Uh Oh! Water Shortages?

Yesterday I wrote about the beautiful weather we are having but it could be detrimental to our water supply. Well, this morning on the news there is talk about Sonoma County (just north of San Francisco and north-west of me) is considering water rationing. The article states that water levels in their local lake, Lake Mendocino, is at its lowest in 20 years. I bet all lakes and reservoirs in California are low. Are other counties rationing this year? We'll find out come spring.

In the mean time, cut those showers short, don't run the water when you brush your teeth and run around town in a dirty vehicle. Read some of my resources below:

Robin Shreeves: 10 Easy Ways to be More Sustainable with Your Water

100 Ways to Conserve Water

Be Green

Crimes Against Nature-EPA's Most Wanted

These guys could care less about our beautiful earth and its inhabitants. The Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of men and women who are "accused of assaulting nature." From smuggling freon to dumping chemicals illegally, the law breakers are hideous people. Take a gander, do you recognize anyone?

http://www.epa.gov/fugitives/

Is it me or is there more advertisement for "green" products? I have been seeing more commercials for hybrids, green carpet cleaning, green landscaping, anti-water bottle (from Brita) and just more environmentally friendly business all around. With the economy taking a downturn I thought for sure "green" would be put on the back burning. I guess I was wrong.

My home page is MSN. Just about everyday they have a green feature story. Today is "What are Heritage Turkeys". Don't know? Go see or read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and you will find out.

MSN and Yahoo both have a green sections. There is a green channel on cable and it features well-known personalities like Emeril and Adrian Grenier (hello? Entourage) and Tommy Lee (like him or not). There is an awesome story on what to do with that pizza box there today and so many more useful articles. Or you can watch Bill Nye tell you how things happen. I love Bill Nye. I remember his show "Bill Nye, the Science Guy".

I am ecstatic over the fact that we seem to be moving to greener lifestyles. The only problem is much of it is driven by money, of course. Right now being green makes money. (Us greenies know it can save money too!) Let's hope this movement results in new ways of life and more break throughs in green technology.

GSG: Turn Off the Lights

(Image snagged from Treehugger.com, go read.)

There are so many ways to save on your electric bill and the environment that I could write for days on the subject. And if you are an avid green blog reader you already know what to do. If you don't here is a helpful source for you at Mr. Electricity.

What I found was it is so easy to do everyday saving for the planet and your bill with the appliances you already have at home. Turn them off or down. Over this last summer I turned up my A/C and saved an average of $150/month. I asked if I could compare my bill to my neighbors' bill. Her electric bill in August was over $300 and mine was $160. I could have done better, and I will next year. I also turned off lamps in rooms I wasn't using at the moment, shut down my computer at night, kept curtains closed. and washed with cold water. The biggest energy hogs in my house are the KIDS. They leave lights on everywhere. I had to follow them around, and still do, to turn off lights. It is tiring work. I even let my hair air dry to avoid the hairdryer. (This is huge for me, hee hee.)

Simple solutions. I wish I could go solar but money is tight so we won't be buying any solar panels at the moment. I also tried to convince hubby to look into electric companies that use alternative, cleaner sources of energy and he wasn't ready for that yet. So I did what I could to help my pocketbook and the planet.

Tubing for Greenies

Green and Clean Mom has a video of herself on her blog and it is so cute. She is featuring the 4Real food she bought. Go check it out. But that is not why I am writing this post. I am writing because she posted her video on Go Green Tube. This is like YouTube but green. Duh, I'm sure you figured that out yourself. But nothing like pointing out the obvious on your own blog, hee hee.

So. For the lazy reader and sit-on-your-butt-computer-geek (me), this is a great resource. Just sit back and watch how to be green or get your green news. Awesome! I know some action needs to take place eventually but take a break and go check out Go Green Tube, now.

Sign Up To Clean Your Waterways

Did you sign up yet to clean your waterways? See details from my post Greener Water.

