Chemical Free Cleaning

• Go on a Green Diet - In the New Year, many people go on a diet. This means, you can start eating certified organic foods that do not contain the food toxins or chemical toxins that are in most of our foods. You can also start to buy more of your food locally as well and get food that is fresh and support the local economy and help create more green jobs as a direct result of your purchases.
• Do the Green Diet Exercise - One of our Guest Bloggers wrote about how he lost over 70 pounds by pedaling his bike to power his TV. Here's a link to that blog post if you are looking to power your TV while you watch it and save electricity and lose a lot of weight in the process blog.greenenergytv.com/blog/wind-power-technology/0/0/new-green-diet-pedal-and-watch
   
• Say good-bye to Household Toxins - You can have an environment friendly home by eliminating the chemical toxins. Most of the store bought cleaners contain very harmful chemical toxins, however, you can switch to safer cleaners from companies such as Shaklee or Seventh Generation. There are many new green and safer cleaning products out there right now that do a great job without exposing your family to chemical toxins in your home.
• Green your Lawn - Most of the chemicals in fertilizers used on the lawns in the US are banned in Europe because of the dangerous chemical toxins they contain and they seep back into our drinking water and affect fish and other wildlife as well. There are more options for this year with chemical free lawn care and organic lawn care. You can use bone meal and other organic lawn care products that prevent weeds and still give you a green lawn without the chemicals. Check out your local nursery and read the labels!
• Get Green Jobs & Get Certified- There is an increase in green jobs, whether you decide to become a solar installer, energy rater, get involved in Sustainability Programs, etc. We have green jobs posted on our main site, and there are many other major outlets advertising green jobs on Indeed.com and Monster.com
• Get a Green Degree - There are more schools and independent organizations offering classes on Sustainability Programs, certifications for LEED, Energy Raters, Solar and Wind Installers and more. Many of the top green universities are also offering green educational classes and degrees now and this can help you land  green jobs and prepare you for the future blog.greenenergytv.com/blog/green-jobs
• Start a Green Business - There are many areas in green that are fast growing and opportunities increasing daily. We did a post a while back that talked about the growth areas of green and here's a link to some of the hottest and upcoming areas that deal with organic natural foods, eco friendly products, solar installation to geothermal energy, energy efficiency and green building.

The Answer is right under our pet's nose

1. Grass - How many people use fertilizer to get the perfect looking lawn now as opposed to how many people used it 30 years ago? Do you know the dangerous chemical toxins that are in lawn fertilizers and our dogs nose is constantly on the grass, sniffing or they are laying in the grass. READ THE BACK LABEL OF YOUR FERTILIZER next time before you apply it to your yard. You can research the ingredients and see the warnings that cause reproduction issues, kills aquatic life, etc. When your dog comes in your home, he/she is bringing those into your house too.
2. Your Home - Unless you use eco friendly products to clean your home, then you and your pet are being exposed to the chemical toxins in the floor, bathroom, and kitchen cleaners. These cleaners are known to cause cancer in lab tests.
3. Food - What is your dog eating? Check out the ingredients on the back of your dog food back and look them up, you will not believe the cancer causing agents that go into your pet's food.

• Clif Bar & Company’s use of organic ingredients not only provides consumers with better products, but also represents a major step toward safeguarding the
  nation’s soil and water.
• They are working to reduce their ecological footprint by supporting construction of wind farms to offset its carbon dioxide emissions.
• Use non-toxic inks and recycled paper for its print
• Using recycled paperboard for the cartons that hold the bars on store shelves
• In-house recycling and compost programs.

Green Energy TV has awarded Seventh Generation Two Green Thumbs Up for being one of the best green companies.

For 20 years, the Burlington, Vermont-based company has been at the forefront of a cultural change in consumer behavior and business ethics. They also help companies going green as well as individuals to have an environment friendly home.

