Eco-Friendly Car Washing By Hand or at the Car Wash

Few people realize that washing our cars in our driveways is one of the most environmentally un-friendly chores we can do around the house. Unlike household wastewater that enters sewers or septic systems and undergoes treatment before it is discharged into the environment, what runs off from your car sweeps down your driveway (an impervious surface) and goes right into storm drains—and eventually into rivers, streams, creeks and wetlands where it poisons aquatic life and wreaks other ecosystem havoc. After all, that water is loaded with a witch’s brew of gasoline, oil, and residues from exhaust fumes—as well as the harsh detergents being used for the washing itself. Commercial Car Washes Treat Waste Water On the other hand, federal laws in both the U.S. and Canada require commercial carwash facilities to drain their wastewater into sewer systems, so it gets treated before it is discharged back into the great outdoors. And commercial car washes use computer controlled systems and high-pressure nozzles and pumps that minimize water usage. Many also recycle and re-use the rinse water. The International Carwash Association, an industry group representing commercial car wash companies, reports that automatic car washes use less than half the water of even the most careful home car washer. According to one report, washing a car at home typically uses between 80 and 140 gallons of water, while a commercial car wash averages less than 45 gallons per car. Think Green When Washing Your Car If you must wash your car at home, choose a biodegradable soap specifically formulated for automotive parts, such as Simple Green’s Car Wash or Gliptone’s Wash ‘n Glow. Or you can make your own biodegradable car wash by mixing one cup of liquid dishwashing detergent and 3/4 cup of powdered laundry detergent (each should be chlorine- and phosphate-free and non-petroleum-based) with three gallons of water. This concentrate can then be used sparingly with water over exterior car surfaces. Even when using green-friendly cleaners, it is better to avoid the driveway and instead wash your car on your lawn or over dirt so that the toxic wastewater can be absorbed and neutralized in soil instead of flowing directly into storm drains or open water bodies. Also, try to sop up or disperse those sudsy puddles that remain after you’re done. They contain toxic residues and can tempt thirsty animals. Waterless Car Wash Products are Good for Small Jobs One way to avoid such problems altogether is to wash your car using any number of waterless formulas available, which are especially handy for spot cleaning and are applied via spray bottle and then wiped off with a cloth. Freedom Waterless Car Wash is a leading product in this growing field. A Better Car Wash Option for Fundraising One last caution: Kids and parents planning a fundraising car wash event should know that they might be violating clean water laws if the run-off is not contained and disposed of properly. Washington’s Puget Sound Carwash Association, for one, allows fund-raisers to sell tickets redeemable at local car washes, enabling the organizations to still make money while keeping dry and keeping local waterways clean. EarthTalk is a regular feature of E/The Environmental Magazine. Selected EarthTalk columns are reprinted on ThoughtCo by permission of the editors of E. Edited by Frederic Beaudry.

