PSFC Environmental Committee

Fracking? It’s in the (Plastic) Bag!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna) — Sun, 05 May 2013 18:19:00 +0000

Our Coop (PSFC) opposes hydraulic fracturing— fracking—in New York State, and for good reasons.

Fracking threatens NYC drinking water and upstate farmers’ ability to grow the healthy, affordable foods PSFC mem- bers have long relied on.

What does this have to do with plastic bags?

Many plastic bags are made from fracked gas! As fracking products, they contribute to the viability of fracking. Increased fracking will bring more frack-made bags. When we gobble up frack-produced consumer goods, we provide the excuse frackers need to expand their activities.

Read more in the recent Environmental Committee Report on page 5 of the Linewaiter's Gazette.

Park Slope Food Coop's Roll Bag Phase Out

noreply@blogger.com (Sensho) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:41:00 +0000

The Environmental Committee of the Park Slope Food Coop is responsible for monitoring and assisting change towards more sustainable environmental practices. It should also provide the fuel which keeps pushing the coop's environmental consciousness "envelope" and continue to set a visible example for coops, stores and our city. It has done this since its founding and we hope will continue to do so. This isn't the whole purpose of the coop, but it's one of it's stated missions.

The Environmental Committee will provide education where needed, and find answers to all the concerns which have been brought forth about the plastic roll bag phase out.

With all of us working together for more real environmental change, we can make it happen, without the coop or its members suffering any ill effects.

Please see the post on this blog about the coop's General Meeting on May 28th and vote to make the coop ever more responsible to the environment and to all of our members' needs.

General Meeting May 28th - Plastic Bag Phase Out Vote

noreply@blogger.com (Jenna) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 18:12:00 +0000

At the General Meeting on Tuesday, May 28, Coop members will be asked to vote on the following proposal:

"To phase out the free distribution of plastic roll bags on the Coop’s shopping floor by 6 months from the date of the GM vote. Shoppers are welcome to reuse plastic bags already taken from the Coop and elsewhere. Environmental Committee and other concerned Coop members will continue to work with our General Coordinators to educate our membership, provide a wider range of light-weight reusable bags for purchase, and determine the most equitable and sustainable adjustments for weighing produce and bulk products."

The Environmental Committee has sponsored this proposal with the support of many concerned Coop members, in ongoing dialogue with our General Coordinators. We welcome the growing awareness and discussion of this issue in the Gazette, at General Meetings and elsewhere, and want everyone to understand the issues at stake.

Our Mission Statement and Environmental Policy commit the Coop to what is known as a “triple bottom line,” or TBL. First introduced in the mid-1990s as an accounting framework to evaluate the sustainability of business ventures, the TBL integrates concern for the “three P’s” of Profits, People, and the Planet.

In other words, the Coop is obligated in its bottom-line impact to balance financial success with social and environmental sustainability.

Read more of this recent Committee Report in The Line Waiter's Gazette (PDF) and join us at the May 28th General Meeting!

The meeting is at Middle School 51, 5th Avenue between 4th and 5th Streets at 7pm.
If you would like to get work slot credit for attending the meeting, please remember to use the signup sheet near the front elevator.

Shout-out to our Fellow PSFC Committees

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 01:42:00 +0000

The Food Coop's Environmental Committee has enjoyed collaborating with other committees. Check out their blogs to learn more about some of the great work they are doing:

The Animal Welfare Committee has only been in existence a short time, but has already surveyed several aisles of the Coop, to determine which products have been tested on animals. Their blog has a listing of their work, plus other useful information.

The GMO Shelf Labelling Committee has been investigating which products on our shelves contain genetically modified ingredients, since US law does not currently require manufacturers to disclose this information. Their blog will keep you up-to-date on the latest in the quest for better labelling laws in this country and more.

Electronics Recycling this Weekend!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:29:00 +0000

Two chances this weekend to recycle your electronics! Sponsored by the Lower East Side Ecology Center, these events let you safely discard unwanted electronics. See a complete list of acceptable items.

Saturday, January 19, 2013 | 10:00am - 4:00pm Flyer Directions

Tekserve, 119 West 23rd Street, Manhattan 10011

Sunday, January 20, 2013 |
10:00am - 4:00pm Flyer Directions

Prospect Park West and 3rd Street, Brooklyn 11215

Can't make it to an event? You can also drop off your e-waste five days per week at the E-waste Warehouse in Gowanus Brooklyn.