Seventh Generation brand-name products include:

•  Non-chlorine bleached, 100% recycled paper towels, bathroom and facial tissues, and napkins; non-toxic, phosphate-free cleaning, dish and laundry products; plastic trash bags made from recycled plastic; chlorine-free baby diapers, training pants, and baby wipes; and chlorine-free feminine care products, including organic cotton tampons.

Fun Fact:

We gave the #1 natural nutrition company in the US Two Green Thumbs Up! Shaklee is one of the best green companies in the US and they have been green when green was just a color and biodegradable was barely a word.

In fact, almost 50 years ago, Shaklee Corporation made one of the first biodegradable household cleaners ever. And they were the first company in the world to obtain Climate Neutral™ certification and totally offset our CO2 emissions, resulting in a net zero impact on the environment.

Shaklee sells chemical free cleaning products, that do not have the chemical toxins that many leading brands have. The range of products they offer are from vitamins, cleaners, healthy weight products, healthy home, nutritional, beauty products as well as many other eco friendly products.

You may have seen or also heard about Shaklee on Oprah or by people like Dr. Oz as well as many other major TV networks and health magazines & journals.

These guys are very green from their products all the way down to the boxes and the soy printing that goes on the boxes that are delivered to your door.


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Six months ago I did a post about the Greenest Person on Earth and I put this person's photo up and asked if this is the greenest person on earth?

I know there are many people who claim to be the greenest person on earth, but I have to venture a guess that he or someone in his tribe is the greenest one of all and here's why...

There are about 400 million indigenous people spread throughout 70 countries world-wide. Is there someone in the "civilized" world who can claim they are greener than this guy?

We talk about people and companies going green, which I applaud the efforts of course and think its great!  But, "civilized" people who would be considered "green" may eat organic natural foods, use eco friendly products, use solar energy, chemical free cleaning to rid their home of household toxins, wind turbines, green building, etc.

As I said, this is great stuff, but most indigenous people do not use chemical toxins in their everyday lives or build a leed homes and have a truck pull up with their energy star windows, geothermal heating system, wind power technology, organic mattresses, and solar panels so they can live "off the grid".

I believe we can look to them for answers on tips for living green and eco friendly living. They are intelligent human beings that have a close relationship to mother earth and we are not that different, even though we live in different ways.
For example, a United Nations report shows that the top concerns of indigenous people are:

• land and resources
• human rights
• internal colonization
• self-government
• self-development
• environment
• discrimination
• health
• education
• language
• cultural survival
• social and economic conditions

Sound familiar? Another interesting fact is that drug companies make $43 billion every year from drugs that are derived from medicinal plants that were discovered, developed and passed from generation to generation by indigenous peoples. We have a lot to learn from indigenous people. 

Iif you find the greenest person on earth, upload the video to us: http://www.greenenergytv.com/Upload.aspx - Stay Green!





 

According to the the Associated Press, the State of Connecticut is making the use of "green cleaning" or chemical free cleaning mandatory in schools throughout the state.

The senate unanimously approved the bill to make it mandatory for schools in Connecticut to use green cleaners. The other states who have made "green cleaning" in their schools mandatory are Illinois and New York. The Associated Press also reports that many other individual schools across the country have been adopting the same mandatory green cleaning practices as well.

Why? People are becoming more educated about the chemical toxins that are in traditional cleaners and are making an educated switch to chemical free cleaning. The chemical toxins in these cleaners are hazardous to breath, to come in contact with and create hazards to our environment and get into our drinking supply, soil, waterways, etc.

If you are interested in chemical free cleaners, I recommend Shaklee as well as Seventh Generation, vinegar, baking soda etc. These products do not contain the harmful chemical toxins and are more eco friendly products as well. They also come in more concentrated forms so you are not paying for the water added and this cuts down on transporting/shipping of these goods as well.

If you are going something to be green in your school, home, community or office, show your green self and Upload your video to us and we'll air it on GreenEnergyTV.com http://www.greenenergytv.com/Upload.aspx - Stay Green!

We will cover more topics to discuss certified organic products, chemical free cleaning, chemical toxins, household toxins, schools going green, Shaklee, Seventh Generation and more!