California: Coastal Cleanup Day
United States and Internationally: Ocean Conservancy
Canada: TD Great Canandian Shore Cleanup



Click here to reduce 1 pound of carbon. Care2

Neutralize Your Carbon Footprint

You know who you are.  You eat out with plastic cups.  You drive by yourself when you can carpool.  You still use paper napkins.  You buy bananas.  And you don't even own a bike.  You are trying to be green but life just gets in the way.  I am here to tell you that you can neutrilize your non-green sins.  You can make the world a cleaner place without even getting out of your chair, unless you need to grab your wallet.  No, I am not selling anything.  I am asking you to plant a tree.  Relieved?

Nature Conservancy, along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is running a campaign to plant a billion trees in the Amazon Rain Forest.  It is called (drum roll) "Plant a Billion Trees".  Anywho, all you need is a dollar (unless you are really big non-green sinner, then you need more) and the above organizations will plant a tree in the Amazon Rain Forest to help clean the air, make our planet more beautiful and cleanse your sinning non-green soul.  You see if you plant a tree that means you can drive more, but we won't do that.  We will choose to ride our bikes but still donate to see our earth, the only one we have, take another clean breathe of fresh air. 

So move it! CLICK BELOW. If you can't donate now I will always have the banner located on my sidebar, at least until I get 100 trees planted. 



Be Green

Back to School Already?

Yes, it is true, today was a sad day for my kids. They started school. The weekend was characterized by happiness to see friends, sadness to leave the Wii behind to start a regiment of homework and studying and anxiety over whether the teacher will be nice or mean. And that was just me, I don't know how the kids felt.

Just last week we received our school supply list so on Friday we rushed to Target, of course with my green radar on. I convinced my kids to reuse last years lunch boxes. My son will reuse his backpack but my daughter refuse to have Little Pony again so she got the Littlest Pet Shop backpack this year. I warned her that she was stuck with this backpack until it falls apart on her but I know next year she will want something new but then she will have to choose a more sturdy and eco-friendly one that will last for years. I know that these are not the greenest choices but I am torn between buying an expensive recycled, organic backpack for a 7 year old who may not like it and refuse to take it to school or Littlest Pet Shop that she will use to store everything for school, sleep-overs and car rides. Both of them did not want to buy new clothes for the first day of school, that not only saved the environment but my wallet.

So, we are at Target and so are 50 other parents from our school district. I'm having quasi panic attacks because I don't like shopping especially with crowds. Five minutes after we get there I was wishing I could shop online. But that would be expensive. I need to get out quickly. Most everything is inexpensive. Crayola crayons 24 pack, .22. Gluesticks, 2 pack .20. Lined paper, .15. These ended up in my basket. But what about green? I headed to the enviro friendly section. Paper, recycled, sustainable, 2.49. Enviro glue sticks, 1.79. You do the math. What am I going to take home for my 7 and 9 year old to loose-half-way-through-the-year-to-have-to-replace? (If you remember, I was taking a huge leap of faith buying my kids Sigg bottles for school.) The cheap stuff. Buying green is not always a clear cut choice for me. Especially with the deep discounts on school supplies, I still spent $155 on school supplies. Some of that is donated to the classroom for sharing like gluesticks and Sharpies.

Well, I messed up this year while shopping for green school supplies but you don't have to. All of you that have another month until school starts do your shopping and research now if you want green products. Here are articles and online stores to help:

The Green Guide Back to School 2007

Office Depot-Your Greener Office

Staples Eco Easy Section

Green Apple School Supply (pretty good prices and good selection)

Sierra Club's Back-to-School Tips

Green Earth Office Supply ( I looked everywhere on their site, not sure if this is for resellers? Try it.)

Care2 Best Cool Green School Supplies

Reusablebags.com for backpacks, lunchs bags and reusable bottles


A few guidelines:

• Buy used or use from last year
• Buy in bulk
• Give eco-friendly to your teacher, maybe they too can get the green message
• Put up your gentle used stuff in Freecycle or give to the Salvation Army (they'll pick it up.)
• Buy with a green buddy online, it helps save on shipping cost

Look for:

• Processed Chlorine Free (PFC free) or Totally Chlorine Free (TCF)
• No Bleaching
• Biodegradable
• Corn starch or soy not plastic
• Acid free
• Look for recycled post consumer waste (PCW)
• Non-Toxic
• Reclaimed wood
• No PVC (vinyl)
  
  

And I found this little cutie at Think Green. It is a stapleless stapler.







