The Green Life

Weaning Off Paper Towels

The CDC recommends that you wash your hands after using a public restroom to prevent the spread of disease. But what about all that's wasted every time you use a paper towel? In fact, each person uses about 741 pounds of paper each year. That’s a lot of trees.

Recycled paper towels and electric hand dryers are great, but one company claims these solutions aren’t green enough. PeopleTowels claims that its organic-cotton hand towels produce no waste and reduce a user's carbon footprint. Also, they come in colorful designs.

The downside is that they can be pricey if you’re on a budget. And they're only available through the company’s Web site.

Green Your Holiday Meals: Go Organic

Working up a menu for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or another winter event? This week’s tips will help you be environmentally responsible while planning that feast.

Tip #1: Opt For Organic

We know that organic foods are better for our bodies, but did you know that they’re significantly better for the planet too? Since organic farmers don't use toxins on their crops, they prevent chemicals from contaminating our soil and water, and from harming wildlife. It doesn’t just need to be just the turkey or ham that’s organic; it can be the wine, too, or the vegetables in the side dishes. An added plus: organic foods taste better!

Tip #2: Think Through the Decor

Tip #3: All Those Leftovers!

Tell us: What organic products do you buy?

Babies Crawl to Take a Stand

Thousands of babies are on a mission to Washington, D.C. They’re fed up with being exposed to more than 80,000 untested toxic chemicals lurking in their homes. OK, so not literally. But the Million Baby Crawl campaign is and they’re taking a stand for those that, well, can’t stand.

The campaign’s sponsor, Seventh Generation, plus Safer Chemicals Healthy Families and celebrities, such as Erin Brockovich, have joined together in support of the Million Baby Crawl. They want to strengthen the Toxic Substance Control Act, which currently regulates only 200 toxic chemicals.

World Toilet Day Spreads Word on Crappy Problem

Here's some food for thought the next time you're sitting on the pot: Nearly 2.5 billion people lack access to proper sanitation, which kills 1.8 million people a year. To raise awareness of this messy issue while celebrating the importance of sanitation, the World Toilet Organization designated today, Nov. 19, as World Toilet Day.

The WTO, a global nonprofit committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide, established World Toilet Day to highlight people’s right to a safe and hygienic sanitary environment. Lacking sanitation is socially and economically debilitating; diarrheal diseases kill five times as many children in developing countries as does HIV/AIDS, and they also cause people to spend weeks out of school or work.

Female? Here's How to Bike More.

If you look around at the cyclists in your city or town, most likely most of them are men. In fact, male cyclists outnumber females by 2 to 1 in the U.S. But that’s not the case in some European countries like the Netherlands, where female cyclists actually outnumber their male counterparts.

We Americans can increase the number of female cyclists by building more bike-only commuter routes and paths that provide a greater sense of safety. But while we work on that, there are some easy ways for female riders to get more comfortable with biking now. Here’s how.

Get comfortable. Picking out and then adjusting a bike can be more complicated for women than men because most bikes are designed for men. Handlebars can be too wide and brake levers too far away to easily grasp. But the good news is that there are increasingly more female-specific bikes on the market so finding the perfect one for you is now possible. When picking out a bike, keep in mind some of the most common fitting problems for women, and speak up if something doesn’t feel right.

Gain confidence. You don’t have to hit crowded downtown streets right away. Pedal on recreational paths at first to get used to biking and gain confidence. Once you’ve spent some time on your bike, you’ll be able to spend your commute thinking about merging buses instead of how to shift gears.

Eating Green Without Going Veg

It can be tough being both an environmentalist and a meat-eater. We know that industrial animal feedlots can produce as much waste as cities and a lot ends up fouling our waters. We know that raising animals to eat requires much more fuel and energy than raising veggies. Recently there's also been uproar about the health dangers lurking in that seemingly innocuous mound of pink, squiggly hamburger meat at the grocery store.

Many people find it easy to go meatless, but what about those of us who care about the planet but can’t shake our deep, abiding love for cheeseburgers and carne asada burritos? Can a house divided against itself stand? Some are saying we can have our steak dinner and eat it too, if we replace conventional beef with local, grass-fed beef.

Movie Review Friday: Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home

Escape to the movies with one of our Movie Review Friday selections. Each week we review a film with an environmental theme that's currently in theaters or available on DVD. Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a short review and look for it in the next Movie Review Friday.

Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home (2007)

Available on DVD; watch the first 20 minutes here

Garbage! is an in-depth look at the typical family's environmental impact. Living in a consumer-driven, pollution-oriented society, filmmaker Andrew Nisker became concerned for the type of environment his young son would grow up in. Interested in analyzing households' waste output, Nisker asked the McDonald family to hold onto every single piece of trash for three months.

As the McDonalds (Glen, Michele, and their three children) begin to save paper plates, candy wrappers, Christmas packaging, and everything else, Nisker traces the family’s eco-footprint to find out where their stuff comes from and ends up. To avoid health violations, the family disposed of “wet garbage” (compost materials such as food scraps, cat litter, and diapers) once a week but kept track of the weight thrown out. Nisker also examined the family's habits involving recycling, transportation, water, and energy.

Nisker’s journey from the McDonalds' home in Toronto took him to local supermarkets, rivers, and recycling plants, but also to landfills in Michigan and topless mountains in West Virginia. He interviewed community members about the impacts of detrimental production practices on the environment and people’s health, doing an excellent job of revealing an out-of-sight-out-of-mind disconnect that exists between consumers and their environmental footprints.

The film is informative and easy to follow without being overwhelming. Nisker’s passion for change is refreshing and original. His commitment to the cause is demonstrated in part by his emotional struggle to part ways with his precious, albeit polluting, Jeep. Garbage! presents a fantastic experiment about household waste paths and is a must-see for anyone interested in environmental issues; Nisker really does prove that “the revolution starts at home.” 

--Michael Mullaley

Clorox Rids Itself of Chlorine Gas

Clorox deserves a tip of the hat. Many sustainability decisions these days by large multinational corporations often are economically motivated. But for this multi-billion dollar consumer-product manufacturer, safety was the primary factor in its decision to convert all of its U.S. factories that use chlorine gas to safer chemical processes over the next few years.

Clorox’s transition will reduce contamination risks to millions of Americans who live near these facilities.

Greenpeace was the catalyst behind the change, writing to Clorox, Dupont, and Dow about the issue, only to hear back from Clorox CEO Donald Knauss. The company’s Fairfield, California, plant will be the first of seven to be converted, a process that will take about six months.

Don't get us wrong: using DIY cleaners is still more eco- and health-friendly than using toxic products such as bleach. Still, Clorox’s decision marks another green step in the right direction. This one follows the Sierra Club’s partnership with Green Works, Clorox’s natural household-cleaning product line.

After all, you can't put a price on safety.

--Michael Mullaley

Daily Roundup: November 3, 2009

A Bug's Life: British conservationists will use GPS technology to locate the nests of hairy northern wood ants before the Forestry Commission removes non-native conifers from a Northumberland forest. Because the rare ants rely on conifer needles to build their nests, selected trees will be left standing. BBC and Treehugger

Fishy Business: An analysis of the environmental impact of salmon farming in Norway, Chile, Canada, and the UK found that Norway's farms were the most efficient. New Scientist

The Danger Zone: The EPA added three hazardous waste sites to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites. New Jersey's Raritan Bay Slag, Utah's U.S. Magnesium, and Virginia's Peck Iron and Metal were all deemed to pose risks to human health and the environment. EPA

Free Pass? The European Union's environment committee approved a list 164 industrial sectors including coal mining, oil and gas drilling, and aluminum production that could potentially receive free five-year carbon emissions permits. AFP

For Peat's Sake: A recent study found that 5.5 percent of global carbon emissions are the result of the draining and burning of peat bogs. Reuters 

--Della Watson

Weathering the Storm on Two Wheels

Sure, biking is easy when the sun is shining and the road is dry. And commuting by bike is fun—you show up to work feeling great, you get to skip morning traffic, and maybe you even lose a few pounds. But as the days get cooler and cold weather looms, you wonder if you can keep it up. You can. Here’s how.

It’s not all or nothing. Don’t think that just because you can’t bike every day or every week, you should give up on bike commuting altogether during winter. When a snowstorm hits, or you have extra responsibilities at home or work, taking off a few days is fine. No one’s judging you. Just remind yourself how much you love biking to work when things clear up, and then get back in the saddle. Remember, people bike in Minneapolis (in what locals call Minnesnowta) all year round!

Rain, rain. You wake up and it’s raining. Should you leave the bike at home? Not necessarily. Rain isn't a major problem for bikers, as anyone who's ever been to Portland, Oregon, knows. Just wear appropriate clothing (raincoat, rain pants, gloves) and give yourself a little extra time. Bike slower than usual since the roads are slick and your stopping power is reduced, and take the turns with caution. Paint on roads is slicker than the blacktop when wet, so stay away from paint when possible.