ClearLite Safer CFL Lightbulbs
One of the biggest complaints about CFL lightbulbs is the major risk of being exposed to mercury if one breaks. Clearlite has come up with a solution that could help ease all our worries about CFLs called ArmorLite. This new compact flourescent bulb is designed with safety coating to prevent the leakage of toxins if a bulb were to break.
About Clearlite
Back in 2005, both Tom Irvine and Lisa Niedermeyer wanted to find a solution for those wanted to go eco-friendly with lightbulbs without the risks associated with CFLs. That’s when they formed the company and came up with a safer CFL that are liquid mercury free. They also created their ArmorLite coating that keeps your family safe from dangerous glass or toxins with the bulbs. The coating is made of a silicon composite that keeps all the internals enclosed within the bulb. Just as with normal CFLs, they last much longer than traditional incandescent bulbs and are fully recyclable.
Lets find out a little about ArmorLite directly from Clearlite:
How does it hold up?
Clearlite has done extensive testing to ensure that a little leakage occurs as possible. I did a little research to see what kind of reviews the company has received and if any tests were done to determine how well the bulbs hold together. Concrave did a great comprehensive review of their product along with a test to see how the light bulb would hold up:
Where to Buy?
Overall, Clearlite seems like a great company that are trying to make CFL light bulbs safer. Amazon has a great selection of their bulbs, but they are a priced a little higher as compared to other CFL bulbs. If you have a family with small kids, the extra cost seems well worth any exposure to mercury.
If you have used a Clearlite bulb, please share your experience with their products.
Belegenza Hair Care Products: Greener Hair
Many shampoos on the market today contain several undesirable ingredients, such as artificial fragrances, colors and phthalates. Not only are these chemicals harmful to your body, they are washed down the drain and may contribute to the polluting of our groundwater. But it can be hard to find natural shampoos and conditioners that doesn’t break the bank and also have the look and feel of traditional drug-store products. One such line of products are made by the Belegenza hair care company (www.belegenza.com).
Belegenza was founded by Alan G. Eschenburg, the owner of The Secret Salons in Houston, Texas. Eschenburg decided to develop his own line of hair care products that are designed to heal common skin and scalp conditions, using natural ingredients. The result is the Belgenza line, which, in addition to shampoos and conditioners, also includes hair styling and skin care products.
The Belegenza hair care line is so unique because the ingredients come from nature and are safer for the body and for the environment. What’s more, Belegenza products are free of many of the chemicals found in traditional shampoos and conditioners. The company is also committed to eco-friendly packaging and shipping.
According to the Belegenza website, The GrowOut Shampoo that I have been using is effective for growing new hair because it is without the harsh chemicals that can literally “suffocate” your hair over time. In theory, when the hair is healthier, there is less breakage and the hair will grow faster.
A pretty green color, the GrowOut Shampoo has a light, fresh smell that is neither artificial-smelling nor fragrance-y. Although the product does not foam up as much or as fast as traditional, store-bought shampoos, it still produces a nice, soft-feeling lather. The DraMatic Daily Volumizing Conditioner is for fine hair, like mine, and contains vitamins and anti-oxidants to bring out more body in your hair. I can definitely tell that my hair is softer and shinier after using both the products and I love the smell!
Because the products are all-natural, they are gentle enough for my daughter to use. My daughter also has fine hair that she, too has been trying to grow out, and I can’t wait to see if the Belegenza products will make a difference. In the meantime, her hair looks bouncy and feels soft. Because of Belegenza’s commitment to the environment and their reasonable prices, they are now a must-have on my list of beauty products. Not just for girlie-girls, I recommend Belegenza for the whole family.
