MyGreenHealth

Eco-Friendly Homes

The idea of preserving the environment or saving Mother Earth may seem like a gargantuan task which an individual may find impossible to accomplish.  Sure, we all want to share as we are all inhabitants of this only living planet Earth. Actually it is not so difficult to do our share. Here are some easy and simple ones that have the potential to create a big difference in the long run.

Save on water. Water is one of the contentious issues as its renewable sources are under attack of both abuse and development. Please be guided by the fact that billions of people on the planet lack access to clean drinking water everyday. Don’t waste water.

> While brushing your teeth, shut off the water and use a glass.

> Shorten your shower time even by just three minutes.

> Never flush the toilet unnecessarily.

> Maximize water by having laundry and dishes at full loads.

> Vote with your dollar by patronizing only producers or companies implementing water conservation techniques.

Lessen your energy consumption. While it is now fashionable to be using hybrid or green car or maybe putting up solar power at your rooftop, budgetary limitations may constraint you to do so. However, you can still make a huge difference especially if you do the things below on a consistent manner.

> Choose only appliances certified as green or energy efficient.  Though prices are already on a downward scale, it is still a little bit expensive but you can recoup the additional cost because you save on your electric bill.

> Chargers for any kind of gadget should be unplugged when not in use as unattached chargers are still sucking up power.

> Get the common remote devices on a power strip which can be easily turned off when not in use.

> Give yourself a good exercise by just walking or maybe using a bike for some short distance trips.

> Purchase locally made products as products coming from far off places consumed more energy for transportation. You are also helping maintain the vibrancy of the local economy which can benefit you later on.

Implement the three R’s.  We already know what these three R’s are: reduce, reuse and recycle. A study was conducted which determined the levels of activities of household according to the 3 R’s principles and it was found out that of the three, reuse received the lowest in terms of application. As a suggestion, reuse can be easily implemented with some creativity. Just look at your home because there are myriad of items that are candidates for reuse. For instance, you can resurrect toilet paper holders to sow pot for vegetable seeds. Or an old yogurt packaging container can be converted into strips for plant labels. Empty food jars are excellent new containers for other foods or probably as good vases for flowers. Ideas are generally unlimited here.

Go for green products. As what I said above, it is now more fashionable to go for green as consumers are now presented with dizzying array of choices – with labels like “natural” or “eco friendly” and similar messages plastered all over the grocery shelves. However, wise consumers should be alerted that not all products claiming to be green are really green and a lot of marketers are just taking advantage of the trend by jacking up their prices.

So if you don’t want to purchase those expensive “natural” products, the solution is to make them yourself. As a simple suggestion, vinegar is very good for cleaning and disinfecting glass, kitchen utensils and surfaces all over your home. Add baking soda to vinegar, and viola you have a good stain remover. If you want more information on this area, just go online and use the power of Google to search for more proven ideas.

There is no doubt that going green in your home and lifestyle can contribute a lot for a healthier and friendlier environment. When it comes to conservation, you are benefited the most as it means money saved for other needs.

We all deserve a happy and greener Earth!

Many Species. One Planet. One Future

There are so many ways of going green or environmentally conscious. There are some people who might be thinking that going green is beyond their own reach. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, going green is an individual and personal choice. Each and everyone of us could do something and do our own share for the upliftment and preservation of our only planet Earth. Come to think of it, it is not hard nor complicated to go green. In other words, it is the small things we do everyday that counts the most.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. As consumers, we have the responsibility to lessen our impact on the planet Earth. Everything that we consume comes from the resources of the planet. The 3 R’s are the basic guide for all of us living here on this planet. First, if you don’t need it don’t buy it – this way you are reducing wastes. You might be surprise to learn that there so many things you are buying which just ended up in the garage. As to the things that you can still use, don’t throw it away nor buy a new one. If you can still repair your child’s bike, why buy a new one? All the other things that must be put away, get into a community-based recycling program if there is available one in your area.

Shopping habits. Aside from the 3 R’s above, it would help a lot if you can bring your own bag while shopping. There are now reusable “eco-bags” available in different shopping centers. You are reducing the garbage to be thrown into landfills this way. Plastic and paper bags will only contributing to more problems for the environment.

