At KB 1520, we care about our world and our environment. To help you make your home, workplace, and life greener, we present our 1Thing Blog. Check back for environmentally-conscious news and tips to make our world a better place!
"Some labels are highly meaningful, while others are misleading or even deceptive," says Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., director of the Eco-Labeling Project for Consumers Union. What to do? Read with X-ray eyes: The best labels are transparent, hide nothing and have no conflict of interest. Here are some. USDA Certified Organic
Foods carrying this label must be produced without antibiotics, hormones, genetic engineering, radiation or synthetic pesticides or fertilizers."It took a long time [10 years] to develop the USDA organic label, but it is highly meaningful for foods," Rangan says, explaining that the organic standards were developed with broad public support and that the label requires certification by independent, government-accredited organizations.
The USDA-certified organic cotton label is also highly meaningful, but personal-care products bear watching, due to ongoing but thus-far unsuccessful attempts by industry to dilute the organic standards.
Local and Regional Labels
Federal truth-in-advertising laws cover origin designations, and local/regional food labels are starting to contend with imports from abroad. Many farmers' markets impose strict local-origin requirements on vendors, and a number of stores, such as Wild Oats, often have local-food displays. The California Clean label is organized by small-scale, in-state farmers (www.californiaclean.com), and the Appalachian Harvest label (www.asdevelop.org, 276-623-1121) is overseen by Appalachian Sustainable Development in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee. The Core Values Northeast label marks apples from New York and New England grown with integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, which minimize the use of synthetic pesticides. Managed by the IPM Institute of North America (www.corevalues.org, 608-232-1528). Protected Harvest is a new label for IPM-grown foods. Healthy Grown Potatoes from Wisconsin currently bear this label (www.protectedharvest.org).
Bird Friendly: This coffee and chocolate label, overseen by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (www.nationalzoo.si.edu/smbc, 202-673-4908) and verified by organic inspectors, ensures that growing techniques preserve ample shade cover and provide sufficient habitats for avifauna.
Certified Humane Raised and Handled: This relatively new program sets verifiable standards of treatment for livestock that go above and beyond current laws, including prohibiting growth hormones and non-therapeutic antibiotics, giving animals space to exercise in and requiring stricter environmental controls. Overseen by Humane Farm Animal Care (www.certifiedhumane.org, 703-435-3883).
Grass-Fed. Cows and sheep fed their traditional diet—grass—tend to have a lower impact on the environment than those raised on grains in industrial feedlots. Grass-fed meat is lower in overall and saturated fat and has more omega-3 fats and vitamin E. The term "grass fed" itself, however, isn't well regulated, and such a label doesn't necessarily mean cows spent their whole lives eating the stuff. Some companies have advertised their beef as "grass-fed" even though the fine print adds "grain-finished for flavor," which can mean months in feedlots.
Green Seal: This venerable nonprofit provides independent certification based on its high eco-standards for a wide range of products, including paper, paints, adhesives, household and industrial cleaners, windows, heating and cooling units and hotels (www.greenseal.org, 202-872-6400).
Forest Stewardship Council: This international accreditor has developed standards for certifying wood products harvested from well-managed forests (www.fscus.org, 877-372-5646). Its certifiers include Rainforest Alliance (www.rainforestalliance.org) and Scientific Certification Systems (www.scscertified.com).
Fair Trade: Administered in this country by the nonprofit group TransFair USA, this label ensures that a minimum price or living wage has been paid to farmers and laborers. Coffee, tea, chocolate, mangoes, bananas and pineapples so far bear this expanding mark, which is rated "highly meaningful" by CU. At the same time, some businesses, perhaps desiring to cash in on TransFair's success, have begun selling products marked "fairly traded" or something similar. Such labels may or may not be backed by independent certifiers, and must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Whole Foods, for instance, eschews TransFair in lieu of using its own system to vet its products.
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.
