About Green Living » Environment

Commercial Laundry Detergents Cause Allergies

Green Living — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:44:51 +0000

Over previous decades, the amount of products available for us to clean our clothes with has grown in staggering proportions. Laundry detergents not only wash our clothes, but now they brighten, bleach, soften and deodorize them. They do a downright amazing job at getting out a good amount of the stains that we manage to get on our clothing.

So now we have cleaner clothes, but at what price? In an effort to improve the cleaning power of these laundry detergents, all sorts of dyes and chemicals have been added to these products. Then to hide the nasty smell from these chemicals, fragrances are added.

With this increase in the availability of a wide variety of laundry products has also come an increase in the number of cases of allergic reactions to those products. Many of the ingredients used, are known allergens, and will trigger an allergic reaction in those individuals who are sensitive to them.

Allergic reactions to these detergents are especially problematic for people who have chronic conditions such as eczema. Any one ingredient in these laundry products can cause severe rashes, and itching. Babies and young children are also at risk for developing skin problems because their immune systems are not fully developed. Pediatricians have long recommended that hypo-allergenic laundry products be used for that age group.

So just what is a hypo-allergenic laundry product? Very simply, they are free of any know allergenic ingredients, and are made from natural, environmentally substances, that are known to be safe for everyone. Choosing such a product is not as easy as it seems.

Government regulations are pretty lax when it comes to labeling products. A product labeled “natural” may contain only one “natural” ingredient to all that designation. So the addition of plant derived products such as aloe vera, flower extracts or botanical ingredient, will allow the detergent to be labeled “natural”, but it still may contain a host of harsh chemicals.

A rule of thumb when choosing a laundry product, or for anything else you purchase, is to read the label. If you cannot pronounce the ingredients, they are probably not good for you, so stay clear. You should also avoid products that have a generic term such as soil-suspending agents, as well as fragrance. Manufacturers get away with putting some nasty stuff in products by claiming they are “proprietary secrets” and will not disclose what their products actually contain.

When looking too choose a hypo-allergenic laundry detergent, it is usually safe to choose products that are made from coconut or palm oil as their base. Another choice would be products made from soap bark which is derived from a tree that is native to Chili. The soapbark tree contains a rich supply of saponins which naturally creates a soapy lather in water.

Avoid products that list “fragrance” as an ingredient and opt for those with essential oils listed. Natural, biodegradable aromatics are less apt to cause a skin reaction in sensitive individuals. Other relatively safe ingredients are borax (sodium borate) or sodium carbonate which is also known as washing soda. Both of these products do a good job of cleaning clothes, and unless ingested are non-irritating to the skin.

Choosing to use a hypo-allergenic laundry detergent is a wise decision, even for those who do not suffer allergies. The more products that contain harsh chemicals that we eliminate from daily use, the healthier or lives will become. As a bonus, we are also helping the environment by keeping these toxic chemicals out of our water supply and soil.

Next time you go shopping for a laundry detergent, give a hypo-allergenic one a try. You will be pleasantly surprised at how well they clean.

The Environmental And Money Saving Benefits Of Recycling Paper

Be Green — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:59:41 +0000

Not enough people recycle the paper that they use, which is a real shame because there are many benefits to be had from doing so. What are those benefits? Well, these are some of the main ones…

- Forests, and the wildlife that live within them, are destroyed as a result of our excessive use of paper. Put simply, the less paper we recycle, the less trees we need to cut down. As well as the effect on wildlife and plant-life, excessive deforestation also creates visual scars on our beautiful planet. Once a forest has been cut down, there is little to no chance of that land ever being home to an ecosystem again.

- Lots of items that we use on an almost daily basis, such as newspapers, envelopes, Cardboard Boxes, paper towels and toilet rolls are as good when they are made from recycled paper as they are when they are made from ‘new’ paper. However, there is not enough recycled paper available to make such items solely from recycled paper because we are not recycling enough. Each time you take newspapers, envelopes, cardboard boxes, etc. to a recycling point after you have used them they can be turned into new items.

- Money can be saved in two ways by recycling paper. Firstly, from a manufacturing point of view, it costs much less to turn waste paper into new paper products than it does to turn trees into new paper products. Secondly, as consumers, by buying recycled products we can save money as they nearly always cost less than ones made from virgin pulp. In these harsh economic times, avoiding unnecessary leakage in any part of the economy makes sense.

- Pollution is reduced by recycling paper. Paper manufacturing plants are responsible for pumping huge amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, and that needs to be reduced where possible. As it is easier to create paper products from waste paper than raw materials, less pollution is created when we focus on the former. The paper that we unnecessarily throw away also ends up polluting the environment. Most of it ends up it landfill sites or being incinerated.

