A Green Bug (Blog)

Unplugging the Planet

2008-02-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

This simple act has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. As a result, at 8pm March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world�??s major capital cities, including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tel Aviv will unite and switch off for Earth Hour.

For more information visit www.earthhour.org

Please feel free to grab the image above to promote this event.

The poster in Portuguese...

Tap Water Project

2008-01-21T08:35:00.000-08:00

Tap Project Mission Statement

It's our single most bountiful resource. Yet, water is a daily privilege millions take for granted. The little known truth is that lack of clean and accessible drinking water is the second largest worldwide killer of children under five.

To address this situation, a nationwide effort is launching during World Water Week called the Tap Project, a campaign that celebrates the clean and accessible tap water available as an every day privilege to millions, while helping UNICEF provide safe drinking water to children around the world.

The Tap Project.

Beginning Sunday, March 16 through Saturday, March 22, restaurants will invite their customers to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water they would normally get for free. For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days.

As the world's leading children's organization, UNICEF understands the critical role water plays in a child's survival.

Currently, UNICEF provides access to safe water and sanitation facilities while promoting safe hygiene practices in more than 90 countries. By 2015, UNICEF's goal is to reduce the number of people without safe water and basic sanitation by 50 percent.

Learn more about this project right here .

Nonsense and Insensibility

2007-12-31T14:06:00.000-08:00

Twas the day after Christmas', when all through the street,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
Just the sad tree sat there
Awaiting the shredding truck to come
And destroy its branches
Filled with promises of a long life one day...

(Pictures taken on my street on December 26)

Shop dropping: The opposite of shop lifting with an art twist

2007-12-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/em&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;If you can see this, your browser doesn't&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;understand IFRAME. However, we'll still&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="ttp://www.shopdropping.net/pages/menu.html"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;link&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;you to the file.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;em class="examplecode"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Consume until you die!

2007-12-24T08:47:00.001-08:00

from www.letra.org

Too Yellow to be Green

2007-12-19T11:12:00.002-08:00

I couldn't agree more with Barbara Flanagan on the importance of getting educated about the products we consume before thinking we are "green".
Click on picture below to read article.
The story was featured on ID Magazine.

5 Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water

2007-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

(This is a re-post from Light Footstep - got here via No Impact Man Blog)

Written by Chris Baskind

Bottled water is healthy water -- right?

That's what the marketers would have us believe. Just look at the labels or the bottled water ads: deep, pristine pools of spring water; majestic alpine peaks; healthy, active people gulping down icy bottled water between biking in the park and a trip to the yoga studio.

In reality, bottled water is just water. That fact isn't stopping people from buying a lot of it. Estimates variously place worldwide bottled water sales at between $50 and $100 billion each year, with the market expanding at the startling annual rate of 7 percent.

Bottled water is big business. But in terms of sustainability, bottled water is a dry well. It's costly, wasteful, and distracts from the brass ring of public health: the construction and maintenance of safe municipal water systems.

Want some solid reasons to kick the bottled water habit? We've rounded up five to get you started.

Bottled water isn't a good value

Take, for instance, Pepsi's Aquafina or Coca-Cola's Dasani bottled water. Both are sold in 20 ounce sizes and can be purchased from vending machines alongside soft drinks -- and at the same price. Assuming you can find a $1 machine, that works out to 5 cents an ounce. These two brands are essentially filtered tap water, bottled close to their distribution point. Most municipal water costs less than one cent per gallon.

Now consider another widely-sold liquid: gasoline. It has to be pumped out of the ground in the form of crude oil, shipped to a refinery (often halfway across the world), and shipped again to your local filling station.

In the U.S., the average price per gallon is hovering around $3. There are 128 ounces in a gallon, which puts the current price of gasoline at fraction over 2 cents an ounce.

And that's why there's no shortage of companies which want to get into the business. In terms of price versus production cost, bottled water puts Big Oil to shame.

No healthier than tap water
faucet

In theory, bottled water in the United States falls under the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration. In practice, about 70 percent of bottled water never crosses state lines for sale, making it exempt from FDA oversight.

On the other hand, water systems in the developed world are well-regulated. In the U.S., for instance, municipal water falls under the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency, and is regularly inspected for bacteria and toxic chemicals. Want to know how your community scores? Check out the Environmental Working Group's National Tap Water Database.

While public safety groups correctly point out that many municipal water systems are aging and there remain hundreds of chemical contaminants for which no standards have been established, there's very little empirical evidence which suggests bottled water is any cleaner or better for you than its tap equivalent.

Bottled water means garbage

Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. According to Food and Water Watch [ http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled ], that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce. And while the plastic used to bottle beverages is of high quality and in demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are simply thrown away.

That assumes empty bottles actually make it to a garbage can. Plastic waste is now at such a volume that vast eddies of current-bound plastic trash now spin endlessly in the world's major oceans. This represents a great risk to marine life, killing birds and fish which mistake our garbage for food.

Thanks to its slow decay rate, the vast majority of all plastics ever produced still exist ... somewhere.

Bottled water means less attention to public systems

Many people drink bottled water because they don't like the taste of their local tap water, or because they question its safety.

