Benefits of Reusable Water Bottles

I have always been a huge fan of reusable water bottles because they are so much better for the environment than the plastic ones you buy at the store. Water is a ubiquitous product so why would be pay money ship it all over the world to drink. Not to mention how many food miles are accumulated by shipping water around the globe, and oh-by-the-way it is shipped in plastic containers which never decompose once thrown into our landfills. Did you realize that we pay more for a gallon of bottled water than we do for a gallon of gasoline. Please consider using a reusable bottle like one pictured below.

I found the below article from Greeniacs website that solidifies my reasons for using reusable products, and I wanted to share it with my readers. I would say that these facts don’t just apply to water bottles but also to drinking cup, disposable plates, coffee cups, etc.




Cost of Reusable Water Bottles
You'll actually be saving money! Bottled water is a $100 billion a year industry and consumers can pay up to $10 per gallon for bottled water. Bottled water can be more expensive than gasoline; and why pay so much for bottled water when safe and reliable drinking water is available virtually for free from your faucet.

BENEFITS for the Environment:
The most commonly used plastic in the production of plastic bottles is petroleum-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Manufacturing these bottles requires an estimated 47 million gallons of oil each year. In fact, in the United States alone, 1.5 million barrels of oil are used annually in the production of plastic bottles. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars for one year! In addition, the water intended for bottling is often routed away from its natural source, removing it from small towns and farmers who rely on it for their livelihood.
The global distribution of bottled water creates yet another environmental hazard. The trucks, airplanes, and boats on which the water travels consume even more fossil fuels, while simultaneously causing air pollution and global warming. Although bottles made from PET are recyclable, the Container Recycling Institute estimates only 21% of plastic bottles are recycled in the United States. This fills up our landfills with bottles that can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.


BENEFITS for Your Wallet:
Compared to the very affordable price of tap water, your bottled water costs you a bundle - sometimes up to 10,000 times more than your tap water. With prices ranging from $5 to $10 per gallon, bottled water costs more than gasoline! Bottled water is a $100 billion a year industry, even though for a fraction of that price, everybody in the world could enjoy safe and clean drinking water. Those who enjoy the convenience of bottled water should consider buying a reusable water bottle that could prove to be even more convenient! Rather than lugging along multiple water bottles, you only need to carry one reusable bottle with you, which can be refilled as many times as you please.

Diaper Alternative Update

As many of you know I have a little girl in diapers and I have always struggled with putting her in disposable diapers because of the negative environmental footprint they leave on our earth. (For those of you that don’t know diapers are the worst things that we throw in our landfills. Reason being they virtually never decompose because of the large amount of plastic that is in them.) And I am not able to do reusable cloth diapers because of playschool regulations.

Well I have found a great alternative to traditional diapers!!! Nature Babycare makes Eco Friendly diapers. They are 100% biodegradable because they are made from corn byproducts instead of plastic, and they are 100% chlorine free (meaning they don’t use chemicals to turn them the tree pulp white). I have been using them for about a month now and I love them. I don’t have any problems with leakage or poor performance. They are more difficult to find then your traditional diapers, but they are very cost competitive to Pampers or Huggies. I am able to find them on line, at Babies R Us, Toy’s R Us, some Targets, and the natural food stores. These are my new favorite diapers so I wanted to make sure my readers were informed.


Here is some information from their website:
Nature babycare diapers are 100% chlorine-free and keep oil-based plastics away from babies delicate skin. Our absorbent pulp is from sustainably harvested Scandinavian forests and the unique design of our ultra-thin absorbent core creates a more comfortable fit for your baby while providing enhanced leak protection. Since Nature babycare products are based on natural and renewable materials instead of plastic, our diapers are soft and cloth-like providing comfort without sacrificing protection. Nature babycare has been awarded "Best Disposable Diaper" Silver Award for 2006-2007 by Mother & Baby Magazine and also carries the approval symbol from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

http://www.natyusa.com/products/diapers.php

Trivia #1

I thought that we would go with some trivia questions today:

Facts:
Did you know that one mature tree produces about 260 pounds of oxygen per year; two trees produce enough to support a family of four. I encourage you and your family to consider recycled paper products–in all its forms.

Replacing a dishwasher over 12 years old with an Energy Star dishwasher can save you more than$30 per year.


Questions:
How many trees could be saved if every household in the U.S. replaced just one box of regular facial tissue paper with recycled facial tissue?
A. 100 to 300 trees
B. 500 trees
C. 7,000 trees
D. 163,000 trees

An Energy Star-labeled dishwasher uses roughly:
A. 150% as much energy as a standard model
B. As much energy as a standard model
C. 40% less energy as a standard model
D. Twice as much energy as a squiggly bulb

Answers:
Question 1: C (7,000 trees)
Question 2: C (40% less energy as a standard model)

Paper or Plastic?