- Producing recycled paper uses much less total energy than producing virgin paper. Depending on the grade of paper, producing recycled paper may use less purchased energy in the form of fossil fuels and electricity. Pretty much all of the energy that we use damages the environment in one way or another, and so we should save what we can where we can.

The Importance of Going Green

Green Living — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:46:32 +0000

Every day we experience weather changes and world catastrophes caused by global warming, erosion, and other ecological changes the Earth has experienced over the past century. Complete rain forests have been destroyed, never to grow back. The planet is dying – poisoned by all the toxic waste and pollution we have released upon it.

It is time for all of us to do something to save what little is left of the planet’s resources, to try and give back to the Earth all that it has given to us. For our children and their children, we must change our ways so that future generations have a cleaner world where they can breathe unpolluted air and drink clean water. This attitude is called “going green” and it is sweeping the planet like wildfire.

There are easy steps anyone can take to start going green. Recycling is one way to help, by placing plastic, metal, glass, and organic waste separated into different garbage bins. Using the minimal amount of water necessary to shower, brush your teeth, and shave, avoiding the use of aerosol sprays, walking more and driving less, are all ways to go green.

Doing these small things won’t save the Earth, or us from killing ourselves with polluted air, dirty water and the sun’s ultraviolet rays, but if enough people around the world join these efforts, we can have a positive impact on our environment and give future generations a more stable platform from which to solve future problems.

Taking small steps now, changing old wasteful and harmful habits into more sustainable habits sets the foundations for the shift in mind-set that will ultimately be needed to save the planet. It sets a good example for those around you, your children, family and friends.

Over the years human beings have been a major force in the disappearance of many plant and animal species from the face of the Earth. These life forms – birds, insects, mammals, and plants – have disappeared because of environmental destruction and humankind encroaching on their habitats. Who knows, one of these extinct species may have been the cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, but we’ll never know because they are gone forever. It is time to start protecting what is left of this planet we call home.

Going green is not a choice anymore, it is a responsibility. That is why it is so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet. In fact, many of the things we can do, we actually already do! Just a little thing such as sorting our garbage into what can be recycled, or using less water, and generally consuming fewer resources does not require much effort on our part. You can even make a case that using your car less may cause you to exercise more. There is no great sacrifice involved in going green at home, but it’s a numbers game, much can be accomplished if many of us join this effort.

Heirloom Seeds – Help Save The Planet

Green Living — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:12:40 +0000

Heirloom seeds have made a dramatic comeback in recent years. It is said that there are more than 5,000 heirloom tomato varieties alone. But heirloom seeds are much more than tomatoes, each variety has its own life story. Each seed has been sown, cultivated, harvested, saved, and passed on, often for hundreds of years, down through the generations.

Some seeds have mysterious tales. Others have been smuggled out of native countries in the hems of ladies dresses or the inside of shoes, to end up with their owners in a new land. Whatever their story, these precious seeds are now stealing the limelight from their F1 hybrid cousins.

What makes heirloom seeds special?

Heirloom seeds can actually be saved from season to season. They are often ‘true’ to their original ancestor species, having been lovingly planted and cultivated year by year with little or no cross-pollination from other similar varieties.

This is what makes heirloom seeds special – a tiny seed is cast into the soil, weighing no more than a spec of dust, only to emerge 100 days later as a magnificent vegetable weighing more than one thousand times its original weight. Then nature comes full circle and creates seeds that weigh no more than a speck of dust, and the cycle goes on.

There is one dramatic difference between heirloom seeds and F1 hybrids – this cycle of life only pertains to heirloom seeds. Hybrid seeds can only manage one season of growth. The seeds they produce are either sterile (non-germinating seeds) or at best create plants that do not look like their parents or do not bear fruit.

F1 hybrids have been cross pollinated to make ‘super species’ of cultivars – either grown to produce more fruit, or produce early or longer. This modification has come at a price – inferior flavor, weaker plant lines and more susceptibility to disease.

F1 hybrids essential reduce the bio-diversity of our plant life, and when it comes to food crops, that’s playing a dangerous game indeed. Heirloom seeds on the other hand, and the people who raise and save seed from them, are helping to protect the bio-diversity that we have.

Try something – plant one hybrid and one heirloom seed of the same variety side by side and, provided you supply the correct growing conditions, you’ll see the difference. The F1 hybrid will burst into life with wild abandon, produce an abundance of fruit, then die without a thought of tomorrow. The heirloom however, will grow slowly and steadily. It will take longer to produce a strong framework on which it will bear fruit, and then seed. It is as though the heirloom plant knows it has to pace itself to produce viable seeds for the next season and the continuation of its species. This way of growing produces vegetables and fruits with flavors so divine, like nothing you can buy in a store.

