Buyer beware: two new toxins are in many items that are now being recalled. Make sure to check that you’ve sent back all of your items that include cadmium (“the new lead”), a metal in many cheap pieces of jewelry, and hard-boiled eggs, a source of a new outbreak of listeria (can cause serious illness or death, especially in children, the elderly, and pregnant women). Why am I not surprised that many manufacturers who were warned about a possible outbreak of this deadly bug didn’t actually listen and take the proper precautions that they should have?
We’re Baaaaaack
January 26, 2012 By
I know that you were oh-so disappointed that we went down, but we’re back, folks. Be sure to keep tuning in every morning for some good ol’ updates from yours truly.
It’s Not All of CO2′s Fault
January 9, 2012 By
Note that the keyword here is “all”. CO2 is still very much a guilty party in contributing to deterioration of the ozone layer, but researchers have found two new solutions when it comes to reducing global warming — and to saving lives in the process.
Soot and methane are huge factors of pollution, and their reduction can offer more quick reduction of global warming. Methane comes from landfills, farms (and especially from mass amounts of animals in factory farms), drilling for natural gas, and coal mining. Soot, a byproduct of burning things, is a big problem with rudimentary cook stoves and in some diesel fuels worldwide. Soot also is a big health problem, so dramatically cutting it with existing technology would save between 700,000 and 4.7 million lives each year, according to lead scientists conducting the research. Since soot causes rainfall patterns to shift, reducing it would cut down on droughts in southern Europe and parts of Africa and ease monsoon problems in Asia.
Many methods – including capturing methane from landfills and coal mines, cleaning up cook stoves and diesel engines, and changing agriculture techniques for rice paddies and manure collection – are being used efficiently in many places, but reports from NASA indicate that these practices aren’t being universally adopted. This is where I rely on you guys to help me spread the word about this issue.
PS: shifting the pollution focus doesn’t mean that we’d be ignoring the CO2 issue; we need to start implementing ways to fix this growing problem as soon as possible. Splitting our attention in order to reduce methane and soot isn’t the be-all, end-all when it comes to solving climate change, air pollution, and issues like hunger, but cutting down these pollutants can help to solve all three. And any attempts are better than none, especially with our planet at stake.
Eco-Manners 101
January 8, 2012 By
I’ve already told you about the issue of Americans’ increasing obesity with respect to fuel efficiency, but I’ve found two more reasons to give Mother Nature a break and to want to become slimmer:
- Larger mass per person means that airlines burn more fuel to fly you places. And I’m not just talking a little — it’ll mean burning 350 million additional gallons of gasoline (that’s 3.8 millions tons of carbon dioxide) per year, just due to all of the extra fat, according to UK publication The Guardian.
- USA Today reports that due to the higher food and fuel demands of these overweight people, 1 billion extra metric tons of carbon emissions from all overweight and obese people in the world are produced per year. Not over the course of a lifetime — over the course of a YEAR.
I, for one, was repulsed before, but this new information disgusts me. I hope that this makes you gag when you even think about going to the drive-thru again (or at least this month, if you’re so dependent on the darn things).
With two-thirds of Americans overweight or obese, according to the NIH, I wish that I could tell you that these numbers will be declining in the coming years… but as long as people keep shoving their faces with fast food and neglecting the food pyramid, this number will rise in the coming years (experts, as quoted from ABC news reports, say that by 2015, three-fourths of Americans will instead fit this description). Oh, and this trend doesn’t just apply to the US; citizens of many other countries worldwide are experiencing similar, um, gains. Looks like most of you need to drop the Ben and Jerry’s and pick up some Horton (aka, P90X). If you’re offended, I’m not sorry; in fact, you’re the one offending me for not showing Mother Nature better etiquette if you don’t even try.
In Case You’ve Blown Through Your 2012 Resolutions
January 7, 2012 By
Yep, I have more green resolutions for 2012 for you. Think of it as me giving you encouragement after the other resolutions of yours didn’t pan out.
1) Replace at least one grocery item with a local or organic one.
2) Install a programmable thermostat to regulate how much heat/AC you pump into your rooms. Fun fact: reducing your heat – or turning up your AC temperature – by just two degrees will not only save you money in as little as a month, but for CO2 reduction of emissions, you’ll be doing the equivalent of taking dozens of cars off of the road.
