Green Among Gray

Green Among Gray Moves

2010-06-29T11:28:00.001-04:00

Green Among Gray has moved! Check out new posts at www.CaptivateBlogs.com/Green

Oil Spill Access Restricted

2010-06-18T08:20:00.002-04:00

The Associated Press – along with other media outlets – is reporting that BP workers, local police and federal officials are restricting access to the Gulf oil spill.

Journalists have been “yelled at, kicked off public beaches and islands and threatened with arrest,” according to this story about intimidation being used to prevent comprehensive reports on the oil cleanup effort.

There’s a miscommunication going on somewhere. Admiral Thad Allen, the government’s man in charge of overseeing the cleanup effort, issued a directive to allow journalists access to Gulf sites (pdf).

Apparently BP didn’t get the memo.

Virtual Energy Forum

2010-06-16T08:44:00.000-04:00

The world’s largest online energy conference, the Virtual Energy Forum, is happening today and tomorrow at VirtualEnergyForum.com.

Anyone can register and take advantage of the Virtual Energy Forum’s very cool platform to learn about a variety of sustainable energy topics, from the energy bill currently before Congress to building a smart grid to the challenges of climate change.

Speakers include bigwigs from a bunch of companies, including IBM and Microsoft, plus political leaders (a governor, a senator and a congressman) and some of the leading minds in clean energy (reps from the DOE, EPA, FERC, Harvard, and the Clinton Foundation).

The interface is a virtual exhibition hall, and you can visit different “rooms” to learn about all the topics. You can even submit questions and have them answered in real time. It’s one of the best ways to educate yourself about what’s going on in clean energy today, so check it out.

Cooling Down The Green Way

2010-06-11T07:27:00.001-04:00

The EPA recently released a summary of energy-efficient cooling tips. If you want to beat the heat and save money at the same time, try some of these recommendations.

-- Set your programmable thermostat (if you don’t have one yet, get one; they can save you about $180 a year in energy costs) a few degrees higher (such as 78 degrees) when no one is home.

-- Change your HVAC system’s air filter every three months

-- Run ceiling fans only while you’re in a room; they cool you, not the room.

-- Seal air ducts and connections at vents and registers. As much as 20% of the air moving through your home’s duct system is lost due to leaks and poor connections.

-- Buy only Energy Star-qualified air conditioners. If every room AC in the US were Energy Star-qualified, it would save the equivalent of emissions from 80,000 cars.

-- Add insulation to your attic.

Oil Getting Closer To Florida

2010-06-04T08:04:00.002-04:00

Almost a month ago I spoke with experts about what kind of effect BP’s oil leak might have on Gulf wildlife, especially as the spill gets closer to Florida. With reports now that the oil is set to hit the Florida coast as early as today, it seems appropriate to revisit what the experts had to say.

I’ll also post updates as they come in.

Coral Reefs, Mangroves, and Seagrass Beds
Dr. Richard E. Dodge, Professor and Dean at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center and Executive Director of the National Coral Reef Institute, says, “Oil entrained in the loop current could be delivered to the coral reefs of South Florida and Southeast Florida, from the Dry Tortugas in the south, throughout the Florida Keys, to Palm Beach in the north. A long duration spill could have toxic substances entering the water column and affecting corals anywhere from mucous production to damaging their reproductive system, to bleaching and mortality.” Dodge says dispersants, now being used to help break up the spill, “should NOT be used in proximity to coral reefs because this will make the oil more toxic and available to corals and the plants and animals that live in coral reefs.”

And if it takes a while before the oil reaches Florida? Could be even worse news, Dr. Dodge says. “If oil arrives during the spawning times of coral in August, this could be highly detrimental to the reproductive success of corals, threatening the next generation on the reef.”

Dr. Dodge is also quick to point out the economic impact loss of such unique habitats would have. “Florida has 84% of the nation's coral reef ecosystems,” Dodge says, “hence it is important to recognize that vital national resources are at stake. It has been estimated in a 2000 study by NOAA that reefs represent an annual economy of over $6 billion for South Florida, as well as over 71,000 jobs.”

Massive amounts of oil could also be disastrous for Florida’s sensitive mangrove forests, home to thousands of animals, from alligators to bobcats. “Mangrove forests serve as nursery grounds for many species of fish and shellfish. They also bind sediment. Loss of these forests would result in the collapse of this type of ecosystem,” Dr. Dodge says.

And if the currents and tides really conspire just right, the oil could infest Florida’s seagrass beds. “If this slick made it up on to the southwest Florida Shelf and was transported in the prevailing current direction to the south, it could end up at the mouth of Florida Bay,” according to Dr. Jim Fourqurean, professor at Florida International University. “This worst-case scenario is not particularly likely – but if it occurs, it will be devastating,” Fourqurean warns.

Due to the complex properties of the bay, the oil “would likely be there for an extended period – maybe even years. Florida Bay averages only 3 feet deep over the 2,000 km2 of the bay, and most of that area is within the boundaries of Everglades National Park. Florida Bay is carpeted with seagrass beds,” Fourqurean explains. “One small piece of good news is that seagrasses themselves are quite resistant to the effects of oil spills, so we would expect loss of seagrasses only in places that oil were pushed in to intertidal areas and stranded for extended periods at low tide.” So the seagrass might be fine, but what about the animals that frequent these beds?

“Oil contains many toxic compounds that could kill most of the important animals that reside in the seagrass beds, including commercially import pink shrimp; valuable game fish like tarpon, bonefish, redfish and seatrout; juvenile spiny lobsters; juvenile fish that use the bay as a nursery; and the wading birds that feed on these animals. Air-breathing manatees and sea turtles would be poisoned and covered with oil, wading birds would be covered ...” and Fourqurean leaves it at that, the implication clear.

