*****UPDATE ALERT*****

Yesterday we had two guest speakers. The first one talked about end of life vehicles (ELV). These are exactly what they sound like – cars that have expired their designated usefulness. However, to say that they are useless would be wrong. At this point, the automobiles can be scarped for parts. Also, they contain some hazardous material such as mercury and motor fluids that must be removed prior to disposal. The rest of the car is sent to a shredder. From there what's left is called Automobile Shredder Residue (ASR). This contain a generous amount of recyclable material that can be separated and used as secondary raw material. The rest of it can be combusted in an incinerator to help generate electricity. So, as you can see, when Lightning McQueen from Disney's Car dies, he'll still be able to give back!

Our second speaker was an engineer from Italy's EPA equivalent. He discussed the work he was conducting involving the old Sardinian mines. These mines were opened, used, and abandoned without proper clean up. Therefore, the environment around them has suffered from high concentrations of unwanted chemicals. Our speaker's job requires him to evaluate these sites and develop a means of remediation to control the problem. He spoke about different sights throughout the island and provided an example of one that he worked on. On one of our excursions earlier in the dialogue, we witnessed some of these old mines from the bus window. Although there is a lot of work left to be done, the remediation is currently being funded by the Italian government, so it seems like it will continue until the problem is solved.

Today we went to a beach and I got a sunburn.