Best of our wild blogs: 29 Sep 08

Volunteers needed at Acres' World Animal Day event
more details on the wildsingapore happenings blog

Dive Pulau Hantu
another great dive on HBing's site with a pipefish that has gone to the dark side on the colourful clouds blog

Secret Shores of Singapore
come for Ria's talk this Saturday on the wild shores of singapore blog

A walk at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
on the manta blog

Weeding at Central Nature Reserve
on HBing's site

Roots & Shoots Day of Peace
on the Cicada Tree Eco-Place blog

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UN uses IUCN Red List to measure success of Millennium Development Goals

IUCN website 25 Sep 08;

For the first time, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is monitoring the world’s plants and animals using the IUCN Red List Index.

Until now, the seventh Millennium Development Goal, to ensure environmental sustainability, has not included any mention of biodiversity or the need to save species as a critical contribution to human development.

But with the launch of the latest Annual Report on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, in advance of the High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals at UN Headquarters in New York on 25 September, 2008, the goal now includes the aim to “significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010” as one of its targets. Progress will be monitored by measuring the proportion of species threatened with extinction – calculated by the IUCN Red List Index.

“This new target puts the importance of species at the top of the world’s agenda,” says Holly Dublin, Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission.

“The links between biodiversity and development are strong, which is why it’s important that the Millennium Development Goals prioritize the need to conserve species across the world. Species are harvested for food, medicines and fibres.They’re domesticated for agriculture and play an essential role in regulating local and global environments. It is great to see that nature is recognized as an essential contributor to human wellbeing.”

The Index, which is based on the world-renowned IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, shows genuine trends in the overall extinction risk of sets of species at global, regional and increasingly at national levels.

“The IUCN Red List is the world’s most authoritative and reliable system for assessing the risk of species extinction,” says Jane Smart, Head of IUCN’s Species Programme. “Species are the best known component of biodiversity and therefore it’s vitally important to expand our work to establish a reliable trend in the rate of species loss. We’re delighted to have our Red List information used as a primary tool by the United Nations to monitor the status of the animals and plants we depend upon.”

The eight Millennium Development Goals, agreed by the world's governments and development institutions, range from reducing extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. They provide measurable targets which can be achieved by the year 2015.

IUCN has partnered with BirdLife International, Conservation International, NatureServe and the Zoological Society of London to strengthen the standards of the IUCN Red List and to develop the Red List Index.

Birds have the longest history of comprehensive assessment of any class of organisms. As a result, BirdLife International has developed the first IUCN Red List Index for birds, which now has 20 years of trends.

A preliminary index has been published for amphibians and RLIs for mammals, cycads and corals will be produced shortly. RLIs for additional groups of species will be produced when they have been assessed though the IUCN Red List process.

The IUCN Red List Index has been presented for use to the United Nations through the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) which also, with IUCN, compiles the World Database on Protected Areas used to report progress in protected area coverage under the biodiversity target of the Millennium Development Goals. The index will be used to monitor progress and highlight where conservation efforts are needed.

Additional quotations

“It is excellent to see that BirdLife’s pioneering approach for measuring trends is being rolled out for other taxonomic groups, and has been adopted by the United Nations as an indicator against the Millenium Development Goals,” says Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s Global research and Indicators Coordinator. “BirdLife has found the IUCN Red List Index to be a powerful tool to track biodiversity trends. The IUCN Red List Index is a biological barometer telling us how the status of biodiversity changes over time. Using the IUCN Red List Index is a simple yet powerful approach that allows the assessment of trends in endangerment – the rate at which species are slipping towards extinction.”

“The world is waking up to the fact that environmental destruction and species extinction does real damage to peoples’ lives and livelihoods,” says Dr Matt Walpole, UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre. “Pledging to reduce biodiversity loss as part of the Millennium Development Goals demonstrates clear recognition by the World’s governments that poverty reduction and sound environmental management go hand in hand.”
• “Maintaining biodiversity is integral to a healthy planet and achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” says Jonathan Baillie, Zoological Society of London (ZSL). “If we fail to safeguard biodiversity, ecosystems, upon which the poor depend, will be degraded and any progress we make in other areas of development may be shortlived. The bottom line is that development without consideration of biodiversity will not be successful.”

