Advocate of Green

No Matter How Cute Your Tush Is, You Shouldnt Cut Down A Tree To Keep It Clean!!

2009-01-08T15:06:00.007-05:00

I have been away for a very long time and I am sorry to have abandoned you, my loyal readers. Fear not! I am back and better than ever. I can't promise a blog every day, but I promise that whenever I see something notable relating to the environment, I will spread the word.

I was talking to a friend a couple of days ago about recycled toilet paper. We both use it, but were discussing how people seemed to be grossed out by the concept. We decided that people must wrongly think that it is recycled from used toilet paper? I dunno!?!? If anyone can shed some light on this matter, that would be great.

The reality is, recycled TP is made from recycled paper. No, you don't feel like you are wiping your butt with a cloud and a choir of cherubs won't sing when you use it, but you are not cutting down virgin trees in order to flush it right down the toilet. In other words, it gets the job done. Here are some stats I found on recycled TP and how this ONE tiny change can have a big impact:

If every household in America switched out just ONE roll of regular TP for recycled TP, we would:

Save 470,000 trees,
Use 1.2 million cubic feet LESS landfill space
Save about 169 million gallons of water

It is the responsible and right thing to do. I use Seventh Generation and I really like it (pictured above).

Hawaii, THE Better Place?

2008-12-03T16:45:00.003-05:00

Find more photos like this on Planet Better Place

I came across this great article about a newish company called A Better Place, dedicated to installing recharge facilities worldwide which will make owning and driving an electric car feasible thus eliminating our dependence on oil.

They have chosen Hawaii as the first state in which to build these recharging stations. The power they use to recharge the battery is from wind or solar power so that their dependence on oil is ZERO!

They are a company that began in Israel and then spread to Denmark and Australia. The Founder and CEO, Shai Agassi has a blog called The Long Tailpipe.

Check 'em out!

TerraCycle Inc.

2008-11-24T15:19:00.003-05:00

I came across this organization called Terracycle. They take all sorts of trash/recycleables and refilles them with worm compost and sells them to use as plant food. They also have sponsorships for each different item you can send in and you can choose to donate the money you would receive to a school or the Adopt A Classroom project.

My office building doesnt recycle and it pains me to throw away the many water bottles we all collect (we have no water fountain or water cooler so bottled water is really the only option). I have been keeping these bottles under my desk and have accumulated about 100 of them. I just became a member of the bottle brigade and I am awaiting boxed with pre paid UPS labels. All I have to do is fill the boxes with the de-labeled bottles and BAM! I have my leg room back, I am sending the bottles off to be reused AND the proceeds from the bottles are going to help a school. That's what I call efficient & sustainable!!

Also, it looks like this program is in desparate need of a sponsor. If you or your ocmpany would like to do something to really feel proud of, go here

2008-11-10T15:38:00.002-05:00

Al Gore wrote an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times yesterday which included an inspiring 5 point plan for reversing the damage we have done to our Environment which he directed to Barack Obama. I found it motivating and hopeful. Click on the excerpt below to be directed to the full article.

To those who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists around the world, ignore the melting of the north polar ice cap and all of the other apocalyptic warnings from the planet itself, and who roll their eyes at the very mention of this existential threat to the future of the human species, please wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late.

The Carbon Quotient Project

2008-11-10T10:55:00.003-05:00

Goggle is asking people, with innovative ideas regarding the environment, to enter a contest. I am getting all of the details about the contest and also more details about one of the entrants, creators of The Carbon Quotient Project.

This video will give you a 30 second look at what the Carbon Quotient ranking system will offer consumers. It is virtually impossible to know how much environmental cost is attributed to every product you buy (watch the Story of Stuff!). With the Carbon Quotient, you can make informed decisions on products that impact the environment in much the same way that you do when reading calorie labels!

Watch the video, go to the website, and leave comments with any questions you have!

The Sea Turtles Need You!

2008-11-07T11:07:00.007-05:00

It has been said by scientists that we know more about the moon than we do about the wide expanse that is the ocean! Can you believe that? That means that the oceans may offer so many undiscovered opportunities for science and medicine. The problem is, our oceans are in trouble. But it isn't too late to reverse the damage done if we act now.

I have been to the Bahamas. I swam with the dolphins and snorkeled amongst the beautiful sea life. The water is so clear it is will actually take your breath away. It always amazes me when places of such pristine beauty totally take their surroundings for granted.

What would our world be like if we had no coral reefs, if we had no fish or sea animals? We don't want to find out how much that would stink after it is too late! It is imperative that we preserve marine ecosystems now. Australia has made it a priority to restore their oceans and as a result the sea life is regenerating much faster than expected!

Apparently, in the Bahamas, it is completely legal to hunt any sea turtle except one species. As turtles are migratory, and the Bahamas is so close to the US, this is going to affect our marine ecosystems. Sign this petition and tell the government in the Bahamas to enact a law that outlaws the killing of all sea turtles. It is about respecting our environment if we want it to be around for future generations to enjoy!

Adopt A Turkey This Thanksgiving!

2008-11-06T11:09:00.005-05:00

There is a great organization called Farm Sanctuary that advocates for farm animals' living conditions before they become our dinners. It is fact that if an animal is able to roam free and live a happier life, that will positively affect the quality of the meat that they produce. Farm Sanctuary, and all meat eaters, really, had a big win on election night when Prop 2 was passed enacting laws about the treatment of farm animals...Hopefully we are on our way to living a more conscious, animal friendly life style.

This bring me to my next topic...Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The stuffing, the sweet potatoes, the pecan pie...I mean, can anything be better? This is actually my first Thanksgiving since I became a vegetarian and I am eager to see if I am going to miss the turkey. My hunch is that, with the extra stuffing to compensate, I'll be fine.

Farm Sanctuary does an annual Adopt A Turkey Project where for $25 you can adopt a turkey, save it from the slaughter and give it, it's own yummy turkey-friendly Thanksgiving meal (veggies only!). I am NOT trying to turn you vegetarian. It isn't for everyone, and I understand that. What I am saying is, make sure your turkey comes form an organic farm where the turkey's lives aren't compromised in order for us to be able to indulge. Especially since there are alternatives i.e. buying organic!

Some horrible practices are in effect in "turkey factories" which include: de-beaking and de-clawing so the turkies can't peck each other in their tiny, confined spaces. This also makes it impossible for them to control food intake. This procedure is done without anestesia which causes pain, excessive bleeding that leads to infections and often times, death.

They are also genetically altered to grow way faster than is healthy for them. It is said that "If a seven pound [human] baby grew at the same rate that today’s turkey grows, when the baby reaches 18 weeks of age, it would weigh 1,500 pounds.” This can lead to cardiovascular disease and death.

I guess my point is, this Thanksgiving, when we are going over all of the things that we can be thankful for in our lives, let's not take the very meal we are eating for granted. Make the choice to support organic, free-range, turkey farms and then you can have one more thing to feel good about! Make this Thanksgiving a compassionate one for all!

I Was Just Sucked In!

2008-11-05T13:39:00.004-05:00

Upon departing my office building to go grab a salad for lunch, I was stopped by the cheery-est, friendliest, and perkiest Greenpeace canvasser that I just had to stop. After a quick chat about my blog and Bike Stop and her background (she is an environmental activist who spoke before Congress last year!) I became a member. I couldn't say no!

When I was 12, I had a Bat Mitzvah. It is tradition to have a candle lighting ceremony to recognize family members and thank them for their impact on your life and their help in molding you into a productive human being. I, however, used this as a platform to discuss the causes that were important to me. I remember dedicating a candle to Greenpeace, ending world hunger, preserving the rain forest and a few other causes. Its true....I'm a nerd....

And that is why Greenpeace holds a special place in my heart. If you want to become a member visit their website . If we dont support this, and other great organizations like it, they will go bankrupt, as Greenpeace almost did a couple of years ago (more info from the canvasser!). I, for one, am happy that they are still around!!

Guest Blog: What Does 'Going Organic' Mean?

2008-10-31T11:25:00.005-04:00

Hello my favorite environmental advocates! I have recruited a nutritional genius from across the pond. Amanda Miles lives in England and is a Nutritional Therapist. I had a few questions for Amanda on the benefits of eating organic and I thought 'who better to share this with than my favorites Greenies?!?!', so here you go! I will be doing a series of posts with Amanda so hopefully you find this information interesting and informative. Please feel free to leave any of your own questions in the 'comments' that Amanda will address right here!

And without further adieu, Amanda Miles' brilliance:

My organic journey started from a desire to maintain my own health and well-being. The more I thought about it, the more illogical it seemed to eat food that is sprayed with pesticides, which are designed to kill living organisms!

Organic certification means that the food is produced without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Organic farmers encourage crop rotation to produce naturally fertile soil and therefore also support greater diversity in the local environment.Organic certification also prohibits the use of GM crops, which are untested in regards to safety in long term use.

I made a decision to remove all food from my diet that is treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and to remove meat from animals that are routinely treated with drugs and antibiotics … i.e. to ‘go organic’.

After I had changed my food choices to organic, I changed the beauty products I use to more natural alternatives, as the toxic chemicals that are in many products are easily absorbed through your skin. I also changed all the household products we use, to really try to minimize our exposure to unnecessary chemicals.

After eating organic food for some time I started to think more about the global issues associated with food production … was it really right for me to eat organic beans that are flown in from Kenya? How much did I really know about the supermarket’s organic livestock supply chains?

Embracing the organic movement shouldn’t just be about eating organic food that has been air-freighted hundreds of miles from its origin, or being ignorant about the origins of your food; it should be about eating responsibly and with the knowledge that your choices are sustainable.

Green Up Your Holiday Festivities!

2008-10-29T14:23:00.005-04:00

Eco- Libris (one of my favorite organizations) has done it again! They have collaborated on a great book full of green tips for the holidays. It is called Celebrate Green and here's what the authors had to say about why they decided to write this book:

"the reason it's important to green up our celebrations is that holidays and special days are plentiful...holidays and special days don't happen on one day only in one place; they occur throughout the year in homes, schools, and places of work across the globe."

Also, not to mention that greening up your holidays reconnects you with the Earth, makes you grateful for what you have, and what better way is there to recognize this than to make sure your celebration doesn't impact the Earth in a negative way! Being green conscious will also send a great message to the younger generation at our celebrations who will then be able to incorporate these great tips into their future celebrations with their families.

Also, the authors have started a website dedicated to Greening up your Halloween! Perfect timing!

Thanks for the tip Eco Libris! As always, keep 'em comin!

