Thought I would pass along this post at CNN which highlights 8 shops where you can buy green and give back at the same time.
The list isn't very long, however, they do cover stores from the East coast to the West coast.
I was just glad to see it listed on CNN.
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It’s easier than you think
Can you think of any better way to accomplish this than by following this simple little list? If you implement and all follow this list there is no telling how fast you may accomplish this goal.
1. Keep relying on fossil fuels
Heck, go out and buy a vehicle that gets about 10-12 MPG, this will help purge the world oil reserves that much quicker. I wonder if you can buy an Indy car or Stock car and make it road legal. Wait, for the
Sure fossil fuels are going to run out, but probably not until you and I are already dead. It seems this is something that our kids and grandkids should have to worry about.
2. Waste Water
Keep the tap running when you are brushing your teeth. That way you’ll waste about 5 gallons of water per day. Throughout the whole
Half of all water used in the
A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day. Time magazine reports, “Around the world, as more water is diverted to raising [cattle], pigs, and chickens, instead of producing crops for direct consumption, millions of wells are going dry.”
And, let’s not forget, if you live in a Desert, make sure to have grass brought in for a lawn. Water that sucker every day, it’s going to need it. Now you can really waste some water.
3. Stop Recycling
4. Eat As Many Animals As You Possibly Can
This will insure several things, among them that we keep people who are starving on this planet starving. Why would we want to use the grain that is used to feed animals to feed hungry people? Worldwide, livestock production occupies 70% of all land used for agriculture, or 30% of the ice-free land surface of the Earth.
· 35-40% of global methane emissions (chiefly due to enteric fermentation and manure)
That’s a lot of Doo Doo!
· 64% of global nitrous oxide emissions, chiefly as a result of fertilizer use.
· 80% of
5. Use a Ton of Dependable Disposables
Keep using as many disposables as possible. A good start would be Styrofoam cups, plastic utensils, paper plates and water bottles.
Our landfills (
6. Stay Uninformed
Ignorance is Bliss! If we start learning about all of the benefits of conservation, reduction, recycling, shared responsibility and planet welfare, we could possibly end up feeling like we have to actually do something about it. That doesn’t sound like fun.
7. Build a Really, Really Big As* House
You need room to spread out, even if it is just you and your partner. The only reason more people don’t have big houses is because they can’t afford it, right?
It’s your money; you should have the right to spend it on more wood, carpet, tile, shingles, insulation, paint, metal, steel and windows. So what if 2-3 times more resources are used in the building process alone, it will for sure look like a really sweet crib.
Who cares if the energy consumption of your 12,000 sq ft. house is 3-4 times more than the average American household? You pay for it, right?
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How about some useful tips for cutting energy consumption, saving money and the planet? The following tips barely scratch the surface of what you can do to help yourself and Mother Earth, however, we have to start somewhere-sometime, right? Use this list as a starting point of things that you can do right now, today. Then, do some research on your own, talk to people and broaden your energy conservation and shrink your carbon footprint.
1. Plug electronics into one powerstrip.
Turn the power strip off when not in use. Even when small electronics are turned off, yet still plugged into an outlet, they still draw energy. This accounts for nearly $1 Billion worth of electricity usage in the United States every year.
2. Use energy efficient cookware.
By choosing the proper cookware for every meal you cook, you can prevent unnecessary energy waste while you're cooking. Here are some things for consideration:
The Size. By choosing the right size pot or pan you will save energy because you won't have to heat the empty space on the pan. If you are cooking one vegetarian burger, don't use a pan the size of a small pizza. Use cookware that is appropriate for the meal you are making.
The Materials. Some materials, such as cast iron, retain heat better than others. Others, such as copper, reach the cooking point more quickly with less energy. Select the cookware you use based on the type of meal you are making so that you have to apply as little energy as possible.
Keep A Lid On It. If you're boiling water for pasta, making pasta sauce or just heating up a grilled cheese sandwich, cover your pot or pan with the appropriate sized lid. By covering the pan, less heat will escape, your food will cook faster and you'll find that you don't have to cook your food on as high a setting as you would without a lid.
3. Change out that old light bulb.
By now you've had to hear that If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
*75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
*Save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb's lifetime.
*Produce about 75 percent less heat, so they're safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.
*Are available in different sizes and shapes to fit in almost any fixture, for indoors and outdoors.
4. Compost.
The amount of food that goes into landfills in the United States every year is a staggering number that is beyond comprehension. By composting you'll be:
A. Reducing the amount of garbage that goes into our landfills.
B. Providing a nutritious mix for your flowers and garden. Compost has also been shown to suppress plant diseases and pests, and promote higher yields of agricultural crops.