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Natural disasters: Managing the other threat to prosperity

Vinod Thomas, For The Straits Times 29 Sep 08;

EVEN as our attention is riveted on the financial crisis, other calamities have been wreaking havoc on people's lives. From hurricanes in the United States and Central America to floods in South and South-east Asia, natural disasters are striking countries with increasing frequency and intensity. These events were once considered just an interruption to business; they now represent an unmistakable brake on prosperity.

We may label them as hazards of nature, but they are increasingly rooted in man-made causes. Note that the striking increase is in hydro-meteorological events, such as floods and storms, not geophysical phenomena, such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Environmental destruction and climate change can be linked to the rise in natural calamities.

We need urgently a shift in our very mindset. Timely attention to emergency relief and recovery is clearly of paramount importance. But also needed are efforts to mitigate the sources of the growing problem and adaptation in our ways of living. Emergency aid following a calamity may have visibility; but political leaders need to also focus on long-term acts of prevention.

In the first half of the 1980s, some 800 natural disasters were reported worldwide, affecting 400 million people. Twenty years later, the number reached more than 2,300 natural disasters, affecting some 1.4 billion people. The direct cost of calamities in the past decade may have been US$1 trillion (S$1.4 trillion), 20 times more than five decades earlier.

In Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, the concern is not only the frequency of disasters but their geographical coverage and their impact on the economy. By one estimate, Vietnam ranks fifth in the world in potential impact with 90 per cent of its economy at risk, the Philippines is in 10th place with 85 per cent, and Indonesia 28th with 60 per cent.

What must be done by way of mitigation and adaptation?

The first is linked to climate change. The relentless discharge of CO2 emissions in the air is causing temperatures and sea levels to rise, glaciers to melt and aggravates flooding as well as hot droughts. Industrial countries are clearly most responsible for the accumulated stock of greenhouse gases, but solutions to the problem would also rest on large developing nations such as Brazil, China, India and Russia.

Second, local degradation of the environment must be reversed. Wetlands provide a buffer against disasters, but 50 per cent of them worldwide have been lost over the past century. Forests, a key source of protection against flash flooding and landslides, are shrinking. Replanted mangroves helped to lessen the ravages from a typhoon in Vietnam in 2000 and a cyclone in southern India in 2002.

A third priority is investment in early warning systems. In Bangladesh in the early 1970s, a cyclone killed more than 300,000 people. But after the country put in an extensive early warning system, and built robust programmes for community-based preparedness, evacuation and mitigation, a recent cyclone of similar intensity took 3,000, not 300,000, lives.

Fourth, adaptation calls for better land-use planning and zoning regulations to ensure that people live in places less likely to be hit. Building standards can help ensure that buildings withstand natural disasters. One reason the recent California earthquake caused only minor damage was new, tough building codes.

Fifth, adaptation also involves the use of risk transfer mechanisms - for example, catastrophe insurance markets. Insurance coverage in developing countries is only a fraction of that in developed countries. Well-designed use of insurance markets could introduce predictability in the post-disaster management - but in ways that don't encourage people to locate in flood prone areas.

We need better coordination among government units, non-government actors and the communities. Government units need management capacity, financial resources and information.

This may all look like a long list of steps, but the stakes are high. Countries used to view environmental mitigation or adaptation as a deviation of resources from growth. But the situation now is the reverse. Without prevention and adaptation to reduce the risk of disasters, sustained growth will not be possible.

The writer is director-general, Independent Evaluation Group, The World Bank.

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Follow South Korea: Seal rubbish chutes, use pre-paid bags

Letter from Sim See Hwee, Straits Times Forum 29 Sep 08;

I READ with interest how condominiums must have recycling facilities in their compound ('Condos to have recycling facilities', Sept 17). What also caught my attention was the sticker on the recycle container stating, 'Paper only'.

I wonder if all this will work. Without a system whereby we take ownership of our rubbish, it is hard to implement recycling at home.

Many residents of condos and high-rise HDB flats, with the convenience of rubbish chutes and in the privacy of their own home, will just throw rubbish down the chute without sorting it out.

Many of those in landed property do not care about their rubbish, leaving their rubbish bin outside, dotting the street and creating an unsightly view.