This is like running around with a slow leak in your tire, topping it off every few days rather than taking it to be patched. Only the very affluent can afford to switch their water consumption to bottled sources. Once distanced from public systems, these consumers have little incentive to support bond issues and other methods of upgrading municipal water treatment.

There's plenty of need. In California, for example, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated the requirement of $17.5 billion in improvements to the state's drinking water infrastructure as recently as 2005. In the same year, the state lost 222 million gallons of drinkable water to leaky pipes.

The corporatization of water

In the documentary film Thirst, authors Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman demonstrated the rapid worldwide privatization of municipal water supplies, and the effect these purchases are having on local economies.

Water is being called the "Blue Gold" of the 21st century. Thanks to increasing urbanization and population, shifting climates, and industrial pollution, fresh water is becoming humanity's most precious resource.

Multinational corporations are stepping in to purchase groundwater and distribution rights wherever they can, and the bottled water industry is an important component in their drive to commoditize what many feel is a basic human right: the access to safe and affordable water.

What can you do?

There's a simple alternative to bottled water: buy a stainless steel thermos, and use it. Don't like the way your local tap water tastes? Inexpensive carbon filters will turn most tap water sparking fresh at a fraction of bottled water's cost.

Consider taking Food and Water Watch's No Bottled Water Pledge. Conserve water wherever possible, and stay on top of local water issues.

Want to know more? Start with the Sierra Club's fact sheet on bottled water.

Bottoms up!

Image credit: Wikimedia

Respect Your Mother

2007-04-16T09:08:00.001-07:00

Restaurants start shutting off tap to bottled water

2007-04-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

By Shirley Dang, MEDIANEWS STAFF

Article Last Updated: 04/04/2007 11:06:06 AM PDT

IN creating Incanto restaurant and wine bar, owner Mark Pastore painstakingly rendered his vision of fine Italian dining.

Florentine sheet music, inked onto parchment from the 16th century, hangs from the archways. Super-Tuscan vintages that cost $275 a bottle line the wooden racks of his climate-controlled cellar. Diners can feast on porchetta di testa, or pork head, with shaved radish and pecorino.

What Pastore does not offer: a single drop of San Pellegrino, Santa Lucia or any other bottled water, regardless of provenance.

When it opened in 2002, the San Francisco restaurant became the first in the country to consciously ban packaged water for conservation reasons.

Pastore said the decision sprang from his belief in gustatory authenticity that happens to go hand-in-hand with environmental stewardship.

"I just think it's the right thing to do," said Pastore. "I thought it was kind of foolish to put water in bottles and ship it around the world."

This spring, Chez Panisse in Berkeley will join the small cluster of Bay Area restaurants like Incanto, NoPa in San Francisco and Poggio in Sausalito that have completely traded in bottles for tap.

Shipping glass bottles of European spring water across the Atlantic to American restaurants pollutes the air and oceans, environmentalists say.

And domestic water in plastic bottles, the kind most purchased by the average American, may pose an even greater environmental threat: landfill ...

ElectroSensitivity

2007-04-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in the past called Electrical Oversensitivity and today sometimes Electrical Hypersensitivity (EHS), it is a fairly new phenomenon, the first cases and discussions came to public knowledge in the early seventies in the 'west'. The old USSR and satellite states were much quicker off the mark and saw weapons potential in so-called 'radiowave sickness'. They even bombarded the Moscow American Embassy with invisible rays during the cold war, some of the statistics of ilnesses therein are now publicly available. It became recognised as a source of concern in Sweden where FEB, their Association for the Electrosensitive, started in 1987.
EMFs

At its simplest, electrical sensitivity or electrical hypersensitivity is a chronic illness triggered by exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). They in turn are fields/waves of energy emitted by all electrical sources including power lines, electric home and office appliances (VDUs, computers, TVs,) motors, wall wiring, electrical substations, transformers and radio/radar/microwave transmitters such as mobile phones and masts. A minority of the population are believed to be affected by electromagnetic radiation (EMR) between 3% and 7% in one survey, 13.5% in another and yet other estimates range up to 35% of the population showing some indications of electro-stress.None of this should be surprising as we are perhaps the most exqusitely sensitive electronic equipment on the planet, while we are alive that is, with death our own personal brain and nervous system electrical circuitry ceases functioning. It is now how we define death, 'brain function has ceased', that is there is no more electrical activity detectable. Outside electrical currents easily interfere with our interior ones, they interrupt our own signalling processes just like interference on your TV or radio receiver.

Its that simple, logical and undeniable. But big companies hire clever scientists and even doctors, especially psychiatrists to confuse the media and all of us in order to safeguard their vast profits, they stack commitees, withold grants from universities and pay relatively small sums out of vast profits to protect themselves at our expense. This is the nature of politics and power in this twenty-first century, no different from the Medici of old Florence or the robber-barons of the railroads of the early USA. Massive fortunes wrestle to defeat opponents while little people get hurt and crushed. Only a fair society, democratic government and truthful science and medicine will protect us, like our freedom to organise this charity for our own defence. Read more

[Source:ElectroSensitivity-UK]

March 22nd is 'World Water Day"

2007-03-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

'Coping with Water Scarcity' is the theme for World Water Day 2007, which is celebrated each year on 22 March. This year's theme highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources, both at international and local levels.