Clean water, air and farms in NY State at Risk

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 20:21:00 +0000

The risk to the clean water and produce we enjoy from upstate New York, not to mention the beautiful land itself is at risk from hydrofracking. The time to comment on the latest plans from the NYC DEC is now—the deadline is January 11, 2013. Please don't put it off—every comment helps. The easy-to-use form at the New Yorkers Against Fracking site will help you quickly construct a few comments and send them. Otherwise, New York State may look like this:

Learn more about how hydro-fracking affects the food and water supply, as well as air quality and global warming.

Farms in upstate New York: Photo by Keturah Stickann/John Menier
Fracking image by J. Henry Fair

Azerbaijan Creates Control System for GMO Crops

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 02:45:00 +0000

by Vladislav Vorotnikov21 Dec 2012 Source: http://www.allaboutfeed.net

In December a decision made by the Cabinet of Ministers, has approved the rules for determining the possible dangers posed by genetically modified plants for consumers and the environment in Azerbaijan.

These rules in particular provide the establishment of the Expert Group of the Scientific and Technical Council, who will determine the direction of research into the possible harm of the genetically modified organisms (GMO).

Azerbaijan plans to establish a control system to clarify how dangerous the GMO products are that currently can be found on the markets of human food and animal feed.
According to the document, the research team will be studying the impact of areas planted with GMO crops on the nearby crop plants, the elements of the natural flora, as well as farm animals and wild animals that will be feed with such products. This group will conduct research in the laboratories of state agencies, members of the Scientific and Technical Council, which will develop measures necessary to prevent the possible risk of GMO products.

On the basis of this research the use of GMO products as well as their cultivation and import can be additionally restricted. The representatives of the Consumers Right Protection Organization generally support the initiative.

"Scientists have not fully examined the effects of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in human health. However, experiments in animals have shown to have a negative impact of GM foods, said the chairman of the Free Consumers Union of Azerbaijan Eyyub Huseynov in an interview. He also pointed out that the use of GMO in the country should be banned immediately, before the results of the research is ready. “It is necessary to restrict access to the domestic market of GMO or prevent its occurrence in Azerbaijan until it can be proven that genetically modified products are safe. "

Landfillharmonic

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 06:31:00 +0000

A Brief History of Recycling

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:25:00 +0000

Thanks to Earth911 for this history of recycling infographic. Read the accompanying article to find out more fascinating details.

Letter from Dr. Theo Colburn

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:44:00 +0000

The following letter was sent from Dr. Theo Colburn, who first discovered and coined the phrase "endocrine disruptors." Her Colorado-based non-profit, the the Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), advocates for more widespread information and protection from endocrine disrupting chemicals in our environment.

Dear friends and colleagues,
I recently gave a presentation at a TEDxMidAtlantic event in Washington DC in which I read a letter I sent to the President and First Lady of the United States. In this letter I remind them of the current epidemics of endocrine-related disorders and describe how the laws that were supposed to protect us have let us down. I close with two practical suggestions for the President to take action.

Please take a minute (actually 16 minutes) to view this, and if you agree, share it with everyone you know .

You can also copy the link and paste it in a message directly to the President.

Best wishes for a safe and healthy holiday season,

Theo Colborn

30 Days to Send Your Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 01:23:00 +0000

The following is about protecting our air and water from hydrofracking—please read what Sandra Steingraber has to say and help out by sending your comments to the DEC now:

A note from acclaimed ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber:

I’m writing to recruit you into a writing project I’m doing with Grassroots Environmental Education–and also ask if you will be an ambassador for it. It’s called Thirty Days of Fracking Regs, and it’s a fun-yet-deadly-serious approach to commenting on the newly released, and completely absurd, draft regulations for fracking in New York State.

The story so far: On Nov. 29, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation issued draft regulations to allow fracking in New York. It was a cynical and reckless move—especially because the state’s own limited health review is not even finished, and Governor Cuomo has made no decision yet on whether to permit or prohibit fracking in our state. The effect of the regs release has been to shift public perception toward the conclusion that fracking is on its way, like it or not. (NOT NECESSARILY THE CASE.)

