Environmental Stewarding Archives - Ed Paul, Virginia Beach

Last updated on February 9th, 2020

This past week I saw recycling in the news in a few different ways. Three ways include recycled political news, recycling people through prison reform at a correctional facility in Chesapeake, VA, and new online guidelines for recycling waste in Hampton Roads.

Recycled Political News

With the impeachment hearings, there has been a lot of recycled news and opionions. Democrat politicians and liberal media sources recycle the narritive that Trump must have done something wrong worthy of impeachment. This is despite there being no evidence revealed of a crime being comitted. Republican politicians and conservative media sources recycle the point that the inquiry designed by the Democratic majority unfairly limits their ability to investigate. If your political conversations seem to go in circles, you may want to check out the book, “I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations.”

Recycling People

Most states designed prison/jail systems in the United States primarily and sometimes solely as a penal system. They simply punish those who broke the law. The better places use a corrections institute concept where prisons also give training to prevent future law breaking.

I saw a sign on a used car dealership: “Jesus recycles people, we recycle cars.” We should design prison systems to deter criminal activity. There are lots of Christian charities that help reform prisoners while they are in prison. For example, Good News Jail and Prison Ministry – Hampton Roads Regional Jail and Saints Prison Ministry. Also they partner with chuches like Tidewater Baptist. Some help them before and after they get out; like Prison Fellowship. Some prisons do more of this than others.

One example is the Chesapeake, VA system; The Virginian-Pilot Digital Edition wrote a piece about it: Law & order: Hampton Roads. Also consider the Democratic Virginia Attourney General from The Virginian-Pilot Digital Edition: Justice reform needs to be a priority in Virginia.

Recycling Stuff

Hampton Roads Recycling Guide – Have you been guilty of throwing trash into recycling bins? That is a waste of time, energy, and money. If it happens enough, the contamination could result in a lot be unrecyclable. When done right, re-using, reducing, and recycling conserves resources. General guideline is to only put paper, drinking bottles, and cans into recycling, but additional rules can apply. Avoid wishful recycling, only put in what will help.

Recent Response to Flooding

Government response to the disaster seems well managed. Emergency personnel rescued thousands of people from flooded areas. Also reporting on the aftermath indicates most people heeded government warnings to evacuate

Problems in Flooding and Disaster Preparedness

There appears to be a lack in two areas of preparedness. First, limited notification of flooded roadways. This resulted in some vehicles lost on flooded roads. Second, thousands of people lacked a good plan and/or execution of evacuation and recovery after the disaster hit.

Corporate Help for Flooding and Disaster Preparedness

I read a few articles in The Virginia Pilot today that addressed managing flooding and disasters. First of all, one article by Peter Coutu talked about the Norfolk company Green Stream and their product to monitor flooding. The flood sensors are solar powered and rugged. Also they are Internet connected to send alerts to the local community. Coutu wrote, “Each one costs about $500, Lindquist said. That’s significantly less than the sensors used by NOAA or USGS, which can be up to $20,000 she said.”

If you live in a community with a history of flooding, please contact your community groups and city government about installing these sensors to help protect lives and property.

Government Help for Flooding and Disaster Preparedness

Secondly, an article by Dave Gammon focused on government climate policy solutions. He urged politicians to work together and honestly consider conservative and liberal climate policy solutions. I applaud his desire for honest cooperation to generate government policy. People should encourage politicians to use science based solutions.

Though he pointed out some flaws in liberal and conservative thought, I found some flaws in his article. Liberal media and politicians promote the term “climate change”. The public realized that scientists failed to prove man-made “global warming” is a global threat. So liberals replaced the term “global warming” with “climate change.” The problem with the term “climate change” is that the climate is always changing as there are four seasons. Mr. Gammon seems to assume that our use of fossil fuels significantly contributes to rising sea levels. This has not yet been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. This leads to the assumption that mankind can impact climate change by changing our energy sources.

The government should encourage the use of renewable energy by using it for government facilities. Also, government should not require its use by the public. Our government should focus on addressing pollution proven to be harmful to people and the environment. Power companies should make the costs for cleanup of toxic waste more apparent to rate payers. Also government could increase fees or fines on fossil fuel use by power companies.

When it comes to flooding, government at all levels should take reasonable measures to reduce the impact of flooding and encourage people to avoid developing property in flood prone areas. Government should improve flood zone mapping and adjust flood insurance costs to more accurately reflect recovery costs in flood zones.