If you are a school, company, organization or an individual looking for a great "green" model to follow, then read on and see why I put Oberlin College as one of the Top Green Colleges in the US.

Below is a list of some of the things they are doing:

• Buildings & Grounds: In 2006 the Oberlin College Board of Trustees adopted a policy that all new construction and major renovations on campus have to be designed and built in accordance with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED Building) silver standard.
• The Living Machine - Operated by 10 students, it processes waste water into reusable grey water via the natural cleansing methods that occur in a wetland—plants, bacteria, protozoa, and other aquatic microorganisms are used to clean and condition the water for reuse.
• Solar Parking Pavilion - The installation of a new solar parking pavilion adjacent to the existing photovoltaic (PV) array on the roof of the innovative Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies makes Oberlin College the home of the largest PV array in Ohio, with a total rated production of 159 kW. By using the solar energy produced by the PV array, the college avoids using other resources necessary to produce electricity.
• Use Green Cleaning Chemicals
• Food - Buy locally from farms and try to purchase certified organic products as much as possible.
• Real-time monitoring system tracks 17 dorms and displays how much energy all those laptops, tv's, cell phones and iPod chargers are burning at any moment. 
• Use biodegradable utensils 
• Programs printed on 100 percent recycled paper.
• No VOC Paints Used in All Campus Buildings
• Composts all of its organic food waste and non-food compostable waste.
• Most students own bikes and can also rent them
• Clothing Swap and Free Store - clothing, books, and dorm room items. The items are collected from each dorm by the College Recyclers and taken to a centralized location in the student union building. For about a week, the Recyclers keep everything that has been collected in this main space and people are able to come and take items they can put to use. At the end of that week, College Recyclers then take the remaining items to local charities. This greatly reduces the number of useful items entering the waste stream when students clean out their dorm rooms and off-campus houses at the end of each semester. While in the past this “swap" only took place twice a semester, the college has now located a permanent space for a “Free Store" in the basement of Pyle where reuseable items of all kinds can be donated or taken for reuse.

Just last week, the temperature in Northeast Ohio reached 60 degrees, allowing many of us to open our windows to circulate the stagnant air in our homes.  In an effort to be more energy efficient, our homes are air tight, preventing any circulation to occur during the cold winter months.  According to the EPA, the indoor air quality is 5 times worse than the outside air. 

It’s funny, when we bring our baby home, we do everything we can to protect that baby.  We make sure the car seat is properly secured, lock all our cabinets that contain cleaners, put the gates up, plug every electrical outlet, etc.  Yet, we don’t seem to think about the fact that there are household toxins in the air that the baby is breathing.  Since WWII, more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals have been invented to be used in chemical warfare.  And only 20% of those chemicals have been tested for toxicity.  Yet these chemical toxins have been added to our food, water and cleaning supplies.  According to the Poison Control Center, over 10% of all toxic exposures reported were related to household cleaners.  Surprisingly, #1 cause of household poisoning is dish detergent.  Making it even more disturbing, the government does not require the manufacturers to list the ingredients.  I naturally did some digging in the NIH (National Institute of Health) website and came up with some of the most commonly used ingredients in our every day products. 

Lye-Potassium Hydroxide is harmful if swallowed or inhaled, can cause severe eye and skin burns, severe respiratory and digestive burns, and repeated contact can cause dermatitis.  This ingredient can be found in Cascade products, Murphy’s Oil Soap, Lysol products, most of the oven cleaners Pantene Pro V hair products, Oil of Olay products, Roundup pesticides, and many more. 

Hydrochloric Acid can cause severe damage to skin and eyes, throat irritation even when exposed briefly at low level, and linked to reactive airways dysfunction syndrome.  Some of the products that contain this ingredient are all brands of toilet bowl cleaners and Febreze Laundry Odor Eliminator (ironically, their slogan is “Breath of Fresh Air”). 

