Natural and Sustainable

u>1. Nuts:

Origin: Millions of tons of coconut shells are discarded by the food processing industry annually.

Process: TrapTrek buys leftover carbon extracted from the shells by the water-filtration industry and enbeds it in their Cocona fabrics.

This All Equals: The Cannondale L.E. Carbon jerset ($150) effectively traps odor, disperses moisture for better evaporative cooling, and provides added UV protection.

2. Plastic:

Origin: Driving back from a day hike, you buy a drink at the gas station mini-mart and, being ecoconscious, chuck your empty bottle in a recycling bin.

Process: Clear plastic soda bottles get chopped into pieces, melted, and extruded as fine polyester fiber.

This All Equals: Each Mountainsmith Phoenix backpack ($289) uses 72 plastic bottles saving landfills an estimated 2.5 million of them over three years.

3. Soles:

Origin: You have worn your old shoes ragged. Instead of tossing them, you drop them at one of the dozens of locations Nike and the National Recycling Coalition, which are set up nationwide.

Process: Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program grinds them up in three categories-the outsole rubber, midsole foam, and upper fabric-then outsources the raw materials to its partners.

This all Equals: Materials are used to create surfaces for athletic fields (80,000 pairs of shoes), running tracks (75,000 pairs), and playgrounds (2,500 pairs).

**Winnie McCarthy, over at Chicago, IL blog here at 451 Press finishes up her The 12 Days of Chicago with day 12: Treat Yourself!. Read the whole story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Support the continued effort in recycled goods by buying products made from recycled materials.

Grass length is important to your lawn’s ability to ward off weeds, retain moisture, and develope strong roots. Cut grass to 2.5 to 3.5 inches tall and leave clippings to mulch back into the soil which will provide about 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn per year, and elimnates the waste issue. Grasses will preform better when the entire root zone is saturated and allowed to dry between each watering. On an average, a lawn needs about one inch of water per week which soaks to about 6 inches. 30% of water consumed on the East Coast goes to watering lawns, doubling to 60% on the West Coast. Water is not the only thing consumed in great quantities. There are 10 times as much chemical pesticides per acre of farmland.

Non-toxic and natural corn gluten kills weed seedlings within days of application while adding nitrogen to your soil. You may also need to change you soil pH. Dandelions love a pH of about 7.5 while grass loves a pH of about 6.5. Add limke to lower the pH. So go organic, Conventioanl lawn care is largely responsible for the staggering statistics surrounding the lawn. You already know how to care for plants organically in your garden, so use this same idea when trying to build up a healthier lawn. Start with these techniques listed and you should enjoy a healthy lawn all summer and into the winter months.

For more information on how to achieve a healthy soil, visit Safe Lawns, this is a non-profit group, dedicated to bringing about an industry-wide change to organic lawn care through initiatives such as their organic lawn certification program and efforts to legislate natural lawn care on schools and campuses.

**Looking for a last minute Christmas gift for that someone who has everything already? Does that person have a puppy? Over at Home Zookeeper, Lynn Little offers the idea of giving a dog as a Christmas gift this year. I think it is a mighty fine idea. Read how to get your hands on one of these puppy gifts, by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Bring your own mug or thermos to your coffee spot. Cutting down on paper waste in this manner is one way to live a more sustainable life style.

Stripping loose paint is an essentail part of any effective repainting job, but there’s a potentail problem, too. The old paint could contain lead, in fac, if your home is more than 30 to 40 years old, it almost certainly does, especially in the olderst layers. Even small amounts of ingested lead can cause permanent brain and organ damage. It also reduces intelligence and causes behavioral problesm in children, just be cerain to analyze each layer carefully. If you do detect lead, here are some safe stripping precaustions you should use no matter what.

1. Wear a respirator, not a duck mask, gloves, eye prtection and disposable clothing while stripping. Shower immediately after each work session. Be sure to soap up compeltely and don’t forget areas where the dust could have settled on the body.