Equity and rights, cultural and ethical issues are essential to be addressed when dealing with limited water resources. Imbalances between availability and demand, the degradation of groundwater and surface water quality, intersectoral competition, interregional and international disputes, all center around the question of how to cope with scarce water resources.

The theme was decided among all members of UN Water at the World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2006. FAO acts as coordinator, on behalf of all the UN Agencies and Programmes members of UN-Water for the celebration of World Water Day 2007. It is assisted by the Secretariat for UN-Water, which is based at UN DESA in New York, and which is serving as point of contact within the UN system for freshwater-related issues.

Please visit the UN Water web site, and the UN Water for Life Decade web site for the latest information on UN freshwater programmes.

Visit the World Water Day website to learn more.

Donate Your Unwanted Shoes

2007-03-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

You know those shoes that sit in your closet just occupying space? Yes, those shoes that you NEVER wear. They can make a difference in the lives of people in places such as,Mexico, Venezuela,Ecuador,Guatemala,Honduras, The Dominican Republic,Haiti,Brazil,Uganda,Sudan,Romania,and The United States.
Watch the clip below and learn how.

Packing 100 Pairs of Shoes
By Paul Wilson, as told to Christopher Elliott
Published: March 20, 2007
Delivering shoes to people in the developing world proves to be an adventurous, and sometimes dangerous, job. Read more

For more information, please visit www.soles4souls.org

The Year Without Toilet Paper

2007-03-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

[The New York Times - By PENELOPE GREEN Published: March 22, 2007]

DINNER was the usual affair on Thursday night in Apartment 9F in an elegant prewar on Lower Fifth Avenue. There was shredded cabbage with fruit-scrap vinegar; mashed parsnips and yellow carrots with local butter and fresh thyme; a terrific frittata; then homemade yogurt with honey and thyme tea, eaten under the greenish flickering light cast by two beeswax candles and a fluorescent bulb.

A sour odor hovered oh-so-slightly in the air, the faint tang, not wholly unpleasant, that is the mark of the home composter. Isabella Beavan, age 2, staggered around the neo-Modern furniture -- the Eames chairs, the brown velvet couch, the Lucite lamps and the steel cafe table upon which dinner was set -- her silhouette greatly amplified by her organic cotton diapers in their enormous boiled-wool, snap-front cover.

A visitor avoided the bathroom because she knew she would find no toilet paper there. Read more...

Dispoable Utensils - Some Alternatives

2007-03-10T07:55:00.001-08:00

Some Facts on Disposables

970 thousand tons of paper cups and plates were discarded in 2003 (EPA). If, we approximate 15 grams weight for each cup or plate, we get 64 billion paper cups and plates being thrown away every year in USA.
730 thousand tons of styrofoam and plastic plates and cups (710 thousand tons were styrofoam) were disposed in 2003 (EPA). Using 10 grams weight for each cup or plate, we get 73 billion mostly styrofoam cups and plates being thrown away every year in USA.
According to EPA statistics, a total of 3,810 thousand tons of plastic containers & bottles were thrown away in 2003. Using a generous number of 20 grams for each container, we get a number of 190 billion plastic containers & bottles being landfilled or incinerated every year.
The above numbers do not include trash bags, grocery bags and other plastic materials like trays, utensils, clam shells, caps and other plastic packaging. A total of 8000 thousand tons of these items were discarded in 2003.
Why biocompostables?
Plastic and styrofoam disposables made from petroleum based chemicals & additives. Petroleum is not only becoming an increasingly scarce resource, but it causes pollution and toxicity every step of its use - extraction, transportation (e.g. oil spills), refining and eventual production of the end use product. In addition the end use products made of styrofoam and plastic do not degrade and persist in the environment for hundred of years, causing further pollution and toxicity.

Paper disposables on the other hand are made from "virgin" wood fiber, which comes from our steadily depleting forests. Forests provide invaluable ecosystem services in maintaining biodiversity, streams, regulating climate and rainfall etc. and it is quite amazing that even today forests are cut down to be made into disposable paper products with a lifetime use of few minutes or seconds.

Biodegradable and compostable food service and packaging disposables provide a sustainable alternative to the styrofoam, plastic and paper products as they are made from readily renewable sources like sugarcane fiber, corn and potato, take less energy to manufacture, are not made from toxic or pollution causing sources and can be composted to reduce the amount of waste generated. They can also help reduce waste collection bills in counties and cities, which have a food waste/green waste pickup.

Sugarcane fiber(bagasse) and Bioplastics - plastics made from corn, potato or other annually renewable sources are the two main sources of biodegradable food service and packaging disposables. Fiber waste remaining after extraction of the juice from the sugarcane is molded at high pressure & temperature into plates, bowls, cups, take out containers, trays etc., while starch from corn, potato, tapioca, soybeans etc. is used to make products which are traditionally made from plastic and styrofoam such as disposable eating utensils, bags, cold cups, drinking straws, etc.

We like to point out that, though using biocompostables is a step towards better environmental sustainability, it is not a solution to our throw-away culture. The use of biocompostables disposables does not in any way discourage use or change the mind-set of using disposable products. Furthermore, even biocompostables (specially bioplastics) may take a long time to biodegrade in landfills.

We strongly advocate using non-disposable products as much as possible and hope that counties and cities will pass regulations to tax use of disposable products and as well as their disposal to limit their use and disposal.