Sodium Hydroxide is an ingredient that can be found in most of the cleaning and personal care products.  According to NIH, Sodium Hydroxide can causes 75% of all caustic injury to the esophagus of kids under 5, can cause burns in tissues, chronic skin irritation, irritation to the respiratory tract, and liver & kidney damage.  This ingredient can be found in Clorox cleaners, Cascade, Dawn Dish Detergent, Drano, Comet, Palmolive, Tide, Woolite, Bug B Gone, Easy Off Oven Cleaner, and Tilex to name a few.  This ingredient is also included in personal care products such as Softsoap products, after shaves, Colgate, Crest, Aquafresh, Crest Teeth Whitening Strips, Oil of Olay, Dove, Oil of Olay and many more.  

I just listed some of the ingredients found in our everyday products that we use.  Most Air Freshners have formaldehyde, carcinogens, and phenol as their ingredients.  Chlorine (labeled as sodium hypochlorite) is the very first agent used in chemical warfare, yet it is found in just about every cleaning product as well as in our drinking water.  And let me not get started on the window cleaners. 

After trying chemical free cleaning method of using baking soda and vinegar as my main cleaning ingredients, I tried three other cleaning products.  Shaklee makes a large variety of cleaning and household products that are plant-based, no phosphate, biodegradable, nontoxic, hypoallergenic, etc.  The best part is that their products are super concentrated.  For example, Basic H2, an Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate that can be made to various different cleaners based on how you dilute it.  You can make an all purpose cleaner by mixing ¼ teaspoon of the concentrate with 16 ounces of water, 2 DROPS of the concentrate with 16 ounces of water for window cleaner, 1 ½ tsp of concentrate with 16 ounces of water for degreaser, etc.  There are so many recipes for different cleaners based on the dilution.  The variety of the products that they carry is quite large.  I’ve tried every single one of the household products from Shaklee and I have to say, they all work great.  As for the environmental issue, Shaklee trumps all other products as they are very concentrated and require far less packaging.  Imagine the number of plastic bottles you are saving from the landfill by reusing the same spray bottles to mix your own cleaners.  The only caveat of Shaklee is that you have to purchase through a distributor or online.  This means that you will always be paying shipping in order to buy the products.

My other product experience is with Seventh Generation.  This is one company that takes their corporate responsibility very seriously.  They list all their ingredient right on all their bottles.  Seventh Generation makes wide range of products from household cleaners to household paper supplies, baby products, feminine care, etc.  These products are available in stores such as Target, but I haven’t been able to find all the products.   The few that I’ve tried, I really liked.  However, none of the products are concentrated.  Therefore, you do have to buy far more frequently and the cleaning supplies do take up more cabinet space in your kitchen.  I did find several websites that carry this brand, but since they are not concentrated and are rather heavy and bulky, the shipping cost was very high. 

I’ve also tried a brand called Method.  All I have to say about this product is that each time I used their window cleaner, I was suffering from a terrible headache.  I never tried any other product from this line after that. 

I haven’t tried any other cleaning products besides the three above.  And since Shaklee and Seventh Generation work so well for me, I didn’t find the need to venture out any further.  I shared Basic H2 from Shaklee to some of my friends and each and every time, I hear, “I can’t smell if my house is clean.”  My rebuttal question is, if your house is indeed clean, why should you be smelling anything? 

If you’ve tried any other products or have other product experience, please share with me and other readers by commenting below.  We can always learn something new.

Future Topics: Certified Organic products, chemical free cleaning, chemical toxins, eco friendly living, eco friendly products, environment friendly home, food toxins, household toxins, organic living, and tips for living green.

We know to recycle our paper, plastic, aluminum and other waste, but how many people recycle their drugs? A variety of drugs such as antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, heart medicines, sex hormones and other medications have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

There are many ways that these drugs get into our drinking water. One way is that people take pills and their bodies absorb them and the rest passes through them and then flushed down the toilet. People also flush unused pills and liquid medicines down the toilet, down the sink or throw their unused medication in the garbage which ends up leaking into the ground at landfills and polluting our water.

