Honda's Dream the Impossible
This was a really interesting video to watch. I fell upon it when surfing the internet and as I was watching I was trying to imagine for myself what 80 years from now will be like. And unlike the woman in the video that said she felt optimism when thinking about the future... I did not. Its unlikely that I will be here 80 years from now but I fear for my children and grandchildren. Unless we begin to make some changes now there's no way they are going to have much of an environment left if any... Lets pray we can make some changes!
I loved the concept that one of the guys talked about when comparing cell phones vs land lines and then talked about cars and cities. I think his idea about designing cars for the city and making it something that people would consider an obvious and easy decision just like the cell phone. Hopefully someone can design such a vehicle... but we shall see!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
In addition to DeShawn's blog!
So I'd just like to feed off of DeShawn's blog about walking home from the bars... yes I was with him and it was quite the adventure but he's right! We all laugh at this but it was just another step in the direction of a sustainable lifestyle. We could have taken a cab, called for a ride, or even taken a shuttle but we chose to walk and even though it may have been a small thing I'd like to think that if we were to continue to do this especially during the summer months taking advantage of the nice weather I think we could start making a difference! :)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Clean & Clear Dual Action Moisturizer Oil-Free
Clean & Clear Dual Action Moisturizer Oil-Free
Active Ingredients: Salicylic Acid 0.5%, Inactive Ingredients: Water, Dicaprylyl Ether, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Neopentyl Glycol Diethylhexanoate, Neopentyl Glycol Diisostearate, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Methyl Gluceth-20, Dicetyl Phosphate, Ceteth-10 Phosphate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Menthyl Lactate, Steareth-20, Steareth-2, Fragrance, Xanthan Gum, Lecithin, Disodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, BHT
This product actually rated 7/10 overall which is pretty frightening. I also looked at the list in OED and wasn’t really sure if I just didn’t know how to match up names of ingredients but I didn’t find any on that list. But the ingredient I did more research on was BHT - butylated hydroxytoluene.
BHT seems like in small amounts maybe it wouldn’t be very harmful but the more I read about studies done on animals and other such things it seems fairly dangerous if used for long periods of time. I found that sometimes it is even added to foods to preserve fats, which just doesn’t sound like something I would want to put on my face. It is used to preserve food odor, color, and flavor. Many packaging materials incorporate BHT. It is also added directly to shortening, cereals, and other foods containing fats and oils. There has been research done also that it may be hard for people to metabolize BHT. It has undergone application and review process required by the US Food and Drug Administration but that doesn’t give me much confidence.
I could definitely do some more research on what product could meet the same needs but be non-toxic. I haven’t had the chance to do so but I am going to look into more facial cleansers that would work well and not be so toxic. I plan on trying to look into more sustainably and/or organically made products that I can use not only to replace this specific product but other products in my personal care ritual as well.
Happy Earth Day!
Planet 100 Earth Day 2010
Planet 100 has a lot of other interesting videos but I thought this was most appropriate given it is earth day!
Top 5 predictions for 2010
Another interesting video I found on Planet 100... Joel Makower is even on it! :)
Planet 100 has a lot of other interesting videos but I thought this was most appropriate given it is earth day!
Top 5 predictions for 2010
Another interesting video I found on Planet 100... Joel Makower is even on it! :)
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
I am concerned
People in the Concerned group are convinced that global warming is happening, that humans are the main cause, and that it is a serious threat. Most of the Concerned say that they are somewhat worried about global warming and consider it somewhat to very important issue to them personally. The majority believe that global warming is already harming people in the United States and around the world, or will within the next 10 years.
The Concerned say that they need additional information about global warming before firmly making up their mind about the issue, but tend not to pay much attention to information about global warming or to seek it out. Their most trusted sources of information on global warming are scientists, environmental organizations, their own family and friends, and television weather reporters.
Most of the Concerned believe that taking national action to reduce global warming will provide a better life for our children and grandchildren, save plants and animals from extinction, improve people's health, and create a stronger economy. Most say that elected officials, corporations, and individuals should be doing more to address it.
