Toxic Chemicals Bill in the House and Congress♠♦

The Environmental Working Group recently sent me the following email. If you are interested in getting involved in greening this planet, now is the time. Please sign the petition to get the the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act passed. If we are ever to save this planet and this species, we must reduce the number of chemicals that we are subjected to on a daily basis.

The toxics reform bill, H.R. 5820, the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act, has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Chairmen Waxman (CA-30) and Rush (IL-01). Toxics reform is now moving through both houses of Congress. It has never been more important for Congress to know that we want the strongest and most effective toxics bill possible — we need companies to prove that chemicals are safe before they hit our supermarket shelves.

95,000 EWG Action Fund supporters like you have already called on Congress to enact change — and we’ve got Washington’s attention. Now, in this crucial moment of introduction, we need to reach 100,000 signatures to make sure our legislators make this bill strong and effective.

We’re just 5,000 signatures away, and we need you to add your name right now.

Click here to sign our petition urging Congress to support this critical reform.

This reform is long overdue. In May, the President’s Cancer Panel released a new report on exposure to chemicals and the risk of developing cancer. While their findings may be nothing new to you and me — especially that children are more susceptible than adults to carcinogens and endocrine disruptors — it is a clear call to Congress to take action now.

The nearly 300 chemicals that EWG found when testing the umbilical cord blood of 10 Americans — chemicals like BPA, lead, mercury, fire retardants, perchlorate and PCBs — are increasingly linked to serious long-term health effects, from childhood cancer and autism to ADHD, learning deficits, infertility and heart disease.

It’s time for a policy that is prevention oriented instead of reactionary. We are so close to our goal of 100,000 petition signatures. Will you help put us over the edge so we can show the House there is strong public support for this reform?

Click here to sign our petition urging Congress to support toxic chemical reform.

Thank you for speaking up for a new national chemical policy that places human health front and center — right where it should be.

Sincerely,

Ken Cook
President, EWG Action Fund

July 27, 2010 Tags: ADHD, environment, environmental working group EWG, learning deficits, toxic chemicals, Toxic Chemicals Safety Act, toxins in babies Posted in: Environmental Causes 2 Comments

Yikes! There’s a New Product in Town

According to the Kleenex website “People in the U.S. dry their hands on cloth bathroom towels approximately 200 billion times a year.”

What were they thinking?

So what is their solution? A brand new product on the market called Kleenex Hand Towels. The result. 200 billion more pieces of paper in our landfills, and an untold number of trees cut down to produce those hand towels. While their website goes into detail about their commitment to sustainably, they also state that “Because of the superior softness consumers expect from KLEENEX^® Brand, KLEENEX^® Brand Hand Towels are made with 100 percent virgin fiber.” And if that’s not enough, Kleenex recommends that they be taken to a recycling center for disposal. Not anywhere on their website could I find the word “biodegradable.

Kleenex advocates that just as the cloth handkerchief was replaced by paper, so should towels. Germ-o-phobics rejoice. Your prayers have been answered, one more way to keep those pesky germs out of your home.

While everyone agrees that when there is illness in the family, there could be a potential for the spread of germs on towels, but teaching children from an early age, the proper way to wash their hands (and adults too) and using a good old fashioned washing machine is a far more environmentally friendly way to keep healthy than using disposable towel every time you wash your hands.

A more environmentally sound way to go about this issue is to switch to non-toxic, earth friendly cleaning products. For a full line of these products visit the Best Going Green Products Store

PS. You have got to listen to their song that goes along with these hand towels.

The Kleenex Hand Towels Drying Song

July 25, 2010 Tags: earth friendly, environmentally friendly, hand washing, kleenex hand towels, non toxic Posted in: Going Green, going green products No Comments

Best Go Green Beauty Tip; Cocoa Butter

One of the best things you can do for yourself when thinking about going green is to eliminate or significantly reduce the amount of chemicals you put on or in your body. Shampoos, soaps, toothpaste, beauty creams, nail polish, lotions and more can contain some nasty chemicals. Being a more “green” shopper and learning how to read labels is an important first step on your journey to go green.

One simple change you can make is to switch over to cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is a product that is extracted from cocoa beans that are used to make chocolate. It is 10% natural, gentle on the skin and as an added bonus, it smells like chocolate.

Physicians have been recommending cocoa butter for years to help heal scars after surgery. Once your surgical scars have healed, the use of cocoa butter on the scar, helps keep the skin smooth and reduces the amount of scarring on most people. The same goes for stretch marks after pregnancy. Cocoa butter helps reduce those unsightly stretch marks by keeping the skin nice and soft and supple. It also has the ability to lighten up the blemishes and scars you may have.

