New Environmental Nightmare!!! Silica Sachets!

Artistic WikiCommons photo of silica beads

Did you hear?!  Silica packets -  those little pillows of silica that keep your shoes from getting moldy before you get them home from the store - are dangerous to the Florida Aquifer!!!!

Okay, not really - at least,  I'm pretty sure this isn't the case.  This topic comes out of a conversation I had with a friend the other day and she told me that the silica packets you get in shoe boxes, electronic components, and even bottles of vitamins, can be reused to help keep other of your items dry.  I did some internet research and this is the case!  I must be coming in on the tail end of this super recycling idea because there were tons of articles about this exact subject - for instance, on the Mother Nature News Network, an Illinois blogger (Cy Tottleben) describes all the different uses for silica packets, such as, if you get your cell phone wet, placing it in a bag with silica packets overnite will help dry it out (Here is also a Green Yahoo article on this exact subject.   eHow has a nifty guide on "How to Recharge Silica Gel" so you can use it over and over.  The article states that silica can absorb up to 40% of its weight in moisture.

The other part of this conversation was a little different.  She also said that silica packets, thrown into the landfill could have a negative impact on the water table.  At first, I gasped and said, "omg, NO!" but when I got home and reflected on this for half a second I realized that might not be the case.  Duh, such an alarmist I am!  But, I also want to write about things that at least have some basis in reality, so I did another internet search about whether or not silica could indeed deplete our already threatened water supply if they are thrown willy-nilly into the landfill.  I mean, think about it, what if all the silica packets in the landfill all suddenly decided to absorb 40% of its weight in water?  First, it would suck up all the nastiness in the landfill, then it would start leeching water from the aquifer, right?!

My searches were not exactly fruitful in this regard.  But there are apparently a couple of things to keep in mind when disposing of silica packets.  Articlesbase.com states that there are certain types of characteristics to look for and avoid when using silica.  Blue silica is most likely silica impregnated with carcinogenic Cobalt Chloride and should not only be avoided in reusing, but should also be disposed of as hazardous waste.  The Cobalt Chloride acts as a moisture indicator, turning pinkish when the silica has fully absorbed all the liquid it can hold.

Wikipedia's article on Silica Gel has this to say:

Silica gel is non-toxic, non-flammable, and non-reactive and stable with ordinary usage. It will react with hydrogen fluoride, fluorine, oxygen difluoride, chlorine trifluoride, strong acids, strong bases, and oxidizers^[7]. Silica gel is irritating to the respiratory tract, may cause irritation of the digestive tract, and dust from the beads may cause irritation to the skin and eyes, so precautions should be taken ^[8]. Some of the beads may be doped with a moisture indicator, such as cobalt(II) chloride, which is toxic and may be carcinogenic. Cobalt (II) chloride is deep blue when dry (anhydrous) and pink when moist (hydrated).
Crystalline silica dust can cause silicosis but synthetic amorphous silica gel is non-friable, and so does not cause silicosis.

So, it reacts to a few different chemicals or states, talks about the toxicity of Cobalt Chloride, and notes the potential problem of inhaling Crystalline silica dust.  Use your best judgement, of course, in how you use this information.

I ended up not seeing anything about potential moisture vampirism of our water table when throwing these things away, but care should still be taken since there may be a chance they will meet up with a reactive chemical in the landfill.

I don't really know that, however, so before I started this post I emailed the customer service people at my utilities company and sent them the following:

Hi, I'm a Gainesville resident and I don't know if this is the place to find a contact for an environmental engineer or other waste management representative that I could ask a question regarding silica packets and our landfill.  My question is two-fold:

1.  What are the odds of a silica packet or packets coming into contact with the substances that can cause it to become toxic if they are disposed of in the landfill?

2.  This may seem like an odd question, but what is the likelihood that silica packets could have an impact on the Florida aquifer?

I am researching this topic for my environmental Blogspot blog, The Accidental Environmentalist.  Thank you for any help you can provide in directing these questions to the correct party.

