Green Your Screen: The Top 6 Eco-Friendly PCs
By Jenna Kirkman
Filed Under Conscious Commerce, News & Reviews | 2 Comments
Right now you are most likely staring at lead, mercury, cadmium, barium, beryllium, polyvinyl chloride, and brominated flame retardants. No, the toxic waste disposal company did not just dump a barrel of chemicals on your desk – these dangerous toxins can be found right inside your precious personal computer.
- Computer screens commonly contain lead, which can cause brain, nervous system, blood, and reproductive problems
- LCD screens and wiring boards, are often made with mercury, with prolonged exposure leading to brain and kidney damage
- Circuit boards usually contain brominated flame retardants (BFR) which have been linked to learning and memory impairment
- Inexpensive plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are manufactured using a vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), a known carcinogen
Initiatives such as “one laptop per child” and the attraction of saving on gas by working from home has encouraged the increased production of computers. Coupled with the fact that the average PC has a life cycle so short that most are outdated within a few years, means an exponential increase in electronic waste (e-waste) in landfills, and toxins seeping into our ecosystems. Though some companies have recycling programs to reduce e-waste, millions of PCs are still disposed of irresponsibly. Sadly, an estimated 50-80 percent of e-waste from the United States is shipped overseas to China and India, where low income communities are paid to take these toxic chemicals off American hands.
Continue reading Green Your Screen: The Top 6 Eco-Friendly PCs…
Posted on August 11, 2008 |
Don’t Tango With The Funk: Choose Natural Deodorant
By Jillian Polaski
Filed Under Conscious Commerce, News & Reviews | 2 Comments
Sweating is a natural part of life. It’s our body’s way of maintaining its optimum temperature. The problem is, as we all know, that sometimes along with sweat, comes a not-so-sexy odor. Over the years, people have used perfumes, powders, oils, and antiperspirants to mediate their personal aromas. Body odor is caused from bacteria interacting with our sweat, and many people these days use roll-on or stick deodorants to fend off the funk.
Sadly, many conventional deodorants neutralize your body odor with some pretty toxic chemicals. Aluminum is a common but somewhat questionable ingredient found in many conventional antiperspirants. It’s been linked to both breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, and the mining of it pollutes ecosystems and requires massive amounts of energy. Formaldehyde is a nasty chemical most commonly associated with the embalming process, but also found in our deodorants in the form of preservatives. There’s also propylene glycol, originally developed as an antifreeze and used in paint, dog food, floor wax, and our deodorant. If you want to feel super fresh, but also want to be kind to your body and the environment, check out these natural choices…
Continue reading Don’t Tango With The Funk: Choose Natural Deodorant…
Posted on July 29, 2008 |
Get The Dirt On Hand Soap
By Jillian Polaski
Filed Under Conscious Commerce, News & Reviews | Leave a Comment
Mothers, doctors, chefs, and hardcore germaphobes-listen up. You like clean hands, yes? With all the options on the market today from hand sanitizer to antibacterial soaps, you’d think that this society would have the cleanest hands in history. Not so. Many of today’s soaps contain some very unhealthy chemicals and surprising animal byproducts.
Soaps are produced by combining a fat source with an alkali, and unless the package specifically states that the product contains no animal ingredients, chances are good that the fat source in your soap is pig fat. Yum. In addition, the chemicals found in soaps penetrate our skin and can cause hormonal disruptions and even cancer. After the soap makes it down the drain, it ends up in our drinking water. Triclosan, the main antibacterial ingredient in many hand soaps, has been found in many streams and rivers and can disrupt thyroid hormone function in bullfrogs. When was the last time a bullfrog did you wrong? Exactly. So what’s the best option for getting your digits squeaky clean, while not wronging any innocent forest creatures or yourself? Steer clear of the antibacterial variety and purchase an all natural version that uses vegetable rather than animal fats as its base, and that doesn’t include any petrochemicals. Here’s our favorite hand soap finds…
Amlavi Hand and Body Wash
Amlavi’s mission is to build a collection of all natural bath products that maintain a connection to the earth, air, and waterways surrounding us. They’ve accomplished that through both their products and their practices (they offer bike-to-work incentives for employees, use recycled office supplies, and use compostable or plantable materials in their product packaging, among other things). Their hand and body washes are superb. They produce three aromatic blends, citrus, sandalwood, and floral. Each blend contains between eight and twelve very pronouncable ingredients in a base of coconut, avocado, sesame, or olive oil. There are no petrochemicals, no animal byproducts, no phthalates and no parabens.
