Drinking water delivery systems have been quietly aging and go totally unnoticed until one bursts. Then we take note of the water gushing geysers into the air as we pass by, and even then we don’t give it much thought.
Some of these drinking water, or tap water, delivery systems are as old as the light bulb! Hard to imagine. But that’s nothing. There are some drinking or tap water delivery systems as old as the Civil War! Now, that’s somethin’.
Today, the water and sewer pipes are so old and have ignored by all of us for so long, they are rupturing, causing damage to property and compromising our drinking water.
We’re used to paying pretty small price to get water to our homes. We certainly expect water to come out of the tap when we turn it on.
We also want our water to be clean and be able to provide safe drinking water.
Here’s something I often think about as I watch people tending to their lawns. Does drinking water come to mind as a weed, who dares to poke its head between the blades, gets annihilated with one quick spritz from the hose in one hand and the container in the other?
But I digress.
Because drinking water sustains us and it seems the time has come that we are going to have to pay attention to the way it is delivered to us.
At Eco Living Greenstyle, we have been following a series of Toxic Waters by New York Times. You can read more about the age of our delivery systems for drinking and tap water and what it is going to cost to upgrade from 1861 to 2010.
Stopping weeds from invading our lawns isn't the only way we pollute our drinking water. Textiles that we use in our home and fabric we drape our bodies in carry a hefty price tag on our drinking water. Click here to find out more about which fabrics are better for our health.
Being eco friendly is the trend and when we do our eco friendly shopping, bamboo fabric seems like a good place to start, or is it? Is shopping for bamboo fabric truly eco friendly?
We must look beyond the eco friendly trend to tell the true color of bamboo fabric.
Why bamboo? Well, perhaps, we are aware of cotton’s nasty growing process, not to mention the yuk that is put into the production process. If you’re not aware about cotton, you can check out the Fiber Series to learn more.
And, we surely are aware of the concerns about hemp even if they are ill conceived.
Bamboo’s growing process, on the other hand, is about as sustainable as you can get.
Bamboo, being one of the fastest growing grasses there is. It needs no help in that department. While it’s growing at a couple of feet a day, it absorbs 5 times the greenhouse gasses as a stand of timber and releases 35% more oxygen into the air.
Of course, bamboo needs to pesticides or fertilizers or water, for that matter. In fact, bamboo’s root system holds water in and acts like a shield against soil erosion. This works really great on the banks of rivers by holding back the soil and preventing soil from silting up and polluting the water.
Bamboo has some wonderful qualities as a fabric, too, that is, once it becomes a fabric. Getting it to that state of existence is a whole other story, but we go forward.
A purchase is made, we’re excited about our new buy, and our conscious is clear. We’ve just saved a whale or something like that.
What we have missed is the typical ways of manufacturing bamboo fabric. These chemical manufacturing processes cause considerable ecological damage. Turning the stock of bamboo into a fabric is where water is polluted, air is fouled and our health is compromised.
It’s here that our desire to be part of the eco friendly trend is strong. Whether or not we have a conviction about the necessity for a better life on a surviving planet, we flock to being a greenie and look for the eco friendly tag.
This is why we need to look closer.
Most commonly, a chemical method is used to manufacture bamboo fabric. It’s done by taking the cellulose fiber of bamboo and turning it into a rayon-like fabric. Because of its similarities to how rayon is manufactured from wood, bamboo manufactured this way is called bamboo rayon.
The hydrolysis alkalization process involves cooking the bamboo in strong chemical solvents (sodium hydroxide NaOH, aka caustic soda or lye) and carbon disulfide. Then bleaching the bamboo is often included to get a whiter fabric and thus adds more chemicals to the process.
Similarly, low levels of sodium hydroxide can cause irritation to the skin and to the eyes. The NaOH is a strong alkaline base. You’ll find this ingredient in Drano.
I’m going to go out on the limb here, but I’m going to say that wrapping up in residues of Drano isn’t something we stand in line for, is it?