When shopping the answer should be “neither”. Did you know that it takes 17 trees, which take 20 years each to grow, to make 1 ton of paper? Did you know that plastic bags take at least 500 years to decompose? And that is probably a very conservative number. Scientist don’t actually know that plastic ever decomposes – it has only been studied for 500 years. There is a potential that it could be on earth till the end of time.

The answer to the question “paper or plastic?” should always be “neither, I will use my reusable shopping bag.” Reusable shopping bags can be purchased at any retail for about $1.00 each. These are such handy little bags to have around. It takes a little bit of practice to remember to bring them into the store from your car. There have been several times that I have told the cashier not to bag my groceries just to put them back into the cart for me. I then bag them when I get to the car. Only a few times of doing this and you will remember to bring your reusable bags into the store with you.

However, if something comes up and you need to use either plastic or paper then just don’t forget to reuse them and then ultimately recycle them. Like I said earlier 17 trees is a lot to destroy for us to then turn around and put back in the landfill, and not to mention the plastic that could potentially never decompose.



I copied this article from: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/paper-bags-or-plastic-bags-everything-you-need-to-know.php

Paper or plastic bags: which is better?It's an age old question, when it comes time to check out when grocery shopping: paper bag or plastic bag? It seems like it should be an easy choice, but there's an incredible number of details and inputs hidden in each bag. From durability and reusability to life cycle costs, there's a lot more to each bag than meet the eye. Let's take a look behind the bags.

Where do brown paper bags come from?Paper comes from trees -- lots and lots of trees. The logging industry, influenced by companies like Weyerhaeuser and Kimberly-Clark, is huge, and the process to get that paper bag to the grocery store is long, sordid and exacts a heavy toll on the planet. First, the trees are found, marked and felled in a process that all too often involves clear-cutting, resulting in massive habitat destruction and long-term ecological damage.

Mega-machinery comes in to remove the logs from what used to be forest, either by logging trucks or even helicopters in more remote areas. This machinery requires fossil fuel to operate and roads to drive on, and, when done unsustainably, logging even a small area has a large impact on the entire ecological chain in surrounding areas.

Once the trees are collected, they must dry at least three years before they can be used. More machinery is used to strip the bark, which is then chipped into one-inch squares and cooked under tremendous heat and pressure. This wood stew is then "digested," with a chemical mixture of limestone and acid, and after several hours of cooking, what was once wood becomes pulp. It takes approximately three tons of wood chips to make one ton of pulp.

The pulp is then washed and bleached; both stages require thousands of gallons of clean water. Coloring is added to more water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400 parts water, to make paper. The pulp/water mixture is dumped into a web of bronze wires, and the water showers through, leaving the pulp, which, in turn, is rolled into paper.

Whew! And that's just to make the paper; don't forget about the energy inputs -- chemical, electrical, and fossil fuel-based -- used to transport the raw material, turn the paper into a bag and then transport the finished paper bag all over the world.


Where do paper shopping bags go when you're done with them?
When you're done using paper shopping bags, for shopping or other household reuses, a couple of things can happen. If minimally-inked (or printed with soy or other veggie-based inks) they can be composted; otherwise, they can be recycled in most mixed-paper recycling schemes, or they can be thrown away (which is not something we recommend).

If you compost them, the bags break down and go from paper to a rich soil nutrient over a period of a couple of months; if you throw them away, they'll eventually break down of the period of many, many years (and without the handy benefits that compost can provide). If you choose to recycle paper bags, then things get a little tricky.

The paper must first be re-pulped, which usually requires a chemical process involving compounds like hydrogen peroxide, sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide, which bleach and separate the pulp fibers. The fibers are then cleaned and screened to be sure they're free of anything that would contaminate the paper-making process, and are then washed to remove any leftover ink before being pressed and rolled into paper, as before.

How are plastic bags made?
Unlike paper bags, plastic bags are typically made from oil, a non-renewable resource. Plastics are a by-product of the oil-refining process, accounting for about four percent of oil production around the globe. The biggest energy input is from the plastic bag creation process is electricity, which, in this country, comes from coal-burning power plants at least half of the time; the process requires enough juice to heat the oil up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, where it can be separated into its various components and molded into polymers. Plastic bags most often come from one of the five types of polymers -- polyethylene -- in its low-density form (LDPE), which is also known as #4 plastic.