Save Energy With Solar-Powered Speakers
Share your music anywhere with this solar-powered speaker unit. Small and lightweight, the unit is ideal for travel, with an integrated solar panel providing power away from a mains supply. The stylish black speakers use wireless technology to connect to Bluetooth compatible phones (including the iPhone) or MP3 players. For gadgets without Bluetooth a 3.5mm connector is supplied. The 2 x 2W speakers also contain a built in microphone. When paired with a suitable phone they allow Hands-Free communication. A clear touch screen is user-friendly, with Fast Forward, Playback and Volume control.
A solar panel, running across the top of the speaker unit, charges an internal Lithium-ion battery. When fully charged the battery allows up to 12 hours continuous play from devices using Bluetooth, or 36 hours play via the 3.5mm cable connection. The speakers can play and charge simultaneously, with a complete charging time of between 12 and 24 hours from sunlight, or 4 hours from a mains AC/USB supply. With this many charging options, you’ll never have to face the day the music stopped! The unit comes with a protective case, AC/DC plug and charging cable. Share your music freely, or simply enjoy stereo sound without headphones.
The solar speaker is available to buy here.
This is a guest post by Rob from WasteCare.
USDA: Friend or Genetically Modified Foe?
Bear with me, this is long but informative…read on if you dare.
It is do or let GMOs die time at the United States Department of Agriculture, and they are letting you weigh in on their decision. The USDA’s mission is to utilize public policy, science, and management to provide leadership on food agriculture, and natural resources. Yet organizations like the Center for Food Safety have not been satisfied with their leadership, as is the European Union among other large entities. The current debate revolves around Genetically Engineered (GE) crops that were previously approved by the USDA as safe. But after being sued in 2006 by the Center for Food Safety and with pressure from a multitude of organizations and farmers, they are reviewing their approval of Monsanto’s GE Roundup Ready alfalfa. Now is your time to send them your thoughts on GE crops and their process for approval, but your time to act ends tomorrow, March 3rd!
Genetically Engineered Crops aka “Frankenfood”
Genetically modified organisms have been growing exponentially in the United States since the early 2000s in the field of agriculture. Some argue that Mendel, who originally discovered hybridization and gene characteristics in plants, was in fact creating GE crops. Yet the majority of scientists in the field disagree, they suggest it is when laboratories started manipulating the specific genes within a plant and injecting foreign genetic material. For example, scientists input salmon DNA into tomato plants to increase their cold weather resistance. This type of gene manipulation is what the European Union has banned from their food system and US food exports, calling it “Frankenfood.” While in the US very little of this seething debate was heard and companies such as Monsanto were privately patenting a large variety of seeds they claim as their own.
What are the risks of GE Crops?
For the average consumer, first and foremost your health is at risk. Next is the integrity of our food system as a whole. And of course the larger underlying threat is our ecological system and the long-term irreversible impact GE crops have already had in North America. If you are a farmer, the risks are a hundredfold.
Health
Human health issues always get a great deal of attention, and are often the primary reason action is taken when ecological disaster arises. For GE crops, this is a sensitive issue in the United States. Scientific research originally studying the long-term health impacts of GE crops was put under intense scrutiny by GE crop companies, and ultimately their funding has been revoked or minimized. Their decisive response has been to align themselves with highly respected Universities across North America (since GE crops are not allowed in the majority of developed nations) and fund only GE crop research that would shed a positive light on its nutritional and ecological ‘value’ as the company deems appropriate and favorable. This type of controlled science is unlikely to produce a result that will benefit the general public’s knowledge base and health. The original studies and those conducted in Europe prior to banning GE crops demonstrated an increase in allergies, carcinogens and cancer rates, and an overall increase in chemical build-up in the body’s fatty tissue leading to a variety of health issues.
Food System
Our food system is and has been in great peril since the 1970s food crisis. The major issues such as intensive chemical dependency, unsustainable land use, and unjust farmer-company relationships have sprouted up in literature by Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, and Francis Moore Lappe and movies like Food Inc. Movements revolting against this system, that cry for something more just, such as Slow Food and Slow Money, are only seedlings relative to the extensive power the major corporations hold over our food system in the United States.