In the United States, the Concerned represent the full diversity of America in terms of gender, age, income, education, and ethnicities, although they are somewhat more likely to be moderate Democrats.
The Concerned say that they need additional information about global warming before firmly making up their mind about the issue, but tend not to pay much attention to information about global warming or to seek it out. Their most trusted sources of information on global warming are scientists, environmental organizations, their own family and friends, and television weather reporters.
Most of the Concerned believe that taking national action to reduce global warming will provide a better life for our children and grandchildren, save plants and animals from extinction, improve people's health, and create a stronger economy. Most say that elected officials, corporations, and individuals should be doing more to address it.
In the United States, the Concerned represent the full diversity of America in terms of gender, age, income, education, and ethnicities, although they are somewhat more likely to be moderate Democrats.
After taking this quiz and reading my results I think for the most part this is true and it even said that this is majority for the US. I think reason being that we are worried about it but its hard to think that changing one little thing here and there would really help with global warming.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
CowsUnite.com
http://www.cowsunite.com/
http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2009/12/cows-unite-for-organic-dairy/
If you happen to read certain milk cartons, you might find “Cows. (We just love ’em.)” And further, “Speaking of cows, we support the goals of those audacious bovines at Cows Unite. You go, girls!” The cartons go on, “Cows Unite!” and direct citizen milk drinkers to visit www.cowsunite.org.
When you visit the website, you find three amazing live-action videos depicting a cow telling her farmer about the rebellion, a monstrous herd of cows staging a breakout from a conventional factory dairy farm, and a cow being interrogated with a lie detector by Dragnet police-types as they try to find out more about the cow rebellion.
The campaign was launched by a familiar name in organic dairy products—Organic Valley—approaching a grim subject with a bit of humor to get the point across. “What we tried to do with that campaign was to take what we consider a very serious topic—grazing and confinement—and present it in a playful and fun way,” Organic Valley chief marketing executive Theresa Marquez told Organic Connections. “And I think that we achieved it.”
Behind the Scenes
The problem being exposed in these humorous spots—and one which Organic Valley is taking great strides in solving—is the treatment of milk cows in today’s factory dairy farms.
When I myself was a child (longer ago than I care to admit), I vividly recall riding through the countryside in the back of my parents’ car, seeing cows grazing on hillsides and in pastures. As time went by and I grew older, it was a sight seen less and less, until today, when it has all but disappeared.
This is because cows in today’s industrial dairy systems are kept closely confined and given cheap corn feed that is laced with antibiotics to prevent the cows from becoming ill in such cramped conditions and spreading disease. Cows are also given growth hormones as well as hormones to cause them to reproduce.
What have also disappeared are the small, family-owned creameries that used to help support the small farmer. “There used to be a sweet little system of small farmers who brought their milk into the local creamery, and the creamery made milk, butter, cream and other products,” Marquez explained. “The whole system is not in existence anymore. Almost all of the small creameries have closed. The small farms have been replaced by big confinement farms that have five, eight or twelve thousand cows. It’s a lot easier to back up a big milk truck with a tap on it and just fill it at one farm and take it away to a giant plant. We’ve moved from this model of truly local product to huge farms and huge production.”
Going Organic
In stark contrast, the biggest farm in the Organic Valley co-op is a thousand cows—and according to Marquez, that one “kind of crept up on us.” Small farms are the company’s focus.
Interestingly, Organic Valley has its roots in a nationwide farming crisis.
“In 1988, the price of milk bottomed out,” Marquez recounted. “Thousands of farmers lost their livelihoods, and a bunch of farmers in Wisconsin looked at each other and said, ‘Well, seems like we’re going out of business. What can we do?’”
At the time, there was no organic milk, so the farmers decided to try producing organic dairy products. The interesting thing was some of them were halfway there. “Out of necessity, a lot of them were already practically organic,” said Marquez. “They couldn’t afford pesticides and a lot of the ‘tools’ used in conventional farming.”