---You can shop for sugar cane and corn utensils at http://www.worldcentric.org/store/index.htm

[Source: worldcentric.org ]

Counteracting Smoking Effects with Physical Activities

2007-03-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

New studies revealed that smokers who exercise are less likely to develop a serious lung ailment common to this group, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The article appears in the March issue of The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

For the study, Dr. Judith Garcia Aymerich of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona,
Spain, and her colleagues followed the health of 6,800 people, smokers and nonsmokers, over 11 years. Of these, 928 developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , which killed more than 10,000 Americans in 2003, the researchers said.

The study found that among the smokers, the disease occurred about 20 percent less in those who reported moderate or high level of exercise.

The study concludes that "regular physical activity could counteract the smoking effects through an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanism."

[Source: The New York Times - Science Times]

Dance Power

2007-03-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

We all know that we, human beings, can create energy. It's better not to take this fact for granted because the future of our planet may reside there.

A group of Dutch people proved that this idea can be turned into reality by creating an itinerant nightclub. The project includes rain water powered bathrooms, 'chameleon walls' that change colors due to body heat reactions, and wind powered fans to air out the environment. At the bar, of course, you can buy organic beer.

But that is not all! The club electicity is generated by the dance floor. While club goers shake their bodies to the sound of a DJ, a floor system captures the energy generated by the movement on the dance floor, sending it to a generator that transforms movement into electricity used to power club equipment.

Considering that a night club, when open 3 times a week, uses 150 times more energy than a household, this can be a significant amount of energy.

The concept is based on a simple physics equation:mechanical energy generates electric energy, or in other words energy creates energy.

With every step we take we leave energy behind. We can't reuse it all the time, but there is simple things to do to leave lighter footprints on the planet. For example, use the stairs instead of the elevator, bike instead of drive,
use a manual juicer, and let go of the electric blender. It saves you $ and the planet will thank you!

[Source: Vida Simples Magazine]

Smile, you look 10 lb thinner!

2007-02-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

HP has a relatively new camera with a built in slimming feature. The camera is supposed to take off 10 pounds withouth forcing you to gnaw on celery.

How does it work? With a few clicks on the camera, it makes what is often complicated on a personal computer with special software.

The cameras range in price from $149 to $350.

Are these fat-busting cameras merely democratizing the tricks that fashion photographers have used for years, or are they one more sign of self-delusion in our image obsessed society?

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T15:03:00.000-08:00

NorthThe world's richest people (20%) consumes 80% of the planet resources.

South

Post translated from Apocalipse Motorizado
Photos (unknown author)suggested by Inácio Guerberoff

Kids With High IQs Grow Up to Be Vegetarians

2006-12-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

As a child's IQ rises, his taste for meat in adulthood declines, a new study suggests.

British researchers have found that children's IQ predicts their likelihood of becoming vegetarians as young adults -- lowering their risk for cardiovascular disease in the process. The finding could explain the link between smarts and better health, the investigators say.

"Brighter people tend to have healthier dietary habits," concluded lead author Catharine Gale, a senior research fellow at the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre of the University of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital.

Recent studies suggest that vegetarianism may be associated with lower cholesterol, reduced risk of obesity and heart disease. This might explain why children with high IQs tend to have a lower risk of heart disease in later life.

The report is published in the Dec. 15 online edition of the British Medical Journal.

"We know from other studies that brighter children tend to behave in a healthier fashion as adults -- they're less likely to smoke, less likely to be overweight, less likely to have high blood pressure and more likely to take strenuous exercise," Gale said. "This study provides further evidence that people with a higher IQ tend to have a healthier lifestyle."

In the study, Gale's team collected data on nearly 8,200 men and women aged 30, whose IQ had been tested when they were 10 years of age.

"Children who scored higher on IQ tests at age 10 were more likely than those who got lower scores to report that they were vegetarian at the age of 30," Gale said.

The researchers found that 4.5 percent of participants were vegetarians. Of these, 2.5 percent were vegan, and 33.6 percent said they were vegetarian but also ate fish or chicken.

There was no difference in IQ score between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarian but who said they ate fish or chicken, the researchers add.

Vegetarians were more likely to be female, of higher social class and better educated, but IQ was still a significant predictor of being vegetarian after adjustment for these factors, Gale said.

"Vegetarian diets are associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk in a number of studies, so these findings suggest that a such a diet may help to explain why children or adolescents with a higher IQ have a lower risk of coronary heart disease as adults," Gale said.

One expert said the findings aren't the whole answer, however.

"This study left many unanswered questions such as: Did the vegetarian children grow up in a household with a vegetarian parent? Were meatless meals regularly served in the household? Were the children eating a primarily vegetarian diet at the age of 10?" said Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

"In addition, we don't know the beliefs or attitudes of the parents of the children, nor do we know if there was a particular event that led these children to becoming vegetarian in their teens or adulthood," Sandon said.

As the study showed, more women than men chose a vegetarian diet, Sandon noted. "Other research shows that women in general will focus more on their health than men. So, if they believe that a vegetarian diet will have health benefits, they are more likely to follow it," she said.

Given these factors, "we cannot draw any solid conclusions from this research," Sandon added.

Another expert agreed that a vegetarian diet is healthy.

