Eco-friendly Gift Wraps

Wrapping a gift is half the fun in gift-giving. Why not skip the usual supermarket wrapping papers and make your own eco-friendly gift wraps? With a little holiday cheer and creativity, you can bring a nature and personal touch to your gifts – minus the cost of buying new, disposable gift wraps. Here are some ideas for eco-friendly wraps and accents:

Vintage containers

Vintage containers and cookie tins add a nostalgic touch to presents. Many vintage containers become collectibles after their first use and can be repurposed as packaging. With their understated elegance, vintage tins and containers beat throwaway wrapping paper for style and function.

Furoshiki

Furoshiki gift wraps come in a variety of colors and prints. They can be used as shopping bags, protective covering, and reusable gift wraps. The art of wrapping gifts with eco-friendly wrapping printed cloths or Furoshiki uses techniques similar to another Japanese art, origami. The Japanese government recently encouraged the use of Furoshiki to promote environmental protection in the country against excessive use of plastic bags. One advantage of Furoshiki is that it can be used to wrap almost any object of all shapes and sizes.

Découpage

Use old newspapers, music sheets, ancient maps, and other eye-catching pieces for a gift wrap that says a lot before it is even opened. Calendars, posters, and even comic book pages can be used as découpage gift wraps in place of store-bought ones.

Leaves

For a real ‘green’ touch, wrap gifts in large, durable leaves. Complete the nature packaging by using twine or jute string to neatly tie up the gift.

Accents

Common flowers can be used as accents in eco-friendly gift wraps.

Natural items

DIY Network shows how common, easy-to-find natural items can be used as accents in gifts. Pinecones, cypress, cinnamon sticks, and even berries can be mixed and matched for visual impact.

Holiday flower garlands

Spruce up your gifts with nature’s own holiday decorations. Seasonal blooms and wildflowers can be used as floral garlands in place of throwaway plastic bows and ribbons.

Recycled materials

If you’d rather recycle old stuff than buy new ones, take your cue from How About Orange‘s DIY bows made from old magazines. Posters, colorful prints, and even fabric can bring a splash of colour to gifts without any additional cost.

Have your own green gift wrap idea? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

Should Zimbabwe ban the importation of second hand vehicles and what are your reasons?

Zimbabwe: Imported Used Vehicles Drive Air Pollution

The huge demand for used imported vehicles and poor restrictions are causing traffic congestion and worsening air quality in most cities in Africa, environmental experts say.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) director Anumita Rayochowdhury told African journalists at the first India-Africa Dialogue on air quality and mobility that the unfettered importation of used vehicles mainly for Asia, Europe and America had made controlling traffic congestion and improving air quality in Africa and India difficult.

"India and Africa share the same problems and we have to share experiences to find solutions to the problem of air pollution," she said.

"Nairobi, Dehli and other cities in the South need second generation action, including technology leapfrog, scaling up of public transport, integrated multimodal transport options, car restraints and walking for clean air."

The dialogue, which was organised by CSE and the Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA-Kenya), sought to raise the understanding of experiences of cities in India and Africa on air pollution among journalists.

Environmentalists at the dialogue said the rapid expansion in the vehicle population, mining and manufacturing and higher energy demand have resulted in high emission rates of major air pollutants resulting in a deterioration of the ambient air quality in major cities across the rapidly urbanising African continent.

They said vehicle import statistics for Africa are not known and are not easy to give an estimate.

"The stock of vehicles is quite old and most African countries are failing to enforce vehicle emission control policies," said Prof Nzioka Muthama of the University of Nairobi.

"Disjointed policies and vehicle import tariff regimes and the absence of emission standards mean that most African countries will continue to be flooded with imports of low-cost second-hand vehicles that do not meet strict emission standards of the countries of their origin."

Prof Shem Wandiga, director of the Institute of Climate Change at the University of Nairobi, said the rapid increase of motor vehicle traffic with most African countries having limited or non-existent standards for vehicle import and emissions and poor fuel quality resulted in the importation of old second hand vehicles using fuels with high sulphur levels which consequently increased air pollutant emissions.

Emissions, he said, introduced pollutants which directly and indirectly altered the quality of air and resulted in undesirable effects on man, animals, vegetation and materials.