2. Don’t sand lead paint or use a conventional, open-flame heat gun to soften it. This releases lead into the air and your lungs.

3. Chemical strippers are one way of making lead managebale. Swab the area and keep it wet while scraping. Dispose of all grim as toxic waste at an approved municipal facility.

4. To soften large, flat areas, try a lkow temperature electric heat gun or infrared paint removeer. These tools soften paint without vaporizing lead. Scrape off the mess and deal with it as toxic waste, not matter how much or how little.

5. Work over disposable drop sheets. Lead paint residue can contaminate soil.

6. Don’t sand the wood until all traces of paint have been reomved. Even then, wear a respirator, eye protection and a head covering while sanding to protect your from lead that may still be present in the bare wood.

**Andrea Crome took a travel to Egidir, Turkey and she shares her trip experience and sight-seeing over at World Traveler here at 451 Press. Read all about her trip by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Collect rainwater from your down spouts and use it on your plants outdoors, direct it toward your garden, or even use a watering can ans scoop it up to use on your house plants. You can even use rainwater to irrigate a rain garden.

Scrubbing and shinning you home with green cleaning products can reduce your family’s exposure to dangerous chemicals considerably. But what happens when you kids head to school? To keep noxious industrial-strength cleaners away from students, the New York City-based grassroots group Wellness in the Schools (WITS) has persuaded more than 40 area schools to switch to healthier alternatives.

Kids spend most of their waking hours in school, and the buildings are being cleaned with toxic products that leave behind residue from the chemicals added to most cleaners that aren’t health-conscious. Most of these cleaners are made to do a specific duty and not have lung, heart and skin in mind when that is done.

Aiming for a citywide move away from those conventioanl cleaners, which most have been shown to trigger asthma in chilkdren and possibly lead to chronis disease later in life, WITS promotes the use of products in lime with child-safety guidelines set by non-profit groups Grassroots Environmental Education.

If you want your child’s school to join in the green-clean movement, downloading WITS’s one-page cleaning supply purchaseing guide and passing in on to your child’s school administration is a great place to start.

The largest school system in the country was made to make the change so the smaller school systems should be eager to make the change. And since these are products that are both cost-effective and efficacious, why shouldn’t schools start replacing the old cleaners now.

**Having trouble with procrastination? Then over at Artists Passion, Wendy Withers has some steps to help you get past the problem. Read the steps here. They may help you finally get that task done that you have been putting off.**

*Natural and Sustianable Living Tip: Use natural, not artificial fragrances. Use essential oils in an oil diffuser to help cut down on smells in your home. A good mixture is teatree, lemon and rosemary during the winter months to help cut back on colds and flus.

A terrarium is one things that should be a staple in any child’s bedroom. What is a terrarium you might be asking? It’s a tiny glass enclosed universe filled with plants and toy creatures.

A terrarium can open a door to another world, while offering kids a lesson in ecology. The ones listed below can be assembled by chldren of almost any age, and they don’t require a green thumb to make them. All they need is light, the occasional watering, and a fertile imagination.

Assembling a terrarium: The process for creating any terrarium is basically the same. It’s simple enough for kids around four and up to do. It’s even better if you make it a family project, here’s how:

1. Lay out your ingredients on a newpaper; you will need potting soil, horticultural charcoal from a nursery, which keeps stagnant water from stinking), a toy layer of sheet moss for a moist terrarium, sand or pebbles for an arid one, a container (glass), plants, and some random decorations.

2. Spread a layer of charcoal in the bottom of the container (about 1/4 inch deep for a small container and 1/2 inch deep for a large one.) Top with a layer of potting soil (from 1/2 inch deep for shallow-rooted plants to 2 inches deep for larger plants). If you are making a mossy terrarium, put down a layer of sheet moss, folding and gathering it to create little hills and dales.

3. Remove the plants from their pots and dig them into the soil. For moist containers, pierce the moss with yor hand and place the plants inside. For dry ones, plant into the soil, then cover the surface with sand, pebbles, or both.