In addition to human waste, other sources of contamination comes from pets who are treated with medication. Over $5 billion was spent over the last 5 years on medicine for pets. According to a USA Today article, Cattle, for example, are given ear implants that provide a slow release of trenbolone, an anabolic steroid used by some bodybuilders, which causes cattle to bulk up. But not all the trenbolone circulating in a steer is metabolized. A German study showed 10% of the steroid passed right through the animals.

Water sampled downstream of a Nebraska feedlot had steroid levels four times as high as the water taken upstream. Male fathead minnows living in that downstream area had low testosterone levels and small heads. 

This makes me think that we are all sharing drugs in the long run, whether we like it or not. What can we do?

To start, contact your pharmacy. Many Pharmacies have Drug Recycling Programs where they take back your expired medications and properly dispose of them.  If you call them and they say they don't, then call around, because many pharmacies do take back expired or unused medicine.

Since expired medicine is considered hazardous waste by the EPA, you can contact your local hazardous waste facility to see what they recommend as well.   If you are aware of any other tips for people to help keep drugs out of our water supply, please share your comments below: - Stay Green!

Future Topics: Chemical Toxins, chemical free cleaning, eco friendly living, eco friendly products, environment friendly home, food toxins, tips for living green.

 

Since my previous blog post (http://blog.greenenergytv.com/blog/eco-friendly-living-2/0/0/cloth-vs-disposable-diapers-) regarding the disposables versus cloth diapers, I made a complete switch to cloth diapers.  It’s been over 2 weeks since the switch and I have to say, it’s not bad at all.  This is a very surprising revelation, considering I have failed once before.  But then again, since my last attempt, there is an abundance of choices out there for cloth diapers.  This was very exciting, but also daunting, not knowing which products to try.

After many hours of research, I found a website www.diaperjunction.com where you can buy a sample package of various diapers.  In this package, I received each one of bumGenius All-In-One diaper, Fuzzi Bunz, Kissaluvs, Chinese Prefolds, and Bummis Cover.  From the suggestion of one of the readers, I also ordered 1 bumGenius 3.0 cloth diaper.   Such experience was done on my 21 month old, 30 pound daughter. Here are my thoughts on each of the diapers. 

Chinese Prefolds are not for me.  When you use the prefolds, you need to use the water proof covers along with it.  The prefolds are very bulky and even after a very short time, it leaked all over. However, these prefolds will make excellent burpie cloths for me.  Kissaluvs diapers are incredibly soft.  But it isn’t waterproof, so you do have to use a waterproof cover with it as well.  Again, this made my baby’s bottom very bulky and most of her pants wouldn’t fit properly.  I also tried the gDiapers without much success.  It was messy and the whole tearing of the liners in the toilet, swish around with the stick and flushing twice was more work than necessary.  I also have a septic system at home, which means that I can’t flush the liners.  So in the end, gDiapers was similar to disposable diapers (since I had to throw them away in the trash can), but cause as much laundry as traditional cloth diapers to wash the outside covers and a very expensive process overall (the biodegradable liners cost more than disposable diapers). 

As for bumGenius 3.0, I really wanted this to work.  All other diapers come in small, medium, and large.  However, bumGenius 3.0 comes in 1 size fits all and the size of the diaper can be adjusted by releasing the plastic snaps.  This would’ve been perfect when our 4th baby arrives in April.  I could buy 1 type of diaper for both of the children and can use them throughout the diapering stage.  However, this diaper wasn’t big enough for my daughter.  It was too tight on her thighs and would leave red marks on her hip areas with each movement.  Also, the fastener is made of Velcro and made it extremely easy for my daughter to remove the diaper when it got too uncomfortable for her.  The bumGenius All-In-One was my least favorite.  It has a built in insert and is very difficult to wash and takes long time to dry.  I have to wash and dry it twice as long as the other diapers.  

