1. Chlorine

Found in: Scouring powders, toilet bowl cleaners, mildew removers, laundry whiteners, household tap water.

Health Concerns: You’re getting exposed through fumes and possibly through skin when you clean with it, but because it’s also in city water to get rid of bacteria, you’re also getting exposed when you take a shower or bath. The health risks from chlorine can be acute, and chronic; it’s a respiratory irritant at an high level.  The chronic effects are what people don’t realize: It may be a serious thyroid disrupter.

Better Choice: For scrubbing, use Bon Ami or baking soda. Toilet bowls can be cleaned with vinegar, and vinegar or borax powder both work well for whitening clothes. So does the chlorine-free oxygen bleach powder made by Biokleen. To reduce your exposure to chlorine through tap water, install filters on your kitchen sink and in the shower.

2. Sodium Hydroxide

Found in: Oven cleaners and drain openers.

Health Concern: Otherwise known as lye, sodium hydroxide is extremely corrosive: If it touches your skin or gets in your eyes, it can cause severe burns. Routes of exposure are skin contact and inhalation. Inhaling sodium hydroxide can cause a sore throat that lasts for days.

Better Choice: You can clean the grimiest oven with baking-soda paste — it just takes a little more time and elbow grease. Unclog drains with a mechanical “snake” tool, or try this approach from the Green Living Ideas Web site: Pour a cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar down the drain and plug it for 30 minutes. After the bubbles die down, run hot water down the drain to clear the debris

3. 2-Butoxyethanol

Found in: Window, kitchen and multipurpose cleaners.

Health Concern: 2-butoxyethanol is the key ingredient in many window cleaners and gives them a sweet smell. It belongs in the category of “glycol ethers,” a set of powerful solvents. Law does not require 2-butoxyethanol to be listed on a product’s label. According to the EPA’s Web site, in addition to causing sore throats when inhaled, at high levels glycol ethers can also contribute to narcosis, pulmonary edema, and severe liver and kidney damage. Although the EPA sets a standard on 2-butoxyethanol for workplace safety, if you’re cleaning at home in a confined area, like an unventilated bathroom, you can actually end up getting 2-butoxyethanol in the air at levels that are higher than workplace safety standards.

Better Choice: Clean mirrors and windows with newspaper and diluted vinegar. For other kitchen tasks, stick to simple cleaning compounds like Bon Ami powder; it’s made from natural ingredients like ground feldspar and baking soda without the added bleach or fragrances found in most commercial cleansers. You can also make your own formulas with baking soda, vinegar and essential oils. See the “DIY Cleaners” sidebar for a list of clean concoctions.

4. Ammonia

Found in: Polishing agents for bathroom fixtures, sinks, jewelry, glass cleaner.

Health Concerm: Because ammonia evaporates and doesn’t leave streaks, it’s another common ingredient in commercial window cleaners.  Ammonia, used by itself, is an irritant.  People who get a lot of ammonia exposure will often develop chronic bronchitis and asthma. Ammonia can also create a poisonous gas if it’s mixed with bleach.
Better Choice: Vodka. It will produce a reflective shine on any metal or mirrored surface. …… And toothpaste makes a great silver polish.

5. Phthalates

Found in: Many fragranced household products, such as air fresheners, dish soap, even toilet paper. Because of proprietary laws, companies don’t have to disclose what’s in their scents, so you won’t find phthalates on a label. If you see the word “fragrance” on a label, there’s a good chance phthalates are present.

Health Concern: Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors. Men with higher phthalate compounds in their blood had correspondingly reduced sperm counts, according to a 2003 study conducted by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Harvard School of Public Health. Although exposure to phthalates mainly occurs through inhalation, it can also happen through skin contact with scented soaps, which is a significant problem. Unlike the digestive system, the skin has no safeguards against toxins. Absorbed chemicals go straight to organs.

Better Choice: When possible choose fragrance-free or all-natural organic products. Skip aerosol or plug-in air fresheners and instead use essential oils or simply open windows to freshen the air. Besides causing more serious effects like endocrine disruption, Aerosol sprays and air fresheners can be migraine and asthma triggers. Also consider adding more plants to your home. They’re natural air detoxifiers.

6. Perchloroethylene or “PERC”

Found in: Dry-cleaning solutions, spot removers, and carpet and upholstery cleaners.