4. Add toys, rocks, etc. Then pour a cup or so of water over the top. If there’s standing liquid after a few hours, just water less next time.

5. Your plants will need to be cut back or replaced eventually, but eith the right care (about a cup of water once a month) and in the right light (bright but filtered), they’ll be part of your children’s indoor playground for years to come. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

•The Starter Terrarium: A terrarium can be as simple as a bit of mossy greenery. Collect moss from a forest or your yard, and arrange it in a lidded jar. With the lid left on, it should only need water once every couple of weeks.

• The Nature Terrarium: Take a bell jar and place it over carnivorous plants such as venus flytraps. Use twigs and stones and even add an artifical bird’s nest and fake bugs. With the container closed it will help keep moisture in the container that the plants need to survive.

• The Wild Terrarium: With ferns and big-leaved tropical plants such as a alocasia creates a feel and look of a jungle. Add some plastic dinosaurs or large insects. Use an old-fashioned Wardian case that has a sturdy door for watering and placing actual live insects to the mix. Be sure you know exactly what your live insect or bug requires in order to stay alive before introducing them to the terrarium.

• The Sea Terrarium: Pairing succulents with seashells and gain a sea look to your terrarium. Succulents can withstand less water than normal plants. Pair these with sea shells and sea start as well as sea creatures and driftwood. It is better to use succulents in an open container so they can breath.

• The Free-Spirit Terrarium: Use a purple passion plants or orchids, even fake ones gain the same appeal. Add fairy figurines, baubles, and fake eggs. Put all these ingredients into a genie-bottle looking apothecary jar with a fluted bottom to gain full effect.

• The Other World Terrarium: Air plants, such as spiky hot pink and purple ones, don’t even need soil to thrive. Add these with some dark pebbels and robot toys create a life on mars type of feel to this terrarium. Add all this to a glass fishbowl without a lid to keep the environmetn nice and dry.

**Look for something other than the run of the mill type Christmas tree? Over at Globally Green Living, Sandra Williams offers up some great ideas to mix things up a bit and help the environment too. Read her ideas here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use natural, not artificial, fragrances. Most of the sprays on the market anymore are artificial and could cause harm when inhaled. Using essential oils and an oil diffuser is the best earth-friendly and lung-friendly to go.

Anyone can start living a more Eco-Friendly lifestyle. All it takes is one step in the right direction to get started. Here’s how:

1. Safer Paint: Many companies now offer no-or-low-VOC paints, like Benjamin Moore’s EcoSpec, Yolo, and Anna Sova in a huge array of colors.

2. Stain Trick: Pour boiling water on a stain spot as soon as possible and it will come out like magic. You don’t need to use soap or chemicals.

3. Greener Cleaners: Organic skin care is an easy way to decrease toxic exposure to the elements. Try any of the organic varities that are at your local health food store. There are so many to choose from and most of great for you and your baby as well.

4. Resources On Eco-Living Information: Check The Green Guide or the NRDC. For instance if your dentist is wanting to put sealants on yoru child’s teeth, you can email to ask about the safety of the sealant.

5. Fresh Air: Keep air purifiers in the bedrooms of your home. Models with medical-grade HEPA filters, to reduce allergens, and carbon filters help to reduce fumes and off-gassing.

6. Less Plastic In The Home: Switch to glass bottles for your child. Drinking out of glass is better for you and even better for your baby. Plastic contains so many harmful chemical additives and when heated they release those chemicals.

7. Food Smarts: The Environmental Working Group’s list of produce likely to contain pesticides is a helpful in figuring out what’s particualrly important to buying organic.

**Brad Pitt and Angelina took their kids and headed to Brad’s parent’s house in Missouri for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Over at Brad Pitt Watch, Randi has the whole story, read it here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Plant a garden. If you don’t have the time for a fun garden, plant a herb garden and keep it in your kitchen window. Use the herbs that grow in your herb garden in your cooking. It is a great way to add fresh herbs to any meal and also is a great stress releiver when you get to enjoy what you have grown.