3) Go vegetarian for just one meal a week — doing so will save 35 pounds of meat a year, which translates to 84,000 gallons of water, 245 pounds of grain, and 15.5 gallons of gasoline saved. Giving up your grizzly chicken wings will be beyond worth it.
4) Replace single-use batteries (especially those in your camera) with rechargable ones. You’ll save other batteries from being tossed in landfills, causing toxic pollution.
5) Make the switch to CFLs or LEDs (from incandescents). Seriously — do it already. You save too much money and energy in the long run to not.
6) Clean out your garage of toxic waste like paint cans and motor oil containers. No chick will dig a toxic man cave, which is likely where your lair has been forced to reside.
7) Download Earth911′s free iRecycle app for iPhone or Android — it tells you about collection points for specific materials (like toxic waste, aka batteries, and for electronic equipment), among other perks.
Start at least one DIY reuse project. turn an old pair of jeans into a cute tote, make a quilt out of your old high school shirts. You’re on your own when it comes to making a DIY out of your empty beer bottles or old Madden video games.
9) Start composting. Get a compost bin, and turn your garden into earth’s natural form of recycling (which means gratis fertilizer for you green-thumbs).
10) Hypermile — aka, use better driving practices to maximize your car’s MPG — or use public transportation. Or, you could be daring and actually walk/bike places. Talk about a shocker. In case you don’t know how to, or in case your car doesn’t have a feature to tell you how to hypermile yourself, learn how to hypermile here.
2012 doesn’t judge, but it does love it when you make more than one resolution, so have at it. Make me proud, guys.
Say Goodbye to Snow
January 6, 2012 By
Recently, people have been hating on the west coast (ahem, California, in particular) for normally being much warmer than other states during the winter. Hate all they want, but we now have a reason to be concerned: the little snow left in California’s Echo Summit (near Lake Tahoe) is rapidly disappearing. Not only does this spell disaster for tourism, which is what this region largely relies on for income, but it could mean possible droughts throughout the upcoming year. Thankfully, the fall’s record-high rain levels have replenished the water supplies for the state.
Now, you might be asking why this matters to those outside (or, hey, even inside) California. For those of you who are skeptics of global warming, I don’t care if you keep covering your ears every time those words come up — you can’t refute the fact that many states like California are losing their amounts of snow this winter due to warmer weather. You can ignore climate change, but you can’t ignore your kids when they complain that your packaging-peanuts rendition of snowfall isn’t as realistic when you have to resort to it because ski resorts’ snow is thinning.
Detox Your Home for 2012
January 5, 2012 By
But wait, Angry Green Girl — my home doesn’t need another clean sweep. What are you talking about? (If you even thought this, then think again.)
Common household items like paint/nail polish, air purifiers (yep), cleaning products without “biodegradable” or “plant-friendly” labels, and even carpets, cabinets, and furniture pose dangerous threats to the air in your household. You heard me — carpets (can contain formaldehyde from the manufacturing process) and cabinets/furniture (pressed wood has formaldehyde in its glue) can cause air pollution in your house by letting off small bits of formaldehyde at a time into the air. Even cooking on a stove, especially a gas one, can cause unsafe levels of nitrogen dioxide to be released into the air (this one’s a simple fix: just turn on the fan above your stove to let the gas vent out of your home).
Sites like icestone.biz, paperstoneproducts.com, and teragren.com offer green, chic, affordable alternatives to cabinets and furniture that can otherwise cause scads of health problems later. While some alternatives may cost more than what you can find at Ikea or a yard sale, you’ll be investing in a product that will last — and maintaining a healthy home is so worth it.
Also, for more links to stores that sell green-friendly office furniture, click here.
The Only Reason Why the World’s Ending…
January 4, 2012 By
…is because One Life to Live is being unplugged for good. And I would hardly call that the end to anyone’s world.
Listen — people have been predicting an “apocalypse” for ages. Since we just so happen to love our world (I should hope, if you’ve been trying to protect it with anything I’ve ever said), this needs to be talked about. I’m sure that you’ve noticed that this past New Year’s, of all ones in recent years, has been quite the extreme one — seeing as many people truly believe that this is the last year the world will ever see.
Talk about stupid.
And, for those of you who believe that December 21st is our last day alive, did you ever think that the Mayans were either a, pessimistic about how long their people might survive; b, smart enough to save their precious time and not go past 2012 in their calendar because writing out 700 years worth of days, weeks, and months was far more than enough for them before Cortes came in; or c, they were a little busy with something called smallpox and saving their people from death? I rest my case.