My favorite of all is Fuzzi Bunz.  It’s a pocket diaper design with a microfiber insert, similar to bumGenius 3.0.  However, it comes with snaps that can be adjusted for both legs and waist making it virtually leak proof.  My daughter sleeps 13 hours at night and is a heavy wetter.  I haven’t had a single leakage with this diaper.  It also seems very comfortable for her and does not leave any red marks around her thighs even when she is very active.  My daughter hasn’t been able to remove the snaps on her own… as of yet.  At bedtimes or during long naptimes, I would put 2 inserts in the pocket for additional protection.  The diaper washes very well and easily at the first try.   

But there is one product that does make the cloth diapering system a breeze.  It’s called Kushies Flushable Biodegradable Diaper Liner.  This liner lets the wetness go through, but the solids remain on the top.  Instead of trying to scrape off the solids in the toilet, you can just remove the liner where the most of the solids are captured right into the trash.   I also purchased biodegradable doggie bags (half the cost of biodegradable diaper bags) to throw the liners in.  

I am thrilled to report that I am a cloth diapering mom now.  Even my husband has been impressed with the whole process.  So, for all the parents who have thought about giving cloth diapers a try, do what I did.  Buy several different brands and find the one that works best for you.  I am happy to report that the cloth diapering world has come a long way… they are definitely not the diapers we grew up in.  I’d also like to give special kudos to www.diapers.com.  Not only do they have free shipping, but I’ve been receiving my shipment the day after placing the order.  This has been fantastic when I am in an emergency and have to order extra inserts and liners.  They don’t carry all “green” products, but I’ve found enough eco friendly products on this website to make the switch extremely easy.  If you are using a different product or have other product experience, please share them with me in the comment section below.  I would love to learn more.  Happy diapering everyone!

P.S.  I do have a secret stash of Seventh Generation diapers… break in case of an emergency!

Future Topics: Certified organic products, chemical free cleaning, chemical toxins, eco friendly living, eco friendly products, environment friendly home, household toxins, organic living, tips for living green.
 

I continue to see more and more retailers selling compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) because they use 75% less energy and last 10,000 hours longer than incandescent bulbs.  Many people have asked “where can I take my used fluorescent light bulbs when they no longer work”?  There are a few options, but just a few.

Home Depot, the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, started a free CFL collecting/recycling program at each of its U.S. stores; a similar program at Canadian stores started last fall. Here is a link to their information: http://ir.homedepot.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=317987 
Currently, Ikea is the only other retailer to collect the bulbs nationally.

CFL's should be recycled, so that the mercury they contain isn't released into the environment. Each bulb contains about 5 milligrams or less of mercury, a neurotoxin, or about 1 percent of the amount in an old-fashioned thermometer. The presence of mercury raises several issues, including the handling of broken bulbs. 

Additional options:
Check whether your local Household Hazardous Waste Collection Site recycles CFLs. You can also visit the Environmental Protection Agency's light bulb recycling site to find options www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/wastetypes/universal/lamps/index.htm

Bring spent, unbroken CFLs to Home Depot or Ikea. It's FREE, and the stores will accept any CFLs, even those you didn’t buy from them. Ace Hardware also collects CFLs at select locations, including more than 25 of their stores in Montana, Utah, and South Dakota.

As a last resort, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends sealing fluorescent light bulbs in two plastic bags and putting them in the trash.

What to do if a CFL breaks? Maine.gov has a great site to explain what to do www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/homeowner/cflbreakcleanup.htm

The good news is that manufacturers continue to work on lowering and eliminating mercury in the cfl's. It's important to note that LED lights are also starting to make make serious strides and coming down in price. LED's do not contain mercury, use less energy than cfl's and last longer.

If you know of additional recycling locations or have feedback, please share your comments below: - Stay Green!

Future Post Topics:  Green jobs, eco friendly living, household toxins, tips for living green, organic living, eco friendly products, environment friendly home, and chemical free cleaning. 




