Natural and Sustainable

• CFLS: The Philips Soft White CFL comes in a recyclable packaging and according to Philips, they claim that it contains the lowest mercury levels of any CFLs on the market. To find a CFL disposal site near your own home, visit Earth 911

• Local Eating: You can’t get anything better than something that is organic, locally grown and even purchased from your neighborhood farmers’ market. So Support them. Do it for yourself, your family and your local farmer. Find farmers’ markets in your own area by visiting Local Harvest.

• Hybrids: The Toyota Prius (48 mpg city/ 45 mpg hwy) leads for a fifth straight year in a row as the best hybrid purchase anyone can make. The Honda Civic Hybrid (40 mpg city/ 45 mpg hwy) also places high with U.S. News, and CNET.

• Biofuels: Not everyone knows how to make up an alternative fuel in their own garage, but there is help. By going to Biodiesel America you can find someone that can and has. You can start today in converting your own vehicle to take an alternative fuel source.

• Bioplastic: Opt for a durable, reusable carryall like the compact Chicobag or Baggu tote. And some markets now offer their own, like Safeway, Fred Meyer, Whole Foods, and even Wal Mart now.

• Bamboo Clothing: Bamboosa and Certaintees are tow of the most environmentally responsible brands that carry the best clothing line from bamboo materials. Their clothing is soft and durable and will last a lifetime if they are taken care of.

• Mineral Makeup: Companies like Larénium Mineral Makeup and Afterglow Cosmetics, they are both free of nano-particles and bismuth oxychloride. Companies like Avon and Mary Kay also have their own line of mineral makeup that is great for your skin. Just be careful when picking a mineral makeup product and read labels.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Save water all the time. Take shorter showers and if it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down, when it comes to your toilet that is.

The fact of the matter involving biofuels is: is it worth the effort. Demands for ethanol, the fossil fuel substitute has depleted supplies of corn and has led some farmers to feed junk food to their livestock. But is corn ethanol the solution?

Currently, almost all of the fuel thanol made in the United States comes from starch in corn grain. The Bush administration has proposed that biofuels replace at least 15 precent of the gasoline we’ll need by the year 2017. That’s 35 billion gallons of fuel. If corn grain reamins the primary source, the 10-year goal could wasily consume the entire U.S. crop, leaving none left for food-for people or animals.

Even if there could be enough corn produced to use as fuel, mass production of corn uses more herbicides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizer, and causes more soil erosion, than production of any other U.S. crop. Residues of stalks and leaves ( Corn Stover) normally left in fields after harvesting to prevent erosion and add organic matter back in to the ground is also being looked at for another source of ethanol production.

Corn has been the dominant source of ethanol because it is so inexpensive no other crop can compete with corn on that basis alone. The positive side of the demand on corn growth is the proce rise benefits farmers and forces the ethanol industry to look to other less expensive and more sustainable sources.

Brazil is looking into ways to become energy independant, largely due to its success in the ability to produce ethanol from sugar cane. But, because while corn ethanol yields only about 1 1/2 times as much energy as is required to produce it, sugar can can yield eight times as much in a single harvest.

So the question still remains: What is the best alternative to the issue at hand. While there seems to be some answers with a solution quickly following behind, we still are in the immature phase of knowning the best alternative. The bottom line is: Using corn to replace just 15 precent of our gasoline would consume the entire U.S. crop. (Source: Organic Gardening 2007)

**A Without a Trace star is getting married and over at Brothers & Sisters, Terri has all the details on who she is marrying and who he plays on his show as well. Read the whole story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: This is the voting year so make sure you are a registered voter. If you haven’t registered to vote you can do so here. Register To Vote. Print out the form, sign and mail. Simple as that. Registering now will give you the voting right to vote come November of this year. Natural and Sustainable always backs the Green Party. What’s your party of backing? If you aren’t sure where a candidate stands on environmental issues then click here to read their profiles and their responses to the question of environmental issues. See you at the polls in November.