To add insult to injury, we have only until January 11^th to speak out against these regulations as part of an official 30-day public comment period.

The rulebook of proposed regulations is complicated, long, tedious and scary. One of the regs would allow a drill rig to be erected only 500 feet from homes and water wells. Another would allow drilling and fracking operations to tunnel under our rivers and streams. None of them mandate how drillers have to dispose of their toxic waste water, some of which is radioactive. None of the compel the industry to reveal the identity of the fracking chemicals that they are pumping into the ground.

So, we need to flood the DEC with huge numbers of critical comments on huge numbers of mind-numbing regulations during a thirty-day period that falls right in the middle of the holiday season.

It’s the writing assignment from hell. I had to think really hard about how to make it engaging and meaningful for lots of people. I decided it would be far less painful–and generate a lot more comments–if I served this task up as a series of small, daily, meditative writing assignments synced to the various days of the calendar (winter solstice, Advent, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s, Epiphany, etc.).

So, I’m inviting people to compose and send in their thoughts on one reg a day for the next 30 days. I’m doing the hard part–investigating the regs, translating them into everyday language, and providing the scientific context and evidence for each one. And also attaching it to the right date on the holiday calendar, so we can get some lyrical, symbolic resonance going. (Look for the solstice reg to have something to do with darkness and light.)

Click here to go to 30 Days of Fracking Regs and submit your comments to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Dec-16: Pedal Power and Solar Cooking Demo

noreply@blogger.com (Eileen) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Pedal Power and Solar Cooking Demo 

Sunday December 16 • 11am - 2pm 

at the Cortelyou Greenmarket (on the corner of Cortelyou and Argyle)

Sustainable Flatbush brings a fun and delicious twist to being green at the Cortelyou Greenmarket with a demonstration of our Bike Blender and Solar Oven!

Everyone is welcome to join in the fun — using human-powered energy to pedal-puree fresh seasonal ingredients from market vendors for a delicious soup, which we’ll pair with fresh bread, baked using energy from the sun.

Thanks to our sponsor ConEd for making the Bike Blender and Solar Oven Demo possible, and to GrowNYC market manager/chef Samantha Blatteis for providing all the materials, utensils and ingredients for the day's demonstrations. See you at the Greenmarket!

DIY Human Powered Energy

Bike your way to yummy snacks!

Fun for all ages!

Burn calories not fossil fuels!

Fun with the Sun

Bake delicious treats using energy from the sun!

Easy, safe, and friendly to the environment!

Solar Power = Renewable Energy = No Fossil Fuels!

Our Organic Food Threatened by Fracking

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:27:00 +0000

Park Slope Food Coop member Elizabeth Royte has written a new article, "Fracking Our Food Supply" for the Nation. She discusses, among other things, the effects of hydrofrack oil drilling on nearby farms and how that alters the safety of our food supply. Elizabeth interviewed farmers and learned of the increasing and sometimes bizarre illnesses and deaths of farm animals since fracking began in the area.

This article is a must read for all of us, especially our lawmakers who are allowing this to happen. There is just no replacement for the clean air and water in New York State

Solar Sandy

noreply@blogger.com (Judy) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 21:12:00 +0000

Those who erroneously assert that such environmentally friendly power sources as solar are impractical apparently overlooked the kind of conditions found in some coastal NYC neighborhoods since Sandy. After flooding, using electricity from the grid is impossible until all electric has been replaced and approved. This is one situation in which solar can do what grid electricity cannot: simply provide power.

Mobile solar generators provided by the Solar Sandy Project are already helping New Yorkers left without electricity by Sandy's flooding. The solar generators, brought in by truck and set up in community gathering places in the Rockaways, Queens, Red Hook, Brooklyn, and Midland Beach, Staten Island, make it possible for people to charge phones, power tools, and laptops, heat food, and run other critical equipment.

At the Solar Sandy Project's website you can see a map of the solar installations, look at photographs, find about about volunteering, or follow links to donate or to reach the organizations that banded together to form the Solar Sandy Project.

photo courtesy of Jason A. Howie, on flickr

E-Waste Recycling in Park Slope

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 22:00:00 +0000

When: December 08, 2012 |
10:00am - 4:00pm

This event will be held rain
or shine.

