- 9 reads
GREEN HOME SHOW #34: Green Finance: Part 2 Thumbs up and Thumbs down, Green Fashion, and Audience Going Green Questions
GREENandSAVE.com is pleased to offer our members and website visitors original content that helps all of us save money and the environment. In addition to our ongoing research and writing on energy saving and home remodeling, we have partnered with THE GREAT GREEN HOME SHOW to offer you content like this that includes script excerpts from the weekly radio show. GREENandSAVE.com offers the exclusive world-wide on-demand access to the audio files, so you can now read and also listen for FREE to any of the shows at anytime. You can also learn about the show’s co-hosts Paul and Doug. Click here to listen to the show of your choice: Green and Home Improvement Radio Shows
For your overall home improvement, you can save money, improve your family’s health, and save the planet. Find out for free how much it will cost to do different types of home improvement in your home from a qualified and member approved contractor in your area. Get a FREE Contractor Quote. Plus, regardless of the size and scope of your home improvement project, save money and keep your home clean with the top rated chemical free and concentrated Green Home Cleaning Products.
The following content is from THE GREAT GREEN HOME SHOW #34
Copyright Disclaimer:
The content of the GGHS is solely the responsibility of the ECF and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of WILM, its sponsors or Clear Channel Radio. Any rebroadcast, reproduction or use of the Great Green Home Show or its contents without written permission from the Green Fox, Paul Hughes, Doug Hunt, Aunt Jean, Brenna Wallace, Brooke Chase, the Watson Brothers, The Snap and the Sin City Band is strictly prohibited.
Overall Segment #2 – 12:00
Welcome back to the GGHS
Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down – 5:00 Sponsored by: Suntrust Mortgage
Thumbs up!
China Bans Production, Sale and Use of Plastic Bags
In a move that surprised many consumers and businesses, the Chinese government has banned the production, sale and use of thin plastic bags (those under 0.025 mm thick), and has forbidden supermarkets and shop owners from handing out free plastic bags to customers. The new regulations will be in force beginning June 1, 2008, and companies that fail to comply could face heavy penalties, including fines and confiscation of goods and profits. The Chinese people use up to 3 billion plastic bags daily, and China must refine 37 million barrels of crude oil every year to manufacture plastics used in packaging—including those plastic bags, according to reports by China Trade News and Reuters. So thumbs up to China (of all places) for getting on board with the plastic bag ban.
Thumbs down!
A 100-foot fountain of petroleum smothered the Canadian town of Burnaby this week, after a pipeline was pierced by a road-excavation crew. Fifty homes were evacuated and the contamination spread to the nearby Burrard Inlet, a harbor and wetlands ecosystem home to a variety of marine wildlife, including four species of salmon. Experts told the Canadian Press that the cleanup will cost millions, and that the toxic effects of petroleum in soil, sand and water could last for decades. According to the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, members of the road crew that breached the pipeline said it was improperly marked, a charge denied by the company that owns it. Burnaby officials, meanwhile, say the city has strict guidelines to prevent such accidents. Boooooooooooooooooooooo
Thumbs up!
Companies are learning that they can make money cleaning up their environmental act.
The 3M Corporation in St. Paul Minnesota has redesigned its manufacturing processes to eliminate each year 90,000 tons of air pollutants, 10,000 tons of water pollutants, a million gallons of waste water, and 15,000 tons of solid waste. In the process the company saved $200 million.
In addition, a Goldkist poultry plant came up with procedures that used 32% less water and generated 66% less waste and saved $2.33 for every dollar spent to institute the changes.
So, Thumbs up to all those companies out there that are smart enough to realize that being environmentally responsible does not always mean being fiscally irresponsible!
Thumbs down!
Ethanol!
Amazon deforestation and fires are being aggravated by US farm subsidies, claims Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s staff scientist William Laurance. According to Laurance, whose findings are reported in the December 14th edition of Science, a recent spike in Amazonian fires is being promoted by massive US subsidies that promote American corn production for ethanol. As we all know, ethanol is being blended with gasoline as an automobile fuel additive.
Thumbs up!
Eleven companies -- AT&T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, and T-Mobile -- are partnering on the campaign and will collect phones and hold recycling events. As many as 150 million cell phones are taken out of service in the U.S. each year, and some 80 percent end up in the landfill, where they leach toxins into the air and water. In an attempt to address the problem, the U.S. EPA recently launched a campaign to boost cell-phone reuse and recycling.
"Each partner will still have its own program," says Mark Buckley of Staples, "but the E.P.A. is providing a standardized message to consumers." That message is a tagline even our pun-lovin' hearts find groan-worthy: "Recycle Your Cell Phone. It's an Easy Call."
Brooke’s “A Look From The Other Side” – 2:00 Sponsored by: Energy Svcs Group
Green is the New Black!
But what does being Green have to do with fashion? And how can you incorporate green into your fashion? Well first of all fashion is all about the now and green is taking the world by storm… RIGHT NOW! So, it's only "natural" (pun intended) for green and fashion to go hand in hand!