Health Concern: Perc is a neurotoxin, according to the chief scientist of environmental protection for the New York Attorney General’s office. And the EPA classifies perc as a “possible carcinogen” as well. People who live in residential buildings where dry cleaners are located have reported dizziness, loss of coordination and other symptoms. While the EPA has ordered a phase-out of perc machines in residential buildings by 2020, California is going even further and plans to eliminate all use of perc by 2023 because of its suspected health risks. The route of exposure is most often inhalation: that telltale smell on clothes when they return from the dry cleaner, or the fumes that linger after cleaning carpets.

Better Choice: Curtains, drapes and clothes that are labeled “dry clean only” can be taken instead to a “wet cleaner,” which uses water-based technology rather than chemical solvents. The EPA recently recognized liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) as an environmentally preferable alternative to more toxic dry-cleaning solvents. Ask your dry cleaner which method they use. For a safer spot remover, look for a nontoxic brand like Ecover at a natural market, or rub undiluted castile soap directly on stains before washing.

7. Triclosan

Found in: Most liquid dishwashing detergents and hand soaps labeled “antibacterial.”

Health Concern: Triclosan is an aggressive antibacterial agent that can promote the growth of drug-resistant bacteria. Explains Sutton: “The American Medical Association has found no evidence that these antimicrobials make us healthier or safer, and they’re particularly concerned because they don’t want us overusing antibacterial chemicals — that’s how microbes develop resistance, and not just to these [household antibacterials], but also to real antibiotics that we need.” Other studies have now found dangerous concentrations of triclosan in rivers and streams, where it is toxic to algae. The EPA is currently investigating whether triclosan may also disrupt endocrine (hormonal) function. It is a probable carcinogen. At press time, the agency was reviewing the safety of triclosan in consumer products.

Better Choice: Use simple detergents and soaps with short ingredient lists, and avoid antibacterial products with triclosan for home use. If you’re hooked on hand sanitizer, choose one that is alcohol-based and without triclosan.

8. Quarternary Ammonium Compounds, aka “QUATS”

Found in: Fabric softener liquids and sheets, most household cleaners labeled “antibacterial.”

Health Concern: Quats are another type of antimicrobial, and thus pose the same problem as triclosan by helping breed antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They’re also a skin irritant; one 10-year study of contact dermatitis found quats to be one of the leading causes. According to Sutton, they’re also suspected as a culprit for respiratory disorders: “There’s evidence that even healthy people who are [exposed to quats] on a regular basis develop asthma as a result.”

Better Choice: You don’t really need fabric softener or dryer sheets to soften clothes or get rid of static: Simple vinegar works just as well. Vinegar is the natural fabric softener of choice for many reasons. Not only is it nontoxic, it also removes soap residue in the rinse cycle and helps to prevent static cling in the dryer. White vinegar is your best choice for general cleaning; other types can stain.

Alternatives to chemical disinfectants abound, including antibacterial, antifungal tea-tree oil. Mix a few drops of tea-tree oil and a tablespoon of vinegar with water in a spray bottle for a safe, germ killing, all-purpose cleaner. Add a couple of drops of lavender essential oil for scent.

 

The power station at Kuraymat uses both natural gas and solar panels to produce electricity. Photograph: Solar Millennium

Green electricity generated by Sahara solar panels is being hailed as a solution to the climate change crisis.

During the summer of 1913, in a field just south of Cairo on the eastern bank of the Nile, an American engineer called Frank Shuman stood before a gathering of Egypt‘s colonial elite, including the British consul-general Lord Kitchener, and switched on his new invention. Gallons of water soon spilled from a pump, saturating the soil by his feet. Behind him stood row upon row of curved mirrors held aloft on metal cradles, each directed towards the fierce sun overhead. As the sun’s rays hit the mirrors, they were reflected towards a thin glass pipe containing water. The now super-heated water turned to steam, resulting in enough pressure to drive the pumps used to irrigate the surrounding fields where Egypt’s lucrative cotton crop was grown. It was an invention, claimed Shuman, which could help Egypt become far less reliant on the coal being imported at great expense from Britain’s mines.

“The human race must finally utilise direct sun power or revert to barbarism,” wrote Shuman in a letter to Scientific American magazine the following year. But the outbreak of the first world war just a few months later abruptly ended his dream and his solar troughs were soon broken up for scrap, with the metal being used for the war effort. Barbarism, it seemed, had prevailed.