Where: P.S. 321 located at
180 7th Ave. between 1st & 2nd Streets, Brooklyn, NY 11215

See a list of acceptable materials for recycling.

Electronics are accepted from households, not-for-profit organizations, and small businesses (less than 50 employees, please call ahead). We do not accept home appliances such as microwaves, refrigerators, or air conditioners.

Keep Autumn Leaves Out of Landfills

noreply@blogger.com (Eileen) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Project LeafDrop resumes! Join the effort to keep autumn leaves out of landfills by bringing them to a compost site near you.

Rake your leaves and collect them in clear or paper bags (no branches or trash). Find a garden or other site that is accepting leaves in November and early December on the Project LeafDrop 2012 Map. Each group has its own, unique Project LeafDrop dates and times when they’ll be accepting leaves for composting.

Don’t have leaves to contribute? Volunteer with your local garden on drop-off days. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors, too.

Spread the word at your local library, school, church, arts collective, CSA or BID. For flyer ideas, check out the Printable Flyers and Facebook page.

Our Right to Know GMOs

noreply@blogger.com (Sensho) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:17:00 +0000

This chart, published by Cornucopia Institute, contains interesting information. One can quickly recognize the logos of familiar companies which supported or fought Proposition 37, a California proposition to label GMO-containing foods. This proposition was voted down in the recent election.

We may choose to buy foods from companies who support truth in labeling about GMOs in foods and to make note of which companies were in favor of hiding GMO ingredients.

The Coop has been encouraging us to recognize GMO-containing foods for some time now.

To view the larger version of this chart, click on the image above or download the PDF.

For information on the PSFC GMO Shelf Labeling Committee, please scroll down to Other PSFC Committees on the right and click on their committee name, or click here: GMO Shelf Labeling.

Build it Green

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:42:00 +0000

If you're looking to do some hurrican repairs or more general building/remodeling, consider Build It Green as a source of materials. Build It Green! NYC, is New York City's only non-profit retail outlet for salvaged and surplus building materials. Their warehouse has everything from panel doors to high end refrigerators and shutters to movie props.

Their mission is to keep these materials out of the landfill, while offering deep discounts on their resale. The have over 75 tons of materials on sale at half or below their new prices such as doors, flooring, sinks, bathtubs and toilets, lighting, windows, trim, moulding,cabinets, furniture and much, much more...

Gowanus Center
Temporarily CLOSED due to storm damage
You can volunteer at BIG!NYC-Gowanus for Hurricane Sandy Clean-Up, This Thursday & Saturday from 10am to 5pm!
69 9th St. Brooklyn, NY
718-725-8925
gowanus@bignyc.org

Astoria Center OPEN
3-17 26th Ave. Queens, NY
718-777-0132
astoria@bignyc.org
Open Every Day:
M-F 10-6 & S-S 10-5

Why the Coop Should Stop Providing Free Plastic Bags

noreply@blogger.com (Judy) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:26:00 +0000

When people think about the environment, attention may first turn to such topics as endangered wolves, declining forest acreage, or climate change. Plastic may not even make the list. Yet the Environmental Committee has found that our overuse of disposable plastics constitutes one of the most harmful actions humans take against the environment.

Our awareness of the massive ill effects of plastic use, gained over years and with much research, coupled with discovering how relatively easy it is to change our plastic behavior, drives the Environmental Committee's proposal that the coop stop providing plastic bags on the shopping floor.

Below is a statement of why we, as a cooperative, should stop supplying ourselves with plastic bags for food. The reasons come under four headings: health, environment, social justice, and financial.

The health implications of combining food and plastic result from the leaching of estrogenic chemicals, the most common endocrine disruptors, from almost all plastics, including those marketed as BPA-free. When plastic bags or packaging hold foods, escaping chemicals get into food and eaters.

One study performed a "fresh foods intervention" (participants ate nothing canned, or packaged in plastic), demonstrating a startling reduction in BPA (down 66%) and DEHP (over 50%) in their bodies in just days, confirming that plastic food packaging is a major source of these potentially harmful chemicals.

Estrogenic chemicals produce many health problems , including disturbed reproductive capacity and increased rates of some cancers. Fetuses and the young are most at risk from exposure to estrogenic chemicals. It is known that estrogenic chemicals alter cell structure and function.