This soap is a little bit less gelatinous than a more traditional, chemical-filled hand soap, but it feels smooth and silky, doesn’t dry out your hands, and smells natural and delicious.
MSRP: $15.95/bottle
Continue reading Get The Dirt On Hand Soap…
Posted on July 22, 2008 |
Eco Toothbrush Review
By Jillian Polaski
Filed Under Conscious Commerce, News & Reviews | 2 Comments
Dentists recommend that you change your toothbrush every three months, so four times a year is apparently the minimum. If you brush hard and the bristles of your brush get all mashed down (you know what I’m talking about guys), you need to toss that brush out even sooner. Tons of toothbrushes in our bathroom wastebaskets means tons of toothbrushes in our landfills and oceans. All this discarded dental care amounts to 50 million pounds worth of waste every single year. And that’s just the brush itself. What about all the plastic and paper packaging, plus the poisons that go into the conventional plastic toothbrushes? Lucky for us, there are companies out there who care not only about our oral hygiene, but also about our health and the planet. Check out the lowdown on the most eco toothbrushes around.
Continue reading Eco Toothbrush Review…
Posted on July 15, 2008 |
Natural Sunscreen 101
By Jillian Polaski
Filed Under Green Living, News & Reviews | 6 Comments
If you’re one of the millions of Americans who are concerned with sunburns, skin cancer, or pre-mature aging, then you’re probably no stranger to sunscreen. Surprisingly, even with all the slathering on of sunscreen in this country, incidents of skin cancer have tripled in the US in recent years. There are even some studies that say your conventional, chemical-based sunscreen may actually be partly to blame. Many of these chemicals have been found to generate free radicals that can cause cancer while they’re supposedly protecting you from it.
Another unexpected danger from sunscreen use is that it may be harming coral reefs and fish. Sunscreen from beachgoers and snorkelers washes off into the ocean and causes UV ray interference to the corals, leading to viral infections and coral bleaching. Scientists have found fish off the coast of California that have had ovarian tissue growing in their testes. They believe that oxybenzone (a main ingredient in many conventional sunscreens) is responsible. Other dangerous chemicals to look out for include octinoxate, diethanolamine (DEA), and parabens The best choice is a sunscreen containing naturally occurring zinc oxide. Naturally occurring titanium dioxide is a close second, although there has been some controversy around titanium dioxide as well.
The safest and most eco-friendly way to prevent burns is to limit your time in the sun, and to wear a hat and cover up when you’re exposed to it. If you must use sunscreen, be sure to read the label; many sunscreens that claim to be all natural or eco-friendly contain those nasty little sea-creature-killing chemicals. Here’s a bit of insight into some of the major brands of “natural” and “organic” sunscreens you may find at your grocer or drugstore.
Alba Botanica Organic Lavender Sunscreen
Alba Botanica Organic Lavender Sunscreen is one of those sunscreens where you really have to be careful and read the label. Although this sunscreen does contain a few ingredients that are organic (like the lavender, aloe vera, chamomile, ginkgo biloba, and green tea), the active ingredients include 7.5% octinoxate and 6.0% oxybenzone, making the sunscreen as a whole far from certified organic. This sunscreen is neither organic nor completely natural, and not high on the list of recommended sunscreens for the safety of you or the environment.