History of our Food System
Let’s take a quick look at history to help put the unraveling of our food system into context. In the 1970s the price of oil flew sky high, demolishing the savings of farmers across the Midwest, America’s breadbasket. Their reliance on petroleum to run their machinery and utilize pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers left many families broken and in debt. Major corporations took advantage of their downfall by purchasing their land and designing a deal that would lure debt-ridden farmers under the company’s control. The main strategy was to purchase the land, and then allow the farmer to stay on the land and ‘lease’ it from the company. In return, the farmer would grow the crops the company demanded in the method the company deemed appropriate. The seeds, machinery, and upkeep of the land were all on the farmer and still are today. The United States transformed from a land of opportunity filled with small and medium-sized farms to a privately-owned land that could be yours (partially via lease) for a price.
Manipulation of our Food System
The food system that these companies have manipulated to their best profit margin is dependent upon their crops, their specialized fertilizers, their herbicides, and their desired management practices. GE crops made the monopolization of agriculture all the easier for these companies. Now a company, for example Monsanto, designs a seed that has a special mutation to fight disease and pests. They also design a special herbicide that will kill everything except that special seed. The farmer is now locked into part of the company’s system. They must purchase Monsanto seed, as Monsanto has dictated or aligned with land owners to dictate, and then purchase the Monsanto herbicide since it is the only product on the market that will work with their seed. Did I mention that Monsanto has designed the majority of these seeds to be “terminator” seeds, meaning they only last one season and cannot be saved to be replanted the next summer? This fact alone led to a revolt across all of India. They were outraged that they could not practice seed saving. A practice in the US that gets you on Monsanto’s notorious “Blacklist”, where they block you from customers, other farmers, and buyers of your crop, not a pleasant place to be for farmers who work with large risks of debt in their business.
Profiteers of our Food System Hint: its not you.
These companies also failed to mention two other major factors that will determine a farmer’s profit margin, other than the requirement to be locked into purchasing their products. First, the farmer’s relationship with the land is permanently altered. The companies will dictate the seeds based on desired stocks, their own Research and Development (which they test on farmers, not at their own testing facilities), among other ‘confidential’ factors. Meaning a farmer may be required to grow soy for 10 years straight with no regard to the land’s natural nutrient cycle or capacity. Soy, the one of the largest monocultures in the United States, requires a 5 year replenishment cycle for soil. If you have ever driven through Iowa, you will see miles and miles of soy, year after year. This requires the farmer to pay for large quantities of fertilizer to simulate the land’s nutrient cycle every year. So farmers have not escaped from their main source of vulnerability in the 1970s; the price of oil.
The second major factor is the power companies hold over the grain silos and the price of a crop on particular days. The unethical nature of this initially sounds like a conspiracy theory, but after speaking with farmers in company-infested farm towns, it turns out that it is more than true, it is deeply disturbing. They will purposefully manipulate the price of a crop based on the farmer and their relationship or lack their of with the company, a collaboration among industry giants that keeps farmers out of the marketplace who do not concede to their ‘rules of the game’.
Ecology
GE crops impact on the environment is not understudied, despite companies such as Monsanto’s best efforts. GE crops have been proven to mate with other plants, are not contained by 15 foot high wind barriers (previously deemed suitable by Monsanto, Dupont, and after closed door discussions the USDA), and leave an array of chemicals, unusual residue and genes in the soil beyond conventional agriculture’s significant impact on the land. The most important fact to keep aware of is that GE crops are capable of contaminating organic agriculture, meaning unless every plant is tested there is no way to determine if certified organic food in the US is free from GE crops. Farmer’s have sued Monsanto for contamination and Monsanto has sued farmers claiming patent infringement, every case to date Monsanto has won. Most often because the legal fees and barrage that they throw at the farmers literally put them out of business. The US has not determined sufficient containment procedures, resulting in the contamination of an entire portion of an island in Hawaii. This also means that GE crop seeds are spreading to plants in the wild. Since not all of their seed are terminator seeds, it is an unseen and unknown issue that is slowly creeping through our road ditches and grain spills.
