{"id":232810,"date":"2026-04-15T14:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/232810\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:55:13","slug":"power-to-the-planet-florida-weekly-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/232810\/","title":{"rendered":"Power to the planet – Florida Weekly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\n<\/p>\n

For 56 years, the lessons of Earth Day have boiled down to this: First, environmental progress happens through each of us, and not ultimately because of government actions, large-group efforts, or corporate enterprises.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes down to how we think as consumers,\u201d says Jennifer O\u2019Brien, executive director of Resource Depot in West Palm Beach (www.resourcedepot.org<\/a>). Resource Depot is self-described as \u201ca resource wonderland and learning center where materials are revived, repurposed and redistributed to those committed to creative exploration.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

A nonprofit organization, Resource Depot champions \u201cenvironmental sustainability and creativity through reuse and education programs.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jennifer O\u2019Brien, executive director of Resource Depot. Her T-shirt says, REUSE because you can\u2019t recycle the planet. -RESOURCE DEPOT \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

Reuse of what? Of anything that might end up in the waste stream, when a thoughtful little effort could keep it in service.\n<\/p>\n

And that takes willing, creative-minded people. Earth Day\u2019s 2026 theme, \u201cOur Power, Our Planet,\u201d points to a notion long shared by Resource Depot and many others: \u201cEnvironmental progress doesn\u2019t depend on any single administration or election.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Many people recognize that truth on Earth Day, which is why its organizers call it \u201cthe world\u2019s largest civic observance.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

From toilet paper tubes to old U-Haul trailers \u2014 from uses as small as seed planters or objets d\u2019art to comfortable homes \u2014 each of us can help resist and reduce the waste stream generated by individuals and communities if we find new ways to use common objects, O\u2019Brien explains.\n<\/p>\n

To do that, \u201cResource Depot redistributes discarded items to teachers, artists, families, and other nonprofits; hosts workshops and community events; and collaborates with educators.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Escape the waste<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a second lesson, too, borne out by 56 years of experience and hugely increasing volumes of waste in America and abroad: \u201cWe are all in this together,\u201d says Alex Eaves, founder of Escape the Waste (www.escapethewaste.com<\/a>), an \u201cedutainment\u201d company as he describes it, based in Massachusetts. He has worked with O\u2019Brien and Resource Depot in the past to help educate and entertain Floridians.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will sound like the most hippy-dippy thing out there, but picture anything you like to do,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, picture doing it without a planet. You can\u2019t get a Lamborghini without a planet. You can\u2019t go hunting without a planet. It has to be part of everyone\u2019s thought process.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re left or right, a Republican or a Democrat, a capitalist or an environmentalist, a conformist or a nonconformist; what you do, what you use and consume, affects everybody else, Eaves contends.\n<\/p>\n

His words are simple, but his complex thinking and disciplined living in response to the question of how we acquire and consume led to his career \u2014 an extension of his life \u2014 as a teacher of reuse. Like O\u2019Brien, he teaches people how to resist the growing waste stream in America by offering them positive solutions they can live with.\n<\/p>\n

An author and documentarian, Eaves met O\u2019Brien at a conference, after which she asked him to come introduce his second documentary from 2022, \u201cThe Box Truck Film: Building a Reuseful Home,\u201d at a Resource Depot event.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Resource Depot in West Palm Beach champions environmental sustainability and creativity through reuse and education programs. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

His first film, \u201cREUSE! Because You Can\u2019t Recycle the Planet\u201d (2015), brought him awards and acclaim. The second led to his current life on the road, teaching.\n<\/p>\n

In the film, Eaves documents his work journey in turning an old, 17-foot U-Haul into his 96-square-foot tiny home. It seems to have everything, including complete bathroom facilities.\n<\/p>\n

How does he do that?, a reporter asked.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a completely waterproof bathroom in the truck with a composting toilet. When I shower, the toilet lifts out. Check out the film, and you can see it all (www.boxtruckfilm.com<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n

Why live in a truck, drive to Florida, and tell people about it?\n<\/p>\n

Saving resources and trying not to be a hypocrite, he says.\n<\/p>\n

It started 22 years ago, when he was still working in the music industry, touring with bands from small to famous (Huey Lewis and the News, on one occasion) as a member of the support staff.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alex Eaves turned this empty 17-foot U-Haul into a comfortable 98-square-foot home. Everything in it is reused. -ALEX EAVES \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