Nice one Charlie Christ: FL Voters, vote YES on Amendment 4!

2008-10-28T10:35:00.005-04:00

Governor Charlie Christ, Governor of Florida, has endorsed Amendment 4 which will help in the conservation of all environmental refuges in Florida. A 60% vote of yes will ensure that the following will happen:

Help preserve lands and waters with permanent conservation easements.

Give incentives to protect wildlife and water resources on private land by granting tax benefits for landowners who choose to preserve their land.

Reduce the need for costly public expenditures for public services such as police, roads and public schools that are required for suburban and exurban development.

Supplement public land protection programs.

This is especially important because the Everglades National Park is deteriorating very rapidly and the State does not have enough money to really preserve it properly. This is resulting in the animal life and some rare plant life also becoming extinct. Click here for additional info on the Everglades deterioration. Having a tax break for all preserved land would help with the expense of upkeeping the natural beauty of Florida's Everglades Park.

I grew up in Florida and would often visit the Everglades with my science class or to go on air boat rides and visit the Miccosukee Indian Tribe reservation. The Everglades is one of the biggest national parks in the country and seeing it disappear would really diminish the quality of life for Floridians.

Follow Gov. Charlie Christ's lead and vote YES on Amendment 4. Do it for the animals!

Green Drinks

2008-10-28T09:47:00.003-04:00

So I just recently learned about this excellent networking event where you can mingle with like minded environment lovers. They are held all over the world and are called "Green Drinks". This is an excellent way to meet people who work for environmental non-profits, have green careers or just plain love recycling! The next one in NYC is November 11th and you bet your sustainable-loving self that I will be there with bells on!! Click the link below to get to the Green Drinks homepage:

I'm Back!

2008-10-27T15:20:00.002-04:00

I'm back after taking a week off from life to attend the CMJ Music Conference last week, in NYC. It was pretty fun and I learned lots of great info.

I will be back to blogging 3-5 times per week tomorrow, so please keep checking back. Also, I went to a FANTASTIC seminar on Green Careers on Saturday. I have a lot of excellent information to share if greening up your career is something that you are interested in.

Stay tuned...

Organic Shmorganic

2008-10-20T10:36:00.004-04:00

We have all heard about the health benefits of buying food that is organic. We know that ingesting pesticides are bad for us, but we still don't make buying organic a priority. Why? Well some people tell me that the cost is prohibitively expensive. That if they bought everything organic, their grocery bill may jump up by $30 or more per week.

Well, if you have to prioritize what foods to buy organic, use this great tool created by the Environmental Working Group. You can print out the below from their website (click the image) so that you can see which foods are rated the highest and lowest in pesticide retention. The idea being that some fruits & veggies are more porous or their fuzz will now allow you to clean them fully, removing all of the bad stuff.

You can keep this conveniently sized organic "how to" in your wallet and the next time you are doing your food shopping, refer to it to do something good for your body!

Bike Stop NYC

2008-10-14T14:01:00.005-04:00

Hello Fellow Cyclists!!

Please click the above logo to fill out a survey I created to help gather information for a start up business I am currently a part of. We are trying to collect data about people who cycle in NYC.

George Soros on Green Investing

2008-10-14T11:46:00.001-04:00

Here is an interview with George Soros discussing how the business of green could serve as the new "motor of the world economy"

Happy Vegetarian Awareness Month!!

2008-10-13T09:33:00.003-04:00

Try to say that 5 times fast!! So October is Vegetarian Awareness Month and I thought I'd blog about it because I am a vegetarian. I became a vegetarian about 9 months ago first cutting out red meats and then chicken and lastly, fish. I still sometimes eat fish but I try not to eat it too much. I have found the most difficult food to cut out, weirdly, to be cured meats. Not that I eat so much proscuitto or sopressata but it is just SO YUMMY! I still find that once in a great while, I will induldge with a bite or two.

In honor of vegetarians everywhere, here are some great reasons to eat meat-free:

• Reduction of the risk of major killers like heart disease, stroke and cancers while cutting exposure to food-borne pathogens.
• Offers a viable answer to feeding the world’s hungry, through more efficient use of grains and other crops.
• Saves animals from suffering in factory farm conditions and from painful slaughter.
• Conservation of vital, but limited freshwater, fertile topsoil and other precious resources.
• Preservation of irreplaceable ecosystems, such as rain forests and other wildlife habitats.
• Mitigation of the ever-expanding environmental pollution of animal agriculture.

Here is an INCREDIBLE vegetarian recipe that I learned last week at the Martha Stewart show. Just watching her prepare it made me hungry for lunch at 10:00am. October is the perfect excuse to put my kitchen skills to work and cook this yummy dish!

Ingredients
Serves 4.

4 large bell peppers
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup crumbled feta (4 ounces)
1/2 cup couscous
4 scallions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
Slice a very thin layer from the base of each bell pepper so they sit flat. Slice off tops just below stem. Discard stems; chop tops, and place in a medium bowl. Remove ribs and seeds from peppers.
To bowl, add beans, feta, couscous, scallion whites, garlic, and oregano. Season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Stuff peppers with bean mixture; place upright in slow cooker. Cover; cook on high, 4 hours.
Sprinkle peppers with scallion greens; serve with lemon wedges.
How easy/yummy does that sound? You can get loads of other great vegetarian recipes at Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Website and also at Care 2 Make A Difference.

Who Woulda Thought?

2008-10-10T11:14:00.008-04:00

So, part of me writing this blog is learning how to approach everyday life tasks in a more green way. Today's topic is washing your car. Now, this is something that I won't have to worry about as long as I live in New York City, but I remember the days when I was a kid washing my parents car in the driveway and letting the water just run...and run....and run from the hose, down the driveway into the road/sewer drains.

If someone would have told me then that washing the cars at home can use between 80-140 gallons of water for each car and the commercial car wash alternative only used 45 gallons, I definitely would have chosen the latter.

BUT, it gets BETTER! I found this great article on how to wash your car WATERLESS! No excuses! We can all do this one!! Check it out. They pose some great questions for us to ponder:

I guess we are not off the hook so easily, because even 45 gallons of water to wash one car seems like a waste of this precious resource, especially because that 45 gallons is becoming highly polluted. Besides, how many car washes do you know that use a “green” detergent? The story gets even worse if you choose the waxing option. And how much energy does it take to wash one car? Some in the industry are making strides in using sustainable energy, but such places are still hard to find.

It also goes on to describe how fund raiser car washes can be "green". Give your local high schools an extra challenge and raise awareness about water conservation while raising money for their band trip, or whatever their cause may be.

You can also follow their easy recipe using everyday products to make your own non-abrasive concoction.

Winging It Waterless Car Wash
½ to 1½ cup baking soda (non-abrasive cleanser)
½ teaspoon jojoba (liquid wax)
½ teaspoon liquid castile soap or vegetable-based green detergent
2 teaspoons water

Or, purchase one of these no-water-car-cleaners for your home. Next time your car is looking dingy, make sure to take the water conservation route and help save the environment WHILE cleaning your pimp mobile.

Click the pictures below to find out more info about the products:

ABC won't air this ad!

2008-10-09T14:52:00.003-04:00

ABC recently refused to run We Can Solve The Climate Crisis's "Repower America" ad, even though they run ads from oil companies that mislead the American people about the role fossil fuels play in the climate crisis.

Watch the ad and then sign the petition!

My TV Debut!!!

2008-10-06T10:37:00.003-04:00

Hello Fellow Greenies!!

I am very pleased to announce that on Wednesday, October 8th, I am going to be on the Martha Stewart Show with my book club. We call ourselves the Health and Happiness Club because we read books focused on personal growth and education. We are a very diverse group who have passions for all different things and the best part about interacting with such an eclectic group is learning from each of them!

We have set up a website: Click here

I do a guest blog for this site a couple times a week, usually tied in to the topic of my Advocate of Green blog.

We are scheduled to be on at the very end for a couple of minutes. I am not sure that I am going to be able to give my greenies a shout out but I will try!!

Thanks for the dedicated reading!

For All of My California Readers:

2008-10-03T10:02:00.003-04:00

Man, I'm on fire today! Two posts in one day....maybe I'll make it a record three?!?! Can you stand the excitement?

I saw this cute cartoon with a serious message. For all of my Cali readers: Vote Yes on Prop 2 and give animals that we eat better conditions to live in. It has been said that animals who live a calmer more natural life before slaughter have healthier meat.

And really, isn't it just the right thing to do?

What is Your Candidate's Stance on the Environment?

2008-10-03T09:45:00.003-04:00

The Sierra Club launched a new website called CandidAnswers2008 which tracks candidates from every state, how they voted on previous bills regarding the environment and their answers to a questionnaire on the following topics: Global Warming, Renewable Energy, Nuclear Power, Transportation and Fuel Efficiency. Best of all, you can find out if your candidates even bothered to answer the questionnaire, and if they didn't you have the option to send them an email telling them how you feel about their inaction.

We must make the environment a priority. Altering our way of lives, slightly, now, will mean that future generations won't have to alter theirs dramatically in order to survive.

Click here to visit the website:

Odd Cuties!

2008-10-02T10:32:00.008-04:00

Web-Ecoist did an article on some of the strangest endangered animals and some of the were too cute to not blog about. Most of these animals are endangered purely because of the destruction we are doing to our own Earth via deforestation and global warming. If you want to support causes dedicated to stopping deforestation visit the Sierra Club website . If you want to see the full list of these amazing animals go here.

My favorites rare cuties are:

Bumblebee Bat

Winning the cutest. bat. ever. award is the Bumblebee bat , which at its largest measures 1 inch. These tiny mammals hover like hummingbirds and like all bats prefer caves and love feasting on insects. They can easily perch on the tip of your thumb. This tiny bat dwells in Thailand and is considered one of the 12 most endangered species. There are fewer than 200 remaining.

Monito Del Monte

The “little mountain monkey ” of South America is not a monkey, but rather a marsupial, thought to have arrived from Australia long ago. It’s tiny - only about 5″ full grown. They are nocturnal and carnivorous, and famous (well, among scientists) for their unusual tail, which can store enough fat to make this little pipsqueak double in size. This allows them to go for long periods without food. Sadly, the always-prepared monito del monte is in danger of extinction.

Duck-Billed Platypus

It’s venomous. It’s got a duck’s bill, and otter’s feet and a mammal’s body. Oh, and it lays eggs. No wonder Western naturalists were confused by the platypus when it was first introduced. The platypus, along with the echidna, is a monotreme (egg-laying mammal). It’s native to Australia and Tasmania where it was hunted to near-extinction during the 1800s for its fur, but has been protected since the turn of the 20th century. Thought officially a protected species, the platypus is at risk because of poaching.