MSRP: $9.95 for 4 oz ($2.48/oz)
Continue reading Natural Sunscreen 101…
Posted on July 8, 2008 |
Earth Cinema Circle: Netflix For Eco Geeks
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Green Living, News & Reviews | 1 Comment
When I first heard of this “environmental cinema club,” it sounded so out-of-date. A book club, a wine club, a DVD club…this was for the Angela Lansbury type, for someone who belongs to the not-busy-with-anything-except-my-rose-garden sort of club. As it turned out, I had Earth Cinema Circle pegged all wrong. It’s like Netflix for eco geeks, well, sort of…ECC curates eight films into 2 DVD’s and sends them your way every other month for twenty-two bucks, including shipping. These DVD’s are a combination of full length features and shorts. The hook is that most of them you’d never get to see without being a member of Earth Cinema Circle. And you get the bonus of carbon neutral shipping and 100% recycled packaging.
In just one rotation of films, I discovered earthships via the Garbage Warrior, deepened my fledgling understanding of biodynamic farming, fell in love with whales, and watched the most delightful cartoon about a man named Fred who folds the modern world origami-style into a wild expanse of nature. The films are insightful, edgy, and educational and just perfect for the nature lover, activist, eco-geek, teacher or cinemaphile in all-strike that-so many of us.
Some of the ECC films are mind-blowing, some mediocre, but all of them are packed with incredible information and inspiration about the world we live in. The beauty of having so many films in each shipment is that you can easily skip to the next one, like I did with The True Cost Of Food…and Ed Begley, Jr.’s intros (sorry Ed-I still love all the great work you do!) The ECC collections are yours to keep, so if you fall in love with a film, like I did with Garbage Warrior, you can host a screening at your house or pass them on to your enviro junkie friends.
If you’re a busy person who cares about the planet and you just can’t make it through your copy of Silent Spring after a long hard day at work, then Earth Cinema Circle might just be the perfect match…
Posted on June 13, 2008 |
A Creative Citizen Is Born
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under News & Reviews | 2 Comments
When you talk to Scott Badenoch about his newly launched dot com, you get the sense that this one is going to go big time. He is smart, articulate, and self-assured as he runs you through the ways CreativeCitizen.com is going to bridge the disaggregated actions of the exploding Green Movement. Scott and partner Argam DerHartunian are driven by the mission to help everyone conserve 5 important elements: water, electricity, waste, emissions, and money. Badenoch explains his take on conservation, “No one is going to throw away their lifestyle and start wearing loin cloths and walking everywhere. It’s vital that the green movement find a place in people’s lives that saves them time, resources and money, rather than the other way around.” Continue reading A Creative Citizen Is Born…
Posted on June 12, 2008 |
Junk Raft: Sailing The Seas Of Debris
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under News & Reviews | 3 Comments
What do you get when you take 15,000 plastic bottles, the discarded wingless body of a Cessna 310 aircraft, and a sail? A seaworthy, solar powered ship dubbed the ‘Junk Raft‘ headed from Long Beach, CA to Hawaii, of course. Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal plan to sail a raft with recycled plastic bottles wrapped in discarded fishing net acting as pontoons and an old wingless Cessna cockpit as the cabin. This long, strange trip will be calling attention to the massively detrimental effect of plastic in our oceans. (Apparently 10,000 pounds of plastic are dumped into the ocean every day from Los Angeles alone.) Eriksen has sailed with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, trolling the waters of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and now he’s ready to risk life and limb for this cause. When asked why he and his partner were willing to put their lives on the line over some plastic in the ocean, Eriksen stated the folowing…
Yes, we are risking our lives, but the issue of petroleum-based plastic and our national dependence on petroleum, warrant urgent action. My quality of life, the future of our nation’s economy, environmental quality, and human health, are at stake. I remember 17 years ago, as a young Marine in the Gulf War, standing in Kuwait City covered with drops of oil from the burning wells, saying to myself, “Why have we done this?” James Baker, former Secretary of State, the man that sent me to war, said recently, “We had a written policy that we would go to war to defend secure access to the energy reserves of the Persian Gulf.” This is not why I chose to serve my country!
So Eriksen, along with co-pilot Paschal and Junk’s on-the-ground operations czar Anna Cummins, have all chosen to serve their country in a different way. Continue reading Junk Raft: Sailing The Seas Of Debris…
Posted on May 30, 2008 |
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eCo Times reports the latest on sustainable lifestyle choices and the new green economy. This online magazine brings you the best in cutting edge green media, organic and Fair Trade product reviews, and insights into viable planetary solutions.
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