Fish
Though I’ve said thus far it’s kind of a best-case scenario with the spill, some variables don’t bode well for the survival of fish, according to Dr. David W. Kerstetter, a research scientist at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. “Many of the fish species in the Gulf have pelagic (open-water) eggs that float at the surface, where the oil layer congregates,” Kerstetter says. And he points out it doesn’t take much oil to start causing trouble, saying, “Studies have suggested that concentrations of 1 part-per-billion have toxic effects to fish eggs.”

It’s also just plain bad timing, with now “the time of the year in which the western Atlantic population of bluefin tuna congregate in the northen Gulf to spawn, a population which is already at extremely low levels,” Kerstetter points out. “Should the sheen spread and persist, a loss of a whole year's larval fish production in some species is possible.”

“The spill will likely impact sensitive coastal saltmarsh estuary and barrier lagoon systems in the northern Gulf – some reports are that the oil already is there – systems which are important nursery grounds for shrimp, sharks, and many other species of fishes, as well as adult habitat for species such as oysters, redfish (red drum), and sea trout,” Kerstetter says.

And the top-of-the-food-chain fish, the ones targeted by both commercial and recreational fishermen, will also be affected, according to Dr. Kerstetter. “As these pollutants (including the oil dispersant chemicals) are released into the water, they’re likely to be absorbed into the prey species' tissues and then re-absorbed into the tissues of predator species, like tunas and sailfish. We know very little about how some of these substances affect growth, reproduction, and even basic survival for most of these fish species.”

The Deepwater Horizon Joint Information Center is probably the best place on the Web to find the latest information about the oil spill. They list a hotline number to report oiled wildlife: (866) 557-1401.

The Dangers Of Pools

2010-06-02T08:13:00.001-04:00

The CDC recently released the results of a 2008 analysis of more than 121,000 public pool inspections. 61% of the inspections revealed code violations, including nearly 23% that showed either a total lack of disinfectant or improper disinfectant levels.

As would be expected, many of the violations occurred at the likes of city-run pools and kiddie spots, but a more surprising fact is that about 35% of pools at hotel/motels, apartment/condos, and water parks had circulation and filtration violations.

The most common health problem from improper pool upkeep is gastroenteritis, which is on the rise, according to the CDC.

There’s not much you can do about how others take care of their pools, other than to avoid them, but if you have a pool at home, you should be aware of proper maintenance, including the right way to use chlorine.

Chlorine, the cleaning agent of choice for the vast majority of pool owners, is a dangerous element that, in certain uses, can pose a major environmental hazard (such as in the production of PVC).

But does the form of chlorine in pools, and the relatively low levels used, present a real risk? The World Health Organization gives a qualified “no.”

WHO explains it’s not chlorine itself that’s a health risk but the chemicals produced when chlorine interacts with other substances in pool water. WHO acknowledges these risks, but concludes, “the risks from exposure to chlorination by-products in reasonably well managed swimming pools would be considered to be small and must be set against the benefits of aerobic exercise and the risks of infectious disease in the absence of disinfection.”

The key phrase there would be “reasonably well managed.” There are some health horror stories as a result of mismanaged pools, but what about when you’re doing everything right with your pool upkeep?

Pool industry group The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals recommends daily testing to ensure a minimum level of 1 ppm of free chlorine – the specific form that acts as the cleanser – in your pool, up to the EPA-mandated maximum of 4 ppm. So optimally you should shoot for around 2 ppm.

However, there are studies indicating even these levels may be hazardous. Research published in 2003 in Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows a link between regular use of indoor pools and asthma, and a 2004 study in the American College of Sports Medicine shows a link between respiratory problems in trained swimmers and chlorine, even at levels as low as 1 ppm.

So how does the EPA reach its 4 ppm recommendation? Remember, it’s not the free chlorine itself, but the chlorine’s interaction with other stuff in a pool – anything from tree litter to splashed-off makeup to urine – that creates the dangerous chemicals. So the APSP sticks by its numbers, and stresses the importance of overall pool procedures, including maintaining proper pH balance, keeping pools clear of debris, properly venting indoor pools, staying out of the water when sick, taking frequent bathroom breaks, showering before swimming, and, of course, not swallowing pool water (perhaps a physical impossibility).

But beyond the possible health risks, some people simply don’t like the feel of chlorine in the hair and on their skin, not to mention the smell. There are options:

Ozone generators – These machines release ozone into the water to kill microorganisms, and requires you to use much smaller doses of chlorine. But ozone has its own problems, according to the EPA.

Ion generators – Copper and silver are used to clean out the bad stuff.

Organic cleansing – Probably the most extreme alternative, this system pumps water through rocks and plants to clean your “natural swimming pool.”

Good Sunscreens, Bad Sunscreens

2010-05-26T07:28:00.004-04:00

If you want to avoid bad sunscreens – those that don’t work, and even those that may actively be harmful to your health, beyond simply failing to block the sun – you should avoid nearly ALL sunscreens.

It’s that drastic a situation, according to the Environmental Working Group, which has been assessing sunscreens (since the government won’t do it properly) for four years now.

The EWG recommends just 8% of 500 beach and sport sunscreens on the market this season. There are several reasons so many sunscreens fail in the eyes of EWG, starting with this biggie: An ingredient found in nearly half of all sunscreen products may accelerate growth of skin tumors.

The ingredient is a vitamin A compound called retinyl palmitate, found in a slew of beauty products for its skin-rejuvenation properties. But studies that go back as far as the late 1970s show a link between it and photocarcinogenesis in rats and mice. A 2000 overview of such studies, conducted by the National Toxicology Program (pdf), details the findings and says they’re inconclusive.

But the EWG says it’s too risky a gamble and consumers should avoid sunscreens containing retinyl palmitate or even any vitamin A.