Even though the farmers themselves were very suspicious of cooperatives, having been burned by them in the past, they decided to form one—although it was structured differently. The primary difference was that the cooperative would not change the price of milk unless the farmers were involved. “We do not dictate our pricing to the farmers,” said Marquez. “We, the management, with the farmers, determine what the pay price is. In this way, we’ve been able to hold to a good, strong pay price and keep them alive, farming.” Hence the mission of Organic Valley is multi-fold: to not only bring extremely high quality diary products to the consumer but protect rural communities and farming in the United States.
Thus was formed the first co-op that eventually became Organic Valley. While Organic Valley is the brand name, the organization of co-op farmers who produce the company’s products is called CROPP (an abbreviation for Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools).
“We pool the products in a region,” Marquez said. “Each region elects a representative, and that representative becomes part of our Diary Executives Committee. We have 60 pools around the United States, so we have 60 people who gather every month with the CEO. All our farmers are very, very involved.”
The Organic Valley Model
Strict requirements are maintained for Organic Valley farmers. Cows must be pastured, grass fed, and not given antibiotics, hormones or other chemicals regularly found in factory farms. These requirements are audited by Organic Valley themselves through representatives who regularly visit farms, check for cows in pasture, and inspect the animals for health. The farms are also audited for the National Organic Program by a qualified USDA-accredited certification organization.
The company has a team of veterinarians as well that assist farmers in making the transition to fully organic, healthy cows. Once they make that transition, the cows become quite strong. “A lot of these vets are amazed to see just how healthy organic cows are,” Marquez related. “One of our vets told me a story about running into a farmer he hadn’t seen in a couple years, and having thought the farmer had perhaps been using another vet. ‘No,’ the farmer told him, ‘I haven’t traded vets. I just haven’t needed you!’ You hear that a lot. Organic cows are very healthy.”
In addition to providing much healthier milk, organic cows also emit fewer harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. “If you feed cows a larger percentage of what are called oily grasses—such as flax and alfalfa—they burp less,” Marquez explained. “A huge percentage of methane gas comes from burping, and we have recently discovered that cows eating these grasses burp 50 percent less.”
The cows, in fact, are so healthy that the USDA recently awarded Organic Valley, in conjunction with some other organizations, $1.2 million to conduct a formal three-year study on the health of organic dairy cows compared with non-organic.
Spread the Word
As our readers, you are well aware of the value of products such as those produced by Organic Valley. The best possible advertising these products can receive right now is word of mouth, since the small organic farms cannot compete with the giant manufacturers for advertising and media coverage. So, spread the word! It’s a “grass-roots” movement in more ways than one.
You can also tell people to watch the “Cows Unite” videos at www.cowsunite.org—or send them over to find out more about Organic Valley and their products at www.organicvalley.coop.
I think this is a great viral marketing campaign they are working on and I think if more and more farms starting doing what organic valley is doing we would be able to reduce methane gasses that are released. And we would be using a lot less pesticides and our cows would live healthier and longer lives.
http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2009/12/cows-unite-for-organic-dairy/
If you happen to read certain milk cartons, you might find “Cows. (We just love ’em.)” And further, “Speaking of cows, we support the goals of those audacious bovines at Cows Unite. You go, girls!” The cartons go on, “Cows Unite!” and direct citizen milk drinkers to visit www.cowsunite.org.
When you visit the website, you find three amazing live-action videos depicting a cow telling her farmer about the rebellion, a monstrous herd of cows staging a breakout from a conventional factory dairy farm, and a cow being interrogated with a lie detector by Dragnet police-types as they try to find out more about the cow rebellion.
The campaign was launched by a familiar name in organic dairy products—Organic Valley—approaching a grim subject with a bit of humor to get the point across. “What we tried to do with that campaign was to take what we consider a very serious topic—grazing and confinement—and present it in a playful and fun way,” Organic Valley chief marketing executive Theresa Marquez told Organic Connections. “And I think that we achieved it.”
