Are you ever astounded by the amount of trash littering the roads near you?

It never – and I do mean never – ceases to amaze me that we live with fellow humans who deem it A-OK to toss trash out their car windows. On the highway, in the neighborhood, by a school, or parked on the beach, these grand citizens of the world have decided that the great outdoors is a suitable container for their garbage.

It was always bad enough with the cigarette butts (which still are tossed by the millions, BTW) but on my daily bike ride I am now seeing beer and soda cans, fast food bags, kleenex tissues, and candy wrappers; you name it, it’s on the side of the road each and every day. Just the other morning we carried back an unopened beer, two empty tall boys, and a plastic 6 pack holder.

Whether they were taught by willfully ignorant parents or it is behavior learned when they had to toss a case of Bud Light Clamato whilst driving their kids home from school, the fact is that all this trash is NOT good for the environment.

Besides being unsightly (and mindblowingly frustrating), this trash doesn’t just disappear on its own one day; rather, it causes all sorts of problems:

• It goes into sewer drains, causing millions of dollars and hundreds of man hours to clean up jammed pipes
• It ends up in a body of water, where fish and birds consume it and get sick or die
• Toxic ingredients in the trash can find its way into groundwater supplies, which then end up coming out of your faucet
• Things like waxed paper cups and cigarette butts can take up to 5 years to degrade, causing problems the entire time

According to Keep America Beautiful, over 51 billion pieces of litter are tossed by the road each year. Doing the math, that’s 6,729 items per mile. Per MILE. Cleanup of this litter costs over $11 billion each year, money that could be better spent on other causes.

Litter causes litter, did you know that? It’s true. The broken window theory states that if environments are kept in bad shape and not cleaned up, vandalism and other issues will increase and make things worse. When litter-ers see litter everywhere, what’s the incentive for them to even stop for one second and stop doing it themselves?

That’s why we need to clean up after our fellow humans. We can bitch about it all we want, but that doesn’t get any trash picked up nor does it change behavior. We have to make the effort to clean things up in hopes that it inspires at least one person to stop throwing trash out the window.

Author David Sedaris, one of my personal favorites, has a new book out titled Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. In it, he details how he spends a good amount of time wandering the countryside near his home in England picking up other people’s trash. In an interview with OUT about the book, he had this to say about his trash pickup:

“I’ve always been pretty clean inside my house, and I just kinda moved it outside. I picked up rubbish today. I think I’ll do it tomorrow. And I did it the day before yesterday. It’s just sort of what I do now.”

This is a guy worth hundreds of millions of dollars who has taken it upon himself to pick up roadside trash because he can’t stand the way it looks. We can all learn something from him. Next time you’re out, pick up some trash. Inspire others to do the same. We can make a difference, but we have to start trying.

Little Boy Picking Up Litter On Roadside image from BigStock.

The Good Human

This giveaway has ended.

Today marks 7 years since I started publishing The Good Human; it’s amazing how time flies. After nearly 2,500 posts, 5 million visitors, and more web hosting and database issues than I care to remember, I still wouldn’t change a thing.

So far it’s been a fun ride and I hope to continue doing it into the foreseeable future, moving away from the same old “green tips” (that get repeated day in and day out on the internet) and into more concrete changes we can all make in our lives. (Hence, the Buy Once series.) But for now, I want to celebrate 7 years of our little community being together by offering one lucky reader a new reusable water bottle.

This particular bottle is from Pura, which some of you may remember I gave away a few of back in February. It’s green (in color), made of 18/8 food-grade stainless steel, and is 100 percent BPA-free, phthalate-free, lead-free, and PVC-free. Pretty good stuff.

So how can you enter to win? It’s simple.

Here are the official rules:

• The giveaway starts now and will be open until Tuesday May 21 2013 at 7am EST (my birthday!). No entries will be accepted after that.
• Leave a comment on this post as to what you would like to see on The Good Human in the future.
• Emailed entries will not be counted — entry by comment on this post only.
• Only one entry per person. Period. Please don’t try to use different email addresses, etc.
• Entries must be from US residents.
• One winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries received and notified via email after the giveaway ends.