• Use a dime-sized portion of shampoo and conditioner when washing your hair. Then when you get halfway through the bottle, add a little water to make it last even longer.

• Love cut flowers? Weel, most are treated with pesticides and flown thousands of miles, and usually die in about three days. Instead opt for indoor plants such as hydrangeas, which come potted.

• Try to buy local over organic when in the supermarket. Of course organic is important to your health as well as your families, but buying local you support local growers. It not only forces you to eat seasonlly, when produce is freshest, it also eliminates the energy coasts of shipping food from around the world. Also, small farmers are more apt to care about their environmental impact than industrial agriculture, since they live on the land they work.

• Bring a tote to the supermarket when you do your shopping, and try to remember plastic produce bags as well, so you are not collecting more and mroe each time.

• Test your own drinkinbg water yourself with a water purifying kit from a local hardware store. Or get an easy-to-install water filter. So instead of buying plastic bottles, use a carafe of water in the fridge.

• When you order take-out ask for the condiments of only what you plan to use. Who really needs 12 packets of soy sauce, eight packages of ketchup or four pairs of plastic knives? It’s sad to see them all end up in the trash eventually.

• Opt to pay a few cents extra to support wind-powered electricity, which comes from a renewable energy source. Your power company won’t hook you apt. or your house up to a different generator, but it does make sure that a comparable amount of wind energy is used in another place and it will overall make a tiny difference for a better world.

**Looking for tips on what stocks are up and what stocks are down? Check out Rick’s suggestion over at My Stock Winners. He states that The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payors Index (HMO – 1,798.6) is facing long-term resistance at the 1,800 level. Read more here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Swap, don’t buy (Try eBay, Craigslist, and Freecycle.)

Volunteers, business and government working together to clean up Oregon’s waterways.

Common pullutions to oregon and the world’s water ways include:
• Cigarette butts
• Fishing line
• Styrofoam cups
• Scrap metal
• Borken glass
• Tires
• Pesticides
• Chemicals

All of these things end up in the Pregopns rivers, streams and lakes. Garbage and pollution contaminate our drinking water, poison fish and wildlife, and turn pristine waterwaterways into un contaminated trash mounts.

You can make a difference in this horrible situations or any waterway for that matter by adopting that waterway and cleaning up for future generations to come.

How it works: Oregon Adopt-A-River uses a citizen-based hands-on approach to keeping the state’s water cleans. Volunterrs take care of their favorite section of river or waterway, such as a stream or lake and they work with federal, state and local governments to clean it up. And continue to keep that waterway clean.

Adopting a waterway is simple. It only takes on person to get things started. And all it takes is gathering some friends or relatives or even neighbors together and start it up. Anyone who is an environmentally concerned citizen can Adopt-A-River. Those who adopt a waterway are called “Stream Stewards”. They choose a two-mile stretch along any waterway in Oregon. Stream Stewards make a two-year commitment and hold cleanups at least twice a year. Oregon Adopt-A-River will provide:

• A how-to manual on planning a clean up.
• Certificats of Adoption and Recognition.
• Grabage bags, stickers and window decals.
• Assistance to learn who owns and manages the land along your adopted waterways.
• Safety Tips.
• Sample news releases and suggestions on how to attract media coverage.
• Ideas on how to obtain donated supplies.
• Adviuce on trash disposal.

Oregon Adopt-A-River also serves as a resource for citizens and volunteer groups. Teaching volunteers about the importance of healthy waterways is a central part of the Oregon Adopt-A-River program.

The state of Oregon alone, has hundereds of rivers and streams. All of them need help from committd and concerned volunteers. Here’s how to get started in any state where you live: The following is a random list of states that have the Adopt-A-River program in force.

• Minnesota

• Indiana

• Oregon

• Tennessee

• Montana (Adopt-A-Fish Program)

• Florida

• Mississippi

•Illinois

• Michigan

• Outside the U.S. -Canada

To name a few. Get started now by contacting your local water shed dept. through your local national park office. Or contact your city’s chamber of commerce to find out how to get started.

