NBC Green Week next week because 'Green is Universal'

Here is a "Green Week" preview story as NBC-Universal is going to brainwash America next week. I thought it would be good to get a head start on them. The following article is courtesy of Universal Press Syndicate and the Kansas City Star.

Dear Abby | ‘Green’ businesses are seeing green, too

DEAR ABBY: I am 8 years old, and I love science. I am writing you because when I go to the doughnut shop, they always give me paper bags when I order my doughnut to eat there. I also notice other people getting bags they don’t need because they are eating their doughnuts there, too.

How many trees have to die for no reason?

I care about recycling and how long it takes for things to break down in the earth. What can I do so the doughnut shop will stop wasting bags? — Mandi in Scarsdale, N.Y.

DEAR MANDI: I respect the fact that you are conscientious about how your actions — and the actions of the people around you — affect the environment. You are a sharp young lady.

What you should do is speak to the manager of the doughnut shop. Tell him or her that these days a strong selling point in many businesses is that they are “going green.” In the case of the doughnut shop, it would cost them less and even gain them more customers if they would stop handing out bags to customers who are eating their doughnuts on the premises and tell them why. (A piece of waxed paper would suffice and create less waste.)

Readers, if you are interested in how long it takes the items we toss into our landfills to decompose, I found the following illuminating.

Read on:

•Paper, 2 to 5 months

•Orange peels, 6 months

•Milk cartons, 5 years

•Filter-tip cigarettes, 10 to 12 years

•Plastic bags, 10 to 20 years

•Leather shoes, 24 to 40 years

•Plastic containers, 50 to 80 years

•Disposable diapers, 75 years

•Tin cans, 100 years

•Aluminum cans, 200 to 500 years

•Styrofoam, never

Link to Dear Abby

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AP: EPA takes first step toward climate change regs