C. Reducing the production of methane and leachate formulation in the landfills.
D. Contributing to economic benefits as composting can reduce the need for water, fertilizers, and pesticides.
E. Creating a product that has been shown to absorb odors and treat semi volatile and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including heating fuels, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and explosives.
5. Use unbleached coffee filters.
Are you a filter coffee drinker? Did you know that another way to make your favorite brew more earth friendly is to use unbleached coffee filters - it doesn't cost you anything more plus you'll be minimizing the amount of organochlorines and dioxins that are released into the environment. Bleaching happens to produce a by-product called chlorine. And, you can put used coffee grounds into your compost if you have one!
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With new hybrid vehicle registrations rising by a whopping 49% nationally in the first seven months of 2007 compared to 2006, your choices have also risen quite substantially.
Whether it is the tax breaks that one gets, the $$ savings at the pump, the reduction in global-warming greenhouse gases or the consciousness enlightening one that one feels by buying/driving one of these vehicles, one thing is for sure, you've got plenty of options.
If your looking to compare brands, shop price, share photos or have a discussion, you'll definitely want to head over to greenhybrid.com.
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Have you ever been looking for a "green" product or service on the web? Have you found the results overwhelming? Or, maybe you're just not finding anything at all. If you do find what you're looking for then how on earth do you know that the website you're visiting is truly socially and environmentally responsible? Do you take them at their word?
Time to breathe a sigh of relief. National green pages is like the Yellow Pages of Eco-Friendly businesses. The National Green Pages™ is a directory listing nearly 3,000 businesses that have made firm commitments to sustainable, socially just principles, including the support of sweatshop-free labor, organic farms, fair trade, and cruelty-free products.
All of the businesses listed on the National Green Pages site have been rigorously evaluated.
To qualify to appear in the National Green Pages™ and carry the Seal of Approval, companies' representatives must demonstrate that they:
So, wether you're shopping for appliances, financial services, energy products or wine, you will be able to shop with confidence knowing that the companies listed share your same core values.
Head on over and give it a try right now, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that you bookmark it immediately.
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Small organic farm operations are seeking to gain a bigger piece of the $25 Billion dollars in subsidies that were given to conventional growers last year. This figure doesn't even include the billions more that were given to the same companies to help aid in marketing and research.
It's no secret that over the decades, subsidies have viewed by many as the reason for contributing to the industrialization of U.S. agriculture, concentrated on vast monoculture crops (corn, wheat, cotton etc..) on ever larger and fewer farms, driving up land prices and depopulating rural communities.
What the organic farmers are asking for is mostly an added share of the research and education money. Organic farming happens to be an intricate and complex undertaking that relies on crop rotations and other ecological management tactics of insects, weeds and diseases rather than pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Even if the nation’s rapidly aging farmers were not reluctant to adopt such methods, experts said at Wednesday’s hearing that federal farm programs make it even more difficult to take the leap.
With a huge boost in farming subsidies to the organic farmers that need it most this could help aleviate some of the deepest problems relating to our health and environment. Petrochemically based farming is going to face dimminishing returns as the price of fertilizer and pesticides (even their availability) begins to climb out of reach due to high oil and gas prices. This summer will be a real problem for farmers as they try to calculate the fuel, fertilizer and pesticide costs for the next growing season. It hasn’t been good for them this past year and it will be worse this year.
You can read a more in depth article on this topic at the San Fransisco Chronicle.
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Are you a "Fruit Lover" or a "Vegetable Lover"? Do you avoid new recipes? Do you like an occasional glass of red wine with dinner? Compare your preference and yourself with 770 people who were surveyed for this report that was released by Brian Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating".
Compared to the average person, vegetable lovers:
*Think they cook nutritiously
*like and enjoy spicey foods
*Appreciate and occasional glass of red wine with dinner
*Like to try new recipes and entertain at home
*Enjoy the occasional candy bar
*More often eat dessert with dinner
*Spend very little time cooking
*Avoid new recipes and cooking
If you think about it, these results seem to make sense. While fruits are convenient veggies require time to prepare. A person who likes vegetables could possibly be more accustomed to cooking–and more comfortable with trying new recipes or the prospect of dinner guests.
Fruits tend to be much sweeter than vegetables, and people that love fruit may prefer sweeter foods, desserts and candy. Vegetables tend to run a broad range of bitter to savory in the flavor department. That's probably why vegetable lovers prefer the strong and savory taste of exotic or spicy foods and the bitter taste of red tannins in red wine.
What do you think? Does your preference describe you?
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