Rethinking Food Sources – Lessons from Swine Flu Outbreak

Rethinking Food Sources – Lessons from Swine Flu Outbreak

No, I’m not renaming it to “Lessons from H1N1 flu, Mexican Virus, North American influenza or novel flu virus”.  Changing the name removes us from responding to the issue properly.  It is clear that the flu outbreak was caused by conditions in hog CAFO (confined animal feeding operation).  CAFO is another nice acronym removing us from the reality of the operation.

Back to the topic of the blog.  I was living in Northern Westchester, NY in the early 90′s and was in desperate need of organic foods.  I had become convinced [...]

April 29th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Category: Sustainability | 2 comments

Celebrate Earthday Tip #8 Energy

Put all your electronics on surge protectors and shut off from there.  Many electronics have standby features that use electricity

Be sure to turn off lights when you leave a room. Turn off machines when you leave a room (examples include TV’s, computers, radios, stereos, video games, VCR’s, and DVD players). When you go away on a trip, be sure to unplug these same machines because they have stand-by functions that consume electricity even when they are turned off. Make sure that outdoor lighting is turned off during the day.  Use motion-detectors lights or timer switches. You don’t need to [...]

April 20th, 2009 | Category: Sustainability | Leave a comment

Earthday Tips Countdown – Day 9 Water

Water – the source of life

Never put water down the drain when there may be another use for it such as watering a plant or garden, or cleaning. Repair dripping faucets by replacing washers. If your faucet is dripping at the rate of one drop per second, you can expect to waste 2,700 gallons per year which will add to the cost of water and sewer utilities, or strain your septic system. Take shorter showers. Replace your shower head with an ultra-low-flow version. Some units are available that allow you to cut off the flow without adjusting the [...]

April 13th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Sustainability | Leave a comment

Earthday Tips Countdown Day 10 –

Tip #10 Check your tires

Make sure your tires are properly inflated – Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saves money and keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference! Keep the tires on your car adequately inflated. Check them monthly. Save 250 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $840 per year.

Get into the habit of checking your tires every time you put gas in your car.  This habit will not only save you gas but will also spare you the [...]

April 13th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Sustainability | 2 comments

Countdown to Earthday

What are the top 10 things you can do to create a better world?

You can change small things and create big changes.  Join me for the next 10 days leading up to Earth Day April 22, 2009, in doing one thing different each day to make a world of difference for all.  Some of these things cost nothing at all and some will even save money.

The following is written by Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day

How the First Earth Day Came About

The idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in [...]

April 11th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Sustainability | Leave a comment