He also said that limited transport planning and management in urban areas had resulted in inadequate provision of public transport, inadequate investment in infrastructure for motorised transport, non-motorised transport and pedestrian traffic.

This, Prof Wandiga said, reduced urban mobility options, increasing traffic congestion and air pollutant emissions.

Health experts say dirty air can cause lung damage as well as heart diseases, strokes and cancer.Last year, the World HealthOrganisation estimated that one in eight deaths worldwide resulted from air pollution.The UN health agency found that air pollution in African homes contributed to nearly 600 000 deaths in 2012.

Africa had the third highest level of deaths per capita from indoor air pollution of any region of the world, though it was still well behind the western Pacific region including China and South-East Asia.WHO figures for deaths per capita from outdoor air pollution in Africa are still below the world average as lack of data is a major barrier.

Pollution monitoring is still minimal in Africa which faces numerous other problems. Lack of air pollution equipment, financial and human resources still affect air pollution control systems in Africa.Only the WHO assesses outdoor pollution in Africa by drawing from satellite data, inventories of pollution sources, air current modelling and occasional ground monitoring.

In Zimbabwe, second-hand car imports gobbled US$469 million in 2014 alone despite a 2010 Government ban on the importation of vehicles older than five years to curb pollution.According to the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency, more than 4 500 new vehicles were imported last year and these mainly included brands such as Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu and Mazda, all from Japan.

Should Zimbabwe ban the importation of second hand vehicles and what are your reasons?

 By SifelaniTsiko

MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FACING ZIMBABWE

What is the Human impact on the environment, Environmental resource management and Environmental justice?

Zimbabwe is the second most industrialized country in SADC, after South Africa. Industries are concentrated around Harare, with ore smelters located close to the ore sources (principally along the Great Dyke). A combination of vehicle emissions, dust and smoke from domestic fires is a potential air quality concern in larger cities such as Harare. Water is not generally abundant, and the maintenance of water quality is a serious issue.

Biodiversity preservation

Zimbabwe has a rich biotic heritage and is highly dependent on tourism. It has a long history of biodiversity preservation, through the national parks, forest reserves and innovative community-based sustainable-use schemes such as CAMPFIRE. Nevertheless, the natural resources are under pressure from a growing population with limited economic alternatives. 

Land quality

 Zimbabwe has the greatest fraction of its land area in good quality agricultural land. The economy of Zimbabwe has a large agricultural component, and the majority of people are dependent on the land. The distribution of people and productive agricultural resources is uneven, leading to problems of land degradation where large numbers of people and livestock are concentrated on marginal lands. 

Freshwater resources

The Zambezi River in the north is one of the largest rivers in Africa, but does not currently supply water to the rest of the country, which is water-scarce in most parts. The geology is generally not conducive to large groundwater supplies.

Climate change

Like the rest of southern Africa, Zimbabwe is strongly influenced by fluctuations in rainfall. An improvement in the water balance as a result of climate change would be a great benefit; increase water stress, on the other hand, would be a substantial development challenge. Zimbabwe environmental problems like erosion of its agricultural lands and deforestation.

HOW TO PICK UP LITTER

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

In addition to making places look ugly, litter presents a threat to wildlife and public health. Pitching in and cleaning up some trash is an easy way for anyone to help out. Read this useful article to find out how you can help!

Steps on picking litter

1. 
   Stop littering yourself. You have no entitlement to litter. The reason there is so much trash around is because many other people thought the same way. Just be on the lookout for trash bins, and be willing to hold on to your trash for a little while. When on the road, make sure items in the back of your truck are secure and nothing can blow out. Keep your truck bed clean and free of loose litter. If you own a business, keep your parking lot and the area around your dumpsters clean. Have trash containers available for customers. Keep them emptied so trash will not blow out of the containers. On windy days, litter can travel a long way from the litter source.
2. 
   