Other reasons sunscreens didn’t make the cut include overinflated SPF claims (EWG says in everyday practice, a product labeled SPF 100 really performs like SPF 3.2) and/or the inclusion of the hormone-disrupting compound oxybenzone among their ingredients.

So which sunscreens can we trust? Go to the EWG site to see the full recommended-sunscreen list, which includes the likes of Loving Naturals SPF 30+, All Terrain Aquasport Performance Sunscreen, Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen, and Badger Sunscreen for Face and Body.

Or you could avoid the sun as much as possible and wear a hat and shirt when you can’t. (Advice from the pasty.)

Bug-free BBQs

2010-05-21T07:42:00.002-04:00

Bugs. They’re everywhere. Including in your face as you’re trying to serve your guests a glorious, low-CO2 feast in your backyard.

Lucky for us there are ways to limit the pests. Unlucky for us, it usually involves high levels of chemicals we really don’t want to be associated with. So we’ll just have to make the best of a bad situation, by learning exactly which types of repellents to avoid and which ones might be relatively innocuous.

The EPA’s Pesticides: Health and Safety Web site stresses no one should use a repellent that’s not registered with the agency. So there you can view those that are registered, and choose safely among them.

Now there is a little loophole, as is seemingly always the case when you’re dealing with the government, involving nonregistered repellents. There are some products that contain “ingredients considered to be minimal risk,” and products primarily composed of those ingredients are not required to be EPA-registered. So the issue isn’t necessarily safety, but rather effectiveness: Do these ingredients actually keep bugs away? The ingredients include things like soybean oil, mint, citronella oil, cinnamon, sesame, white pepper and zinc metal strips. The EPA can’t say for sure if this stuff works, so it can’t register them as repellents, but it can say almost definitely it’s not going to harm you from a chemical-exposure standpoint.

The best part of the EPA’s “official” list is it sorts the products by “hourly protection time,” so you can see exactly how long a particular brand is supposed to have you covered. The EPA list also shows a maximum of 30% DEET (the commonly understood “best” way to ward of mosquitoes) in any one brand, so, presumably, that’s the most allowed.

If you see some funky-sounding chemicals among ingredients, it might be a good idea to throw them into the ToxRefDB to see if they have a history of doing bad things to lab animals.

And if you want to avoid the likes of DEET altogether (which has shown deleterious effects in some studies) and give some natural remedies a try, check out this informative post from our friends at Mother Nature Network.

Finally, try simple good sense. One way to avoid bugs AND the repellents is to take steps such as eliminating standing water from around your yard, changing the water in bird baths at least once a week, and staying indoors during mosquito rush hours of sunrise, sunset and early evening.

The Low-CO2 BBQ

2010-05-19T08:40:00.002-04:00

Backyard barbeques – one our favorite simple pleasures, right? And even here, there’s opportunity to cut back on our carbon footprint. Here’s how to limit the CO2 output of your next summer get-together.

Slow Food
It’s said that 30% of the greenhouse gases causing global warming can be traced back to the production of food. So if we’re smarter, more efficient about how and what we eat, there’s big potential to cut back on our carbon footprints.

Sad but true, it’s the staple of the backyard BBQ that’s one of the biggest offenders: Beef creates 19 kilograms of carbon dioxide for every kilogram served, according to studies. And the livestock industry alone is responsible for 18% of the world’s greenhouse emissions, a 2006 UN study showed. Calculating that takes into account everything from gas used by delivery trucks in getting the beef to a store to the amount of methane cows emit by burping.

Produce is much less “carbon evil,” if you will. For example, a kilogram of potatoes, by the time they’re served up baked on your patio table, equates to just 280 grams of emitted CO2.

Chicken is a relatively carbon friendly meat, representing 32% of the meat consumed worldwide but contributing only 8% of meat’s carbon footprint, according to a study out of Canada’s Dalhousie University.

Fish gets more complicated, with so many factors coming into play it’s tough to say which is the most carbon friendly. But generally, you want frozen fish, because it’s been trucked in to your store instead of flown in (as fresh fish is).

Overall, what you really want to do for a low-CO2 BBQ is limit the meat, max out the veggies and fruits, and make sure you buy from a farm close to your house.

For a fun exercise, check out the Bon Appétit Management Company’s Low Carbon Diet Calculator. It puts together a sort of greenhouse gas scorecard of a variety of meals.

Briquettes or Propane?
If you’re aiming for a green BBQ, here the answer is clear: Charcoal grills are far less environmentally friendly than gas grills.

According to a study released last year, charcoal grills have a carbon footprint almost three times those of propane grills (998 kg CO2e vs. 349 kg CO2e). (By the way, “CO2e” means “Carbon Dioxide Equivalent,” basically a way to universally express units of global warming, so it can include things other than just carbon, such as methane.)

A lot of that has to do with the efficiency with which the heat sources burn. Liquid propane gas, according to study author Eric Johnson, burns at near 90% efficiency, while charcoal is closer to just 20%. So you’re wasting almost 70% more energy right off the bat just using briquettes. When you include production and transportation of the two sources, it tips the scales heavily in favor of propane being the greener choice.

Eating It All
Perhaps the simplest way – certainly the most logical – to cut back is to finish your food. Instead of eating what we buy, we throw a lot of it away, which ends up producing methane – a particularly hazardous greenhouse gas – as it breaks down in landfills. According to a 2007 British study, the amount of emissions we’d save simply by eating our food instead of tossing it in the trash would equal taking 1 in 5 autos off the road.

So salute your host, get your fill, and clear your conscience all at the same time just by licking your plate clean!

Meanwhile, in Captivate Web Land, we've kicked off a new feature this week to prep you all for those Memorial Day, unofficial-start-of-summer BBQs: Burger Week! All the blogs are involved, so be sure to surf on over to check out the offerings:

-Captivate Cooking has the burgers and sides to keep your grills sizzling with gourmet treats and your guests begging for the recipes!

