White House Announces Greener Easter Egg Roll

The White House announced last week that this year’s Easter Egg Roll will be more environmentally friendly!  It will feature eggs made in the USA from wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The FSC is a non-profit organization who’s mission is “to promote responsible management of the world’s forests.”  It was created in 1994 to promote the vision of sustainable development established by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.  This year’s Egg Roll will also feature greener packaging made from paperboard certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The packaging “uses no wood fibers from controversial sources” and the printed egg carton can be recycled.  It is also decorated with vegetable oil-based inks and water-based coatings.  The eggs are given to children 12 years and younger chosen at random through an online lottery system.  This year’s Egg Roll will take place on April 25 on the south lawn of the White House.  The theme is “Get Up and Go” and will feature activities that will encourage kids to lead active and healthy lives.  Thoughts?

HOME EFFICIENCY IS NO JOKE

April 1, 2011

Happy April 1st! This is one of our favorite months of the year. Not because we like pulling April Fool's Day jokes (although that's fun too) but because this month heralds the return of spring, the return of warm weather... and the return of Earth Day.

If you haven't already, circle April 22nd on your calendar. That's the day when the entire world comes together to celebrate greener living and a more healthy environment. 

Wondering how to celebrate? Start with small changes. The US EPA has a great program called "Pick 5" that lets you choose 5 simple solutions to improve the environment around you.

Here are some easy recommendations that you can start today to reduce the environmental impact of your home and (incidentally) save you a few dollars on your energy costs:

Tune Up Your HVAC Unit

Your heater has been working overtime this winter and your air conditioner has not been used much - both of which can lead to inefficient systems that bleed energy. April is a great time to schedule an HVAC tuneup to make sure your house's most critical system is performing at peak performance. An HVAC tune-up generally costs less than $100 and takes under an hour to complete - what better investment to make in your home? Email us for some contacts we have of licensed AC repair companies.  

Recycle Your Rainwater

Gardeners around the US are getting ready to open up their planting seasons, but whether you have a green thumb or a landscaper on speed dial, you might not be looking forward to your water bill if this summer is a hot one. Rainwater harvesting systems are a good way to replace your demand for water from your municipality against the water that drops for free from the sky. Recycling rainwater into landscaping not only improves your curb appeal, it reduces the energy drag on city resources to provide potable water. Rainwater barrels are available through our web sites, or you can have an aesthetically and environmentally system installed.  Contact us to discuss options.

Look at a Geothermal System

Geothermal heating and cooling is the ultimate in efficiency - you simply let the earth do the work! We recently talked to a great customer who grew up in Europe where he reported that geothermal systems were hugely popular, although they're just catching on here. The reason? A well-installed geothermal system can regulate the temperature of your house and reduce gas or electrical consumption by up to 70%. Since there are many high-return tax credits and incentives from the goverment and local utilities to install a geothermal system, April may be the time to make the leap to better home efficiency.

We're looking forward to Earth Day and can't wait to see you there!

Bottle Village

Beginning construction in 1956 at age 60, and working until 1981, Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey transformed her 1/3 acre lot into Bottle Village, an otherworld of shrines, wishing wells, walkways, random constructions, plus 15 life size structures all made from found objects placed in mortar. The name "Bottle Village" comes from the structures themselves - made of tens of thousands of bottles unearthed via daily visits to the dump.

Appearances aside, Bottle Village began as a practical need to build a structure to store her pencil collection (which eventually numbered 17,000) and a bottle wall to keep away the smell and dust of the adjacent turkey farm. However, it was her ability to have fun and infuse wit and whimsy into what she made, which over time became the essence of Bottle Village.

Food Sustainability

For decades, Americans believed that we had the world's healthiest and safest diet. We worried little about this diet's effect on the environment or on the lives of the animals (or even the workers) it relies upon. Nor did we worry about its ability to endure — that is, its sustainability.