   
   Buy food items with less packaging and eat less processed or manufactured food. Pack your own lunch in containers that can be reused. Drink water or other beverages from your own container. Spend money on some really wonderful tasting fruit rather than a packaged snack or dessert.
3. 
   Spread the word to friends and relatives about why littering is so bad. Don't hand out fliers because those could become litter themselves! Create awareness by writing letters to the editors of newspapers. Talk "Trash" and emphasize how litter mars the beauty of the cities and countryside. Encourage citizens to work together and clean up the environment.
4. 
   Start cleaning up. This can be done solo, with friends or in an organized group. Once you get started, you will not want to quit. Getting started is the hardest part. Don't be embarrassed to do it alone. Believe me, it will make you feel really good about yourself. Pick up litter while getting your walking exercise. A lot of people think picking up litter is disgusting and degrading. Litter is what is disgusting and degrading. If everyone would do a little to keep the environment clean, it would make a world of difference. Bring a plastic bag with you on trips, outings and walks.
5.  
   If solo: You can pick up litter on the way to work or school if you don't drive.' You may feel embarrassed if this is uncommon in your area. But you will eventually inspire others. You could occasionally take different routes for variety and to see if your actions have taken root with others.'Unless you have become friendly with the owners of private properties, only pick up what is on sidewalks of houses. Even if the owners or tenants are messy, it is private property. Be aware that even just picking up litter from sidewalks may only encourage the owners or tenants to continue or possibly increase their littering. You could strike up a friendly conversation and gently but firmly educate owners and tenants about the consequences of littering. Do not become self-righteous, pushy or angry -- you will lose points for sure. Try some humor instead.
6. 
   If with others: gather up a group of friends for an informal litter picking party. Have participants meet somewhere afterward for a meal or have all bring food for a potluck afterward at your home.
7. 
   Suggest to a group you belong to, that cleaning up area on an afternoon might be a worthwhile community service activity. Pick an area near a restroom if possible. Keep the area of the project small or the time frame with in an hour. Otherwise people may become soured about how much time or work it took. Have a contest to see who can pick up the the largest number of pieces or the most pounds of trash. Or the most unusual trash. The winner gets a free beverage, cloth bag, or other prize. (See if a local merchant will donate a prize.

TEN STEPS OF HOW EVERYBODY CAN KEEP A CLEAN WORLD

1. Don’t throw trash!
 

Don’t throw it into the street, into the woods, into the rivers, into the seas!

If you throw trash away, it doesn’t go away, ever.

Trash comes back, in so many ways, and none of them good.

2. Sort your trash!

In the Clean World everything used is sorted and that’s how we reduce trash.It is one of the best ways to re-use resources. In the Clean World we hope to eliminate landfills and view trash as a valuable source of new resources.

3. Don’t throw anything away. Anything!

When something is broken, try to fix it! If you can’t, then recycle it!

If you don’t need something, think of a new use for it or give it to

somebody who might need it. Everything that you may no longer require

could be valuable elsewhere. Think, before you dispose.

4. Don’t burn trash!

Burning trash seems an easy option. However, when you burn trash,

it returns many toxins to the environment. Look to re-cycle your trash…

Don’t burn it!

5. Compost food leftovers!

Food leftovers should not be thrown away, but composted.

In the Clean World there is a compost next to every house for every community.

6. Consume only as much as you really need to!

In the Clean World people regard consumption as the last resort.

Repair as much as possible. Don’t let fashion or technology affect your opinions.

7. Avoid using disposable products that generate trash!

Glass bottles filled with drinks really are environmentally ‘better’.

Instead of plastic bags, use bags made of fabric.

Products are consumed more reasonably in the Clean World.

8. Buy trash free products!

Avoid products that are excessively packaged.

Choose to buy durable products that will last.

In the Clean World there are totally recyclable products.

9. Support environmentally friendly legislation and actions!

Vote for laws that support environmentally friendly produced goods,

from farmers’ markets or directly from the producer.

Cut out the marketing and packaging. In the Clean World we buy responsibly.

10. Co-operate with others by suggesting alternatives!

Be yourself but make sure your friends can see your example.

In the Clean World everybody is responsible.

Be different by making your friends enjoy the Clean World.

THANK YOU

Thank you everyone for attending our clean up campaign at Egodini. Our campaign would not have been a success without you guys. Part ones thank you for your support, you really worked hard during the campaign and my classmates you were so amazing. 

