Green Tomorrow

Is “Green” Just a Fad?

Going “green” is nothing new. Long before the recent trends people have been trying to use healthier alternatives to toxin latent products for decades. In fact I have been using “green” products for most of my life. My question is very simple.

Is going Green just a fad or is it really the right thing to do?

Whether or not you have concerns of Global Warming or Green House Gases I believe that using environmentally friendly products (not just house hold cleaners) is the right thing to do, always.

Below are just of the few statistics I have rounded up. Some are very shocking.

• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.

• About 110 million Americans live in areas with levels of air pollutants the federal government considers to be harmful.

• Americans dump 16 tons of sewage into their waters–every minute of every day.

• Although water covers two-thirds of the surface of the Earth, all the fresh water in lakes, streams, and rivers represents only one-hundredth of the Earth’s total water.

• Each year, 1 million sea birds, 100,000 marine mammals, and 50,000 fur seals are killed as the result of eating or being strangled in plastic.

• Americans throw away 25 billion Styrofoam coffee cups every year, and 2.5 million plastic beverage bottles every hour.

• Americans throw away about 40 billion soft drink cans and bottles every year. Placed end to end, they would reach to the moon and back nearly 20 times.

• Eighty-four percent of a typical household’s waste–including food scraps, yard waste, paper, cardboard, cans, and bottles–can be recycled.

• Using recycled paper for one print run of the Sunday edition of the New York Times would save 75,000 trees.

• If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25 million trees a year.

• Each year, 40 million acres of tropical rain forests–an area larger than the state of California–are destroyed through logging or burning.

• Only 10 percent of the 35,000 pesticides introduced since 1945 have been tested for their effects on people.

With so many options for “Going Green” today and many of those products are so economical there really is no reason not to try. Go and find anything and make a difference. I be live that the small act of scouring the sink can be apart of the giant act of saving the world.

The Lazy Man’s Guide to Going Green – 10 Low Impact Ways to Have a High Impact Effect

Does the thought of saving the planet overwhelm you?

If so, you are not alone. When faced with all of the many areas of the world that need attention, it certainly can feel as though it is a task that is simply too daunting. Between thinking about carbon credits, climate change, solar energy, hydrogen power and biofuels, it can be enough to make your head swim.

News reports are full of depressing stories about species around the world that are threatened, global warming and the not so subtle warnings that our children will suffer if we do not immediately begin to change the way we live. The task can be so overwhelming that sometimes it seems as though it is easier to do nothing at all. Rather than ignoring the dire situation or giving into guilt or depression, there are low impact ways in which we can have a high impact effect on the process of saving our planet.

Even choosing one small way to help is better than doing nothing at all. You might be surprised to learn that there are numerous ways in which you can help. Many ways in which you can move toward a cleaner way of living are very simple and some will not even cost you any money at all. There are even ways you can help that can actually save you money.

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Consumer Beware – What is in Our Drinking Water Maybe Harmful to Your Health!

Though many people have heard the warnings about drinking water from the tap, many people are still actually unaware of what is in our drinking water.

Even more people have no concerns what so ever about drinking water that comes from their faucet because they believe it must be safe and they have no actual idea of what is in our drinking water that can be harmful to us.

The environment is inundated with chemicals everyday that will eventually find their way into the water that we drink if it is not filtered with a quality drinking water system that filters these harmful chemicals out.

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Volvo Embraces Holistic Approach to Environmentally Sound Cars

While any discussion of “green” automobiles tends to focus on fuel consumption and emissions, the environmental impact of a car’s construction and that of the materials it contains from production line to junkyard are equally critical. Volvo has taken a commanding lead in this arena, guaranteeing that all of its new cars are built with 85% recyclable and 95% recoverable materials in a climate neutral manufacturing system. All materials used in the vehicles are selected based on their degree of environmental impact and customers now have access to a Volvo’s carbon footprint data by model.

The design program Volvo has employed in this endeavor, Clean Inside and Out, represents what the company refers to as a holistic approach to considering a car’s environmental impact. The major points considered by the program include:

1. Health
2. Resource utilization
3. Ecological production consequences
4. Ultimate vehicle disposal.

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Recycled Drinking Water and the Yuck Factor

In the U.S., more than 2.1 trillion gallons of water are flushed down toilets every year. What most people think of as sewage, is a freshwater reserve that , with a few steps of treatment, could provide drinking water for millions.

Recognizing this, Orange County’s water and sanitation district have begun recycling sewage into drinking water.

The treated water which exceeds state and federal health standards is being used to recharge the underground aquifer that feeds the taps of more than 2.3 million residents of the region.

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Protect Our Environment by Using Paper Bags

Plastic bags, plastic holders are a very popular item and commodity in many main industries. Even in light of all of the environmental problems being blamed on development and disposal of plastic products, more and more companies are seeking to do business with the plastics industry.

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France Faces Fine Over Lack of Hamster Love

Weird but true, France is being threatened with a €17 million penalty if it doesn’t clean up its act and come up with a strategy to save the European hamster, one of the continent’s most threatened species.

Last week the European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-member European Union, gave France a two-month deadline or else it would have to cough up the whopping fine for failing to comply with the Habitats Directive (yes we’re in Eurobabbleland here) to prevent the rodent’s extinction.

The Directive requires all member states to designate sites for conservation and to protect various listed species.

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Soil Contamination – How Does it Affect Us ?

Soil contamination must be eradicated to ensure that the best produce is grown for consumption, (most important for organic farmers) first it has to be proved that the land and soil are of good quality, there are several things making up the soil, the basic organic material in the area that soil is made of, such as granite or limestone, then there are organisms that decompose like leaves, critter droppings, etc, the location of the land and elevation bottom of the valley or on a mountain slope, climate is also an important factor.

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The Looming Water Shortage

“Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink” so wrote the poet about a becalmed ship in a sea of salt water. Little did he know that he may have been predicting the future? Top economists are predicting a massive fresh water shortage in the next 20 to 30 years. Parts of America are already suffering from the lack of abundant fresh water. Places such as:

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Municipal Composting Programs – A Way to Go Green

Composting has occurred since plants first existed on the earth. When leaves and fruit fall from trees, and when plants die, they drop to the ground, enriching the soil through the process of natural decomposition. This is nature’s way of composting.

Humans have been composting for decades, maybe even centuries. In our recent history, agricultural communities have used composting as a way to enrich their gardens and farmland. In the last two decades, a much larger movement of composting in urban areas has begun, and in recent years, composting has taken on its own popularity as a new way to “go green.” City dwellers are becoming more aware of the benefits of compost in their gardens and flowerbeds, and they are realizing that it is best to recycle natural products back to the earth.
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