Queercents

Thanks to global warming, it’s already hit 80 degrees a few times here in DC.

My daughter loves being outdoors, but with skin cancer rates rising nationwide, and with her inherited bad skin-cancer luck (three of her great-grandparents and one of her grandparents have had skin cancers ranging from the benign to the quick killing sort), I’m concerned about protecting her. I’m also concerned about putting expensive, toxic gunk all over her…that might kill her more readily than the skin cancer that it’s supposed to prevent!

To put it bluntly: sunscreens suck. By the EPA’s own definition, sunscreens are chemicals that protect skin by absorbing and/or reflecting UVA and UVB rays. PABA, the most common chemical in sunscreen is a known carcinogen, as are many of the other common ingredients found in sunscreen. Sunblocks, on the other hand, are made of ingredients that themselves simply block, reflect, and scatter the sun’s rays, without any chemical reaction. But many products labeled as sunblock really aren’t—they contain PABA or other chemicals. As I noted previously, skin products aren’t monitored for safety the way food products are, even though new scientific evidence suggest that they may be absorbed even more directly into the bloodstream. Read the rest of this entry »

With all the Earth Day events this past week, the topic of making green choices is all over the news. The benefits of going green are numerous, but can you afford it and are you willing to make the choices so necessary to literally save our planet and save ourselves?

The first decision has to do with your willingness. Do you care about your environmental footprint and the future of the planet beyond today and perhaps even beyond your own lifetime? And, if so, are you willing to do your part to ensure the future generations of humans and creatures have a sustainable and healthy place to live their lives? It really does boil down to that. The bottom line is that we are all connected and what one person does has a ripple effect across the planet.

I get a lot of snarky comments from family on this topic. No matter how much I love them, though the argument “Well I’ll be dead long before that [insert global warming of 2 degrees, melting of all the glaciers, or any other deplorable possibility] happens” doesn’t cut it with me. It is a cop out of epic proportions. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I was grabbing a bowl out of the cupboard and knocked over a batch of plastic containers we have stored in the cupboard for left-overs. It appears that we have reached that fine line that is saving for a need and the ‘just in case I need this’ situation.

One of the things that I noticed growing up when my mother would save containers is that she would save a few of various sizes but anything beyond that got pitched. Even though she tried to keep a limit on what she kept for plastic containers they still seemed to breed like bunnies, and had to be sorted every few months.

It appears that we have reached that stage as well and it is time to decide what is needed and used and what is not. Read the rest of this entry »

Hefty® has outdone them selves this time. They have taken something that we get free and have an overabundance of and boxed it up 10 to a pack for your convenience. How do these companies do it?

Yet, somehow Hefty® seems to think we need to buy these bags because there are “101 uses” for our convenience. I jotted down a few, I’m sure there are more (surprise, Hefty does not have a list of the 101 uses in the box).

How many grocery store bags do you have? I have way too many to count, but if I boxed up 10 to a box and sold them for 50¢, I would be offering a better deal than Hefty® and their dollar ‘deal’. So what if mine are slightly used, no wait, that’s even better, I’m being green and I could charge 2.00 instead, for 10 of them. Put big letters across the front that says “100% RECYCLED”, because it would be true! Read the rest of this entry »

How are you reducing, reusing and reclaiming your life?

The documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” helped me understand my impact on the world around me, the documentary “Affluenza” helped me understand the amount of waste I have in my life, and the many documentaries I have seen about the poor conditions people live through in other countries helped me understand how incredibly rich I am in comparison.

Over the last few years I have tried to make it a purposeful attitude to want less and use less and find contentment in that. What a better way to prepare for any trouble times ahead. Read the rest of this entry »

“You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.” – Anthony Robbins

On Blog Action day, I wrote that I was tired of the plastic bags piling up after our grocery visits and finally was going to convert to canvas bags. Even though Jeanine has always been good about finding alternative uses for the plastic ones, they still seemed to be everywhere as John Roach at National Geographic News writes:

They sit balled up and stuffed into the one that hangs from the pantry door. They line bathroom trash bins. They carry clothes to the gym. They clutter landfills. They flap from trees. They float in the breeze. They clog roadside drains. They drift on the high seas. They fill sea turtle bellies.”

They ARE everywhere. So I indicated my hunt for a canvas bag the look and size of a paper grocery sack. Read the rest of this entry »

“I know that I am partly to blame, by insisting that cars run on trash.” – Al Gore on SNL

Last weekend after touring the Project 7 Ten house (a Platinum LEED Certified home); we continued our eco-romp around Venice Beach and stumbled upon the smart house several blocks away. The smart house isn’t really a house, but rather a showroom for the smart car.

Heard the buzz yet about the smart car? I’ve seen them on my European trips and they’re about to make their debut here in the US. Read the rest of this entry »

If you read any personal finance blog, you will eventually come across a post recommending you save money by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents (CFLs). It’s a no-brainer - CFLs use only about 25% of the energy of incandescent bulbs, and they last longer, so you end up saving money despite the higher up-front cost. The lower energy consumption also means that less greenhouse gases are produced to provide the same amount of light. Even so, not everyone is choosing CFLs over incandescents. In the US, CFL market share is a mere 6%.

Consumer reluctance to switch to CFLs has resulted in government action in some countries. Australia and Canada have instituted bans on incandescent bulbs that will take effect in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Many other countries are contemplating similar measures, and various organizations are lobbying for them. But there’s a cultural cost included in these kinds of laws. Read the rest of this entry »