I noticed these beer bottles and cans as I headed up the parking ramp this morning. I don’t think I can reach them, but I wish I could recycle them. They can be used in new container, brick and ceramic manufacture. Or, I could just give them to one of two friends who make homemade beer. (I actually find it rather sweet that the drinkers bothered to place them so carefully above their heads, rather than leave them on the parking ramp floor where they'd probably break and then be harder to dispose of. Or, maybe they forgot them, having intended to remove them, but after a few too many, well, you know.)
Speaking of brown things and cleaning up, have you heard of brownfields? I hadn’t until reading about them this morning on our University’s home page. I’ve heard of neighborhoods cleaning up empty lots and turning them into parks, but this is more. Apparently I’m a little slow on the uptake, because according to wiki, the term has been around since 1992 and the first EPA funded project was in 1994.
According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), “Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.”
Here at MSU, our Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, in partnership with DaimlerChrysler, is looking into ways brownfields can grow crops for biofuels. They’re looking into growing oilseed crops like soybeans, sunflower and canola, and other crops such as corn and switchgrass on abandoned industrial sites for use in ethanol or biodiesel fuel production. Many other organizations have been cleaning up brownfields for a while.
I am excited to hear about ways researchers, businesses and communities are cooperating to work smarter to care for our poor abused mother earth.
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