There was so much waste in clothes, posters, stickers \u2014 everything, he recalls.\n<\/p>\n

Then one day, \u201cI realized what happens when T-shirts get printed incorrectly \u2014 they get destroyed. Shredded.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He comes from parents who collected everything and started countless projects they didn\u2019t finish. (His dad was a Vietnam veteran with severe PTSD, so there were sometimes good reasons he couldn\u2019t finish projects.)\n<\/p>\n

The waste on the tours, especially of those T-shirts, bothered him, he says, and so did the notion of not being able to fix the problem.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blew my mind \u2014 as a lifelong problem solver, I need to put this problem together with a solution \u2014 a reuse T-shirt idea. So, I sold them for my brand at concerts.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He began to think about the world differently, he acknowledges.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWaste was everywhere, and in every decision I made on a daily basis, I could choose to make a little waste or not make a little more waste.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

His life had taken a new turn. He started a skateboard company, Stay Vocal, producing reused boards, and then he moved to a reused garment brand and T-shirt company, expanding it to teach without being a hypocrite.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI figured if I was going around teaching this, I had to live it,\u201d he says. \u201cSo since about 2007 I haven\u2019t used disposable coffee cups, I don\u2019t get paper towels, I haven\u2019t used a disposable shopping bag, blah, blah, blah.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Eventually, he teamed up with his friend, Derek Diedricksen, to find a home and go the truck route.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made complete sense to me since I always used to dream, while sitting in the back of a tour bus, \u2018imagine if you could put a couch in here.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

But the value of reuse is probably more than just an old couch transplanted into the back of a bus or truck for people like him and O\u2019Brien, especially people whose parents grew up in the Great Depression or during World War I, and taught them the value of reuse.\n<\/p>\n

In those days, apparently, the federal Office of Price Administration, which was established to control and direct prices, rents and rationing so that wartime inflation wouldn\u2019t spiral, borrowed a slogan \u2014 an old Yankee ditty, some called it \u2014 that went like this: \u201cUse it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not recycling, that\u2019s reusing, and it\u2019s as American as apple pie, it seems.\n<\/p>\n

As for recycling, Eaves says, \u201cit\u2019s more wish-cycling. Are the trucks going to take it somewhere? The numbers on plastic recycling suggest it\u2019s an unfortunate joke.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alex Eaves explaining the difference between recycle and reuse. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

But living out of a truck and wearing or using things he won\u2019t throw away brings him a variety of satisfactions, not just spare living and money saving.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of resources saved with this truck is astronomical,\u201d he notes. \u201cWhen the truck is parked, I\u2019m running all my heat and electricity on one standard outlet.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

That\u2019s reuse at its best, perhaps. But what about gas consumption? And how\u2019s the mileage on the truck?\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI just say, \u2018Bad,\u2019\u201d he replied. \u201cNo way around it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Eaves and O\u2019Brien share the same ethos, she said: Recycling isn\u2019t enough. \u201cIn recycling, you break down things to make something new,\u201d she explained. \u201cIn reusing, you restore something and use it again.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

His purpose, says Eaves, is \u201cto educate people of all ages about the importance of reusing when it comes to helping our shared planet and preventing wasted personal resources, opportunities, time and money.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

For him, O\u2019Brien and many others, the waste stream is an enemy of sorts.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSome things are not designed or manufactured to last,\u201d says O\u2019Brien, a collage artist who uses many common everyday items in her art.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBut many things people throw away can be reused. Creative thinking is important,\u201d she adds.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have to guess when we decide to reuse a cup. We\u2019re seeing it in action,\u201d Eaves says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a no-brainer.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The big do-good picture<\/p>\n

Across Florida \u2014 in quietly growing numbers, it seems \u2014 sellers and buyers alike are finding ways to resist the waste stream not just by recycling, but by reusing. Some outfits point their reuse efforts at the unfortunate: the ReUse Store in Charlotte County, for example (carefl.org\/donate\/reuse-store<\/a>). There, \u201cThe ReUse of usable items, instead of them going into the landfill, directly assists victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and other violent crimes.\u201d They ask for donations of household goods, gently used clothing, toys, books, tools, craft items and furniture.\n<\/p>\n

