, contact Ariel Zimmer at 503-223-9015, or ariel@earthshare-oregon.org for more information.

2. Don’t know what to do with your old printer cartridges?
Earth Share of Oregon has partnered with TONERinx and now collects old printer cartridges for recycling. Just like cell phone recycling, you can arrange for Earth Share to place a cartridge recycling box in a common area of your office. ESOR then collects both ink and laser jet cartridges for recycling and receives a small portion of their refurbished value. Please contact Ariel Zimmer at 503-223-9015, or ariel@earthshare-oregon.org for more information.

ECO TIPS If a lamp is on for more than two hours a day, it’s a prime candidate for a CFL (compact fluorescent light). It will pay itself back in about two years, plus it’ll last a lot longer than your standard incandescent.

ECO TIPS If you eat one less beef meal a week, you’ll save 40,600 gallons of water, 70 pounds of grain and prevent 300 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted (and a certain amount of methane gas in the form of cow farts) each year. It adds up and we each make a difference.

Rethinking Winnie-The-Pooh
BRING doesn’t often review books in Used News, but sometimes our team of crack reviewers just can’t resist, especially when it concerns an old favorite rethought for modern times. The Winnie-the-Pooh stories by A.A. Milne are universally loved classics, but have also been universally misunderstood—up to now. Pooh and friends’ exploits in the Hundred Acre Wood, fascinating readers young and old, have never been seen for what they are: perceptive parables of sustainability principles and of the 3 Rs—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Let us explain.

Recycling
On a snowy day, Piglet sees a distracted Pooh walking in circles around a spinney of larch trees and looking at the ground. Piglet calls to Pooh and learns that he is “tracking something,” but is bearishly coy about saying what. When Pooh shows Piglet tracks in the snow, Piglet gives a little “squeak of excitement” and wonders if it’s a Woozle. Remaining noncommittal, Pooh continues to be bearish and takes off following the tracks, leaving his friend behind. After watching Pooh for a minute or two, Piglet comprehends that an adventure is afoot, and runs after his friend. But, as he reaches Pooh, the bear abruptly stops. “It’s a funny thing,” Pooh says, “but there seem to be two animals now. This whatever-it-was has been joined by another whatever-it-is.” Knowing that Woozles can be hostile, Pooh asks Piglet to walk with him. After completing another circuit of the trees, the two excitedly find that the number of tracks has increased again. Now there are three sets of tracks laid out before them, two of one kind and one that is very different: two Woozles and a Wizzle. Faced with three potentially hostile beasts, Piglet’s resolve cracks and when Christopher Robin comes along, he runs back home. Pooh starts to doubt himself, but Christopher Robin assures him that he is “the Best Bear in All the World.”

While most people who read this story think it is just another droll example of Pooh’s stupendous simplemindedness, Milne really meant this story to be an allegory for Recycling. The friends walking around the tree symbolize the chasing arrows of the recycling loop, and the multiplying footprints represent the way that resources increase when recycled stock is added to the stream of new raw materials. Christopher Robin thinks Pooh is “the Best Bear in All the World” because he is delighted that he chose to recycle. Pooh’s doubts arise because he has finally understood that recycling by itself is not enough.

Reuse
A smart man like Milne didn’t stop with Recycling. He also used his stories to tout the benefits of Reuse, which saves more resources and produces less greenhouse gas emissions than recycling. The clearest example of Reuse is the yarn about Eeyore’s missing tail. Eeyore, a perpetually depressed donkey, is in his thistly corner of the forest, when Pooh comes calling and notices the donkey’s tail is missing. After some comic attempts to have a look, Eeyore decides that Pooh is right. Pooh kindly vows to find the missing tail for him and wanders off to seek advice from Owl, because Owl “knows something about something.” When he gets to Owl’s tree, Pooh knocks the knocker and pulls on the bell-rope and Owl comes to the door. He lets Pooh enter. Pooh explains Eeyore’s plight, and Owl starts telling him what to do; only his scholarly language and convoluted rhetoric puts the simple bear into a stupor. Eventually, Owl’s advice leads him to point out his new bell-rope. “It reminds me of something, but I can’t think what,” says Pooh. It is not long before Pooh realizes Eeyore’s lost tail is Owl’s new bell-rope; as wonderful an example of Reuse as there is in our literature.

Reduce
We can only guess as to why Milne chose to show Reuse directly rather than through allegory as he had done for Recycling, but, as you will see, he returns to allegory, although with less subtlety, for the third R – Reduce.

