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10 Things You Can Do to Help the Gulf Coast Clean the Oil Spill
Tweet Share on Facebook May 3, 2010 Comment (138)Alarming photos of dead sea turtles washed ashore—as well as satellite images of an ever-spreading oil slick—demonstrate that a serious ordeal is ahead for the Gulf Coast. The April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused a spill that has spread more than 130 miles so far. The spill has reached land in Louisiana, and is expected to reach Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. If it continues, it will surpass the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill as the worst in history. Here's how you can help:
1. Want to lend a hand? Affected states allow you to register to volunteer online. Louisiana and Florida volunteers can register online, or Gulf Coast volunteers can call 1-866-448-5816. Oil Spill Volunteers is another registration site that matches up those willing to assist with the groups that need their help. Volunteer opportunities run the gamut from wildlife sitter to administrative support, so any and all help is appreciated.
2. Florida is calling on untrained volunteers to pick up trash on its beaches to minimize the impact of the spill once it hits land. Volunteers are asked to leave natural debris in place, though, as it provides shelter for birds and other animals. If you'd like to help out with areas where oil has already washed ashore, it is recommended that you contact a local group to be trained in how to handle oil-covered materials.
3. If you're in the Gulf Coast area and see a distressed animal, do not try to assist it on your own. Injured animals can be defensive and may try to bite you—also, crude oil can be harmful when it comes in contact with human skin. A hotline has been established for injured and dead animal sightings. Call 1-866-557-1401 to leave a message with the animal's precise location. iPhone users in the Gulf can download the Noah project's app to document distressed animals and the spill's impact on wildlife. Learn more about Noah here. -
Michelle Obama's Obesity Campaign Renews Focus on Home Cooking
Tweet Share on Facebook March 19, 2010 Comment (2)Gracing the most recent cover of Newsweek, Michelle Obama's initiative to combat childhood obesity has gotten some attention this week. "Let's Move" is Obama's campaign to help this generation shape up to a healthy weight by the time they reach adulthood. The program focuses on encouraging healthier food at home and in schools, and more physical activity. And while our nation's obesity problem has no simple solution, one suggestion that Obama has recommended is the simple act of cooking.
"Back when many of us were growing up, we led lives that kept most of us at a pretty healthy weight. We walked to school every day, ran around at recess and gym and for hours before dinner, and ate home-cooked meals that always seemed to have a vegetable on the plate....With many parents working longer hours, or multiple jobs, they don't have time for family meals around the table anymore," Obama wrote in Newsweek.
In a country where many people spend more time watching cooking shows on TV, rather than cooking meals for themselves, it is not an easy task to get busy families to step away from pre-packaged meals of convenience. But many chefs are trying to teach Americans that cooking is not so difficult, after all. On March 26, ABC premieres "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," in which the celebrity chef swoops into Huntington, W.V., one of the unhealthiest cities in America, to teach families how to cook and eat nutritious food. One of the improvements he organizes for the town is a community center where anyone can come in for free cooking lessons, learning to prepare simple, healthful meals with inexpensive ingredients. -
How to Cut Back on Airport Waste
Tweet Share on Facebook March 1, 2010 Comment (1)Harried travelers have to ditch their bottled beverages to make it through airport security checkpoints to their flights, but unless airports change their practices, those recyclable bottles often go straight to the trash. The New York Times wrote recently about the difficulties airlines face in greening their waste-management practices, which can involve many agencies and are different in every airport. Some have learned to adapt - the Portland International Airport in Oregon, for example, has installed a station for passengers to dump liquids out of bottles so that they can keep and reuse them, with a recycling bin close by.
Of course, it's not just security practices that cause the trash to pile up in airports. With time to kill at gates and during layovers, the airport food court is all but irresistible. Much of the fast food you'll find there is overpackaged to make it portable enough to take on board with you. A few airports, like Oakland International, have cut down on their trash by installing compost bins for food waste, and encouraging restaurant tenants to use compostable food containers. And on the planes themselves, food and plastic waste is abundant, thanks to the millions of cans and plastic cups that most airlines send straight to the trash. Continental is one airline that collects recyclable waste before landing, and recycles it through airport kitchens.
Here are a few items you can bring to the airport to cut back on the amount of waste you produce - all of which are convenient for travel:
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Washington Auto Show: Green Technology Officially Mainstream
Tweet Share on Facebook February 1, 2010 Comment (3)This is a guest post by U.S. News production coordinator Leandro Oliva.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the annual Washington Auto Show, where I scoured the showroom floor looking for green technology in the current and upcoming lineup of cars for the 2010/11 model year. While the auto show here in D.C. is not known to be the first place automakers unveil their new designs in the U.S. (that honor is usually reserved for the Detroit and L.A. Auto shows), there was nonetheless a very strong showing in alternative fuel and hybrid-electric models.
