Malkolm the Birder Boy
Nov 9, 2007 Environment, Outdoors
Some people know how to raise a child!
We recently heard of Malkolm Boothroyd, an avid birder who decided to take a year to go birdwatching all through Canada and the United States without using fossil fuel for his transportation. From his home in Yukon to Florida, he will mostly bike while observing as many birds as possible (his goal is 500), raising money for bird conservancy along the way – oh, and also inspiring other people to get off their butts and do something, for a change.
Malkolm is 15… He’s taking this trip with his parents (can you imagine the bonding opportunity, at an age when most teenagers are barely ever home), but he’s the one who had the idea of the trip. And he had to do three school years in two in order to be able to take a year off. Something tells me that he doesn’t have a drug problem…
I don’t want to discredit Malkolm himself – he seems to have an awesome personality and the debate of nature vs nurture is not settled yet. But still. His parents must have done a decent job of raising him! It helps, I guess, that his dad is an author, photographer and film-maker who fought for the conservation of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.
Malkolm has recorded 357 birds as of today. He’s well on track to reaching his gold. Kudos to him, and good luck on his trip and in his efforts to make the world a better place for birds – and for all of us by the same occasion.
You can eat local in November and December
Nov 6, 2007 Environment, Miscellaneous, Resources
Many people associate eating local produce with the summer months: the days are long, there are fresh fruits and veggies galore, and you can buy produce directly from farmers at your local farmers’ market, or at the very least at your local grocer, with little effort. However come fall, winter and spring, eating local increasingly becomes a challenge as farmers’ markets wrap up and many stores strip their shelves of local produce in favor of items imported from around the world. To help spread the word about local produce, Get Local BC has put together a seasonal produce chart (PDF) which lists what British Columbia produce is available during a given month. The following is the list of local produce available during November and December:
Apples, Beets, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Chanterelles, Chard, Garlic, Honey, Kale, Kiwis, Lobster Mushrooms,Yellow Onions, Oilseeds, Parsnips, Pears, Potatoes, Shittake Mushrooms, Spinach, Sprouts, Truffles, Winter Squash, Red Fife Wheat, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggs, Dairy Products, Beef, Chicken, Turkey, Pork, Ostrich, Pacific Halibut, Pacific Cod, Dungeness Crab, Side Strip Shrimp, Spot Prawns, Pacific Sardines, Clams, Oysters, Mussels.
Finding local produce is not as hard as you may think: this Saturday marks the start of Vancouver’s Winter Farmers Market, which runs every second and fourth Saturday until the end of April at the Wise Hall (1882 Adanac Street at Victoria Drive). Maybe we’ll see you there!
Cloth Diapering – Why?
Nov 6, 2007 Environment, Family life, Gear, Less toxic, Resources
The number one reason why people don’t use cloth diaper is probably that they don’t know enough about them and they think they are awfully complicated to use… It sure is the first thing that came to my mind when I first considered diapers. I will address that concern later in the – How? sequel to this post, but I decided to start with the main reasons why people do use cloth diapers: money, environment and health.
Cloth diapers cost less than disposables. Sure, there is an initial investment involved, and it can seem quite costly if you purchase good quality diapers (which will pay off later, because if you buy cheap ones, you may not stick to it and they will have little resale value when you get sick of them). For instance, we bought about $600 worth of diapers when preparing for the arrival of our baby. You need to put the money upfront, but it’s nothing compared to the cost of disposables, especially if you plan on having more than one child. According to some sources, disposable diapers and wipes cost around $2000 over the life of one child. Of course, you have to factor laundry and reusable washcloths into the cloth diaper equation. The estimates I have seen added another $400 for laundry. You are still at about half the cost of disposables. That’s really straightforward! A diaper service is more expensive and can get close to the price of disposables, but most estimates still put them a bit cheaper. And there is a large market for second hand reusable diapers if your stash is still in good condition when you are done with diapering.
The number two reason, which was number one for us, is environmental factors. Some people disagree with that, saying that if you factor in the water needed for laundry, rinsing diapers or flushing diaper liners, the harsh soap and bleach needed, etc., cloth is not any better than disposables. But after doing a lot of research, I disagree. First, you don’t need bleach or harsh soap. We use an environmental, biodegradable, phosphate-free detergent, and very little of it, and our diapers are perfectly clean. Also, even if it is true that cloth diapers need quite a bit of water (although there are several ways to save on that front too), it is too easy to forget that water is also needed to manufacture disposable diapers. How much? Well, that’s the catch: the numbers most people use are provided by disposable diapers manufacturers, which are a doubtful source, to say the least. And you still need to factor in all the other resources needed to manufacture thousands of disposable diapers as opposed to only a few dozens of cloth ones (you can further reduce the impact of those by buying organic cotton or bamboo diapers). Finally, there is the issue of disposing of the diapers. They fill up the landfill, they pollute tremendously (it is actually illegal to dispose of human waste in garbage, but who actually washes poop off from disposables?), they don’t break down at all, and even so-called biodegradable disposables won’t actually degrade since they will be nicely packaged in plastic garbage bags and stuck in the middle of a landfill.
