Filed under: Earth Friendly Campaigns and Products | Tags: convention, Denver, sustainable
There will be a lot of red, white and blue showing in August at the Democratic National Convention, but Denver will also be showing shades of green. Nancy Pelosi recently complimented efforts in Denver and across Colorado to push environmentally sustainable energy use at the convention. She said she was impressed that the committee has found time to work on sustainability and to organize a convention where the values of the American people were the overriding concern. The committee organizing the convention has pledged to hold the most environmentally friendly party convention in history. Let’s hear it for red, white, blue and green!
Filed under: Earth Friendly Campaigns and Products, business, world concerns | Tags: business, eco-acronyms, environment
So what does ARSO mean? Here’s another eco-acronym that compliments “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. ARSO is used by some in the environmental industry to help companies reduce and manage their carbon footprint. It stands for Avoid, Reduce, Substitute and Offset.
For example a business can:
AVOID buying a large SUV for deliveries or avoid using non-recycle copy paper.
REDUCE their purchases of overly packaged items.
SUBSTITUTE biking for driving to work or using more enviro-friendly office supplies or machines.
OFFSET their environmental impact by purchasing carbon credits.
Filed under: Earth Friendly Campaigns and Products, health and beauty | Tags: cough, sore throat, tea
I have a minor cough from a summer cold and was looking for something holistic to help me through while it runs its course. I tried this tea recipe that is not only natural but reliable for coughs. It contains thyme for chest congestion, honey to sooth the throat along with sage and vitamin-C-rich lemon.
Pour hot water over 2 teaspoons of organic lemon rinds, 1 teaspoon of sage and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. Use either dried or fresh herbs. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon and a tablespoon of honey.
You can drink 2 or 3 cups a day for cough relief. I think it helped clear my sinuses too. A good shot of Irish Whiskey might help too:)
Filed under: food, world concerns | Tags: grain, high food prices, world hunger
Well, its too late this summer to tear up my lawn and put in a field of wheat and corn but every time I go to the grocery store I wish it wasn’t. The price of every major grain is rising to record levels. Two main things are causing this-extreme weather and vegetable based alternative fuels.
Cheap corn and wheat price spikes are not expected to end anytime soon. Also soybeans (another biofuel crop), barley, oats, rice, sunflowers and lentils are getting way more expensive rapidly.
Try making a meal without any of these products and although American shoppers are feeling the pinch the greater concern is mass starvation as the world’s poor find it harder to afford or even find food.
Rioting over a life-sustaining bowl of grain is becoming a way of life in some of the poorest parts of the world. Haiti, Egypt, Kenya, India, Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia are all showing the alarming stress of tight food supplies. India, Vietnam and Thailand have restricted their rice exports to ensure that they can feed their people first.
100 million poor people around the world are feeling this food crisis and even Americans are beginning to experience food rationing because major retailers on the East and West coasts are limiting the purchases of flour, rice and cooking oil as supplies dwindle because people are stockpiling.
Next summer I’m afraid I might be looking at my green lawn a little differently.
What’s square and green and fits into a small refrigerator perfectly?
A watermelon!!
If a fat round melon poses a problem for you in your motorhome or tiny apartment refrigerator than do what Japanese farmers did for their consumers.
Grow a square watermelon or other stuff with a few sheets of polycarbonate and some gate hinges. Resourceful farmers found a clever but pricey solution by inserting the melons into square boxes while they were still growing on the vine. Many Japanese consumers love watermelon but have limited refrigerator space.
This designer fruit hasn’t made it’s way into U.S. grocery stores yet, but if you have a garden and a green thumb you can always give it a try. Think how much fun a summer party would be when a cubed shaped watermelon shows up.