Another distinct advantage of heirloom seeds is that, because they are ‘true’ to their ancestor varieties, they contain more good nutrients than F1 hybrids. They also come in wild shapes and dramatic colors like yellow and purple carrots, deep purple beans, lime green cauliflower and red Brussels sprouts.

Each heirloom seed variety has a life story which is part of its mystique and this story is often handed over along with the seeds.

Unfortunately, over the last 60 years the majority of seed saving has been left to commercial business and it has been reported that one thousand heirloom varieties a year are lost forever. An heirloom gardener will cherish their seeds because they know that they may never find that particular variety again and that one failed crop can wipe out an entire cultivar.

Heirloom seeds are meant for sharing, but you need to take the responsibility seriously, sow and save your seeds with pride, and keep them going for a hundred more years.

Going Green: Starting with your Home

Green Living — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:00:05 +0000

Have you considered going green? Going green is essentially to save our planet from the obvious doom ahead (if nothing is done). Going green is a term that has picked up a lot of steam, and is sure to continue growing in the years to come, because awareness will keep growing. Unfortunately, some people just do not know how important it is to go green as well as live a green life. That being said, learning how to go green in the comfort of your own home or your workplace is not as hard as you may think.

Here are several of the best ways to go green at home:

Save electricity. There are many ways you can do this including switching to compact fluorescent, buying energy saving appliances, and turning off lights and electronics when not in use (power strips make this simple).
Only run the dishwasher, washer, and dryer when you have a full load. By doing this, you save both water and electricity. Of course, energy efficient appliances also help.
Use a low flow shower head. Contrary to popular belief, a low flow head can still offer strong water pressure. Why waste water if you do not have to?
Recycle. This is the cheapest and easiest way of going green at home. All you need is two garbage cans and willingness to separate your trash. Does it get any easier than that?
Properly dispose of all hazardous wastes, regardless of the process that it takes. This includes oil, paint, cleaners, batteries, pesticides, and cleaners. Do not simple dump these items around your home or nearby sewer. Instead, read the label to determine how to properly dispose of them.

Some people never think about going green because they do not believe they can do enough to help the earth – they are sadly mistaken. Even the smallest actions can go a long way in improving the environment for you and those around you. When you decide to go green at home you are playing a special role aimed at saving the world, soon enough you will love this way of living and may decide to expand in anyway possible.

Individuals, Businesses and the world in general must understand the importance of going green and gradually reduce the negative impact of ozone depletion, climate change, rising sea levels, melting icebergs and so on the earth. It seems overwhelming but we can get this done, staring from our homes!

The girl who silenced the world at the U.N. for 5 minutes

Green Living — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:27:24 +0000

In 1992, 12 year old Severn Suziki addressed the United Nations conference in Rio de Janiero expressing her concerns over environmental issues. Many of the UN members cried. She got a standing ovation. This one speech became a viral phenomenon. Her words are just as relevant today as they were 17 years ago, if not more so. It’s time we listen to them again.

More about Severn Suzuki:

At the age of nine, she founded the Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO), a group of children dedicated to learning and teaching other youngsters about environmental issues. In 1992, at the age of 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, to attend the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Along with group members Michelle Quigg, Vanessa Suttie, and Morgan Geisler, Cullis-Suzuki presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the summit, where she was applauded for a speech to the delegates.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Cullis-Suzuki

Earth Pioneer: Severn Cullis-Suzuki spreads the word on sustainability

Severn Suzuki – a famous environmental video: where is she now?

World Ocean Day – June 8

What is your carbon footprint?

Green Living — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:14:19 +0000

If you’re reading this, then you are interested in learning more about pollution and ways to reduce it. You want to know how much you contribute to global warming, and you want to understand all the ways in which your lifestyle affects our Earth. Hopefully, you also want to take the next step of doing something about it.I recommend the Institute of the Environment at Berkeley’s Cool Climate Carbon Calculator, or the Nature Conservancy’s Carbon Footprint Calculator. Have your monthly expenses, your most recent energy bills, and your car’s yearly mileage and miles per gallon ready before you start. Results are provided in tons– tons of carbon you produce and emit into the earth’s atmosphere each year.

The best calculator I found during my research is part of a site called Low Impact Living. Click on the “Calculator” tab at the top of the screen to get going. Your results display across the top of each page as you progress. The final screen provides suggested actions to “green-up” your home are presented. Checking the box for any projects you have already completed improves your overall emissions score. Check out “What is a LILI?” under your final score (mine was 37) for more information.

