Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

1908 Ford Model T vs. 2008 Ford Pick-Up

On October 1st, 2008, the Ford Model-T turned 100-years-old. Back in 1908, the year my grandmother was born, this “universal car” as Henry Ford called it, became the first mass-produced car and the symbol of low-cost reliable transportation. But more important than it’s centennial, the Model T got 13-21 MPG (max speed 45 MPH), and it was the first flexible-fuel vehicle, running on gas, ethanol or both.

According to Model T collector Stu Chaney of the Model T Ford Club of America who appeared on the The CBS Saturday Early Show, “It will run on moonshine, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel– about anything you can put a match to. And, whatever it runs on, it would pass today’s very strict emission standards, because it burns the complete charge in the combustion.”

Call me crazy but why are we no better off 100 years later? According the the US Department of Energy’s website, FuelEconomy.gov, the 2008 Ford Ranger Pick-Up gets 15 MPG (highway, city combine). I drive a Acura MDX and hardly ever go above 45 MPH and I am only getting about 15 MPH, and neither of these cars are Flex-Fuel vehicles.

Are you kidding me? So the 100 year-old Model-T did better on fuel efficiency than cars made today and it’s a flex-fuel automobile.

Henry Ford knew there was a future in alternative fuel. In 1925 he told the New York Times that “The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust — almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There’s enough alcohol in one year’s yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years.”

In the late 1920′s, Ford began to test crops for their industrial potential. He actually used soybeans in gearshift knobs and horn buttons. This process of creating industrial products from agricultural raw materials is called Chemurgy. Coined by the chemist William J. Hale, chemurgy in the 1930′s during the Great Depression, many farmers and others were advocating the link between farm and industry. In 1935, the Farm Chemurgic Council (later renamed the National Farm Chemurgic Council) was formed to encourage greater use of renewable raw materials in industry. This sounds like a good idea to me. If you’ve read some of my other blogs, you know that I feel strongly about the pervasive nature of petrochemicals in our everyday lives.

So tell me what happened in the past 100 years. Well, after Henry Ford began producing the Model-T oil-based gasoline emerged as the dominant fuel due to it availability, price, and of course lobbying from petroleum companies to maintain steep alcohol taxes. According to Hemp Car Transamerica (don’t laugh this is both legit and important): “Many bills proposing a National energy program that made use of Americas vast agricultural resources (for fuel production) were killed by smear campaigns launched by vested petroleum interests.” So big oil killed big agriculture’s bid for our gas tanks? We’re dependent upon foreign oil due to American big oil efforts.

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The Week in Green

I decided that there is so much “green” news out there each week that I would update Eco-Chick readers on what I think are the most interesting stories and topics.  Here is “The Week in Green.”

Be Green and Vote: In most states you have until the end of the week to register to vote in the Presidential election.  Some say “why should I vote”?  No matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, an environmentalist or a creationist (not sure why anyone would be), you MUST exercise your right to vote.  In this week Grist, Umbra Fisk wrote a piece called Citizen Bane: On the importance of voting.  A must read for all and if you have not registered to vote go to Declare Yourself to find out your state’s deadline and all you need to register.

Bush’s Environmental Record: In a week that has once again exposed the incompetence of the Bush administration, the Republicans have boycotted a review of Bush’s environmental record, as reported by the Environmental News Service. All of us know this administration has failed the American people on environmental and health issues while letting big business run rampant without oversight.  “For six years the administration sat by while oil imports increased, gas prices rose and global warming became more and more threatening,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. “It refused to set higher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles even when the data showed that the current trajectory was actually hurting the U.S. auto industry, desiccating its market share.”

Fast Food is transforming the waistlines of the Greek: Our fast and highly process foods are making the U.S. a nation of the overweight, sick and obese. We have been told that the healthful Mediterranean diet — emphasizing olive oil, fresh produce and fish — is the way to go. But as reported in the New York Times this week, the Greeks have succumbed to our ways and are now seeing increased negative health effects from the change in their nation’s diet.  So much so that the government has began lectures on nutrition in schools.  As stated in the article, “In Greece, three-quarters of the adult population is overweight or obese, the worst rate in Europe “by far,” according to the United Nations. The rates of overweight 12-year-old boys rose more than 200 percent from 1982 to 2002 and have been rising even faster since.”

