Archive for July, 2008
July 27th, 2008
this isn’t the national enquirer, people. this is the gray lady.
Allegations that granite countertops may emit dangerous levels of radon and radiation have been raised periodically over the past decade, mostly by makers and distributors of competing countertop materials. The Marble Institute of America has said such claims are “ludicrous” because although granite is known to contain uranium and other radioactive materials like thorium and potassium, the amounts in countertops are not enough to pose a health threat.
Indeed, health physicists and radiation experts agree that most granite countertops emit radiation and radon at extremely low levels. They say these emissions are insignificant compared with so-called background radiation that is constantly raining down from outer space or seeping up from the earth’s crust, not to mention emanating from manmade sources like X-rays, luminous watches and smoke detectors.
But with increasing regularity in recent months, the Environmental Protection Agency has been receiving calls from radon inspectors as well as from concerned homeowners about granite countertops with radiation measurements several times above background levels. “We’ve been hearing from people all over the country concerned about high readings,” said Lou Witt, a program analyst with the agency’s Indoor Environments Division.
July 25th, 2008
time did its own article. (and it tipped me off to one woman’s blog. she’s way more serious and committed than i was in a week.)
a few facts stood out for me.
The U.S. produced 28 million tons of plastic waste in 2005 — 27 million tons of which ended up in landfills.
Plastic makes up nearly 12% of our trash, up from 1% in 1960.
July 24th, 2008
for those concerned about plastic baby bottles: a european study finds the level of bisphenol A “safe.”
i know at least one mom who opted for glass bottles because of fears over the potential harmful effects to the human reproductive system. i personally used plastic bottles when i wasn’t nursing. not sure what i’d do given the concerns today.
July 24th, 2008
dear tractenberg & co.,
for years you have sent me press releases to promote products from flip flops to lip gloss. and for years i have dropped the envelopes, unopened, into the circular file. please save your time, energy and paper by no longer mailing me. i work for a local newspaper, not glamour. odds are, i’m not going to write anything about your clients.
i’d e-mail you this request, but you don’t list your web site or e-mail.
sincerely,
jennie pollock (who hasn’t even been the features editor for three years)
i’m dashing off a version of the letter above, in an effort to cut down on junk mail at work. i already saw my junk mail go down at home a while back when i signed up to opt out of credit card offers. (here are way more tips, but this guy says don’t call it junk mail!)
July 23rd, 2008
fellow co-worker and packers fan andy brown tipped me off to this from the green bay press-gazette:
The green and gold is going greener.
The Green Bay Packers plan to buy renewable energy to power Lambeau Field for home games this season, including the annual Family Night event during preseason training Aug. 3 and any postseason play.
The renewable electricity costs about 15 percent more than standard power and is generated by wind turbines and bio-gas facilities in the region.
Team officials say the move announced Tuesday is only part of continuing efforts to make the organization more environmentally friendly.
A new recycling program last year is credited with keeping 6.6 tons of plastic, glass and cardboard out of landfills.
here is the packers’ fact sheet on the plan. it goes deeper than energy and recycling to cover room temperature in suites, employee beverage habit, packaging and water usage.
if the bears are doing this, chicago fans, let me know……
July 23rd, 2008
in the mail this weekend was the newsletter from membersalliance credit union, which loaned me money to buy my car.
in addition to telling me that the bank is recycling and conserving, the front-page story reminded me to sign up for e-statements, with a $100 gas card drawing as the incentive (the green angle there is money, not the environment, obviously).
i’ve been paying most of my bills online for a while, more out of laziness or convenience than a green thing.
July 22nd, 2008
this morning, when i dropped my blush on the floor and it shattered to pieces, instead of getting mad, i got green.
last week at target, i picked up physicians formula “organic wear” blush, which is 100 percent free of “harsh chemicals, parabens and sythetic preservatives.
what surprised me? it also has 93 percent less plastic than a traditional compact. i had been worried about having to buy makeup in my not-buying-plastic-week experiment.
i usually wear this, which was only a buck cheaper at the store. we’ll see how i like the new stuff. my first reaction, and i’m not trying to be cheesy, is that it’s a very natural look.
July 21st, 2008
you might have missed this last week, but dozens of rockford students from third through fifth grades showed off their earth-friendly art and science projects during a performance friday. it capped a week of “camp collage, which had a green theme at riverfront museum park.
what a great free program through rockford dance company, discovery center museum and rockford art museum! see our gallery here.
CHRISTINA N. ELBERS | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
Quintel Beasley, 10, of Rockford sits up and stretches as part of a dance routine during the final student showcase of Camp Collage, which had a theme of “Going Green: Exploring Energy Through Art, Dance and Science” at the Riverfront Museum Park assembly hall Friday.
Abigail Shelton, 10, of Rockford peeks out from under her mask.
July 18th, 2008
we’ve written plenty about the farmers’ markets you can hit this summer (like here, for list, scroll to the bottom, and here and here and here).
here’s a special one: from 9 a.m. to noon saturday, july 26, the pecatonica farmers’ market will set up in the downtown parking lot.
it’s coordinated by the university of illinois extension-winnebago county and the pecatonica improvement association’s second annual car show. if the market is successful, maybe it could turn weekly next year.
for more info, call the extension office at 815-986-4357.
July 17th, 2008
i can’t keep up with every bit of eco-news. but our former veep, al gore, was all over the news today calling for end to carbon-fuel dependence in the next decade.
Gore compared the challenge to establishing Social Security and the Interstate highway system, as well as landing a man on the moon — all successes that took more than a single presidency to accomplish and required members of both political parties to overcome their partisanship.
The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group Gore leads, put the 30-year cost of his plan — both government and private — at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion.
To speed up the transition to new energy sources, Gore said the single most important policy change would be to “tax what we burn, not what we earn,” advocating a tax on carbon dioxide pollution.
you can read his speech here or watch it. i hope you just don’t get “green fatigue” in the “green fog.”
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/idlJDcr669o" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
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