Look, religious extremists, preachers, “preachers”, etc. (see Camping) have also been predicting the end of the world for quite some time. Too bad that many don’t read their own scriptures to know that Jesus (and other icons of religions) have said over and over again that “you know not the day or the hour”. And Britney Spears may have made money off of some pop-esque, catchy song about it — and we all, unfortunately, know about movies like 2012 and The Darkest Hour pathetically trying to rake in a couple of bucks for their spin on how the world will end. I guess no one’s a big enough Back to the Future fan to know that the world can’t end in 2012 — Marty McFly’s been to 2015. In any case, all of this end-of-the-world stuff is seriously not worth spending energy on. Who knows? Maybe the end of the world will be tomorrow (in which case, you’re going to need a whole lot more than a day at church to get you mentally prepared). But if it were, I know that you wouldn’t want your very last day here to be spent petrified about how it will all happen. For those that are absolutely, unshakably convinced that 12/21/12 is it, then fine — but you’re going to miss one hell of a party on the 22nd.
Resolutions That Stick
January 3, 2012 By
It’s the day after New Year’s, and if you’re like most, you’re probably blazing through another Biggest Loser marathon, eating leftover cake and swearing that your diet plan will work next year, instead. Well, here’s some good news for you: this year, try a few of my feel-good, do-good resolutions that aren’t hard to stick to — and, hey, they’ll probably put money (and time) to better use than the plans that you know’ll be hard to last a year.
- If you haven’t started using tote bags or recycling older grocery bags when you go shopping, do it. It’s not hard, but it does a whole lot of good for the environment — and many stores will give you additional club points or rewards just for doing so.
- Bike to work. Or, hey, walk. And if work is too far to even take the bus, then try biking or walking to the store or to some of your errands when possible. The exercise sure couldn’t hurt, and you’ll be saving the atmosphere of carbon and smog emissions.
- Go on a detox. Check your cabinets for toxic products like household cleaners, paints, and even nail polishes (which contain formaldehyde, known to cause asthma and cancer). Instead, swap them for more natural items — like hydrogen peroxide, vinegars, baking soda, and borax, or anything plant-based/biodegradable — that don’t stay behind and cause indoor pollution or poisoning. Formaldehyde, chlorides, and other volatile organic compounds can be in many household items, such as carpets, furniture, personal care products (often the cause of “fragrance”), and adhesives. Okay, so a little research is necessary to see if you have any items that fit this description — but imagine the health/home benefits that’ll arise from getting rid of these toxic items.
- Go organic. Choosing this option when possible is worth the extra few cents if it means skipping ingesting pesticides and whatever else they cover the food with to prevent insect infestation.
- Don’t even go near BPA. Bisphenol-A, found in #7 plastics and in the metal lining of canned goods, has been proven to cause cancer, diabetes, infertility, developmental problems, and heart disease. If you must opt for food that isn’t fresh or frozen, get it in a glass jar or in cans that are marked as BPA-free.
- Protect endangered wildlife with the click of a button. Visit wwf.org to donate programs that will enable endangered species like the snow leopard, the mountain gorilla, and the tiger to live to see next year.
I’m sure that I’ll think of more, but here’s a good list to get you started — or at least through January.
Cars and Food Don’t Mix
January 2, 2012 By
I don’t get it. Everyone always complains about fuel economy and wanting leaner, meaner cars that do more justice in the MPG department. Yet no matter how much more fuel efficient newer cars are, we keep gaining more and more weight — and, as a result, are counteracting the improvements. What bugs me most is that people are busting their buns to be able to get you better cars, yet you do nothing to try to stay the same size? Ever think that you’re the reason why your car needs refueling more and more often? Obviously, not everyone is gaining weight and falling into this category, but when the average American man has a 39-inch waist and weighs 195 pounds, and when the average American woman packs a 37-inch waist and weighs 165 pounds, something needs to be done.
Here’s a thought. Why don’t you, I don’t know, actually walk places sometimes? Or stop agreeing to order combo meals at drive-throughs? Because I’m getting sick at the thought of all of this. The environment suffers when technology is so advanced that we could be getting 50MPG in non-Prius cars, yet the reality remains that people are getting bigger with newer and newer cars. Think about that as you bite into your next Double Down.
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