That didn't mean all was well. And we've come to recognize that our diet is unhealthful and unsafe. Many food production workers labor in difficult, even deplorable, conditions, and animals are produced as if they were widgets. It would be hard to devise a more wasteful, damaging, unsustainable system.

Read the complete article here: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/a-food-manifesto/1149594

Lawn Pesticides and Us.

While the professional lawn care industry rakes in annual sales of $1.5-2 billion, we have received an increasing number of phone calls from people requesting information about these services. Many of the questions asked are similar in nature, revealing common misconceptions that are rampant among the public regarding the use of lawn care pesticides. Listed below are a few of these questions, along with the answers. We hope this will arm you, the consumer, with enough information to make informed choices about protecting the health of your family while properly caring for your lawn.

Companies keep telling me that the chemicals they use are registered with the EPA. Is this registration a guarantee that the products are safe?

Any pesticide legally used in this country must be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This registration does not constitute an approval rating or safety claim of any sort -- nor does it guarantee that the chemicals have been fully tested for environmental and human health effects. In fact, of the 36 most commonly used lawn care pesticides registered before 1984, only one has been fully tested and evaluated - sulfur. Health effects of these 36 lawn pesticides show that: 14 are probable or possible carcinogens, 15 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 24 with neurotoxicity, 22 with liver or kidney damage, and 34 are sensitizers and/or irritants. A child in a household using home and garden pesticides is 6.5 times more likely to develop leukemia than in a home that does not. Obviously, EPA approval is not a guarantee of safety; in fact, EPA believes that no pesticide can ever be considered perfectly "safe." Additionally, the U.S. General Accounting Office, and the New York and Pennsylvania Attorneys General have charged various companies with misleading advertising and prohibited safety claims.

If these products aren't safe, why have they been registered?

Pesticides are, by their very nature, poisons. The federal law governing pesticide use relies on a risk-benefit statute, which allows the use of pesticides with known hazards based on the judgment that various levels of risk are acceptable. However, EPA, who performs this risk assessment, assumes that a pesticide would not be marketed if there were no benefits to using it and therefore no risk/benefit analysis is done "up front." Pesticides lacking data on health and environmental effects since 1972 (and in use for much longer) are still registered, although the required toxicity studies have yet to be performed/submitted. Scandals surrounding two pesticide testing laboratories revealed that fraudulent data had been submitted -- data that are still considered valid in the involved pesticides' registrations. And yet, EPA's evaluation process is considered a legitimate indicator of a pesticides' acceptability, continually allowing carcinogens to be deliberately introduced into our environment. But what level of risk could be considered reasonable for a green lawn? Beyond Pesticides believes that the "benefits" of using lawn care pesticides for aesthetic, unnecessary purposes does not outweigh the health risks associated with exposure to these poisons. Their registration is totally unacceptable; a healthy beautiful lawn can be attained without the use of these poisons.

What will You Do in 2011 to be more eco-conscience or a better Steward of the Planet?

What will you do in 2011 to be more earth friendly?

1. Will you use reusable shopping bags when you go shopping?
2. Will you decline paper and plastic at the stores?
3. Will you walk or ride a bike more to and from work?
4. Will you plant a tree?
5. Will you take shorter showers?
6. Will you recycle more?
7. Will you recycle batteries?
8. Will you enjoy nature and take time out for a picnic at a nice park?
9. If you have a house, will you use rain water as your primary irrigation source?
10. Will you install dual flush conversion kits in your toilets?
11. Will you install low GPM water aerators on your sinks and faucets?
12. How will you attempt to lower your power bill and save money?  
13. Eat less Pork, beef, and poultry.  Eat more fish, seafood, eggs, and cheese for protein.
14. Eat Locally grown fruits and vegetables in season.
15. Join a Community Garden.
16. Check out carpooling and ridesharing options.
17. Stop purchasing bottled water.
18. Take part in a bay, estuary, or river cleanup effort.

Sustainability Applies to Our Food Sources and Waste