05.29.08
Posted in health, organic, shopping at 7:35 am by greengirl
A new study in the UK just revealed something that many of us already suspected: organic milk from cows allowed to graze freely on grass is healthier than traditional milk. The study found that organic milk contains 67% more vitamins and antioxidants than traditional milk. It also contains 60% more of the healthy fatty acid CLA9, which has been shown to shrink tumors. Organically farmed cows get more than 80% of their diet from grazing on grass, as compared to 37% for cows raised to produce ‘ordinary’ milk.
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05.26.08
Posted in health, ecotravel, pollution, global warming at 8:13 am by greengirl
Since I now live in a warmer climate, I’ve been riding my bike to work on the non-rainy days for about three months. (Unfortunately, since it’s a warmer climate, the temperature is now - mid-May - at the intolerable stage to my frigid northern blood.) My round trip to work is about 3 miles, so it takes me about 20 minutes on my bike, including unlocking and locking the bike, walking from bike rack to door, etc. Given that it takes me 10 minutes in my car, it’s not really a big time suck.
I had originally considered what I was saving in terms of gas and carbon emissions, but the Commute Solutions website has a nifty calculator that reveals all sorts of other costs, like water pollution and wear on your vehicle. So, according to their calculations, I’m saving $3.39 each time I ride my bike to work. Assuming that I’ve riden an average of two days per week for the last three months, I’ve saved $81.36 by riding my bike. I get another figure - $2.19 per day - using the SmartTrips calculator, but I get the impression they’re not adding in as many factors as Commute Solutions. Their calculator also reveals that I’m reducing my carbon footprint by 0.15 pounds each day I ride.
Overall, according to suite101.com, a bike can travel 960 miles on the equivalent energy of one gallon of gas (I’m guessing this accounts for food used for the bicyclist’s energy). Is your car’s gas mileage 960 miles a gallon? If so, where can I buy your car?! With gas prices climbing, more and more people will be biking, so even if you’re not a cyclist, keep your eyes out for them and respect their rights. And this post would not be complete without a mention of BRASS - Baton Rouge Advocate for Safer Streets - who hosted a wonderful (if overly hot) bike tour of cemetaries this past weekend. Kudos to them for all their efforts!
(And I’m back, after an overly long and mysterious absence!)
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01.03.08
Posted in home & garden, health, pollution at 10:00 pm by greengirl
If you know anything at all about environmental issues, you likely know that disposable diapers sit in landfills for an obscene period of time (500 years!). And I applaud those hearty-stomached parents who decide to use (and wash) cloth diapers. I have no plans to become a parent, but if I did, I would be frantically looking for some alternative to cloth and disposable diapers. Well, on the EcoZone Project tv show a while back, I found the answer: gDiapers.
According to their website and the Water Environment Research Foundation, these little miracles are flushable. They come with two parts - a washable cotton outer pant (in some really hip colors - Got Chocolate Brown is my favorite) and plastic-free, chlorine-free flushable inserts. If the idea of flushing freaks you out, you can throw them away (and even compost the wet ones!!). In compost, they break down in less than 150 days. I’m sure they take a little bit of getting used to, since the velcro closures are at the back and stirring with a swishstick is involved. Really, though, any diaper system - even the disposables - takes some getting used to and has some gross bits. Diapers are weird contraptions, but at least this particular variety doesn’t add to the enormous sum of the 38,000 dirty disposable diapers tossed every MINUTE in the U.S.
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08.06.07
Posted in education, health, shopping at 7:14 pm by greengirl
On my recent travels, I heard a radio ad for a restaurant in Chattanooga called 212 Market. Once I got home, I checked their website and found that they’re a certified green restaurant. I looked up what that meant and found the Green Restaurant Association. To be certified, a restaurant must use a recycling program for all products accepted by local recyclers, must be free of styrofoam products, must complete four environmental steps every year of membership, and commit to completing one environmental step after joining. To help you support green restaurants with your dollar, they have a searchable database of certified restaurants. Sadly, there aren’t any near me, so you’ll have to dine out on my behalf.
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07.06.07
Posted in energy, health, shopping at 3:58 pm by greengirl
Okay, just chips. I happened to stumble across a pleasantly surprising fact - Sun Chips, in addition to being super yummy, are also environmentally friendly. Their distribution center in Rochester, New York was granted LEED Gold Status, building standards which I’ve previously mentioned. Their chips have 18 grams of whole grain in each serving. They buy enough energy credits to offset 100% of the electricity needed to produce Sun Chips. So, consider these when you’re next buying chips and vote with your dollar.
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07.02.07
Posted in education, health, habitat, water at 11:01 am by greengirl
Normally, I shy away from depressing representations of the state of the world. But, the well-known miniature earth representation - if our world was reduced to a village of 100 people - can actually be helpful. I watched the video, and it certainly makes my struggles to pay off my credit card seem trivial. So, if you need a little motivation to stay motivated, as it were, I recommend it.
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04.07.07
Posted in health, recycling at 8:35 pm by greengirl
I happened to stumble across this fabulous idea for reusing all those CD spindles you have after using up the packs of burnable CDs. Use it to pack a bagel sandwich! Too cool!
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11.27.06
Posted in home & garden, health, habitat, shopping at 6:43 pm by greengirl
As we approach flu season (approach? hello! I think this flu means I’m already in it?!), you may be looking at the rows and rows of tissue and wondering how your shopping dollar can make a difference everytime you sneeze.
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has published a complete list of which brands use recycled paper in their toilet tissue, facial tissue, paper towels and paper napkins. They’ve even got a handy wallet card (pdf) to print and take with you to the grocery store. Included in their list are some inspiring factoids like: if every household in the US replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper with recycled, we could save 423,900 trees.
To be blunt, gone are the days of rough recycled paper products. As a regular user of Green Forest products, I can tell you that these are just as soft as any of the big guys. If you’d like to take a big leap and give up paper napkins and towels (hey, I said paper napkins, not toilet paper), Native Organic, Totally Organic, Downbound and many others have a lovely selection of organically grown napkins.
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