I wish you the best in your projects also. My lecturers, BCC, EMA and Chicken Slice your support is really recognized in this campaign. Mr Nkomo and Mr Booker keep up the good work and thank you for being with us during the campaign. 

We swept the place and carrying garbage. We encouraged the citizens at Egodini to continue to keep the place smart.

The problem i noticed at Egodini was that the litter which was there was mostly care-lights. People are buying their lunch on nearby cantinees and after they throw away the care lights. BCC and EMA should provide more bins at the place.

Vendors at Egodini in an interview said: "the bin is too away from our places and the moment we go there to throw litter we might miss many customers."

EMA and BCC must do something

City Love: The Earth Hour City Challenge 2014

Do you love your city? Or does your heart find its home in another one on a different continent? 

Wherever we find the urbanscape we call our own, there will always be ways to improve it for the people it shelters and the environment it thrives in. WWF shares 33 candidate cities it loves for being the most sustainable today in the Earth Hour City Challenge.

“The Earth Hour City Challenge initiative has been created to celebrate cities that are taking amazing steps forward in creating a greener, cleaner and more sustainable city to live in, while inspiring other cities to do the same.” – WWF

The Earth Hour City Challenge was made to mobilize action and support from cities in the global transition towards a sustainable, climate-friendly and one-planet future. With over 70% of global carbon emissions generated from urban dwellers, cities are in the best position to catalyse inspiring and feasible development plans geared towards urban use of renewable energy.

WWF’s four major reasons as to why cities play a big role in a sustainable and renewable future:

How would you rate the Zimbabwean cities according to the criterion?

 

• Smarter transportation – Transportation uses 30% of global energy. From smart planning to cycle lanes, electric vehicles to public transport – cities are an inspiration for change.

• Cleaner energy – Although city dwellers are responsible for over 70% of our planet’s energy-related carbon emissions, cities are also hotspots for renewable energy solutions.

• Efficient buildings – Buildings use 1/3rd of the world’s energy. Their focus on new designs, incentives and standards mean cities are leading the transition to better, cleaner housing.

• Less waste – Because cities produce so much waste, they’re also focused on new solutions – such as resource efficiency, behaviour change and waste management.

College Students Clean up Zimbabwe Highway

It is interesting that other people have started the clean up campaign. On (04 march today)Lomagundi College students took the anti-littering campaign to Chinhoyi on Wednesday where they cleaned up and picked litter along the Harare-Chirundu highway from the Chinhoyi central business district to the Chinhoyi Caves.

Littering has become a problem in most cities and towns in Zimbabwe. It is very common to see people throwing litter through car or bus windows. So, Lomagundi school authorities and students decided to launch a campaign to inculcate into ordinary people “a culture of smartness” into Zimbabweans in general.

Headmaster Morrias Elland, who joined his students in the cleaning exercise, said such campaigns should target young people so that the nation can hopefully nurture a generation of non-litters.

Elland said, “If everybody works together we can make a difference and the motivation factor is to keep our country clean.”

Lomagundi College students picking up litter along one of Zimbabwe's highways

Brooke Bester, one of the students in the Wednesday’s campaign, said it was exciting to participate in the clean-up exercise in the community.

She said more people should follow suit to ensure Zimbabwe’s cities and towns are litter free.

“Every day I come to school I see all the litter, it disappoints me. I then decided I want to be part of this team to clean up my town. It is good what we are doing because it is our country and town,” said Bester.

Another student, Bernard Dzimwe, said litter especially plastic, is harmful to the environment. Besides the environmental damage, he said litter takes the shine off Zimbabwe’s cities.

Elland further noted that Lomagundi plans to work with other schools in Chinhoyi on future clean-up campaigns with the aim of targeting children so they can also educate their peers and parents on why littering is bad for the country.

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) says all motorists must have litter bins in their vehicles or risk a $15 fine. This, in a bid to deter motorists from littering along the country’s roads and highways. Passengers face the same fine.

picture by Arthur Chigoriwa

for more info visit:http://www.voazimbabwe.com/content/students-in-clean-up-exercise-anti-litter-campaign-zimbabwe/1803418.html

How Does Smoking Harm The Environment?