Plato and Confucius - 4610 Words

Separated by more than 8500 kilometers but only 52 years, two seminal thinkers have shaped the moral philosophy of their respective cultures. While Western ethical theory has been deeply influenced by Plato’s Republic, Eastern ethical theory has been deeply influenced by Confucius’s Analects. David Haberman describes the Republic as ‘one of the most influential books of all time’ (86). And Bryan Van Norden compares (with considerable fervor) the Analects to ‘the combined influence of Jesus and Socrates’ (3). On the surface, there are many similarities between Confucius and Plato. Both taught through means of dialogue, and both expressed reticence to provide direct definitions. Both advocated contemplation and education as the means for†¦show more content†¦The term seems to have a more ethical meaning. Some have argued that it is better translated as ‘goodness’10 or ‘love,’11 but these terms fail to capture the ‘completeness’ of Confucius’s meaning.12 Kwon-Loi Shun claims the meaning of the original word itself is clouded by ‘competing views.’ He states that ‘in the Analects ren is used both more narrowly to refer to one desirable quality among others, and more broadly to refer to an all-encompassing ethical ideal’ (53). While Confucius’s definition of ren is not explicitly stated, it is intimated, and its parallels with dikaiosune are notable: 1. Confuciuss concept of ren entails a wide scope of meaning. It is ‘described as something that includes other desirable qualities’ (Kwong-Loi Shun: 53).13 2. But it is also listed as one desirable quality among others such as courage and wisdom (W9.29, W14.28). 3. Ren is a virtue, which regulates our relationships with others. Confucius said the ‘direction which unifies everything’ and the ‘single saying that can keep watch on one’s actions throughout one’s life is this: considerateness – that which one disfavors, apply not to others’ (W4.15, W12.2, W15.24). Essay – Plato vs. Confucius 5 4. Ren is related to harmony: harmony of the individual within ‘the social framework of the ideal state’ (Jiuan-Yu: 327). ‘The central Confucian idea is represented by a Chinese character that has been explained pictographically as consisting of two parts: the componentShow MoreRelatedEssay on Confucius and Plato843 Words   |  4 Pages Confucius and Plato nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Confucius and Plato are two of the most respected and most widely studied teachers of history. There philosophies of how people should be governed and what characteristics make for a good leader. Both men’s ideas are good for the civilizations that they lived in, and they shared many similarities in their ideas. My own ideas of an ideal leader are a mixture of these two men’s ideas. The personal experiences of both men also play a key role in howRead More Plato and Confucius Essay2913 Words   |  12 PagesPlato and Confucius There are thousands of credible philosophers for people to study today, therefore the choice of who to study becomes a burdening task. Each single one has amazing knowledge and insight that we could all learn something from. There are people who don’t call themselves philosophers but bring philosophical thought to us, and then there are those who dedicate their lives to the love of wisdom. Philosophers have existed for thousands of years, and as long as the sun comes up, thereRead More Plato Contrasted with Confucius Essay1245 Words   |  5 PagesPlato Contrasted with Confucius Since the early beginnings of society, in which people began living in gathered communities, there can be seen a constant progression, upon a steady time line, of the increased order of the organization of society. However, this is not the kind of progress that was sought by two widely known philosophers and teachers, Plato and Confucius. The kind of social reform and alteration displayed in the teachings and writings of both of these men, examine a movementRead MoreThe Political Theories Of The Notorious Philosophers- Confucius959 Words   |  4 PagesThe political theories of the notorious philosophers— Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Marx, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau— have significantly impacted the American Political System of today through their timeless appeal. If these philosophers were alive today, what would their perception be of the American Political System to date? Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, in 551 BCE - 479 BCE created Confucianism, centered upon restoring â€Å"peace and order.† According to Simon WorrallRead MoreConfucius, Aristotle, Aquinas, And Erasmus1713 Words   |  7 PagesConfucius, Plato, Aristotle, Quintilian, Aquinas, and Erasmus As a Christian educator, it is important to base educational practices on Biblical authority. Christian education should teach students to learn to act like God and to do His work (Graham, 2003). â€Å"True education is to develop knowledge of God and His created reality and to use that knowledge in exercising a creative-redemptive dominion over the world . . . â€Å" (Graham, 2003, p. 57). Being a Christian educator, does not mean that organizationalRead MoreSocrates And Confucius As Teachers3484 Words   |  14 PagesSocrates and Confucius as Educators Neither Confucius nor Socrates were regarded widely in their lifetimes as highly valuable and distinguished men. Their fates were colored with tragic hues, but their ethics have survived them and become immortalized as treasures of world culture. Socrates had a formative influence on Western philosophy, and he emphasized logical method, the meaning of human experience, and the quest for eudaimonia through moral excellence. His famous paradox, that no one does wrongRead MoreThe Tenants Of A Foolproof Governmental System2264 Words   |  10 Pagesand grow? These are hard questions to answer, but there have been a