Behind the Scenes
The problem being exposed in these humorous spots—and one which Organic Valley is taking great strides in solving—is the treatment of milk cows in today’s factory dairy farms.
When I myself was a child (longer ago than I care to admit), I vividly recall riding through the countryside in the back of my parents’ car, seeing cows grazing on hillsides and in pastures. As time went by and I grew older, it was a sight seen less and less, until today, when it has all but disappeared.
This is because cows in today’s industrial dairy systems are kept closely confined and given cheap corn feed that is laced with antibiotics to prevent the cows from becoming ill in such cramped conditions and spreading disease. Cows are also given growth hormones as well as hormones to cause them to reproduce.
What have also disappeared are the small, family-owned creameries that used to help support the small farmer. “There used to be a sweet little system of small farmers who brought their milk into the local creamery, and the creamery made milk, butter, cream and other products,” Marquez explained. “The whole system is not in existence anymore. Almost all of the small creameries have closed. The small farms have been replaced by big confinement farms that have five, eight or twelve thousand cows. It’s a lot easier to back up a big milk truck with a tap on it and just fill it at one farm and take it away to a giant plant. We’ve moved from this model of truly local product to huge farms and huge production.”
Going Organic
In stark contrast, the biggest farm in the Organic Valley co-op is a thousand cows—and according to Marquez, that one “kind of crept up on us.” Small farms are the company’s focus.
Interestingly, Organic Valley has its roots in a nationwide farming crisis.
“In 1988, the price of milk bottomed out,” Marquez recounted. “Thousands of farmers lost their livelihoods, and a bunch of farmers in Wisconsin looked at each other and said, ‘Well, seems like we’re going out of business. What can we do?’”
At the time, there was no organic milk, so the farmers decided to try producing organic dairy products. The interesting thing was some of them were halfway there. “Out of necessity, a lot of them were already practically organic,” said Marquez. “They couldn’t afford pesticides and a lot of the ‘tools’ used in conventional farming.”
Even though the farmers themselves were very suspicious of cooperatives, having been burned by them in the past, they decided to form one—although it was structured differently. The primary difference was that the cooperative would not change the price of milk unless the farmers were involved. “We do not dictate our pricing to the farmers,” said Marquez. “We, the management, with the farmers, determine what the pay price is. In this way, we’ve been able to hold to a good, strong pay price and keep them alive, farming.” Hence the mission of Organic Valley is multi-fold: to not only bring extremely high quality diary products to the consumer but protect rural communities and farming in the United States.
Thus was formed the first co-op that eventually became Organic Valley. While Organic Valley is the brand name, the organization of co-op farmers who produce the company’s products is called CROPP (an abbreviation for Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools).
“We pool the products in a region,” Marquez said. “Each region elects a representative, and that representative becomes part of our Diary Executives Committee. We have 60 pools around the United States, so we have 60 people who gather every month with the CEO. All our farmers are very, very involved.”
The Organic Valley Model
Strict requirements are maintained for Organic Valley farmers. Cows must be pastured, grass fed, and not given antibiotics, hormones or other chemicals regularly found in factory farms. These requirements are audited by Organic Valley themselves through representatives who regularly visit farms, check for cows in pasture, and inspect the animals for health. The farms are also audited for the National Organic Program by a qualified USDA-accredited certification organization.
The company has a team of veterinarians as well that assist farmers in making the transition to fully organic, healthy cows. Once they make that transition, the cows become quite strong. “A lot of these vets are amazed to see just how healthy organic cows are,” Marquez related. “One of our vets told me a story about running into a farmer he hadn’t seen in a couple years, and having thought the farmer had perhaps been using another vet. ‘No,’ the farmer told him, ‘I haven’t traded vets. I just haven’t needed you!’ You hear that a lot. Organic cows are very healthy.”