How does plastic bag recycling work?
Like paper, plastic can be recycled, but it isn't simple or easy. Recycling involves essentially re-melting the bags and re-casting the plastic, though, according to the U.S. EPA, manufacturing new plastic from recycled plastic requires two-thirds of the energy used in virgin plastic manufacturing. But, as any chef who has ever tried to re-heat a Hollondaise sauce will tell you, the quality isn't quite as good the second time around; the polymer chains often separate break (thanks to reader MaryBeth for noting the difference between "separate" and "break" -- the former implies that the chains can come back together, which they can't), leading to a lower-quality product.

What does that mean to you? Basically, plastic is often downcycled -- that is, the material loses viability and/or value in the process of recycling -- into less functional forms, making it hard to make new plastic bags out of old plastic bags.

What about biodegradable plastic bags?
Biodegradable plastic is a mixed bag (pun intended) as well; while biopolymers like polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and Polylactide (PLA) are completely biodegradable in compost (and very, very, very slowly -- if at all -- in a landfill) and are not made from petroleum products, they are often derived from our food sources.

The primary feedstock for bioplastics today is corn, which is rife with agro-political conflict and often grown and harvested unsustainably; because of these reasons, and because it competes with food supply, it is not likely to be a long-term solution in the plastics world.

Plus, some bags marked "biodegradable" are not actually so -- they're recycled plastic mixed with cornstarch. The cornstarch biodegrades and the plastic breaks down into tiny little pieces but does not actually "biodegrade," leaving a yucky polymer mess (if in small pieces). The only way to avoid this? Look for 100% plant-based polymers, like the two mentioned above.

So, while it's good to have the alternative (and to recognize the innovation it represents), bioplastics aren't quite ready to save us from the paper or plastic debate.

Paper or plastic: A look at the facts and numbers
Further insight into the implications of using and recycling each kind of bag can be gained from looking at overall energy, emissions, and other life cycle-related costs of production and recycling. According to a life cycle analysis by Franklin Associates, Ltd, [pdf] plastic bags create fewer airborne emissions and require less energy during the life cycle of both types of bags per 10,000 equivalent uses -- plastic creates 9.1 cubic pounds of solid waste vs. 45.8 cubic pounds for paper; plastic creates 17.9 pounds of atmospheric emissions vs. 64.2 pounds for paper; plastic creates 1.8 pounds of waterborne waste vs. 31.2 pounds for paper.

Paper bags can hold more stuff per bag -- anywhere from 50 percent to 400 percent more, depending on how they're packed, since they hold more volume and are sturdier. The numbers here assume that each paper bag holds 50 percent more than each plastic bag, meaning that it takes one and half plastic bags to equal a paper bag -- it's not a one-to-one comparison, even though plastic still comes out ahead.

It's important to note that all of the above numbers assume that none of the bags are recycled, which adds a lot of negative impacts for both the paper and plastic bags; the numbers decrease in size (and the relative impacts decrease) as more bags are recycled. Interestingly, the numbers for paper bag recycling get better faster -- the more that are recycled, the lower their overall environmental impact -- but, because plastic bags use much less to begin with, they still ends up creating less solid and waterborne waste and airborne emissions.

Paper and plastic bags' required energy inputs
From the same analysis, we learn that plastic also has lower energy requirements -- these numbers are expressed in millions of British thermal units (Btus) per 10,000 bags, again at 1.5 plastic bags for every one paper bag. Plastic bags require 9.7 million Btus, vs. 16.3 for paper bags at zero percent recycling; even at 100% recycling rates, plastic bags still require less -- 7.0 to paper's 9.1. What does that mean to me and you? Plastic bags just take less energy to create, which is significant because so much of our energy comes from dirty sources like coal and petroleum.

Paper bags or plastic bags: the conclusion
Both paper and plastic bags require lots and lots of resources and energy, and proper recycling requires due diligence from both consumer and municipal waste collector or private recycling company, so there are a lot of variables that can lead to low recycling rates.

Ultimately, neither paper nor plastic bags are the best choice; we think choosing reusable canvas bags instead is the way to go. From an energy standpoint, according to this Australian study, canvas bags are 14 times better than plastic bags and 39 times better than paper bags, assuming that canvas bags get a good workout and are used 500 times during their life cycle. Happy shopping!

What is the greenhouse effect?

The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon that helps regulate the Earth’s temperature. Greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons) act like an insulating blanket, trapping solar energy that would otherwise escape into space. Without this natural "greenhouse effect," temperatures would be about 60ºF lower than they are now, and life as we know it today would not be possible. However, human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests, have enhanced the natural greenhouse effect, causing the Earth’s average temperature to rise.