But even if cloth diapers were not actually better for the environment than disposable ones, there would still be the issue of health. Disposable diapers are full of toxic chemicals. Here is what the Less Toxic Guide has to say on the matter:
Harmful ingredients: dye, fragrance, plastic, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, dipentene
Disposable diapers consist of a plastic exterior, an inner super-absorbent layer treated with chemicals, and a liner. One commonly used absorbent chemical, sodium polyacrylate, can trigger allergic reactions. Disposable diapers may also contain dyes and dioxin, a carcinogenic by-product of the chlorine bleaching process.
A study conducted by Anderson Laboratories in 1999 and published in the Archives of Environmental Health found that disposable diapers release volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), including toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and dipentene. All of these VOCs have been shown to have toxic health effects, such as cancer and brain damage, with long-term or high level exposure.
The researchers also discovered that mice exposed to the chemicals released by disposable diapers were more likely to experience irritated airways than mice exposed to emissions from cloth diapers. These effects were increased during repeat exposures. The authors suggested that disposable diapers may cause “asthma-like” reactions and urged more study into a possible link between diaper emissions and asthma.
That almost says it all… Except for the issue of heat: disposables tend to heat up the skin more because they breath less, which is bad especially for little boys whose fertility can suffer.
On top of those three main reasons, there are a few bonus ones. For instance, cloth diapers (at least good quality ones) work better. In 3 months now, I have never had a leak, whereas people using disposables complain about them all the time. They also look better, at least in my opinion, and they seem more comfortable for the baby (would you prefer paper or cloth underwear?). They seem to make potty-training easier, as the toddler can feel the wetness better than in disposables. Finally, cloth diapered babies seem to have less rashes… Maybe because you tend to change cloth diapers more often – disposables should be changed just as often, but since they absorb so much, people are less likely to.
Are there downsides to cloth diapers? Sure: you have to wash them, but it’s not as complicated as people think. You have to bring them back if you use them while you’re away from home. And they are more bulky, giving your baby a bigger bum. That actually scared me a bit; I thought I would hate it. But I got used to it really fast, and I just use larger clothes to accommodate the diapers. Et voilà! As a convert who initially had absolutely no intention of using cloth diapers and who had never met anyone who did before I got pregnant, I have to say that I love my bamboo diapers, I have not used a single disposable diaper since I left the hospital with my son, and I have absolutely no regret.
Stay tuned for the sequel…
Happy Halloween!
Oct 31, 2007 Environment, Family life, Less toxic
Tonight is Halloween! Elliot is a bit too young to go trick or treating, although he will be wearing his bear hat. With the crazy pace of our lives since he’s been here, we haven’t had time to carve any pumpkin, which is really disappointing for Zak who usually carves one or two masterpieces every year. But we will still celebrate and we are planning on spending some fun time giving out candy to our little neighbours.
We had a hard time with that part, though. What candy to give out? I should even say, do we give out candy? Since last year, we have changed a lot of things in our lives, ditched a few bad habits (and no doubt made a few more), and we are now eating a lot better. We never buy desert, although we bake a lot of it. The candy you can buy in store is pure sugar, and we feel bad giving them away. I know, it’s not the end of the world if kids eat crap once a year, but I also feel uneasy about encouraging huge corporations like Nestlé, which certainly don’t need our money and are most certainly responsible for the renewed enthusiasm with which North America has been celebrating Halloween these past years.
But what is the alternative? We live in a close knit community, and quite selfishly, I don’t want to be known as the bitter lady who doesn’t give out candy, especially since I do think that dressing up is a lot of fun and I want to take part in the excitement of tonight. I’m not quite ready either to start giving out fruit (I don’t think I could live up to that reputation). I wish I could give out some of our home-made bars or cookies, which I’m sure the kids would like at least as much as store-bought candy, but in these days and ages, who would allow their children to eat home-made treats given by strangers?
