Archive for April, 2009
April 30th, 2009
I’ve stumbled upon the same green tip twice in the past 24 hours: Use a reusable mug for your hot beverage.
First I saw it during my recording of “Parks and Recreation,” which is getting good, BTW. The NBC PSA with “Heroes” guy Masi Oka talks about how many lined, disposable coffee cups could circle the planet 55 times in a year. I can’t find the darn video, but there is this general one…
Then I saw the idea on Ed Begley Jr.’s venture FixingthePlanet.com Fix List.
I keep a reusable mug in my car, just in case. It probably smells like ginger peach tea.
April 30th, 2009
But some people have not heard about the problem in Crestwood, a Chicago suburb found to have secretly pumped water from a contaminated well for more than two decades – to save money. According to the Chicago Tribune:
As village officials were building a national reputation for pinching pennies, and sending out fliers proclaiming Crestwood water was “Good to taste but not to waste!,” state and village records obtained by the newspaper show they secretly were drawing water from a contaminated well, apparently to save money.
Officials kept using the well even though state environmental officials told them at least 22 years ago that dangerous chemicals related to a dry-cleaning solvent had oozed into the water, records show.The village avoided scrutiny by telling state regulators in 1986 that they would get all of their tap water from Lake Michigan, and would use the well only in an emergency. But records show Crestwood kept drawing well water on a routine basis—relying on it for up to 20 percent of the village’s water supply some months.
The well wasn’t shut off for good until December 2007, after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency tested the water for the first time in more than 20 years. The agency found not only that the well was still contaminated but that Crestwood had been piping the water, untreated, to residents.
This week, the EPA has raided Crestwood’s files. It’s not clear whether anyone’s health has been affected by the practice.
April 29th, 2009
Being a business that is built on processing livestock into
consumer-ready meat, I see a great value in consuming locally raised
product. I have the unique perspective in that I do not raise the
animals. I leave that task up to individuals that have dedicated their
lives to that job. Instead, I prefer being the middleman, the company
that converts raw material into a usable product for the consumer. This
allows individuals to consume beef, pork, and lamb raised in Winnebago,
Boone, Ogle, Stephenson and surrounding counties. This also allows me
to provide jobs in the community.
Currently at Eickman’s Processing, we employ twenty-eight individuals
and one state-employed meat inspector. These people are employed
because there is a job to do in converting livestock to meat
products. These jobs are here because people want to consume local
products. They want to know where their meat was raised, what pasture
it stood in and what it was fed. It also allows their product to be
handled and packaged to their specifications.
Also, if you consume local meat products, you are helping more than
just the people doing the processing. For starters, you are helping the
farmers. We need the farmers to produce food, but if they do not get
prices that allow them to continue, they will go out of business. This
is very evident from the price drop of hogs in the middle 90’s. Prices
bottomed out, and a lot of local hog producers stopped producing
hogs. Today, to locate a hog producer in Winnebago County is more
difficult than it was at that time. Having a different market to sell
their products to would have allowed them to have an option to set the
price, instead of their having to take the only price offered to them.
After the farmers, by buying local, you help the businesses that supply
the farmers and processors. We need supplies to run our businesses. If
we can buy the supplies locally, we provide jobs to paper supply
companies, refrigeration repairmen, and accountants to name a few.
Instead of grabbing the package of ground beef out of the grocery
store, think of the impact that your dollars can have if instead you
seek out local ground beef. Your hard-earned dollars will stay local,
provide jobs to your neighbors, and more than likely give you a better
product. The local food directory is a great way start finding local
sources, contacting farmers directly for their product, and keeping the
jobs local.
April 29th, 2009
This came across my desk:
At kidconcoctions.com, John and Danita Thomas have created more than 1,000 safe, enviromentally friendly recipes for duplicating toys like Moon Sand, Silly Putty, Shrinky Dinks, Super Elastic Bubble Plastic, sidewalk chalk and Chia Pets by recycling and using common household ingredients. According to their press release, John and Danita say “almost all of our concoctions cost under $1 to make and many times even exceed the quality of store bought items costing 20 times as much.”
“The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions” has sold more than 4 million copies, and the Ohio parents of four children have appeared on numerous TV shows.
On a related note, someone passed along this site: greentoys.com. Discovery Center Museum and Toys R Us come up as nearby retailers.
April 28th, 2009
Yep, here’s the story. But apparently, the polar bear is still at risk.
April 28th, 2009
Monica Krysztopa, one of the No Idle Zone organizers, reports a few updates since the February launch. Among them:
1. A 20 percent return of pledge forms from parents in District 205. Overall, more than 5,000 pledges have been turned in.
2. About 700 members of the AFSCME Union are signing pledge sheets and presenting them to the Winnebago County Board.
3. Beef-A-Roo will have the NIZ message placed on 20,000 tray liners for the summer!
4. Key Clubs at Auburn, Boylan and Keith are spreading the word about the negative effects of idling to their peers. They are collecting pledge sheets and handing out key tags.
5. Watch for No Idle Zone on an RMTD bus!
April 27th, 2009
In the ocean, that is… This Wall Street Journal article begs the question, since there’s apparently no real way to measure it. Plus it’s not always visible at the Pacific surface.
Some say it is about the size of Quebec, or 600,000 square miles — also described as twice the size of Texas. Others say this expanse of junk swept together by currents is the size of the U.S. — 3.8 million square miles. Or, it could be twice that size.
On a related note, “billionaire eco-warrior” David de Rothschild is supposed to sail this summer across the Pacific in a recycled plastic craft to draw attention to the problem that this mass causes to wildlife.
April 25th, 2009
Maybe you’ve seen “Fast Food Nation” and “Supersize Me” and heard about the upcoming movie “Food Inc.”But what can you do about it? You can register for “Buy Local, Eat Healthy!,” part of U of I Extension’s spring gardening series. Learn about local food sources including U-pick farms, farmer’s markets, roadside stands and your hometown grocer, as well as the best time to buy local to get fruits, vegetables and herbs when at their peak.
The program is through the U of I telenet system with state horticulture educators from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Extension office, 1925 S. Meridian Road, Rockford. Cost is $5. Registration is preferred: go to www.extension.uiuc.edu/winnebago or call 815-986-4357.
P.S. The “Food Inc.” trailer is below…
April 24th, 2009
I was too distracted by the election to pay much attention, honestly, but Winnebago County and the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau are promoting ecotourism: Asking local folks to spend their green at green attractions like Anderson Gardens – a green move because it’s staying close to home.
Enough green for you in that paragraph?
April 24th, 2009
L. Sue Tucker of Rockford, Holly Baker of Machesney Park, Jan Pauly of Rockford, Pat Henninger of Garden Prairie and John Connell of Rockford have won the green City of Rockford reuseable bags. Thanks to the more than two dozen folks who entered.
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