In addition to providing much healthier milk, organic cows also emit fewer harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. “If you feed cows a larger percentage of what are called oily grasses—such as flax and alfalfa—they burp less,” Marquez explained. “A huge percentage of methane gas comes from burping, and we have recently discovered that cows eating these grasses burp 50 percent less.”
The cows, in fact, are so healthy that the USDA recently awarded Organic Valley, in conjunction with some other organizations, $1.2 million to conduct a formal three-year study on the health of organic dairy cows compared with non-organic.
Spread the Word
As our readers, you are well aware of the value of products such as those produced by Organic Valley. The best possible advertising these products can receive right now is word of mouth, since the small organic farms cannot compete with the giant manufacturers for advertising and media coverage. So, spread the word! It’s a “grass-roots” movement in more ways than one.
You can also tell people to watch the “Cows Unite” videos at www.cowsunite.org—or send them over to find out more about Organic Valley and their products at www.organicvalley.coop.
I think this is a great viral marketing campaign they are working on and I think if more and more farms starting doing what organic valley is doing we would be able to reduce methane gasses that are released. And we would be using a lot less pesticides and our cows would live healthier and longer lives.
So far so good!
So far I've been doing fairly well with the commitments I made to live more sustainably!
My first was to turn off lights and unplug things. I've been turning off my powerstrips when I'm gone all day and unplugging lamps/chargers/electronics. I've been quite proud of myself for remembering to do this for the most part. Hopefully my power bill will even go down this month! win win!
My second was to take advantage of the bus system more often. Now I've been riding it to school but I still haven't taken advantage of it for my internship in Everett unfortunately. But I am going to see if I can work it out to try it next week! Hopefully I can do it!
As for buying more local and organic foods I've been doing better! I bought organic milk and organic veggies this week which was hard because they were more expensive but I knew it was worth it in the end. I haven't needed to buy any meat in the last week so that hasn't come up as an issue.
My last one was to use less water. I've been taking much shorter showers which has been great and also haven't done as much laundry as I was doing before.
All in all I think I still have more work to do but I'm off to a great start!
My first was to turn off lights and unplug things. I've been turning off my powerstrips when I'm gone all day and unplugging lamps/chargers/electronics. I've been quite proud of myself for remembering to do this for the most part. Hopefully my power bill will even go down this month! win win!
My second was to take advantage of the bus system more often. Now I've been riding it to school but I still haven't taken advantage of it for my internship in Everett unfortunately. But I am going to see if I can work it out to try it next week! Hopefully I can do it!
As for buying more local and organic foods I've been doing better! I bought organic milk and organic veggies this week which was hard because they were more expensive but I knew it was worth it in the end. I haven't needed to buy any meat in the last week so that hasn't come up as an issue.
My last one was to use less water. I've been taking much shorter showers which has been great and also haven't done as much laundry as I was doing before.
All in all I think I still have more work to do but I'm off to a great start!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Green food choice may not be so green
Green food choice may not be so green
... I was definitely surprised by this article and thought that if people were vegan or vegetarian it would affect things more than this. Hmmm.... makes me think.... maybe if we just bought local meats and produce instead that would help more than not eating meat at all??? Just something to ponder....
ScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2010) — If everyone became vegan and so ate only fruit and vegetables, then the reduction in greenhouse emissions for the whole of food consumption would be a mere 7%. The widespread adoption of vegetarianism would have even less impact, while organic food production actually leads to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Those are the conclusions of a research paper published in the journal Progress in Industrial Ecology.
Helmi Risku-Norja and Sirpa Kurppa of MTT Agrifood Research Finland, working with Juha Helenius of the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, have determined that the cultivation of soil for whatever purpose, whether growing crops or raising livestock is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions in food production, not fertiliser production, animal husbandry, nor agricultural energy requirements.