One solution is the South Korean way - seal all rubbish chutes in high-rise buildings and use pre-paid rubbish bags. Residents must buy bags (in place of paying conservation charges), in different colours for different types of rubbish, and take them to rubbish collection area themselves.

Experiments with a rubbish suction system in HDB estates are obviously moving in the wrong direction - not changing people's behaviour, but taking the easy way out by doing it for them.

Another lesson, from Taiwan: All rubbish must be kept at home, and taken out only when the rubbish truck comes. The crux here is ownership of rubbish. Once people are allowed to put rubbish outside, they feel relieved of ownership and no longer care about it. In Taiwan, they call it the 'rubbish must not touch the ground' concept - from home to the rubbish truck, it must not touch anywhere in between.

On recycling paper, there is no problem. Every morning in my condo, the cleaners fight to collect old newspapers - which they call 'brown gold' - which they sell for extra income.

Our rubbish management system needs a drastic revamp if we aim to be the regional hub in recycling and environmental technology.

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Sea turtles are back off California, noshing on jellyfish

David Perlman, San Francisco Chronicle 28 Sep 08;

Endangered leatherback sea turtles, unseen off the central California coast only two years ago, have returned and are once again gobbling their favorite food: huge jellyfish that are swarming by the zillions from Monterey Bay to Point Arena.

The leatherbacks were spotted during a month-long survey cruise aboard a government research vessel and repeated aircraft observations. Researchers said they were seen diving for meals close to shore and snacking now and then in deeper waters much farther out.

"We're getting a better understanding of the leatherbacks and their coastal habitat here after several years when the population was much lower than usual - and after we observed none at all in 2006," said Scott Benson, chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's leatherback survey mission based in Monterey County at Moss Landing.

Benson led teams of specialists aboard the NOAA research ship David Starr Jordan that carried sonar gear to scan for the jellyfish while crew members tagged the leatherbacks with temporary tracking devices - simple devices attached to their shells with suction cups - to record their enigmatic diving and feeding behavior.

The rare and little-known leatherbacks have been around during 100 million years of evolution, and their migration patterns are amazing: They nest and lay their eggs in the sandy beaches of Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, then swim 7,000 miles across the Pacific to their feeding grounds along the California coast. But in the past 25 years, more than 90 percent of the leatherback population has vanished, Benson said.

The abrupt decrease is largely because of egg-hunters raiding their nests, commercial long-line fisheries whose hooks can ensnare the turtles as "bycatch," and most recently the erosion of many nesting beaches because of small rises in the sea level caused by global warming, said Michael Milne of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, an environmental group based in Marin County.

The huge abundance of jellyfish (Chrysaora fuscescens), commonly known as sea nettles, is apparently caused by increased upwelling of nutrients like krill and plankton from just above the sea floor this year, Benson said.

Spotters aboard the NOAA Twin Otter aircraft found six leatherbacks "surrounded by miles of jellyfish" - along with humpback whales and large ocean sunfish - off the San Mateo County coast and in the midst of regular cargo shipping lanes leading to and from the Golden Gate. In one case, a leatherback was observed swimming among the jellyfish only 5 miles west of Benson's home in Moss Landing, he said.

Another leatherback that was equipped with a more permanent satellite tag a year ago had returned to the same area this year, apparently after spending the winter a few hundred miles south of Hawaii along what Benson called "Jelly Lane."

During one segment of the cruise off Pescadero, the mission's trawling team of jellyfish specialists encountered huge hauls of the creatures, including one weighing 24 pounds with a bell 21 inches across and tentacles "taller than any of our scientists," the team reported.

Hungry as they are, leatherbacks don't eat the jellyfish's transparent globular bells - it's the viciously stinging tentacles they love, and Benson and his colleagues found themselves "covered with stinging jellyfish slime" whenever they hauled any of the turtles aboard, he said.

Although the survey found most of the leatherbacks feeding amidst the jellyfish no more than 30 miles from shore, the ship did venture as far out as 150 miles, and even there, Benson said, the turtles were feeding amid an abundance of jellyfish.

Eddies of cold and warm water there attracted the jellyfish, Benson said, "and it made the area a fast food stopover for the turtles - a good place for a quick snack on the way in toward the coast after that 7,000-mile swim."