Well, what exactly isss green fashion?
Ok well its basically artisan and worker collectives that make clothes in safe conditions for fair wages by designers with style aaand a conscience.
Basically whenever you hear anything about being green is just means that socially and environmentally responsible behavior are going on.
What is Green Fashion made of?
Usually soy, organic cotton, recycled wool, bamboo, even synthetic when its made of reused materials. Hemp is also another one but it is sort of being replaced with these other materials because of hemp’s itch factor.
Patogonia and Timerland have both recently bought into Malden Mills, a company that has developed a polar power fleece made out of recycled plastic bottles!
Fashion is fun!
Just because we are all going green here doesn’t mean your style has to turn green too!...
Its ok to wear faux fur, open toed shoes with cordoroy, a wool scarf with a silky top... you can even wear white after labor day… that’s just an old myth!
Now where can you go to get your hands on some of this fashionable green?
H&M, Gap and Walmart have a lot of earth friendly fashions.
My Faves
Levi's has a jean line out with a really cute little green “e” on the back pocket that I love! They fit great and they’re only $59. The Earth Keepers line is a brand new line from Timerland with green fashion in mind. All of the clothes come with this really neat label that tells you how your article of clothing was made... kind of like a little story for each article of clothing... so I loove that!!! Patagonia is very earth friendly however, sometimes, they maybe not offer the most modern of styles...
For more info, go to hautegreen.com or www.thegreenguide.com
Listener Letters – 5:00 Sponsored by: CMI Solar Electric
Our first Letter comes to us from Margaret Flemming of MaryDel which is not to be confused with DelMar. Anyway, Margaret asks: Who’re the Green Hollywood celebrities that we can count on to be the “face of green” going forward?
It really depends on what criteria you’re using. If we’re going strictly by visibility and fame and green lifestyle, then you’re talking about Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Ferrell and Julia Roberts. If you’re looking for a little more substance, like someone who has actually taken some form of political action, then you’re talking about the Cheers boys, Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson. But there are many celebs today who are at the very least, setting an example by how they live and many of those are making additional strides towards promoting action by ordinary folks, such as Cameron Diaz, Cate Blanchett, half of Oceans Eleven (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and others) Ed Begley, Jr. (who’s been shouting green from the rooftops since long before it was fashionable to do so), Daryl Hannah, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Pierce Brosnan, Rosario Dawson, Edward Norton, Alicia Silverstone, Matt Dillon and Charlize Theron.
Our next letter was sent by Nina Govotney of Bear, DE. Nina wants to know: What is the real story with disposal of Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs? Where can I take them? No one seems to know?
Well Nina, they’re not making it really easy yet, but they’re working on it. First of all, you can take a used CFL to any IKEA store and they’ll deal with the recycling for you. The 2 stores closest to us however, are in South Philadelphia and Baltimore. In Delaware, the law indicates that bulbs can be dealt with as regular solid waste (in other words, ok to put out with the regular trash) but only if the mercury level is below a certain threshold. Now as far as I know, no one has measured the levels in the individual brands of bulbs yet, and the law also indicates that if we aren’t sure of the mercury levels, then they must be dealt with as hazardous waste. So we must assume that CFLs should be considered hazardous waste. The Delaware Solid Waste Authority (or DWSA) has periodic Hazardous Waste collections at various locations in NCC. The next couple coming up are Saturday, January 26th from 8am to Noon at the Pinetree Corners Transfer Station in Townsend, DE and then on Saturday, March 1st from 8am to 4pm at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington.
The EPA and several environmental organizations are pressing to make CFL recycling easier. So keep an eye on these two websites for updates only recycling locations:
epa.gov/bulbrecycling and earth911.org
Our last letter is from Ben Durbin of Oxford, PA. Ben is unhappy and wants to know: Where can I find good “green” news? I’m trying to stay optimistic by finding hopeful news. Any suggestions?
Ben! Good news is everywhere! You just ain’t tryin’ hard enough. First of all, listen to this show. We always have good news. Secondly, you can go to any of a number of websites out there that will give you the straight skinny on a lot of great green topics. I just read this morning in the Grist that four tech companies have partnered with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to introduce the Eco-Patent Commons, which will offer the rights to eco-friendly technologies for free. IBM, Sony, Nokia, and Pitney Bowes have together donated 31 patents into the public domain, including one for a shock-absorbing cardboard tray that would replace the need for Styrofoam peanuts and another for a way to recycle cell phones into new devices. "Innovation to address environmental issues will require both the application of technology as well as new models for sharing intellectual property among companies in different industries," says IBM Senior Vice President Dr. John E. Kelly III. "IBM is excited to bring its patent resources to bear in service of the environment. We strongly urge other companies to contribute to the Eco-Patent Commons." So you just have to look for it. It’s there!
Thanks to CMI Electric for sponsoring this weeks Listener Letters. Remember, we’ll answer your questions too.
