Natural and Sustainable

Mosquitoes and other flying insects are a serious issue when the weather begins to heat up, but spraying on that DEET-containing insect repellent maybe putting you and your children at a greater risk.

Insect repellents that contain DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-Toluamide), a common ingredient in many insect repellents can and will cause irritation to the eyes and even produce, itchy blisters and rashes on some people when used for long periods of time. And when used on children it can cause lung and breathing irritation as well. Children’s bodies are unable to process and help protect like adult’s bodies are able to filter out toxins. And those with a cold are ten times more susceptible to the harmful effects of DEET.

DEET can even affect the functioning parts of the brain and lead to greater issues later. Like the effect it has on insects, it will effect us with long term use but on a long term period scale rather than short term when it respells insects. So what’s the alternative to DEET, which, for years as been used to quickly help us get a hold of the flying insect issues during the warmer months. The alternative is to use natural sources.

Natural sources are all around us and can be found anywhere you turn no days. Natural sources include essential oils and these are known to be the best repellents that won’t effect us long term. Essential oils to use during this time of year over DEET are lemon, eucalyptus, citronella, lemon grass, rose geranium, and even neem oils. Sweet wormwood and catnip’s volatile compounds have been found to be effective against mosquitoes as well.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: A laptop computer uses much less energy than a desk top. When it comes to both of them though, the best energy saving option is to shut them both down at night when you aren’t using either one.

With the summer just about over and fall knocking at the door, there is still an issue in some parts of the United States as well as other places with bugs. Instead of grabbing the so called best bug spray ion the market, why not try a more natural approach, here’s how.

1. Kill ants with some soapy water or a citrus essential oil mixed with warm water. You can even destroy the nest with a mixture of sugar and boric acid.

2. Kill moths with hot or cold. Dry the moth larvae with a hair dryer or placing the garment in the dryer or even placing the garment in the freezer.

3. Kill and get rid of cockroaches by placing boric acid in random places throughout your house. Always keep your kitchen clean, never let food set out on the counters or even anywhere else in your home.

4. Kill and get rid of bedbugs by applying petroleum jelly around the legs and posts of the bed. Seal the floor cracks around your bedroom too. If your bedding has already been effected, replace that bedding or have it steam cleaned.

5. Bugs don’t like pepper, so combining this with boric acid into cupboards and crawl spaces will keep them from coming into your home to begin with.

6. You can also get help for your garden and home outside with ladybugs and lacewings.

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: If you have a reusable water bottle made of polycarbonate material, avoid washing it in very hot water and never store hot liquids in the bottle. Recent research states that heat will release bisphenol A (BPA) into what you are drinking or what you have stored in the bottle. BPA has been linked to many health issues. So be sure and wash your reusable bottle in mild detergents and luke warm water. Never run through a dishwasher and don’t let them heat up in the car or in the sun as well. If they ever start to discolor or crack, get rid of them immediately.

Clothing has come along way in ways of protecting us. They can block UV rays, insects and even help if you have alergic reactions. Here is a guide to help you understand the latest on high-tech threads.

• Insect Repellent Apparel: Buzz Off clothing keeps mosquitoes and other bugs away with permethrin. A safe synthetic version of a natural bug repellent, permethrin is applieth to the clothing and lasts for 25 washes. Like Coolibar clothing.

Who needs it: Any tots spending a lot of time in buggy areas (you won’t have to slather them head-to-toe with chemicsl anymore. They carry pants, shirts and outerwear.

• UV-Protection Factor (UPF) Clothing: Sunscreen applied to the fabric guards against ultrviolet radiation. The clothing is rated like sunscreen, look for items with a UPF of at least 40 and the Skin Cancer Foundation seal. Like Jonano clothing.

Who needs it: Kids who should-circuit when you attempt to apply lotion; fair-skinned kids who need extra protection.

• Hypoallergenic Attire: Clothing made from natural bamboo or a silky sunthetic fabric called Dermasoft soothes delicate skin. Both fabris wick away moisture and anre antimicrobial.

Who needs it: Little ones with irritated skin caused by allergies or conditions like eczema (particularly common in babies).

**Want to know how to make Salmon Croquettes? Over at Coaching Cooking, Farley Walker has an easy and delicious recipe for you to try. Read how to make it here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Fix all the leaky faucets in your home, whether they are outside or inside. Water that is just dripping from a leaky faucet waste more water than it would 5 baths a day in a week period. Leaky faucet (fast drip): 20–30 gallons per day. Leaky faucet (slow drip): 5–10 gallons per day. You can determine how much water your faucets waste during a 24 hour period by clicking here.

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?

Don’t think that just because it is getting to be winter that mosquito control doesn’t need to take place. Mosquitoes normally keep their eggs in shallow, warm water till the babies are large, and mature enough to take flight out of the water and become adult mosquitoes. Those of which, sting you while sitting in your lounge chair, sipping on lemonade in the summer sun. The year-’round prevention is what will keep your summer barbecue mosquito-free. In the winter months, keep all containers that can collect water turned over, or pop a lid on them If you have a lot of water collecting items in your yard or back porch, maybe it’s time to clear things away. The rainwater that comes as the winter months approach won’t drain itself and it will end up sitting way into the summer. Mosquitoes look at this as a perfect place to have youngins’.

To prevent West Nile and other mosquito-borne disease. It’s not necessary to spray insecticides. Natural insect-repellents containing the herb nemm will do the trick. Neem oil kills more than 200 types of insects and fungi, without harming honeybees and vertebrates. Even public utility companies have begun-treating underground drainage catch basins with Bacillus sphaericus, which kills two generations of mosquito larvae before they are capable of transmitting disease. But, the best treatment for mosquito repellent is prevention. As stated above, don’t let rain water from the winter sit through till the summer. Clean up and prevent.

**Dana Hanley over at Backyard Birding took a vacation trip to The Great Smokie Mountains. She comes back with tales to tell and beautiful pictures. Read all about her adventures with her family here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Take the stairs instead of the elevator. This statement has been around forever and it still holds true now even more than ever. Elevators run on electricity and you don’t burn any calories. So by taking the stairs you are taken care of two tasks in one.