Recently, the FTC go in on the act and said that if a fabric looks like rayon, acts like rayon and is processed like rayon, then it is rayon. Calling it bamboo is misleading says the FTC, and it has been issuing warnings to about 78 retailers to stop labeling products as being bamboo.
Don’t get discouraged and take an even closer look.
Because the qualities of bamboo fabric are so appealing, some manufacturers have taken up the gauntlet to find another way to turn this tall, woody stock into a silk-like fabric that is easier to care for and easier on the pocketbook, too.
This video will show you what to look for and what questions to ask.
Now, give yourself a hand for greening your lifestyle. This time when you shop, the bells and whistles you will be looking for will be about health, clean air and clean water. Now, that’s something to wrapped up in.
Take a look beyond the price tag that you spend for the fabrics for your home and you'll see some surprising things. It might even make you mad. Rather than getting mad, get informed and have the information you need when choosing fabrics for your home.
Taking a look beyond the price tag of the very popular polymer, polyester, that's in all our lives, may prod you into making some lifestyle changes that will protect your health, the health of your family and that of the planet.
Polyester is very cheap to produce but not cheap for your health or the health of the planet. There are many types of polyester. The one used to make polyeser textiles, and oddly enough used to make plastic bottles too, is PET or polyethylene terephthalate.
The production of PET requires lots and lots of oil, along with a heavy metal, antimony. Antimony is an abundant metal found in the earth’s crust. Antimony trioxide is used a lot for its flame retardant properties. It’s also used as a catalyst in the production process of PET.
Antimony is toxic and has carcinogenic risks associated with it. Even at low levels, as found in drinking water, antimony is suspected of causing endocrine disruption. Not too long ago, it’s been established that PET leaches from plastic bottles, too. Drink anyone?
When it is used in the polyester production, antimony does get becomes locked to the polymer and in this locked state, doesn’t present a problem to living things, like ourselves.
The problem comes in the dying process. The high temperatures required for the dying process allow antimony to be released and leaches into the wastewater.
Cleaning up the wastewater takes another technology which isn’t always affordable or just plain ignored. Even if clean up is done, the remainder is a toxic sludge which now has to be dealt with. The sludge gets incinerated, creating plumes of toxic air or put into landfill.
It never seems to end.
There are a few points to clear up. Most of the many million barrels of oil used to create polyester is used for the textile, not for making the plastic bottles.
Also, polyester is sometimes thought of being ‘green’ because it can be recycled…but can it?
Polyester production is very energy intensive thus producing greenhouse gases. Recycling polyester requires more energy and adds to the emission of more greenhouse gases.
The toxins in the polyester production process don’t just disappear after a product is made. When polyester is recycled, antimony trioxide is released into the air, adding to the greenhouse gases.
Polyester can only be recycled only so many times before it looses its value, and although it postpones an early end in the landfill, it eventually ends up there. While this is helpful, for sure, we really want a better way with a cradle to cradle goal for products.
With only 30% of plastic bottles being recycled of more than 40 billion produced each year, the other 70% goes directly into landfill. There are difficulties within recycling process of PET, as well.
There are alternatives, believe it or not, and it’s a good thing, too. After all, no one wants these toxins in their environment or drinking water. We certainly don’t want to sit on toxic fabrics or have them on our backs either.
There are companies that will take back your worn polyester clothing to recycle and churn into new products, and there are newer products that begin by being eco friendly in their production. They have the added advantage of being able to be recycled indefinitely. Very cool.
Learn more about greening your home, particularly where you lay your head down to rest. In the meantime, when you launder polyester, switch from hot water to cold and line dry.
P.S. Here are just a few names you may recognize, but did you know they were PET products? Now you do. Dacron, Tergal, Trevira, Mylar
It’s hard to accept, I know, but earth friendly cleaners can multitask better than us mere mortals. In fact, we may well be impairing our brain by multitasking. Eventually, our multitasking efforts slow us down and getting us a big fat zero in performance tests.