Curing this chemical dependency has its environmental benefits. One 40-pound bag of synthetic fertilizer contains the fossil-fuel equivalent of approximately 2.5 gallons of gasoline, and mowing for one hour with a gasoline-powered mower generates the same amount of pollution as driving a car for 20 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To keep lawns green, we apply about 10,000 gallons of water, which leads to fungal diseases and weeds that attract pests, so we douse our coveted green patches with approximately 67 million pounds a year of synthetic pesticides.
As in any detoxification program, the first step is admitting that you have a problem, says Paul Tukey, author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual (Storey, 2007, $19.95). "The organic lawn is not a ton of work—it really isn't—but it requires more understanding."
Start with the Soil
"Everything is as healthy as the soil it grows in," says Harmen Vos, president of the Organicdutchman lawn service in New Jersey. Healthy soil contains naturally occurring potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus as well as billions of beneficial microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and protozoa and larger creatures like earthworms that build soil structure. Chemically treated grass, in contrast, has very little life because, over time, the fertilizers and pesticides kill or slow down these helpful bugs.
To aid your organic conversion, many university cooperative extension offices will test your existing soil for organic matter, nutrients and pH for a small fee. Once you know what's in your soil, you can begin to bring it back to life. Lawns prefer slightly acidic soils with a pH range of 6.5 to 7, but flowers, shrubs and trees vary in their pH preferences. Lime helps balance acidic soil, while sulfur helps with alkaline. Other soil improvers such as worm castings, kelp, fish wastes and decomposed organic matter called humates add nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. http://www.thegreenguide.com/home-garden/garden/easy-organic-lawn-care
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, the following guide to calming and sustainable massage and bath oils, scents, and meditation and yoga accoutrements will help relax any mom.
by Emily Main
Meditation and relaxation encourage a balanced life and allow you to center yourself amidst everyday chaos. It's hard, however, to find an oasis of calm when mind and body products intended to soothe could potentially harm you, your surroundings and the environment as a whole. While hormone-disrupting phthalates and dioxin-producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) seem to find their way into everything from yoga mats to massage oils, they're not in the products below.
Product Picks:
Massage oils: Mad Gabs' Citrus or Lavender Bergamot blends, packaged in 8-oz. recyclable plastic containers, do double duty as moisturizers and massage oils ($13; www.madgabs.com, 800-547-5823). Soothe skin and relax tense muscles—and lungs—with Moon Valley Farm & Apiary's lavender-mint Body Heal Pain Relief rub ($8.50) and warming, orange-clove Muscle Rub ($10.50/3-oz. tins, www.moonvalleyhoney.com).
Aromatherapy bath oils: Awarded the rigorous "Certified Natural Cosmetic" seal in Germany, Dr. Hauschka's Lavender, Lemon, Rosemary, Sage and Spruce bath oils ($26.50/5.1-fl.oz. bottle) let you truly relax without fear of phthalates or parabens. For added peace of mind, all ingredients are organically or biodynamically grown and certified by Demeter, which requires, among other things, that farmers plant and rotate diverse crops to ensure soil health (www.drhauschka.com, 800-247-9907).
Passionate scents: Coyote Found's newest line of scented candles offers a clean-burning alternative to smoky incense or lead-wick candles. Made of food-grade paraffin (which often coats candy or cheese), with all-cotton wicks, hand-dipped Aliah candles are available as votives ($2.50 each) and pillars (starting at $7.50), and the 14 scents all come from plant essential oils. The company recycles its candle stubs and vat scrapings into their candles (www.thecandlestore.net, 360-344-4144).
Yoga mat: Rubber tapped from rubber trees provides the raw material for Jade Yoga's PVC-free, biodegradable Harmony yoga mat. Because of its open-cell construction, there is less risk of slipping when you perspire. Two different thicknesses, four different lengths and nine colors (starting at $39.95; www.jadeyoga.com, 888-784-7237).
Meditation seats: Made in the U.S. of organic materials, Northern Naturals' new meditation cushions set your mind at ease when it comes to environmentally responsible reflection. Organic buckwheat hulls fill the zafus, the zabutons are stuffed with organic cotton batting ($49.75 each) and both are covered with an organic-cotton-twill shell (www.northernnaturals.com, 888-293-3985).