The FDA's approach has long been to allow low levels of estrogenic chemicals in foods when a single dose is not considered harmful. Scientists, however, have learned that the effects of these chemicals are cumulative, the but FDA still does not consider cumulative exposure, nor does it consider how interactions of multiple chemical additives affect the body.

Furthermore, the petrochemical industry is not required to disclose ingredients of the plastics that touch our food. And many of the chemical plants that rank high in carcinogenic emissions do plastic recycling or production.

In summary, there are known serious health consequences associated with some ingredients in plastic food packaging. We can't know which chemicals are in which plastics; this information is not disclosed to consumers due to US trade secrets laws.

The environmental devastation caused by our plastic is immense and multi-faceted. Manufacturing disposable plastic, made from non-renewable natural gas and petroleum products, is unsustainable. More plastic was produced in the first decade of this century than in the entire twentieth century; we're drowning in it. Our oceans and wildlife they once "supported are also "drowning" in plastic. Just as plastic has health consequences for humans, the plastic trash clogging the oceans poisons the water and kills wildlife. While a plastic bag will "break down," no longer be a bag, the tiny shreds and bits of plastic continue to exist, leaching and bioaccumulating toxins.

The hope that the environmental havoc caused by plastic can be solved by recycling is misinformed. Glass and metal break down into natural constituents; plastic cannot. Glass and metal thus can be recycled; plastic cannot. The best outcome of so-called plastic "recycling" is re-use plus delaying the inevitable deposit of that plastic into soil or water.

Social injustice as it pertains to plastic means poverty-stricken people with little political clout or financial means are harmed by our indulging our plastic habit. Our overuse of plastic has more concentrated negative effects on people living and working in areas where plastics are manufactured, recycled, or trashed, than it does on others.

In urban dumps in South America, endless mounds stuffed with trashed plastic and food waste, homeless children scavenge for scraps to keep from starving. In plastic recycling yards in Asia, again, children are working amid the chemical stench to turn our plastic bags into some new plastic item. These places, ugly result of our plastic habit, are not safe.

Toxic air, water, and soil, and a high cancer death rate are typical of places like Cancer Alley, LA, where petroleum refineries and manufacturing plants are concentrated. Closer to home, people in the South Bronx, exposed to most of New York's trash and recycling, suffer from some of the highest asthma rates and cancer risks in the city.

The financial benefit to the coop of not providing plastic bags will be annual savings of almost $23,000. The argument that there will be more theft if the Coop phases out the bags doesn't hold up. The Coop, like most retail establishments, already has a theft problem. This needs to be addressed, but plastic bags are not the solution.

Consider also the larger financial picture. Who gains from our plastic habit? Those who extract petroleum products, and the manufacturers/suppliers of plastic. Who loses? Everyone else: those whose food touches plastic, people who live/work in plastic-industry areas, wildlife, the planet.

What, then do we have? Plastic, an unsustainable petroleum product largely unnecessary for food packaging, when manufactured and used in current huge quantities, undermines human health, poisons the environment by releasing toxins into soil, water, and air, kills birds, turtles, and other wildlife, and pollutes oceans, city streets, and indeed the entire planet.

Are these consequences an acceptable cost to pay so that we don't have to remember to carry bags with us when going shopping? Resoundingly, NO.

Please support the Proposal to Phase Out Plastic Bag Rolls, and, if you haven't already, examine and then reduce your own use of "disposable" plastics. The proposal enacted will be a small but meaningful step toward improving our health, our environment, the well-being of people who live or work in plastic producing or recycling areas, and the society we live in.

This article restated the main points supporting the environmental committee's Proposal to Phase Out Plastic Bag Rolls . The article also appeared in the 11/1/12 Gazette.

The People's Food Coop in Ann Arbor

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:32:00 +0000

We’re always curious about how other food coops work. One of our committee members recently visited the People’s Food Coop in
Ann Arbor, Michigan and took some photos.