Sincerely,
Michele
Transaction #:3336003

We'll see if I get a reply - I should add that I said I had one question but then proceeded to ask two - so much for editing carefully before submitting!  My next step would be to call the waste management place directly and ask my somewhat silly questions.  It seems like they've got reasonable people working there, though, since I reported (almost exactly one year ago) on their efforts to expand the recycling availability for our area.   Anybody care to weigh in?

1870's Living History Farm

 So, I think I've blogged about the summer camp my son goes to for a couple of weeks each year, right?  No?  Oh, well, maybe that's because I didn't want to give it away as the THE MOST AWESOME SUMMER CAMP FOR CHILDREN EVER, because then I would have to compete for a space for my son.  Anyway, this camp, in this nature park near where I live, is about the best experience you can hope for - the kids are outside all day (which, in Florida, in June and July, is saying a lot) and they learn so much about the flora and fauna of their home state.  It really is a very special place for kids. 

Anyway, at the nature park is also a Living History Farm that demonstrates a Florida homestead from the 1870's and its daily operations.  I decided last year* that I would start volunteering at least once a month while I was still in school, and devote more time after I graduated in the spring.  My son (DJ, for "Dude Junior") decided he wanted to volunteer, too, because he would get to dress up like a little pioneer boy and have complete run of the place.  He came out with me last weekend and, as it turned out, he was very helpful and involved in what was going on.  One of the re-enactors showed him how to build a bird house so he could eventually show other kids how to make one, and he picked oranges and swept the steps leading into the farmhouse kitchen, and even helped other kids beat rugs.

The woman I was helping out on Saturday, Charlotte, made two very astute observations (among many):

1.  Everything tastes better when it is baked in a wood stove, and

2.  Children will do all kinds of chores at the Living History Farm that they could never be cajoled to do at home 


Both completely true!

So, apparently, this is going to be a thing with our family - I might not be able to come out every weekend, but the Old Man and DJ are filling out volunteer forms to participate and it's really exciting.  This place needs all the help it can get with budget cuts and it is really doing a good turn for the community, connecting folks with Florida's pioneer days. 

The photos for this piece come from Joe Klubertanz, who was nice enough to share his largesse of great scenes from the farm for this blog post!

*Let me qualify that by saying that I was "considering" volunteering once a month and was waylaid by one of the park operations people who very ably quick-talked me into committing to volunteer once a month (and I am certainly glad she did)

Praise Him

 

From Lycanpedia via Drink the Koolaid, via ravings of a semi-sane madwoman

Update: Found another part of the net trail to the origin of this image.  Finally, here is Austin Cline's website Skepticism.org

Happy New Year! My Blog Resolutions

Happy New Year's, everyone.  It's 3am.  I know I should be asleep, but I am having so much fun right now.  I'm by myself, my husband went to sleep over an hour ago, but I'm really enjoying feeling the buzz of about 3 rum and cokes and eating some brie and crackers while browsing the web.

Anyway, I was supposed to do endless posts about new years resolutions and ended up doing only one that was very vague.  More succinctly, I want to keep writing this blog.  That's my first resolution for 2011 and beyond.  I enjoy writing my silly posts and chatting with people about these issues in the comments or in other venues.  Talking about environmentalism in its many forms is balm for my soul and I realized the other day that I will keep doing it since it's so dang enjoyable and satisfying.  I may be momentarily way-laid by family and/or school and work, but I have always come back to writing this thing and have never once thought about hanging it up.  So, first resolution - keep writing The Accidental Environmentalist.

In addition to just continuing to write this blog, I also want to finally migrate The AE over to my web real estate.  This requires finally setting up the MacMini server to host it.  I got one of those For Dummies books about it, so will have to start working on it in bits and pieces.  Things will chill out considerably after I graduate.  Graduate school has been so rewarding but also so taxing; I decided the other day while talking to a colleague that I wanted to keep my hand in academic research but not as a professor.  That was a very constructive decision, in my opinion.