Spring Hare

The bizarre spring hare had taxonomists scratching their heads for years. It’s been classified with jerboas (jumping rodents), squirrels and even porcupines. It’s now classified on its own, and it resembles both a kangaroo and hare. It has specialized short limbs with claws for digging as well as flexible ear flaps that can be used to seal off the ear canal to protect against the elements and debris. It’s also got a funny resting position that looks a lot like the yoga Dolphin post: it stretches its long hind legs forward and then rests its head and arms directly on the ground

The Kiwi

Everyone knows the beloved endangered kiwi is a flightless bird. As if to make up for its winged impotence, the kiwi is actually a violent, temperamental little bird. But its quirks don’t stop there. The only bird with whiskers is also distinctly dog-like in its ability to sniff out food and threats. In fact, it has the most highly developed sense of smell of any bird, lifting its “nose” (beak) into the breeze to determine its surroundings, just like a dog would. That’s probably because kiwis are also the only bird to have prominent nostrils. Contrary to popular belief, the kiwi does have wings, but they are tiny and difficult to detect under the loose, fluffy, hair-like feathers. The kiwi has many other unusual characteristics: the eggs are relatively huge, being one-fifth the bird’s weight; kiwi pairs mate for life - as long as 30 years - but tend to have feisty relationships; the females are larger and more dominant than the males. In fact, daddy kiwis incubate the young while mom hunts - for an unheard-of 80 days, no less. Did you know that kiwis are the smallest ratites on earth? Other ratites include ostrich and emu.

GO VOTE!!! The Environment Needs You!

2008-10-01T17:20:00.004-04:00

You can register to vote online. Literally, it will take you 5 minutes. You have to do it with in the next couple of days, for just about every state. Visit Declare Yourself or Rock the Vote to register online.

Just do it already! The polar bears need you!

This is very egg-citing!!

2008-09-30T10:49:00.006-04:00

Thanks to a great neighborly recommendation, I have recently been checking out a website called The Eat Well Guide. They compile great information so that you can be an informed food consumer. It is difficult to know what the real deal is with all of these labels that we see in our local grocery. It seems that everything now is labeled "sustainable" or "environmentally- friendly" or "organic" or a million other things. What do these labels mean? Is there any truth to them? and will we be healthier for adhering to them?

Well, the truth is there are a lot of labels so use this guide to help become educate yourself. There are certain labels that are regulated and certain that aren't: know which are and aren't so you can make the right choices for you and your family. I have spoken to many nutritionists on the subject of organic and every one of them tells me that eating foods labeled organic is essential to healthy living. Get those chemicals out of our bodies!!

Here is a blurb about what the Eat Well Guide is all about:

The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of thousands of family farms, restaurants, markets and other outlets of fresh, locally-grown food throughout the United States and Canada. Visitors simply enter a zip or postal code to find good food and create free printable booklets. Originally a database of sustainably-raised meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, Eat Well Guide listings have expanded over the years to include farmers' markets, CSA programs, local advocacy organizations, and vegetarian/vegan restaurants. Many listings are also accompanied by water conscious ratings.

Here are some great things to look for when buying Eggs...now you can chuckle a little because of my hilarious, clever title:

Cage Free:

Cage Free simply means that egg-laying hens are not confined to battery cages (67 square inches of space) where they are denied their natural behaviors such as perching, spreading their wings and nesting. However, birds can also be called cage-free without ever being outdoors or “on pasture”. The USDA does not regulate this label. “Cage Free” must be differentiated from “Free Range”, a term that is defined by the USDA and used for poultry (chickens raised for consumption rather than egg-laying).

All Natural:

The “all natural” label, although quite popular, is not regulated by the US government or verified by third party inspectors. The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the USDA states that “natural” is defined by a product “containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed (a process which does not fundamentally alter the raw product)” and it must explain the use of the term by stating on its label phrases such as “no added colorings or artificial ingredients”, etc.

No Antibiotics or Hormones Administered:

These labels are defined by the USDA, but only for poultry, pork, beef and red meat, not eggs. Consequently there are no controlled guidelines or verification by third party inspectors.

Omega-3 of 225mg in Each Egg:

With the increasing awareness of the nutrient value of Omega-3 fatty acids, an increasing number of egg cartons contain this label. Most often it means that the hens were given a diet rich in flax seed – a good source of this fat. DHA, a type of Omega-3 fatty acid is also labeled similarly.

Vegetarian Fed/Organic Vegetarian Feed:

Again, this label is not defined by the USDA. Vegetarian fed simply means that the hens were given a diet containing no animal by-products. Grains (e.g. corn, wheat), silage, hay and similar vegetarian feed is common. Vegetarian fed does not guarantee that antibiotics or pesticides were not used in the production of the feed or that the feed was not genetically modified. Organic vegetarian feed, on the contrary, does.

75 mcg of Folic Acid:
Folate, a vital B vitamin, especially necessary for a healthy pregnancy, is present in eggs (mainly in the yolk). However, similar to the development of Omega-3 eggs, egg producers have opted to enrich eggs with folic acid by supplementing feed. Therefore, instead of the 24 mcg or so of folic acid you may receive from a standard egg, enriched eggs contain three times as much

Go out and get egg-static about buying eggs! (ok, I'll stop.)

Algae into Fuel

2008-09-29T15:05:00.003-04:00

The more I read about being green and green related things, the more I become fascinated by alternative fuels. It is incredible what can substitute for traditional oil now and also what technologies are being developed to get us closer to oil independence.

I came across an article on algae and how it is being harvested and the oil is being used as a biofuel. They are saying it is much more efficient that corn, because you don't have to grow it as you would traditional crops. Also, it has been said that growing corn is very harsh on the soil and takes out all nutrients so afterwards, to grow anything on that soil is impossible.

Algae is made up of up to 70% oil, is completely renewable and photo-synthesizes a lot of Carbon. Could Algae be the savior to our dependence on foreign oil and cleaning up our atmosphere? Let's hope they discover something soon!!

Here are some excerpts from this great article:

Algae is the slimy stuff that clouds your home aquarium and gets tangled in your feet in a lake or ocean. It can grow almost everywhere there is water and sunlight, and under the right conditions it can double its volume within hours. Scientists and industrialists agree that the potential is huge.

"This is the ultimate fast-growing organism," says Peter van den Dorpel, chief operating officer of AlgaeLink, which makes bioreactors for speeding reproduction. "Algae is lazy. It eats carbon dioxide and produces oxygen." It has no roots, no leaves, no shoots. "It grows so fast because it has nothing else to do. It just swims in the water."

Farming algae doesn't require much space or good cropland, so it avoids the fuel-for-food dilemma that has plagued first and second generation biofuels like corn, rapeseed and palm oil.

It can grow in fresh water, polluted water, sea water or farm runoff. It can purify a city's sewage while feeding on the nitrogen and phosphates in human waste.
And it is rich in oil. The most common types farmed today have an oil content of 30 percent, and it can go up to 70 percent or more.
It also consumes nearly twice its weight in carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas that is discharged by vehicles, power plants and many heavy industries and which scientists say is causing climate change.

Science is So Cool: Plastic-Eating-Bacteria Edition

2008-09-26T11:35:00.003-04:00

So we all know by now, plastic sucks. It leaches causing all sorts of weird diseases including obesity, is taking over the Pacific Ocean, is thrown away more than 60 million times a day filling up our landfills....need I go on? ( I can, on this subject. Possibly for days!)

So, what's a brilliant, problem-solving scientist to do? Figure out how a bacteria, who's preferred snack of choice is already plastic, to gobble it up faster while producing a bi product that can be used to make recycled plastics. I mean serioulsy! How cool is THAT?!?!

Here's the real info:

...scientists around the world are working on ways to enlist bacterial help in
green technology. A crew from University College Dublin in Ireland has devised a
way to put bacteria to use in recycling plastic into better quality versions
than the lowly PET we're used to.

...Using a different approach, New Zealander Matthew Darby made the mother of all toasty machines to recycle previously-unrecyclable plastic.

One of the big problems with plastic recycling is that the end result is polyethylene terephthalate--a fairly low-grade plastic that isn't as desired as polyhydroxyalkanoate or PHA...But PHA is expensive to make. Microbiologist Kevin O’Connor and his team came up with a process...that heated PET to break it down into a gas, a liquid, and a solid. From there, they grabbed some Pseudomonas putida (the bacteria) which were partial to the plastic at a local bottling plant in Dublin. Sure enough, the bacteria took a liking to O'Connor's snack and turned the solid--terephthalic acid--into PHA. The other byproducts will be burned as a heat source to make more of the stuff. While it won't outright solve our plastic problems, this
process should encourage more recycling and open up new markets.

Some people are just geniuses...

Cow Power

2008-09-24T11:53:00.005-04:00

This isn't the first time I have heard of converting cow manure to electricity but since it was in the New York Times yesterday, I am pleased to see it must be catching on. What sort of genius came up with this idea? Seriously, turning cow poop in to electricity has so many positive environmental effects:

Reduces the amount of methane (cow's 'gas') in the air (top contributor to ozone layer depletion)
Provides sustainable energy to homes while generating another source of revenue for farms
When the poop is separated, the solid matter serves as bedding for the cows (RECYCLING!)

This is seriously thinking outside the box! If we can power houses on cow poop, the possibilities are endless!!

While this has not caught on to the dairy farm masses, this practice has been around since 2005. Here are some of the best excerpts from the New York Times article:

The Rowells’ cows live in a barn where a mechanical scraper sweeps the animals’ waste into a large drain. The waste is then pumped into a huge sealed concrete tank known as a digester, which holds 21 days’ worth of waste and is kept at a temperature of 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Anaerobic bacteria break down the organic matter in the waste, producing a mix of methane and other gases, known as bio-gas. The gas is burned in an engine that runs an electrical generator.

The cow waste produces 250 to 300 kilowatts of electricity daily, enough to power 300 to 350 homes, according to the utility.
“We’re making a resource out of a waste stream,” said Bill Rowell, who is running for the State Senate
“We’re saving money by not using sawdust, reducing original waste by recycling and generating revenue by selling electricity into the grid,” Ms. Audet said.

