My Mom informed me that my younger brother is now shopping at a supermarket that only sells organic foods. He lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. I'm so pleased to hear that he has gone organic. It's difficult to do though because those items are typically more expensive.
Brian and I buy organic milk and i have just recently purchased organic oatmeal, but sometimes a buck makes a difference and we stay away from other organics. I'm hoping eventually we'll be able to do more.
My hope is for there to be more and more choices of where to buy organic food and then the prices will drop. But it will probably be several years before that happens; if it does.
The New York Times recently published an article of five foods you should definitely try to buy organic. The list includes milk, potatoes, peanut butter, ketchup and apples. Recent USDA monitoring data found synthetic pyrethroid pesticides in 27% of conventional milk samples. With that knowledge, I feel good about the fact that we already have switched to buying only organic milk but we have yet to try the other four items.
I'm not sure what organic ketchup would taste like, I mean I'm so comfortable with my Heinz. But the article states that organic ketchup has "double the antioxidants" as your typical name brand.
Less pesticides and more antioxidants sounds good to me!
You should definitely check out the preview trailer of the show because even though we are constantly hearing the same thing about our environment this report is still extremely profound.
Hosted by Anderson Cooper, Jeff Corwin, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, it is a two-part, four-hour special with breathtaking images and some startling numbers – along the lines of "We lose 7,000 square miles of rainforest each year…roughly the size of the state of New Jersey".
"Every day, more than 70 species vanish from the planet, and the number of endangered animals and organisms grows each year." I don't know about you but that is alarming and shocking to me. I know the rules of survival of the fittest and evolution but still...70 species a day!?
In discussing the earth's population..."The earth's population has risen from 2.9 billion people to more than 6.6 billion over the past 50 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau." With more people there is even more of a need for more efficiency. This means we need to research other means of resources for energy. It also means we should stop developing ginormous mansion size single family homes they are just not necessary. People have lived in more economical spaces before and they can do it again.
The show will air tonight and tomorrow night at 9 p.m. on CNN.
The Clean Water Act, one of the nation's most comprehensive and successful environmental laws, is celebrating its 35th birthday on October 18, 2007!
And since this is October 18th it would be a great day for everyone to write a letter to their local government and remind those in office of the importance of this bill.
Science Daily published an article yesterday acknowledging that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not been doing all they should to protect certain areas of water around our country. The main area of concern is the Mississippi River. The article says the EPA needs to look at how the Chesapeake Bay watershed has been managed.
"In addressing water-quality problems in the river, EPA and the states should draw upon the useful experience in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where for decades the agency has been working together with states surrounding the bay to reduce nutrient pollution and improve water quality. EPA should demonstrate similar leadership for the Mississippi River."
Currently, there are no water-quality standards for nutrients for most of the Mississippi River. The article states, "To diminish nutrient pollution, EPA should exert the federal leadership that the Clean Water Act allows and work with states to develop water-quality standards that protect the Mississippi River and the northern Gulf of Mexico."
The Clean Water Act, if pushed and followed, can help to rid the nation's waterways of pollution. But we need to remind ourselves and our government of what it is meant to do. It is important that we take action and call for a stronger EPA leadership nationwide.
This morning I was scanning the headlines on EcoMoto.org and was interested to see one about orange peels.
A group of University of Guadalajara students were researching essential oils when they discovered that orange peels could be used to make ethanol. Ethanol is used to dilute gasoline in car engines so that less gas is used.
News like this is rather exciting because the more natural resources we find to help make gas greener means the less prices will go up for each item. It also means there will be more ways to create ethanol and dilute gas...therefore minimizing the amount of mass drilling needed!
As a member of Earth Justice, I receive e-mails whenever they feel I need to be alerted about something. Anyone can join and you can opt-in to receiving the e-mails as well. I find it very informative and interesting.
Right now the call for action is in regards to public forests. The current members in office with the Bush administration have been promoting more logging and clear cutting, less protection for wildlife and water resources and less citizen involvement in the forest planning process.
Just today three House Democrats requested a formal probe of possible illegal Forest Service Logging projects in California. There is a possibility that there has been illegal logging in several areas, including the Trail of 100 Giants, which is protected under a 2000 presidential proclamation.
On April 15, 2000, President Clinton signed a presidential proclamation to help protect national forests in that area. On January 12 2007, the US Forest Service proposed a new draft management plan that leaves the majority of roadless old growth forests open to commercial logging.
It just so happens the Bush administration is attempting to pass the latest proposed drafts. In addition to more logging, there have also been more burn piles planned. Go figure.
I knew that Soleil Moon Frye, age 31, was expecting another baby, but I did not know she'd be opening her own baby store; an eco-friendly one! She said it was very difficult for her to find one place that carried non-toxic and organic items for babies, so she wanted to create a place of her own.
She is four months pregnant with her second child, opened an eco-friendly children's boutique, The Little Seed, in LA on Monday, October 15th. The store will carry green products, including sustainable furniture from Kalon Studios, organic toys from Zid Zid and non-toxic crayons and paints from Stockmeyer.
The store was founded by Frye and two friends, Paige Tolmach and Beth Birkett.
On another fun note: Soleil's first daughter, Poet, is excited about having a new sibling and talks to her Mommy's belly all the time.
President George Bush: "The age of clean energy requires transforming the way we produce electricity. Electric power plants that burn coal are the world's leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions. The world's supply of coal is secure and abundant. And our challenge is take advantage of it while maintaining our commitment to the environment. One promising solution is advanced clean coal technology. The future of this technology will allow us to trap and store carbon emissions and air pollutants produced by burning coal. Since 2001 the United States has invested more than $2.5 billion to research and develop clean coal. And in partnership with other nations and the private sector we're moving closer to a historic achievement -- producing energy from the world's first zero-emissions coal-fired plant.
We also need to take advantage of clean safe nuclear power. Nuclear power is the one existing source of energy that can generate massive amounts of electricity without causing any air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions. Without the world's 439 nuclear power plants, there would be nearly 2 billion additional tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere each year. And by expanding the use of nuclear power, we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions even more."
He is such a *^%(&*@)! It's like he is seasoning soup the way he throws words like energy, emissions and technology around. He doesn't have a clue what he is talking about and it is absolutely frustrating!
President George Bush: "We will harness the power of technology. There is a way forward that will enable us to grow our economies and protect the environment, and that's called technology. We'll meet our energy needs. We'll be good stewards of this environment. Achieving these goals will require a sustained effort over many decades. This problem isn't going to be solved overnight."
He is the most redundant speaker I have ever heard! Not to mention it sounds like he stole lines from every "green" promoting commercial on the air today!