See, told you it was simple. Thanks to everyone who reads/subscribes to/visits the site and has helped keep it going for the past 7 years. I truly am humbled by -and appreciative of – all of you. Thank you.

The Good Human

Sherry Medina has done something most of us wish we could do; she blew the whistle on Big Ag’s “liberal and unrestricted application of hazardous chemicals in poultry processing.”

Sick and tired of Monsanto and the Koch brothers? Me too. Thankfully, a new app for iPhone and Android lets you scan product barcodes and trace ownership all the way to its corporate parent – including Koch Industries and Monsanto.

Would you drink recycled sewage turned in to clean water? Thames Water in London is proposing reintroducing treated sewage water into the drinking water supply “to continue providing drinking water and collecting and treating wastewater, in a safe and reliable way, over the next 25 years.” Someday we probably won’t have a choice in this matter.

Someone in the marketing department over at Himalania got a little over-exuberant about pointing out the benefits of their pink sea salt when they included a big fat “Non-GMO Project” icon on their label.

Don’t grab for that bottle of pills just yet! Chances are, for many common ailments, you already have a remedy right in your kitchen. Choose natural over pharmaceutical every chance you get!

Think recess is just a small period of time for your kids to run around? It’s much more. New research shows that recess shows widespread benefits, including less bullying, more physical activity, and more time for teaching. It’s not wasted time, it’s actually quite important.

And lastly, a really great story. If you haven’t heard, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries doesn’t want “not so cool” kids or women who wear size large to wear his company’s clothes. Nice, huh? Well, Greg Karber has come up with a funny and creative way to readjust the Abercrombie & Fitch brand – give them to the homeless.

Have a great weekend everyone, stay cool out there.

The Good Human

Everyone needs a good pair of shades, whether to look your coolest or to protect those peepers from sun damage. But what kind you buy and where you buy them from can be the difference between having to replace them every few months or keeping them for years and years.

Most sunglasses are made (very) cheaply in China, India, and Bangladesh, but you do get what you pay for: shoddy materials and workmanship, crappy lenses that don’t protect your eyes, and the resulting piles of discarded sunglasses in landfills everywhere. In addition, your purchase is probably contributing to horrific disasters like the most recent one in a Bangladesh garment factory, where over 1,100 workers died in a building collapse. Workers there made the equivalent of $38 per month so the rest of the world could buy cheaply made, disposable goods.

That needs to change. And thus, this series Buy Once, Buy for Life.

Now, I understand that a pair of sunglasses is probably not going to last you the rest of your life. But the point is that we must start buying quality made, durable goods that are designed to last a long time. Buying ones made here in America is even better, and because I am in the market for a new pair of sunglasses I went looking for brands making them here in the good ole’ USA. This is what I found.

REI stocks Oakley brand sunglasses made in the USA. While I have not been able to confirm that all Oakley glasses sold everywhere are made in the US, the ones REI sells are.

Randolph Engineering sells quality sunglasses, range glasses, and clip-ons all made in America. Built mostly by hand to exacting standards, the company will repair or replace any broken solder joint for the lifetime of the frame (assuming normal use). It also offers free shipping on orders over $50.

Randolph Monterrey

Based in Massachusetts, American Optical Eyewear has been making eyewear since 1826. Glasses can be customized with several different sizes, lens, and frame colors available, and come with a one year warranty.

Shuron Ltd. has been making glasses since 1865 and continues to this day. With tons of different frames available, chances are you can find one that fits you just right.

Gatorz brand sells all sorts of glasses for sporting and leisure activities. It offers a two year warranty for aluminum sunglasses and a one year warranty for plastic sunglasses, covering breakage and defects due to material and/or workmanship.

How about some sunglasses made out of wood? Capital Eyewear based in California handmakes some beautiful sunglasses that I imagine most anyone would be proud to own. Constructed of responsibly-sourced American Hardwoods, wood eyewear helps reduce the sea of junk plastic.

Warby Parker may not be made in the US, but from what I have heard they are quality pieces that come with an added bonus: every order sends a pair of eyeglasses to someone in need. Stylish frames and decent prices included.

The next time you need some, I hope you’ll consider buying quality American made sunglasses. In the long run, it pays to pay a little more now so the things you own will last a while and not end up in a landfill just months after you buy them.