T'ai Chi clothing: The centuries-old martial art is ideal for focusing one's energy, and Gaiam's 100 percent linen shirts (from $36) and pants (from $33) will help you concentrate without constriction or guilt about harmful pesticides (www.gaiam.com, 800-254-8464).
Add a little safety and peace of mind to kid's bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways and other wpaces with ultra-efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs).
The technology behind laptop computer screens, LEDs are greener than standard incandescent and fluorescent lightbulbs because they generate almost no waste heat. Most of the electricity used is output as light. LEDs remain cool to the touch, so they don't add excess heat into living spaces, which means less cooling is needed. They last for literally hundreds of thousands of hours, meaning they can go years before they need to be changed, thereby cutting down on landfill waste.
Many companies now sell LED nightlights, which are competitively priced with standard nightlights, and can be found at most home improvement, value and even drugstores. They cost only pennies a year in energy, and result in much lower carbon emissions than traditional lighting.
More and more people are choosing to garden organically. So it's somewhat troublesome that garden tools and supplies are often made of materials that are decidedly not environmentally friendly. Just try to find a composter, for instance, that's not made of a material like polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The wooden handles of garden tools and the fence and other materials we buy require trees, of course, to manufacture. And therein lies the gardener's dilemma: Must we contribute to environmental degradation in our quest to till the soil? The answer, happily, is no.
What to look for
It's not necessary—or even realistic—to avoid plastic and wood altogether when buying tools and supplies for the garden. In fact, the greenest gardeners search out recycled plastic products to support those companies who are actively saving plastic from its very long afterlife in landfill. And fortunately, recycled plastic garden products are becoming common.
Less readily available are sustainably sourced wood products for the garden, especially for small items such as hand tools. However, on many bigger-ticket items—when the amount of wood used really makes a difference—you will find the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label, on fencing, lumber, and garden furniture, for instance. Home Depot now sells more FSC-certified wood than any other retailer in America. If you don't see the FSC label, ask for it. Sustainable wood will only succeed in the marketplace if consumers demand it.
Another label to look for is from the SmartWood's Rediscovered Wood Program, which certifies wood that would otherwise rot, get chipped up or be carted to a landfill. Log onto www.smartwood.org for product lists.
Materials from non-renewable sources may still be worth using if they're the lesser of evils. For instance, Stephanie Harris, long time president and a founder of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey recommends using row coverings for your vegetable garden bed even though the most widely available ones are made from polyester. The benefits of using floating row covers, she says, are 1) season extension with the protection of plants from frost 2) it forms a physical barrier between plant and pest, thereby reducing the amount of pesticide needed in the garden, and 3) provides for more even germination by preventing excessive water evaporation from the soil, reducing overall irrigation needs. It also protects seedlings from larger pests like rabbits, birds, and deer.
What to look out for
Unrecycled plastic is the material to avoid, especially PVC, a substance that's dangerous to both our health and the environment. Its manufacture and incineration releases dioxins, a potent carcinogen and hormone disruptor. Additionally, vinyl chloride, the primary building block of PVC, is a known human carcinogen that also poses a threat to workers in factories.
Wood that is not sustainably sourced is to be avoided, especially the tropical hardwoods, such as teak and mahogany, which are the very species associated with predatory logging in protected forests. This is not to implicate all hardwoods: many of them are sustainably grown on plantations. The bottom line is support the FSC label when shopping for all woods, whatever the species.
Compost bin: Rotating Compost Bin is made from recycled plastic and holds 12 cubic feet of waste, $304.50 (price includes shipping); www.planetnatural.com, 800-289-6656.
Rain barrel: The Great American Rain Barrel is made from recycled plastic and holds 60 gallons ($179.50; www.planetnatural.com, 800-289-6656).