-Our online Watering Hole quenches everyone's thirst with 8 simple, delicious drinks.

-Want to imbibe but are unsure of how your bathing-suit diet will be affected? Weigh-In has Slimming Summer Drinks as an alternative to bottle of beer!

-Need a new apron for a man or woman? Don't start shopping until you've read this Indulge post!

Oil Spill's Effect On Wildlife

2010-05-06T15:28:00.007-04:00

No one seems to know yet exactly how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is affecting wildlife. But it’s going to have some effect, obviously. Look no further than the fallout in Prince William Sound for proof.

The situation is summed up best perhaps by Andre Landry, Jr., a turtle expert at Texas A&M, who told OnEarth’s Osha Gray Davidson, "At this point, I can't say if any turtles have died due to oil from the rig explosion. That doesn't mean they haven't. And it certainly does not mean that they won't."

The animals at risk include lots and lots of fish, from shellfish like shrimp and crabs to finfish like red snapper and bull sharks; birds like the brown pelican and royal tern; marine mammals like sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins; and the aforementioned turtles, like Kemp’s Ridleys and hawksbills.

Much of the final damage is predicated on where the oil goes and what exactly type of oil it is, and both of those questions are still unanswered. The prevailing opinion is that the oil is of the lighter type, not the really heavy stuff like what leaked from the Valdez in Alaska, which would be a relatively good thing, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (pdf) describes it, saying, “Light oils contain moderate concentrations of soluble toxic compounds. Light oils leave a film or layer on intertidal resources with the potential of longterm contamination. Cleanup can be very effective on spills of light oil.”

As far as where the spill is headed, that’s up to the current and winds. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracks have the spill staying offshore for a while, which is, as with the type of oil, a relatively good thing. So things would seem to be shaping up, at this early point in what will be the overall life history of spill, to be kind of a best-case scenario. But things could certainly change very quickly.

One of the worst-case scenarios is if the spill gets caught in the right current and heads to Florida, home to very sensitive coral reefs and coastal areas. In fact, a Unified Command was just set up in case the oil does hit Florida. In a bid to pin down more details on just what kind of damage we might see to ecosystems and wildlife, I spoke via e-mail with several experts on various topics.

Coral Reefs, Mangroves, and Seagrass Beds
Dr. Richard E. Dodge, Professor and Dean at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center and Executive Director of the National Coral Reef Institute, says, “Oil entrained in the loop current could be delivered to the coral reefs of South Florida and Southeast Florida, from the Dry Tortugas in the south, throughout the Florida Keys, to Palm Beach in the north. A long duration spill could have toxic substances entering the water column and affecting corals anywhere from mucous production to damaging their reproductive system, to bleaching and mortality.” Dodge says dispersants, now being used to help break up the spill, “should NOT be used in proximity to coral reefs because this will make the oil more toxic and available to corals and the plants and animals that live in coral reefs.”

And if it takes a while before the oil reaches Florida? Could be even worse news, Dr. Dodge says. “If oil arrives during the spawning times of coral in August, this could be highly detrimental to the reproductive success of corals, threatening the next generation on the reef.”

Dr. Dodge is also quick to point out the economic impact loss of such unique habitats would have. “Florida has 84% of the nation's coral reef ecosystems,” Dodge says, “hence it is important to recognize that vital national resources are at stake. It has been estimated in a 2000 study by NOAA that reefs represent an annual economy of over $6 billion for South Florida, as well as over 71,000 jobs.”

Massive amounts of oil could also be disastrous for Florida’s sensitive mangrove forests, home to thousands of animals, from alligators to bobcats. “Mangrove forests serve as nursery grounds for many species of fish and shellfish. They also bind sediment. Loss of these forests would result in the collapse of this type of ecosystem,” Dr. Dodge says.

And if the currents and tides really conspire just right, the oil could infest Florida’s seagrass beds. “If this slick made it up on to the southwest Florida Shelf and was transported in the prevailing current direction to the south, it could end up at the mouth of Florida Bay,” according to Dr. Jim Fourqurean, professor at Florida International University. “This worst-case scenario is not particularly likely – but if it occurs, it will be devastating,” Fourqurean warns.

Due to the complex properties of the bay, the oil “would likely be there for an extended period – maybe even years. Florida Bay averages only 3 feet deep over the 2,000 km2 of the bay, and most of that area is within the boundaries of Everglades National Park. Florida Bay is carpeted with seagrass beds,” Fourqurean explains. “One small piece of good news is that seagrasses themselves are quite resistant to the effects of oil spills, so we would expect loss of seagrasses only in places that oil were pushed in to intertidal areas and stranded for extended periods at low tide.” So the seagrass might be fine, but what about the animals that frequent these beds?

“Oil contains many toxic compounds that could kill most of the important animals that reside in the seagrass beds, including commercially import pink shrimp; valuable game fish like tarpon, bonefish, redfish and seatrout; juvenile spiny lobsters; juvenile fish that use the bay as a nursery; and the wading birds that feed on these animals. Air-breathing manatees and sea turtles would be poisoned and covered with oil, wading birds would be covered ...” and Fourqurean leaves it at that, the implication clear.

Fish
Though I’ve said thus far it’s kind of a best-case scenario with the spill, some variables don’t bode well for the survival of fish, according to Dr. David W. Kerstetter, a research scientist at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. “Many of the fish species in the Gulf have pelagic (open-water) eggs that float at the surface, where the oil layer congregates,” Kerstetter says. And he points out it doesn’t take much oil to start causing trouble, saying, “Studies have suggested that concentrations of 1 part-per-billion have toxic effects to fish eggs.”

It’s also just plain bad timing, with now “the time of the year in which the western Atlantic population of bluefin tuna congregate in the northen Gulf to spawn, a population which is already at extremely low levels,” Kerstetter points out. “Should the sheen spread and persist, a loss of a whole year's larval fish production in some species is possible.”