The Good Human

And we wonder why GMO foods and seeds are becoming the de facto standards on farms across the United States…

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Monsanto in the Bowman v. Monsanto case, filed against 75 year old farmer Vernon Bowman from Indiana. Monsanto sued over supposed violations of a patent protection on a type of soybean, stating that Bowman used the company’s GMO seeds without purchasing a license to do so. However, the facts don’t read that straightforward to me.

In 1999, Bowman bought grain in bulk from someone and it was not identified as being Monsanto’s Roundup Ready genetically modified seed. For all he knew, it wasn’t anything other than natural seed. Once he started using the seed, he reproduced them each year and continued to use them over and over again, as farmers are like to do (when they aren’t busy getting sued). Somehow Monsanto found out he was saving and reusing their seed technology and sued Bowman in 2007, stating that he was stealing their technology instead of buying new seeds each year directly from the company.

Cartoon by Joe Mohr

Obviously, Bowman fought the company on this because not only did he buy the seed not knowing it was Roundup Ready but he also bought it second-generation from someone else – and not from Monsanto. In their decision, Justice Elena Kagan said that such a habit could “lead to less incentive for innovation than Congress wanted.” Well, glad we know who’s in charge of what farmers do on their fields.

This company is patenting and trademarking our food supply – the very thing all creatures on earth have been growing and consuming since life began. The U.S. government is protecting them against lawsuits and The Nature Conservancy gladly takes their millions. Monsanto is quickly becoming a corporate owner of our food and our genetics, and no one is seemingly able to stop them. At this point, I am not sure that anyone can. If you want to try to help, check out Millions Against Monsanto.

Bowman must pay nearly $85,000 to Monsanto for infringing on the patent. That’s money that otherwise could be reinvested in his farm and our future. Shame on Monsanto.

The Good Human

Q: I heard that a number of beer brewing companies have banded together to support the Clean Water Act. Can you enlighten?

In April 2013 the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) brought together two dozen nationally respected craft beer brewers to launch the Brewers for Clean Water Campaign, which aims to leverage the economic growth of the craft brewing sector into a powerful voice for bolstering clean water protection in the United States.

“Whether brewers are creating ales, pilsners, porters, wits or stouts, one ingredient must go into every batch: clean water,” says Karen Hobbs, a senior policy analyst at NRDC. “Craft brewers need clean water to make great beer.”

While hops, malt and the brewing process itself are also clearly important, water just may be the secret ingredient that gives a specific beer its distinctive flavor. “Beer is about 90 percent water, making local water supply quality and its characteristics, such as pH and mineral content, critical to beer brewing and the flavor of many classic brews,” reports NRDC. “For example, the unusually soft water of Pilsen, from the Czech Republic, helped create what is considered the original gold standard of pilsner beers. The clarity and hoppiness of England’s finest India Pale Ales, brewed since the 1700s in Burton-on-Trent, result from relatively high levels of calcium in local water.” Brewers can replicate the flavors of beers like these and others by sourcing freshwater with similar features or by starting with neutral water and adding minerals and salts accordingly to bring out certain desired characteristics.

Of course, clean water is essential to more than great-tasting beer. “It’s critical for public health and the health of a wide range of industries,” adds NRDC. “Now our streams, wetlands and water supply need our help. Without strong legal protections, they are under threat from pollution like sewage, agricultural waste, and oil spills.”

The popularity of craft brewers’ “microbrews” in recent years is another reason why NRDC has hitched its clean water wagon to the industry. “Craft brewers are closely tied to their communities with a very real understanding of the impacts bad policy can have on regional water sources,” reports the group. “While the participants in the campaign include brewing operations large and small, all have demonstrated a commitment to sustainability in their operations and beer development.”

By taking part in the campaign, New Belgium, Sierra Nevada, Allagash, Short’s, Temperance, Arbor, DryHop, Finch’s, Revolution, Flossmoor, Cranker’s, Wild Onion, Right Brain, Half Acre, Goose Island and other craft brewers are helping spread the word in a way that hits home with consumers. For its part, NRDC is urging beer lovers (and other concerned environmentalists) to use the form on its website to e-mail the White House encouraging President Obama to finalize guidelines recently created by the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that call for greater protections for streams and wetlands in important headwaters regions from coast to coast. And consumers should be glad to know that for once drinking beer can actually be good for the environment. So bottoms up!

CONTACT: NRDC Brewers for Clean Water.

EarthTalk is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe; Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

The Good Human

Up in Montpelier, Vermont, a move to label food with genetically modified organisms is afoot, as the Vermont House has voted yes on legislation to do just that.

Vermont is widely known as a place full of citizens concerned about the health of the planet, real foods, and healthy living. Thankfully, they have political representatives who also believe in all that, unlike most politicians “representing” the people today. Voted 107 to 37, it passed with whopping support. However, there are some downsides before a law can even be passed…

First of all, the bill exempts food made from animals. Yes, you read that right – dairy and meat are exempt from a GMO law. Sure, vegetables may be free of GMOs if the bill is ever signed into law, but the what is oftentimes the most antibiotic and toxic food will be exempt from the law. How this makes sense, I don’t know. Also, the Senate isn’t going to be debating or voting on this measure until next year, because they were just too busy and they don’t have any more time to deal with it until 2014. Of course, if they would all stop taking vacations for half the year. Down in Washington, in 2013, Congress will end up taking 239 “vacation days” – wish I had that kind of employer that would allow me to do that. Wait a minute… as a taxpayer I am the employer!

While other countries are busy banning GMOs from their foodstuff – Italy, Austria, and France, to name a few – America is busy signing laws that guarantee Monsanto protection against lawsuits from those of who eat food. Vermont, it seems, may be alone in trying to get this law passed for their state, but it may be too little too late by the time the Senate votes on it. By then, Monsanto will probably be in the state trying to sue someone over the issue, and minds will be “changed.”

All we can do is vote with our wallets. Don’t buy GMO foods if you can help it, don’t support companies that use GMOs, and try to grow some of your own food using non-GMO seeds.

The Good Human

A little bit of green news to round out your week…

Price is just one of many factors that needs to be considered, and the old saying is quite often true… You get what you pay for. This is why I run my Buy Once, Buy For Life series here on the site. Most of the time it pays to buy quality, even when it costs more.

Ever want for one-liners to rebut those climate change deniers in your life? Today’s your lucky day, as here are 99 of them ready for your use. My favorite? In response to “It’s a natural cycle” – A natural cycle requires a forcing, and no known forcing exists that fits the fingerprints of observed warming – except anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

In obedience to a demand from Monsanto, the US EPA is proposing to hike the allowed residue limits — yet again — of the herbicide glyphosate in various food and feed crops. The allowed level in teff animal feed will be 100 parts per million (ppm); and in oilseed crops, 40 ppm. Allowed levels in some fruits and vegetables eaten by humans will also rise. Just in case you were wondering how much influence Monsanto has over the government, now you know.

I struggle with the notion that the majority of Americans think that WE (we, as in the collective group of eco-conscious individuals) are burdening them with our “environmental issues”. You and me both, Crystal. It’s sad when that many people actually try to rebut science and facts.

Sustainable agriculture has often been described as a way to grow food in a manner that does not have an adverse effect on the environment, that is healthy for the consumer, the animals and the land on which it is grown/raised, that takes into consideration the health and welfare of the workers, and which supports and gives back to the local community. Sustainable agriculture is not only about conserving, but preserving as well.

Have a fantastic weekend, all!

The Good Human

And Tesla continues their winning streak…

The Model S electric car, manufactured by Tesla and brainchild of Elon Musk, has been awarded a 99 out of 100 score from Consumer Reports. The Tesla Model S is one my favorite cars from the past few years – electric or not – so I was very happy to see them score so well in CR’s testing.

In fact, the 99 out of 100 is the highest score in the car ratings that CR has given. The Tesla’s main competitor – the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid – scored just 57 out of 100. A failing grade if I have ever seen one. Here’s what CR says about the Tesla:

The Tesla rivets your attention from the start. Simply touching the flush aluminum door handles causes them to slide outward, welcoming you inside. With the car-shaped fob in your pocket or purse, a tap of the brake pedal brings the Model S to life. There’s no need to insert a key or press a button. You’re immediately greeted by the glow of a huge 17-inch video display that dominates the center of the dash and allows you to control everything, such as adjusting the suspension’s ride height and setting up a new Slacker Radio channel. And as you dip into the throttle, you experience a silent yet potent surge of power that will make many sports cars weep with envy.