Established in 1971, the People’s Food Coop (PFC) is almost as old as our own PSFC. The idea for the co-op actually began as a graduate student project. Two students started a buying club as a way for low-income people to get fresh, healthy food. They brought food from the Eastern Market in Detroit and divided it into bags costing $5/week. In 1975 a second PFC location opened, followed by the opening of Wildflour Baking Collective, People’s Produce Co-op, and the Ann Arbor Tofu Collective in 1976, and the People’s Herb and Spice Co-op in summer of 1978, all on the same block. Later these various factions consolidated and grew to an over 6,500 member co-op.

We were especially interested in how the PFC handled bulk items, as that is the most ecological and economical way to sell food. The PFC has a system which allows members to bring their own containers for food to avoid using disposable plastic bags. Since weighing your items in a container adds to the weight, and therefore the cost of the item, the PFC has a Tare weight system which allows you to deduct from the price based on weight. The following pictures shows how they do it:

No worries if you forget to bring your own container—the PFC sells reusable containers in standard sizes:

And there are many options to fill your reusable containers—
for instance, spices:

What else can you buy in bulk there? So many things. . .
This machine (below) lets you make your own peanut butter and pour it into your reusable container:

Honey and maple syrup can be purchased in bulk:

And olive oil and soy sauce:

Maybe our own coop can use some of these ideas to increase our bulk purchasing options!

Reusable Replacements for Tinfoil & Plastic Wrap

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Earth911.com explains how you can reduce your use of aluminum foil and plastic wrap with replaceable options. For instance, did you know you could use a reusable parchment baking mat to bake cookies? Or a reusable mesh crisper for to cook on your oven rack? Or a thermal food wrap to keep cooked food warm and cover? These and other ideas are detailed in their great feature.

Why reduce your use of foil and plastic wrap in the first place? In short, because we use a whole lot if it, and it's often difficult to recycle.

More than 1.3 billion pounds of aluminum foil is produced in the U.S annually. If that doesn't make your head spin, we also use enough plastic wrap every year to shrink-wrap the entire state of Texas.

Aluminum foil is technically 100 percent recyclable. The trouble is that once it's used, your foil is often too soiled with food residue to be recycled without compromising quality - making cutting back on foil when possible even more important.

Like foil, plastic wrap is also recyclable (if it's clean), but many curbside recycling programs do not accept it - which means it's easier to reduce waste if you nix this single-use product altogether.

If you already have some plastic wrap or aluminum foil around the house, make sure it is thoroughly cleaned, and use Earth911 to find a recycling solution near you.

Formaldehyde and You

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 03:40:00 +0000

Nicholas Kristof's column in the 10/7/12 New York Times talked about The Cancer Lobby. He asks us to:

Just consider formaldehyde, which is found in everything from nail polish to kitchen countertops, fabric softeners to carpets. Largely because of its use in building materials, we breathe formaldehyde fumes when we’re inside our homes.

Just one other fact you should know: According to government scientists, it causes cancer.

and then goes on to say:

The [chemical] industry’s strategy is to lobby Congress to cut off money for the Report on Carcinogens, a 500-page consensus document published every two years by the National Institutes of Health, containing the best information about what agents cause cancer. If that sounds like shooting the messenger, well, it is.

The article is well worth reading in it's entirety, but at this point we'll pause to look at which products do contain formaldehyde.,br.

The Environmental Working Group provides a list of household cleaning products containing formaldehyde.
The U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services has a list of even more products containing formaldehyde, including some brands of glue, hair smoothing products, softsoap, cat & dogs shampoos, and more.
Safecosmetics.org has the report, No More Toxic Tub: Getting Contaminants Out of Children's Bath and Personal Care Products, which reveals exactly which baby shampoos, lotions and other products contain formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals.

It's scary to now know that Johnson's Baby Shampoo, for instance, so widely used for decades, contains formaldehyde. Due to the publication of the 2009 No More Toxic Tub report finally agreed, two years later to reformulate its baby products. We need to continue have open and accurate information about the chemicals used in everyday products. The chemical companies should put the millions they spend lobbying to surpress these reports into making safer products.

Making Greywater Pay !

noreply@blogger.com (Sensho) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:41:00 +0000

My apartment didn't really seem expensive. (I live in Sunset Park. Rents are quite a bit more reasonable than Park Slope). Utilities didn't amount to all that much. BUT, after realizing that I wasn't using water then RE-using water, I decided to catch most of the greywater I make and see what happened. The results have been astonishing. And pretty darned easy! And I've saved money and I've saved fresh water.