We did see at Costco a huge pack of tiny sized play-doh containers, which I thought was a genius idea for Halloween. But there are not enough kids coming by our house, we would have had tons of leftovers. So what can people with similar values to ours do to share the fun of this holiday without feeling like they’re selling their soul? I’m open to any and all suggestions…
Sitting next to an office printer may be like sitting next to a smoker
Oct 24, 2007 Environment, Less toxic
A CBC sponsored investigation has echoed the results from an Australian study, by the Queensland University of Technology, that found breathing the air pollution created by some printers could be the same as breathing second hand smoke:
“These small particles remain airborne for much longer than the larger particles that tend to settle out, and also when you breathe them in, they tend to penetrate much deeper into your lung,” said Stephan van Eeden, an associate professor, department of internal medicine at the University of British Columbia.
“There’s also studies that some of these particles are so small that they can actually penetrate into the blood stream and affect blood vessels and the heart,” he told CBC News.
“Just per mass, the amount of small particles that you inhale if you sit anything from two to three feet from the printer is about the same as sitting next to a person that smokes.”
Suddenly becoming a secretary or network administrator – our network administrator at work sits about two feet from a massive printer – has become similar to working in a smoky bar….
Clean your House, Develop Asthma
Oct 20, 2007 Environment, Less toxic
According to a recent study from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, Spain, using household cleaning sprays and scented air fresheners as little as once a week can raise a person’s risk of developing adult asthma. CBC.ca reports:
Fifteen per cent, or one in seven, adult asthma cases could be attributed to use of cleaning and deodorizing sprays, according to the study.
As someone who has trouble breathing while walking past the cleaning section of the local drug store, this does not come as a great surprise. What is interesting is just how much your risk of developing asthma increases:
The risk of developing asthma increased with frequency of cleaning and number of different sprays used, but on average was about 30 to 50 per cent higher in people regularly exposed to cleaning sprays than in others.
Cleaning sprays such as air fresheners, furniture cleaners and glass cleaners had a particularly strong effect.
The researchers theorize that chemicals in the products trigger an inflammatory response in the lungs when the particles are inhaled.
The moral of the story is, if you need an air freshener, don’t use a spray: get up and bake some cookies, a cake or a pie. And if you need cleaners, make sure that you are using one of the increasing number of scent-free, less-toxic products on the market. Finally, if you need a cleaner that is sold as a spray, you can easily replace the spray top with a normal squirt top and just squirt a little bit of the cleaner on a cloth. We have been doing that lately and it works just as well without hurting the lungs. As an added bonus, you use a lot less. And with the money you save, you can cook another batch of cookies!
Tags: air freshener, asthma, cleaning products, study
I’m sorry, why is there lead in my dinnerware?
Sep 14, 2007 Environment, Less toxic, Resources
I guess it should have come as no surprise that my dishes have a lead glaze, after all if corporations are willing to sell baby items that contain Bisphenol A (BPA), and kids toys and lunch boxes that contain lead, then they would certainly have no qualms about poisoning me.
Luckily the FDA has our back! The FDA only allows a little bit a lead in dinnerware, after all what could possibly be wrong with small amounts of lead leaching off of a product? Well, what if you used that product every day, several times a day for years? What if that product leached more lead when it came in contact with something acidic or was heated or had something stored in it? What if that product leached lead into things that you and your kids ingested? Would that small amount of lead that the FDA allows still be acceptable to you?
Californians didn’t think so, and so in 1986 California voters approved the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act or Proposition 65 which provided consumers with warning labels on tableware and other products that exceed their new tough toxin standards. Standards that are between 5 and 13 times tougher than the FDA’s standards.
Not only have some manufacturers begun making dishware that meets or exceeds the standards put forth by Proposition 65, but other manufacturers are have gone a step further and completely removed lead from their products. Which begs the question: if some manufacturers can make lead-free products, why can’t they all? I wonder how fast manufacturers would switch to lead-free glazes if consumers started demanding it?
So who are these manufacturers that meet the Proposition 65 standards or produce completely lead-free dinnerware? Well I don’t know yet, for reasons beyond me they they don’t really advertise that they are less-toxic. I have contacted the following manufacturers about whether any of their dinnerware patterns are lead free:
- Corelle
- Mikasa
- Lenox
- Homer Laughlin China Co.
- Dansk
- Dudson
- Pfaltzgraff
We will see who responds. In the meantime, Environmental Defense provides and a Dish Owner’s Guide for people who are concerned about their existing dinnerware, a Dish Buyer’s Guide for people who are looking to purchase new dinnerware and of course information about the Health Impacts of Lead for people who don’t want to be able to sleep at night.
Update: Find out which manufacturers claim to be lead-free! Checkout the follow up post: There is no more lead in MY dinnerware… I think…