"The evidence linking vegetarianism to good health outcomes is very strong," said Dr. David L. Katz, the director of the Prevention Research Center and an associate professor of public health at the Yale University School of Medicine.

"Studies, for example, of vegetarian Seventh-Day Adventists in California suggest that they have lower rates of almost all major chronic diseases, and greater longevity, than their omnivorous counterparts," Katz said. "Evidence is also strong and consistent that greater intelligence, higher education, and loftier social status -- which tend to cluster with one another -- also correlate with good health."

[re-post from Yahoo Health]

Eggs & Flu Vaccines

2006-11-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

Living and learning...
Did you know that all flu vaccines are made using eggs?
Well, they are. Even the nasal spray mist vaccine (FluMist), introduced in 2003, uses them in the production process. Other inoculations, such as the polio vaccine, are produced using cell cultures, but these methods have been adapted for influenza.

Flu vaccines are cultured by making a tiny hole through the egg shell of a chicken egg. The influenza virus is injected, infecting the chick embryo and the surrounding fluid. Several days later, the egg is opened. Its contents are extracted and treated to kill the virus. To make sure the virus is dead, a portion of the liquid is implanted in another egg, which is tested for any sign of virus replication.
On average, one or two eggs are required per immunization, and the production process uses nearly 100 million eggs per year. Needles to say, intensive egg laying operations have raised serious animal welfare issues.

The method has scientific drawbacks, too. First because the production process is slow, scientists must decide months in advance which virus are likely to circulate the following winter. If they are wrong, the vaccine will be less effective. Second, because the vaccine may contain traces of egg protein, people with egg allergies can react to the vaccine as they would to eating eggs.

[source: Neal Barnard, MD, interview to Vegetarian Times]

It is easy being green

2006-11-04T06:38:00.000-08:00

By HEIDI S. MITCHELL

Just a few years ago, 'eco-resort' referred mainly to crunchy retreats in places like Costa Rica where even the cat's leftovers were composted. But with 'sustainability' now a buzzword in nearly every industry, green is becoming the new normal in luxury hotels. According to the International Ecotourism Society, the eco-tourism category grew three times faster than the industry as a whole in 2004. Marketers attribute the growth to a group they call 'metrospirituals' -- hybrid-driving, yoga-practicing baby- and echo-boomers for whom social responsibility and seeking out new adventures are a way of life.

While progressively more luxurious eco-resorts have been opening in early-adopting regions, the boom is currently spreading to more surprising destinations -- like megapolluting Brazil. "Anyone with any feeling for the world is going green," says the cult interior designer Anouska Hempel, who is at work on Warapuru, a lavish eco-resort set to open next year on Brazil's north coast; made entirely of locally sourced materials, it will have customized spa treatments using native plants (www.warapuru.com).

China -- home to the world's 10 most polluted cities -- gets its first fully sustainable five-star eco-resort next month with Crosswaters Ecolodge (011-86-0752-7693-666; www.crosswaters.com.cn; doubles from $280); guests in this Guangdong retreat will visit a Keija tribal village and sleep in bamboo aeries. In the Western Ghats of India, the New York architect Steven Harris has broken ground on the 3,000-acre Shilim Eco-Resort, where many rooms will have private bathing gardens with infinity pools. And in developing Mozambique, Guludo Beach Lodge recently opened in Quirimbas National Park: nine tented oceanfront suites by the London architects Cullum & Nightingale (www.bespokeexperience.com doubles from $235).

Closer to home, the Orchard Garden Hotel opens next month in San Francisco (888-717-2881; www.theorchardgardenhotel.com; doubles from $149), the first urban hotel in America to earn the United States Green Building Council�??s LEED certification. In the Caribbean region, Ritz-Carlton is trailblazing with the uber-luxe West Caicos Reserve in the Turks and Caicos, where roads won't have tar, and vegetation won't be disrupted beyond three feet of the buildings.

No doubt surging energy costs and media attention to climate change are powering this Al Gore effect. For developers, the bottom line helps, too. "Once eco-friendly systems are paid down," says Christina Koch, the editor of Eco-structure magazine, "these buildings are not paying for electricity. It's cost-effective."

The take-away for travelers: guilt-free luxury. "If eco-lodges were the vegans of the industry, this new breed is vegetarian," says Hitesh Mehta from EDSA, the architects behind Crosswaters. Meat-free, but with a Michelin-star chef.

The Energy Diet

2006-10-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

By ANDREW POSTMAN

I'VE tried to be responsible.

I've thought pro-green thoughts and occasionally even done pro-green things. I've run the dishwasher and washer-dryer only with full loads. I've recycled, as ordered, though like every New Yorker I've ever met, I suspect the system does more good for our feelings than for the environment. I've shaved while showering, although I can't remember anymore whether that�??s a good or a bad thing.

I've been too busy to do much more, though, and too confused and overwhelmed by all the eco hype out there, and too inflexible to seriously change my lifestyle. No way am I hanging clothes out to dry on a clothesline. I won't drive more slowly - as President Bush, like past presidents, has urged Americans to do to save gas - and neither will you, and neither will anyone. And I recently bought a flat-screen high-def 37--nch TV, an energy-Hoover you'll have to pry from my cold, dead hands; if you haven't seen an N.F.L. game on something like that, my friend, you might as well watch curling.