Be Green.

Friday Finds: Staycations,Greenwash your Drycleaning, Olympic Recycling

TGIF...

• Naturally Savvy has tips on how to stay green during tough economic time.


• California has the first-in-the-nation statewide green building code. TriplePundit has it broken down for you.


• Can you make a recycled raft?


• DIYLife has great ideas to enhance your staycation.


• Beijing is pledging to recycle half of Olympic Waste.


• Is your granite countertop radioactive?


• Plenty Magazine shows your true greenwashing.


• Can you make a recycled raft?

Have a green weekend.

Goodies at the Goodwill Store

I was inspired by Beth at Coming Up For Air to go thrifting.

I haven't been to a thrift store for about 7 years. And the only reason I went 7 years ago was to look for a Halloween costume for my son and I was unsuccessful. Well, I lied, I guess the the Half Price Bookstore I frequent can be thrifty, some books are new and some used.

There is a small Goodwill store about 7 miles from me. I walked in and remembered the first reason I don't shop used- the old and musty smell. Once I got past the attic scent I headed straight for the books. This helped me to ease into the whole used shopping experience again. Books are ok to buy used, people don't mind, but most people frown on buying used clothes. (Reason #2-wearing some strangers clothes-yuck! I personally stay away from used underwear, t-shirts and socks.) I found 3 books, some silly chapter books for my son and Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, all for $1 each. For those of you on the male side of the hemisphere, AYTGIMM is reading right of passage for 12 year old girls. Although my daughter is a wee 7 I will have the classic waiting for her when it is "time".

Next I headed over to the linens area. The reason I came to Goodwill was to look for cloth napkins. Over at Going Green with Burban Mom she has challenged her readers to give up paper napkins. (She also has a Yahoo Group for more in depth discussion, I just lurk right now, hee hee.) I sneezed (reason #3 I haven't shopped thrift stores in a while-I am highly allergic to dust.) my way through blankets, pillow cases, sheets and table clothes to find no cloth napkins.

Then I ventured to the clothing. This was the hardest part for me. Touching, let alone buying, some strangers clothing! The thought of sanitizing everything ran through my head constantly. I found some shorts, they were too small after I tried to get them past my thighs in the dressing room. A little relieved but also flustered, I went to the children's area. I shuffled though a pile of clothes on a table to eventually find 2 very cute denim jackets for my daughter. I have to admit, I was looking at the tags. Anything I knew that was from Target, Kmart or Walmart was not taken only because I know they are cheaper made clothing that even at $3.99 I would be wasting my time and energy. One jacket was from Limited Too and the other from Papaya. I tugged on them for rips at the seams, checked for discolorations and missing buttons. I was proud of myself. I know these jackets were probably $50 each new and I paid $3.99 for them.

I also picked up some computer software games for my daughter to help her learn spelling for .99 each.

I did end up at Home Goods to find new cloth napkins. I know they are not used or organic. But I could have searched the internet for organic, pay a hefty price then have them delivered to my house (hello, carbon footprint) or I can go on the way home to Home Goods, buy them discounted and use the napkins until they fall apart on me. And, yes, I could have made them from old linens I had in the closet, but I am simply not that crafty.

Happy Thifting...

Walkability

I have a bad habit of surfing the net. I have been doing it for over 10 years now. If I didn't surf the net I would be at a bookstore or library reading backs of books. So needless to say I have a plethora of sites and blogs I am bursting to share.

I found One Green Generation a while back. I scan her blog for goodies that I like, just like I normally do. On July 10th she posted a great resource called a "walkabilty score". You visit the site, Walkscore.com, type in your address, the map pops up and you get a score between 0 and 100, 0 bad & 100 great. The score translates into how walkable your area is. Meaning, how many resources you have within walking distance. To me that is relative because some people walk further than others, I take my bike. My area scored a 46 because a grocery store, Starbucks (of course) and a park are within walking distance. That score is higher than I thought it would be but low for walkability. There a many factors taken into place and you can view them here. This is a great resource for greenies looking for a place to live. Check it out.

