NEXT POST
Labels: Life With My Kids
Thursday, May 7, 2009
From My Inbox-My House Stinks!
Interested in winning Refresh, an innovative new line of eco-friendly, VOC-free paints from Dutch Boy which neutralizes common household odors?
At myhousestinks.com they are looking for people with uninhabitable rooms in their homes to submit a picture to http://www.myhousestinks.com - the owner of the most annihilated-looking room wins $5,000 and 50 gallons of Refresh to help rejuvenate their living space! (2nd prize: $2,500 and 25 gallons of Refresh; 3rd prize: $1,000 and 10 gallons of Refresh.)
Check out http://www.myhousestinks.com for more information about the contest or to peruse the entries they've received already (some of these are hilarious!) and http://dutchboy.com/refresh/green/ for more info about Refresh's green credentials (including their GreenCert and GreenGuard certifications).
Labels: From My Inbox, Random
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Still Looking
I am looking for blog writer/helper. When Willow gets here I won't have a lot of time to post and I want to keep the blog going. I don't get paid to do this and I don't have advertisements on my blog so this is not a paying position. I just need someone that would like to contribute a green post at least 3 times a week (or if I can find 3 people, than once a week). You don't have to already have a blog to write here. If you are interested you can email me at hylawaldron@gmail.com
~Hyla
Labels: Guest Blogger
Bottled Water Uses Much More Energy Than Tap
via GizMag.com
March 1, 2009 New research from the Pacific Institute estimates that bottled water is up to 2000 times more energy-intensive than tap water. Similarly, bottled water that requires long-distance transport is far more energy-intensive than bottled water produced and distributed locally. Indeed, when all the sums were done, it seems the annual consumption of bottled water in the U.S. in 2007 required the equivalent of between 32 and 54 million barrels of oil—roughly one-third of a percent of total U.S. primary energy consumption.
The article, “Energy implications of bottled water” by researchers Peter H. Gleick and Heather Cooley, is the first peer-reviewed analysis of its kind and appears in the February 2009 edition of Environmental Research Letters.
“As bottled water use continues to expand around the world, there is growing interest in the environmental, economic, and social implications of that use, including concerns about waste generation, proper use of groundwater, hydrologic effects on local surface and groundwater, economic costs, and more. But a key concern is how much energy is required to produce and use bottled water,” said article co-author Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. “It turns out the answer is, a lot.”
The authors note that a single estimate of the energy footprint of bottled water is not possible due to differences among water sources, bottling processes, transportation costs, and other factors. Gleick and Cooley calculate the energy requirements for various stages in bottled water production, including the energy to manufacture the plastic bottles, process the water and the bottles, and transport and cool the final product.
For water transported short distances, the energy requirements of bottled water are dominated by the energy to produce these plastic bottles. Long-distance transport, however, can lead to energy costs comparable to, or even higher than, the energy to produce the bottle. In the article, the authors calculate the energy costs of three different scenarios for a bottle of water consumed in Southern California—a locally produced bottle and bottled water from both France and Fiji transported to the region.
“With the U.S. consumption of bottled water exceeding 33 billion liters a year, and with intensifying efforts to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, these data should help identify ways to reduce the energy costs of bottled water and may help consumers themselves make more environmentally sustainable choices,” said co-author Heather Cooley, senior research associate at the Pacific Institute. Based in Oakland, California, the Pacific Institute is a nonpartisan research institute that works to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. Through interdisciplinary research and partnering with stakeholders, the Institute produces solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—in California, nationally, and internationally.
http://www.pacinst.org
Labels: Did You Know
For Mother's Day....
For Mother's Day, can you buy me a tree please? I don't need a bouqet of flowers that are certainly beautiful but wont last long. I don't need another piece of jewelry I have plenty and the pieces I have I love. Can you just buy me and Mother Earth a tree?
Labels: Holidays
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Product Review and Giveaway - Healthy Juicer for Wheatgrass
We received the Healthy Juicer Manual in the mail. The Healthy Juicer Manual is designed to process leafy greens and wheatgrass. After watching "The Beautiful Truth" and hearing all about how great juicing is for your health I decided I would give it a go.
First off, the juice is really good. I did not try wheatgrass though, I tried carrots and apples. It was tasty, but I have to say that cleaning does not seem very easy as this is my first and only juicer. The juicer does come apart quickly and without any sharp points those are big pluses, there is just a lot to disassemble and each piece needs to be cleaned.
It also makes a massive pile of ground up pulp that comes out the other side which is still very moist and if you squeeze it in your hand you get more juice out of it. Please remember that this particular juicer is made for wheatgrass and obviously works different on fruits and veggies. If you look around on the internet, juicers go for crap-loads of money, this one in my opinion is affordable and well worth the money.
The big benefit of juice is that you get all the vitamins and nutrients from eating a whole bushel of fruits and veggies without actually having to eat the whole freaking bushel. On the other hand, you do have to juice the whole bushel. A carrot doesn't have much juice in it. You also know for a fact that you are getting 100% juice and you can mix and match to your hearts delight! My wife and I also tried carrot, pear, and apple and that was quite tasty!
If you are looking for any kind of juicer check out the 877MyJuicer.com to find exactly what you need!
~Ev
The Healthy Juicer is more efficient at juicing wheatgrass. Above is an actual picture of two samples of wheatgrass after being run through the juicers. The top one is a typical metal hand juicer and the bottom one is from the Healthy Juicer. Notice how the bottom sample from the Healthy Juicer is like a piece of rope. Completely dry with every bit of juice extracted.
Most people know about the extensive health benefits of juicing, but nobody enjoys the process of setting up the juicer and worst of all, cleaning up afterwards.
The Healthy Juicer is rugged, efficient, and best of all, easy to use and clean!
There are two types of juicers on the market today. Centrifugal and masticating (meaning to crush and squeeze). The main benefit of a masticating juicer is that it crushes the fruits and vegetables as opposed to shredding them as your average centrifugal juicer does.
This process of crushing and squeezing extracts more juice and also has less heat build up than from the high speed at which centrifugal juicers work, which destroys the enzymes and other vital nutrients. The Healthy Juicer produces a healthier juice!
Have you ever tried to juice leafy vegetables such as parsley, spinach or even cabbage in a centrifugal juicer? A good portion of it is wasted and just passes through as these juicers do not have any crushing ability.
Vegetables are expensive today, especially organic ones. Why throw your money away by not extracting as much juice and nutrients as possible from them?
The specially designed auger easily accepts pieces of fruits and vegetables and has tremendous crushing power.
Giveaway Details
The giveaway will run from today Tuesday, May 5th 2009, until Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at Midnight. The winner will receive a Healthy Juicer Manual from 877HealthyJuicer.com. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
To Enter:
* Official Entry: You MUST visit 877HealthyJuicer.com tell me what else you can find there.
*1 extra entry: Tell me what combination of veges and fruits you would like to try.
*1 extra entry: Follow this blog with email subscription.
*1 extra entry: Tweet this giveaway and leave the link.
*1 extra entry: Put my blog button on your blog-you can find the code on the right sidebar.
* 1 extra entry: Blog about this giveaway and link to this blog. Leave a comment with your blog address.
*1 extra entries: Email 3 friends about this giveaway and CC me. (greenearthjourney@gmail.com)
*Please leave a separate comment for each of your entries.
* You MUST leave me a way to contact you.
* If winner does not respond to the winning email within 72 hours, a new winner will be chosen.
NEXT POST
Labels: Product Review, giveaway
Autism Linked to Environment
via Scientific American
California's sevenfold increase in autism cannot be explained by changes in doctors' diagnoses and most likely is due to environmental exposures, University of California scientists reported Thursday.
The scientists who authored the new study advocate a nationwide shift in autism research to focus on potential factors in the environment that babies and fetuses are exposed to, including pesticides, viruses and chemicals in household products.
"It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California," said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiology professor at University of California, Davis who led the study.
Throughout the nation, the numbers of autistic children have increased dramatically over the past 15 years. Autistic children have problems communicating and interacting socially; the symptoms usually are evident by the time the child is a toddler.
More than 3,000 new cases of autism were reported in California in 2006, compared with 205 in 1990. In 1990, 6.2 of every 10,000 children born in the state were diagnosed with autism by the age of five, compared with 42.5 in 10,000 born in 2001, according to the study, published in the journal Epidemiology. The numbers have continued to rise since then.
To nail down the causes, scientists must unravel a mystery: What in the environment has changed since the early 1990s that could account for such an enormous rise in the brain disorder?
For years, many medical officials have suspected that the trend is artificial--due to changes in diagnoses or migration patterns rather than a real rise in the disorder.
But the new study concludes that those factors cannot explain most of the increase in autism.
Hertz-Picciotto and Lora Delwiche of the UC Davis Department of Public Health Sciences analyzed 17 years of state data that tracks developmental disabilities, and used birth records and Census Bureau data to calculate the rate of autism and age of diagnosis.
The results: Migration to the state had no effect. And changes in how and when doctors diagnose the disorder and when state officials report it can explain less than half of the increase.
Dr. Bernard Weiss, a professor of environmental medicine and pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center who was not involved in the new research, said the autism rate reported in the study "seems astonishing." He agreed that environmental causes should be getting more attention.
The California researchers concluded that doctors are diagnosing autism at a younger age because of increased awareness. But that change is responsible for only about a 24 percent increase in children reported to be autistic by the age
"A shift toward younger age at diagnosis was clear but not huge," the report says.
Also, a shift in doctors diagnosing milder cases explains another 56 percent increase. And changes in state reporting of the disorder could account for around a 120 percent increase.
Combined, Hertz-Picciotto said those factors "don't get us close" to the 600 to 700 percent increase in diagnosed cases.
That means the rest is unexplained and likely caused by something that pregnant women or infants are exposed to, or a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
"There's genetics and there's environment. And genetics don't change in such short periods of time," Hertz-Picciotto, a researcher at UC Davis' M.I.N.D. Institute, a leading autism research facility, said in an interview Thursday.
Many researchers have theorized that a pregnant woman's exposure to chemical pollutants, particularly metals and pesticides, could be altering a developing baby's brain structure, triggering autism.
Many parent groups believe that childhood vaccines are responsible because they contained thimerosal, a mercury compound used as a preservative. But thimerosal was removed from most vaccines in 1999, and autism rates are still rising.
Labels: Did You Know
Monday, May 4, 2009
Babies R' Us FAIL
We just got this in the mail about 5 minutes ago. As you can see from the pictures.... Babies R' Us, you FAIL is the packaging department! The box was precisely 3.68 times larger than what was needed. Next time just slap an address label on the box and ship it to me!
Labels: Random
Life With My Kids - Update
This is not my belly, I just love this picture!Well I had an appointment this morning. On the way there I had terrible back pain, I had to let hubby drive. And then when we got to the doctor's office I was have hot flashes and back pain and tightening in my stomach. So they hooked me up to the moniter. Willow is head down and my cervix is closed so for right now she is staying put. It was funny though, they had to belts straped around my belly and Willow kept kicking the top belt off. You caould see her foot bump the belt again again and until it slipped off. My husband was in hysterics he thought is was the best thing! My belly wasmoving around like an ocean and you could just see her tossing and turning!
Right now I am exhausted, maybe I will take a nap for a little while.
Labels: Life With My Kids
Chopstick Canoe
A former city employee in the Fukushima prefecture town of Koriyama has built a 4-meter (13-ft) long canoe from thousands of used disposable chopsticks recovered from the city hall cafeteria. Bothered that perfectly good wood was going to waste after a single use, Shuhei Ogawara — whose job at city hall involved working with the local forestry industry — spent the last two years of his career collecting used chopsticks from the cafeteria. An experienced canoe builder, Ogawara spent over 3 months gluing 7,382 chopsticks together into strips to form the canoe shell, to which he added a polyester resin coat. The canoe weighs about 30 kilograms (66 lbs), which is a bit heavier than an ordinary cedar canoe, but Ogawara is confident it will float. A launching ceremony is planned for May at nearby Lake Inawashiro.
via Pink Tentacle
Labels: Did You Know
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Diaper Bag for Baby?
Me and Guinevere (my third)
While it is true that you need a diaper bag for the baby, you won't need it right away at the hospital. The hospital will provide everything you need for the baby during your stay there. However you do need a "diaper" bag for mama. So why this sudden post about the diaper bag at the hospital, well I am in pain right now and while I do not think it is time, I mean I can type right?, it has got me thinking about the whole "diaper bag" thing. Now really it is not that big of a deal if hubby forgets it the first time around, you can always send him back to get it as well as any baby stuff you want for the baby when you head home. It is very unlikely that you will head home within the first day of giving birth. My 3rd child they did let me go home the next day but not the first night, I had to stay there.
So what does mama need? Mama needs any relaxing items she might want during labor such as music, one of those sitting balls, lotions, oils, scents, anything that makes her feel comfortable. Now I know what I want. I want some q-tips, my ears are always so itchy during labor and they do not have them at the hospital, organic lotion (I dont know how my body or nose would react after I have been using organic products for so long) same goes for shampoo and body wash, but hubby can bring those later. I know I want hubby's IPod with my playlists on it, an extra hair band, wipes (my face always gets oily during labor and wipes are really nice to have). I might have him sneak in some homemade brownies, they wont let you eat anything if they think you are in labor, no matter how long you are in labor. I think that is it for me. My hubby can come back home and get a toothbrush, pajamas, going home clothes, hair brush, and what not after the baby is born.
Now since we are eco friendly I would like to bring cloth diapers with me and all natural wipes. In all honesty though I do not know if I will be able to keep up with cloth diapers in the hospital, I know I can once I get home. Also I don't know if the nurses will go for it? Hmm that will be interesting. Also I am not breastfeeding this time around. My reasons are my own and I don't think I need to say anything but that. Breastfeed your baby or Formula feed your baby either way it's your baby. Anyways, we will be using formula and I want to bring in my own organic liquid formula to use. I can't think of anything else, the pain has subsided but now I am feeling exhausted. I have an appt tomorrow and I am sure the doctor will check to see if I am dialated at all. This will be the first time meeting one of the doctor's in the office, since I am seeing a midwife. But they want you to meet a doctor before you give birth just in case. I hope he nice!
Labels: Life With My Kids
Seed Bombs - Walk By Guerilla Gardening
Seed Bombs are small balls of clay, fertilizer, and seeds. They are tossed or placed in areas where no vegetaion is growing.
~Hyla
via carbonsmart.com
seed bombs for fun and non-profit
* Combine 2 parts mixed seeds (indigenous flowers, herbs or vegetables) with 3 parts compost.
* Stir in 5 parts powdered red or brown clay.
* Moisten with water until mixture is damp enough to mold into balls.
* Pinch off a penny-sized piece of the clay mixture and roll it between the palms of your hands until it forms a tight ball (1 inch in diameter).
* Set the balls on newspaper and allow to dry for 24 - 48 hours. Store in a cool, dry place until ready to sow.
Throw the balls into vacant lots, pavement cracks, long-standing rubbish piles, or anywhere that would benefit from a bit of random greenery. [Source: The Guerilla Art Kit, by Keri Smith]
Update on 4 Oct 2008: Mother City Living asks "Would you make use of an organic vegetable garden allotment?". There are a few initiatives springing up in Cape Town that are starting to look at urban gardening. There's the Permanent Edible Garden Service set up by Ben Getz and partners, that will help you set up and maintain a garden using permaculture principles. Other South African organic services are listed on Urban Sprout.
I read recently that the "Victory Gardens" in America that were promoted to address the food shortage in World War II resulted in 40% of all fresh vegetables consumed in that country being produced in small urban gardens in 1942 and 1943. So small-scale urban gardening could be a really significant contribution to fresh, healthy food.
NEXT POST
Labels: Make Your Own
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Splash Award
I received the Splash Award from Melissa at Outnumbered 3-1 for being "alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive and inspiring". Thank you Melissa and I hope you feel better soon!
I would like to pass this onto
Labels: Blog Award
Extraordinary Mothers
I have put together a list of 10 Super Easy Ways to Be Green over on Extraordinary Mothers so check it out!
Labels: Guest Blogger
Computer Virus From Hell
via Sara Bonds on Ordinary and Awesome
Most of you all know that my man is an I.T. Wiz. Our PCs are all protected with the best of the best anti-virus. Needless to say, I haven't had any problems in atleast 5 years. Well, two nights ago some weird things began to happen all of a sudden.
I tried to open Photoshop and it wouldn't open. I then tried to open The Sims 2, to play in between work, and it wouldn't open. I pressed CTRL + ALT+ Delete to check if they were running or not, and it wouldn't open. I tried to open Opera, my brower, and it wouldn't open.
Let me just tell you all, that I had just had everything open. I had just been using these programs. I closed them to eat lunch and watch TV. I wanted to close them so they wouldn't run in the background for no reason. So, things were working fine moments before I tried to open them again.
Scott looked at it the moment he got home, and he said, "It's a virus." He took out all of his fancy I.T. tools and began work. He figured out the name of the virus, which is "Sality". He also figured out that it attacked anything with a .exe file extension. For those of you who don't know, pretty much all programs are .exe extensions. That means my photo programs, games, and even browsers were infected.
Now, how did this happen when I am heavily protected? We wondered the same thing. Well, this pain in the butt virus is STRONG. It works hard and fast. It first breaks through and installs ad/spy ware. That makes it open and weak, and it then installs itself to .exe files that have been used.
Labels: Did you Know
Guerilla Gardening
Guerilla Gardening is when a group of people (or I suppose you could go by yourself) find a piece of public property that is baron. At night they come back armed with shovels, plants, flashlights, and water. The plant the lowers in the cover of night and then leave. This beautifies these used spots without going through government procedures. By going through all the needed procedures of getting permission, lots of paper and time is wasted and they will probably just say no in the end. Guerilla Gardeners do not hurt anyone or anything and are not likly to get arrested, though they technically could be.
~Hyla
Here is an article written over at webecoist.com called the Beginner's Guide to Guerilla Gardening.
Richard Reynolds hates to see weed-filled, disused spots of land - whether they’re traffic medians, sidewalk parkways or vacant lots. Richard, the founder of GuerrillaGardening.org, sees potential in each of those barren, nearly lifeless plots of land: potential for beauty, food, medicine and community pride.
As part of the guerilla gardening movement, Richard and other activists seek to take back those forgotten areas and turn them into lush gardens, regardless of who actually owns them. Also called “pirate gardening”, guerilla gardening is all about improving public spaces and making sure that potential garden spaces don’t go to waste.
Though it’s technically illegal - akin to squatting in an abandoned building - most of the time, guerilla gardeners don’t meet much resistance from landowners. It’s easy to see why. Unless the property owner has an immediate plan for the site, they often don’t mind seeing it beautified, so long as the gardeners aren’t profiting from it. And guerilla gardening isn’t about profit. Most food that is planted gets eaten by the people who tend the gardens, and given freely to the community.
All the same, guerrilla gardeners often work early in the morning or late at night, dodging the authorities whenever possible, who occasionally stop by to ask questions. Many guerrilla gardeners have been threatened with arrest, though there don’t seem to be many cases of that actually happening. In Britain, digging up land you don’t own is classified as ˜criminal damage”, so guerrilla gardeners there have to be a bit more careful.
There are the occasional landowners who don’t take kindly to the planting, and serve cease-and-desist letters or simply rototill the entire plot. In public spaces, the law isn’t clearly defined - most cities and parks and recreation officials aren’t sure whether they would have recourse against citizens who planted gardens on public land. Often, they leave well enough alone - guerrilla gardeners save them money by tending spaces their staff doesn’t have time for.
The biggest problem guerrilla gardeners face is irrigation. For many gardeners, finding a source of fresh water on the property is first priority; water use usually only amounts to $1 or $2 over the course of a month, so landowners often don’t notice it on their bill. Others bring watering cans or try to set up the gardens so they catch rainfall more efficiently. Drought-tolerant native or succulent gardens are also common.
