If you’ve often seen hawks or eagles soaring in the sky and wished you could see them up close - you’ve got the chance right now at the Springs Preserve.  Wings Over the Springs brings you face to face with some of the most fierce and fast predators in the wild - hawks, owls, falcons and eagles.

Airborne Raptors Unlimited cares for more than 40 birds of prey for education, breeding, and green pest control.  That’s right - these fearless hunters make for great pest abatement in fields and orchards - chasing away pesky birds and rodents which eat valuable crops.  Falconer Alyssa Collins, says because they are at the top of the food chain, these majestic birds are great barometers of the health of our ecosystem.  Remember the DDT poisoning of eagles and peregrines in the 70s?  That helped end the use of the toxic chemical in our farm fields and insect repellants.  Collins and fellow handler and trainer, Dave Kenellis, share the message of how important it is to save and protect these fine feathered creatures.

Believe it or not - they have personalities, too, and that helps make the show entertaining while informative.  There’s Lily, the recycling raven, who loves to put the aluminum can in the right spot.  And Sugar, the beautiful white Gyr Falcon, who’s in love with one of the handlers.  In fact, she’s picked him as her mate for life! (That would be a strange union, for sure!  But don’t tell Sugar that.)

You can watch these raptors soar every Saturday and Sunday - plus school holidays - through February at the Springs Preserve.  Shows are at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and are free with paid admission to the Springs.  But for an extra $10, you can get a backstage pass to really get a face off with the birds after the show!  I think it’s an encounter you’ll never forget.

Oftentimes people drop off their outdated, or no-longer working electronics at local charities - thinking they’re doing the right thing with them - but do you really know where those gadgets will end up?  Few of us ever follow up on the final resting place of that old tube TV.  While some organizations profit from selling the electronics to legitimate recyclers - a lot of them mistakenly sell to so-called recyclers who are just selling them to overseas markets where they wind up in toxic waste dumps.  Or - the gadgets get dumped right here at home because people don’t take the time to do the right thing.

Companies like All Green Electronics Recycling are committed to giving electronics a proper burial or a brand new life.  Many newer gadgets can be refurbished and reused, while others have to be “put down” so to speak.  All Green safely dismantles the parts and captures the valuable commodities of metals and plastics for the resale market.  Those commodities are purchased and used to make brand new electronics.  Arman Sedeghi founded All Green after seeing the horrible pictures of U.S. e-waste being dumped in third world countries.  He says someone has to take the lead in truly “green recycling” and it only makes good economic sense.

You can do your part by bringing your old TVs, computers, fax machines, printers, monitors, cell phones - even fans and toasters - to the Super Saturday Recycling Event at the Thomas & Mack, Saturday January 7th!  Anything that plugs in or takes batteries will be accepted.  A $10 fee will be charged for all TVs and monitors because they are more complicate to dismantle, but everything else is absolutely free!  And there will be free document shredding, too!  The event starts at 9 AM and runs until 4 PM.  So gather your gadgets and bring them down to the T&M!

All Green Electronics Recycling will be setting up business right here in Southern Nevada come February.  Their 25,000 square foot facility in North Las Vegas will start up hiring 30 new positions and eventually increasing to about 50 employees.  The jobs include dismantling to sales. If you’d like to apply, send your resume through e-mail to: jobs@allgreenrecycling.com.  And thanks for working green!

As you return those shiny ornaments to their green storage tubs and cardboard boxes for another year, think about what lies ahead for the towering evergreen which displayed them so proudly during the holidays.  An honorable end to another season well-served is only fitting.  So how about recycling your Christmas tree and help spread the mulch?

The Christmas Tree Recycling program has been alive and well for 10 years now in the Las Vegas Valley, and it grows bigger each year with a growing list of community partners, and as residents grow greener in their awareness of the value of keeping the trees out of the landfill.  And not only does it save valuable space in our landfill, but the cut trees are chipped and turn into good organic material for landscaping projects all over town! Mulch helps hold moisture in the soil and keep plants healthy.

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is a member of the Christmas Tree Recycling Committee, which has set up more than 20 drop-off sites around the valley to help make it convenient for you.  And it’s totally FREE!  Plus, just think - your Christmas tree could wind up in a park near you and you can visit it all year long!  How cool is that?  Collection continues until January 15th.

Have you got an old TV stuck away in the garage or back room closet that you’re just itching to unload?  How ’bout that clunker computer that you’re scared to get rid of because you’re not sure your private information has been securely erased?  You’re NOT alone and this upcoming recycling event is for you!