“The spill will likely impact sensitive coastal saltmarsh estuary and barrier lagoon systems in the northern Gulf – some reports are that the oil already is there – systems which are important nursery grounds for shrimp, sharks, and many other species of fishes, as well as adult habitat for species such as oysters, redfish (red drum), and sea trout,” Kerstetter says.

And the top-of-the-food-chain fish, the ones targeted by both commercial and recreational fishermen, will also be affected, according to Dr. Kerstetter. “As these pollutants (including the oil dispersant chemicals) are released into the water, they’re likely to be absorbed into the prey species' tissues and then re-absorbed into the tissues of predator species, like tunas and sailfish. We know very little about how some of these substances affect growth, reproduction, and even basic survival for most of these fish species.”

We’re waiting to hear back from experts on how the spill might affect birds, too, and will update soon.

World Fair Trade Day

2010-05-05T09:18:00.005-04:00

Many of our most-trusted companies, from Wal-Mart and GAP to Apple and Microsoft, have been caught using sweatshop-like conditions at some point.

To ensure what we buy hasn’t been produced via a process that takes advantage of and/or hurts people, we have to pay attention, which, admittedly, is hard to do. Our attentions are focused elsewhere, and we just want to be able to do our shopping in a relatively unthinking way.

But with World Fair Trade Day coming up May 8, now is as good a time as ever to think about how what we buy affects others. The day is being celebrated through hundreds of events in more than 70 countries around the world in a bid to create a better life for several million workers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Get started practicing your more conscientious shopping trips by checking out this list of organizations that are 100% committed to fair trade.

And refer to this list of companies that use union labor, which is a good indicator of fair manufacturing processes..

Are We Killing Ourselves With Chemicals?

2010-04-30T10:46:00.003-04:00

I’ve always been afraid chemicals in many of the products I and my kids use are hurting us. So in the past I’ve written about things like chlorine and PBDEs to help me keep the issue top-of-mind.

But it can be tough to keep track of all the harmful ingredients in the stuff we buy. The EPA has just made it a bit easier, though, by releasing its ToxRefDB database. You and me and anyone else can search and download thousands of toxicity testing results on hundreds of chemicals.

So this is what I did: I took five cleaning products off my shelf at home, looked at the ingredients (what few ingredients were listed, anyway; they don’t really want us to know, after all), then plugged the ingredient names into the new EPA database.

All Purpose Cleaner – This “Lemon Breeze” 4-in-1 disinfectant only had one ingredient listed: Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides, which, the bottle says, make up less than 1% of the solution. So they’re keeping secret 99% of what’s in there. I couldn’t find in the ToxRefDB the exact chemical combo indicated on the cleaner, so I’m assuming it’s relatively harmless (which is why they chose to display it on their bottle, presumably), but I’m also assuming the 99% of what they don’t disclose isn’t so harmless. Especially when you consider this warning written on the bottle: “Wash thoroughly with soap and water after handling and before eating, drinking and chewing gum, using tobacco, or using restroom.” Lovely.

Hair Clog Removal Gel – The old drain cleaner. Obviously hazardous to our health; this is something everyone knows to handle with care. There were only two ingredients listed, potassium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite. Neither was listed on the ToxRefDB site. (The potassium hydroxide is basically lye, I think). So I threw them into the National Institutes of Health’s MESH database, and it shot back a ton of research on health dangers for both the potassium hydroxide and the sodium hypochlorite. But again, there’s nothing surprising about drain cleaner being bad for us.

Upholstery Cleaner – Gotta keep that couch clean and smelling fresh, right? So in exchange for that fresh smell, we get exposed to butoxyehtanol, which, while not listed as a carcinogen, is in the ToxRefDB has having been shown to cause developmental problems in rats and rabbits. It’s also an ingredient in the dispersant BP’s using on the Gulf oil spill, according to a report on ProPublica.

Abrasive Disinfectant – This one exhibits the trickiness of an exercise like this. The one ingredient listed is sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate. I couldn’t find much in the EPA database, but once I searched the MESH database, it returned an article that identifies this chemical as also being known as cyanuric acid, which has caused all sorts of problems in lab animals, from cancer growth to reproductive problems.

Wasp and Hornet Killer – And now we’re to the biggie. The TxRefDB site primarily covers chemicals found in pesticides, which, since they’re meant to kill things after all, probably pose the biggest risks to us. My can contained something called Prallethrin, which, while the EPA database says is “not likely be carcinogenic to humans,” it does list a number of studies showing it causes major damage in lab animals. The other ingredient it listed is called lambda-Cyhalothrin, which the TxRefDB says is inconclusive as to whether it’s a carcinogen, but that, again, messes up lab animals in many ways. The EPA links to another site that has details.

So what are our alternatives to all these hazardous chemicals? There are plenty of ways to clean with natural, nontoxic stuff like baking soda or vinegar. Matt Hickman over at Mother Nature Network has a great series of posts on purging chemicals from your cleaning routine.

Now Is The Time To Replace Your Boiler

2010-04-26T09:06:00.002-04:00

If you’ve got an aging boiler, furnace, water heater, clothes washer, air conditioning unit, you name it – you’ve probably still got time to take advantage of your state’s Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program.

The federal government funded it with $300 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and though it’s already run out in some states (sorry to Captivate viewers in Chicago, Boston, the Twin Cities, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston – funds are gone in your home states) there’s still plenty of rebate money out there.

To find out exactly what appliances are eligible, go to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Savers Web site and choose your state from the list.

You’ll have fill out an application, buy an appliance, ensure your old appliance is recycled and then wait a month or two, but really, for rebates of up to $1,000 (depending on how major the appliance is) – plus all the annual cost-to-run and CO2 savings you'll get from upgrading - it’s well worth it.

