Living eco-consciously and other fun stuff!
Did you know…
According to the EPA, carcinogens average 10 times more potent for kids than adults – and in some cases, 65 times more potent – at the same dose that adults get. And kids typically get higher does. Adults eat about 1/40th of their body weight each day; kids eat 1/10th of theirs. Pound for pound, kids eat, drink and inhale a lot more fumes than adults.
Category : Household
Eager to start the new year off with greener cleaning products?
Category : Household
When we remodeled our condo I really wanted to purchase the VOC-free paint but I couldn’t convince Eric it was worth the price or worth sacrificing style in the fact that the line at HD never seemed to have the perfect color for what we were doing. I just read the following from the Ask The Science Man column on Seventh Generation’s website – from now on I will definitely purchase the low VOC-paint – I’m convinced it is worth the money!
Most conventional products have a high VOC content which increases your risk of certain health effects. VOC exposure has been associated with asthma, ‘sick-building-syndrome’ (a phenomenon in which building occupants experience acute health and/or comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a particular building) and respiratory and lung infections. Most people spend 90% of their time indoors, yet indoor air is up to 10 times more polluted than your ambient outdoor air (even if you live in the city). Therefore, it is always a good idea to keep your house well ventilated during any VOC emitting activity (i.e. painting, cleaning, installing carpets, etc.).
The value in choosing low-VOC or VOC-free alternatives in any product is avoiding exposure to toxic chemicals. Consider this decision comparable to choosing to buy organic foods in order to avoid ingesting pesticides. You breathe 20-40 pounds of air a day, much more than the amount of food you eat! Consider your long-term exposure as well. VOCs are emitted at high concentrations during product application, but will also continue to be emitted at lower levels over time. Fabrics and other materials in your house absorb any VOC emitted indoors, thus retaining them and releasing them into the air you breathe. There is research that supports using low-VOC products to significantly improve the indoor air quality of your home. Therefore, I believe it would be worth spending the extra money for VOC–free paint.
will also react with ozone to form secondary pollutants, including formaldehyde – known to be a human carcinogen.VOCs emitted from paint (and other conventional household and building products) contribute to greenhouse gases, smog formation, and ozone depletion. Some VOCs, formaldehyde, lead and/or chlorine. Certain ethers, glycol terpenes are typically related to consumer products containing traces of VOCs have harmful effects on the environment and human health. The negative environmental impacts and health effects from VOCsThere is plenty of scientific evidence supporting the claim that
I think this is such a great tool! Rank A Brand helps you to be an informed consumer and make smart choices when purchasing goods. You can either continue to purchase blindly or you can choose to purchase from companies that are socially responsible. If that’s important to you check out Rank A Brand.
Here’s what they say about themselves:
The challenge
Rank a Brand was born out of a common and reoccurring problem in our everyday lives. You walk into a (virtual) shop and wish to purchase a “good” brand that considers the (potential) effects their activities have on the environment and on people. In other words, you would like to support companies that adhere to high standards of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR). Although you do your best, you aren’t well informed about the policies of the brands and don’t have a way to compare them.
The solution
Rank a Brand a transparent, simple and practical solution to this challenge. Our rankers screen the publicly available policies of brands regarding labor conditions/human rights, the environment and climate change. This screening is based on a short list of robust questions which check if a given brand adheres to select best practices of CSR within its sector. As a result, a score is attributed to each brand and presented on our website, together with an insight into how the score was compiled. This allows you to quickly and easily identify which brands show that they adhere to best practices of CSR and also show this to society at large in an open and transparent way.
Creating change
We believe that people make different consumption choices when they are more aware ofcan identify “good” brands: those that succeed best in designing a transparent, clear and credible CSR policy. Scoring high on Rank a Brand can therefore increase the image and sales of a brand. This works as an incentive to brands to further improve the openness and the quality of their CSR policies – we want to set this loop in motion.
