The Good Human » Favorites

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 144.

david — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:30:31 +0000

Paying More for Flights Eases Guilt, Not Emissions “The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Justin Francis, the managing director of Responsible Travel, one of the world’s largest green travel companies to embrace environmental sustainability, said in an interview. “It’s seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.’ ”

A new study by Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that the typical variety of cleaning products used in schools released 457 different chemicals into the air. The environmental health watchdog says that these common cleaning supplies can expose our children to chemicals which have been linked to health problems such as cancer and asthma.

I got into a little bit of a row recently with the guy that runs Holy Cow Products. We had a little back and forth in the comments section of a greenwash of the week post on The Good Human. The interaction itself and the little bit of product research I did on green cleaning products started me noodling over the real problem with greenwashing; which is that most people make product decisions based on product packaging and marketers know it

I’m a big proponent of the power of personal development to help us to become better fathers, and I think that by working on ourselves, we are working on our relationships and our family dynamic. In this video, I discuss the importance of finding a place to air your feelings, perhaps in a men’s group or other place that you feel safe and supported.

Thoughts on Christmas consumption…Gifting should be from the heart. Know your recipient’s needs, loves and lifestyle. Don’t buy what you want them to have. Buy something they can use in their everyday life, or something they would never buy for themselves. Make them smile, not wonder what on earth you were thinking!

Recyclops invades The Office tonight. It’s green week at NBC and Dwight Shrute does not disappoint by transforming into the fearsome green fighting machine Recyclops.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Post from: The Good Human

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 144.

You may also enjoy:

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 143.

david — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:30:39 +0000

It’s Friday the 13th, so look out! Well, I am pretty much moved into my new place here in Denver, and truly loving the fact that I can walk to almost anything I would ever need. It’s a different change from Taos, that’s for sure. Anyway, while I stare at the Rockies from my living room, check out these articles I enjoyed when I had some spare time over the past week…

The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying.

Over the next forty years, we are going to have to make room on our planet for another two billion or so people. By most reasonable estimates, the world population in 2050 will exceed nine billion. This is a source of all sorts of personal stress for a misanthrope like myself but, from a humanitarian point of view, one of the biggest issues is how to feed all these people. I despise GMO’s and the idea of them, but then again if we do GM our food, it might just take care of the overpopulation problem by wiping us out.

Last week, a judge in the United Kingdom ruled that a “belief” in global warming constitutes a philosophical position that is, basically, equivalent to religion. Uh-oh. The case centered around Tim Nicholson, the former head of sustainability at residential property firm Grainger. He claims he was fired from the company because of his views on climate change and his attempts to make the company more environmentally friendly.

‘Tis the (cold and flu) season, and it’s time to stock up on immune boosting foods like oranges, garlic and Kellogg’s Cocoa Krispies. Yes, that’s right. Kellogg’s is claiming that all the vitamins they’ve sprinkled onto their sweetened, processed puffs will help your child’s immune system.

Whether you are cooking a turkey, adopting a turkey, or skipping the turkey, here are a few tips for a greener Thanksgiving.

During the spring and summer of 2009, more than 3 million volunteers worked tirelessly for 5.2 million hours during the 2009 Great American Cleanup organized by the nonprofit group Keep America Beautiful.

Post from: The Good Human

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 143.

You may also enjoy:

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 142.

david — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:30:39 +0000

It’s moving day! Hopefully everything will go smoothly this weekend as I move in and get settled, and I expect to have internet service again starting on Monday. Wish me luck! To keep you busy, here are a few great articles that caught my eye over the past week…

I’d Like To Buy The World A Non-Carcinogenic, Responsibly Packaged, Healthier Alternative To Coke

It was a chilly and overcast day in Washington DC, when environmental activists from Appalachia got out of their cars and vans and started pounding makeshift cemetery grave stones into the lawn of the Environmental Protection Agency lawn.

Simran Sethi’s “Greening the Green Girl” series launched on Oprah.com

Now that I’m over six months deep into this gardening game ‘m starting to notice a pattern in some of my plants. There is something wrong with their growth. The one commonality between all of these plants is that I did not feed any of them.

Across the country (and globe!), there is a movement spreading to connect the next generation — the wired generation — with nature. Jolted awake by Last Child In The Woods, people are working to create balance in the lives of the next generation and to instill a love of nature that will carry into adulthood.

Post from: The Good Human

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 142.

You may also enjoy:

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 141.

david — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:30:08 +0000

One more week till the move! I hope the weather can give me a few decent days to get out of NM and to my new place in CO. Just need 2 days, Mother Nature!

Planet Connect is handing out $1,000 grants to high school students with creative ideas and actions to fix an environmental problem in schools or communities across the U.S. If you’re interested, don’t deadline.

Sure, outsourcing labor to developing nations saves money, but think about the amount of fossil fuels used on shipping all that product half way around the world. This is just a small portion of what is called embodied energy. Embodied energy is the sum total of the energy necessary for an entire product lifecycle. This lifecycle includes raw material extraction, transport, manufacture, assembly, installation, disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition. In the past 50 years, the worlds population has used as much natural resources as was needed to sustain the entire course of human history before then. (Scary statistics on how much energy American’s Consume – Video)

Opportunity Green is launching The Tour de OG; a 5 day, 4 night supported cycle tour raising awareness and generating a social media buzz for green business. Riders will travel 450 miles down the California coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles, to attend the 3rd annual Opportunity Green conference at UCLA.

Boredom, it seems, has become a 4-letter word in many households with children. Apparently, boredom in children is a fate that many fear more than a bad FICA score or bathing suit season. To remedy this fact, many kids are plugged-in and given activities to do every second of the day. No stone is left unturned in the quest to keep kids entertained and to stop them from uttering the words that strike fear into the hearts of many: “I’m bored!”

Now that it’s fall and the cold has come, most of the flowers and plants that my roommate was growing started to die. I’m sure that some of yours have too. That doesn’t mean that you can’t still have a beautiful garden on display. How To Make Flowers (or a Pinwheel) Using A Soda Can.

Scientists have discovered high levels of toxic pollutants trapped in the Swiss Alps are being released from melting glaciers in the Swiss Alps region.

The arrival of autumn means cooler temperatures, darker evenings — and a last chance to get your home ready for winter. Twelve Practical Ways to Green-Up Your Autumn

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Post from: The Good Human

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 141.

You may also enjoy: