Eat Real Food Today (and Every Day)

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Eat Real Food Today (and Every Day)

Oct. 24 is the first annual Food Day, which aims to "bring together Americans from all walks of life... to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way."
In 2011, the focus of Food Day is on the simple and profound benefits of eating real food, rather than the highly processed foods that crowd so many supermarkets.
Now those are goals we can get behind.
Sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day is supported by Congressional representatives. And the point of the day goes beyond the personal to the political. Not only do the organizers want to see individuals eat more healthy and pay attention to their own diets, but they want to improve the food system generally. To read and sign the petition they support, visit foodday.org.

Buy Only the Best Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

 

 

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Buy Only the Best Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

via thedailygreen.com article feed on 12/21/11

Compact fluorescent light bulbs have now been around for years, but many homeowners haven't warmed up to them because of their uneven performance. Many bulbs, particularly early on, failed to brighten quickly, and when they did, the light wasn't as warm as the traditional incandescent bulb.

That's too bad, since a good Energy Star-rated bulb will save consumers about $1 a month over its lifetime. (Energy Star bulbs are, in fact, rated or quality as well as efficiency, making them a good choice.)

Halogen light bulbs are more efficient than incandescents, while LEDs are the most efficient and long-lasting of all, but also the most expensive.

So what's a consumer to do? Good Housekeeping has the answer: Its engineers in the Good Housekeeping Research Institute spent months testing light bulbs to find out which efficient bulbs lived up to their packaging claims, gave off a warm light, and brightened quickly. The results are easy to see.

 

 

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How hospitals are righting their environmental wrongs.

How healthy is your hospital? Hospitals are tremendous producers of toxins, including mercury and excess pharmaceuticals, as well as solid and hazardous wastes.

“In healthcare, the footprint we’re leaving behind directly impacts our health,” points out Mary Daubach-Larsen, director of material operations and chairman of the Green LEEDers Task Force at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill.

Many hospitals are taking steps to reduce that footprint.

It’s Easy Being Green

Lutheran General has had great success with the green team model.

A 617-bed teaching, research, and tertiary care hospital and Level 1 trauma center, Lutheran General is one of the largest hospitals in the Chicago area. Under the leadership of Daubach-Larsen, the hospital’s Green LEEDers Task Force has made great strides in several areas, earning Lutheran General a national 2006 Partners in Change award from Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E).

“We’ve been recycling for more than five years,” says Daubach-Larsen. Like most hospitals that make an environmental commitment, Lutheran General began its efforts with guidance from H2E (www.h2e-online.org), a nonprofit group founded by the American Hospital Association, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Health Care Without Harm, and the American Nurses Association.

“H2E’s mission is to green the entire healthcare sector,” says Laura Brannen, executive director of H2E. “We focus on reducing waste, toxic chemicals, and mercury.” An easy and obvious place to start an environmental effort is by reducing the amount of waste your hospital produces.

About the Green Team

An effective hospital green team should include members from multiple departments, to ensure that new environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycling bins for specific waste materials or purchasing “green” cleansers, are taught to all applicable staff and followed by all necessary departments.

“A traditional green team brings together people from a variety of backgrounds,” says Brannen. Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), which made a commitment to environmentally friendly practices in 1996, has an environmental action committee at each of its 40 hospitals.

An easy and obvious place to start an environmental effort is by reducing the amount of waste your hospital produces.

“It makes sense to start with waste and move on from there,” advises Daubach-Larsen of starting a Green Team effort. “H2E offers a waste management template to help you gather data on your waste streams. “Improve your relationship with your waste vendor,” advises Daubach-Larsen. Beyond reducing waste, hospitals can make many environmental improvements—it’s simply a matter of choosing priorities. In addition to waste and recycling, H2E helps hospitals address a wide variety of environmental issues. “We’ve moved on to environmentally friendly purchasing, green building, safer material choices, and energy efficiency,” says Brannen.

One area many green hospitals are beginning to watch closely is their purchasing, including their vendors. “We’re members of a group purchasing company that has green management strategies,” says Daubach-Larsen. “If you’re not designing a green building before you break ground, you’re behind the times,” says Brannen. Save the Environment=Save Money

Are green practices too expensive for some hospitals? “Reducing solid waste and increasing recycling can save money,” she points out. “Our numbers of hazardous waste, or ‘red bag waste,’ are very low compared to other hospitals—it costs more to dispose of this waste.”

Green Hospitalists?

Where do hospitalists and other physicians fit into the green team picture? “There are hospitalists [who] get the relationships between their hospital[s] and the environment,” says Daubach-Larsen. While green team leadership tends to fall on hospital operations staff, physicians can provide tremendous support simply by advocating with hospital leadership. “Executive sponsorship is key,” says Daubach-Larsen. Has your hospital made a commitment to reduce waste or otherwise reduce its footprint on the environment?

How To Go Green At Home

(NaturalNews) Many people are under the impression that it has to cost a lot to go green at home. While fitting solar panels, skylights and LED lights may be an expensive outlay, there are many other ways to go green by simply changing the way you do things around the house.

Most clothing items can be washed in cold water. If you have the space, line drying your laundry will help to reduce your electricity bill substantially.

Unplug any appliances and power tools that are not in regular use. Unfortunately, standard energy saver globes contain mercury, which is highly toxic to people as well as the environment.

When shopping, use reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags. If you do forget to bring your bags from home, see if the store can supply paper bags or even an old produce box to carry your groceries in, instead of plastic bags. When shopping, try to only purchase environmentally friendly cleaning products and laundry detergents. Ensure that the meat purchased is grass-fed and organic, as this will help to support your local farmer instead of the inhumane factory farms.

Fix leaky toilets, taps (faucets) or showerheads. This will save gallons of water annually. Encourage your family to take shorter showers and shallower baths to help save water. Avoid over-watering lawns and plants.So many people want to save the environment by going green at home. For going green use the home base containers. 

For decorating home use no or low volatile organic compounds which are helpful for going green at home. Today many appliances are in market which helps for going green. Water is a main thing which helps our environment. For going green water conservation is also one of the main factors. Another way of going green at home is choose an appliance which has energy star rating. This helps for going green at home.Solar heaters are helpful for us for going green at home. To maintain the car keep the car clean by washing. Washing our cars in our home is a good thing and also it saves money.

The Windows: Windows are an easy fix for the house. Insulation: Another great idea to save money on your energy bill. Solar devices: This is a great way to save money on your energy bill. You can get a solar water heater to heat up water instead of a electric or gas water heater. I hope you learned a few ways to improve your home.