Green on a Shoestring Razing kids without razing the planet

I love it when I come across a source of information like this one on the rare metals and materials used in hybrid electric vehicles: MaterialsforEnergy.org

By Catherine Zandonella

When my husband and I exchanged two decades of urban existence for suburban life, I didn’t know a rhododendron from a rototiller. We did know that we wanted to forgo the “weed ‘n’ feed” approach to lawn care. To our pleasant surprise, organic yard care is simple once you go through the steps of disconnecting your lawn from its chemical life-support system.

I’m an eco-conscious person, but one part of living green has never really grabbed me: gardening. I knew that gardening is one of the cheapest ways to provide my family with organic vegetables, but it just seemed so…hard. Growing up, my sister was the one with the green thumb. Under my care, even the hardiest houseplants didn’t stand a chance.

You’ve heard of the Accidental Tourist. I am the Reluctant Gardener. Today, thanks my husband’s hard labor,  I now have a 4o ft by 30 ft garden in my yard. Yesterday I spent hours digging, hoeing, and preparing the soil for this year’s plantings. My children sprinkled carrot and lettuce seeds into the rows.

And we spotted our first, pale strawberry emerging from a crown of leaves. It was exciting.

My guess is that some part of me will always be the Reluctant Gardener. But I’m starting to “get” what people see in gardening. I’m starting to know some of that lore that used to seem so esoteric.  And I’m realizing that given healthy soil, some water, sunshine, and a little nurturing, amazing things can bloom.

How much CO2 do you make? A pound of CO2 is enough to fill up a large exercise ball (that air-filled rubber ball you bought to help with your workout). The Average American makes 57 exercise balls of CO2 per day, according to the US EPA. Time to go on a carbon diet: bike more, drive less, turn off lights, turn thermostat down! See more ideas in this article I wrote for Simple Steps.

A lot of people ask me why we should be worried about chemicals in our consumer products when we have the EPA, the FDA,  the  CPSC, and the USDA looking out for us. While I respect these agencies tremendously, the reality is that they are not always able (for mainly political reasons) to enact the laws and restrictions recommended by their science panels.

Case in point: the FEMA trailers. These trailers were manufactured to industry standards but contained formaldehyde that caused lung problems and asthma for many of the people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Formaldehyde is a cancer-causing chemical, yet it is used widely in pressed wood (aka composite wood) products, the types that are used in trailers and also in many kitchen cabinets in all sorts of homes.

In many cabinets, the front face is finished or laminated but the back side (that faces the interior of the cabinet) is unfinished particle board or other composite wood product.

California is leading the way in controlling formaldehyde exposure by setting emission standards for composite wood cabinets.

If your kitchen cabinets are made of composite wood, you can apply a sealant that keeps the wood from offgassing formaldehyde. However, check the label of the sealant to make sure it is a low-VOC product. More tips can be found at the Healthy House Institute.

I grew up in Los Angeles under smoggy skies. It was not uncommon for recess to be canceled because of a “3rd-stage smog-alert.” Today the air seems to be a lot cleaner, but we still have a long way to go. According to a new study, Los Angeles is still the smoggiest city in the nation.

You can look up your part of the country to see how good the air quality is by typing your zip code into http://www.stateoftheair.org, a web site of the American Lung Association.  I was pretty surprised to find that the air quality in my sweet little exurban county was given an “F” (yes, for fail).

Air pollution is bad for kids, the elderly, and everyone in between. It makes asthma worse, it causes chronic cough, and it contributes to your risk of heart disease. So if you care about your loved ones (and yourself), take steps to reduce the amount of pollution you make.

And that brings me to idling. Many parents idle their engines when they are waiting to pick up a wee one at school or daycare. But when we do this, we are  sending pollutants into the air that are likely to make the wee ones and the rest of us sick.  Idling drivers don’t realize how nasty the air is directly outside their vehicle because they are sitting inside with the windows rolled up.

When you idle, what do you think your gas mileage is? An idling car gets 0 mpg. Idling wastes gas, which wastes money. So, even if you don’t care about your health (or your children’s health, or your neighbor’s children’s health), if you care about your wallet, don’t idle.

