A few sobering statistics about holiday waste are helpful when it comes to getting motivated to go green for the holidays. More than 30 million living Fir trees are cut in U.S. for Christmas each year. There’s no eco relief, however, in choosing a fake trees instead, because these plastic trees often contain non-biodegradable PVC and possible metal toxins, such as lead.
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We’ll admit that we only have the vaguest idea of what the media maven has been up to since she ended her reign as the queen of daytime talk (we think we get OWN—like on channel 176 or something). But now comes news that Oprah might be getting into the organics game.
According to recent filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, Oprah—or, no doubt, her lawyers—has registered trademarks for “Oprah’s Organics,” “Oprah’s Farm” and “Oprah’s Harvest,” reports the New York Post.
A PR rep seemed to downplay the story, saying: “The trademarks were filed for Oprah’s farm on Maui to enable the farm to grow and distribute produce on Maui and throughout the Hawaiian I
Continue reading... →Among all developed countries, Americans are the fattest people in the world. The World Health Organization found over 60% of the American population is obese or overweight. Even more disturbing, the U.S. is the only country in the developed world to label obesity a national security health risk. Top Pentagon officials have warned Americans are becoming so fat, most of those volunteering for the Army are disqualified because of their size. Child obesity is also on the rise in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control estimates 1 in every 3 American kids are either obese or overweight. Jeffrey Smith, the author of Seeds of Deception, points to the mass production and consumption of genetically modified foods in the U.S. as a possible source of the problem.
So tell food manufacturers: Get your GMOs out of our plants.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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BP will plead guilty to manslaughter charges stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and agreed to pay $4.5 billion in government penalties, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday.
Of the penalties, $4 billion will resolve criminal charges. An additional $525 million will be paid to resolve claims brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission that BP lied to investors by understating the amount of oil flowing into the Gulf.
Separate from the corporate manslaughter charges, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging the two highest-ranking BP supervisors on board the Deepwater Horizon on the day of the explosion with 23 criminal counts. The two men were charged with seaman’s manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter for each of the 11 men killed in the blast, as well as a criminal violation of the clean water act.
The grand jury also charged BP’s second-highest ranking representative at the company’s unified command post with hiding information from Congress and allegedly lying to law enforcement officials.
The company also will plead guilty to a felony count of obstruction of Congress, a misdemeanor count under the Clean Water Act and a misdemeanor count under the Migratory Bird Treaty.
Holder said the dollar amount of the penalties and the criminal charges against both the company and individuals are unprecedented.
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We sending a BIG SHOUT OUT to our community. That’s you. And your friends. And your friend’s friends. We’re looking for the Top Ten Women Of Green. Women who are stepping out and making a BIG POSITIVE IMPACT on the planet. We know you know one. Send us her name, what she’s up to and why you think she should be on our Top Ten list. The time is now.
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It seems like we can do just about anything from our smartphones these days, and monitoring home energy usage is one of them. Although we’ve been playing around with the concept for years, modern technology has gotten to the point where products are not only more intuitively designed, they’re also capable of learning on their own.
Some of the earlier concepts of real-time home energy use monitoring came in the form of Google PowerMeter and Microsoft Hohm in 2009. While both programs were designed to use data from homeowners’ utility companies and display their energy usage in real-time, the platforms were underutilized and Google PowerMeter was discontinued in June 2011, followed by Microsoft Hohm in May 2012.
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Earlier this week, Proposition 37 asked voting Californians to approve new legislation that would require food and beverage manufacturers to notify consumers about the use of genetically modified organisms on the product label.
While the proposition did not pass, it was close, with 46% for the initiative and 54% against. Why didn’t it win? While the issue is complex and polarizing, there are a few attitudes and beliefs discovered in NMI’s most recent Organic Study that shed light on the subject.
Here are a few of those beliefs that may have affected the outcome:
Some consumers say, “I don’t understand it, so I don’t care”
Some consumers fear labeling GMOs would increase the cost of food
Some consumers believe GMOs are necessary to feed the world population
How many of you have bras in your drawers that you are itching to toss out? Unfortunately, all of the pieces that make up a bra, such as hooks, underwire, and elastic, will never biodegrade. Wouldn’t it make you feel better to know that your bra was getting a second life instead? Believe it or not, bras are a sought-after item!
Over in Japan, women are encouraged to recycle their brassieres so that they can be converted into fuel. Meanwhile, Oxfam is working hard to upcycle bras in the UK with its Big Bra Hunt campaign.
Here in the U.S. of A, we have an Arizona-based organization called The Bra Recyclers. The organization buys and sell recycled bras, which are then redistributed to communities in need around the world. There are drop-off sites around the country through the Bra Recycling Ambassador program, or you can ship your donation directly to the organization.
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This is a photo of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in NYC — FLOODING. New York Governor Cuomo calls this another 100 year flood that happens every two years now. Is this the new normal?
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