The Day After Earth Day

2010-04-23T09:35:00.003-04:00

Today is April 23, the day after Earth Day. It’s not a significant date on any calendar, but it does have meaning for each of us. It can be the start of 364 straight days of not having to think about our role in the natural world, of not having to consider how important it is to live an environmentally conscious life.

Or, maybe, it could be the day we recognize that thinking about nature shouldn’t be a once-a-year obligation. It could be the day we finally get around to reading Walden or Silent Spring; the day we, for no good reason, stop and actually listen to the sounds birds make; the day we notice that the trees that line the walkway to our office aren’t all the same type; the day we stop flicking our butts into the street.

Today can be when we put Earth Day and its distractions behind us to again focus on the "important" things like arranging for the babysitter and getting to the bank before it closes. Or it can be when take a few minutes alone, maybe late tonight, to watch the stars or listen to the wind in the trees, and to rethink the meaning of important.

Sharing Bikes

2010-04-21T08:48:00.003-04:00

Why didn’t you bike to work today? It’s healthy, it cuts emissions, it’s a wonderful way to start your day.

Oh. Don’t have a bike, you say? Well of all the excuses for not riding, that would seem the most airtight. But soon, even that may not be viable – thanks to a movement called B-cycle.

B-cycle is a bike-sharing business that launches tomorrow (Earth Day) in Denver, dropping 500 bikes at various points around the city for anyone to use as they see fit (“fit” being the key word here). There are fees – both “membership” and “usage” – but for as cheap as 18 cents a day (with a yearlong membership and minimum usage), you can free yourself of your smog-spewing car.

The company is a collaboration between healthcare giant Humana, Trek Bicycles and ad/design agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Humana has been promoting bike sharing for years as a way to improve members’ health, and seeks with B-cycle to become the first nationwide bike-sharing system.

SmartBike, a predecessor to B-cycle, debuted in Washington, D.C., almost two years ago, but that hasn’t spread in the U.S., popular only in Spain, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden. And SmartBike certainly wasn’t the first such service in Europe – Copenhagen’s Bycyklen, rolled out in 1995, holds that distinction. Since then, a myriad of bike-sharing-type programs have taken hold, mostly in smaller iterations, across Europe and the U.S. Check out the International Bicycle Fund for a list of places you can share bikes.

Paul DeMaio, a bike-sharing consultant who’s Managing Member of Washington, D.C.-based MetroBike, feels the time is ripe for bike sharing to take off in the U.S. as it has in Europe.

“It's taken a bit longer for bike-sharing to catch on in the U.S. as bike facilities (i.e. bike lanes, cycle tracks, trails, and parking) are not as well developed here as in Western Europe,” DeMaio says. “Many U.S. cities have made great strides towards becoming bike-friendly during the last decade and having a network of safe places to ride in urban environments is a necessary precursor for bike-sharing. Bike-sharing will do well in the U.S. as it fills the niche of convenient, inexpensive, on-demand transit and allows folks to add activity into their lives.”

And B-cycle is banking on such assessments as it aims to bring the concept big time in Denver, where it’s rolling out 500 bikes at 50 stations across the city.

B-cycle bikes look (above) pretty cool: they feature three or eight speeds, lights and a basket that holds up to 30 pounds, and each is equipped with a tracking system that calculates mileage, calories burned and carbon offsets, with all info Web-accessible.

Denver isn’t the only Captivate market bound for bike-sharing bounty: Boston and Minneapolis will get their own systems this year, thanks to Montreal’s public bike program, BIXI.

Let’s be honest – if you’re commuting miles upon miles to work, you’re not gonna give up the car for a bike. But if you’re in the city, with a relatively short ride somewhere – why not? Studies have shown 60% of car pollution is created in the first few minutes of operation and 50% of car trips are less than two miles. Plus, you can burn 300 calories an hour, or more, riding a bike, according to the American Heart Association.

If you’re totally into the idea of bike sharing but your city isn’t yet, check out the B-cycle map, where you can request your town become part of B-cycle’s expansion.

Companies' Green Promotions - UPDATE

2010-04-16T08:27:00.001-04:00

For those of you who missed Starbucks’ free coffee promo yesterday, there’s still a way you can take advantage of the café queen’s largesse (though a relatively small largesse): they’re taking 10 cents off any order made by a customer who has his own reusable mug.

See below for other great deals you can take advantage of in the coming days.

Companies’ Green Promotions

2010-04-14T09:03:00.001-04:00

With Earth Day right around the corner, all kinds of corporations are looking to take advantage of the marketing power of ‘green’ by running some sort of promotion. Here’s some of the best of them:

Starbucks
The coffee behemoth is encouraging everyone to switch from paper cups to reusable travel mugs, and will give a free coffee tomorrow to anyone who brings in their own mug.

Equinox Fitness
On April 20, the upscale workout chain – voted “America’s Healthiest Gym” by Health magazine – will give free fitness sessions and organic cocktails, tea and snacks to members and anyone who stops by to inquire about becoming a member. They’ll also dispense tips on how to live green, and will plant a tree for every new member who joins that day.

Hanes
Get a free Earth Day tee, and contribute toward the planting of 20,000 trees, when you buy three Hanes products.

Service Experts
This heating and AC servicing company is running a sweepstakes in which visitors to their Web site can win prizes from a Ford Fusion Hybrid to having your energy bill paid for a year.

Purex
The laundry detergent line is attempting a green rebranding, and as part of that is giving away a $20,000 green home makeover. Just tell them what you’d do with the money and you’re entered to win.

Earth Day Events

2010-04-09T09:14:00.002-04:00

April 22 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day (Poor Earth. Kickin’ around for 4 and half billion years and only in the last 40 does it get a day for itself) and I’m sure you’re looking for some way to participate. The EPA has a nice list of events, broken out by region. Check that out.