What is your score?

Friday Finds: Plastic, Rafting, College

• Jeanne Haegele, better known as Life Less Plastic, is in Time Magazine. Wow! Her story of trying to live without plastic and message of the hazards of plastic went main stream. Great job Jeanne! Greenies everywhere are proud of you!


• Enviro-rafting with the Sierra Club. The greenest way to get to the river and what is the greenest gear out there.


• Pollution and danger wash up on New York beach after Juy 4th celebration.


• Next time you come to California fly into Fresno Yosemite International. The airport now runs 40% of it's operations on solar energy. Treehugger: Solar Power Array Installed at Fresno Yosemite Int'l Airport. SFO (San Francisco) has solar also.


• The Daily Green helps you choose a green college.


• Debate nanotechnology with Plenty Magazine.


• Big Green Purse gives you the low down on greener electronics via Greenpeace.

Be Green.

Click here to reduce 1 pound of carbon. Care2.

Update on My Green Life

Today in my neck of the woods it should only reach 90 degrees. At that temperature I don't need to turn on the A/C. I am glad for that. My husband makes fun of me because I like the heat and have acclimated to it over the years so in the Spring and Fall when we get 75-80 degrees outside I put my sweater on. (He's from Michigan and I am from Southern California, HUGE difference in weather.) He makes fun of me that I can't handle the "cold" weather. But I still wear my sweaters. So today I will wear my tank top and shorts and maybe get my butt up for a bike ride.

I may not be there yet...but I'm closer than I was yesterday.

As for the rest of my life, I am truckin' along, not achieving the green state I wanted to be in at this time but still working on it. As things run out I replace them with more earth friendly counterparts. Like my dish soap, dish sponge, or fabric sheets (many people use vinegar, I like baking soda in the rinse). I use Trader Joe's dish soap (pictured above), my dish sponges are natural vegetable fiber and no more fabric sheets. As for other household cleaning I use vinegar and baking soda as I run out of Comet, Windex and Fantastic. Sometimes I wonder if these products have had a negative effect on my health through the years. What's done is done and now I can make better choices for my family.

My dryer is lonely. I haven't used it for weeks. In my last post about hang drying I mentioned I don't hang socks, underwear or heavy jeans. Well, that stopped. Everything gets hung now. The socks are not crunchy but underwear are (that didn't sound good, "crunchy underwear", I'm washing them). The clothes almost dry as fast as a dryer would do it when it is 100 degrees outside.

My baby cantaloupe.

In other news, I had to tell my children no apples yesterday at Trader Joes, even organic. Those little gems were coming all the way from New Zealand and Chile! Talk about a huge carbon footprint on something I can substitute with our own fresh cantaloupe (from the backyard, woo hoo!) or make a smoothie from the fresh fruit I picked earlier in the season. I have, for the most part, cut out bananas too, they all come from way down south like Costa Rica. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against those countries, as a matter of fact I envy Costa Rica, they can eat bananas carbon free!

This last week I went to get my haircut with my hairdresser I have used for years. She has always made comments that I need to deep condition my hair. This time she made comments about how soft my hair was. She asked me what was I doing. I told her I wash it every 2-4 days depending on my activity level and rinsed with a solution of apple cider vinegar and water. And combined that with better eating habits. She was impressed. We always discuss more natural ways of managing your hair. She is a hairdresser at a nice salon so she has to sell the products there but she has learned over the years I don't buy them.

And last, but not least. Call it a small victory, but my husband agreed to no more buying individual water bottles. He drives more than I do and would easily grab one on his way out but he agreed to use a Sigg bottle or anything we have in the cupboard with a top.

Be Green.

Greener Water

We recently spent some time in the local Sierra Nevada mountains along the American River. I love this river. It is so beautiful. The clear water rushing along meeting up with boulders to form rapids of white water. The plastic bottle floating near the lost sandal.