The reusable shopping bag, green or not?: If you’re reading this, and you are, you probably have about a half a dozen or so reusable shopping bags.  Those of us who do, proudly bring them to the supermarket making our statement that we are taking one step in reducing waste and helping the environment. According to a story in the Wall Street Journal this week entitled “An Inconvenient Bag,” reusable shopping bags are the new “it” freebie.  Sales are up 76% from this time last year.  Wow, what a business, but is it a green business? “Many of the cheap, reusable bags that retailers favor are produced in Chinese factories and made from nonwoven polypropylene, a form of plastic that requires about 28 times as much energy to produce as the plastic used in standard disposable bags and eight times as much as a paper sack, according to Mr. Sterling, of Natural Capitalism Solutions.

Reclaiming Cow Shit for Energy: So many people dis on the cow because they feel that bovines are a leading causes of global warming.  They burp and fart methane. Well, a farm in Vermont is now taking the waste from their cattle and converting into clean burning natural gas to create a new and recurring source of green energy. The Green Mountain Dairy in Shelton, Vermont is part of an alternative energy program that converts methane from cow manure in to electricity.  Check out this interesting and progressive program by reading  Electricity From What Cows Leave Behind in the New York Times, The Business of Green section.

If there is something that you think is interesting, topical or important, please post it to the comments here, on my Facebook Group (Green Luvin’) and/or my Facebook blog, Green Luvin’.  You can also follow me on Twitter @Green_Luvin.

Pollution Makes You (and Your Kids) Fat: New Study

Pollution contaminates our water, air, and land. It has been proven to cause asthma, allergies, cancer, emphysema, and whole host of other diseases. It causes global warming, kills our wildlife and now scientists from the Environmental Epidemiology at the Institut Municipal Investigacio Medica in Barcelona discovered it causes OBESITY.

So in addition to fast foods and processed foods, pollution causes obesity? The Spanish study revealed that children who were exposed to a range of common chemicals and pesticides in the womb had an increased chance of becoming obese later in life.

As reported in the journal Acta Paediatrica, scientists looked at the concentration of hexachloreobenzene (HCB) in the umbilical cord blood of 405 children born in Menorca from mid-1997 to mid-1998. Among those data point collected post birth, scientists looked at infant height and weight.  Feeding practices were reported by mothers in interviews at six months and one year after birth.  Additionally, the children’s height and weight were measured when they were 6.5 years old. The study revealed that children with the highest exposure to HCB were 2.5 times more likely to be overweight. The researchers also reported that these children were three times more likely to be obese than those with lower exposure levels.

So, what is HCB? Hexachlorobenzene is a fungicide formerly used to treat seeds to control fungal disease. It was banned globally in the ’90s under the Stockholm Convention which banned chemical substances that accumulate through the food chain, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. HCB has been banned in the US since 1965 but can still be found in our environment in 84 Superfund sites in the US and all across the world. It is a known animal carcinogen and a probable human carcinogen.

Studies have found that HCB accumulates as your move up the food chain, like mercury. Therefore, if you eat a large fish like tuna or swordfish that has eaten smaller fish that have been contaminated, that have eaten mollusks and insects that contain HCB, the concentrations of HCB in the larger fish would be extremely high.

So what else have children been exposed to prior to being born, and what impact might it have on my kids (and yours)?

Previous studies have linked bisphenol A exposure to obesity in animals, and other studies have linked phthalates to obesity in adult men. As reported in the Telegraph in the United Kingdom, “The report’s authors are now calling for exposure to similar pesticides to be minimised, including bisphenol A (BPA), used in baby bottles and cans of food, and phthalates, found in cosmetics and shampoos.” Tests have shown BPA is found in the bodies of 95% of Americans, while 90% have been found to be exposed to phthalates in the womb.

Between BPA, HCB, and phthalates, I’m frustrated and concerned. I would prefer to screw my kids up on my own and not worry about what their sippy cups or shampoos are made of, or what banned fungicides are in their foods.

What’s keeping you up at night?