few key figures in history who have tried to answer them. Among the earliest texts on this topic, Confucius’ Analects give some key insights into the topic. He seems to think the key to this perfect government is for the leader and the people to be a â€Å"gentleman†. Plato brings a more detailed view on the topic with his The Republic. He decides that the key i s to have everyone specialized in the job they have the most aptitude in. ThenRead MoreAnalects Of Confucius997 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"fengshui† beard, Confucius remains one of Asia’s most highly regarded philosophers of all time. Today Confucianism is considered a way of life rather than a religion. This view of Confucianism is the very foundation of Confucius’s teachings. In The Analects of Confucius, readers are often directed by Confucius himself, regarding appropriate and virtuous manners throughout their lives. The  Analects  depicts Confucius as someone who transmits but not create [†¦] (7:1, Analects). What Confucius claimed toRead MoreThe Philosophy Of Philosophy And Philosophy998 Words   |  4 Pagescharacteristics that make a government a perfect government is doing philosophy. One of the most well known and influential philosophers of the world, Plato, concluded the following about the value philosophy: the knowledge or value that philosophy produces â€Å"is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source† (Plato 3). By doing philosophy, however minuscule or grand the subject of inquiry may be, a philosopher has the ability to obtain an understandingRead MoreReview of Personalities and Problems1573 Words   |  7 Pageseffective way to govern people. This is just one example of how he states the differences of the two personalities he discusses in a chapter. When Wolfe discusses Confucius and Plato, he states first states that they both agree that only virtuous people could create a peaceful community, but Confucius believed that all humans were good, and Plato believed that people were too easily deceived by greed. I have to say personally that this work is very important for a couple of reasons. I feel that the

Discipline and Obedience from the Montessori Perspective free essay sample

Discipline from a Montessorian perspective is a maturational process, it starts from birth and will be reached by the age of 6 or 7 years. â€Å"Let us always remember that inner discipline is something to come and not something already present. † (Montessori, 1988, p. 240) Discipline develops naturally in a child, through the opportunity to act freely and spontaneously within a favourable environment. It is this favourable environment that nurtures the childs natural drive to independence and to adopt a behaviour that is beneficial to him/her. It helps the child and offers him/herself experiences to develop from within himself/herself the capacity for order, self control. If we look back to when a child is born all his actions are driven solely by a hormic impulse, an inner guide that directs the child towards independence, an urge to satisfy his own human tendencies. The actions are not reliant on the conscious will of the child to do something, but reliant upon a natural development, an unconscious urge which stimulates â€Å"the child to face the outer world and absorb it. We will write a custom essay sample on Discipline and Obedience from the Montessori Perspective or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page (Montessori, 1988, p. 77) This is evident in a young child who does not have the ability to share, or to control his/her natural impulse to snatch from another child that which he/she wants. It can be seen when a child is only able to obey a command when it is in compliance with, or when it meets his/her own needs or wants and is working in parallel with their hormic impulses. We must always allow the child the independence they desire to carry out their task and avoid stepping in when we see they are about to make a mistake. This will only help to delay their development and divert them from their natural path to self discipline. In the favourable environment the child is allowed to act independently and is given a freedom within limits. These limits take the form of ground rules. Ground rules are the parameters of acceptable behaviour, they are not there to limit the behaviour of the child, but to give him/her a freedom within those limits. They need to be established for the sake of the childs emotional well being and physical safety within an environment. They need to be consistent in order for the child to know what is expected of him/her and to nurture a sense of social cohesion and fairness. â€Å"A childs liberty should have as its limits the interests of the group to which he belongs.. we should therefore prevent a child from doing anything which may offend or hurt others. † (Montessori, 1972, p. 49-50) Everything in the favourable environment is child size and accessible. Materials and apparatus are all freely available for the child to choose from, enabling him/her to fulfil a desire, or to satisfy his/her inner motivation to carry out a particular task. Initially the childs actions will be driven by an unconscious urge, an impulse directing them towards an activity that they find interesting or one that is useful to their natural path of development. In the Montessori environment all the exercises are presented in a structured, orderly way and the child, through demonstrations and instruction, is educated in how to use the materials. When he/she is finished with the activity, he/she returns the apparatus back to its allocated place, keeping the order within the environment. All the materials contain a control of error, avoiding the need for a teacher to highlight the childs mistake, allowing him/her the freedom to correct himself/herself, with out the need for adult intervention. He/she is then left and