It is a common belief among cigarette smokers that they are only hurting themselves. In fact they are not only hurting themselves, but also the earth.

These days everyone knows what smoking cigarettes does to our bodies, but the knowledge of what smoking does to the Earth is.

It is fairly obvious that smoking pollutes the air and quite often the ground. However, it is not always obvious how or how much smoking pollutes. Cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals which are exhaled and released into the air and the atmosphere.  Trees are often compared to the lungs in our bodies because they perform basically the same functions as our lungs do on a global scale. With all of the pollutants that the trees filter out for us already it seems almost crazy to add more to the air that doesn’t need to be added. We need to breathe, but no one needs to smoke. Not as common. People who love them and the environment.

The pollution caused by cigarettes does not stop in our bodies or the air; it also affects the land we live on and the water that we drink. Millions of cigarette butts are discarded onto the ground every day. These are only the ones that are picked up in one state and millions more are never picked up. They end up in the rivers and lakes where fish and animals eat them by mistake and quite often die from it. The rest are left on the ground to decompose which will take an average of 25 years while all of the chemicals and additives leach into the ground and pollute the soil and the plants.It looks unattractive, it is a major fire hazard in dry weather, and it is extremely harmful to the environment.

Probably the most impacting aspect of cigarettes is actually producing them. There is the land used to grow the crops all over the world that could be put to better use by planting more trees or food for starving children in third world countries. These crops are also often sprayed with a lot of harmful pesticides and chemicals because tobacco is a very fragile plant and is likely to pick up disease. It also takes a lot of trees to produce and package cigarettes. Cigarette manufacturing uses four miles of paper an hour just for rolling and packaging cigarettes. One tree is wasted for every three hundred cigarettes produced. Those trees could be filtering out the pollutants already in the air instead of being chopped down for the cause of adding new ones. There is still the energy and water wasted in manufacturing cigarettes that needs to be considered and with soil depletion and chemical wastage added on top of that it becomes clear that manufacturing cigarettes has an enormous strain on the environment.

The tobacco industry is quite unwilling to use better technology to reduce the impact they are having on the environment because it would take up too much of their billions of dollars in profit every year. They are often trying to have more trees planted, but since they use trees to dry the tobacco and for rolling and packaging it is probably not concern for the environment, but concern for losing their wood sources that encourage them to do this. They do not care about polluting our bodies so it seems unlikely that they would think twice about polluting our environment.

The only way to stop them from harming the environment is to stop buying their products. Quitting smoking is hard, but it can be done and it’s not only about the harm smokers are doing to their own bodies, it’s also about the harm they are doing to the earth and the pain that they are causing their friends and families.

link: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/interactive/discussion/How-Does-Smoking-Harm-The-Environment-t68001-f11.html

‘Deforestation now a serious threat’

Every year Zimbabwe is losing tree cover equivalent to three times the size of Harare, the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe (FCZ) has revealed.While the majority of trees are being felled for domestic use, a sizeable chunk of that vegetation is being consumed by tobacco farmers whose numbers have phenomenally rose over the past few years as the golden leaf remains the country’s only commercially viable crop on the back of a poorly performing agricultural sector.“

The national rate of deforestation currently stands at more than 300 000 hectares per annum, of which approximately 15 percent is attributable to tobacco production activities (that include) land clearing for tobacco farming and collection of firewood for tobacco curing,” said Darlington Duwa, FCZ general manager, at a tree planting day event in Madziwa, Mashonaland Central on Saturday.

Simplified, the 300 000ha is equivalent to 3 000 square kilometres or three times the size of Harare, which is estimated to be covering an area just over 1 000 square kilometres. Given the gravity of the matter, the Minister for Environment, Water and Climate, Saviour Kasukuwere, expressed grave concern at the rate of deforestation and said this had actually prompted government to institute statutory instrument 116 of 2012 that compels all flue-cured tobacco farmers to establish fast growing tree species for their future energy needs.

“Forests have a paramount contribution to make as engines of future sustainable development,” Kasukuwere emphasised adding: “Establishment of these woodlots will reduce pressure on the country’s indigenous woodlands and give them time to regenerate and recover.”

http:www.financialgazette.com by Nelson Chenga