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Shrimpers in Thailand plan greener future

Walailak Keeratipipatpong, Bangkok Post 29 Sep 08;

Thailand should run more environmentally friendly shrimp farms and produce higher quality shrimp under a new development roadmap for the industry.

The 2009-11 strategic plan is aimed at encouraging farmers to grow at least 5,000 rai of mangroves per year and to use seaweed in shrimp ponds to absorb waste and residue.

Thanwa Jitsanguan, a vice-president for special projects at Kasetsart University, said the goal was to combine sustainable industrial development with environmental protection.

"Sticking to a safe environment concept is good for farmers themselves," he said.

Farmers typically use shells to clean shrimp ponds, but seaweed could earn more income. Enlarging mangrove plantations would help address the industry's negative image as having destroyed mangroves over the past two decades.

Niwat Suteemechaikul, the director-general of the Fisheries Department, said more hygienic production and a "green" concept would be strong points the industry could use to promote its products abroad, given growing concern about food safety.

He also promotes export diversification to reduce business risk. "In fact, we want to reduce dependence on the US market and cut the share of Thai shrimp going to the US to less than 50%."

Even with the slowing economy, US buyers are expected to take most of the country's estimated 370,000 tonnes of shrimp exports this year.

Under the second roadmap, Thailand plans to produce about 500,000 tonnes of shrimp per year and to expand export markets. The new export structure could be closer to 40% to the US, 20% to Japan and 17% to Europe.

In 2007 the US took 52.1% of Thailand's total shipments of 349,418 tonnes of shrimp products, Japan 18.1% and the EU 9.54%. Russia, the Middle East, China and Asia are expected to play a greater role in the future.

In addition, the industry could explore niche markets and move up the value chain, producing organic shrimp, "bio-secure" products and shrimp-related food such as dumplings.

Mr Niwat _ known as "Mr Shrimp" in the industry for his work to promote the sector _ said the country should launch marketing campaigns in markets such as Britain, Germany, South Korea, Japan and other Asian countries.

He said the first roadmap, launched during the Thaksin Shinawatra government, would continue its programmes to encourage farmers to export chilled shrimp directly to end-users such as restaurants and hotels in Asia, many just a two- or three-hour flight away.

"Under this strategy, customers will receive fresh products while farmers bypass middlemen and gain greater income," Mr Niwat said, adding that such food service exports could reach 30,000 tonnes a year.

But he said that one missed target has been the goal to raise value-added products to 65% of exports, although improvements have been made.

This year, processed shrimp shipments are expected to account for 54.5% of total exports, with the rest being raw -- a modest increase from the 50.5:49.5 breakdown seen in 2006 when the first plan was adopted.

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Malaysia's United Plantations Awarded International Certification For Responsible Practices

Manik Mehta, Bernama 27 Sep 08;

The American Palm Oil Council (APOC) announced that a Malaysian oil palm plantation has received the first ever certification as the first plantation to adopt the strictest standards of sustainability for its palm-oil production.

A US based association representing the Malaysian palm-oil industry, APOC was set up to inform the American public about the benefits of palm oil used in food applications, biofuel, soaps, candles, etc, and is also said to be the worlds only international association formed to codify sustainable industry practices

"Palm-oil producers in Malaysia, along with the Malaysian government are committed to preserving the countrys natural resources and biodiversity," said Mohd Salleh Kassim, the APOC executive director.

"We want our customers here in the US to know that palm oil purchased in Malaysia is produced in a responsible, environmentally-friendly manner … the announcement is a great step forward in providing our international consumers with the documentation to back up our commitment to sustainable practices," he said.

Malaysia-based United Plantations Bhd was awarded the "Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oils (RSPO) Certificate of Conformance to RSPO Principles and Criteria".

Dedicated to promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm oil, the RSPO defines sustainable palm oil as production "comprised of legal, economically viable, environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial management and operations".

As a qualification for the RSPO award, United Plantations participated in thorough investigations of its nine estates, six mills and conservation areas; interviews with management, staff and workers regarding management systems and social amenities; and a meeting with 150 of the company's stakeholders to ensure that the plantation fulfilled each of the RSPO criteria.

"Much emphasis has been given to developing their commitment to sustainable palm oil," observed David Ogg, an assessor, in the RSPO Assessment Report for United Plantations.