Cocoa butter, as it turns out has some mighty powerful properties. Using it after a shower helps keep you skin hydrated. If you have a tendency towards dry skin, they hydrating properties of can’t be beat.

Cocoa butter is also great as an inexpensive moisturizer. An along with keeping your skin hydrated, and using it as a moisturizer it acts as an anti-aging product, that will keep you skin looking younger.

Cocoa butter is non-irritating to the skin, so it can be used by those individuals with sensitive skin.

For some great cocoa butter products, try one or more of the products featured below.

July 18, 2010 Tags: cocoa butter, go green beauty tip, going green going green tip, non toxic skin care, skin care products Posted in: going green tips 5 Comments

Eco-Friendly Cooking

One of my projects for this summer is to build a solar oven. Living in Florida, I have access to one heck of a lot of sunshine. With the cost of electricity rising, and the summers getting warmer, it only makes sense. I saw a demonstration of one at a green expo recently and realized that they are easy to build and the materials to build on is far less expensive than purchasing one.

If you are at all handy with some simple tools, you can make a solar oven. Think of the money you can save by not using your oven when the air-conditioning is running.

Bear

Using a solar oven in an area where bears are common may not be a cost effective idea.

July 17, 2010 Tags: cooking with the sun, solar oven, solar power Posted in: Going Green, going green tips No Comments

Where are the Cell Phones Going?

Where you aware?

There are millions upon millions of cell phones in America that are no longer being used. Cell phones contain a host of hazardous materials including Arsenic, Antimony, Beryllium, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Nickel and Zinc.

According to Paper Dragon Recycling, a Michigan recycling company, they state that “if cell phones are not disposed of properly through recycling, these chemicals can find their way into the soil and water supply. One cell phone can pollute up to 34,871 gallons of water.”

With millions of people giving up perfectly functioning cellphones to jump on the Droid X and iPhone bandwagon, there are a lot of cellphones that will find their way into the landfills. Verizon alone sold over a quarter of a million Droid X phones in the first day or so it went on the market. Selling your old phone, donating them to battered woman’s groups, or recycling them is a far better option.

PS: If you are still thinking about upgrading to a Droid X you can save money on your phone by getting a Free Shopping Card. After signing up for your Free Shopping Card

visit the Verizon store and order your phone there. You will earn bonus points that can be redeemed for cash or merchandise, and best yet, the points don’t expire.

July 17, 2010 Tags: cell phone recycling, droid x, electronic recycling, free shopping card, iPhone, recycline, verizon Posted in: going green products, going green tips No Comments

Washing Your Car The Eco-friendly Way

One of the worst things you can do to harm the environment is to wash your automobile out on your driveway. All the road grime, gasoline residue, oil, that is washing off the car and the toxic washing products you are using go directly into the sewerage system and right out back into the environment.

In an effort to remove some tough grime such as road tar, car cleaning products contain a toxic soup of petroleum distillates and other nasty, nasty stuff.

If you are trying to go green, taking your car or truck to a car wash is one option because they have to capture the water and route it to the sewerage system where it is treated before it is discharged back into the environment.

If you must wash your car or truck at home, please use environmentally friendly cleaning products. A full line of environmentally friendly automotive products can be found at Best Going Green Products/automotive

From car wash soap, to metal cleaner to car mats and more, this site carries everything you need to care for your car in an environmentally responsible way.

A Green Lady

http://agreenlady.com

July 11, 2010 Tags: car wash, environment, environmentally products, friendly, green automotive products, petroleum distillates Posted in: going green products, going green tips No Comments

Looking For Work?

With the economy tanking these days, more and more people are finding themselves out of a job or with a job on an extremely shaky foundation. One area of the job market that seems to be doing well is the green sector. As the government dumps money into the green stimulus package, more and more green jobs are becoming available.

If a new career is in your future, you many want to consider a green career. Learn all you can about a career in the green sector with

Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn

This book , although slightly outdated, offer some sound advice on how to land a green job, and is worth reading.

For other great eco-friendly books and items, be sure and visit the

Best Going Green Products Store

July 10, 2010 Tags: economy, employment, Going Green, green career, green jobs, jobs Posted in: Going Green, going green products, going green tips One Comment

End Junk Mail For Good

Recycling is one of the easiest ways to go green and one of the few ways to save the planet that nearly everyone does. How would you like to make your recycling life even easier and help non-profit organizations at the same time?

Several years ago, a website called 41 Pounds was started and has been growing ever since. This website offers to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive by 80-90% over the next five years. Reducing the amount of junk mail you receive will mean that you will have less paper to recycle , which will make your life easier, help the planet, and help non-profit organizations all at the same time.