This article’s intent is not to scare you, it is to make you aware of a major issue within our food system. Unfortunately, the budgets of large companies has consistently overridden the concern for the well-being of the general public. GE crops were originally touted as the cure for world hunger and a source for alternative fuel sources to eliminate the need for oil. To date, they have accomplished neither, and in the majority of cases made each issue worse. Mexico’s farmers did not appreciate the US’s ‘aid’ of goodwill terminator seeds when their rural communities tried to harvest their corn crop the following year. Farmer’s to date are more reliant on oil as is their supply chain, than in the 1970s.
The wonder and awe of our scientific games is long gone in the world of GE crops.
Current Debate – Act by March 3rd
If this has you concerned, than I encourage you to review and decide if you would like to take action. You may do so by telling the USDA that you support the Center for Food Safety’s position that GE crops, specifically Monsanto’s GE Roundup Ready alfalfa should not be grown in the United States. Please review the True Food Network’s write-up and sign by tomorrow, March 3rd if you would like to support their efforts. Their website has an overview of the debate and a pre-written letter that you can email through their website.
Shopping Tips
For those of you who would still like to eat your food in good conscience here are some important shopping tips for selecting food.
1) Numbers matter! Check for these hints on your produce at the grocery store:
If it begins with a…
9 = Organically Grown
4 = Conventionally Grown
8=Genetically Engineered
2) The EU has banned GE crops, so although I encourage you to shop locally, seasonally, and to get to know your farmers and food system, EU products outright state that they are not made with GE crops. So feel free to use this as a good guideline. Many companies based in the US have different EU and US brands, selling the GE crops to US markets, so finding EU approved companies isn’t enough. Check the product for information.
3) The Shop non-GMO App for IPhones and consumer guides can be found at The Institute for Responsible Technology
Of course local, organic, seasonal food choices will always help, but you may be surprised (possibly horrified) to learn how GE crops have infiltrated your diet. So I encourage you to read about it, speak out about it, and continue to take an educated stand on this issue. Please note that the US had a national discussion about labeling GE food, but after significant publicity efforts and closed door discussions, the government decided there were no additional dangers. The opposite conclusion the EU reached after their extensive scientific research into the issue.
The United States Department of Agriculture is in the midst of a discussion that will ultimately determine its stance on food safety. What will be your role?
Toyota Prius Greenest Car in 2010?
Consumer Reports announced it list of top cars in various categories, including green. The Toyota Prius received the award for being the top Green Car in 2010. This is the seventh year in a row that the Prius has won this award in this category.
It’s still the most fuel-efficient car in our Ratings, getting 44 mpg overall. That distinction helped it earn our pick in this category for the seventh straight year, the longest of any current model. In addition, the Prius is a pleasant car to drive, with a roomy interior, a steady ride, hatchback versatility, and excellent reliability and crash-test results. The 2010 redesign also gave it a more solid feel and a dedicated EV mode that allows it to run longer on electric power at low speeds, an advantage mainly in slow, congested traffic.
I would question the reliability aspect because of the recent recalls, but it seems pretty apparent that the Prius seems to be considered the best “green” car by many, not just Consumer Reports.
I have not driven a Prius or driven in one, but I have not had good experiences with people I know who drive them. It’s great that people want to buy a car that uses less gas mileage and is more eco-friendly, but some people buy these cars like they do new electronic devices. Another thing that made me a little frustrated is the fact that some feel they can drive more just because they now have a more gas efficient car. This mentality negates the whatever benefit you are receiving from having a more fuel efficient vehicle.