But the morning after I saw Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," I was spurred to action. I bought 50 compact fluorescent light bulbs - 50 - intent on replacing every incandescent one in my home. The new bulbs were supposed to be 67 percent more efficient and last up to 15 times longer. Unfortunately, the ones I bought also cast a considerably colder light, so I aborted my plan after just two bulbs when I realized the quality of light they emitted reminded me of a bus station bathroom.

In the weeks since, I dispatched the six cartons of unused C.F.L.'s to the basement, and my guilt grew alarmingly. As the father of three very young children, I had to do something - but something I would actually follow through with, something that would take minimal effort. Then, two weeks ago, while eating a doughnut and watching the scintillatingly clear images of Mets and Yankees scampering across my TV screen, I saw what I needed to do.

Flipping channels, I came across the news that Bill Clinton's Global Initiative had just ended with Richard Branson, the British mogul, pledging $3 billion to fight climate change over the next decade. On another channel, Mayor Bloomberg stood at a podium in California and announced, to my pride and delight, his sweeping eco-initiative for New York: the city�??s carbon emissions would be measured, an Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability would be created. Meanwhile, the man standing next to him, Governor Schwarzenegger, was set to sign legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for his state - the world's 12th largest contributor of such gases - at a level the federal government had continually rejected. Everyone was chipping in, even Arnold, the first civilian ever to drive a Hummer. I took another bite of doughnut.

And that�??s when it came to me. I should go on a diet.

A half-ton diet.

I knew, having taken the "Calculate Your Impact" survey on climatecrisis.net, the companion Web site for the Gore movie, that our household produced some 19,100 pounds of CO2 last year, 4,100 pounds more than the national average. (The concept of a "pound" of gas is a nebulous one - depending on the pressure and temperature, it can fill a thimble or a stadium - so maybe it�??s best portrayed this way: one pound of CO2 is what's released per each mile driven, or each mile flown per person; it's what's produced to heat five gallons of water.)

For easier math, I rounded my number to 20,000 pounds, or 10 tons. As a family, as a household, couldn't we drop a half-ton, a mere 5 percent of our weight? That's 10 pounds for a 200-pounder to lose, 6 for a 120-pounder.

Absolutely. It was a goal, one I could stick to. Ambitious as it sounded, it was, amazingly, not excessive. I could keep living generally the way I wanted. I gave myself eight hours, no more, to lose the weight. In a world where texting passes for conversation and hooking up for a relationship, perhaps I'd just defined the new activism. Very little pain, not insignificant gain.

Mindy Pennybacker, the editor of The Green Guide and thegreenguide.com, was also enthusiastic about my plan. "Americans have too much weight in many ways, so it's a metaphor that makes sense," she said when I called her. "If it motivates you because it's familiar and part of your everyday life, that�??s terrific."

"It's all about attitude," said Laurie David, the founder of the Stop Global Warming Web site (stopglobalwarming.org) and a board member of the National Resources Defense Council. "Change one or two things, you end up changing four or five things. You can�??t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Before you know it, you start influencing people around you."

Like most dieters, I cut deals with myself. If you're trying to lose real weight, you vow, say, to give up beer and ice cream but retain your pizza rights. Since I was trying to emit less CO2, I vowed to lower the thermostat at night by one degree - not two, as often recommended by tree-huggers - a tweak I expected none of us would notice. (That saved 79 pounds; each degree equals approximately 315 pounds of CO2; turning it down only at night, for the six colder months, or ¼ times 315). In return? No more guilt over TV size.

Friends I called for suggestions understood my deal-making. Judy said she never used electrical kitchen appliances - "Opening a can is something I'm able to do" - but was still not ready to swap Vaseline for non-petroleum eye-makeup remover. Victoria said she saw a young mother with her baby in some sort of recycled paper diaper that did not look at all absorbent. "My baby is wearing Pampers, probably one of the most wasteful things I do,�?? she said. Then again, as much as she loves S.U.V.'s - the way they feel and handle - she and her husband realized that if they bought one they would be ostracized by half their circle. They bought a station wagon that gets three times the mileage.

I vowed to quit my profligate morning habit of turning on the shower and leaving the bathroom, not returning until several minutes after the water was hot. On the flip side, once I stepped into the shower I was not going to turn the experience into a 60-second spasm of sudsing and rinsing. Two minutes shower going unnecessarily times 2.5 gallons per minute times 365 morning showers times three ounces of CO2 produced per gallon of hot water equals 342 pounds. (My calculations, here and elsewhere, were made with the help of experts at the National Resources Defense Council and The Green Guide, several credible Web sites and a few smart relatives who grew up to be physicists and engineers.)

When washing white loads, I�??d switch from the warm/warm cycle to warm/cold, comfortable that neither I nor my wife would notice the difference. (We didn't.) Sixty-two pounds saved.

Four hundred and eighty-three total pounds, 30 seconds of effort to reprogram the thermostat, two no-brainer decisions. Maybe my diet was riddled with compromises, but it was working.

I found further validation for my lack of rigor. "When people equate efficiency with discomfort and sacrifice - like when Jimmy Carter put on a sweater and encouraged Americans to lower the thermostat - they shy away from it," said Bill Prindle, the deputy director of the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. "A month later they're back to their old ways. We need to ask people to act from their values�?? - meaning fundamentals like "physical security, clothing, food and shelter, including thermal comfort."