You can read more of my posts at on my blog Green Luvin’ or join me on Facebook.

Five Surefire Ways to Get Rid of Junk Mail

If you’re like me, you love getting mail. The holiday cards, the thank you notes, etc. There is little more exciting than the sound of opening an envelope and reading a real piece of mail. But what I hate is the junk mail. Specifically the catalogs that clog my mailbox and pile up day after day.

Turns out that more than 19 billion catalogs are mailed to households in the United States every year. That’s 63 catalogs for each man, woman and child in the US. Well, I wanted to put an end to this flood of useless mail.  I knew my family was getting a ton of these unwanted, unrequested catalogs from companies like LL Bean, Land’s End, Victoria’s Secret, Restoration Hardware and a whole host of other companies well (frankly, for me, it was eighty-two companies). Eighty-two, that is how many different companies have sent me a mail-order catalogs in the past 2 months.  That is more than one catalog a day not including repeat catalogs! That’s a lot of junk mail.

How do I know it is eighty-two?  About two months ago I began using Catalog Choice, a free service that contacts mail-order companies for you to remove your name from their mailing lists.  I knew I received a lot of catalogs but I had no idea that is was SOOO many.

Using the Environmental Defense Fund paper calculator, Catalog Choice calculated the impact of all these catalogs on our environment. More than 53 million trees are need make 3.6 million tons of paper and 38 trillion BTUs of energy are need to produce the paper (enough to power 1.2 million households per year.) This process emits 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide equal to annual emissions of 2 million cars — significantly contributing to global warming.

More that 53 billion gallons of wastewater is discharged to create the catalog paper — enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.  This doesn’t even take into account the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by the US Post Office from delivering these useless pieces of paper.

Since its launch last year, almost one million people have joined Catalog Choice and already opted out of 13,117,365 catalogs.  More than 1,000 companies have joined in to help people opt out of getting their catalogs, but there are a few that have decided not to participate.  Out of the 82 companies on my list just Garnet Hill, the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Store, Nordstroms, and Title Nine are not participating.  To date, 22 companies on my list have confirmed the opt out and Catalog Choice is working on the rest.

Catalog Choice is not the only service out there. For a fee, GreenDimes and 41pounds.org will get rid of unwanted junk mail and catalogs. OptOutPrescreen.com will stop unwanted credit or insurance offers. Even the Direct Marketing Association offers ways to remove your name and address for mailing list.

It is so easy you have to try.  All you have to do is input them, and Catalog Choice does the rest.

Let me know how many catalogs you get rid of!

To read more of my posts check out my blog Green Luvin’ and join me on Facebook.

Cancer or Germs? I'll take the germs.

I must admit that in my house we might be thought to be a little lax when it comes to germs. I am not saying that we don’t wash our hands when we go to the bathroom or before we eat. We play in the yard digging for bugs and worms and get big slobbery kisses from our dog. We are not afraid of dirt, and follow the “five second rule”. That said, we are a very clean family. We focus on washing our hands to ensure that there is no, as my 2 year-old says, “durt” when we touch food.

Now, I have never been big on anti-bacterial soaps and hand sanitizer because I believe that we need to build up our immunity to bacteria and viruses to make us stronger. When the kids were infants I did use these types of cleaning products but now that they are older, these products are basically non-existent in our house.

So when I was asked to test out a new, natural, non-toxic hand sanitizer, I was little disinterested, but began a dialog with the company because I was willing to learn more. One of the key points of this new product was they do not use triclosan, a widely used anti-bacterial agent.

What is triclosan you ask? Well, this is what I learned, and it is not a pleasant story…

Triclosan is antimicrobial and antifungal pesticide that is used in a wide variety of products found in retail stores across the country including soaps, toothpastes, cosmetics, deodorants, personal care products, first aid, kitchenware, computer electronics, toys, plastics, paints and clothing. It is widely known as Microban which is infused into everything from cutting boards, pillows and shoes because it inhibits the growth of microbes, such as bacteria, mold and mildew. Ok, that does not sound that bad…yet.