FUEL EFFICIENCY: It’s as simple as driving a more fuel-efficient car. Chevrolet currently offers eight 2007 and 2008 models that get an EPA of 30 MPG highway miles. Some models offer the best V8 fuel economy and have a better standard highway fuel economy than some other brands out on the market. It’s all due to new technology and this technology is helping achieve greater fuel economy in most vehicles no matter what the brand.

E85 ETHANOL: For the last seven years, Chevy has been producing vehicles capable of running on a fuel that growns from the earth. The fuel is called E85 ethanol ( 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline). It is the renewable fuel source made from U.S. grown biomaterial. what falls under U.S.-grown biomaterial is corn, and other grain products. It will help us decrease our dependence on petroleum and it burns more clearer than gasoline as well. It has a higher octane rating over gasoline as well. Chevy has over 1.5 millionm E85 FlexFuel vehicles on the road presently.

HYBRID: This fall, Chevy is bringing to the table the Tahoe Hybrid. This hybrid will provide the power of a regular gas-only SUV, but what it will do a step more is control gas-loss and fuel waste. It will also be 25% more fuel-efficient as well. The Malibu® Hybrid will also be added to the line of Chevy cars the end of the fall season.

FUEL CELL: Chevy is bringing to their car line up a test-fleet of 100 hydrogen-powered fuel Equinox® SUVS coming to New York City, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles in a program called “Project Driveway”. Hydrogen fuel cells use zero gasoline and produce no emissions and it will also help reduce our dependence on petroleum.

ELECTRIC: The Chevy Volt® has a revolutionary GM® E-Flex Propulsion Systen. It is different than any other electric vehicle, because it will use a High-Energy Battery and range-extending onboard pwoer source that can run on gas, or biodiesel to recharge the battery while driving. Also the electric car no matter what the brand helps toward the ultimate goal in reducing our dependence on pretroleum and produce zero emissions.

**There are a lot of fun and cool things to do in Sacramento, California on Veteran’s Day. Read Jennifer Springers suggestions for Sacramento, CA here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Babies go through about 2,500 diapers before they’re potty-trained; cloth diapers washed at home cost $0.03 per use, while disposables costs about $0.22 each. Disposable diapers produce at least 70 times more waste than cloth diapers, and Americans trash 18 bil diapers each year. To help reduce this waste, the only other option is cloth. Cloth diapers have come along way since the 50’s and 60’s and some cool brands to try are: Under The Nile velcro diapers, G-diapers starter kits, and Seventh Generations chlorine-free diapers.

Before you add essentials to your medicine cabinet, you may have to make room for them. Here’s what to save and what to purge.

1. Honor the expiration date: Never buy anything without an expiration date or that doesn’t list the active ingredients. When an item’s time is up, toss it. Throw out natural products within six months of opening them. Keep oils like vitamion E and fish oil supplements in the refrigerator so they won’t turn rancid.

2. Know your sources: Alternative remedies don’t have a federal agency over-seeing quality control, so buy from reputable suppliers. Ask your integrative physician, homepath, or naturopath to suggest specific items. Try Willner Chemists and Whole Foods for their reliable brands. Product reports are available at Consumer labs.

3. Use a toxic waste service: To keep chemicals from getting into the water supply, dispose of expired medicines as you would toxic or medical waste. Many towns now have facilities that do just that. Or ask your pharmacist or doctor to dispose of meicines for you or to recommend services that will. Most natural medicines can safely go in the regular trash disposal system.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Want to get in on the Biodiesel craze? Then your next car purchase (if your current car isn’t biodiesel) should be one of these biodiesel-ready french-fry grease happy vehicles.
• MERCEDES E320 CDI
•VW NEW BEETLE
•VW JETTA
•VW JETTA WAGON
•VW GOLF TDI
•LIBERTY JEEP 2.8 TURBO DIESEL

Read more here!