I felt certain I could unearth more savings in what Danny Seo, an eco-expert with a TV show, a Sirius radio show and a series of books all titled "Simply Green," described to me as "bad habits we don�??t even realize are bad habits." For example, was it really energy-wiser, as I'd often heard, to leave a light or computer on for the few minutes you're out of the room, rather turning it off and then on again?

"Total myth," Mr. Prindle said. "Actually, I think that's a projection. Because it takes me more work to shut it off, people think, then it must generally require more energy. It�??s like the better-to-leave-the-car-idling theory."

There were other bad habits that were just as easy to break. A friend suggested this quickie: Call retailers to get them to stop sending the print catalogs to which our house had become addicted. I chose 10 - L. L. Bean, Crate & Barrel, J. Crew, Eddie Bauer, Garnet Hill, Design Within Reach, Lands�?? End, Restoration Hardware, Hammacher Schlemmer and the Company Store. (Originally I'd included Williams-Sonoma, but my wife vetoed that idea.) It took me 22 minutes total to cancel them - eight phone calls and two e-mails. Ninety (the average number of pages) times 12 (number of issues per year we seem to get) times 10 (retailers) equals 10,800 pages. Since my research shows that one tree produces about 25,000 pages of the coated, lower-end virgin paper used in most catalogs, I�??d just saved 43 percent of one tree. One tree produces 260 pounds of oxygen, 43 percent of that is 112 pounds, which converts to 154 pounds of CO2 saved.

Everyone but me seemed to know about "vampires" - those energy suckers plugged into the wall when not in use (toasters, coffeemakers, hair dryers, cellphone chargers), consuming energy in standby mode. The easiest solution? Pull out individual plugs or, particularly for areas near computers and home entertainment equipment with lots of components, plug everything into a power strip (with surge protector) and, when done for the night or weekend, flip off the illuminated switch. Doing that would save me about 115 pounds annually on the computer, about 200 pounds on the TV, DVD and VCR. (Cable and satellite boxes draw huge amounts of energy, but turning them off may result in considerable reboot delays. I'm not going to turn mine off every night, but I might when I go on vacation.)

My boys and I drove to Lowe's for surge protectors as well as a thermal insulating blanket for our 75-gallon hot-water heater; wrapping it, every expert I spoke with told me, significantly reduces the massive heat loss, especially in winter. (Newer water heaters tend to have higher levels of insulation built in.) The largest blanket they carried, though, was for a 60-gallon tank, and a check of their Web site (and, later, of Home Depot�??s site) showed no blanket for a tank our size. Forget it, then; this was the lazy man�??s diet: minimum effort.

What would you be willing -- or not willing -- to give up in order to lessen your household's impact on the environment?

On our way to the cashier, we passed an aisle with motion sensors, and I remembered my brother had them in his bathrooms, where they shut off the lights soon after people left. They seemed an easy enough item to buy and install. I called my brother, Marc. "Be honest,�??"I said. "Will there be re-wiring?" My brother, an astrophysicist, said no, there wouldn't be; then something to the effect that, unless I was too stupid to remove a light switch plate and put another one on, I was fully capable.

"Wait," I said. "Why does anyone need a motion sensor in their bathroom? Don�??t people turn the light on when they go in and turn it off when they leave?"

"Ah,�??"he said. "You don�??t have teenagers yet."

Scratch the motion sensors, at least for six more years.

I was now up to 952 pounds, more than 90 percent of the way to my goal. Okay; I was ready to turn back to the C.F.L.�??s. I decided I could tolerate the cool white ones in two places only: our outside vestibule (60 watts replaced with 13 watts, with the same number of lumens, or brightness), and one overhead fixture in my office (75 watts replaced with 19), where its effect was neutralized by incandescent track lighting. They were lights that were on much more often than most. Together, they would save me, annually, about 300 pounds in 20 minutes, including shopping time.

Three hundred pounds. No typo. Two bulbs.

I wasn't done, though - soon but not yet. I learned from Laurie David of Stop Global Warming that it makes almost no sense to rinse dishes in very hot water when they're going into a dishwasher to be rinsed in even hotter water. I would hereby skip that step, plus I'd also hand-wash dirty dishes created after 10 o'clock (no real chore since I find it relaxing). Should buy us two loads weekly, down to four instead of six - or 200 pounds saved for the year.

And I would have to give up my screensaver habit, much as I loved images of my children floating across my line of sight while I thought up sentences. In screensaver mode, my computer still draws a lot of power, according to David Goldstein, the energy program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He advised that by changing my settings so that the computer and display both go to sleep when inactive for 10 minutes (as opposed to my original setting of three hours), I would save about 250 pounds annually. It took me 30 seconds to click on the Apple icon, then"System Preferences," then "Energy Saver."

Seventeen hundred pounds dropped in 68 minutes �?? a little more than one of the eight hours I'd allowed for. All that would be required of me in the future was 10 seconds nightly to shut off two power strip switches and five to 10 minutes, every now and then, of pleasant dishwashing.