E-waste is becoming a huge burden for the environment.  Unwanted computers, old TV, printers, fax machines and cell phones are among the tech clutter that’s clogging our landfills.  And it’s such a valuable hazardous waste because so much of the internal materials bring good money on the resale market to make brand new electronics.  Copper, silver, platinum - even plastics - can all be recovered and used again in new gadgets.  Recycling electronics is good for business and it’s good for the planet. Currently seventeen states have banned electronics in landfills, but Nevada is not one of them.

8 News NOW, All Green Electronics Recycling, Cintas, and R.C. Willey are coming together Saturday, January 7th at the Thomas and Mack for the Super Saturday Recycling Event.  It starts at 9 AM and lasts until 4 PM.  TVs, computers, hard drives, monitors, keyboards, printers, fax machines, scanners, cell phones, even toasters and fans and more!  Anything that takes batteries or plugs in will be accepted.  You can even bring all your old documents for shredding by Cintas and it’s free!  The only charge at the event will be $10 for each TV, hard drive and monitor.  Those items take more time and attention to safely and responsibly recycle.  The first 400 cars will receive an R.C. Willey gift card.  But the best gift of all will be helping the planet by putting your electronics where they belong!

There seems to be a distinct difference between those who love the smell and tradition of a fresh cut Christmas tree, and those who like or need the convenience and cost-effectiveness of an artificial tree.  But which one is truly greener for the planet?  Environmentalists say that fresh farm-grown trees are the only natural and healthy way to celebrate the season.  There are pros and cons to each.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, there are 350 million trees planted on farms throughout the U.S..  About 10% of them will be cut, shipped and sold this year.  That leaves about 90% behind to keep harvesting carbon dioxide from our polluted atmosphere.  But according to a recent poll by CouponCabin.com, real tree sales are on the decline.  And that could be because of the convenience of fake trees.  Also, you pay for them only once and use them year after year - which keeps them out of the landfill, at least until you get a new one!

But artificial trees leave a larger carbon footprint, as the majority of them are made in China and shipped globally.  Also, some trees are made with metals or hazardous plastics.  And most of them get thrown away in the garbage when they’ve worn out their welcome.  But they could be passed on or donated to be re-used again - that’s really up to the tree owner.

Real trees clean our air, provide soil stability and thousands of jobs for farm and tree lot workers.  They also provide habitat for birds and animals.  But they are sometimes sprayed with pesticides to keep the insects away and you might be sensitive to those chemicals when you bring the tree into your home.  You also need to keep them watered to prevent drying out and becoming a fire hazard, plus they they get pretty messy at the end of their decorative life.  But they can be recycled into mulch for landscaping, IF they actually get dropped off at a recycling drop-off location.  The Southern Nevada Water Authority has been collecting trees after the holidays for a number of years now just for that purpose and the numbers have been increasing each year!  But there are still many people who choose to toss the tree to the curb for trash pick-up instead.

So, it really comes down to a personal preference between fake and fresh.  But if you weigh all the factors of sustainability, the fresh tree would probably win the blue ribbon for being the greenest.  Happy tree hunting!

For local Las Vegan, Tonya Jacobsen, she can finally see her beautiful artistic expression of fruits and vegetables carried by shoppers across three states!  As the winner of the Fresh & Easy Design-A-Bag contest earlier this year, part of the prize was using her design on the Neighborhood Markets’ reusable tote bags for sale in all of their Nevada, Arizona and California stores.  That day has finally come!

You’ll find the lightweight polypropylene in stores starting December 6.  They cost 99 cents.  Shoppers voted this colorful hand-painted Picasso of produce as their favorite out of ten finalists back in the summer.  The eco-conscious chain of grocery markets practices reduced energy and waste and encourages recycling, reusing and reducing to their customers.

Fresh & Easy also carries other handy reusable bags to discourage using plastic, like their Stay Cool insulated bag to keep chilled and frozen foods cool ’til your errand-running is done!  Also a handy pocket tote that folds up and fits in your purse or briefcase so you can carry it with you anywhere, anytime to hold just about anything that paper or plastic would otherwise be used for.  Check them out during your next trip to F&E.  You might just run into Tonya Jacobsen buying some of her “year’s worth of free groceries” she won as the other part of her grand prize!  Congrats Tonya.

This time of year, more FOGG - fat, oil, grease & grit - is produced from all of the holiday cooking.  Unfortunately, so many cooks pour that gunk right down the drain causing major sewer clogs and backups either in their own front yard, or somewhere down the road.  So the Clark County Water Reclamation District is saying, please “Don’t be a pain in the drain!” and recycle your cooking oil.

