Green Living
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Green Living presentation topics include responsible sourcing, local materials, toxic ingredients in beauty supplies, green travel, carbon offsets, open source software and green investing.
Green Living
- 2. Four Guiding Objectives When deciding what you, as families, can do to make the shift to a sustainable lifestyle, you must consider four guiding objectives: 1. Eliminate your contribution to fossil fuel dependence and wasteful use of scarce metals, minerals and natural resources. 2. Eliminate your contribution to dependence upon persistent chemicals and wasteful uses of synthetic substances. 3. Eliminate your contribution to encroachment upon nature (e.g., land, water, wildlife, forests, soil, ecosystem). 4. Meet human needs fairly and efficiently.
- 3. Green Living Home Furniture Paint Flooring Countertops Clothing Beauty Travel Offsets Open Source Investing
- 4. Home The air in your home is 5 to 10% more polluted than the air outside. What to examine: furniture paint flooring counters
- 5. Home - Furniture Unless you bought your furniture from a company that implements sustainable standards, they are releasing toxins into your home. Formaldehyde, found in: particleboard (pressed wood) adhesives PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) found in: foam cushions mattresses
- 6. Home - Furniture Do you consider where the wood in your furniture comes from? FSC - Forest Stewardship Council harvested from sustainable sources Exotic Wood teak mahogany
- 7. Home - Furniture Do your research! IKEA 2modern.com Evo.com $5,998 FSC wood & cotton rope BranchHome.com $399 sustainable sources
- 8. Home - Paint That clean smell from fresh coat of paint are VOCs -- volatile organic compounds. worsen asthma symptoms cause nose, skin & eye irritation headaches, nausea, dizziness respiratory problems extreme cases: nerve damage, liver & kidney disease
- 9. Home - Paint Look for low- or no-VOC paints & varnishes. BioShield Retailer in Blanco, TX www.BioShieldPaint.com EcoSpec Paint several Tarrant retailers BenjaminMoore.com Kelly-Moore Enviro-Cote www.kellymoore.com
- 10. Home - Flooring Carpeting and adhesives in wood flooring also offgas. Alternatives include: FLOR速 tile carpet - www.flor.com FSC Wood/Reclaimed Wood Marmoleum - linseed oil, cork flour, jute, limestone, rosin Green Living Cork Lumber Liquidators, Green Living Bamboo Lumber Liquidators, Green Living
- 11. Home - Countertops Make sure your countertops are from a renewable and local source: EnviroGLAS速 in Plano
- 12. Clothing Until the 20th century, all clothing was natural. Although clothing made from synthetics is strong, it is not breathable. Although cotton is breathable, its laden with pesticides. Cotton uses 25% of the worlds pesticides.
- 13. Clothing Alternatives organic cotton - Target, Wal-Mart virgin wool Organic cotton hemp soy bamboo Soy wood pulp corn Ingeo fiber Bamboo/Organic Cotton
- 14. Beauty Wandering the cosmetics aisle can be like walking through a minefield of toxic chemicals. Two of the biggest hazards are: Carcinogens coal tar colors (FD&C, D&C) hair dyes, dandruff shampoos, cosmetics formaldehyde shampoos, nail polish, nail hardeners, hair-growth products DEA, TEA and MEA shampoos, body washes, soaps
- 15. Beauty Endocrine disruptors interfere with normal function of hormones Phthalates in 3/4 of 72 popular beauty products perfume, hair-care products, nail polish, hand lotions Surfactants shampoos, hair dyes, shaving creams Parabens mimic estrogen & adversely affect testosterone levels in men found in almost any cosmetic or personal- care product
- 16. Beauty Alternatives Natural cosmetics from plant extracts Hair products tea tree oil, coconut oil, olive oil, castile, wheat, soya proteins Hair colors plant dyes made from beets, walnuts, tea or marigolds Skin- and body-care macadamia nut oil, cocoa butter, vitamins A & E
- 17. Beauty Alternatives Oral Care toothpastes with zinc citrate, peppermint, fennel Nail Care green tea extracts, shea butter No Miss Nail Polish Toms of Maine Toothpaste
- 18. Travel/Tourism Tourism is one of the worlds fastest growing industries, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Part of tourism is supposed to be supporting the local economy. However, that is typically far from the truth. Support the local economy by hiring local guides, paying to enter protected areas, use local transportation and buy souvenirs from local shops or crafts cooperatives.
- 19. Travel/ Tourism Flying Conscientiously In 2004 alone, 1.9 billion passengers traveled by air. Choosing to fly, however, is a decision with serious environmental consequences. If flying is your only option, carbon credits or offsets can be purchased to offset the harmful emissions released during flights.
- 20. Travel/Tourism Carbon Offsets Carbon offsets can be purchased through a number of companies. You pay according to the number of miles youre traveling. A carbon calculator is used to calculate your carbon footprint. The money funds clean energy and efficiency projects such as wind farms, solar power and tree planting.
- 21. Travel/Tourism Airlines/travel agencies that offer carbon offsets when purchasing tickets: Continental Virgin Blue Lufthansa Qantas Swiss Cathay Pacific Travelocity SAS Group Delta Silverjet Expedia
- 22. Travel/Tourism Another way you can travel more environmentally is through eco-tourism, responsible tourism or sustainable tourism. Recent studies suggest that 4-7% of all tourism worldwide is eco-tourism. The International Ecotourism Society states that eco-tourism aims to conserve the environment and to improve the well- being of communities, by sponsoring responsible travel to natural areas.
- 23. More on Offsets The Federal Trade Commission is holding a series on green marketing. The first one, in January, focused on the carbon offset industry. The three that more companies are turning to? TerraPass.com CarbonFund.org ConservationFund.org
- 24. More on Offsets What can you offset at home? air travel hotel stays home energy use commuting weddings dorm rooms
- 25. Open Source Software Because most large software companies protect their source code, no one can build on that software without explicit permission. This stymies the opportunities for new ideas, security patches, better ways of working and software improvements. Open source software is open to build on, improve and start another version.
- 26. Open Source Software Operating systems Linux Red Hat SUSE Ubuntu (South Africa) For almost any software you can purchase, there is an equivalent open source alternative. SourceForge.net OpenSourceMac.org
- 27. Investing Why give your money to an unsustainable company? Socially Responsible Investment investors are demanding corporate transparency, accountability and socially responsible standards. Watchdog and Research Organizations AsYouSow.org IRRC.org Ceres.org KLD.com Socialinvest.org
- 28. Microfinance Got a few dollars left over at the end of the month? Check into Microfinance. Grameen Foundation provides tiny loans to poor women entrepreneurs to help them escape poverty. GrameenFoundation.org Opportunity International provides financial services to the poorest of the poor and trains them in basic business practices. OpportunityInternational.org
- 29. Microfinance Or you can donate breeding pairs of livestock to an impoverished family through Heifer International. When a family receives a breeding pair they get meat, milk or eggs. They can also sell the offspring. Each recipient must agree to give one breeding pair of offspring away to another family, paying the gift forward. Heifer.org
- 30. Micro-lending If you want to loan your money, not just make a donation, theres Requesting $300 to purchase vegetables for resale in Cambodia. micro-lending. Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world. You can watch their progress online. The course of the loan is usually 6-12 months. At the end of the loan, you can take your money out or re-loan it. www.Kiva.org
- 31. Thank you! And good luck on your journey toward sustainability!