This is seriously innovative and extremely cool. If dairy farmers can figure out ways of turning poop to gold and do their part for the environment in the process, we can all reevaluate our lives to make the small changes. A local shop owner, who gets her electricity from the cow poop said it best:

“It’s worth it to us to spend that money to help the producers and use power that helps sustain the environment,” Ms. Hatch said. “When you live in a place like we do, which is a beautiful part of the country, you’re really aware of the environment and want to keep it that way."

Here's a great link to a photo slide show of this process that I found on Flickr:

Solar Power For All!

2008-09-23T21:06:00.004-04:00

MIT engineers have come up with an unbelievable invention. This is one that could revolutionize solar power and make it affordable and accessible to all. What it is, is a transparent dye that coats windows, absorbs the energy emitted from sunlight and somehow magically powers your house. The official explanation is much more detailed than mine:

The scientists coated glass sheets in organic dyes to concentrate the sunlight that hit the panels. The dyes collected the sunlight and carried the light to the edges of the panel much like fiber-optic cable.
Solar cells located on the edges of the panels then transforms the sunlight into electricity.
"It consists of just a piece of glass with a layer of paint on top of it," said Marc Baldo, MIT electrical engineering professor and lead researcher on the solar panels.
"The idea is the light comes in and hits the paint. The paint then bounces the light out to the edges of the glass. All you need is the solar cells on the edges. So we think we can use this to reduce the cost of solar electricity," he added

Here's the graphical depiction of the process:

Eco-Friendly To Go!

2008-09-19T11:05:00.004-04:00

Our little local Latin Bistro is awesome. It is called Pan Latin and the food that they sell is organic and fair trade. Everything is always extremely fresh and they are always trying to find ways to be more green. Their coffee cups and plastic cups are all made from recycled materials and they discovered how to be even greener:

What happens is you order a delivery, they deliver it in these handy metal containers and then you leave it downstairs with your doorman for them to pick up when you are done. E-Z!!!

Nice thinking outside of the box Pan Latin! You will always be my go to for anything yummy and green!

Eco-Libris Update: Children's Contest for Green Writing

2008-09-17T15:30:00.010-04:00

I just got an email from Eco-Libris announcing a fantastic way to get your kid's involved in being green. Check it out:

I'm happy to update you on a new collaboration of Eco-Libris with Simon and
Schuster Children's Publishing.

In a celebration of their new line of eco-friendly children’s books, Little
Green Books, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing has partnered with
Eco-Libris in an educational contest - I CAN SAVE THE EARTH!, which provides
children an opportunity to share their personal green stories and ideas.

Beginning today (Sept 16), Children between the ages of 5-10 are invited to
write about their own experiences and ideas in helping to save planet Earth.
Stories can be submitted via a downloadable entry form at
SimonSaysKids.com/LittleGreenBooks until December 1, 2008. Any story goes and
the greener the better! Prizes include free copies of the new Little Green Books
and trees that will be planted in developing countries by Eco-Libris on the
winning children’s behalf.

The contest celebrates the Fall 2008 launch of Little Green Books,
published by Little Simon, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s
Publishing. It is the first eco-friendly line of children’s novelty and
storybooks, aimed at parents and children looking to learn more about the
environment. All the Little Green Books are made out of recycled materials.
Click here for the contest web page

Click here for Green Little Books' website

Thanks for the update Eco Libris!! Keep 'em coming!!

BPA Update!

2008-09-16T15:01:00.004-04:00

The best of all reasons to drink tap vs. bottled water was confirmed today by the Journal of the American Medical Association. They found evidence in the first ever study on humans and how the chemical bisphenol A, found in hard plastics (water bottles, liners for tin cans, baby bottles, etc) affects our health.

Adults exposed to higher amounts of the plastic compound bisphenol A are more
likely to be afflicted by cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, and have
liver enzyme abnormalities...

BPA is a chemical able to mimic the female hormone estrogen that leaches from polycarbonate plastic water bottles, the lacquers inside tin cans and dental sealants.

The new health findings raise the intriguing possibility that many cases of heart disease and adult onset diabetes in recent decades may be due to inadvertent exposures to a biologically active chemical, and not to the commonly credited lifestyle
factors, such as a lack of exercise, or having a high fat, sugary diet.

Could this be one of the causes of the obesity epidemic? Researchers say it is a possility. This information was released to coincide with a U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientific advisory hearing Tuesday on the use of BPA in products that make contact with food. Of course the FDA concluded that the findings in this study aren't cause for alarm and aren't in large enough quantities to adversely affect someone's health...

Meanwhile, in Canada they are considering adding BPA to the countries list of toxic chemicals.

Once again, the FDA hits a homer!

Louis Palmer's Solar Taxi

2008-09-15T16:22:00.005-04:00

Friday night I attended an unbelievable lecture by Louis Palmer, inventor and driver of the world's first Solar Taxi (www.solartaxi.com). Louis is a substitute teacher from Switzerland who loves traveling and being exposed to other cultures. When he was about 15 years old, he drew a picture of a car that could run on solar energy. As he began noticing the rapid deterioration of the world around him, he decided to build that solar car and drive around the world in it educating everyone he encounters about the power of harnessing the sun's energy. Louis has been driving for 14 months and his total trip will be 18 months long and will cover 40 different countries. Here is a photo of the Solar Taxi (he calls it a taxi because he gives anyone who wants one, a ride):

As you can see, Louis has a giant trailer that follows him wherever he goes. He uses that mostly as a tool to educate people about solar energy. When he is driving his car around Switzerland he doesn't attach the trailer and can still get 60 miles without recharging. With the trailer, he can get up to 200 miles per day and the car goes up to 55 miles per hour. Louis has met all kinds of interesting people including the Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon. Be sure to check out his website and read about his experiences while traveling all over the world. His adventure is truly amazing!

Here is his mission statement:

On 3 July 2007 I set off on my first journey around the world with a solar powered vehicle. Admittedly, as a regular citizen I cannot change the world but I can demonstrate to the world just how dire the global climate situation has become and how many sophisticated solutions to lower the greenhouse gases already exist, which bring with them many other advantages. So that we can have a better world and a more secure future. The solar taxi should rekindle hope and a zest for life, set an example to counteract resignation and stimulate reflection. And show that every single one of us can take a step towards preserving our planet.

Global warming can be stopped. Solutions are available.

Here are some of his energy facts:

For billions of years, plants have processed the CO2 that comes from volcanoes, forest fires and other sources, thus making life on earth possible. These carbons lie under the earth in the form of crude oil, natural gas and coal. Right now, mankind is set on emitting most of this CO2 into the atmosphere within only a century. Here are a few figures on current worldwide production:

4,874,940,000 tons of crude oil are used each year. With constant extraction, the resources will be exhausted in 41 years.
2,689,000,000 m³ of natural gas are extracted each year. With constant extraction, the gas will be exhausted in 65 years.
About 4,000,000,000 tons coal are used for producing 40% of the worldwide power requirement. The coal ressources will be exhausted in 230 years.

Shall we wait until everything is gone and the climate has been destroyed? Or is it possible to create a world in which renewable energies make a future worth live in? 75% of the world's CO2 emission could be avoided by using solar energy.

These energy facts are astounding. It is no longer about the debate of "should we drill off the coast of the US or in ANWR" but about "this can't go on...lets figure out the alternative NOW!"

Tank Tales!

2008-09-11T11:07:00.003-04:00

My friend Maya Lilly and I have been friends since we are 15. Our birthdays are the same day, my middle name is Maya and that's her first name (duh!) and we have always had similar interests. When I found out that she drives a bad-ass truck that runs on Vegetable Oil, I just had to get more info. Below is a really cute cartoon that was drawn to depict her bad-assness/environmental love and some questions I had to get answers to. I am also going to do a follow-up post with answers for any questions you all have so please leave them in the comments section!

Also, I have a link to Maya's website under the "Excellent Links" section to the right. She's an amazing actor/writer/performer so make sure to catch her show "Mixed" if you can!

Here it goes:

1) What kind of car do you drive?

Chevy Blazer K-5 military edition truck. It was on a military base most of its life, and has a touchscreen police laptop, three long-wave and short-wave radios, a PA system on the roof, and 4-wheel drive. It also has USMC emblazoned in Army print letters on the front, over the camouflage paint job.

2) what alterations did you have to make to it to be compatible with Biodiesel? How much did the alterations cost?

You can actually do this for FREE if you have a working knowledge of engines. Just buy From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank, and Joshua Tickell talks you through it. Or, you can find an operation outfitting veggie oil vehicles. Keep in mind that running your car on Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) is different than biodiesel... it's two different processes. Making biodiesel requires NO ALTERATION OF A DIESEL ENGINE. (In fact, Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on peanut oil before he mysteriously *disappeared*) Straight veggie oil requires adding a heater in the engine (glowplugs) to warm up the veggie oil slightly when turning on the engine. I did my conversion through Lovecraft biofuels and it cost me $1000. For never paying for gasoline again, this paid for itself in a few months. *Note: Unfortunately, Lovecraft in LA is currently undergoing a massive lawsuit, as Brian Friedman's company was taken over in a completely illegal way by Tacee Webb. I can't recommend them at this time. They also refuse to take my cartoon down from their website, and are using it illegally. Boycott Lovecraft!

3) What is biodiesel and what do you have to do to get it?

Well, I can run my truck on SVO, biodiesel, or diesel... and can mix them in any quantity. I don't use biodiesel as often, as it requires a chemical conversion process to mimic the makeup of Diesel fuel, and takes a bit more time. I instead converted my engine so my truck can just run on Vegetable Oil. I use waste oil that I pick up every two weeks from a high-end Sushi restaurant in Japan Town, Los Angeles. We have an arrangement, and I've been picking up from them for about 3 years now. They have to pay to have the oil taken away, so I pick it up for free and they love it. Everybody wins. And I dispose of it in my truck. The utterly stupid controversy over using biodiesel (or ethanol, for that matter) completely neglects to mention all the WASTE oil in this country going unused. It could cover a whole fleet of trucks and tractors. It's like a man bitching about how to bail out a ship while its sinking... you just do WHATEVER YOU CAN!!!

4) How many miles to the gallon do you get?

Veggie oil is actually better for your engine than diesel, as it lubricates the parts and cleans all the gunk out (like WD-40). I get about the same mileage as I did on diesel. With my big truck, that's about 23 in town. The mileage doesn't change... the only people that worry mileage are the people spewing C02 into the atmosphere. The best part, though, is that my emissions are completely carbon neutral. To me, Hybrids have always been half-assed. I don't want to participate in global warming. At. All.

5) How often do you have to fill up? Can you go on long car rides?