The team explains that for current average food consumption, in Finland, emissions from soil represent 62% of the total emissions. Greenhouses gases released by cows and sheep account for 24%, and energy consumption and fertiliser manufacture about 8% each. The greenhouse emissions performance for extensive organic production is poor, they explain, despite this approach to farming being considered the "green" option, the lower efficiency requires the cultivation of greater areas of soil, which counteracts many of the benefits.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through food consumption would require large-scale changes among the entire population, the team points out. They suggest that rather than stressing the impact of an individual citizen's dietary choices, we should be paying more attention to social learning and to the notion of working towards food sustainability and security. In general, sustainable consumption might be possible by introducing services to substitute for material consumption. Although food itself cannot be substituted, a lot can be done at the household level to improve sustainability of food provisioning and reduce food wastage.
"There is a pressing need to design effective policy measures," says Risku-Norja. "Consumer information is important from the viewpoint of food and sustainability education, leading eventually to adopting more sustainable lifestyles in the coming generations," the team concludes.
... I was definitely surprised by this article and thought that if people were vegan or vegetarian it would affect things more than this. Hmmm.... makes me think.... maybe if we just bought local meats and produce instead that would help more than not eating meat at all??? Just something to ponder....
Monday, April 5, 2010
4.3 earths??? No more!
When I first took the global footprint quiz I found out that if everyone lived the way I do it would take 4.3 earths to support us! CRAZY! I never thought it would be that high. My energy land was extremely high so hopefully that will be something I will be able to reduce.
I felt as though this test may have been set up to give a baseline given the location, the US is already set up for failure on this quiz in a sense. I think another reason why it was so high was because I have flown a lot lately given that I went abroad and have been going on trips.
Overall I think there are somethings I can do to reduce my footprint.
1. Turn off lights and unplug things when I am not using them.
- My ihome, phone charger, camera charger and so many other things are constantly plugged in even when I'm not using them. It would be really easy to just simply unplug them.
2. Take advantage of the bus system more often.
- I just started an internship in Everett and so far have been driving each day. I could try to take the bus more often.
- I live very close to the park and ride, most days when its cold or raining I drive to the park and ride instead of walking. I will try to walk to the park and ride more often instead of driving.
3. Buy more local/organic foods
- I don't eat red meats but I do eat a fair amount of chicken and turkey. I will try to reduce my intake and when I do eat these I will try to buy more local goods.
- I will try to buy more locally grown fruits and vegetables.
- I eat a lot of dairy products... I LOVE my milk and cheese! But I will try to buy more organic products.
4. Use less water
- I will try to take shorter showers.
- Do laundry less often. I do laundry a lot when its not quite necessary, I could wear things more than once and try to reduce the number of loads I do.
- Also to be sure that the dishwasher is full before I run it.
Hopefully I will be able to stick to these commitments not only this quarter but continuing on, making long term lifestyle changes.
I felt as though this test may have been set up to give a baseline given the location, the US is already set up for failure on this quiz in a sense. I think another reason why it was so high was because I have flown a lot lately given that I went abroad and have been going on trips.
Overall I think there are somethings I can do to reduce my footprint.
1. Turn off lights and unplug things when I am not using them.
- My ihome, phone charger, camera charger and so many other things are constantly plugged in even when I'm not using them. It would be really easy to just simply unplug them.
2. Take advantage of the bus system more often.
- I just started an internship in Everett and so far have been driving each day. I could try to take the bus more often.
- I live very close to the park and ride, most days when its cold or raining I drive to the park and ride instead of walking. I will try to walk to the park and ride more often instead of driving.
3. Buy more local/organic foods
- I don't eat red meats but I do eat a fair amount of chicken and turkey. I will try to reduce my intake and when I do eat these I will try to buy more local goods.
- I will try to buy more locally grown fruits and vegetables.
- I eat a lot of dairy products... I LOVE my milk and cheese! But I will try to buy more organic products.
4. Use less water
- I will try to take shorter showers.
- Do laundry less often. I do laundry a lot when its not quite necessary, I could wear things more than once and try to reduce the number of loads I do.
- Also to be sure that the dishwasher is full before I run it.
Hopefully I will be able to stick to these commitments not only this quarter but continuing on, making long term lifestyle changes.
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