Among the American car makers, Ford carries the distinction of having its midsized Fusion Hybrid as the North American Car of the Year, offering a sedan with a very respectable 41 MPG city/36 hwy, powered by a nickel-metal hydride battery and a 2.5L Atkinson Cycle I-4 engine. While the 'rental car' styling of the Fusion is simply on par with the Toyota Camry and other vehicles in its class, there are thoughtful green features, such as its 100 percent "earth friendly" yarn upholstery and the use of recycled materials within the interior, which make it an appealing purchase for eco-minded consumers. Also on display were Ford's other hybrid vehicles, including those offered by its sister brand, Mercury. These include the small-sized SUV, the Escape, and its Mercury variant, the Mariner. Both models remain almost unchanged for 2010, with the exception of a few additional equipment offerings.
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Apple iPad Touts Environmental Cred
Tweet Share on Facebook January 27, 2010 Comment (2)Apple's game-changing iPad, unveiled today, has both techies and green bloggers starry-eyed - the latter because the company is keeping it green for the new touch-screen device.
Here are some of the green features for the iPad: It's BPR-free, PVC-free, has arsenic-free display glass, a mercury-free LCD display, and a glass and aluminum enclosure that is highly recyclable. That gives the device relatively the same eco-cred as the MacBook Air. The device will also feature a 10-hour battery life, and more than a month of standby battery capacity, meaning it will hold charge after long periods of inactivity.
So far, so good. But Martin LaMonica of CNET rightfully points out that these measures only go so far - the rest is up to users. New product launches put techies on an Sisyphean quest for the newest gadget, but that means a constant cycle of replacing still-working technology. And what happens to those old netbooks that will be discarded in favor of an iPad? Chances are, they won't be recycled properly, and will sit in a drawer or box somewhere for a decade before ending up in a landfill. There, they'll leach toxic chemicals into groundwater. Though the iPad may contain fewer harmful chemicals, the device's longevity matters: the more often it has to be replaced, the more resources it will consume.
The iPad's iBooks application puts it in direct competition with e-readers like the Kindle and Nook. E-readers cut down on the amount of resources used in book production, offsetting the gadget's own emissions after one year of use, according to a study by the Cleantech Group. Recycling rates for paper are much higher than they are for electronics, though. But the iPad is more than just an e-reader, so it would presumably displace the purchase of additional mobile gaming, music and video devices, as well as books.
Of course, none of this matters to the most die-hard Apple fans, who are clamoring to get their hands on an iPad, green or not. If you're one of them, and have an old computer that you'll subsequently retire, here's how you can recycle it responsibly - and some earn some cash for it, too.
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Sustainable Seafood Restaurant Guide Takes on Michelin
Tweet Share on Facebook January 22, 2010 CommentYou wouldn't eat a panda burger. If you saw rhino nuggets on a menu, you'd probably be appalled. But many fine-dining restaurants serve up endangered and threatened species, and you may have even eaten one without knowing it. It's not steakhouses or bistros flaunting their lack of environmental ethics, but rather, seafood and sushi restaurants. There, you'll find critically endangered species of tuna, eel and other fish on the menu - and that's what one British journalist is trying to change.
Charles Clover, a reporter for the Telegraph, is the author of The End of the Line, a book that details our bleak future if we continue to overfish our oceans. Many of the fish we eat today are on the verge of total collapse - some are already there - and experts in predict that if we do not modify our fishing practices, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048. A documentary based on Clover's book made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival last year featuring scientists, fisherman and industry whistleblowers. It also featured Clover's lengthy quest to talk to the restaurateurs of upscale sushi chain Nobu about the endangered bluefin tuna they serve at their restaurants worldwide.
A year later, Clover has launched Fish2Fork, a sustainable seafood dining guide that rates restaurants not just on their food, but on the environmental ethics of their menus. Clover has ranked a limited sample of top seafood restaurants in the U.S. and the U.K. on factors that include the species and sourcing of their food, their transparency, and their sustainability policy, or lack thereof. Restaurants were rated on a scale of red and blue fish, with five blue fish representing the highest score, and five red fish representing the worst score.