Earth friendly cleaners, on the other hand, are great multitaskers. They clean, smell good, are non-toxic, biodegrade easily, and require no gloves or head gear whether they’re used as stand alone products or blended. With just a few basic ingredients, you can create your own earth friendly cleaners.
Just think what you can save if you try your hand at this. You don’t have to hop into your car, producing carbon dioxide, to run down to the store, taking precious minutes away from your day. Darn, you forgot your sunglasses!
At the store, you check out the labels which you really don’t know what you’re looking at, chose one that’s in a plastic bottle, a bottle which is hard to create and even harder to recycle and then, dash home.
Once home, you read the instructions and put on the gloves. It may be time for the gasmasks.Because we clean our floors with one kind of cleaner, our countertops with another and our upholstery and covers with yet another, we don’t even realize the toxic soup we have created.
Maybe this is just habit, or maybe you haven’t tried other options because you don’t know where to start.
It may seem that making your home green is an overwhelming, expensive redo. That doesn’t have to be.
Because we can start with some easy and very effective that works toward detoxing our homes, we can also work toward creating our much desired eco living green lifestyles. Limiting our exposure to toxic chemicals can start with our household cleaning products.
Don’t dismay. You have more choices than you think. You can choose green cleaners that work with enzymes, and you can also try cleaning solutions that are much closer at hand.
Have goo on your upholstery from all those meals on the sofa while watching the Olympics? What about crumbs and sticky on your bedding from wonderful breakfasts in bed? No worries.
10 Ways to Look Under the Covers is a free PDF that’s chock full of information and it’s just a click away. You don’t even have to get into your car!
Did I mention lemon juice, borax, cola that has gone flat, salt, club soda? Or what about almond oil, baby oil, beaten egg whites, crushed walnuts, cream of tartar, toothpaste, flour?
I know, you’re still a bit skeptical. It’s hard to imagine these items working as well as the traditional methods we all know and have grown up with.
Traditional dry cleaning products may work, but they also may contain perchloroethylene, naphthalene, ethanol, ammonia and detergents. Overexposure to these chemicals can lead to brain and central nervous system damage, behavior problems, asthma, cancer and more.
In 10 Ways to Look Under the Covers, you’ll learn that while some cleaners have switched to a so-called ‘green’ cleaning process. Here is what you need to watch out for: avoid hydrocarbon, greenearth and solvair CO2 cleaning methods. Although they are better than using perc, they still contain toxic solvents. Get your copy now!
Saving water by choosing natural fiber fabrics may not be at the top of your list when fabric shopping for your home furnishings, but it can be. Natural fibers like hemp require virtually no water and produce beautiful fabrics.
Hemp is one of those natural fibers that can be made into beautiful home furnishings and beautiful clothing, as well. Hemp is strong and soft. With clothing, the more you wash hemp, the softer it becomes.
Of course, you couldn’t stick your sofa in the washer, but you can find easy tips to cleaning natural fiber fabrics by signing up for our DIY Newsletter.
Hemp is often blended with other fibers for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that hemp helps keep items from stretching and losing shape.
It absorbs moisture and has moisture transfer properties that make it an ideal fabric for hot weather climates. Hemp is also UV, mold and rot resistant.
With all these wonderful qualities, hemp becomes an even better choice for our home furnishing fabric when we look at its growing requirements.
Hemp requires very little to grow. Hemp is a ‘bast’ fiber which means it comes from the bark of the plant. Bast fibers are very hardy. It requires little to no pesticides and no herbicides.
Cotton, on the other hand, requires tons of pesticides and chemicals to protect itself from pests throughout its production process. Cotton also uses an enormous amount of water to grow.
Hemp starts from seed and produces a dense crop with a canopy that keeps moisture in and weeds out. It provides fertile ground for a diverse population of animals, insects and other micro-organisms.
Hemp’s root system is deep preventing soil erosion. The skin of the hemp plant is insect resistant. Hemp is often used as a rotational crop.