My experiences are with some of the owners of the Prius, not the car itself. Overall, the Prius seems like a pretty good vehicle and great car to consider if in need of a new vehicle. I would still much rather have a full EV than just a hybrid, but they are still a few years away from hitting the market. It’s also good to find other ways than buying a new car to save on gas or avoid using a car at all. Some include biking, car pooling, public transportation and many other gas saving tips.
I decided to include a poll to get an idea of how you feel about the Prius being the top green car on the market.
Loading ...Sustainable Olympics? Hog(green)wash
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics & Paralympics have been under intense scrutiny, not due to questionable medals or poor refereeing, but for sustainability. Great Britain has been a vocal force among other parties, stating that Vancouver did not do enough in terms of sustainability. They promise that their upcoming Summer Olympics will be the most sustainable games yet. Is all of this just a public relations stunt or was Vancouver actually trying to make an effort during difficult economic times?
According to the Vancouver Olympics Committee, sustainability was a key consideration in the design and planning of the Olympics. You can actually follow their efforts via the Sustainability Reports they have consistently published. As the first Games to formally include this as not only a concern, but translate it into tangible action, their efforts are notable. The organizers of the Games have a portion of the Vancouver 2010 site dedicated to sustainability, including a sustainability star program for companies and/or organizations, as well as videos and tips on how to be eco-friendly while at the Olympics. Do the medals look a little funny this year? They are actually made from electronic waste, not too shabby if you ask me.
The Sustainability Stars program focuses on three key areas:
- Economic Benefit
- Environmental Stewardship & Impact
- Social Inclusion & Responsibility
Organizations’ efforts must include at least 2 of the 3 focal areas, produce a measurable outcome, and relate to the 2010 Winter Games. The submittals were then judged by a jury of government partners, corporate sponsors, external experts, and VANOC representatives.
Coke, who is working to become carbon neutral, was one of the company’s highlighted. Their efforts included new coolers and vending machines that reduced emissions by 5,600 metric tons, compostable food containers, recycling centers, and team uniforms made from recycled plastic. Their goal is to divert 95% of all waste from landfills, an incredibly high and difficult goal to achieve at a large-scale event with varied levels of eco-awareness. Although you may not drink Coke or agree with their global supply chain, the reduced impact on the environment through these actions is measurable and exciting.
Perhaps my favorite eco-effort of the games is the Power Smart Village by BC Hydro. They have a human-powered dance floor and an expression wall that looks like spray paint, but is actually transmitted through infrared technology. They also host a Home of the Future series that highlights futuristic eco-inventions. As a power company, their most significant contribution has been the reduction in energy used and the increase in renewable energy sources. It is estimated that these games will emit 1/10th of the CO2 emissions from power generation than previous Winter Games. This will make it the lowest CO2 Games contributor in modern history.
With large-scale design and accountability efforts such as these, it’s difficult to criticize their efforts. The Olympics and Paralympics require an extensive built-environment and land manipulation to take place. This along with the influx in population make it difficult to create a No Impact Games. If we are able to take what we have learned from Vancouver’s efforts and multiply them in the Games to come, eco-smart design will become the center of the Olympics and it will hopefully spread to our athletic facilities worldwide.
The Olympics and Paralympics truly are natural homes for sustainability. The Games are about Countries coming together and competing for the honor of being a true Olympian. If we can take this competitive, yet team-oriented mindset and apply it to our innovation efforts imagine the future Games. The Vancouver Games are not an example of large-scale greenwashing, they are developing the foundation for long-term change toward eco-friendly games. Hopefully Great Britain rises well to the challenge they have set up for themselves. We can all look forward to a healthy competition for winning the “green Games” title into the future.
Marcal Giveaway Winner
The winner for the Marcal paper product giveaway Michael. He will receive a prize package of Marcal paper products including toilet paper, paper towels, napkins and more. Even if you didn’t win, be sure to check out all of Marcal paper products to find where you can buy their products in a store near you.
Thanks to everybody that participated in this contest. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for my Email and RSS Subscription service to get all the latest articles, contests and news on my blog.