For the simple cost of $41, this organization will contact the companiethat send out junk mail and have your name removed.

“1/3 of our fee to community and environmental organizations. These organizations plant trees, protect watersheds and strengthen our communities.”

Check out 41 Pounds today if you would like to see the amount of junk mail you receive reduced dramatically.

July 10, 2010 Tags: 41 pounds, go green, junk mail, recycling Posted in: Going Green, going green tips 2 Comments

A Green Death

As the world is becoming more attuned to the idea of going green, more and more areas where you can go green are being “discovered”.

For those truly green individuals a traditional westernized burial may not fit into their idea of how they want to leave this planet. Traditional preparation of a body after death for a viewing requires the services of a funeral home and embalmer. Without getting into the details it is sufficient to day that a lot of “stuff” gets washed down the drain, and a lot of nasty cancer causing chemicals are injected into the body. ( Not something the deceased person has to worry about, but how about the poor embalmer?)

The body is then placed in a casket which is made of treated wood, and can be lined with lead. The coffin is then sent to a cemetery where it takes up precious land and leaches toxins into the earth for years to come.

More and more people are leaning towards cremation, which is a more earth friendly way to leave this world.

The Green Burial Council is an interesting website that allows visitors to find eco-friendly funeral homes and cemeteries and has information available on green burials.

If cremation is your choice, the Neptune Society is a cremation service that can also offer green burial solutions.

My favorite choice is that of a reef burial. Offering many options, one can have their remains permanently placed in a stone casting, and buried at a memorial reef site several miles off the cost of the Florida Keys. A memorial plaque is used to mark the site of the final under water resting place.

Death isn’t a topic we are comfortable talking about, but a green death is something we should tuck away in the back of our minds and consider it as an option when we need to make those final decisions.

July 8, 2010 Tags: cremation, funeral, funerals, green burial council, green burials, green death, memorial reef, neptune society Posted in: Going Green No Comments

A Pitch for Native Plants

One of the best ways to help the environment when it comes to your garden and landscaping is to use native plants. Home owners are always looking for ways to beautify their landscaping, and are looking for plants and trees that are aesthetically pleasing.

Not everyone has the same idea as to what a backyard or garden should look like because everyone uses those areas of their homes for different reasons. If you have children, the yard should be designed quite differently than if you are looking to use your backyard as a garden retreat.

The one thing they do both have in common is the fact that there are great benefits to using native plants in their design. Listed below are some of the benefits of using native plantings.

1. Native Plants Are Time Savers.

Native plants are easily grown. Since they thrive in the climate where they are native, they require less care than plants that are exotic to the area. Importing plants that are not native to the area requires more water and fertilizers to help them grow, and their survival rate, especially during climate extremes is less than native plants.

2. Native Plants Last Longer

Since native plants are adaptable to the extremes in climate, they last a lot longer than exotic plants. Extremes in temperature or rainfalls are old hat to the native plants so they are not easily killed off when these extremes occur. Exotics are not capable of surviving extremes in climate, nor are they always capable of fighting off native organisms that can kill the plants.

Failure to follow a rigid maintenance schedule such as watering and fertilizing can lead to unhealthy, withered plants. With native plants, such a schedule is not necessary.

3. It’s easy to find.

Native plant nurseries are springing up all over the place. Since they are easier to grow, many garden centers carry a full line of native plants for you to purchase. Even the big bog home improvement centers carry a wide selection of native plants that are competitive in price to the exotics.

4. Native Plants Have Benefits

Birds and insects that are native to an area often need certain plants and trees to survive. Giving them the habitat they need through the use of native plants and trees is of great benefit to them. The most striking example of this is the need for butterflies to have a hot and nectar plants from which to feed and lay their eggs. Without these plants, the butterflies cannot survive.

Native plants are also important when it comes to pollination. Native plants provide the proper pollination for other plants in the area.

5. It is Less Expensive.

Exotic plants can often be more expensive than native plants, but even if they are less expensive when purchased, when the cost of maintaining them is factored in, they cost more in the long run. If you add to that the cost of transporting the exotic plant from it’s country of origin to the end user, it adds a lot to the carbon footprint of the plant.

If you are considering the addition of plants and trees to your landscaping or just replacing them as they die out, consider using native plants. Your garden will be happier and your pocket book will be happier and you will have a much nicer natural looking landscaping project.

For a wealth of green products to make your gardening chores, activities more fun and more eco-friendly, be sure and visit the store at http://AGreenLady.com