Recycle Those Greeting Cards, all year long!
Posted by Linda on February 29, 2012
St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program – St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, an organization that rescues abused and neglected children, also has its own Recycled Card Program. You mail in your old cards, and then the children recycle them into new cards. The children are paid for their creative work and you feel good about your eco-friendly donation! If you’re interested in donating cards you can mail them to:
St. Jude’s Ranch for Children
Card Recycling Program
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV 89005
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It’s Valentine’s Day soon!
Posted by Linda on February 11, 2012
Just in time to make some fun decorations and gifts!
http://craftingagreenworld.com/2012/02/09/5-recycled-crafts-for-valentines-day/2/
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Crafts with Bottle Caps, it’s all about RECYCLING!
Posted by Linda on June 14, 2011
http://theresulttimes.com/recycling-bottle-cap-crafts-ideas
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Join My FAN PAGE!
Posted by Linda on June 12, 2011
www.facebook.com/greenplanetgreenyou
I love sharing recycling ideas so much that I started this fan page. Check it out and stay tuned to it weekly for some recycling ideas.
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What is Tea Tree Oil? What’s it For?
Posted by Linda on June 7, 2011
Tea Tree Oil comes from the Melaleuca Alternifolia tree. This tree grows in Australia. There are many variations of the Melaleuca tree such as the one in the Everglades which is NOT the same. The tree found in Australia is know for the oil that it produces when the branches tips and leaves are crushed.
Benefits of the oil are that it is more penetrating than aloe vera, it kills bacteria and fungus and is used as a preservative in “some” products. Using it for aromatherapy it is uplifting, cleansing and purifying. A strong medicinal camphorous aroma is pleasing to many as well as the results from using the product.
Uses of Tea Tree Oil Are So Versatile…
You can use it for almost anything you can think of! Short of swallowing it of course. (seriously…don’t do that)
It has the ability to heal damaged skin, without damaging healthy tissue. The major difference with tea tree oil is that it has a special property, it penetrates below the skins surface. This allows the tea tree oil to deliver its healing properties right to the source of skin infections, which aren’t necessarily only on the surface. Plus, it has the ability to heal damaged skin, without damaging healthy tissue. Which means you can apply tea tree oil to an open cut without fearing damaging your skin tissue.
In world war 2 the Australian Army made tea tree oil standard issue in military first aid kits, they used it for cuts and also made a tea to drink when feeling a bit under the weather!
Beware, not all oils are the same as that the quality ranges from pure to less than a percent. Some brands or companies using the oil may use only a fraction which really will have very little effect at handling the situation being used for.
I love using products with the oil. Whether it is my cleaners, laundry products personal care products or medicine cabinet products tea tree oil is a basic in the Blanco’s household!
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100+ Baby Products Found To Have Toxic Chemicals
Posted by Linda on May 27, 2011
Man this is some important stuff!!! Share with everyone you know.
Kid’s Doctor
Posted on May 24, 2011 at 5:01 AM
Updated Tuesday, May 24 at 5:01 AM
Over 100 baby products have been found to contain toxic chemicals according to a new study. Some of the products contained chemicals that have been banned for years.
A new study of baby products found that 80% of items tested contained chemical flame retardants that are either considered toxic or are untested with unknown effects, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Science & Technology Journal.
Many of the chemicals found in the study have been classified as probable carcinogens. Some have been known to interrupt normal hormone systems. Some have been linked to brain damage. Researchers found one chemical that was supposed to have been phased out years ago.
The study analyzed 101 products designed for newborns, babies, and toddlers – including car seats, breast feeding pillows, changing pads, crib wedges, bassinet mattresses and other items made with polyurethane foam – for the presence of halogenated flame retardants. Interior foam samples were submitted for testing from purchase locations around the United States. Twenty-nine products contained TDCPP or chlorinated Tris, a possible human carcinogen that was removed from children’s pajamas over health concerns in the late 1970s.
Measurable health risks for baby products treated with these chemicals have not been established. Still, the findings are worrisome for some experts. “We need to eliminate toxic chemicals from baby products to give our children the right start,” said U.S. PIRG Environmental Health advocate Meghan Purvis. “Our government should give parents the information they need to adequately protect their children from toxic chemicals, and ultimately remove toxic chemicals from children’s products.”
Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) is a common flame retardant used to reduce the risk of fire in a wide variety of products, such as children’s pajamas and your computer. PBDEs are excellent flame retardants, but the chemicals have been accumulating in the environment and in human bodies. Relatively recent reports have indicated that exposure to low concentrations of these chemicals may result in irreparable damage to the nervous and reproductive systems.
Lead researcher Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist at Duke University in Durham, N.C. hopes these results will help raise awareness.
“We’re hoping to raise awareness about whether these products are fire hazards in the first place, whether they require chemicals to be in there if they are, and if they can be treated in other ways,” Stapleton said. “We’re not trying to compromise fire safety. But there have got to be other ways of treating these to reduce flammability without adding these chemicals.” Flammability practices around the United States are heavily influenced by California standards, which require that polyurethane foam in upholstered furniture be able to withstand exposure to a small, open flame for 12 seconds. The cheapest and easiest way to meet that standard, Stapleton said, is to add chemicals to the foam.
In treated products, however, flame retardant chemicals are not chemically bound. The compounds leach out of the foam and turn into dust, which is easy for babies to get on their hands and in their mouths. Despite the known ubiquity of flame retardant chemicals in furniture, scientists have debated whether companies also use them to treat polyurethane foam in products that are designed for small children.