With its hefty 85-kWh lithium-ion battery, our Tesla is easily the most practical electric car we’ve tested. Though the Ford Focus Electric and Nissan Leaf can go about 80 and 75 miles, respectively, before needing a charge, our Model S has been giving us around 200 miles: ample for commuting, running plenty of errands, and still being able to take the long, winding way home.

The Tesla Model S is a zero-emission, full electric car that (depending on the model) can go over 300 miles on a single charge. Imagine what Tesla will be doing with their automobiles in just a few years time if they are already doing this well. I believe that within 10-15 years we will all be driving electric cars capable of meeting nearly all of our transportation needs, with “quick fill up” stations along major highways and byways like gas stations are now. I can’t wait.

[via Autoblog]

The Good Human

Ever feel like the environmental movement is always climbing a hill but will never, ever reach the top?

Our President, who once stated he would do something to help protect the environment, has pretty much dropped that idea by the wayside. The CO2 level in our atmosphere is expected to pass record levels this month, rising above 400 parts per million (ppm), well above the 350 ppm most scientists consider the max it ever should be, and fracking is taking off.

Genetically modified foods are becoming the norm, infiltrating every aspect of our food supply. The government is now protecting Monsanto against lawsuits. Storms are getting stronger, the glaciers are disintegrating at a much faster pace than ever, and sea levels are projected to rise even faster than previously projected.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, it seems like our situation has only gotten more dire. In 43 years, we are going backward – not forward. More pollution, more fossil fuels, less government regulation, more fake food full of toxic ingredients, more long-distance travel by air, more companies willing to destroy the environment in the name of corporate profits, and islands full of plastic waste filling up our oceans. This is not progress.

Why are we okay with destroying our (only) planet?

For being the most intelligent species to ever inhabit this place, we sure are hell-bent on destroying it. What is in our DNA that won’t allow us to see beyond the end of our nose and what we are doing to this place? Is it because we are just not smart enough to believe we have that kind of power?

We do.

That power is in our technology, not in our abilities. If the industrial revolution had never occurred, this wouldn’t be occurring. We created it, we continue to use abuse it, and we continue to make it stronger and even more destructive. “Progress” as it is often called is anything but; we are headed towards an almost certain, very uncomfortable, demise. I won’t be here to experience it, but future generations will. And what will they wonder about us? They’ll wonder why we kept doing the same thing over and over and over again, even in the face of such obvious destruction. Talk about looking stupid.

All the light bulb changing in the world isn’t going to save us; we’re well past that now. Sure, we need to make the small individual changes each and every day. They are still good things to do. But until we force real change, it’s not going to help all that much in the big picture.

So please, make some real change as soon as you can. Don’t worry about which light bulb to buy anymore – we all already know that information, especially anyone reading The Good Human. It’s time to step up your game. Start campaigns, show up at rallies, call out environmental hypocrites in public, elect real leaders, yell from the top of the highest mountain you can get to.

Don’t be afraid

I know many so-called “environmentalists” that won’t raise their voice against organizations like The Nature Conservancy – which has $1.4 billion invested in publicly traded securities, much of it in fossil fuels or the Sustainable Brands group, which counts BASF: The Chemical Company as a platinum sponsor. Instead, they would rather reblog the 1,832 ways to go green than upset some of these groups which buy ads on their sites.

Don’t let that be you

Each week I publicly ask The Nature Conservancy and their CEO Mark Tercek why they take millions of dollars from Monsanto. I haven’t skipped a week in over 3 years, and each time I do it at least one new person sees my question, learns about the partnership, considers it, and maybe even shares it with their readers. I am not afraid of TNC – they should be afraid of all of us, spreading the truth.

Don’t be a greenwasher. This isn’t a drill, this is real life. Somehow, someday, we need to get to the top of that hill and make it over the top, where we start seeing some positives from all of our efforts. If we don’t, well…

Image By ItzaFineDay

The Good Human