Guerrilla gardening isn’t always about well-tended gardens full of food, herbs and medicinal plants. Some forms of it, like seed bombing, are used to surreptitiously improve areas that guerrilla gardeners can’t get to places like vacant lots secured with locked chain-link fences, or steep banks. Seed bombs are little balls made up of clay, compost and seeds that are thrown onto disused areas. They break apart over time, and eventually, flowers and foliage sprout where before was nothing but dirt and weeds.
In Cuba, guerrilla gardening has grown into a countrywide tradition. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the country experienced an economic crisis that led to food shortages. As a result, Cubans began growing food wherever they could, and what developed was a culture of organic urban agriculture. Today, up to 70% of Cuba’s fresh produce is grown in these urban gardens.
As the world’s urban centers become even more densely developed and populated, and land for urban farming grows ever more scarce, guerrilla gardening continues to rise in popularity. The website GuerrillaGardening.org provides information on getting started and a means to connect with the guerrilla gardening community and join in on ˜troop digs”
Labels: Did You Know
Friday, May 1, 2009
Just For Woman
A subject that most are uncomortable talking about, your period. How can you make this monthly visitor eco friendly?
via Eco Localizer
The average woman in the U.S. uses around 16,000 tampons during her menstruating years. That equals a lot of waste. In 1988, a field study found that 6.5 billion tampons and 13.5 billion sanitary pads and their packaging end up in America’s waste stream every year. Disposable pads and tampons are wasteful, and on top of that they’re not even necessary. There are reusable alternatives to both pads and tampons. Some of these products seems a bit daunting at first glance, but with a little practice they’re as easy to use a conventional menstrual products. Gentlemen, this could be more information than you require, so you may want to avert your eyes.
Labels: Did You Know, Helpful tips
Natural Remedy Recipes
Check out Earth Clinic for natural folk remedies for just about anything!
Labels: Helpful Tips, Random
Should Teens Ditch the Makeup?
via Health.com
Could that strawberry-pink blush your teenage daughter rubs on her cheeks every morning be increasing her breast cancer risk? What about the sudsy lavender shower soap you both like?
A controversial new report highlights teen girls' extra vulnerability to environmental contaminants during their crucial adolescent years, and revisits an unsettled debate over whether cosmetics are part of the problem.
So-called hormone disrupters are the toxic troublemakers at the center of this discussion.
These chemicals—found not just in cosmetics but also in pesticides, plastics, and drugs—are thought to mimic hormones such as estrogen when they’re absorbed by the human body. And high, sustained levels of estrogen are linked to the development of breast cancer.
The question is: How to navigate the largely self-regulated cosmetics industry as a conscientious shopper? Is there something you should be doing to help protect your daughters and granddaughters from the world around them?
Teenage bodies burdened with chemicals
The debate over the safety of cosmetic ingredients was reignited in September when the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit, published a report on the subject.
EWG found that teenage girls' bodies contained the same potentially hormone-altering chemicals found in many cosmetics and its report references earlier studies that link those chemicals to health risks, including cancer, in lab animals. Of particular concern is a chemical family known as phthalates, used in some nail polishes and fragrances.
"We're concerned that these hormone-disrupting chemicals could start to play a role in how growth and development plays out in the teen body and therefore how it might be linked to health effects later in life," says Rebecca Sutton, PhD, author of the report and a senior scientist at EWG.
But don't liquidate your cosmetics shelf just yet. The authors of the EWG report, which looked at 20 girls ages 14 to 19, did not show a direct link between the girls' makeup habits and what was found in their bodies. The chemicals could have come from any number of other sources.
"The phthalates in the plastic water bottles these girls drink from, or the microwave containers they eat out of, may be far more likely to get into their system than cosmetic use, and as of now, no one has banned these things," says M. William Audeh, MD, an oncologist who works in cancer risk assessment at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"I agree that the general environment in which we grow up and live is far too full of unnatural, possibly harmful chemicals," says Dr. Audeh. "But I think that to say that cosmetics are an important source, and then blame diseases on them, is going much too far."
Click Here to Continue Reading
Labels: Did You Know
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