Next resolution is to get some kind of digital recorder and start podcasting for goodness sake.  I thought the iTouch I got a couple of years ago would be the ticket, but it's been a pain to figure out how to make it record without making me sound like I'm drowning in grape jelly.  So, digital recorder that can download to Garage Band so I can begin mixing short podcasts with video extras.

Eh.  Tired now and am really ready for sleep.  I don't have to have all my resolutions before New Years, as evidenced by my lack of said resolutions before midnight, so I'll continue to come up with more over the following weekend.  Then, off to my final semester of grad school.

Thanks to all who read the AE and comment and allow me to be part of your blogrolls. That is very meaningful and resonant and I feel extremely grateful to have this opportunity. 

Got the picture of Guy Lombardo from The Pecan Park Eagle blog.

New Years Resolutions, Take 1

I asked my mom-in-law the other day if she had any New Years Resolutions (NYR[s]), and she said she doesn't make them.  I asked, "is it because you break them soon after making them?" and she replied, "no, it's because it's always the same thing every year: Get better organized."

This woman is the most organized individual I've ever met, besides my mom, so it was funny and ironic at the same time. 

Anyway, so I've started to think about my NYR(s) for this year; like my m-i-l, I have the usual ones, like, "lose more weight," but I'm also thinking about long-term life goals (not that permanent weight loss is not a long-term life goal).  I'm thinking about things that I need to resolve to do regarding the environment, especially, but also social engagement - I want to be more involved in helping people.

I really do enjoy helping people.  My job as a student assistant at the university library was a good example of that; I never got tired of helping patrons find things in the stacks, troubleshoot their computer/technology issues, and helping them navigate the library databases and catalog.  So I find myself on the threshold of graduating with my masters in English and deciding that library work is what I'm most happy doing and have decided to continue working towards a masters in Library and Information Science. 

It's taken quite a few years to come up with something that I would be happy doing for the rest of my life and making that decision has opened up some possibilities to how else I can help others.  I have a few ideas that I'd like to share here and will take some time over the next couple of days to list them.

Crappiest Week Ever

My SB spill-proof mug, waiting to be washed.

Okay, I'm about at the end of my rope, here - I'm way late on a final paper, I haven't graded any of my students' papers yet, I lost my glasses (and it is not funny that I am walking around like Velma going, "where are my glasses?"), and now I'm sick - I blogged on SMC about how I got DJ the complete first season of Total Drama Island so I could lie on the couch and be sick (and watch episodes of TDI).  That was about all I could manage for two days; today I'm feeling much better, however, so I'm catching up on my procrastinating from doing honest work by blogging and also to tell you a funny story that happened the other day.

I hate Starbucks.  I don't think I've ranted enough about how much I hate Starbucks and there are many reasons to hate this chain store.  But, regardless of my hatred, I still patronize said company even though I hate their coffee, hate their politics, and hate their attitude towards workers.  Having said that, I really, really love their stainless-steel, spill-proof mugs.  And Friday morning, before I got really sick and everything went all to Hell, I was standing in line to get SB gift cards for the counselors at DJ's afterschool program and a lady in front of me was looking at the new mugs they've made so you can stir your Via instant coffee more efficiently (?! [god I hate this company]).  Somehow I got into a conversation with her about the fact that the SB mugs are spill-proof and pointed to the shelf that contained the model I own.  I started ranting about how great my cup is, I ride bikes all over Gainesville and throw this in my messenger bag/pannier/purse and have never had a spillage problem and on and on.  I'm really selling this damn thing, and the lady says okay, I'm sold and she takes the one I pointed to off the shelf; meanwhile, this gentleman has been listening to my spiel and says he wants to get one too and the lady says, "sorry, sucker, I got the last one (she didn't really say that)," and then the guy goes to the SB barista and asks if they have anymore and is led to the back of the store where they manage to find one more cup.  I was in full self-loathing mode by the time I got to the counter and demanded commission for selling two of those damn cups for SB.

Haha, wasn't that funny/sad?  Merry Christmas, everyone!