"There is a clear commitment to RSPO by top management and by the staff and workers in the field."

The assessment team also highlighted United Plantations biodiversity and environmental conservation efforts in their report which applauds the establishment of the United Plantations "Lagoon Nature Reserve", a planting project of "rare and endangered Malaysian species", as the APOC calls it.

The lagoon contains 18 tree families, 50 species and more than 2,000 trees, which will create a natural forest system and provide a seed bank for future prorogation.

The report also refers to the plantations enforcement of "zero-burn policies" --- which means that land cannot be burned for the cultivation of palm oil - and its research to improve palm-oil seeds so that they maximize the yield thereby minimising the land and plants needed.

The RSPO certification of United Plantations is a "clear statement", according to the APOC, that "Malaysia is serious about sustainability".

Several other Malaysian palm-oil plantation companies are expected to be certified in the near future, the APOC said.

-- BERNAMA

Palm oil firm becomes first to win eco-certification
mongabay.com 28 Sep 08;

United Plantations, a Malaysia-based palm oil producer, has become the first oil palm plantation firm to be certified for adopting the strictest standards of sustainability for palm oil production, according to Bernama.

After inspections across its its nine estates, six mills and conservation areas and interviews with managers and employees by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oils (RSPO), an industry-driven sustainability initiative, the firm was awarded the "Certificate of Conformance to RSPO Principles and Criteria". United Plantations has implemented "zero-burn policies" as well as measures to reduce pollution and the use of fertilizers and pesticides. The firm has also set aside areas of high conservation value, according to RSPO.

The news comes as the palm oil industry moves to improve its environmental performance in response to harsh criticism from scientists and activists who say that oil palm expansion is driving deforestation and putting endangered species at risk. A recent study showed that more than half of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia between 1990 and 2005 occurred at the expense of forests, while other research has found that oil palm plantations contain up to 80 percent less biodiversity than logged forests and are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions when established on peatlands and in tropical rainforests.

Now that RSPO-certification has become a reality, some expect producers to seek a pricing premium for "greener" palm oil. Consumer giant Unilever — one of the world's largest consumers of palm oil — has already committed to buying only certified palm oil by 2015.

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'Unnecessary' dam project threatens rarest wildlife in Cambodia

Michael McCarthy, The Independent 28 Sep 08;

One of the world's rarest reptiles, the critically-endangered Siamese crocodile, is gravely threatened by a proposed dam in an unspoilt region of Cambodia, British conservationists warn.

Construction of the Chay Areng dam in the Cardamom mountains will wipe out a fifth or more of the remaining population of the crocodiles, which stands at fewer than 200 individuals in the wild, according to Fauna and Flora International (FFI), which is based in Cambridge.

It will displace hundreds of indigenous people from their homes, and do enormous damage to the wildlife in a valley which alone holds more than 30 globally threatened species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians, ranging from tigers, Asian elephants and pileated gibbons to the white-winged duck, the yellow-headed temple turtle and one of the world's rarest and most prized freshwater fish, the Asian arowana.

Furthermore, says FFI, an economic assessment showed that the 120ft dam, which is being promoted by a Chinese power company, is not necessary for Cambodia's future electricity demand and is in effect surplus to requirements. FFI is calling on the Cambodian government to cancel the scheme.

Were it to go ahead, the Siamese crocodiles would be the most notable casualties of the project in wildlife terms. The stocky, 10ft-long reptile, which feeds largely on fish and snakes, is extinct over 99 per cent of its original range, with tiny remaining groups in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam apart from Cambodia, where the Areng river habitat is the most secure and significant breeding site in the world, harbouring between 40 and 50 individuals.

If the Areng river is dammed, says FFI, this fragile population will be seriously reduced or wiped out. The inundation will destroy vital lakeside nesting areas, shallow feeding zones, sandy basking areas along the river, and essential lakeside burrows used for shelter. The organisation also fears that the 1,000-plus Chinese workers who will be brought in to build the dam will begin poaching the other wildlife in the valley, saying that this has happened in similar schemes elsewhere.

The whole range of the Cardamom mountains in western Cambodia has hitherto been one of the best unspoilt areas of montane rainforest in South-east Asia, having been protected from exploitation for decades by the region's wars. FFI says it is "the untouched jewel in the crown of Asian biodiversity".