What is greywater? All the water which I use then let go down the drain. That's greywater. I suppose it's called grey because it's not drinkable after using it - so it's not necessarily clear. That is, dishwater, for one. That's a big one. Then there's the water I can catch easily when I'm washing my hands, taking a shower, etc. That's the idea.

Here are the kitchen/bathroom buckets ready to be filled from the standard dishpan in the kitchen sink. And in the bathroom, the full bucket is ready for use instead of flushing the toilet with fresh water...what's needed for a good flush is simply poured from the bucket into the toilet bowl. In the bathroom sink I use some containers for pouring water instead of running it (because some always seems to go down the drain when I just run water), and another tupperware container in the sink to catch greywater that would be normally lost down the drain. All goes into the big buckets.

The astonishing result is over a 6 month period I have saved over 1200 gallons of fresh water from being used, with that translating into savings in my pocketbook !

Why do I care about doing this? Since most of the world's population doesn't have fresh, clean drinking water, I have the opportunity to save my share of this precious natural resource so I can actively start to change this imbalance. I save money and I'm trying to be thoughtful about the use of what the earth provides us with so generously. I'm pretty sure that water isn't something which we will always be able to count on having, especially in the abundance we seem to have now. I want to add to the solution right now.

I'm not the only person doing this. Europe is way ahead of our country. By law many European cities mandate that greywater systems be built right into new construction. They are making efforts to rebuild with greywater systems added. But you and I can be on the cutting edge of change in our country.

If I can do this, trust me, anybody can!

Upcoming Electronics Recycling Events

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:03:00 +0000

People have been asking about upcoming electronics recycling events in the area. We have a list of upcoming events in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.
Visit the Lower East Side Ecology Center website for additional locations in the 5 boroughs as well as a list of electronics that are accepted for recycling. These events are held rain or shine.

Saturday, October 6 | 10:00am - 4:00pm
Smith Street between President Street and Union Street, Brooklyn

Sunday October 07 | 10:00am - 4:00pm
8th Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets, Brooklyn

Saturday, October 13 | 10:00am - 4:00pm
119 W 23rd Street between 6th & 7th Avenues, Chelsea, Manhattan

Saturday, October 20 | 10:00am - 4:00pm
Cortelyou Road (between Rugby and Marlborough Roads), Brooklyn

Sunday October 21| 10:00am - 4:00pm
PS 29, Baltic Street between Henry Street and Clinton Street, Brooklyn

Living Cheap is the New Green

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I wish I had come up with this great title, but I didn't. It's actually from an article on Mother Nature Network, which caught my eye, because I am interested in living ecologically as well as inexpensively and was glad to see an article about those aims often being one
and the same.

You can read their six basic tips for yourself (and I'm sure Coop readers will be able to come up with many more), but I want to discuss one in particular, #4: Ditch the Disposables.

It makes sense that anything you use once and then throw away would not be a sustainable choice, yet how many of us think of it as a poor economic choice as well? We'll list a few disposables we can do without and invite readers to add more suggestions of
their own:

Paper plates, plastic knives and forks: Even if you don't use these at home, you may be seeing them in the workplace. If so, can you convince the powers-that-be at you place of work to ditch the disposables and stock up with some reusable plates and mugs for people to use, plus encouraging folks to use their own.
Disposable pens: Back in the day there were fountain pens, which got replenished from an ink bottle. The modern mostly disposable pens you can buy in bulk may seem inexpensive, but how much is spent continually buying new ones? There are pens which let you replace the ink cartridge when done--a modern version of the fountain pen.
Paper towels: At about $1+ dollars a roll, these too seem cheap, but how many do each of us use in a year? Reusable rags and clothes are a better option, but if there are some task that you feel do work best with paper towels--get recycled paper. Even if you're not near the Coop, most bodegas and grocery stores stock Marcal paper towels and toilet paper, which are made of 100% recycled paper.
Disposable packaging: When we get prepackaged grains, nuts, tea and other items--we are using the packaging it comes in once and throwing it away. Yes, we can put some of this in our recycling bin, but if you can bring a reusable container to the coop and buy from the bulk bins, you will save money and avoid disposable packaging

Feel free to comment with suggestions of your own.