I have my own veggie filter/fueling station in my backyard, and its really clean and efficient. When I go on long car rides, I usually just filter a little extra veggie to take with me, and research where the biodiesel stations are along the way. It's a teeny bit extra work, but I was never in this because of high gas prices. (I think it's GREAT that gas prices are high, by the way. It's encouraging everyone to do things differently, as well as showing the true cost of gasoline to the ecosphere!!!) I don't want to contribute to the end of the human species and life on earth at our own hands, and scientists are all confirming what we already know in our hearts. Things need to change, and it's worth a little extra effort.

Talk about recycling!

2008-09-10T14:53:00.004-04:00

This artist named, Laura Cahill realized that recycling books is difficult due to the glue they are bound with so she started giving them a second life as pieces of art! She makes vases, lamps and furniture out of her old books. There is no end to people's creativity! Check it out:

Thanks Dezeen!

Conscious Goods Alliance

2008-09-09T17:15:00.005-04:00

Walking down Hudson Street in the West Village last night, it was hard to miss this giant bus that runs on veggie oil:

After doing some digging, I discovered that the Conscious Goods Alliance is a non-profit organization, based out of my hometown of Miami, FL. They have a very basic, but extremely powerful message:

You have the power. It’s in your wallet. Every time you buy a product from a company that does the right thing for people and planet, you’re sending a powerful message: continue doing right, and you will profit. Every time you buy something from a company that does the wrong things for people and planet, you send a very different message: go ahead and shortchange social responsibility for the almighty dollar, we don’t care.

It’s pretty simple. You vote each day with your dollars. You send a message. You create positive change.

Their goal, as stated on their website is:

Our goal is to build an unstoppable movement of conscious consumers that, by choosing the right products, motivates more companies to adopt a triple bottom line approach; one that values the social and ecological bottom line as well as the financial bottom line.

Their message is something we touch on often here at Advocate of Green. Most companies won't make a change to the way they do business unless it affects their bottom line. Making educated, informed buying decisions is the best way to hit them where it hurts! Make sure if a company isn't behaving in the way you feel lines up with your social and ethical values to 1) tell them: email, letter, phone...anyway you can get the message out and 2) Buy the same product made by a more responsible company.

I leave you with a video news clip on the Conscious Goods Alliance:

The King Of Sushi

2008-09-08T12:00:00.005-04:00

There was a very interesting piece on 60 Minutes last night regarding "the King of Sushi" which is what they call Blue Fin Tuna and how, since this fish can sell for up to $20,000 PER FISH, they are being over fished in every ocean they inhabit.

Fishing in the waters off of Sardinia has become much more "efficient" with huge fishing fleets catching up to 3,000 fish in one go. The effect of this is rapidly depleting waters of Blue Fin Tuna and with it will go their entire eco-system. There are laws in place to eliminate aerial fishing and quotas that they cannot exceed, but these laws are not enforced. Smaller fisheries are noticing a big difference in the Blue Fin that they are catching: they are smaller and there are less of them.

Watch the clip below:

If you want to do your part to help the Blue Fin Tuna and its ecosystem, sign this petition which will help to enforce the restrictions on overfishing.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Commercials...

2008-09-07T17:47:00.005-04:00

Who doesn't have a lobby group these days? Trying to poison our minds and tell us that, what we know is bad for us, is actually good for us? Sound like the tobacco industry? Well, corn has a lobby and they have released an ad campaign. Click on these 2 extremely offensive commercials below:

What this group wants you to believe is that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), a synthetic, processed chemical derived from corn, found in virtually every processed food that we buy, is actually better for you than sugar. When has anything processed been better than the natural alternative? Do they think we are idiots?

I learned all about this in my Micro Economics class that I took as a requirement in my MBA program. This is actually way more complex than companies just choosing to use sugar rather than HFCS. It has to do with the simple supply-demand model.

In order to keep sugar at a certain price, the government has to control the amount that is in the market. If there it too much in the market, the cost of sugar goes down, if there is too little, the cost will go up. So rather than farmer's just growing less sugar, which I think is pretty complex and also would probably also result in farms closing, the price is set at higher than the market would dictate otherwise. Resulting in food companies substituting sugar with HFCS to cut costs. This is why, if you have ever traveled internationally and had a Coca Cola, it tastes way different. It has sugar instead of HFCS which is what American soft drinks contain.

So what's the big deal? Well HFCS has been linked to obesity, altering the body's ability to produce insulin and depending on what you read, cancer. If you are a pro athlete, and are training all day, ingesting HFCS probably isn't a big deal, but for normal people, who have normal or low levels of activity, HFCS can be very detrimental to our health.

The annoying thing about these commercials is that they are implying that being concerned about putting chemicals into your body is ridiculous. While it is true that HFCS is derived from corn, it is an unhealthy bi-product much like heroin is the unhealthy bi-product of poppies and that's ILLEGAL!

Read ALL labels: HFCS is found in bread, ice cream, juices, pickles and many, many other things. It is true, if you just have one thing with HFCS in a day or a week, it wouldn't hurt you. But the problem is that this lobby has become so strong, that this chemical is in so many things that we eat.

GROSS!

How Photography Connects Us With The World

2008-09-05T15:20:00.003-04:00

The above is a video that will take you to David Griffin's lecture at TED, an annual convention which brings together "the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes."

David Griffin is the Senior Editor of Photography, Illustrations at National Geographic Magazine. His lecture highlights the best photo journalism that tells a story about wildlife and human interests over the world. His point is that we can make stories out of these fantastic photos to understand, in depth, what is happening in the world around us.

The video is about 14 minutes long but it is well worth it! Some of the photos are absolutely unbelievable and the stories that they tell are often heartbreaking...but some end up hopeful!

After all, how can we feel that there is anything to save, if we haven't seen it? Thanks to dedicated photographers, we can see the world, and respond to its calls to help in the healing process, from over fished oceans to wildlife poachers, and recognize that there are so many things that we can be working towards preserving for generations to come.

Enjoy!

Mad As Cheese...or, uh, Water!

2008-09-04T17:27:00.005-04:00

This is insane. Pretty much the coolest thing I have heard of...ever. So there is a scientist named Denny Klein who discovered that you can produce electricity from H2O which he converts to HHO...yes, WATER!! CONVERTED! He is currently in the process of working with a major car company to make a car run on regular tap water and working with the government to create a Hummer for the US Army. On a 100 mile trip, he uses 4 ounces of water. I SWEAR! Here's a link to a news story that was done on him and his ground breaking discovery. Stick it out until 1:30 minutes because that is when he starts discussing how his discovery can be applied to cars:

Here is a link to his website where he will take you through the steps of converting your car. So, why isn't the general public being informed about this technique? Well, I know in NY, the government gets their money to upkeep and repair the roads from gasoline tax. I am thinking it is similar everywhere else. Until they find a substitute method for getting that money, they are unlikely to publicize this process. SCANDALOUS!!

That won't stop us from learning about it though, thanks to You Tube. Really incredible discovery!! Science rules!

Joe Biden loves the environment too!

2008-09-03T11:35:00.006-04:00

I am going to begin pointing out prominent people who are lovers of the environment. These people can serve to inspire, educate and help us reach our goals to begin healing the Earth. When I read this article on a website called Grist, I thought Joe Biden would be the perfect first person to recognize for his leadership and forward thinking with regard to environmental issues:

"Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running mate, has earned an 83 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters during his 35 years representing Delaware in the U.S. Senate, voting fairly consistently with environmentalists and the mainstream of his party. In 2007, while running for president, he said "energy security" was his top priority, and argued that he was well-suited to deal with the challenge thanks to years of experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he now chairs. Biden is also a big booster of biofuels."

If you want to learn more, click here for an interview . My favorite quote (which falls right in line with the Advocate of Green motto) is his answer to what his family is doing, personally, to help the environment:

"A little thing we've begun to do is replace all the traditional light bulbs in our house with fluorescent light bulbs. I introduced a bill to promote compact fluorescent light bulbs. If every family in America changed just one bulb, we could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 7 million tons per year. There are a lot of little things we can do to make a gigantic change."

Go ahead Joe! Watch Joe Biden discuss moving towards renewable energy (the sound isn't great but if you turn up your volume you will be able to hear him.)

WOOHOOO FOR BLOGGING!

2008-09-03T11:07:00.001-04:00

Hello!

I have taken a few days off from blogging in order to get some admin-y things done and VOILA! I have a logo. I know it isn't centered but I should be figuring that out very soon and when I do, VOILA AGAIN!! My blog will look fancy.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I'll be back to blogging properly this afternoon.

Green Investing: Follow Up

2008-08-27T14:50:00.005-04:00

As a follow up to my post on environmentally conscious investing, I came across an aspect of the Dow Jones Index that they have developed to measure a company's sustainability. It is aptly named: Down Jones Sustainability Index

Being green seems to be on investors' top of mind as, a company that is considered environmentally sustainable, is now being look at as a company that will be able to run in an efficient way, while maximizing growth and ensuring a long life. I am pleased that green is slowly becoming a norm in the financial world. It will ensure that companies use their resources in a responsible manner and shows that they are thinking long-term.

I am currently reading a book written by Patagonia owner, Yvon Chouinard who is also the founder of an amazing organization called : 1% For The Planet. I will do a much longer blog on this when I am finished with the book. I am half way done and I am finding his approach to business very inspiring.

Here it is in case you want to get readin':

Summer Streets!

2008-08-25T10:46:00.006-04:00

There are many annoying and frustrating things about living in New York City, but every once in a while, they are balanced out by something incredible. Something that is completely unique to New York and only has the real impact the it does because it takes place here. This Summer, the city started "Summer Streets" which is when Park Avenue is closed for 3 Saturdays in August. We saw everyone: Cyclists, Skate Boarders, Roller Bladers, Runners or anyone who just wanted to participate in the fun. It was amazing! We got a peek in to what life would be like without cars and I have to say, I wasn't missing much!

We started in Battery Park City, rode up Lafayette, through Chinatown, Soho and Union Square, then up Park Avenue through the Met Life building (which was the highlight), up to around 80th street, into Central Park around the Reservoir, stopped for brunch on the Upper West Side then down the bike path on the West Side Highway. We did the whole ride in a few hours. It was about 15 miles, I think. Here's a picture taken from the ramp before going through the Met Life Building.

Recycled Reading

2008-08-21T17:22:00.006-04:00

Hello Greenies! I am so excited about the dialogue the bottled water post started. That's why I write this blog: to share good information that I see and then to get your feedback. Check out the comments section and leave your thoughts! Also, feel free to tell me things you would like to see me post about. I can't think of everything (shocking, I know!).