 

I have a dirty little secret! I use disposable diapers. And before you start casting stones and calling me names, let me explain. I’ve tried using cloth diapers. But that was the time when I had 2 kids in diapers and 1 in pull-ups. Can you imagine? It was one mess after another and if I wasn’t spending most of my day in the laundry room already, I was ready to spend my evenings in it as well. I couldn’t figure out how to disinfect the diapers without using harmful chemicals, such as bleach. In the end, with my head hanged low, I quit. I made one excuse after another why I never tried again. But mostly, I was terrified of trying again. Here I am, supposedly “trying” to lead this eco friendly living, and I was willing to look the other way about the diapers.

I’ve talked to several moms about switching from disposables to cloth diapers. ALL thought that I was nuts! My mother-in-law made it very clear that all babysitting options will be closed for discussion without the disposables. Even my very, ultra eco-friendly husband had a doubtful look on his face. So I begin to wonder if there were any real benefits of using cloth versus disposables… or am I really just insane?

For the sake of the environment, it is estimated that more than 2 billion tons of UNTREATED urine, feces, plastics and papers are dumped into the landfills. Untreated waste contaminates our ground water. Also, over 80,000 pounds of plastics and 250,000 trees are used to manufacture disposable diapers in the United States alone. If that’s not bad enough, the USA consumes over 27 billion disposable diapers which takes over 500 years for the disposables to decompose in our landfills. Some advocates of disposable diapers argue that the extra water and energy used to wash cloth diapers can do more harm for the environment. However, based on my research, it averages extra 2 loads of laundry per week when using cloth diapers. That doesn’t seem too bad.

For the sake of the health of our children, there is no question that the cloth diapers are better. Amongst other chemical toxins used to produce disposable diapers, three stand out the most: dyes, sodium polyacrylate crystals (super absorbent polymer or SAP) and dioxin. Dyes are known to be harmful to the central nerve system, kidneys and liver. The sodium polyacrylate is reported to cause skin irritations, blood from perineum and scrotal tissues, fever, vomiting and staph infections in babies. It can also causes female organ problems, slows healing wounds, fatigue and weight loss to the employees in factories that manufacture it. This ingredient has been banned in tampons as it is linked to toxic shock syndrome. But the biggest concern seems to be the dioxin, a byproduct of chlorine bleaching process. Dioxin is a highly toxic carcinogen. According to the EPA, the smallest amount of dioxin can cause liver disease, immune system complications and genetic damage to lab animals. Proctor and Gamble published a study showing that there is an increase in diaper rash from 7.1% to 61% with the increase usage of disposable diapers. What great news for diaper cream manufacturers.

In the end, moms use disposables for the convenience. However, after doing a bit of research, I am eager to give cloth diapers another try. So far, I’ve ordered some traditional cloth diapers with diaper covers, All-in-One diapers and this new thing called gDiapers (a hybrid between traditional cloth and disposables). If you have any suggestions on how I can limit my learning curve during this process, please share your thoughts with me via the comment section below. For instance, how can I disinfect dirty diapers in an eco friendly way? Your comments will be very helpful for other moms like me. I will report my journey throughout the process and my ultimate conclusion in the battle of Cloth vs. Disposables. 

To read all my blog posts, go to http://blog.greenenergytv.com/blog/eco-friendly-living-2  Happy Eco Friendly Living!

Future Post Topics: Chemical Free Cleaning, Eco Friendly Products, Certified Organic Products, and more.

In the face of all the doom and gloom you hear on the news and radio about the bailouts, horrible economy, stock market, blah, blah, blah....There has been and will continue to be a huge growth in green jobs.  There were 750,000 new green jobs added to the U.S. economy in 2006 and forecasts show that there will be millions more in the coming decade.

 According to Forbes.com, the cities with the most green jobs are:

1. New York City - could generate nearly 200,000 jobs, many in architecture, engineering and design.

2. Washington D.C. - Thanks to the nation's largest landlord - The US Government. They want energy efficiency in the buildings.

3. Houston, Texas - They are moving from oil capital to Wind Energy Capital. Everything is always bigger in Texas, right T. Boone?