Most cars today do not need their engines to be warmed up prior to driving,  and today’s cars  tend to retain indoor heat in winter for 10-20 minutes.

The next time you go to pick up your child, do a good thing for your kids, and your friends’ kids, and for the planet: Don’t idle.

A new study has found that shampoo chemicals are turning up in our food. The chemicals, called phthalates, are hormone-disrupting chemicals that are linked to behavior problems in children and genital deformities in rat studies. The phthalates are not coming directly from shampoo to food, but rather phthalates are used to make vinyl plastic soft, so if meat was stored in a vinyl plastic bin, the meat can pick up the phthalates. Phthalates can also be used in pesticide formulations, so eating organic can help you reduce your phthalate exposure.

Think you don’t need to worry about phthalates? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 99% of Americans have some form of phthalates in their bodies. These chemicals are not naturally occurring — we are exposed to them every day.

Phthalates are not listed in the ingredients list of shampoos and other personal care products – they are hidden behind the word “fragrance.” Best option: choose organic shampoos or ones that do not list fragrance, parfum, or perfume on the label.

To learn more about the study, see this article.

Some people  see genetically modified foods as scary monsters that are destroying agriculture as we know it while others see them as superheroes that have the potential to reduce the overall amount of pesticides and increase crop yields to feed a hungry planet. How can one technological innovation have such polarizing effects? Where does the truth lie?

The National Academies of Sciences has a new report out that seeks to evaluate the impact of GE crops on U.S. farmers. For those of you who haven’t followed the issue, more than 80% of all corn, soybeans, and cotton grown in the U.S. are genetically modified. If you eat in the U.S., this topic should be of concern to you.

The report finds that GE crops have  several benefits — including a reduction in the use of pesticides, lower production costs, and increased crop yields. But the report stresses that this technology needs to be managed so that we continue to reap the benefits of GE crops without harming U.S. agriculture and the environment. One of the biggest problems with GE crops is that the genes in the crops can migrate to other plants, causing herbicide-resistant weeds, for example.  The report says that  nine species of weeds in the U.S. have evolved resistance to glyphosate (the weed-killer that GE crops are designed to resist) since GE crops were introduced. Two types of insects have developed resistance to Bt, the pesticidal gene that is used in GE crops.

See a summary with links to the full report at: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12804

Many products are marketed as being “antibacterial,” from soaps to toothpastes to even socks. But what many consumers don’t know is that these products don’t work very well and may be putting our children at risk:

1. triclosan, the antibacterial chemical in these products, is a suspected endocrine-disruptor

2. overuse of antibiotics can breed drug-resistant bacteria, so our antibiotic drugs may no longer work when we need them most

3. washing with soap and water is proven to be just as effective at preventing disease as washing with antibacterial soap

4. antibacterials do not prevent kids from getting the flu or colds. These are caused by viruses, not by bacteria.

Given these facts, why would we consider buying antibacterial soaps and other products!

The Food & Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that they would be reviewing triclosan for its safety. You can read more about this in today’s Washington Post.

I didn’t have many nice things to say about bees yesterday when I saw my child run straight over a nest hidden in the grass.  (He was lucky and avoided being stung.)  I am glad bees are out there pollinating the budding spring flowers. But I think the bees are trying to tell us something, and we humans had better start listening.

Bees are dying and colonies are shutting down around the country. Scientists say the culprit could be pesticides. A recent study of bee hives found traces of numerous pesticides in the hives. See Bees face ‘unprecedented’ pesticide exposures at home and afield (Science News, March 21).

Bees have it rough. Not only are pesticides a problem, but to a bee, the average suburban lawn is like a giant desert, devoid of food and soaked in lawncare chemicals.

This spring, when you start reviving your landscaping after a long winter, give some thought to those poor bees. You might want to convert some of your lawn to a flower bed, for example. Or pull weeds by hand instead of reaching for herbicides. After all, these bees seem to be telling us something about how we should be taking care of nature, and ourselves.