allowed the freedom to carry out his/her task, as many times as he/she wants, for as long as he/she wants without any unnecessary interruptions. With this constant cycle of activity begins a process and through the many repetitions of the exercise the child gradually becomes aware, and conscious of his/her actions that his/her hands are performing. Through this awareness, his/her actions can no longer be considered a product of an inner desire, but have become actions performed with a consciousness and deliberation. â€Å"That which at first was but a vital impulse (horme) has become a deliberate act. The childs first movements where instinctive. Now he acts consciously and voluntarily and with this comes the awakening of the spirit. † (Montessori, 1988, p. 231) From observations made by Maria Montessori we have come to the understanding that discipline is a maturational process and can not be present in a child who has yet to develop his/her own will. Montessori, 1988, p. 234) â€Å".. will is the prior foundation in the order of development and obedience is the later stage resting on this foundation. † So obedience is reliant upon the child being in control of his/her actions and in having the ability to direct himself to a more constructive, beneficial behaviour. We would not expect a child to run before he/she could walk, he/she is physically incapable and we would not scold a baby for failing to carry out a command to run. So it is impossible to expect a child to be obedient with out having developed the means or the will to do so. Eventually, as the child develops further and after gaining much experience through his/her many interactions with the environment, his/her conscious will will begin to govern his/her behaviour and the development of discipline and obedience will begin to take place. With regards to the development of the will, Maria Montessori says, â€Å"Its development is a slow process that evolves through a continuous activity in relationship with the environment. (Montessori, 1988, p. 231). Self discipline is evident in a child when he/she has the ability to control his/her actions and ask for, or wait, for an item they desire, rather than just snatching it from anothers hand. They will also be able to share and negotiate and say no to people in a polite way. The development of obedience takes place in three stages and as we have discussed previously, it is a maturational process that will not be reached before the age of 6 or 7. In the first level from birth to 3 years the child cannot be influenced directly. The child only obeys what he/she is asked for if it complies with their needs at that time, or is something that feeds their hormic impulses or if it satisfies a natural urge. So within a Montessori environment the child is freely able to choose from the apparatus available, but he/she is only presented with an array of choices that are acceptable, useful to the child, and are valued by the teacher. The second level which is reached by the age of 3, is when the child obeys, on the condition that what we ask of them, is within their capabilities. They are now able to process information intelligently and act accordingly. They have developed an amount of self discipline that allows them to comply with those instructions that are not always in keeping with what they want to do. However sometimes they will not obey if they have a genuine reason eg, I am playing with.. , or I am doing The third level of obedience occurs when the childs will power is highly developed and takes place around the age of 6 or 7 years. It is an obedience developed out of respect for the people he/she admires and towards those who will help him/her along the continuous path of development. The child now obeys without questioning. Discipline, will and obedience are all characteristics of a period of development called the Socio Embryonic Stage (3-6 years) (Montessori (1988) believed that a child passes through several stages of development, the Socio Embryonic being one of them) This is a stage of a childs development where we witness the child passing through the sensitive periods for refinement of the senses and socialisation. It is a period relevant to much of what we have been discussing with regards to the development of the will and its relationship to discipline and obedience. The child is now passing from the unconscious absorbent mind to the conscious absorbent mind and will start to categorise the information he gained during his unconscious absorbent mind. By this stage he has developed the conscious will. It is a period of time where the child has developed a conscious will, he is able to control his/her actions and can to look at things from anothers point of view, he is growing out of egocentricity thinking. He/she is at the stage when they can understand social rules and frames and take responsibility for their actions. They are able to co-ordinate body and mind and are aware of the effect their behaviour has on others in their environment. The child has been exposed to various experiences that have helped him/her to follow a natural path of development towards discipline and obedience. The conscious will has been developed through continuous movement and activity and the chance to act independently and freely within the environment, â€Å"Conscious will is a power which develops with use and activity. † (Montessori, 1988, p. 31) We can see how the maturational process has been allowed to develop and the childs will to unfold over a period of time and activity. The childs needs have been met and he/she has arrived at the destination that is will, discipline and obedience. Independence, movement and conscious action are the seeds of discipline and its fruit is obedience. â€Å"The power to obey is the last phase in the development of the will, which in turn has made obedience possible. † (Montessori, 1988, p. 239) .