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What's Green at the Consumer Electronics Show This Year
Tweet Share on Facebook January 8, 2010 Comment (4)Last year, green bloggers seemed excited that the Consumer Electronics Show was trying to be more environmentally-friendly. It appears that their tone for 2010 has changed. Treehugger titled a post "Consumer Electronics Show 2010: A Steaming Pile of Hypocrisy?" On the Huffington Post, blogger Robert J. Elis noted that the press room was no longer giving out notebooks to save paper. "This is the Consumer ELECTRONICS Show -- the place is loaded with ELECTRONICS. Everywhere. You're bombarded by ELECTRONICS. Electricity, batteries, flashing lights, electronics, electronics, electronics are coming out of every year. And they're "going green" by eliminating paper?? I don't think so."
He certainly has a point. But there's plenty of green to go around at CES, from the innovative to the ire-inducing greenwashing. A few highlights:- Pay more attention to Nokia products when you're looking for a green gadget. According to Greenpeace, Nokia ranks the highest in their Guide to Greener Electronics, ahead of the pack for their elimination of many toxic chemicals in products, despite a weak recycling record. Greenpeace ranked Nintendo and Microsoft at the bottom.
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Home, Sweet Home Office
Tweet Share on Facebook January 4, 2010 Comment (1)The Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday about the numerous benefits of working from home, which I'll reiterate here: saving money on transportation, having a more relaxed work environment with flexible hours, getting a tax-write off, and working in your pajamas, of course. But they neglected to mention that working from home is good for the environment, as well.
It's something that I discussed with Christine Esposito, president of Terracom Public Relations, for an article about saving money by going green in our upcoming personal finance magazine issue. Christine moved her business into her home, and estimates that she saves several thousand dollars a year as a result. She no longer has to worry about a commute in Chicago's snowy winters. She saves money on gas, and has shrunk her carbon footprint. She's found the practice to be especially good for her green PR firm.
"If you're a green business in particular, it not only saves you money but supports your green brand," said Esposito. "It's one way to walk your green talk." Esposito said that working from home can feel isolated at times, but loving the space that she's created for her office—which is on a separate floor from the living space in her home—and the time and money she saves makes it all worthwhile.
You don't have to be an entrepreneur to work from home and reap financial and environmental benefits. It's easy to stay connected to your office through conference calls, webcams, and frequent email check-ins. If you have a traditional office job and are worried about losing touch with your office, you might consider asking you boss for permission to work from home only one or two days a week. If you're an entrepreneur, or self-employed, and worried about the price of outfitting your home with expensive equipment, consider coworking, an office-sharing arrangement.
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10 Things You Should Know About the Household Product Labeling Acts
Tweet Share on Facebook November 24, 2009 Comment (2)What, exactly, is in your household cleaning products—and is it harmful for you and your family? Two recent bills aim to make the labeling of household products clearer and safer for families. Here's what you should know:
1. To sum it all up: "Each covered product introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce shall bear a label that states completely, accurately, and legibly all of the ingredients of such product."
2. Introduced over the summer, the Senate bill is the second by Sen. Al Franken. Said Franken:
"How many times have you heard on the news or read in the paper about a new drug or chemical that has been recently linked to health or environmental hazards? It happens all the time. An ingredient that a company claims is 'perfectly safe' today could be reclassified as 'dangerous' tomorrow. And an ingredient that is safe for most people could be a major irritant for a child with asthma. Eventually, I hope that manufacturers will take pre-emptive action and eliminate potentially harmful chemicals from their products. In the meantime, this legislation is a common sense step in the right direction."
3. The House bill has been introduced by Rep. Steve Israel, who said in a statement:
"Like big tobacco, the big chemical industry in American has gotten away with too much for too long. They’ve deprived us of basic information about the chemicals being used in our homes and workplaces, some of which are downright dangerous. The people who are the most at risk are the ones who spend all day with these chemicals at work and we can’t let big chemical take advantage of them anymore."
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7 More Ways to Save Money and Go Green This Thanksgiving
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2009 Comment (4)It's time, once again, for Americans to give thanks and enjoy a bountiful meal. It's also a day to watch what you eat—and not just in regards to your waistline. The year 2009 was notable for an emphasis on greener, more sustainable eating, from the White House garden to the movie Food, Inc. Last Thanksgiving, I wrote about saving money, starting traditions, decoding turkey labels and defending your vegetarianism. Here are seven more money-saving tips for a green Thanksgiving.
[Slide Show: 10 Money-Saving Green Thanksgiving Tips.]
1. Use a slow-cooker. Fall is the season for slow-simmered soups, so there's no better time to bust out the Crock Pot. As an added bonus, the slow-cooker is one of the most energy-efficient devices in the kitchen. According to Planet Green: "When compared to a conventional oven which uses 2.7 pounds of CO2 for one hour of use, a slow cooker uses .9 pounds of CO2 for seven hours of use." The Daily Green offers some slow-cooker Thanksgiving recipes here.