To find out, Stapleton and colleagues acquired 101 samples of foam from a variety of products purchased around the United States. Items, which were donated for the study, included car seats, changing table pads, sleep positioners, portable crib mattresses, nursing pillows, high chairs and infant bath mats. Using a variety of chemical analysis techniques, the researchers found a suite of flame-retardants in 80 of the samples.
Parents can reduce potentially harmful chemicals in household dust by using a vacuum with a HEPA filter, says Sarah Janssen of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Kids also should wash their hands before eating. And families should replace furniture with ripped upholstery that exposes the inner foam, which is commonly treated with flame retardants.
As an alternative to products with flame retardant chemicals consider buying baby products and furniture that contain polyester, down, wool or cotton which are less likely to contain harmful flame retardant chemicals.
Purchase strollers and car seats with Expanded Polypropylene foam that meets TB 117 without added chemicals.
The pending “Safe Chemicals Act of 2011,” introduced in Congress last month, would phase out toxic flame retardants and other chemicals that persist in the environment and build up in people’s blood and tissue. “Under current law, EPA is powerless to act against even the most notorious chemicals,” Richard Denison, senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, told Sustainable Business.com. “The Safe Chemicals Act would provide EPA with the authority it needs to protect public health; the marketplace with the information companies need to innovate safe products; and consumers with the comfort in knowing that their families are being protected.”
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Tags: toxic baby products
We all need a “GreyWater” System, have one?
Posted by Linda on May 23, 2011
In the US about 30% of the water use goes to flushing the toilet. So why not use the water from the sink and shower for flushing. This is exactly what the greywater system does. For about $350 you can get a simple system that runs sink and shower water into your toilet tank for flushing purpose.
Don’t you want to save about $30 of your water bill. For me that is $45 a MONTH. That’s over $500 a year.
Filed Under: Recycle ideas - Comments: Be the First to Comment
Don’t Throw Out Toothbrushes…recycle
Posted by Linda on May 22, 2011
33 uses for an old toothbrush
Here’s recycling/reusing at its best.
33 uses for old toothbrushes:
1. ring cleaner
2. eyebrow shaper brush
3. jewelry cleaner
4. nail brush
5. carpet cleaner
6. shoe cleaner
7. comb and brush cleaner
8. tile grout cleaner
9. cleaning small grooves in the car
10. remove stains out of fabric
11. cleaning around sinks
12. cleaning around the toilet
13. cleaning around faucets
14. garlic press cleaner
15. scrubbing the part of coffee pot where coffee is dispensed
16. dusting the lint catch in the dryer
17. dusting the lint catch of hair dryer
18. cleaning between fork tines
19. cleaning dog poop from shoe soles
20. cleaning sliding door encasement
21. cleaning computer keyboard
22. cleaning inside of bottles
23. make a toothbrush bracelet
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_occasions/article/0,,HGTV_3268_1382191,00.html
24. clean shower tracks
25. clean can opener blades
26. brush your cheese grater
27. clean silk from ears of corn
28. waffle iron cleaner
29. hair dye applicator
30. clean gunk from appliances
31. clean telephone receiver
32. clean light switches
33. clean corners and seams
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Tips to get as eco-conscious as the next guy
Posted by Linda on May 20, 2011
Green with envy? Tips to get as eco-conscious as the next guy
By PAULA SIROIS
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Start focusing on using less of everything. For instance,
a slow cooker requires one pot and that’s it. Compare that to all the pots and pans we use to make dinner, and all the water we use cleaning them.
Consider using less packaging when making your kids’ sack lunches. One reusable lunch bag will save countless brown bags over the course of a year.
Consider buying the economical glass jars of honey instead of the smaller plastic versions.
Simply bringing clothes to Goodwill is part of it, and so is turning the glass jars that once contained tomatoes or soups into candleholders or flower vases.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/16/2218945/green-with-envy-tips-to-get-as.html#ixzz1MwjsFlEd
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The Key to Success!
Posted by Linda on May 17, 2011
The Best of Success
The year was 1983. In Australia, the long-distance foot race from Sydney to Melbourne was about to begin, covering 875 kilometers – more than 500 miles! About 150 world-class athletes had entered, for what was planned as a six-day event. So race officials were startled when a 61-year-old man approached and handed them his entry form.
His name was Cliff Young, and his “racing attire” included overalls and galoshes over his work boots.
At first, they refused to let him enter. So he explained that he’d grown up on a 2,000-acre farm, with thousands of sheep. His family could afford neither horses nor tractors so, when the storms came, his job was to round up the sheep. Sometimes, he said, it would take two or three days of running.
Finally, they let Cliff enter, and the race began. The others quickly left him way behind, shuffling along in his galoshes. But he didn’t know the plan included stopping each night to rest, so he kept going.
By the fifth day, he had caught them all, won the race, and became a national hero. He continued to compete in long-distance races until well up in his seventies. He was an inspiration to millions and a great encourager of younger runners.
In his honor and memory, in 2004, the year after his death at age 81, the organizers of the race where he first gained fame permanently changed its name to the Cliff Young Australian Six Day Race.
What was the key to Cliff Young’s success? It goes by various names: determination, perseverance, persistence, tenacity. It means keeping one’s eye fixed steadfastly on a goal, and not stopping, no matter the difficulties or the obstacles, until that goal is achieved.
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