During my visit I noticed quite a bit plastic and aluminum garbage floating along, minding its own business, probably hoping to meet up with its compadres in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Oh, the environmentalist in me cried and then picked up as much of it as I could. (Picture a mom with her friends and their kids carrying beer cans up from the river. Not a good sight. But we did it.) When I got back I started to wonder where that river flows and is anyone helping to clean it up.

The river originates further up stream near Lake Tahoe from ice melt and eventually, after a few reservoirs, dams, a delta and a bay, the water ends up in the ocean. That is a long journey, let's estimate 250 miles. There are a lot of stops along the way but it is very possible that pollution from up river could end up in the ocean. While sitting on the bank of the American River you don't think of the Pacific Ocean and its wildlife. You are thinking whitewater rafting, fishing for trout and swimming. I thought of both locations. How do the locals keep their our watershed clean? And thus help the clean the ocean environment.

A watershed is a drainage basin where water from rain or snow flows down in the form of streams, rivers or creeks toward a larger body of water, i.e. the ocean or bay. What happens upstream effects downstream. Many people don't realize that. I didn't until about 5 years ago when I heard about the Marsh Creek Cleanup.

Every year on the 3rd Saturday of September our city holds the Marsh Creek Clean Up. It is a collaboration of the local city, sponsors like Home Depot, the Resource Conservation District, Friends of Marsh Creek and citizens to clean our Marsh Creek. Every year it grows in volunteers and you wouldn't believe what we pull out of the creek. One year our Cub Scout Pack pulled out a shopping cart. How sad is that? Chairs, sofas, car parts, batteries, fishing line and everyday garbage gets taken out of the creek. I always wonder how it gets there.

I don't need to tell any of you how to keep the waterways clean, I know you guys are green, but unfortunately we need to clean up after others. Please help clean the rivers, lakes and ocean and spread the word.

The Marsh Creek Clean Up corresponds with California Coastal Clean Up Day. Now I made it very easy for anyone living in California to help clean our waterways. Visit the site above and sign up. They will send you info on who your local organizer is.

You can also check with the Ocean Conservancy for clean up locations near you. There is a link for international volunteers there also. Or simply google " 'your body of water here' clean up". For example "Mississippi Clean Up" gave me Mississippi Coastal Clean Up, which is on September 20th this year. Also search for your local Department of Water Resources, they have a lot of information.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the American River has quite a few friends friends to help clean it up. The American River Parkway Foundation organizes a clean up. And here is a large list of Sierra Nevada and national environmental links also.

One bad note about the clean up. Ask what happens to the trash. Do plastic bottles get recycled? Where do aluminum cans go? If the organizers say to the dump, that is not good enough. Try to convince them that much of the trash floating in the ocean is from landfill garbage that got airborne. And we know you NEED to recycle those items. A couple of the articles I noted in this post address that issue. But don't give up, we all know every little bit helps.

Resources and Reads:

Green Peace: The Trash Vortex

Algalita.org - Marine research Foundation

Floating Fecal Funship - Not all garbage comes from the land.

Plenty Mag: Environmentally Sound Beaches

CFL's Love Home Depot

A Little Greener Everday posted today that Home Depot is taking CFL's to recycle them. Spred the word.

My New Day Cream

(I had written up a post about how great my new Burt's Bees Day Creme is. And how much better it is than the lotion I previously used. Then I remembered, after I bought Burt's Bees, to do my research at the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep website. And I found out they scored the same! They both received a 4 out of 10 on a hazardous scale. 0 being not hazardous, 10 being highly hazardous to your body. Well, I tweeked my post a little but here it is.)

My Oil of Olay day lotion finally ran out. So I went out and bought Burt's Bees Carrot Nutritive Day Creme. I trust Burt's Bees brand so I didn't do any research for a new day cream for my face. I just went to Long's and bought it. After I bought it I found out the EWG gave it a 4 out of 10 hazard rating. That's not horrible but I think I can find better. But I will use it all up before buying a new cream.