LILI does not calculate tons of carbon monoxide emissions per person per year. It gives a score based on a U.S. household average of 100 points, and with the goal of helping people find easy ways to reduce their carbon footprint and their score. This calculator is the most detailed and complete of those reviewed. Households that use the LILI Carbon Calculator have the option of saving their results, and improving their scores with every environmentally-friendly project they complete.

Here are links to several online Carbon Footprint Calculators, and comments on their performance:

An Inconvenient Truth: Calculate Your Impact. This calculator gives you an indication of how well you are doing compared to everybody else. It also allows you to take immediate action in reducing your carbon footprint. Unfortunately, the first question about vehicular emissions is out of date. My 2007 Nissan Versa, one of Newsweek’s Top Ten Fuel Efficient Cars, was not listed in the options. Also, the calculator only considers your transportation and home energy use in its analysis of your carbon footprint. These are important, but they do not provide a complete picture. My estimated footprint was 5.9 tons of Carbon Emissions per year, with the Altima as my false vehicle selection. The average in the U.S. was put at 7.5 Tons.

The Nature Conservancy: Carbon Footprint Calculator. This calculator lets you decide between calculating your individual impact, and your household impact. It breaks down your footprint into several sections, including recycling, food consumption, energy consumption, vehicles, etc. It is up to the test-taker to honestly represent their lifestyle habits, however. The results are calculated several ways on the last screen of the test, breaking down each section of questions by average responses. My estimated footprint was 15 tons of carbon per year. The average in the U.S. was put at 27 tons. The world average is stated as 5.5 tons. Test-takers are given several options for offsetting their carbon footprint, tips for reducing impact, etc.

The Carbon Footprint Calculator. Self-represented as “the web’s leading carbon footprint calculator,” the user must select a country, and then click through several sections, remembering to calculate each page’s answers before continuing. The test was fast, and information about offsetting emissions, changing lifestyle practices, etc were easy to access. There is a section for businesses as well. My estimated footprint was 8.6 tons of carbon each year. The average for my country was reported at 20.4, and the average for industrial nations was about 11 tons per person per year. The website also informed me that to combat climate change, the world wide average needs to be reduced to 2 tons. Wow.

The Carbon Counter website and Personal Calculator. This gives you a choice between estimating your footprint, and getting an exact calculation, via tabs above each section of the test. There are only three sections. My score was 10.72 tons of carbon emissions each year. This website places the U.S. average emissions at 16.64 tons per year, and the world average at 4.4 tons. The site recommends that I donate approximately $16.00 a month to projects that reduce CO-2 in the environment to offset my footprint.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Individual Emissions Calculator. This website provides some interesting facts about the average response for each question, based on the number of people in your household. It also calculates the amount of carbon emissions for each answer you provide. The calculation did not take multi-vehicle households into consideration, and the results were for my entire household, rather than my individual contribution to global warming.

The University of California, Berkeley Institute of the Environment’s Cool Climate Carbon Footprint Calculator. This is my favorite calculator. It shows the average number entered in each space, and takes a moment to calculate the number you type in for each answer. It does not take organic food methods into account, but seems more exact than the other calculators. Final calculations show the world average for each category, the U.S. average, the average for other households like mine, and finally the calculations for my individual household. The Cool Climate Calculator tells me that my household emissions are 45% of other households like mine, but that we emit 220% more than the global average. My emissions are also calculated out in barrels of oil, and in acres of forest. You will want to click on the button to “find out what’s in each category” before you enter your budget calculations.

If you’ve located a detailed and helpful Individual or Household Carbon Footprint Calculator that I didn’t review here, we’d love to learn about it! Write your own Factoid, and share important information online.

Original article: What is your carbon footprint? – written by StaciB on Factoidz

Don’t Flush Your Unused Medications Down the Toilet!

Green Living — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:04:15 +0000

For years, safety experts have been telling us to flush unused prescription medications down the toilet. We were told that it was very dangerous to keep these products lying around. They could be injested by someone other than the person for whom they were prescribed or worse yet, taken by small children or used as recreational drugs. Flushing them down the toilet was considered a safe and effective way to dispose of these unused or outdated prescriptions.

Today, there is a battle of sorts between the environmentalists and the Federal Goverment. The Federal Goverment says to flush controlled substances down the toilet to keep them out of the hands of drug addicts. The environmentalists say “Never flush drugs down the toilet”.