On to the next subject. I am in a book club. There are about 13 people in my book club and we read about 1 book per month. So total for just our club we read 156 books a year. I know lots of people who are in book clubs. While we are doing something good for our brains, we are doing something bad for the environment.

About 20 Million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone.

It turns out, the publishing industry does not use recycled paper (Why not?) and doesn't necessarily use trees from certified forests. I found this website dedicated to changing that! They are called Eco-Libris and their mission is to raise awareness of what we can be doing to take responsibility for the impact our reading has on the environment.

They are asking that we donate $1 for every book that we read, which they will use to plant one tree. They plant trees all over the world which is not only beautifying some third world countries but also making reading a sustainable activity for us.

For every dollar you give, they will send you a Eco-Libris sticker (made of of recycled paper, of course) for you to stick on your book to help spread the word. They are also trying to get book publishers to move in the direction of using only recycled paper.

If you are in a book club, bring this idea up to them. At the end of each year it will be $12 per person which doesn't seem like too much to give back for the privilege of reading! You can also rock it "old school" and get your books from the library. If you do both, then you are a SUPER Greenie!!

Easy Green Tip: Thirsty for a Sigg

2008-08-19T16:55:00.011-04:00

So, I feel like a dummy, and I'll tell you why. I, like many people, drink water from bottles. As you know, water comes in plastic bottles. This industry, at last glance, is worth $8 BILLION dollars (it has a higher growth than any other drinks in the beverage industry, even alcoholic beverages!). The reason why I feel like a dummy is: the public perception is that bottled water is cleaner than drinking water from the tap, when in actuality the opposite is true:

While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of public water supplies, the agency has no authority over bottled water. Bottled water that crosses state lines is considered a food product and is overseen by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which does mandate that it be bottled in sanitary conditions using food-grade equipment... The FDA is allowed to interpret the EPA's regulations and apply them selectively to bottled water. As Senior Attorney Erik Olson of the NRDC explains, "Although the FDA has adopted some of the EPA's regulatory standards, it has decided not to adopt others and has not even ruled on some
points after several years of inaction."
One brand of "spring water," which had a graphic of mountains and a lake on the label, was actually taken from a well in Massachusetts in the parking lot of an industrial facility. The well, which is no longer used for bottled water, was near hazardous waste and had experienced contamination by industrial chemicals.

That's pretty disgusting! So essentially this "natural spring water" that we are being sold is actually not at all from a spring and is actually dirtier than the water coming from my faucet. Once again, THANKS FDA!! (I'm really beginning to believe this government agency is completely useless)

Additionally, only 3-5% of plastics are actually recycled! When I tell you the number of plastic water bottles added to U.S. landfills EVERY DAY, you're going to freak...brace yourself....ready?

More than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day – a total of about 22 billion last year. Six times as many plastic water bottles were thrown away in the US in 2004 as in 1997.

Not to mention, it has been discovered that plastic does something called "leaching" which means the teeny, tiny, toxic molecules that make up the plastic actually break down into whatever is being held inside the container. This includes water that we drink and anything in cans as, nowadays, cans are lined with plastic. Crazy huh?

And if you read the Plastic Ocean article I'm obsessed with you will know that this "leaching" is linked to the following health disorders: mimicking the effect of estrogen on the human body in males, which has been making male animals grow female organs, cause birth defects and also are linked cause of obesity.

But, I love my water. I like it still, fizzy, mixed with fruit juice. You name it, I'm drinking it at an unprecedented rate (especially since my diet coke ban, which I would like to point out is now at 21 days!). So what's a water lovin' girl to do?

I was at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago and saw these awesome water bottles. They are made by a company called Sigg and they are made of aluminum and NOT lined with plastic. I leave it at my desk and just fill it up at a water fountain. There are many companies out there that make a similar looking bottle, but I like these best. I got one in classic off white. Pretty fancy huh?

Are you going to get a Sigg and stop the "leaching" into your body? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts!

Environmental Investing

2008-08-18T14:31:00.005-04:00

I was thinking about investing money in the stock market. I know that half of the people reading this will be appalled that I haven't already done so, while the other half agree that the task seems too daunting an undertaking to even begin. Then comes the dilemma of wanting to invest in companies who's priorities line up with mine. I certainly don't want to invest in companies that are hurting the environment or animals, or taking advantage of people in countries by giving low wages and offer poor working conditions. I want to know that any company that I invest in will be environmentally and socially responsible.

Luckily, I found this great website called Environmental Leader. I have been a subscriber for a couple of months and I really like it. The goal is to track corporations progress in the "green" department while also bringing the slackers to the forefront. I signed up to the email list and now every day I get an email full of great and helpful information. Obviously, this isn't the only tool to use when deciding what companies deserve my investment, but it gives me one more thing to take into account before I hand over my cash.

Luckily, it seems that many companies are making being "green" a priority, so investing in a green company shouldn't be that difficult. If there is a company that you want to invest in but are haters of the Earth, call up their shareholder relations department ( can be found on their web site) and express your thoughts. Ask them what initiatives they are implementing and let them know how important it is that their priorities align with yours. After all, if it wasn't for the shareholders the corporate landscape would look a LOT different.

Would you invest greenly? Let me know your thoughts!

I found an awesome website!

2008-08-15T11:00:00.005-04:00

So I was cruising the internet trying to find safe personal hygene products, as one does, and found this AMAZING WEBSITE: Environmental Working Group's, Skin Deep, Cosmetic Safety Database

There is a great petition to sign right on the home page that says they want to change the regulations that govern the cosmetics/personal care products industries.

"Due to gaping loopholes in federal law, companies can put virtually any ingredient into personal care products. Even worse, the government does not require pre-market safety tests for any of them."

Can you believe this? I'm going to do some research to find products that won't kill me. I'll let you know what I find!

Oh Baby!

2008-08-14T12:32:00.003-04:00

Hello fellow greenies! I have recently learned that an old roommate of mine is having a baby in the Fall and I thought it would be a perfect time to blog about greening up our decorating. There are many "old school" products that we use which have contributed to health problems and environmental hazards over the years. Now that we know about them, we can avoid them. Here are alternatives:

Walls/Paint: Use no VOC Paint on the walls and make sure all of the nursery items are eco-friendly and also don't contain paints using VOC's. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound which refers to the smell that paint, carpeting, furniture, etc gives off that makes you dizzy (that process is called "Off Gassing" and I know a few people who also can be considered "off gassers"). That smell causes diseases and is also pretty bad for the atmosphere. They make paint with no-VOC's and low VOC's which is great because you can get the color you want minus the damage to your body (VOCs can cause asthma and various other lung diseases, birth defects, and cancer). Do all painting at least a month before use to give the paint and all new furniture time to off gas.
Flooring: If renovating, it is recommended that you keep the current flooring as many new flooring will emit VOCs. If you can't do that, think about getting natural linoleum or wood flooring made of bamboo. If you are refinishing already existing wood flooring, watch the varnish you choose for VOCs as well
Crib/Furniture: choose items made of real wood with natural finishes. For any mattresses, padding or linens, try and get organic cotton, free of pesticides. Also watch out for chemicals that make clothing flame retardant. That chemical is a neurotoxin (and on our pillows...check out The Story Of Stuff link in my margin!)
Toys: Weirdly, plastic toys are a major contributor to indoor air pollution. You may want to buy cloth or wood toys for tiny babies to keep them breathing clean.
Keep the nursery well ventilated. Fresh air will circulate any pollutants out.
When cleaning the nursery, use organic cleaning products. I LOVE Shaklee products! They are organic and I will do a detailed post on them in the near future. I have my own Shaklee page:

These tips can be applied to any home renovation. Really, the most important thing is using non-toxic products and materials that are sustainable to minimize your renovations impact on the Earth. Bamboo actually makes for a beautiful wood that will very durable and grows VERY fast.

Please send me a comment with any great "green" tips for a renovation.

Beach Cleanup Alert!

2008-08-13T16:30:00.002-04:00

Hello Tri-State area residents. I just came across some awesome information. Apparently the 22nd annual beach clean up is set to take place on Saturday September 20th in many locations across the 5 boroughs, Long Island and Westchester. Last year's clean up drew 9,339 volunteers, coordinated by the American Littoral Society. They cleaned and documented 142,243 pounds of debris along 677 miles of New York State's Shoreline. What an achievement!! Apparently, after the garbage is collected, it is tested to find the source so that polluters can be contacted in order for the trash to stop.

I'm planning in participating so if you want to go, leave a comment and we'll coordinate a convenient location. Apparently the Jamaica Bay location also has a wild life preserve. Let's give marine and wildlife on our shores a clean and happy habitat to thrive in!

Guest Blog: Composting

2008-08-12T09:59:00.010-04:00

This is so exciting! In an effort to find the best, easiest and most innovative alterations we can make to our lives to be "greener" I am reaching out to a few people that I know who are super green to give their expert perspectives on what great things they are doing, in the hopes that we can incorporate their tips into our lives.

My first guest blog is from singer/songwriter/environmental lover, Sarah Elizabeth Foster. When she isn't writing and recording her first CD she's being green. Composting is one way that she's doing her part to save the planet.

What is composting you ask?

Composting is the aerobic decompostition of biodegradable organic matter, producing compost. It is the decaying of food, mostly vegetables or manure.

In a nutshell, composting is decomposing the organic matter that you produce in order to keep it out of landfills, while also producing the best nutrients to grow a garden. The product Sarah discusses below can be found on Gaiam's website. Here's Sarah's post:

Hello Advocate of Green readers,

My name's Sarah Elizabeth Foster and I'm Danielle's greenest friend! (I hope that's true! If it's on the internet, in a blog, it must be true!) Danielle saw my blog about my indoor composter and wanted me to guest blog about it for her. Here it goes...

Worms have invaded my apartment! Just kidding, I invited them in! I started taking notice of what was going in my trash can, and it was mostly vegetable scraps. I'm trying to eliminate all trash from my apartment, so the vegetable scraps had to be handled.

Here is a picture of the vegetables I juice each morning...

Here are the scraps that are left over...
Here is my indoor composter. You can see a banana peel and some carrot scraps. Can't see the worms? That's because they don't like light. Whenever you open the lid and lift back the moist newspaper they scurry under the surface. Dave and I hate this because we like to watch them eat.
The worms need this moist newspaper on top of them because their habitat must remain moist. After a while they eat the newspaper and then you just replace it.

