Currently much of America’s e-waste is shipped to China where it is recycled. Problem is that the way it is recycled is poisoning the land and the people of China. Micheal Zhao has followed the path of e-waste from Berkley Californa all the way to China and documented the conditions of the trash towns and people that work in them. He also has some alternative solutions such as donating old computers to school and other organizations in need. Head over to his website eDump and find out what is going on. eDump

Photo by: Majiscup

Corn plastic or PLA (polylactic acid) cups, utensils, and packaging have been popping up everywhere and I have been curious how they stack up against conventional plastic. It seems obvious that plastic made from corn would be more eco-friendly right? I did a little research and compiled a list of PLAs green pros and cons.

Pros:

• Manufactured from corn starch, a renewable resource.
• Biodegradable, breaks down into mostly carbon dioxide and water.
• Compostable, 6-12 months in a home composter (Many people are reporting that they will not compost in a home composter), 1-6 months in a commercial composter. Longer for heat resistant utensils. Once composted it is indistinguishable from the other compost.
• Does not emit toxic fumes if incinerated.
• Does not leech chemicals into food or soil.
• Freezer safe.
• Can handle hot items up to 120F (200F for utensils).
• Looks, feels, handles just like plastic.
• Is inexpensive.

Cons:

• Is not recyclable, must be kept separate from plastic.
• Few commercial composting facilities (113 in U.S.), only 1/4 of which accept residential materials.
• Commercial Composters use Microbes to break down organic material. Large amounts of PLA in a composter would cause problems because it breaks down into lactic acid which is wetter and more acidic. They can break this down but it requires more oxygen for the microbes to consume. Commercial Facilities would have trouble providing enough oxygen for large amounts of PLA to breakdown. Anaerobic digesters would not have the same problem.
• It is estimated that in a landfill PLA will take anywhere from 100 to a 1000 years to biodegrade.
• Typically made from genetically modified corn and usually not organic.
• Diverting corn away from the world’s food supply.

To me the cons don’t seem too bad considering plastic can’t be composted, takes longer to decompose in a landfill (starts decomposing after around 700 years), and can leech chemicals into food and the soil. Overall I think PLA is a pretty good substitute for disposable plastic cups, utensils, and packaging.  What do you think? Any more pros and cons?

edit: Lots of good comments made and a few saying that perhaps these are not as eco-friendly as their manufactures want you think. See comments for details..

For more in depth information check out these links:

• Corn Plastic to the Rescue
• Information on bioplastics

Financial times are tight right now.  Fuel costs continue to climb as well as the cost of food and most everyone we know are tightening their belts.  Often times people think of being environmentally conscious as costing money.  There are a lot of gimmicks out there now that might cost you more but you are smarter than that. Here are three simple things that you can do to save money and it just so happens they are good for the environment, too. Not too bad, eh?

Switch Out Your Bottles

If you are big on the convenience of plastic water bottles you could save big by switching to a reusable bottle. Also, if you are a soda addict you could save even more if you switched to water, or make your own tea or coffee and put it in a reusable container. If you buy one 20oz bottle of soda per day at ~$1.30 you could save yourself $474.50 per year (not to mention 365 bottles and ~91,250 calories!!!) If you average purchasing two 20oz water bottles per day at $1.10 each that will save you $800 per year! It will also save a landfill from having an extra 730 plastic bottles, or save the energy and water it takes to transport and recycle all of that plastic! A reusable bottle that is easy to wash and is made from BPA-free plastic or stainless steel is your best bet, you can pick one up for $20 or less. [Read more about plastic on my personal blog] [BPA Free Plastic Bottle]

Kick the Habit

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you. Perhaps now is as good a time as any to stop smoking when financial times are getting more difficult we could all use any extra money. The savings of quitting smoking is quite significant, if you figure an average pack of cigarettes is $4 and one is smoking a pack each day quitting for a year would save you $1,460!! That does not include all of the money you would save on health care costs and if a bunch of people kicked the habit it would lift a huge burden on the state. [State Tobacco-Related Costs and Revenues]

Financial and even personal health cost isn’t everything to some folks so why not consider the environmental benefits of not smoking. A smoker only takes in 4% of the smoke produced by a cigarette, the other 96% is going into the atmosphere and into the lungs of surrounding people and critters. Cigarette butts are the most littered thing in the country. Contrary to some smoker’s belief they are not biodegradable. Those filters are made up of a type of plastic that takes years and years to break down. In the mean time they gather in waterways, can pose a hazard to critters who might mistake them for food. On top of all that it is a huge waste of paper, each cigarette would be made with roughly 1.25×1.5 inch papers.. 20 cigarettes to a pack.. 1 pack a day over a year is 13,687.5 square inches of paper or 1,140 square feet 95.05 square feet of paper (WOW major math mistake there, I apologize). [Prevent Cigarette Litter]

Eat More Vegetables

It takes seven pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat, it is no wonder that with skyrocketing grain prices the price of meat is going up more and more.  Meat prices are even higher due to the cost of transportation thanks to ever increasing fuel costs. It only takes a small change to make a big difference - by replacing one meaty meal a week with a meatless one you would save over $300 per year. Want to save even more? Try planting some veggies in a container patio garden, cherry tomatoes, garlic, herbs and kale work really well in pots and would make a great sauté.

If saving money isn’t your main motivator, cutting out meat, even just once a week, can help the environment. “If price spikes don’t change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals.” (Bittman) [NY Times: Rethinking the Meat Guzzler] [PBS: As Food Prices Soar, UN Calls for International Help]

Any woman would be lucky to have this handmade, flame-worked glass beauty hanging in her window. What’s even better than a beautifull-crafted decorative glass ornament? A useful one that boosts your mood while being “green.”