But now it is being opened up, especially by the Chinese, who are offering to build hydropower and other generating infrastructure for the Cambodians in exchange for a future share in the country's untapped natural resources, which include oil and gas. Many of the rivers of the Cardamom range have dams proposed for them, and one, at O'Som, is already going ahead.

FFI says its recognises that Cambodia needs more electricity and some of it will come from hydropower. But it says that a 2007 report, the Master Plan Study of Hydropower Development in Cambodia, commissioned by the Japan International Co-operation Agency and the Cambodian Ministry of Mines and Energy, identified 10 priority sites that would be sufficient to meet the projected national demand – and significantly, these did not include the Chay Areng.

"The Areng dam is unnecessary and surplus to requirements," said Jenny Daltry, a senior conservation biologist with FFI. "Hundreds of households of an indigenous people, the Khmer Daeum, will be displaced and have to move. These are people who have been there for hundreds of years and who really do live in harmony with nature and have set up their own protected areas in the forest, and six villages of them will go, and possibly seven.

"In wildlife terms, it will be a disaster. The crocodiles, which represent at least a fifth of the world's population in the wild, will disappear and there will be catastrophic damage to other wildlife.

"It is still up to the Cambodian government to approve or reject the proposal from the Chinese company and we strongly feel it should be rejected."

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8 Ways to Green Your Paper Use

Trey Granger, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 28 Sep 08;

We may talk of a paperless world, but paper still makes up 35 percent of our solid waste. Even though new paper can be created by growing more trees, that doesn't mean we can't be smart about the paper we use. Here's eight ways to optimize your paper use for the environment's sake:

1. Save Those Boxes

Many of your larger purchases will come in a cardboard box that you can't wait to get rid of. While you may not have a need for the plastic packaging (you can find a location to recycle plastic using Earth911), the box can definitely come in handy for:
Wrapping gifts Shipping packages Moving

The beauty of cardboard is that it can be collapsed into a flat sheet for easy storage under a bed or in the back of a closet. All you need to create a "new" box is some tape.

2. Recycle Your Mail

No matter how many mailing lists you unsubscribe from, you're still going to have paper to dispose of after reading your mail. Almost all of it can be recycled as mixed paper, so why not set up a bin for your letters, catalogs and multi-color advertisements?

Two mail-related products you may wonder about are envelopes with plastic windows and stapled paper. Both are most likely accepted in your area, because when paper is recycled these elements are filtered out. Find out where to recycle mixed paper in your area using Earth911.

3. Pay Bills Online

You can reduce the amount of mail you need to recycle in the first place by signing up to receive statements via email. You'll decrease paper use, save money on stamps and have easy access to your information online. Plus, payments posted online send you an email confirmation so you can feel confident about avoiding late fees.

4. Print Double-Sided

Computer paper has two sides; how many are you printing on? If you have a laser printer at home, you can change the setting to double-sided printing and copying. Otherwise, consider printing documents one page at a time and printing the second page on the back of the first. It may take you more time, but you'll also have less paper to buy.

5. Buy Recycled

Paper recycling is only beneficial if a market is generated for recycled content. Guess what: you generate that market by buying recycled content paper. In the case of newspaper, you're buying recycled without even knowing it. For computer paper, the higher the recycled content, the better for the environment (100 percent recycled is available at most office supply stores). Ask about recycled content paper at you're local copy store as well.

6. Get a Library Card

If buying recycled content paper is green, renting paper is neon green. The library may seem out of date with internet access and national book chains, but it's a great way to reuse paper. You can also find newspapers and magazines at the library, and sometimes even textbooks. If you decide to get rid of books, find book reuse and recycling locations using Earth911.

7. Make Paper Bag Book Covers

With more cities placing restrictions on the use of plastic bags, paper bags may be your packaging of choice. Well, these bags have many reuse options to keep them out of the trash, including covering your hardcover books. This also protects your books from damage and food stains. Plus, once you're done with the cover you can still recycle the bag with the rest of your paper.

8. Recycle Phone Books

How many phone books do you have stacked in a pantry, closet or garage? You can use Earth911 to find a location that will recycle telephone directories into new white and yellow pages, as well as insulation material and the aforementioned grocery bags.

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