Through The History Of The United States There Have Been A Countless N

Through the history of the United States there have been a countless numbers of poets. With them came an equal number of writing styles. Certainly one of the most unique poets to write life's story through his own view of the world and with the ambition to do it was Walter Whitman. Greatly criticized by many readers of his work, Whitman was not a man to be deterred. Soon he would show the world that he had a voice, and that it spoke with a poet's words. Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. Thus Whitman began his "Song of the Open Road". This paper will attempt to describe his life and poetry in a way that does justice to the path he chose. He was a man who grew up impoverished, who wrote from his experiences, and who tried to lift his fellow men above life's trivialities. These are the points to be discussed on these pages. To know the essence of Walter Whitman, you would have to understand the heart of his writing. For he is in his pen. Walter Whitman was born in West Hills, Long Island, New York, on May 31, 1819 . He did not have much opportunity for education in his early life. His parents were mostly poor and illiterate- his father a laborer, while his mother was a devout Quaker. Whitman was one of nine children and little is known about his youth except that two of his siblings were imbeciles. No wonder he demonstrated such an insight for life in his poems. In 1830, at the age of eleven, he worked as an office boy for a lawyer, where he learned the printing trade. Whitman would soon take up teaching at various schools in Long Island. He also engaged in carpentry and house building while he edited newspapers. His early years seemed to show an active interest in working with the public. Whitman at one time accepted a job with a New Orleans newspaper, and in doing so exposed himself to a great deal of the country. Getting to New Orleans required traveling over the Cumberland Gap and down rivers, of which he later wrote. America seemed to be both his home and inspiration. In "Calamus", part of his single book, Leaves of Grass, he writes of Louisiana as a "live oak growing", thus showing the joy he felt in everything he saw . In short, Whitman lived trough the nation's heroic age, at a time when people had to be (or seemed to be) a little more than life-size to accomplish all the deeds they undertook. It was natural that Whitman, with his genius and metaphysical inclinations, should have drifted into journalism, a profession that could make some demands on his native endowments. As much as he was a traveler, he was also a man of the people. In one of his reviews, he described himself as "never on platforms amid the crowds of clergymen, or professors, or aldermen, or co ngressmen- rather down in the bay with pilots in their pilot boats- or off on a cruise with fishers in a fishing smack- or writing on a Broadway omnibus, side by side with the driver- or with a band of loungers over the open grounds of the country- fond of New York and Brooklyn- fond of the life of the great ferries." Whitman obviously felt a kinship with his country, and later exhibited this in his writings. He also was not a man to follow others. "Self-reliant, with haughty eyes, assuming to himself all the attributes of his country, steps Walt Whitman into literature, talking like a man unaware that there was ever hitherto such a production as a book, or such a being as a writer". Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published on the fourth of July in 1855. He was thirty-six years old, not yet a published writer, and could not find any company willing to take a chance on his unusual style. His experience in newspapers allowed him to help publish his work himself, even setting up some of the type and distributing