4. Los Angeles, CA - They are working to solve water shortages, black outs, you name it. Basically, LA is cleaning up it's act and Hollywood is a good place for that.

5. Boston, MA - Let's see, they have MIT, Harvard and like a thousand other top notch schools and many of them are focusing on green algae energy, solar energy, wind power, and other types of renewable energy and alternative fuels programs.

6. Chicago, IL - Wall street is known for trading stocks, but Chicago is becoming known for carbon emissions trading. Plus, next time you visit Chicago, check out all those green roof projects!

7. Philadelphia, PA - Old Steel mills are being used to manufacture wind turbines.

8. San Francisco, CA - Many VC's are funding renewable and alternative energy as well as clean energy projects throughout the country. There are many start up companies in this city that will change the way we use and approach energy.

9. San Diego, CA - Got sun? They do and they also have solar panels popping up on homes and businesses throughout the city.

10. Pittsburgh, PA - From Steel to Sustainability. Pittsburgh ranks third in both the number of buildings and total square footage of certified green building space in the U.S.

11. Most likely to be in the Top 10 soon and/or have the potential to be are cities like Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown, Ohio as well as other cities that were once Steel Mill towns, can switch over to manufacturing wind turbines, solar panels, energy efficient devices, eco friendly products, develop alternative fuel ideas, chemical free cleaning products and more. The opportunity is out there, and I'll keep you posted.

In my next post, I will discuss: "So what kind of green collar jobs are out there?" In the meantime, upload a video to us showing what your city is doing to be green! http://www.greenenergytv.com/Upload.aspx  - Stay Green!

Is this guy the Greenest Person on Earth? Maybe someone in his tribe? There is an estimated 400 million indigenous people spread throughout 70 countries world-wide. Is there someone in the "civilized" world who is the greenest person?

We talk about people and companies going green, which I applaud the efforts of course and think its great!  But, "civilized" people who would be considered "green" may eat organic natural foods, use eco friendly products, use solar energy, chemical free cleaning to rid their home of household toxins, wind turbines, green building, etc. As I said, this is great stuff, but most indigenous people do not use chemical toxins in their everyday lives or build a home and have a truck pull up with their energy star windows, geothermal heating system, and organic mattresses.

I believe we can look to them for answers on tips for living green and eco friendly living. They are intelligent human beings that have a close relationship to mother earth and we are not that different, even though we live in different ways. For example, a United Nations report shows that the top concerns of indigenous people are:

• land and resources
• human rights
• internal colonization
• self-government
• self-development
• environment
• discrimination
• health
• education
• language
• cultural survival
• social and economic conditions

All the above sounds familiar. Another interesting fact is that drug companies make $43 billion every year from drugs that are derived from medicinal plants that were discovered, developed and passed from generation to generation by indigenous peoples. We have a lot to learn from indigenous people. Watch the video below and if you find the greenest person on earth, upload the video to us: http://www.greenenergytv.com/Upload.aspx - Stay Green

I like to show alternative energy videos below my posts, and this one is about a restaurant in New York, that has some cool alternative fuel ideas.

Posted on the back of Rice Restaurant's delivery van is "Our Truck Eats its Veggies". These guys fuel their delivery van with filtered Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO). They take the oil for cooking, then use it for fuel. This same van transports, every week, over 1000 lbs of organic waste to the Red Hook Farm, in Brooklyn and then they convert the waste into fertile organic compost. In addition to making their own fuel, they use chemical free cleaning products and use foods sourced from conscientious vendors. 

Restaurants usually have food critics that write about the food, service, etc. Today, I am being a Restaurant Green Critic and I award Rice Restaurants with 5 Green Leaves. This is the highest green restuarant rating (I just made this up), but maybe someone out there can start up a green food critic business....Keep up the great work guys!

If your restaurant or business is doing something to be green, Upload your video to us: http://www.greenenergytv.com/Upload.aspx  - Stay Green!
 

Link to Video: http://greenenergytv.com/Watch.aspx?v=1907672231