Hoses: Fiskar Soaker Hoses are made from a minimum of 65 percent recycled tire rubber; $79.99 for 250 feet, go to hardwarestore.com. Aquapore Soaker Hoses are made from recycled tires; $21.00 for 100 feet; go to www.accentshopping.com.
Hand Held Sprayer: Made from 50% recycled plastic, from milk bottles; ($9.95; www.gardensalive.com, 513-354-1482.
Sustainable-wood and wood alternatives:
Recycled-plastic lumber for building beds: Made from recycled polyethylene ($26.95, set of 2 planks; www.gardeners.com, 888-833-1412).
Trex Landscape Edging is made from a combination of recycled plastic and waste wood. Available in 8- and 16-foot lengths; To find a contractor or retailer near you, go to www.trex.com; 800-BUY-TREX.
Bamboo stakes and poles: from $15.95 for 25 3-foot poles, with a range of sizes available (www.gardeners.com 888-833-1412).
Split-cane fencing: from $34.95 (at 39"); www.gardeners.com; 888-833-1412.
Garden furniture: This collection of Adirondack style furniture is made from 100 percent post -consumer high density polyethylene resins (from $265, for the CRP chair; www.patioshoponline.com, 866-869-5655).
EarthSource Garden furniture made of 100% certified Machiche wood (from $98, for a basic folding chair; www.earthsourcegarden.com, 510-208-7257).
Miscellaneous:
FSC-certified bird- and insect-houses (for attracting beneficial bugs to eat other pests) are available at www.naturalcollection.com.
Recycled-rubber rings: Rainbow Turf Product's Tree Rings are designed to protect trunks and discourage weed growth and are made with 100% recycled rubber; go to www.rainbowturfproducts.com for retailer locations or call 800-653-7259.
All-purpose Recycled Buckets are made from 100-percent recycled polyethylene ($13.99 for 6.6 gallons, larger sizes available; www.groworganic.com 888-782-1722).
Organic twine: Made from organic hemp ($12.95 for 450 feet; www.planetnatural.com, 800-289-6656).
Pest-eating insects can keep aphids and other plant-destroying bugs out of your garden without pesticides (www.thebeneficialinsectco.com).
With the changeover from analog to digital TV signals in the next couple of months, many of us are looking at TV upgrades to match. Given the choice between an LCD or plasma TV, which flat-screen TV is greener?
It all comes down to screen size. On a per-square-inch basis, plasma energy consumption is just barely higher than an LCD's. But LCDs come in smaller sizes, and those small screens use less energy (both in production and at your house) and contain fewer hazardous chemicals than larger plasma screens. They'll even cost you less to operate—in some cases, $115 less per year than a plasma TV. Opt for an LCD in the 27-inch range; screens larger than that start using about the same energy and resources as plasmas.
When you do your shopping, look for the Energy Star label. Energy Star's recently updated television ratings judge TVs according to how much energy is used in full operation rather than how much it uses in standby only. Requirements vary depending on screen size, but any 42-inch Energy Star–rated TV, for example, must use less than 208 watts.
As an avid reader, I buy one or two books a week (sometimes hardcover, sometimes paperback). I also subscribe to several magazines. Needless to say, I now have a pretty large personal library. And when I go on vacation, I usually carry a half dozen books with me. In an effort to cut down on paper, I have decided to invest in a Kindle.
This electronic book reader weighs less than a pound, and is about as thin as a pencil. It uses electrnic paper technology so unlike computer monitor screens that are backlit, the Kindle is easy to view even in sunny conditions (so no eye-strain), and you can adjust the size of the text. The internal memory can store hundreds of books, and there's an SD card slot that you can use to expand the memory if you so desire.
You don't need a computer or need to be in a wi-fie hotspots to downlook books, magazines, or newspapers. You get it directly wired to the device via a high speed data network. The battery lasts for about a week of constant use before it needs recharging.
Even though there's a hefty pricetag (about $350 for the device and an average price of $10 for each book downloaded), think of all the paper I won't be bringing into my home...so much better for the environment!