Dangerous chemicals on your bathroom. Scientists are already sounding the alarm of so many poisonous and harmful chemicals on different personal care products right on your bathroom and kitchen. What are these chemicals? Names like formaldehyde, sodium hydroxide, phthalates, ammonia, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, butyl cellosolve, propylene glycol and many more are now questionable. However, most of the leading brands are continually using these chemicals because they are all cheap and very effective. Harmful both to you and the environment. Look at the list of ingredients of your brand and in most probability you can find some of these chemicals in there listed. Thankfully, there are now products on the market, which refused to play along and use natural ingredients instead.

Use CFL light bulbs in your entire home. Instead of the traditional incandescent lightbulbs, it is now recommended to use CFL instead. Compact Flourescent Light (CFL) light bulbs are known to last longer and bulbs are known to last longer and use less energy. It could save 75% energy which means great savings in the bill plus it ahs a lifetime of at least 10 times compared to the incandescent ones.

Plant trees and start a garden. As we are taking the air we breathe from the trees and plants, it would surely help the environment if we can plant more whenever possible. You can also start a small garden in your own backyard. This is both refreshing and therapeutic to you and your whole family.

Let us all go green! We can do it right! We can do it now!

The Planet Earth

After the whole world got mesmerized for many years by the idea surrounding climate change, it now seems that we are experiencing some form of backlash. Personally, this is something not really surprising because it is just following a common and traditional road – after the crush there will be falling away, so to speak.

A new term now emerged and it is called climategate – referring to the scandal uncovered with how the facts were gathered and concluded on climate change. As to my own opinion, there is no question on my mind that we are destroying our own habitat – the planet Earth – but I don’t think it is right that anybody could just forward an idea without a thorough scientific vetting. Because of this carelessness, it would be harder to convince others of the need to alter our own consumerism lifestyle.  So what are pinpointed problems as to the facts on climate change?

• Many conclusions in the the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were based not on facts but on false claims and misquotes taken from biased environmental organizations — not from scientific and academic research as it should be.

• The embarrassing mess regarding the top three most trusted data series as utilized by the UN’s IPCC 2007 assessment report which has still to be publicly released. There are good indications that data have been intentionally and widely biased to conclude a rise in gauged temperatures when true temperatures were actually going down or at least just remaining the same.

• The claims that the great Himalayan glaciers will completely be gone by the year 2035. The said prediction or should I say “forecast” got its bearing on an interview with just one glaciologist in the year 1999. That glaciologist – an Indian named Syed Hasnain is now saying he was just misquoted and in fact at the time of the interview he did not produce any data to the interviewer. In 2008, Hasnain discovered the mistake upon perusing the IPCC’s report which was already published.

• The U.N.’s climate chief, Mr. Rajendra Pachauri initially denied of the knowledge on the error prior to the global warming conference in Copenhagen. However, he admitted that he was alerted about it before the conference by email correspondence with Pallava Bagla, a writer for the journal Science.

• The IPCC strongly concluded that global warming cause the whole world to “suffered rapidly rising costs due to extreme weather-related events since the 1970s.” There was only one reference to that — a study to support the claim. Unfortunately, by the time was published in the year 2008, the study also concluded: “We find insufficient evidence to claim a statistical relationship between global temperature increase and catastrophe losses.”

• Warning from the IPCC claimed that there is a big possibility for Amazon to lose 40 percent of its rain forest due to global warming. However, the only source for that was a report authored by two people who are known to be “green activists,” and one is working with World Wildlife Fund.

• Even some details are wrong in the IPCC report. Take for instance the correct percentage of the Netherlands that is already below sea level. The report put it at 55 percent but the right percentage is 26 percent.

• Mr. Pachauri defended the UN’s IPCC inaccurate report by saying that who are criticizing the report “are people who deny the link between smoking and cancer; they are people who say that asbestos is as good as talcum powder. I hope that they apply asbestos to their faces everyday.” While Pachauri honestly admitted that the IPCC report was actually inaccurate on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, he claimed that the vicious attacks were campaigns financed and motivated by “business interests” who are protecting their interest through the “spread of a lot of disinformation.” Well, on that last claim, you can be partially right!

• The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of Great Britain, an agency responsible for enforcing the country’s freedom of information act law, concluded that the University of East Anglia (UEA) violated the law by not releasing the data concerning claims by its scientists that man-made emissions were causing global warming, even with numerous requests from concerned groups and individuals. The numbers speak for themselves – UEA just complied with the 10 requests out of the 105 made.

It is about time that we have to be very transparent to a subject which the whole world is interested and could be affected of. Scientists and any groups should never have the notion that their claims must never be questioned in the light of the day. We need true facts and not just hype.

As they say, only the truth can set us free. And it is only when we are free, can we truly act as one global community!

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