Recycle Wireless Phones - http://www.recyclewirelessphones.com - Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA*) and its member companies are committed to goal of sustainable development and environmentally sound management of their wireless products at end-of-life. Through its Wireless . . . The New Recyclable program, CTIA is educating public on options available for properly recycling used wireless devices. The program seeks to promote collection of used wireless devices and ensure that collected wireless products will be managed properly. The site provides a directory of collection options.

AT&T Wireless - http://www.attwireless.com/our_company/cares/recycle_program.jhtml - Through AT&T Wireless Reuse & Recycle program, consumers are invited to bring unwanted wireless phones, accessories and batteries (regardless of manufacturer or carrier) to an AT&T Wireless retail store for recycling. AT&T Wireless is first wireless carrier to partner with Keep America Beautiful, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that focuses on waste impact minimization, litter prevention, beautification, community improvement and improvement of public places. Proceeds from recycling of wireless phones, batteries and accessories are donated to Keep America Beautiful.

Call2Recycle - http://www.call2recycle.org/ - RBRC’s Call2Recycle™ program collects used cellular phones to benefit environment and charitable organizations. With help of consumers and 30,000 participating retail locations, RBRC's do their part in helping to keep cell phones out of landfills.

HopeLine - http://www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline - The HopeLine phone recycling program is an exclusive program that uses wireless services and equipment to assist victims in emergency domestic violence situations. HopeLine collects wireless phones that are no longer being used. The used phones are either refurbished and recycled or sold. With funds raised from sale of refurbished phones, Verizon Wireless purchases wireless phones and donates airtime to victims of domestic violence through human services and law enforcement agencies.

About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a company specializing in alphanumeric paging, SMS and wireless messaging software solutions. Other sites by Sharon can be found at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com , and http://www.small-business-software.net

Natives and Urban Landscapes There are many native trees and shrubs used in our landscapes. Maples, oaks, locust, poplars, willows, catalpa, birch, junipers, and many more native species are extensively used. Unfortunately plant breeders and propagators discovered how to “sex-out” trees and shrubs. They learned to use only male plants, ironically, as “mother plants,” as source for their scion wood for asexual propagation. First they just used male plants from dioecious (separate-sexed) species, but later they learned how to produce all-male clones from species that in Nature were never unisexual (the monoecious species). For example, Honey Locust trees, (Gleditsia triacanthos) are native to our Southeastern US. Look at these trees in wild and you will see that all of them are almost always covered with long seedpods. But go to a nursery now and look at Honey Locust trees for sale. The ones on sale now are called “seedless” and they are in effect, all-male clones. What exactly is effect of using all male cloned trees and shrubs in our landscapes? Very simply, this translates to an excess of allergenic pollen. Only male flowers produce this airborne pollen. Unisexual female flowers produce no pollen.

Why Emphasis on Male Plants? Horticulturists knew that female plants produced seeds, seedpods, and fruit. This “litter” fell on sidewalks and created a “mess.” By using only asexually (no sex involved) propagated cultivars (cultivated varieties), they were able to create “litter-free” landscapes. These required less maintenance and were (and still are) very popular with city arborists and public. In US today, four of five of top-selling street tree cultivars are male clones. Female flowers (pistillate) on female trees or shrubs produce an electrical (-) current. Their stigmas are broad and sticky. Airborne pollen from male plants has a negative electrical impulse before release and a positive charge after release, and this pollen is light and dry. Because of + and – electrical charges pollen and stigmas are drawn to each other. They are mutually attractive. Mother Nature saw to it that pollen would land, and stick, exactly where it was needed. Female plants are nature’s pollen traps, our natural air-cleaners. Today though, most of female plants are long gone from our landscapes. The pollen from males floats about, seeking a moist, sticky, positive-charged target. We humans emit a positive electrical charge, and our mucus membranes, our eyes, skin and especially linings of our nose and throat, now trap this wayward pollen. We have become targets Allergy develops from repeated over-exposure to same allergens. If your own yard is full of pollen-pumping trees and shrubs, you and your family are ones who will be exposed most.