When you open the jar you immediately smell the the ingredients. It is not a bad smell, somewhat neutral, just natural. I am used to the artificial smells of lotions that manufactures think we want to smell like. The texture of the cream is thick and smooth. When I went to put it on my face I was a bit worried that the cream would not dry enough and make my make-up float. It did not, I am very pleased and relieved to say. What was surprising to me is the color, it has an orange tint. I mean it is a natural carrot cream, so it has beta carotene as an ingredient. You know, the stuff that makes your skin orange. But you need to eat quite a bit to have that happen. But what if you use it everyday? Will my skin turn a tint of orange? I doubt it, but it sure did cross my mind when applying it this morning.

Overall, so far, I am very pleased with the creme. I have pretty normal skin, slightly oily on my forehead and nose. This cream blended nicely with my skin. It doesn't make it feel greasy or dry. I think it works all day.

The only draw back is that I wanted a day lotion/creme with a sunscreen it it but if you want all natural then you can't have sunscreen. Something about nano-particles in the sunscreen being absorbed into your skin. Here is an article from the Green Guide about it.

As for the score of 4 at the EWG's website, I was a little shocked and concerned. A 4! So what is wrong with Burt's Bees Carrot Day Creme? Well, reading the report it looks like the big concern is the frangrance used in the product, it was scored an 8! That is really high. The report states that the fragrance can cause allergies and it is a neuro and immune system toxin. Well, that doesn't sound good. (I knew my mama nose was right when I became sickened by fragrances after having babies.) The next concern was the tocopheryl acetate. My take is that it is toxic to your skin and organs. But it scored a 4, which is pretty low. All the other ingredients scored fairly low.

And what about the Oil of Olay scoring a 4? Well, it scored high, 8-9, in fragrance and DMDM Hydantoin. The DMDM Hydantoin has toxins and comes with quite a few warnings and violations. I think the this lotion received a lower rating because the EWG regards UV sunscreen as good because it helps to deter skin cancer.

There are other factors to consider. Burt's Bee's does not test on animals and the signed the EWG's Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Oil of Olay may test on animals and has not signed the Compact. Also, Burt's Bees came in a handy dandy reusable glass jar. Olay, #5 plastic.

So in conclusion, I'll stick with my Burt's Bee's Creme for now. And look for something without a frgrance for next time. I did look in the EWG's Face Lotion Datbase and my head is spinning. There are 1000's. So if anyone has a good face cream let me know.

EcoSearch It

Move over Google, EcoSearch has come to town. EcoSearch, with the help of Google, is saving the environment one search at a time. When you search with EcoSearch you get the same exact results as you would with Google. And Google gives to environmentally friendly organizations for it by sharing its advertising revenue. Everybody wins!! Check out more at Big Green Purse.

And if you have Hotmail or Windows Live Messenger you need to sign up for the IM Initiative. Microsoft will give part of its advertising revenue to a great charity you choose from their list. See my post here to get more details.

Be Green.

Good Green Food Advocate

I was reading a post at Arduous blog called "What the Eff is Going On With Our God Damned Food?" And I wondered if there is a Organic and/or Local Food Advocate? The United States has the USDA and the FDA. But that is not the type of organization I am refering to. I'm talking grass roots. For the people. A group like Sierra Club who lobbies for our environment. Or Greenpeace who uses dingies to save whales. (Those guys are crazy but they helped save thousands of whales form going extinct.)

Does it exist? If it does, where is it? And if it does exist then should it advertise a little girl spraying pesticides directly into her mouth to get the point across? Should there be commercials of dying children that can't breathe because their asthma is so severe? Scenes like that worked to get money to starving Africans during drought times. Can an organization actually get their point across to Twinkie-eaters? What would it take to wake people up and realize that what you put in your mouth-food, water, drinks, air, toys (for children)-is killing you? Oh ya, Hostess and McDonalds are United States, no, World institutions that can't be touched.

I do know that it is going to have to be BIG. Bigger than Discovery Green Channel. Bigger than Ed Begley or Leo DiCaprio. Bigger than local farmer's markets. Bigger than the Environmental Working Group.

It will take a lot of money, education, people power, media releases, product placement, a little brainwashing (hey, we have to play like the big boys) and good old fashion word of mouth.

Who is going to do this?

Organic Farming Research Foundation?

Slow Food USA?

SARE?

Organic Consumers Association?