However, according to Beyond Pesticides, a group dedicated to eliminating toxic and harmful pesticides from our environment, “Studies have increasingly linked one of the most common antimicrobial, triclosan (and its chemical cousin triclocarban), to a range of adverse health and environmental effects, from skin irritation, allergy susceptibility, bacterial and compounded antibiotic resistance, tainted water, and dioxin contamination to destruction of fragile aquatic ecosystems.”

As explained on Wikipedia:

During wastewater treatment, a portion of triclosan is degraded while the remaining adsorbs to sewage sludge or exits the plant in wastewater effluent. In the environment, triclosan may be degraded by microorganisms or react with sunlight forming other compounds which may include chlorophenols and dioxin, or it may adsorb to particles that settle out of the water column and form sediment. Triclosan was found in Greifensee, a small lake in Switzerland, sediment that was over 30 years old, suggesting that triclosan is degraded or removed slowly in sediment.

Whoa….wait a minute, Triclosan degrades into dioxins and chlorophenols, both are known carcinogens. Studies have shown that ultraviolet light converts triclosan to dioxins and it is believed that sunlight could transform triclosan to dioxins naturally. Scientist at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA tested 16 products including soaps, lotions and body wash with triclosan and without. They discovered that the triclosan products reacted with chlorinated water to produce chloroform, another carcinogen. So this stuff breaks down into cancer causing agents. I think we’ll keep our hands a bit dirtier and live longer.

In a press release from the Environmental Working Group, the organization states:

Triclosan has been linked to cancer in lab animals, has been targeted for removal from some stores in Europe for its health and environmental risks, and the American Medical Association recommends against its use in the home. It is also linked to liver and inhalation toxicity, and low levels of triclosan may disrupt the thyroid hormone system. Thyroid hormones are essential to proper growth and development, particularly for brain growth in utero and during infancy.

Triclosan breaks down into very toxic chemicals, including a form of dioxin; methyl triclosan, which is acutely toxic to aquatic life; and chloroform, a carcinogen formed when triclosan mixes with tap water that has been treated with chlorine. Scientists surveyed 85 U.S. rivers and streams, and found traces of triclosan in more than half.

Just last month, Beyond Pesticides, along with Food and Water Watch, Greenpeace US, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and dozens of public health and environmental groups filed a comment/letter with the Environmental Protection Agency, urging the the agency to stop all non-medical use of triclosan because of its detrimental effects on our health and the environment. You can read the press release and comments submitted to the EPA by clicking here [PDF] and here [PDF].

As I mentioned, triclosan can be found in many, many everyday products. To see a detailed list of products and brands, check out the list on Beyond Pesticides by clicking here. Some very well known brands are on the list like Colgate Total toothpaste. Toothpaste? How scary is that? You are putting triclosan and therefore carcinogens directly into your mouth and your body! So rinse and spit, and now you have chloroform. The Colgate website touts: “Colgate Total® formula is so revolutionary it’s even patented. One of its active ingredients is triclosan, which is used to help prevent plaque and gingivitis. The formula’s copolymer enables triclosan to continue working in the mouth for 12 hours.” Great! So use this toothpaste and triclosan will stay in your mouth for 12 hours! That’s 12 more hours of exposure to a potential cancer causing agent than I want.
So how do we get rid of those unwanted germs when we really need to? Well let’s go back to that product I dismissed at first. It is called Clean Well made from Ingenium, a natural germ killing product derived from thyme and other essential oils. According to the company, Clean Well kills 99.99% of germs on contact including E. Coli, Salmonella, Staph (MRSA) and Pseudomonas. Clean Well is made from a renewable resource that is sustainably grown with no pesticides, irrigation or fertilizer and there are no toxic byproducts from the manufacturing process. Clean Well comes in a spray, as hand wipes and hand wash foam. So for when you have a house full of sick kids or are cooking with chicken and want to kill germs, you know can avoid triclosan.

To read more about triclosan check out the Environmental Working Group site where they give detailed information on the effects of triclosan on our health and the environment, what products contain triclosan and much, much more.

Those germs don’t look so bad anymore….so are you gonna give up your anti-bacterial soaps, or are you gonna to keep on using triclosan-based products?

To read more of my post, check out my blog, Green Luvin’.