Our own Tracy Perkins had a article posted on ecosalon about these great solar diffusers! Check out the complete posting here.

These solar diffusers are hand made here in Arizona by Elijah Aller and sold by another Arizona business Strawberry Hedgehog.

Photo by: Gerard Girbes Berges (2002)

Mineral based makeup is all the rage right now.  It seems like every major makeup brand is coming out with their own version of it.  There are many claims about how great it is for your skin because it is an all “natural” product, it is healthy for your skin, it is so great you can sleep in it, etc.  I am a geologist and product-junky so I have done my fair share of research on the topic and thought I would share some general information on just now natural your mineral makeup is.

What do they mean “minerals”?  Minerals are the building blocks for rocks.  They are the various colors you see making up granite or the faint sparkles you see in a marble statue.  Minerals are made up of chemical elements.  Unlike pharmaceutical “minerals” you would take in your morning supplement like zinc or potassium, geologic minerals are usually a combination of chemical elements like iron and oxygen coming together to form the mineral hematite - often used as a red or yellow pigments in makeup labeled to contain “iron oxide.”  The point here is that you are not spreading a nutritious supplement all over your face when you use mineral makeup.  The makeup consists of weathered rock while your vitamins are probably made by chemical extractions from those geologic minerals.  So why not just use dirt?  The minerals used in cosmetics have been cleaned of microorganisms, you will not have such luck if you try to find your own in the field, sorry.

Minerals have been used for centuries for pigments. From early cave paintings to Cleopatra’s smokey eye. I love the idea of going back to basics with make up and using what is naturally available. The most common type of mineral makeup seems to be foundation, concealers, and face powders.  These neutral earthy shades make perfect sense and work well.  Minerals come in such an amazing variety of colors you give nothing up by switching to all mineral makeup, from eye shadows to blush or bronzer, to lipstick.  The mineral rutile provides a bright white clay labeled as titanium dioxide that allows for fun pastel shades or highlights with the added bonus of natural sun protection.  The mineral mica provides a beautiful shimmer to mineral products so you don’t even have to give up your glamorous glimmer.

You should, however, be aware of what type of minerals you are putting on your skin as not all geologic minerals are beneficial or even safe for contact with your skin.  Just because something says “mineral” does not automatically mean good for you.  Mineral oil, the main ingredient in baby oil containing dangerous hydrocarbons, has been found to be alarmingly unsafe for babies.  In recent years there has been a problem with babies actually breathing in, or aspirating, some of the oil.  This essentially coats the lungs with oil blocking the absorption of oxygen and leading to chemical pneumonia and potential death.  This problem was addressed with child safety caps on the bottles, however, the best solution is to use plant based oils instead as they do not contain hydrocarbons.

Another baby product that has safety concerns is talc, as in talcum powder, or baby powder.  Talc has fallen in and out of favor in the cosmetics industry as well so I generally avoid it even though it is deemed safe by the FDA.  It is a not-so-distant relative of asbestos and has been shown to cause pulmonary problems, a risk of ovarian cancer, cancer in animal testing, and lung disease with overexposure.  This is important because talc is still a common mineral used in baby powder, body powder, as well as in mineral makeup so be on the look out.   If you insist on using it, take precaution not to breathe it in as the fine particles breathed into the lungs appear to be the dominant trouble makers.

Apart from the minerals themselves, all mineral makeup is not created equally!  The type of minerals being used is important so learn how to read labels and be an informed consumer.  The main thing you want to be on the look out for is the non-minerals lurking in those “pure” products. This is what will determine how “natural” your mineral makeup really is. What purpose is that ingredient serving? How is it made, etc. Most minerals will either be listed as a clay, mica, or end in these common ways, “ite” as in kaolinite a common clay used in cosmetics, “oxide” as in iron oxide or hematite as stated above, “dioxide” as in titanium dioxide or rutile as stated above.  If you aren’t sure ask the company representative for the product, if they don’t know or can’t find out you know you have a problem.

If you are trying to be more “green” you want to keep an eye out for animal byproducts, such as lanolin commonly found in mineral makeup, that supports factory farming.  By doing this you not only avoid the cruelty to animals but also destruction of the environment.  Also by avoiding animal byproducts you can save yourself some potential allergins or irritants and protect yourself from some considerable gross-factor.  Carmine, a red dye used in most cosmetics, for example, causes serious allergies as it is made from ground up bugs. Isn’t that what every girl wants on her lips? Ick.

Click here for a full list of cosmetics and bath and body product ingredients to avoid. The most common no-no ingredient to be found in mineral makeup are the nasty synthetic preservatives like parabens found in nearly all of them.  Parabens can build up in your system, they have been found in cancerous breast tissue, and they can lead to annoying to severe allergies.  Even the grandmother of mineral makeups, Bare Minerals, has parabens in all products other than their foundation powder.  If you cannot pronounce it and you recognize it is not a mineral name, you probably don’t want to put it on your skin.

When you can find a mineral makeup that is purely made up of minerals you have hit the jack pot! Jump on it, buy it up, slather it all over your skin.  While it is unlikely to be nutritious for your skin, it is beneficial as it has most likely replaced the synthetic chemical elixir you were previously using. Again, the main thing you want to be on the look out for is the non-minerals. This is what will determine how “natural” your mineral makeup really is.

Click here for an informative report on mineral makeup from NPR

Click here to look up the ingredients and safety analysis for your favorite product or ingredients

Note from editor: To read more about natural skin care check out Tracy’s blog at blog.strawberryhedgehog.com