Experts are now finding that flushing drugs down the toilet is not as safe and harmless as we might have thought. There is growing concern that these drugs are causing serious environmental harm. Sewage and wastewater treatment plants are not designed to filter out these drugs and they are ultimately being discharged into the ground and surface water. It has also been shown that the antibiotics being disposed of in this manner are killing the beneficial bacteria needed to operated the sewage system processing plants. But imagine what it’s doing to the beneficial bacteria in your gut as well.

A study done by the United State Geological Survey back in 1999 showed that 80% of our streams contained compounds found in common medications. I’ve also read articles stating that there are measurable levels of birth control substances found in tap water, but it’s thought that most of this comes through the urine of women taking birth control drugs. Perhaps this could be a factor in the increasing rate of fertility problems experienced by those in the so-called ’1st world’ countries.

Listed below are some tips on how to dispose of medications properly.

Take the medications you are prescribed for the full length of time. Often, especially in the case of antibiotics, when we feel better, we stop taking the medication. A full course of the prescribed medication is often required to completely cure the problem for which they were prescribed. Stopping short of the full course of antibiotics can contribute to the evolution of ‘superbugs’, by leaving the more resistant ‘bugs’ alive. Having been exposed to the antibiotic, but survived, they evolve to become resistant to that antibiotic.
Do not dispose of medications down the toilet unless the label specifically instructs you to do so.
Drugs can be disposed of in household trash, but they must be taken out of the original container and then mixed with trash that would make them unapppealing to children and pets. They should also be unrecognizible by undesirables who may go through your trash intentionally. Put the drugs in a plastic sealable bag, empty can or other container to preven them from leaking out of the garbage bag.
Labels should be either removed or scratched out so they are unreadable. This will help to protect your identity and also the privacy of your personal health information.
Check to see if your pharmacy has a drug disposal program. Many pharmacies are now offering these services to the public as a community service.
Check with your local hazardous waste collection officials or recycling center to see if they have a special collection.
Any prescription and over-the-counter medications including cold remedies, medication samples and vitamins should be included in these disposal precautions. Medicated ointments, lotions, inhalers as well as prescriptions prescribed by veterinarians should also be included.
Never give your unused prescription to neighbors or friends. Medications that may be fine for you to take could be dangerous to another person.

The disposal of controlled substances such as narcotics pose a special problem. Pharmacies are required by law to keep controlled substances under lock and key. If controlled substances are presented for a medication disposal program, they must be kept locked up until disposed of. Currently there is legislation being reviewed in Congress that will amend the Controlled Substance Act. This will establish guidelines that will allow for the take back and disposal of these controlled substances.

Can Mushrooms Save The World?

Green Living — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:56:14 +0000

Paul Stamets seems to think so. A lot of the content of this video went right over my head the first time, but I got the gist of it. I’ll be watching it again, several times over, because I think it’s that important. I knew a few things about fungi to begin with, and I’ve always been fascinated by them. When I started learning more about Chinese medicinal mushrooms I felt like I was finally getting to the real awesome power of these incredible beings. But this video just blew me away. The implications for restoring the environment and undoing some of the damage we have done is huge. See for yourself, and leave a comment to let me know what you think.

What Is Feng Shui?

Urge Congress to Permanently Protect the Arctic Refuge

Green Living — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:50:28 +0000

If you’re here because you’re looking to make changes in your lifestyle to lessen your impact on the environment and learn more so you can make greener choices, I applaud you. The small changes you make do make a big difference. It’s also important to lead by example, it’s one of the best ways to inspire and motivate change in those around you. But there’s also something else that I feel is very important, a way for us to collectively make a huge difference outside our own life and sphere of influence. Ironically, it’s also one of the easiest things to do.
Thanks to the Care2 website which makes it so easy to sign petitions telling the decision makers you don’t agree with what they are doing. It doesn’t involve donating any money, it’s only a moment of your time, and in fact if you have form autofill software on your browser it takes less than a minute. If you sign up for their email notifications, you don’t even have to remember to check the website to keep up to date with the new petitions, you’ll get an email letting you know. Then it’s as easy as clicking a link to go right to that petition.

Please take a moment and show your support. Although many of these causes are based in the USA, you don’t have to be a US Citizen to sign the petition. What any one government does affects us all, let them know you how you feel.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to caribou, snow fox and millions of migratory birds. It is also the most important onshore denning habitat for America’s vanishing polar bears.

But this natural treasure is constantly under siege. Time and time again, the oil industry and their allies in Congress have sought to open this special place to harmful new drilling, threatening all of the wildlife that depend on it for survival.

We need to permanently protect the Arctic Refuge! Tell Congress to reject drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to permanently protect this special coastal plain.