**Are you a Jim Henson fan? Well, over at Artist Passion, Wendy Withers friend Adam Sageser is and has made it into a passion beyond the normal thinking. Read the whole story here and watch the video of him during his puppet show.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy things that will last over time. Think long term, even if the product is more expensive, if it will last longer than ultimately it is worth the more expensive price tag. If the product, such as clothing is made better, it will last for years and years to come.

Putting plants to work for environmental sustainability and economic development within The Oregon Garden falls under the name of SPROut: (SUSTAINABLE PLANT RESEARCH AND OUTREACH).

SPROut’s Misson is to develop and promote the use of plants and plant material to solve environmental challenges. They build project partnerships and provides outreach and education to integrate research efforts with public and industry development.

What does SPROut offer:

• Outreach:
1. Website and publications
2. Educational literature for Oregon Graden visitors
3. Professional develpment courses
4. Curriculum for Chemeketa Community College’s 2-year Horticulture degree
5. Workshops/Conferences/ Research summits

• Research Support:
1. Research suppoert for Oregon State University’s Horticulture students and faculty
2. Start-up grants to launch research and implementation projects
3. Collaborative grant proposal develpment
4. Background researchg and literature reviews
5. Project management
6. Use of The Oregon Garden site for field-based research

• Research Priorities:
1. Wetlands/Wastewater Remnediation
2. Phytoremediation
3. Urban Water Management and Ecoscaping
4. Native Plant Restoration and Invasive Species Control
5. And Riparian Area Restoration

Current SPROut Research Projects:

• Landowner Tools for Quanitfying Multiple Environmental Services of Riparian Vegetation Buffers for Use in Water Quality Credit Trading in Oregon Watersheds.

• Sustainable Parking Lot

• Botanical Burrito & Floating Nursery Production for Water Treament

• The use of high rate irrigation of Poplar Trees as a nutrient reduction system

• New uses for the World’s Oldest Crop; using Barley straw to control algae in Aquatic Environments.

• Developing Green Roof Plants for Oregon’s Nursery Industry.

For more information contact: Renee Stoops, SPROut Coordinator at rstoops@chemeketa.edu or 503-584-7252 or by visiting The Oregon Garden or SPROut

(SPROut is currently funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA)

**Catch the weekend events over at Albuquerque, New Mexico blog written by Mary McIntyre. If you will be taveling soon, check out the rest of her blog to see if a stop off in Albuquerque will fit in your travel plans by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible. There is many uses in one rechargeable battery then a single use battery. It helps control battery waste in the landfill as well as the carbon impact on the Earth.

Ever wonder how your life changes can make a difference? Here’s some tips to give you the push in the right “earth-saving” state of mind:

• Once released into the environment, the spread of pesticides cannot be controlled. Radioactivity traced pesticides sprayed over the United Kingdom were detected five to seven days later in the southern part of the United States. So always use earth-friendly pesticides on your lawn and garden plants. And if at all possible, don’t use any at all.

• Wrap a package of energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs in recycled paper. Each new fluorescent light bulb reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 1,300 pounds over its lifetime.

• The government won’t solve our problems of global warming it is up to us as individuals. If you feel guilt about driving so much in your gas-powered car, then everytime you fill up, put 20 cents into a box and at the end of the year donate that “cents” fund, which will be dollars by the end of the year if you start come January 2008, to a local charity.

• When you travel to a beach or resort located on the many hundereds of coast lines make sure that resort or lodge developed the coast in a sustainable way. If they don’t then stay elsewhere. Every person who takes a trip to the coast lines ends up putting great pressure on that coastal area.

• Calculate your carbon footprint. Reduce the footprint. Offset that footprint. And produce your one power whenever and however you can.

• If 100,000 households each installed an eight-foot diameter wind turbine, the cumlative annual CO2 reduction would be 900,00 tons.

• When you make a purchase, remove the package waste there at the counter after checking out. It may seem silly, but if enough people did this, then the stores would have to tell the manufacturers to cut back on package waste.

