About Keeping Our World Green | Joseph Merlo On Saving Our Environment
Joseph Merlo has been working toward greening the planet for over thirty years. In this series, Joseph Merlo discusses some effective ways to conserve, reuse, and recycle.
Joseph Merlo is an industrial energy conservation expert. In his professional capacity, Joseph Merlo designs facility-wide systems that significantly reduce the energy consumption and waste of large buildings. Joseph Merlo founded Energy Automation Systems, Inc., to deliver energy efficiency technology wherever it is needed worldwide. While creating energy conservation systems for industrial applications, Joseph Merlo has developed a keen eye for opportunities to save energy in other arenas.
When purchasing goods, said Joseph Merlo, buy smart. Joseph Merlo recommends shopping for long lasting appliances that save energy, preferably Energy Star rated equipment. Joseph Merlo also suggests purchasing electronics that provide good warranties. Joseph Merlo also informs readers that the semi precious minerals, metals, and plastics used to create consumer electronics are very difficult to dispose of and recycle. For this reason, Joseph Merlo suggests buying electronics that will last a long time. In this way, Joseph Merlo points out that we can avoid flooding landfills with a multitude of cheap, worthless electronics.
Joseph Merlo says to reuse things and get in the habit of purchasing reusable things. On the most basic level, adds Joseph Merlo, reusing can mean keeping scrap paper and envelopes for letters, notepaper and to make shopping lists. Ribbons and tissue paper, notes Joseph Merlo, can be reused for gift giving. Joseph Merlo adds that cardboard boxes can be saved and reused for storage and moving. Even colored paper and egg cartons, notes Joseph Merlo, can be reused for arts and crafts.
Along the same lines, continues Joseph Merlo, it is not necessary to buy new clothes every year. If replacing old clothes, notes Joseph Merlo, those old clothes are seldom worn out. What usually happens, says Joseph Merlo, is that the consumer gets tired of the old clothes and replaces them. Rather than throw them out, Joseph Merlo suggests donating them to charity organizations, friends and relatives, or consignment shops.
Joseph Merlo explains that conservation and reuse are philosophies, not products. For this reason, Joseph Merlo says it is tough sometimes for product minded consumers to get the hang of these philosophies. Joseph Merlo points out that consumers have been taught that each product and experience comes with its own disposable packaging. Joseph Merlo adds it does not have to be true that each thing a person buys creates its own junk. The philosophies of conservation and reuse, concludes Joseph Merlo, work contrary to the wasteful philosophy of American consumerism.