I ought to be done with it now - even if my numbers were a bit off, I'd blown past my goal, a dangerous thing to do early in a diet. But maybe Ms. David is right: make one change, soon you're ready to make three. Maybe one day soon I'll be ready to change a whole floor's worth of light bulbs; I learned after buying my 50 bulbs that it�??s possible to find C.F.L.�??s that cast a warm glow, and the Green Guide�??s helpful light bulb product report suggests that C.F.L.�??s have been improving. Danny Seo says that Ikea carries lighting fixtures that handsomely mask the shortcomings of C.F.L.'s, with tinted glass or a strip of wood veneer. Maybe we'll replace a roll or six of virgin toilet paper with post-consumer waste napkins - maybe. This is all I'm willing to do right now. Don�??t look for me to carpool at elevators.

Then again, I can't help but wonder how much I might accomplish if I actually put in more effort than a garden slug. I'm intrigued by what a friend, an architect, told me: That if just one teensy change were made to New York City - if all black roofs were painted white or silver, a simple, surprisingly inexpensive fix �?? the financial and energy savings would be jaw-dropping, not to mention that it would severely reduce the possibility of blackouts and brownouts. Relatively meager effort, monster bang for the buck.

So, like, I don't know, maybe some weekend soon we all just get brushes and roof paint, fan out across the city, and just do it and get it over with? And afterward everyone comes by my place to watch the World Series on my big old flat-screen?

The Statutes of Man (A Permanent Act of Law)

2006-09-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

...because life with poetry has a sweeter taste!

Article I.

It is decreed

that life now has value,

that truth now has value,

and that offering our hands

we will all work

for true life.

Article II.

It is decreed

that all the days of the week,

including the grayest of Tuesdays,

have the right to become

Sunday mornings.

Article III.

It is decreed that,

from this very instant,

there will be sunflowers in all the windows,

that the sunflowers have the right

to open within the shadow;

and that the windows must remain open

all day for the green

where hope grows.

Article IV:

It is decreed that man

never more will need

to doubt man.

That man will trust in man

as the palm tree trusts in the wind,

as the wind trusts in the air,

as the air trusts in the blue field

of the sky.

Man will trust in man

as a child trusts in another child.

Article V.

It is decreed that men will be free from the yoke of lies.

Nevermore will it be necessary to use

the shield of silence

or the armor of words.

Man shall sit at the table

with a clear gaze,

for the truth will be served

before dessert.

Article VI.

It is established,

for ten centuries,

the practice dreamed by the prophet Isaías,

and the wolf and the sheep will graze together

and the food of both will taste of dawn.

Article VII.

By irrevocable decree,

the everlasting kingdom

of justice and clarity

is hereby established.

And joy will be a generous flag

forever raised

In the soul of the people.

Article VIII.

It is decreed

that the greatest pain

has always been and always will be

not being able to give love

to whom you love,

knowing that it's water

Who gives the plant

the miracle of the flower.

Article IX.

It is hereby permitted

that the daily bread

have in man the sign of his sweat.

But above all

that it always have

The warm taste

of tenderness.

Article X.

It is hereby permitted

to any person,

At any hour of life,

The use of the white dress.

Article XI.

It is decreed,

by definition,

that man

is an animal who loves,

and that for that reason is beautiful,

much more beautiful

than the morning star.

Article XII.

It is decreed that nothing

will be obligatory or banned.

Everything will be permitted,

even playing with rhinoceroses

and walking in the afternoons

with an immense begonia in the lapel.

Only one thing is prohibited:

to love without love.

Article XIII.

It is decreed that money

nevermore will be able to buy the sun

of future mornings.

Expelled from the great coffer of fear,

money will be transformed

into a fraternal sword

in order to defend the right to sing

and the feast of the day that dawned.

Final Article

It is hereby forbidden

to use the word Freedom,

which will be excised from the dictionaries

and the treacherous swamp of mouths.

From this moment on

freedom will be something alive and transparent,

like fire or a river,

or like a seed of wheat

and its dwelling will forever be

the heart of man.

Thiago de Mello

Complete the cycle - buy recycled products!

2006-09-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Most eco-savvy folks know that the recycling industry faces a problem - while recycling efforts are increasing, the market for these materials is not developing at the same rate. Enter Recycline and the Preserve brand - a fresh line of home goods made from recycled polypropylene (that's #5) plastic. So now, those containers you keep throwing in the recycling bin are seeing new life. What's more - Preserve products are designed to be recycled yet again - they turn their used toothbrush and razor handles into plastic lumber (like you see in picnic tables and park benches). They even provide a postage-paid mailer to send back used Preserve products.

Recycline also has a partnership with Stonyfield Farms. Stonyfield offers their customers the chance to send their clean, used yogurt cups back to be recycled, if facilities don't exist in the customer's region. Stonyfield has their cups ground into pellets and it is the plastic pellets that Recycline uses to melt and mold into the handles of their Preserve Toothbrushes, Tongue Cleaners and Preserve Razors.

You may send CLEAN Stonyfield Farm yogurt containers directly to Stonyfield Farm at:

Stonyfield Farm
Attn: Yogurt Recycling Program
10 Burton Drive
Londonderry, NH 03053

You can check Preserve brand products at www.recycline.com.

Techno Yoga with Flora Green

2006-09-25T12:26:00.000-07:00