Habitat for Humanity ReStores exist in each county, selling new and used furniture, appliances, home accessories, building materials and more at \u201ca fraction of the retail price.\u201d In Charlotte, for example, they\u2019re open in Englewood, Murdock, Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Habitat for Humanity ReStore off of McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers. -DAVID WISHTISCHIN \/ FLORIDA WEEKLY<\/p>\n

And sometimes there are specialty stores you wouldn\u2019t anticipate, such as Play It Again Sports in Fort Myers.\n<\/p>\n

For those discarding used but serviceable sports gear for football, baseball, tennis, golf and basketball, among others, or searching for weight sets or weights, field hockey or lacrosse gear and the like, this store keeps some marvelous gear out of the waste stream.\n<\/p>\n

In terms of consumer appetites, it\u2019s not always an easy path.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started out full consignment, aiming to reuse and repurpose everything we sold, but we had to turn into a furniture store,\u201d said Jim Langeloh. He and his wife, Tina Langeloh, own and operate Home and Salvage in Naples.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tina and Jim Langeloh stand in front of their Naples store, Home and Salvage, where they reuse objects rather than discard them whenever they can. -HOME AND SALVAGE \/ COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n

Native Michiganders, Jim\u2019s father was a retired antiques dealer, an old term for people who reuse rather than discard objects of living, perhaps.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would bring down old doors and windows and shutters and so on, but there was no market down here. Nothing was old.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Jim and Tina carry on that tradition when they can.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a small business, and we\u2019re still having fun,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to go where the market takes you, but if we can find old things and bring them to market, we\u2019re doing what we should be doing.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the younger generation is aware of reusing and saving. I think, on the whole, they\u2019re mindful of the Earth. But what does it say when you just demolish stuff?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He still owns an old cabin in Michigan, built in 1886. A lot of people recommended he take it down, but he hasn\u2019t. And won\u2019t.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has good bones,\u201d he said. So, it\u2019ll be reused to serve the occupants of a different century, as well as it served those of the 19th and 20th centuries.\n<\/p>\n

And in Naples, \u201cour building was built in 1970, and when we purchased it six years ago, I can\u2019t tell you how many developers said, \u2018Just knock it down,\u2019\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNaples is my home, and I love it, but unless you go to those cottage streets downtown, we seem to be in a fight to preserve and reuse that\u2019s hard to win in the long term.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In Palm Beach, by contrast, \u201cyou have these cottages built in 1930, and they have great bones. People restore them and maintain them, and they\u2019re just as good-looking now, or better, than when they were new.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

And one more thing: \u201cDo I like my answer?\u201d Jim asks. \u201cNo.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back at the reused U-Haul packed with reused materials, Alex Eaves points to his T-shirts.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single T-shirt in this truck has saved 713 gallons of water \u2014 that\u2019s what it takes to make a T-shirt,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s enough for one or two humans to drink water for an entire year.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

So instead of disappearing into the waste stream, they\u2019ve come back, many sporting these words, often visible on the clothing Jennifer O\u2019Brien wears: \u201cREUSE! Because you can\u2019t recycle the planet.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

And now, perhaps, Alex Eaves is making his late father, Kenneth, proud. After his dad died, Alex and the family cleared out an old house packed with things destined for reuse that never quite got there.\n<\/p>\n

They found people and places where the items could be used; they sold some; and Alex put others back into action himself.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI have started wearing his uniform shirts when I do speaking engagements, and I have his Vietnam hangers,\u201d he says.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I use his map\u00a0case.\u00a0Maps were held inside it from the helicopter\n<\/p>\n

he was in as a machine gunner. My whole thing is positive solutions.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Vietnam War was a terrible thing, and it caused terrible problems for my family and the nation. But I\u2019m reusing my father\u2019s map case to teach reuse, and that\u2019s a positive thing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Reusing, in general, is a positive solution, Eaves insists, on Earth Day or any other day.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 56 years, the lessons of Earth Day have boiled down to this: First, environmental progress happens through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-232810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}