• When your fishing buddy calls, and you repond, don’t use mailorder wigglers. Anglers as well as home composters are responsible for for proliferation of nonnative species in just wigglers alone. If you travel to a national park or another country, be sure not to bring back anything with you as well. It is not only illegal, it is also harming the environment more than you think. (There is 60 billion metric tons of CO2 released annually by the world’s soil.)

• If one million U.S. airline passengers skipped one coast-to-coast flight, it could eliminate the emisson of one million tons of COs.

• Next time you stay at a hotel or resort, look around, if you can’t tell what country you are in or what continenet you are on, then you are at a place where there is zero unsustainable tourism. Talk to the hotel clerk and managers and let them know how you feel about sustainable traveling. If you are one in a thousand that does this, then the hotel must meet demand.

• If every U.S. home received and paid their bills online, annual greehouse gas emissions would drop by 2.1 million tons.

**Jennifer Hoffman over at the Milwaukee, WI blog has posted some great shots of the Veteran’s Day Parade that was held there in her city. To view these photos and to read more about what Jennifer writes about for Veteran’s Day, click here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Go toxin-free in your own home. Start with the cleaners you use on your shower and toilet. What are they? If they hurt your nose when using them, then why flush those down the drain and toilet and then eventually into our waterways?

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.

Fargo, North Dakota and Visalia, California have lush, green farmlands with sunflowers and fruit trees galore. But, while both towns seem like places where the air would be so pure and natural. This is true for Fargo, North Dakota, but, totally opposite of Visalia, California. Even more alarming is the fact that Visalia, Californis has some of the worst air in the entire United States.

The biggest diffeence between these communities lie in the very nature of their surroundings. Visalia is hot and sunny most of the year, with temperatures that often soar abouve 100 degrees. Prime ozone-forming conditions. And Fargo is known by many to be fridgid, with warm but short summers. The city lies on open prairie with strong winds that whisk any pollutants away.

Visalia is in the San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Mountains and the Coastal Range surround it, therefore the air in the city of Visalia is stagnant. The residents tend to suffer higher rates of asthma in Visalia over the residents in Fargo.

Do you think your city is one of the poor air quality cities in the United States? Find out here by entering your zip code. And to find out the current air conditions in your own city click here.

**Need a wedding gift idea or just some paper gift giving creativity, then pop over to All Paper Arts for some wedding crafts how-to and more.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Always vote for change, for a better life. Never settle on what is.

It’s official: Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change,” the Nobel committee said. The former vice president was described as “probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted” to fight climate change. The IPCC is a collection of some 3,000 scientists from around the world who crank out authoritative reports detailing climate impacts and climate predictions for world leaders. The Nobel committee said of the panel, “Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.” The award marks only the second time the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to honor work in the environmental field; the first was Wangari Maathai’s win in 2004.

(As seen in Grist Weekly, subscribe to the Environmental News and Commentary now and stay in the know with environmental issues.)

**It’s a diaper how-to over at Sympathy Pain. Read all about it by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Turn off your dishwasher’s drying cycle. Air drying your dishes by opening the doors and pulling the drawers 1/2 way out will save you electricity within your home as well as energy lost on needless comforts.

Vote today for Green Business of the Year.

Below are the top ten most popular green business nominations. Check out the businesses’ Web sites, read quotes from their customers who nominated them, and then vote for your favorite by October 15.

Then, join Natural and Sustainable at the Green Festival in San Francisco on November 10 to find out who won this year’s award, or sign up for our e-mail newsletter to receive the announcement of the winner.