Hemp has been grown for over 12,000 years. It’s used in textiles, wood fibers, for paper, biodegradable plastics, construction, fuel and health food products.
Hemp can produce 4 times per acre what an average forest can yield. Using hemp in place of some wood products can help save forests, wildlife habitats and increase carbon sequestration.
Because of the long fibers in hemp, its paper products can be recycled several times over and more than wood based paper. Hemp is the fastest growing biomass known.
As a health food, hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids and essential amino acids.
Hemp often gets confused with marijuana and is not allowed to be grown in the United States. Other countries, however, are moving forward and have successfully introduced hemp farming, creating a multi-billion dollar industry.
Just to keep things clear, hemp comes from the same species as marijuana, but hemp contains virtually no THC, the stuff that makes poco loco in marijuana. Hemp cannot be used as a drug.
Need some questions answered about choosing the right fabric for your next home improvement project? Creating your eco living lifestyle is easier than you think.
Looking for a cheap fabric that will bring the final touches to your living room? What about a cheap fabric for that dress you’ve been dying to make? Maybe you’re just looking for a particular fabric that’s beautiful and that you know you can find for a cheaper price than what your designer is trying to sell it to you for.
We devour bargains of all sorts, and looking for a cheap fabric isn’t any different. In fact, we devour cheap fabrics because of their pricing and are often willing to sacrifice some quality to save some money. When it wears out, guess what, we can go out and get another one!
It’s no surprise that the demand for cheap fabric is huge. This demand, of course, fuels an abundant supply of cheap fabric. Sort of a whatever-Lola wants-Lola-gets routine (an old but memorable song).
The demand for cotton falls into one of the biggest demand and supply categories. Cotton has many desirable characteristics. Among many of its characteristics, it is versatile, stable, naturally comfortable and cheap.
We’re not dummies. We all recognize that cheap comes with a hidden cost, but do we really, really know just how steep that cost is? Really?
You can guess at some of it. For one, just like we devour bargains, boll weevils devour cotton crops. So, yes pesticides will be among the first costs we have to factor in.
Are you ready to factor in another 149 chemicals? A lack of information has a huge cost. This video will bring you and Lola up to date. Take a look.
Want to get some great tips on how you can have that beautiful look at a good price and that keeps you and your family in that marvelous eco living lifestyle you have become accustomed to?
One of the most expensive effects of global warming can be the rising of sea levels as we work to defend ourselves against the rising sea.
According to glaciologists, there is growing evidence that the melting of glaciers is speeding up. With 90% of glaciers retreating and thinning, the world’s ice is melting at an alarming rate. Some glaciers are gone completely.
As glaciers melt, river flow increases, but that’s only a temporary situation. When the glaciers are gone altogether, there will be no flow into the rivers. We will then have to rely totally on rain to sustain the rivers, an iffy possibility at best.
In Greenland, the ice is melting at a rate of 250 billion tons a year and Antarctica isn’t far behind. This melting ice along with warmer ocean waters from climate change is making sea levels rise.
A photographer who has spent many years in Greenland taking beautiful photos of the landscape took a photo of a glacier in 1999 for his book, Under the Nordic Light. When he returned 3 years later, the glacier was gone.
More recent photographs by Olaf Otto Becker show the changing landscapes of Greenland.
The pockmarked snow in Becker’s photos are dark from an airstream of dust as far away as China. As the dust and ice mix, they gradually become tracks, holes, then rivers, lakes and deep glacial holes that can go hundreds of feet down called moulins.
Becker's trips to Greenland and the startling photographic history he has compiled had recently been brought to the attention of the Copenhagen summit.
Olaf Otto Becker has three books published that describe his journeys into the far reaching lands of Greenland and show a dazzling but disturbing photographic history of glaciers melting.
The names of these books are “Under The Nordic Light”, “Broken Light”, and “Above Zero”, Becker’s most recent. A convenient Amazon link to your left is where you can easily preview and purchase any of these books.
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