You would never know there are worms in here. There is no bad smell!

I'm going to have to make this an ongoing blog topic because I'm thinking of tons of things I need to tell you guys about the worms. Stay tuned for more worm blogs!

Thanks Sarah!! I can't wait to hear more about your worms! Leave a comment about what you think of composting.

Beware: Killer Deodorant!

2008-08-07T15:25:00.000-04:00

Does your deodorant have aluminum? Mine did until I recently switched brands. What's the big deal about aluminum in deodorant? Well, aluminum is a neurotoxin which means it has a chemical in it that attacks your brain... FUN! Check it out:

Aluminum chloride, an aluminum salt that is commonly used in antiperspirants, is also commonly used in studies on aluminum-induced neurotoxicity. Aluminum itself adversely affects the blood-brain barrier, it is capable of causing DNA damage, and has adverse epigenetic effects. Research has shown that the aluminum salts used in antiperspirants have detrimental effects to a number of species such as non-human primates, mice, dogs and others. An increased amount of aluminum is also present in the brains of many Alzheimer's patients, although this link does not seem to be causal. An experiment with mice found that applying an aqueous solution of aluminum chloride to the skin resulted in "a significant increase in urine, serum, and whole brain aluminum." Other experiments on pregnant mice showed transplacental passage of aluminum chloride

UMMMM...WHAT? How this is even allowed to even be sold in stores, is beyond me. We are in a sad state where we really have to check all labels to make sure that there are no ingredients that will attack our brains and give us weird diseases in the products we buy. Incredible!

So what do we do in order to not smell while also staying dry? Buy natural deodorant. Your body will adapt and you will sweat less. Also, sweat is natural so at the end of the day, who cares? I did an extensive deodorant testing and here are the results. The two best brands are:

Herbal Magic is great except sometimes it gave me an itchy armpit rash after I shaved (too much info?). Tom's of Maine doesn't give me said itchy rash and also actually works. I was a total skeptic. I didn't think natural deodorant would actually work, after all my ancestors wandered in the desert in the hot sun and we all know how stinky a cab in the summer time is...not good. But I gave my body a chance to adapt and now it works! Switching also means that I am protecting my brain from neurotoxins which is a-ok with me! Brains are good. I'd like to keep mine as long as possible.

What deodorant do you use? Give me a shout!

Technical Difficulties

2008-08-07T10:36:00.001-04:00

Hello Fellow Greenies!!

You have probably noticed that Photobucket highjacked my blog for their advertising purposes so I had to switch to this less pretty, but equally green blog template (literally). I may switch back to the other template once I figure out what the issue was, but for now you can find all of the great "green" info from the other site right here in the right hand margin.

Sorry for any inconveniences & I will be back to posting green greatness this afternoon.

Green it up!
D

Neti Pot, How I Love Thee...

2008-08-05T10:03:00.003-04:00

Last year, a friend gave me a neti pot for my birthday. Her disclaimer was "I know you get lots of allergies and I heard that this can help, and maybe you won't have to take medicine anymore." Here is a picture of a neti pot, in case you don't know what it is:

We are gonna get a little personal here ( I don't normally discuss the state of my boogies with strangers). I have to be honest, I was a little skeptical at first. What the neti pot is, is a sinus irrigation technique that has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for years and years as a way to maintain sinus health. Since I am extremely prone to sinus infections and pouring warm salt water up your nose HAS to be better for you than taking antibiotics twice a year, I decided to have faith and give it a shot.

I have been using my neti pot for over a year now. I use it once or twice a day, depending on my allergies or exposure to pollution. Since I started using it, I can actually breath out of my nose! Who would have thought?!?! I went from taking allergy medicine year round to just a few weeks in the Spring and a few weeks in the Fall when allergies are at their peak. But best of all, I went from having at least 2 severe sinus infections a year to maybe getting one mild one (and NO antibiotics!).

Whenever I feel a cold coming on, I become fastidious about using my neti pot and within a day or 2 my cold clears up and I never reach the maximum level of sickness. After reading this NY Times article on it, which basically says that people didn't get well any faster taking antibiotics vs. using a neti pot, I am convinced.

It turns out this tiny nasal tea pot was one of the best, most useful and most memorable birthday presents I've ever gotten. Here are a few tips: use a tablespoon of NON iodized salt for each nostril, make sure to tilt your head to the side instead of backwards and use water that is luke warm (not hot...you don't want to burn the inside of your face).

Please let me know if you have any questions about the neti pot. I find it a great and green way to keep my sinuses clean.

The Story Of Stuff

2008-08-04T16:55:00.003-04:00

I saw this 20 minute on-line video and was completely awoken. I am guilty of going shopping and buying things just because they are on sale, never to be worn and eternally to hang in my closet, until one day I do a clean out and it ends up at the Salvation Army or Goodwill or sometimes even the garbage depending on the state of it.

"The Story of Stuff" with Annie Leonard is an incredible video which takes you through what is called our "materials economy" which tracks things that we get at the store back to its creation and also explains what happens to it after we dispose of it. It's pretty shocking! It explains how in the US today, our corporations have become bigger than the government, and why we have 5% of the world's population but use 30% of its resources.

Some interesting facts from the video are:

The most toxic food in our society today is breast milk!
99% of the things we buy will be trashed with in 6 months of purchase
Planned obsolescence and Perceived obsolescence and why when you don't have the "newest" "coolest " or most "fashionable" we are made to feel like big losers
After WWII the government and economists got together and decided that the only way America would remain on top was if the citizens were constantly consuming...this was implemented just as our national happiness began to decline which is currently at an all time low!

Watch this clip and see what you can do to be a part of the solution. I am trying to really be mindful of the purchases I make and ask myself "is this something I NEED?". Let me know your thoughts and if this video struck a chord with you too!

Cycling in the City

2008-08-01T09:43:00.007-04:00

The most common reaction I get when I tell people that I cycle in Manhattan is "Are you crazy?" to which my reply is "No, I just hate going to the gym and cycling is the only form of exercise that gives me any enjoyment." Trust me, I have tried everything: Yoga, Pilates, Hip Hop, Ballet, Tai Chi, Karate, Running on the treadmill. I even have all the outfits to prove it. Duncan still laughs at me because I feel like I should keep my Karate Gee "just in case". The "just in case" in this instance should be interpreted as: Just in case I decide to be Ralph Macchio, of Karate Kid fame, for Halloween, because we all know I'm never doing Karate again.

I decided the best way for me to exercise and stick with it would be to multi-task my exercise. I use biking as my (greenest) means of transportation and can usually ride about 15-20 miles a day, 3 days a week. I started cycling in late May and took a break to watch the Tour de France in July (because if you watch cycling on TV you can't also cycle?!?! I dunno, it made sense to me at the time). I started up again this week and I am dedicated to riding 3 times a week (don't worry, I wear a helmet and I am very careful). Depending on the level of effort, you can burn anywhere from 500-800 calories an hour biking!

There is something about riding my bike around the city that rules. It is faster than the subway, I never have to deal with stinky armpits in my face or people falling asleep on my shoulder (I swear this has happened to me), and mostly the best part is, I am in total control of my journey. I ride along the Hudson River and it is completely peaceful. I get to work, energized (and kinda sweaty) and ready to take on the day. I love it.

Duncan and I are even contemplating doing a 100 mile ride in September with Transportation Alternatives to raise awareness for cycling in the city. We will ride with the purpose of raising money for 2 charities: The Chrons and Colitis Foundation of America and Captain Charles Moore from The Algalita Marine Research Foundation the scientist who discovered the Plastic Ocean.
I will be in touch with further details in case you want to donate money. Both organizations are non-profit so you will be able to get a tax deduction.

Here's a picture of my sweet, sweet ride:

Diet Coke-less for 24 hours and counting...

2008-07-30T15:24:00.003-04:00

I am pleased to report I had my first Diet Coke-less lunch today. Then after lunch, I was jonesin' an iced coffee so I went and got one and then at the "fixin's" counter NEARLY put an artificial sweetener in...DOH!! Luckily, I caught this bad habit and replaced it with sugar in the raw just in the nick of time. (YUMMMM)

Let me know if you are also trying to kick the artificial sweeteners and how it is going for you.

Your Backyard as a Wildlife Refuge!

2008-07-30T14:47:00.006-04:00

This is too cool! I was reading the August 4th, 2008 issue of Newsweek when I saw a really cool article titled "Bring Back the Birds and Bees" by Christina Gillham. It gives some great tips on how to beautify your backyard while also practicing sustainable gardening. Sustainable in the "green" sense means: To keep in existence; maintain.

When making choices on home renovations, buying cars, or gardening we shouldn't only think about what looks pretty but also: what materials will last the longest, what woods can we use to minimize the impact of the renovation on the environment (bamboo, or woods from tree farms), or in terms of gardening, what plants are indigenous to the region and what will live a long time.

Below is the informative article and it says that if you decide to join this movement, your backyard can be certified as a Wildlife Habitat. INCREDIBLE!! If you have kids, what a great way to teach them about nature and (advocate of green's motto) how a little effort by a lot of people can make a big difference.

Also, one more thing before I post the article, they touch on a great way to catch rain water to use for watering your garden instead of using water from the tap: get rain barrels that will collect the water so we can keep the tap water for drinking. After all, drinking water is a scarce resource and one-third of the world's population lives in a water stressed country. It is expected to rise to two-thirds by 2025!

Here's the article and here are links to rain barrels (made out of recycled plastic) & the National Wildlife Federation . If you live in a city and don't have a yard, pass this on to someone who does:

Years of suburban development and unsustainable gardening practices have led to vanishing wildlife populations. The National Wildlife Federation has stepped up its efforts to promote its Backyard Wildlife Habitat program, which certifies homeowners who provide friendly environments for small mammals, birds, butterflies and reptiles.

The program asks residents to raise native plants and trees, which provide animals with food and shelter, and to put out water in the form of a birdbath or small pan for birds to drink and bathe in. Homeowners should also practice sustainable gardening by reducing lawn size, removing invasive plants and keeping rain barrels to collect water that can be used in lieu of the hose. (See nwf.org/backyard for more details.)

David Mizejewski, a naturalist at the NWF, says that the certification, which costs $15, does not have to apply to your entire property. “The idea is to create a movement to get gardeners to adopt some of these principles,” he says. And, listing your home as a certified “wildlife habitat” can’t hurt its value.

CHECK ME OUT!!