That’s right, starting tomorrow you can take your cooled cooked oil to the Las Vegas Springs Preserve and drop it off, where it will be recycled into bio-fuel.  Bio-fuel helps motor trucks, buses and other vehicles here in the valley. You can drop off your cooling oil at the South Ticketing Lot between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. starting Friday, Nov. 25 through Monday, Nov. 28.  Make sure you seal the container before you bring it.  The best container to use is probably the one you bought the oil in originally.

For smaller amounts of grease, oil and grit from holiday or daily cooking - use a small tin can, like a vegetable can, and when it’s full - just throw it in the garbage.  The Water Reclamation District will even give you free grease cans and funnels for reclaiming your grease and oil, just drop by and pick them up.  Dropping off your used cooking at the Springs is an easy stop while you’re out doing your Black Friday shopping.  And remember, it’s good for the planet and your plumbing!

The answer is definitively “Yes!” from a mother-daughter duo who is on a crusade to rid the planet of polluting plastic bags once and for all.  Gayle and Meghan Crowell started a company called, Conserving Now, which is completely dedicated to spreading the message of just how harmful plastics are on the environment.  And they’ve come up with some very clever ways to help us avoid using plastic bags by remembering to take our reusable bags everywhere we go.

The Mom and daughter team have created simple message reminders to help us remember to grab those reusable bags from the kitchen or car before heading off to the store.  A clever static cling - just like the little reminder to change your oil - goes in the car window or windshield.  Hopefully when you see it, it will trigger your memory to snag those bags from the backseat.  It also serves as a reminder for shoppers who are walking by your car to remind them to grab their reusable bags, too!  It’s absolutely FREE - just sign up and they’ll send you one!  If you don’t drive, there are handy door hangers for your home, apartment or office.  As well as key chains and durable canvas tote bags, plus stylish and sturdy Envirosax to suit every reuser’s personality.  The ladies give away some of those bags every now and again from their Facebook page, so give them a look and like them.

Most impressive of all, Gayle and Meghan use all profits from ConservingNow.com and put them into educational kits for the classroom.  Their goal is to help create a generation of kids who will never even think of using a plastic bag!  That’s hard to imagine, but they feel not impossible.  The Crowells feel that not using a plastic bag is a simple action that when done collectively by a large number of people can have a huge impact on our planet.  Makes sense!  Now where are my bags…..

Do you have a surefire method for remembering your bags?  Or do you need some helpful reminders?

The World Wildlife Federation is working to keep black rhinos on the planet.  Poaching in Africa is at all-time high - nearly 350 killed already this year - and if action is not taken, they will be wiped off the Earth for good.  WWF took steps to dart and relocate nearly two dozen of the critically endangered animals to a safer place in South Africa.  But it’s HOW the rhinos were transported that has people talking.

Rhinos don’t have wings, but they were definitely flying to a newly expanded conservation area in Madagascar.  Helicopters carried the behemoth beasts - blindfolded and toes up! - to their new range.  While it looked awkward and uncomfortable, wildlife experts say it was actually better than past transport methods because it was a quicker, more comfortable trip, which resulted into a much shorter time to keep the animals sedated.  While the rhinos may have been a little light-headed by the time they arrived, they were alive and well, with the hope they will thrive and safely repopulate the lands they’ve called home for eons.

What do you think about the flying rhinos?  Worth the expense?

Halloween decorations are barely down from the yard and already holiday lights are shining bright in the stores.  There’s a growing trend to use LED string lights for your holiday decorating, but the prices haven’t quite dropped enough for everyone’s wallet yet, so Home Depot is trying to make it a little more affordable to go green!  They are once again offering their Eco Options Christmas Lights Trade-in Event, where you can get a discount on new LED lights when you bring in your old ones.

LED lights promise to keep giving season after season with energy savings.  They burn cooler and last longer, so if you take care of them properly - they could last for years!  The technology is improving, too so you’ll see fun new styles like icicles, snowmen bulbs and even programmable and motion LED lights to decorate your yard and rooftops.

The trade-in program runs Nov. 3 through Nov. 13, and for each string of old working or non-working lights brought into the store - you receive a coupon for up to $5 off a new box of LED string lights.

The annual trade-in program runs Nov. 3 through Nov. 13.  Depending on the brand of new LED lights you purchase - Home Accents Holiday Lights, Martha Stewart Living or GE LED lights, or EcoSmart or Lightshow LED lights - you’ll get a $3, $4, or $5 coupon toward each box.  There is a 5 coupon limit per household.  And besides saving cash and energy, you’ll also be saving space in the landfill because Home Depot will turn in and recycle each string of old lights you bring in to trade.  That’s a great gift for the planet this holiday!

What do you think about LED lights?  Have you used them before?  Would you try them this year?