1. Flexcar
Seattle, WA *
“Flexcar made it possible for me to get rid of my car! My workplace has a corporate contract allowing our employees to use Flexcar during the day. As a result, most of us now use mass transit to get to work.”
–David K., Portland, OR

2. Greenfeet.com: The Planet’s Homestore
Chico, CA * “Great eco-friendly products at reasonable prices. Plus, the owners podcast their show, “More Hip than Hippie” every week, which is the best green show we’ve listened to.”
–Cynthia and Larry G., Jacksonville, FL

3. Green Living Now
Huntington, VT *
“Amy Todisco is not just a business owner, she is a partner in health to all she serves. She delves deeply into researching the products she sells in order to more completely serve her clientele.”
–Donna H., Fredericksburg, VA

4. Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils
Winnipeg, Manitoba *
“I’ve never met a more enthusiastic, passionate group of people, dedicated to spreading the word not only about the value and sustainability of hemp, but the ways in which each of us can make our mark on this world for the better. I adore them!.”
–Linda S., Boulder, CO

5. Mountains of the Moon
Camby, IN * www.mountainsofthemoon.com
“Mountains of the Moon does something very simple: they give the earth-conscious consumer the ability to be fashion-conscious, and vice versa. Enough said!”
–Julie C., Chicago, IL

6. Only Natural Pet Store
Boulder, CO *
“Fantastic, responsible product selection. Biodegradeable, recycled packaging. Plus, the company runs on wind and solar power. Wow!”
–Aileen W., Sierra Madre, CA

7. Pizza Fusion
Fort Lauderdale, FL * “Pizza Fusion introduced me to the concept of a green business, which I knew nothing about. Their way of building their business with the least amount of negative influence on our environment is something that everyone should follow.”
–Chris J., Hialeah, FL

8. ReusableBags.com
Chicago, IL *
“Small Web-based retailer, changing the world one reusable bag at a time. I’m a convert myself and have converted several others into BYOBaggers in less than six months!”
–Kristin F., Middleton, WI

9. UsedCardboardBoxes.com
Montebello, CA *
“They are taking one of the most wasteful industries in America and are sincerely dedicating themselves to the recycling and greening of the transportation and storage businesses.”
–Daysun P., Los Angeles, CA

10. Yoga Nine/Buddha Body Fair Trade Store
Smithville, NJ * “Laurie Green facilitates health and spiritual growth while being a responsible business person, both in the local community and the global village, by supporting Fair Trade practices.”
–Diane S., Egg Harbor City, NJ

Stay up-to-date on may environmental issues effecting all of us right now by subscribing to Environmental Talk online.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Unplug your electrinics (DVD player, TV, cellphone charger) when you aren’t using them, especially over night. Even though your appliances and chargers are off they are still using electricity to keep the time, the charge and the power ready to go when you turn the electronic equipment back on. Put all your electronics such as the one above on a power strip with a shut off. And just flip the switch when you go to bed at night, to work during the day or go out of town.

Dust is full of chemicals!
Clean Production Action, a nonprofit group that promotes the development of sustainable products, tested the vacuum dust in 70 homes across the country and found toxic chemicals in every sample. The list included not only PBDEs but also phthalates (plasticizers in vinyl, hair sprays, and nail polishes), organotins (an additive in vinyl), alkylphenols (found in paint and cleaners), perfluorinates surfacants (in floor polishes, herbicides, and insecticides), and pesticides. These substances may cause allergies and asthma; harm your cardiovascular, nervous, and reproductive systems; and lead to breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers.

So how did they get into your house? It is beleived that these chemicals are in every home with consumer products. Computers, shower curtains, and wallpapper emit chemicals that settle into dust, which we breath, eat, and absorb through our skin. Manufacturers didn’t expect these chemcials to leach out of their products, but it’s happening. They off-gas the most when the’re brand-new, but continue to do so at lower levels through their life. What is not know yet is the level at which this exposure become a poison. To be safe, lower your home’s chemcials burden by keeping it well ventilated (open windows!), using a HEPA vacuum, and avoiding products made with flame retardants and vinyl. Go to Safer-Products for a list of manufacturers that are phasing out these chcmeicals.

For more environmental knowledge go to Environment Talk

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: To reduce your carbon footprint, only leave footprints when you travel. Never leave behind trash. Never pick vegetation unless you’re going to eat it. And you should never pick flowers, trees, or berries in a nation forest or nation park.