2008-07-30T09:31:00.003-04:00

Last night I gave The Advocate of Green a makeover. I hope you like it!! I think it reads much nicer now. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

If you like it, help spread the word. My target it to reach 1,000 readers every day!! I can only do that if you love my blog enough to tell all of your friends. Thanks for the support so far!! I'll keep updating whenever I find something great!

love yas,
Dxx

I have an addiction...

2008-07-29T14:26:00.007-04:00

And it is to Diet Coke. I realize that sounds ridiculous. Who gets addicted to Diet Coke? ME!! I have to have one every lunch or else I get a headache. How can something that gives you withdrawal symptoms be good for you? Well it isn't.

Diet Coke contains the artificial sweetener called Asparatame which is made up of "three byproducts: methanol, formaldehyde, and formate." (METHANOL?!?! FORMALDEHYDE?!?!?! How can these ingredients possibly be healthy when one is in anti-freeze and the other is used to preserve dead people? )

Another startling factoid:
'A survey of aspartame studies by Ralph Walton MD of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine found: "Of the 166 studies felt to have relevance for questions of human safety, 74 had NutraSweet industry related funding and 92 were independently funded. One hundred percent of the industry funded research attested to aspartame's safety, whereas 92 percent of the independently funded research identified a problem."'

So basically, something shady is going on. We are being fed chemicals by these big companies, told they are safe, only to find that when studied independently they are pretty bad for us. REAL NICE FDA....REEEEEEEEEEAL NICE!!

Part of my becoming a 'greenie' means me cleaning up all aspects of my life, including what I put into my body. I think that getting rid of diet coke will be a great start! I am going to keep track of how many days I go without any products containing Aspartame. Join me in eliminating this poison from our diets. I think I speak for everyone when I say "BLECH!!"

Blog Update...

2008-07-28T09:45:00.003-04:00

Great news everyone! This whole blog thing is a really great learning experience for me in terms of becoming more computer literate. Yesterday I learned how to redirect my blog to be accessed by this web address: www.advocateofgreen.com

You no longer need to type in the, longer version which has ".blogspot" in it. Add this link to your favorites and keep checking back. I will continue to try and provide good information at least a few times a week.

Also, you can enter your email address in the left hand column where it says "Get My Blog As An Email" and you will automatically get any updates right in your inbox.

Green it up!

C'mon Mr. Singh. You know you wanna!

2008-07-25T16:28:00.004-04:00

The Good News: I found Mr Singh today and told him to shut the door. He says the reason why he keeps it open is because people complain that they are too cold. When I told him my GENIUS, groundbreaking idea of making his air conditioning warmer, he looked at me, head cocked to one side, confused much like this:

The Bad News: He didn't agree to close his door

My Strategy: To go in for lunch every day and kill him with kindness until he closes that darn door!! Stores should be ticketed for air conditioning the sidewalks, I think. The city would make millions and then maybe could lower our taxes (yeah, right!). The day Mr. Singh shuts that door, I will do a victory dance and post it for your all to see.

Easy Green Tip #2: One sugar or two?

2008-07-25T16:10:00.003-04:00

When I read this article about coffee stirrers, I thought it was so clever that I just HAD to share it. According to California Coastal Cleanup: plastic stirrers rate sixth in the trash found along California's coast. Next time you go to Starbucks, tell them you want to put your milk and sugar in first and you can avoid using stirrers all together! Or better yet, bring your own "to go" coffee cup. Anyway you slice it stirrers are a pretty unnecessary part of our daily (sometimes 3 cups daily) lives!

Join me in telling Starbucks this idea. If they implement it worldwide, maybe we can eliminate some waste!

Mr. Singh, You Are So Wily!

2008-07-24T15:51:00.002-04:00

As an update to yesterday's post, I tried to call Mr. Singh again today and no luck. It looks like he's going to get away with it this time. But believe you me (that's a weird saying , isn't it?) Mr. Singh is going to hear it from me if I see his door open again!

Living Green: The Solaire

2008-07-24T11:17:00.004-04:00

As many of you may know, my boyfriend Duncan and I live in a building that is considered NYC's greenest. It is called The Solaire and is located in Battery Park City. We haven't always been super-greenies. We used to live in the West Village in an apartment that was extremely energy inefficient (read: falling apart). Watch the video below to see my building, my boyfriend and my dog Peanut who is also very passionate about being green!

PS- don't freak out...our rent is no where near the $7,000 a month "average" they mention at the end. Our rent is actually cheaper than any other "non-green" option in the area and because of all of the green features, we save on things like: water, electricity and washing our clothes.

What Exactly Are You Air Conditioning, Mr. Singh?

2008-07-23T14:51:00.008-04:00

So this is my favorite lunch spot. It is called Simply Food and it has salads and sandwiches and they are all "make your own" style. The best part is everything is ORGANIC!! YESSSSSSS!!

When I first found it, I couldn't believe my luck. Whether or not you make an effort to eat organic foods, you can't argue the fact that food WITHOUT pesticides are preferable to foods WITH pesticides. As it is across the street from my office and no more expensive than the other not organic option, I choose Simply Food.

The bad news: They are giant energy wasters! Why do stores keep their doors open? Is it because people are so lazy that the extra energy exerted to open the door will change people's minds about going there? It's so weird.

So, I placed a call to the "big boss", Mr. Singh. Apparently he is only there in the mornings from 9:00am-11:00am so I will be calling him tomorrow. Having an organic store isn't only about healthful foods but also BEING organic....duh! Get with the program Mr. Singh!

I'll let you know the outcome.

Have you ever wondered why stores do this? Send me your thoughts!!

Greening Up My Work Day: Part 1- Paper

2008-07-22T17:23:00.006-04:00

I am a member of my company's "green team" whose goal is to implement various green initiatives to make our company more eco-friendly. One of our main initiatives is to reduce paper consumption by 70% by the end of this year. Can you even believe that? Will it be possible? I think so!! We have come up with some simple, free, and innovative ideas to use less paper and I wanted to share them so that we can save some trees. After all, more trees= more oxygen= more clean breathing, which is definitely a good thing! Here it goes:

1) Decrease your margins!!: There is no logical reason why our default margins are set at 1.00"- 1.25" except for that Microsoft says it shall be so. This means we end up being less efficient with our paper consumption and use more than necessary.

I conducted an experiment: I changed the margins of a 5 page document from 1 inch to .75 inch margins and the document suddenly became 4 pages! Can you believe it? With just one click of a button, I saved a piece of paper! My office has 350 people who work here so if everyone saved 1 piece of paper every day for the whole year that would be equal to 127,750 pieces of paper. 1 tree makes around 83,000 pieces of paper so we have saved more than 1 tree without even trying.

Oh, also, you can sign the petition to tell Microsoft that we don't care about the big ole' margins! What's the deal Microsoft?

In case you don't know how to change your margins follow these steps (it might take you all of 30 seconds to do so make sure to clear your schedule):

In Microsoft Word, go to FILE, then PAGE SET UP.

Click the DEFAULT key, and you'll be prompted "Do you want to change the default settings for the page set up? This change will affect all new documents based on the normal template."

Set each of your margins to .75"

2) It's kind of basic but use both sides of the paper. Set your photocopy machine or printer to make all documents 2 sided. Also, save any paper with only one side used as scratch paper. You can take notes, tape receipts to them for expense report purposes, etc.

3) Recycle!: Aside from using 100% recycled paper to print on, make sure your company recycles. Recycling is mandatory for all businesses and residences in NYC. Make sure your office and apartment building are recycling. The city will provide you with bins if you need them. If you live outside of NYC, check your local government's website to see if they have a similar program in place. It may only take 1 phone call from you to get a program going!

I'll send tips on greening up my work day whenever I discover something new! Stay tuned!!

Step 1: Get a tote bag!

2008-07-21T14:07:00.004-04:00

How many plastic bags do I get in one day? Today, so far, 4, and this day isn't even over yet! Here's the plastic baggy breakdown:

1) Plastic bag in which to carry my lunch from the salad place to my desk
2) Plastic bag from the shoe repair shop to carry my fabulously resoled shoes
3) Plastic bag from Sid's Bike Shop for some bike accessories
4) Plastic bag from Sports Authority for some excellent biking threads to cruise around NYC in

Last week, while checking out the brand new Whole Foods that opened up across the street from my apartment, I saw this lovely display of tote bags. It was like a colorful tote bag mountain that called my name to remove plastic bags from my life. I bought one pack of 2 bags for $3.00. I keep one folded up in the side pocket of my purse so I can reject every plastic bag offer I get. The tote bag is pretty big (and purple-y)...big enough to fit everything in my aforementioned list of stuff!

This switch is easier than I ever anticipated greening it up would be. It just takes one moment of forethought and BAM! less waste already!!

Also, not to mention, Whole Foods give you a $.10 reduction every time you make a purchase and bring your own bag. I know $.10 isn't much but at least I'm getting something back for being good to the Earth. Especially after reading this article:

http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/travel-leisure/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we.shtml

I realize ANYTHING I can do to reduce my plastic consumption is a good start!!

There are tons of great tote bag sites online. Here's a site I found with some cuties:

http://www.squidoo.com/canvastotebags

Buy a tote and leave me a comment with your experience!

UPDATE: I got a GREAT question from a fellow greenie. This is from Frank who asks: "I don't have a purse so where do I put my reusable tote?". After some research I found these 2 options:

1) Not bulky and small enough to tie in a knot and put in your pocket. mesh-nylon-tote

2) or these which are a little colorful (especially for men) but specifically made to collapse to be pocket sized: resusable shopping bag

My quest for greener living...

2008-07-17T16:25:00.003-04:00

Hello! If you are seeing this, you are actually reading my blog. I didn't think anyone would actually read it but I was told by a wise blogger friend that "if you blog it they will come." So, here I am.

I call my blog The Green Advocate because, while I am trying to be greener, I definitely don't fit into the hemp-shoe-wearing-drum-circle-loving-hippie category (not that there is anything wrong with that...it just isn't me). But I do think that you can be "green" conscious while not jumping over the edge to abandoning indoor plumbing and living in a tee-pee (again, nothing wrong with that). I am a Green Advocate vs. an Environmentalist and I think everyone can become a Green Advocate just by green-ing up your everyday life a little.

My aim with this blog is to document my everyday challenges during my quest for greener living and my process for finding green solutions. My goal is to hopefully inspire someone out in this unusual thing we call the bloggosphere to do the same. I really believe that a little bit of effort from a lot of people, will make a BIG difference.

Thanks for reading and please email me any ideas or problems you are having in the green department. I will rack my brain until I can suggest a solution.