Let's Start with Info on Climate Change

I thought that this information on Climate Change that I found on the EPA's website would be a good place to start. For more information you can visit their website: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/basicinfo.html


The Earth's climate has changed many times during the planet's history, with events ranging from ice ages to long periods of warmth. Historically, natural factors such as volcanic eruptions, changes in the Earth's orbit, and the amount of energy released from the Sun have affected the Earth's climate. Beginning late in the 18th century, human activities associated with the Industrial Revolution have also changed the composition of the atmosphere and therefore very likely are influencing the Earth's climate.

Science
For over the past 200 years, the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, and deforestation have caused the concentrations of heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" to increase significantly in our atmosphere. These gases prevent heat from escaping to space, somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.

Greenhouse gases are necessary to life as we know it, because they keep the planet's surface warmer than it otherwise would be. But, as the concentrations of these gases continue to increase in the atmosphere, the Earth's temperature is climbing above past levels. According to NOAA and NASA data, the Earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 to 1.4ºF in the last 100 years. The eight warmest years on record (since 1850) have all occurred since 1998, with the warmest year being 2005. Most of the warming in recent decades is very likely the result of human activities. Other aspects of the climate are also changing such as rainfall patterns, snow and ice cover, and sea level.

If greenhouse gases continue to increase, climate models predict that the average temperature at the Earth's surface could increase from 3.2 to 7.2ºF above 1990 levels by the end of this century. Scientists are certain that human activities are changing the composition of the atmosphere, and that increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases will change the planet's climate. But they are not sure by how much it will change, at what rate it will change, or what the exact effects will be. See the Science and Health and Environmental Effects sections of this site for more detail, or review the answers to some frequent science questions.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions
In the U.S., our energy-related activities account for three-quarters of our human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, mostly in the form of carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. More than half the energy-related emissions come from large stationary sources such as power plants, while about a third comes from transportation. Industrial processes (such as the production of cement, steel, and aluminum), agriculture, forestry, other land use, and waste management are also important sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
For a better understanding of where greenhouse gas emissions come from, governments at the federal, state and local levels prepare emissions inventories, which track emissions from various parts of the economy such as transportation, electricity production, industry, agriculture, forestry, and other sectors. EPA publishes the official national inventory of US greenhouse gas emissions, and the latest greenhouse gas inventory shows that in 2005 the U.S. emitted over 7.2 billon metric tons of greenhouse gases (a million metric tons of CO2 equivalents (MMTCO2e) is roughly equal to the annual GHG emissions of an average U.S. power plant.)

Health and Environmental Effects
Climate change affects people, plants, and animals. Scientists are working to better understand future climate change and how the effects will vary by region and over time.
Scientists have observed that some changes are already occurring. Observed effects include sea level rise, shrinking glaciers, changes in the range and distribution of plants and animals, trees blooming earlier, lengthening of growing seasons, ice on rivers and lakes freezing later and breaking up earlier, and thawing of permafrost. Another key issue being studied is how societies and the Earth's environment will adapt to or cope with climate change.

In the United States, scientists believe that most areas will to continue to warm, although some will likely warm more than others. It remains very difficult to predict which parts of the country will become wetter or drier, but scientists generally expect increased precipitation and evaporation, and drier soil in the middle parts of the country. Northern regions such as Alaska are expected to experience the most warming. In fact, Alaska has been experiencing significant changes in climate in recent years that may be at least partly related to human caused global climate change.

Human health can be affected directly and indirectly by climate change in part through extreme periods of heat and cold, storms, and climate-sensitive diseases such as malaria, and smog episodes.

What You Can Do
Greenhouse gases are emitted as a result of the energy we use by driving and using electricity and through other activities that support our quality of life like growing food and raising livestock. Greenhouse gas emissions can be minimized through simple measures like changing light bulbs in your home and properly inflating your tires to improve your car's fuel economy. The What You Can Do section of the climate change site identifies over 25 action steps that individuals can take to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, increase the nation's energy independence and also save money.

State and local governments and businesses play an important role in meeting the national goal of reducing greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent by 2012. For example, major corporations, states and local organizations are taking action through participation in a wide range of EPA and other federal voluntary programs. You can start by assessing your own contribution to the problem, by using EPA's personal greenhouse gas emissions calculator to estimate your household's annual emissions. Once you know about how much you emit, you use the tool to see how simple steps you take at home, at the office, on the road, and at school can reduce your emissions. Visit the What You Can Do section of this site to learn more.