Plus, the Dow Live Earth Run/Walk for Water will be held in nearly 100 cities across the globe April 18. Get in shape while helping raise awareness of the need for clean drinking water.

And here’s a few other events to consider in various Captivate markets:

Atlanta
-- Get down and dirty – but clean your conscience – with the BeltLine Cleanup, set for April 17. Make your city beautiful, Atlantans!
-- Bring the kids to Earth Day Kids Fest at the Chattahoochee Nature Center April 17 and teach the basics of being green.
-- EarthShare of Georgia’s Earth Day Party on Land, on the big day itself, features music, food, lots of green info and an auction.

Boston
-- The Sustainable Living Expo marks its seventh year April 17 in Hull with exhibitors of all sorts of green energies, focusing on wind. There’ll be tours of the Hull Wind Turbine, recycling demos and hybrid vehicle rides.
-- Franklin Park Zoo’s Party for the Planet, set for April 18, celebrates Earth Day with crafts, activities, animal encounters and environmentally-friendly exhibitors.
-- Garden in the Woods in Framingham is marking Earth Day by waiving entrance fees on April 24. Take a guided walking tour and participate in family activities like face-painting and bird-feeder making.

Chicago
-- The National Geographic Speaker Series, at the Field Museum, features photographer James Balog on April 13. He’ll show his latest work, which documents melting glaciers.
-- A 5K run/walk, followed by a green living expo, will be held April 24 at Humboldt Park. Expect music, food and “environmental education and fun.”
-- The Wolfe Wildlife Refuge will be the site of nature walks, hybrid car and other green displays, and kids’ activities April 24.

New York
-- NYU is hosting a week of events, from movie screenings to street fairs to live music.
-- GreenHomeNYC’s Green Building Tour of the Gen. Colin Powell Apartments in The Bronx is slated for April 24.
-- South Bronx Earth Fest is April 24.
-- Eco-Festival 2010 at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn is April 27-30.

San Francisco
-- San Fran gets things kickin’ early with the Spring Green Festival this weekend. With more than 200 speakers and artists and multiple pavilions on green living, this is sure to be a huge event. Even the major will be there!
-- People’s Earth Day at India Basin Shoreline Park on April 17 will feature an educational theater production, restoration projects, live music and plenty of food.

Washington, D.C.
-- D.C.’s big day really isn’t until the weekend, when groups from the EPA to Earth Day Network will hold rallies on the National Mall.

National Cell Phone Recycling Week

2010-04-08T07:16:00.001-04:00

Going green, being conscientious toward our environment, can sometimes be tough, what with all the rules for responsibility and pledges to purity.

But not this week.

No, this week it’s easy to be green, because this week is the EPA’s National Cell Phone Recycling Week.

Recently get a cell phone? Helping the environment is as simple as not dropping your old one in the trash. So what do you do with it, you ask?

Often it’s as simple as stopping by a store to drop it off, and sometimes you don’t even have to leave your house, as some companies, such as LG Electronics and VirginMobileUSA, will send you self-addressed stamped envelopes for sending your phone(s) back to them.

AT&T, Verizon and Best Buy are just some of the stores that will take old phones for recycling. Check out the EPA’s Plug In To Ecycling site for more info.

And, companies like AT&T contribute proceeds from cell phone recycling to Cell Phones for Soldiers, which has distributed more than 75,000 prepaid phone cards to soldiers overseas.

Though about 11.7 million cell phones were turned in last year for recycling, that’s less than 10% of how many are in use in the US. The EPA says the energy saved by recycling just one cell phone is enough to power a laptop for 44 hours.

So be green this week. It’s easy.

The New American Home

2010-02-02T12:12:00.003-05:00

Every year as part of the International Builders Show, the National Association of Home Builders unveils a New American Home to showcase the latest in homebuilding trends and technologies. Looking at the green features in the 2010 model can shed insight into the types of things the average homeowner might do to reduce energy use and save money.

The house (pictured above; general specs: 6,100 sq. ft., faces east) is 49% more energy efficient than a similar house built to code. Its efficiency features are many. I’ll list some here, with links that further explain each so you can look into them and see if they’d be feasible to implement in your own home (or in your plans to build a home):

• Insulated concrete forms for the walls
• Energy efficient windows and doors
• Unvented attic with spray foam insulation under the roof and the inside the gables
• Heat recovery ventilator to provide fresh outdoor air with a minimal loss of energy
• Solar thermal hot water system
• Energy Star-rated appliances
• Fluorescent lamps and LEDs
• High-efficiency heating and cooling systems
• Solar electric system
• Greywater recycling system
• Tankless hot water heaters
• Green roof system
• Low VOC paints, stains, adhesives & sealants
• Dual flush waterclosets
• Low flow shower head and faucets
• Weather controlled irrigation system

Whew. Going through all that really makes you realize just how inefficient your house is, doesn’t it? Did for me, anyway.

Now, the unfortunate postscript to all this is that, for the first time in its 27-year history, the New American Home wasn’t finished in time for International Builders Show participants to walk through it. Today, the home is just 75% complete after the builder, Domanico Custom Homes, ran out of financing.

Fortunately for anyone looking to build some of these efficiency measures into their home, it’s most likely not 6,000 sq. ft. worth of expenses. Let us know if you've got any of these types of efficiency measures in your home by commenting below.

Information Is Power

2010-01-29T08:10:00.003-05:00

The truest way to be a strong part of a citizenry is to be informed. But to be informed, you first need access to information. Which is why it’s so important the government allows the public to see the millions of studies, polls, surveys and everything else it cranks out each year. As the Association of Health Care Journalists puts it in a letter beseeching the FDA for openness, “The free flow of information is essential to democracy.”

Which is why I periodically talk about stuff like government openness and FOIA.