Pooh is wandering through the forest humming when he sees a large hole in a sandy bank. That means one thing: Pooh’s friend, Rabbit. It is nearly eleven o’clock, a time Pooh likes to have a little something, and feeling rather rumbly in the tumbly and knowing that Rabbit keeps a full larder, Pooh decides to visit. Rabbit doesn’t want company and tells Pooh he is not at home, which momentarily stymies the bear, but soon it is sorted out and Pooh is let in. Rabbit offers Pooh bread with “honey or condensed milk,” and not wanting to seem unfriendly, Pooh says, “Both,” and a moment later, “But don’t bother about the bread.” Finished eating, Pooh tries to leave, but is so engorged by the food he’s consumed, finds he is now too big to fit through the hole and gets stuck. Rabbit fetches Christopher Robin, who suggests that they push Pooh back in, an idea Rabbit immediately puts the kabash to. Pooh can’t wiggle out, and Rabbit won’t allow him back in, so he will just have to get thin again, a process Christopher Robin says will take a week. Pooh asks Christopher Robin to read him a “Sustaining Book” and agrees that Rabbit can use his “South end” as a laundry rack. At the passing of a week, all of Rabbit’s relations and friends are called to pull on the slenderized bear and “as a cork coming out of a bottle” Pooh pops free.

This story is uncharacteristically obvious and heavy-handed, and, quite frankly, even a child can see that this story is about how a piggish lifestyle has us stuck in a hole. Milne’s lack of subtlety is evident when he substitutes “waist” reduction for “waste” reduction, and also when he has Christopher Robin read Pooh books about sustainability so that Pooh might learn to consume less. Another, less bald-faced example of the 3Rs shows creative reuse of materials when Rabbit use Pooh’s South end as a towel rack. To top it all in the end, everyone has to work together in order to pull through. Just like today.

Milne was clearly a man ahead of his time.—David Wollner, BRING Business Manager

Springtime in the Warehouse
Spring has sprung! Get on down to the BRING Warehouse to stock up on cheap, useful yard and garden supplies. How about windows to make cold frames for your seedlings? Are you growing pole beans or peas that need a trellis? How about plant pots, garden hose, path borders, or a composter? We’ve got all this and more. We even have garden “reuse recipes” if you’re needing some inspiration. Give us a call or stop on by.

Don’t garden? We still have supplies that come in handy. How about some screen windows or doors to keep out the flying beasties? Do you have a building project in the works? We have used lumber, bricks, nails and more. Our inventory changes by the minute. You can call us to get a sense of what’s in stock or what kinds of things we’ll take for donation. There’s always an element of surprise and we’ll be even more full of them once we get settled into our new site at the Planet Improvement Center!

And speaking of flying beasties, protect our environment from harmful chemicals by learning how to tame garden pests naturally. Call the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides at 541-344-5044 or visit them on-line at www.pesticide.org for more information.

Compost Workshops
April 21	10am-12noon	GrassRoots Garden
April 28	10am-12noon	Ext. Service Rose Garden
May 5	10am-12noon	GrassRoots Garden
June 9	10am-12noon	River House
Free and open to the public Worm Composting Class
April 14	10am-12noon	OSU Extension – Cost is $25
To register, download form from the OSU/Lane County Web site or sign up at the OSU Extension office, 950 W 13th in Eugene.

ECO TIPS The microwave oven is the most efficient method to boil water, and especially convenient for “single-cup events.”  Microwaving food is energy-efficient, too, and does not cause radiation (it can, however, decrease food’s nutritional value due to the highly concentrated heat).

BRING Recycling Warehouse
Reusable Building Materials at Bargain Prices
 
Donating your unwanted but usable building materials is tax deductible to the extend the law allows.
 
Shopping for second hand building materials at BRING’s resale yard reduces waste and saves you money.

Aluminum siding Aluminum windows,   Bathroom cabinets Bathroom sinks, tubs   Bed frames Bicycles   Bike parts Cabinet structures   Canning jars Cabinet doors   Doors- interior/exterior Door handles   Electrical boxes Electric fixtures   Fiberglass siding, Flower pots   Garage Doors Galvanized siding,   Gutters Glass cutting services   Hardware Heating elements Kitchen cabinets Kitchen sinks, misc.		Lumber Light fixtures   Lawn mowers Mirrors   Metal doors Paneling,   Piping-metal and PVC Plate glass   Plumbing and accessories Pick up services   Screens Screen doors   Shelves, Sinks, Sky lights   Shower stalls, Stove parts   Tools, Tables, Tubs Tires, Trinkets   Utility sinks Unusual antiques   Windows, Windows and more Windows
		Stock changes daily  If we don’t have it today, we’ll probably have it tomorrow.   OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK Hours vary seasonally—call 746-3023 86641 Franklin Blvd—Across I-5 from LCC Don’t Dump it, Donate it! Save Money and the Earth, shop BRING first.