Can it be done? Will people ignore the messages? Is there too much going on in the world (Iraq, the upcoming election, Brangelina) to pay attention?

CFL's: Good or Bad?

My friend (who is a democrat but not eco-minded) just sent me this video and it got me wondering if Compact Florescent Light Bulbs or CFL's are worth the effort. I am not saying I agree or disagree with the congressman. He just got my brain cranking. But I can say, I rarely trust republicans in matters of the environment.

We all agree CFL's save us money because over its life time it is more energy efficient than its counterpart, the incandescent bulb. We can also agree that in being more efficient they save greenhouse gas emissions from being emitted to our air. And not to mention, they are less effort to have in your house because you replace them less frequently. Therefore less driving to the store to buy them, thus even more saved greenhouse emissions.

BUT, they are made with mercury. If the bulb is broken it can leak mercury. Do you know what mercury does to a human if exposed? It is a neurotoxin that can affect babies and young children's memory, language and attention. (Not to mention what it can do to animals.) The glass that encompassed that mercury can have lead in it. Do you know what lead does to humans? It also can also cause neurological problems. That is why, when a CFL breaks, you MUST take special precautions to dispose of it.

And when the light burns out are you able to recycle it? Some locations do not offer this service or worse yet there are many people who don't care to recycle so that lead and mercury ends up in our land fills. And then into our soil, our air and waterways. Yummy, I didn't know mercury was a seasoning for fish. This is a HUGE concern of mine. Most people I know do not recycle CFL's, they don't care to or don't know how. (Yes, I let them know how, but that is all I can do.) What scares me also is the U.S. is looking to ban incandescent bulbs like Australia and Canada have already done. I am ok with that so long as EVERYONE recycles them. Oh, I forgot, most people don't do that.

So what do us Greenies and health conscience people do?

• Education. Do your homework. I know everyone reading eco-blogs, eco-websites, eco-books and eco-mags are doing their part. We need to help spread the word to recycle the bulbs the best way you know how.


• Buy the bulbs that boast less mercury and lead. Turolight and Philips both boast less mercury in their CFL's.


• Recycle them. Earth911.org can help you.


• Start a recycle drive. At school. At work. With your non-profit. Any group can help collect and recycle.


• Take them to IKEA.


• Contact your local government to find out if they are recycling. Call, email or look in yellow pages. If they don't recycle CFL's try to change their mind.


• You can also keep them until there is a hazardous drop off in your area or until better recycling of CFL is available.

Oh, did I mention most CLF's are made in China? The same country that poisoned our pets with contaminated pet food. The same country that makes most of our toys, made with lead. And then , of course, there was the toothpaste dilemma. Does China follow good human and environmental policies? We all know the answer to that. Is it worth it to contaminate China (and us for that matter) with coal (in manufacturing the bulbs), lead and mercury?

Just wondering....

What is your take?

Other Sources:

• Energy Star mercury fact sheet


• EPA- Basic Info on Mercury


• Lighter Footstep: 5 Ways to Recycle CFL's


• Global Alerts
  

Carbon Free Dad's Day

When I made a search for "Green Father's Day" I found the results a little disturbing. Even the greenest sites were getting you to buy something for dad. Though be it an eco-kayak or solar powered charger for his cell phone, it is still a purchase of something that might have taken non-renewable materials and energy to make. And may not be recyclable or reusable. I am not saying don't buy anything for dad, if he needs it, get it. What I am saying is do your homework before you buy. Be sure the product is earth friendly. Renewable, Reusable, Recyclable. Remember: being green is about being frugal too. The less you buy, the less ends up in the garbage heaps.

Here are some alternatives:

• Donate to his favorite non-profit


• Plant a tree in his name


• Name a star after him


• Check his tire pressure, oil and fluids for him


• Give him a neck massage


• Send him to cooking or bar-b-q classes


• Make him a locally grown meal


• Go on a bike ride with him


• Do what he says-from turning off the lights to emptying the dishwasher


• If you must buy, buy vintage. Golfer? Find some old wooden golf clubs. Sports fan? Find old memorabilia.


• LOVE him. Show him you love him, that is the best gift.

Happy Green Father's Day!