With Obama coming into office, the expectation was that the strict, “assume everything is a national security risk” approach was being kicked to the curb for a more open, “assume our citizens have a right to know” one.

And on the one hand, it has: OMB Watch notes that last week, a bunch of federal agencies published new info via Data.gov. The EPA released three datasets, and there is a boatload of other environmental-related data from agencies ranging from the Dept. of Agriculture to the Tennessee Valley Authority.

But not all is as ‘open’ as it might seem. OMB Watch is among watchdogs noting that not all the recently released data is new or of high-value, and the Washington Post has a story saying there were more lawsuits seeking the unsealing of government records in Obama’s first year than in either of Bush’s final two.

Then there’s this story, from nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, about a gag order Obama ordered on the Forest Service.

Like with so many other pledges of the Obama administration, it seems the jury is still out on whether it’ll fulfill its goal of being the most open ever. Time will tell.

Very few of us have ever filed a FOIA request (I haven’t) but you don’t have to be a journalist to do so. Any citizen can. So tell us: What one piece of information would you request from the government? Submit answers via the Comments below.

Greenest Cars

2010-01-27T10:25:00.003-05:00

The nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has been putting out lists of the greenest cars for 13 years now. Their latest countdown was released recently, and, surprisingly (at least to me) it’s not topped by mpg-king Prius.

Toyota’s mean green machine is surpassed by the Honda Civic. But not the Civic you might expect. No. 1 on ACEEE’s list isn’t the Civic Hybrid, but rather the Civic GX.

The Honda Civic GX runs on natural gas, which greatly reduces its emissions (like to basically zero) and propels it past the 50-mpg Prius on the Greenest Vehicles list.

So how exactly does ACEEE decide on their list? It’s based on factors including fuel economy, emissions and specific pollutants.

The top five is rounded out by the Civic Hybrid, Smart Fortwo and Honda Insight.

American automakers crack the list at No. 6 with the Ford Fusion Hybrid and at No. 10 with Chevy’s Cobalt FXE.

Secret Chemicals Revealed And Bear Births Online

2010-01-22T08:20:00.003-05:00

Couple totally unrelated things I want to cover today: EPA does good again, and there’s a Web cam that allows you to watch a wild bear. EPA first.

The new EPA administration has again illustrated it’s putting the well-being of the country’s citizens ahead of that of Big Biz.

EPA chief Lisa Jackson announced companies will no longer be allowed to keep secret the names of harmful chemicals they use.

This comes just a couple weeks after a Washington Post story about all the secret chemicals in products, which followed the Environmental Working Group’s dogged pursuit of the truth through information requests to the EPA. EWG sums up the threat to public health:

A large number of these secret chemicals are used everyday in consumer products, including artists’ supplies, plastic products, fabrics and apparel, furniture and items intended for use by children … Industry has a stranglehold on every aspect of information needed to implement even the most basic health protections from chemicals in consumer products and our environment.

Now about that bear.

If you want to see “how real bears behave,” check out the North American Bear Center’s Den Cam.

It’s exactly as it sounds – there’s a camera fixed on a bear (“Lily”) in her den, so anybody anywhere can see how a black bear behaves in the wild (lots of snoozing, from what I can tell).

But the really cool part is that Lily is pregnant and due to give birth any day – in fact, the researcher heading up the project has her money on TODAY! So go check it out, and you may be among the first people to ever witness a live Webcast of a bear giving birth

Global Warming Doesn’t Mean It’s Not Going To Be Cold Anymore

2010-01-19T12:27:00.003-05:00

The most irritating anti-global warming argument to me is the “How can there be warming if I’m buried in snow and freezing?” chestnut.

What bugs me most about it is not how infantile it is – believing weather in one little corner of the world somehow precludes global climate trends is so logically stunted that it indicates a mental capacity of a five-year-old – but that I know most of the people who use such an argument are smarter than that.

The only other explanation for thinking this way is willful ignorance. They have another reason to not want to believe in global warming (most likely politics-based), so they’re willing to grab onto any counter-argument, no matter how intelligence-insulting it might be. Man is that irritating. And depressing.

So explaining the science behind it all is useless, since those who most need to see it will simply refuse to. But what the heck, let’s throw it out there anyway, courtesy of NASA’s James Hansen.

In his latest draft essay, Dr. Hansen says (pdf) 2009 “tied as the second warmest year in the 130 years of global instrumental temperature records,” a full 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than in the period of climatology (NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies uses 1951‐1980 as its base period).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2009 summary generally backs up this assertion, saying ’09 was 1 degree warmer than typical, but its rankings are a little different – it places ’09 as only the fifth-hottest on record. (The discrepancies in NASA and NOAA rankings can be attributed to “different treatment for urban heat effects and different procedure for extrapolation to data poor areas,” according to GISS scientist Gavin Schmidt, a regular contributor to RealClimate.org, climate scientists’ online bible.)

The GISS numbers take into account variables such as El Nino, La Nina, sunspot cycles and urban warming, and Hansen also explains why, exactly, it’s been so cold across much of the U.S. in the past few months. (It comes down to surface pressure, which was at its lowest since the mid-1980s, allowing polar air to kick farther south than typical).

Secret Chemicals In The Stuff We Buy

2010-01-15T10:36:00.004-05:00

The use of hazardous chemicals in everyday products is an issue near and dear to me.

As it should be to all of us. I mean, we’re exposing ourselves to stuff that makes us sick.

But why? For consumers, who just want to grab the things that are most available to us, the answer is because it’s the simplest thing to do. We buy what is most convenient and cheapest.

For big biz, it’s because it’s the way that makes them the most money.

As scary as the situation already is – fueled by corporate greed, consumer laziness and poor government oversight – there comes new news, from the Washington Post, that makes it that much scarier:

“Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States -- from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners -- nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all public officials under a little-known federal provision.”

Read the full article, “Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law,” here.