Category : Household
Just in case you wanted to buy your cleaning products from a company that does more than just make eco-friendly products, check out some of what Seventh Generation does…
Through their annual donation program — Seventh Generation dedicates 10% of its profits to non-profit community, environmental, health, and responsible business organizations working for positive change.
Category : Household, International
I participated in this last year – it’s a great thing to do!
World Wildlife Fund is proud to announce Earth Hour 2010 will take place Saturday, March 27, at 8:30 pm. National Monuments including Mount Rushmore, the Empire State Building, the Las Vegas Strip, and the Golden Gate Bridge have already pledged to participate but what we really need is for you to participate again.
Standing nearly one billion people strong, we made last year’s Earth Hour the single largest mass action in human history. This year we need you to grow it.
We have worked tirelessly to bring the international community, governments around the world and corporate leaders to the brink of breakthrough action on climate change in 2010. That’s why it’s so important we make our voice heard again.
Please join millions of people around the world in turning off the lights for Earth Hour to raise awareness and demand action to fight climate change. Grow the movement by sharing this message with your friends and family. Working together, we can overcome one of the greatest challenges facing our planet.
Visit our new site at EarthHour.org to access to videos and toolkits to help grow the movement as well as fantastic ideas on how to make Earth Hour a special event in your home, community or business.
Category : Food & Beverages, Health
Non-stick cookware, which helps us avoid unhealthy fats when we cook, may actually raise our cholesterol levels. Researchers found that people with higher levels of non-stick polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) in their bloodstreams also had higher levels of non-HDL (“bad”) cholesterol.
Category : Beauty
My second purchase from Mojo Spa was the Baby Doll Lip Balm. Again I’m pleased with the way the product works – it feels great on my very dry lips and I love the subtle hint of color – this is a perfect balm to carry as a staple. The drawback is it contains lanolin – I know, I know, what was I doing not reading labels at this place?!
Ok, so yes, lanolin does just come from the already harvested wool, however, most sheep shearing is not the most ethical now-a-days with factory farming the way it is, keeping the sheep confined in small spaces. Also, sheep are bred to have more surface area to create more wool (more money) and thus have lots of folds in their skin – obviously that makes it difficult to shear them, often causing them to have severe cuts, but time is money so no attention is paid to the harm and pain inflicted on the sheep. So, no a sheep isn’t killed for the lanolin but it is definitely put through pain and suffering.
Will I purchase this product again? Nope – nor the deodorant with silk powder. Ugh – how could I have missed such important thinkgs on the labels?! That’s not at all like me.
Category : Travel
I flew Jet Blue last night and when checking in I was happy to see a section on their website explaining what they’re doing to be more green! I hope to see this from more airlines. I know it is also a marketing thing but whatever! Every little bit counts so I’m happy to know I’m flying an airline that is trying.
They have a link to carbon-offset your trip through carbonfund.org which is handy.
Here’s what else they say…
While we operate a new, fuel-efficient fleet, we continue to look for ways to safely reduce fuel burn and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Solutions include:
JetBlue’s onboard experience is designed to give customers everything they need – such as friendly service and innovative amenities – and nothing they don’t. That means:
At our hometown airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), we strive to reduce and recycle waste generated both inside our terminal (T6) and on the tarmac, including:
Later this year, we’ll open Terminal 5, our brand new, environmentally friendly terminal at JFK.
Category : Beauty
On Saturday I finally made it over to Mojo Spa – I’ve been wanting to check it out for ages but I never make it over to that part of town during the day. Mojo Spa carries hand made cosmetics – lots of fun, unique products.
The store/spa is absolutely adorable and the employees are super friendly.
I purchased a few products which I’ll review as I get a little use out of them.
So far I’ve used the deodorant. I definitely am pleased with how it works but I didn’t look at the ingredients – it contains silk powder and I don’t like silk – they boil silk worms in order to harvest the silk – YUCK! So, if you don’t mind that aspect of it then you may like it
Let me just tell you that I did a HORRIBLE job of reading labels at this place – I guess I was just so into the cute environment and friendly people that I wasn’t thinking clearly. Stay tuned for further product reviews to see what else I missed.