Almost a century later, a convoy of air-conditioned coaches sweeps through the affluent suburb of Maadi – where Shuman had demonstrated his fledgling solar panels – continuing south for 90km towards Kuraymat, an area of flat, uninhabited desert near the city of Beni Suef. The high-level international delegation of CEOs, politicians, financiers and scientists has come to visit a brand new “hybrid” power station that uses both natural gas and solar panels to generate electricity. Before the coaches reach the facility’s security gates, its 6,000 parabolic troughs – each six metres tall with a combined surface area of 130,000sq metres – are already visible from the perimeter road. Even though the panels account for just one seventh of the power plant’s 150MW generating capacity, the Egyptian government, which has been pushing to develop the site since 1997, hopes to prove to the delegation that it is the desert sun – not fossil fuels, such as gas, coal and oil – that should be used not only to generate far more of the electricity across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), but, crucially, for neighbouring Europe, too.

Gerhard Knies, a German particle physicist, was the first person to estimate how much solar energy was required to meet humanity’s demand for electricity. In 1986, in direct response to the Chernobyl nuclear accident, he scribbled down some figures and arrived at the following remarkable conclusion: in just six hours, the world’s deserts receive more energy from the sun than humans consume in a year. If even a tiny fraction of this energy could be harnessed – an area of Saharan desert the size of Wales could, in theory, power the whole of Europe – Knies believed we could move beyond dirty and dangerous fuels for ever. Echoing Schuman’s own frustrations, Knies later asked whether “we are really, as a species, so stupid” not to make better use of this resource. Over the next two decades, he worked – often alone – to drive this idea into public consciousness.

The culmination of his efforts is “Desertec”, a largely German-led initiative that aims to provide 15% of Europe’s electricity by 2050 through a vast network of solar and wind farms stretching right across the Mena region and connecting to continental Europe via special high voltage, direct current transmission cables, which lose only around 3% of the electricity they carry per 1,000km. The tentative total cost of building the project has been estimated at €400bn (£342bn).

Until now, Desertec has been seen by many observers as little more than a mirage in the sand; the fanciful plan of well-meaning dreamers. After all, the technical, political, security and financial hurdles can, each on their own, appear to be utterly insurmountable. But over the past two years, the initiative has received significant support from some of the biggest corporate names in Germany, a country that already leads Europe when it comes to adopting and developing renewable energy, particularly solar. In the autumn of 2009, an “international” consortium of companies formed the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) with weighty companies, such as E.ON, Munich Re, Siemens and Deutsche Bank, all signing up as “shareholders”. Germany’s announcement earlier this year that, in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, it was to speed up its total phase-out of nuclear power suddenly pulled the Desertec idea into much sharper focus. Coupled with faltering international negotiations and increasingly dire warnings on climate change – just last month the International Energy Agency warned that the world is headed for irreversible climate change if it doesn’t start reducing carbon emissions within five years – it would seem the time is now right for an idea of such scale and ambition.

Last month, at its annual conference in Cairo, Dii confirmed to the world that the first phase of the Desertec plan is set to begin in Morocco next year with the construction of a 500MW solar farm near to the desert city of Ouarzazate. The 12sq km project would act as a “reference project” that, much like Egypt’s own project at Kuraymat, would help convince both investors and politicians that similar farms could be repeated across the Mena region in the coming years and decades.

“It’s all systems go in Morocco,” announced Paul van Son, Dii’s CEO, to the visiting delegates. Talks, he added, were – given their shared close proximity, along with Morocco, to western Europe’s grid – already under way with Tunisia and Algeria about joining the “first phase” of Desertec. Countries such as Egypt, Syria, Libya and Saudi Arabia would be expected to join in the “scale-up” phase from 2020 onwards, once extra transmission cables were laid across the Mediterranean and via Turkey, with the whole venture becoming financially self-sustaining by 2035.

Van Son swats away any talk that the Desertec project is built on a precarious foundation of presumption, naivety and hope. “Yes, the current global financial crisis has clearly not been very helpful, but everyone also realises that being dependent on fossil fuels creates vulnerability,” he says.

He also rejects any notion that Desertec carries with it even a whiff of neo-colonialism. Earlier this year such sentiments were raised by Daniel Ayuk Mbi Egbe of the African Network for Solar Energy. “Many Africans are sceptical [about Desertec],” he said. “[Europeans] make promises, but at the end of the day, they bring their engineers, they bring their equipment, and they go. It’s a new form of resource exploitation, just like in the past.” Other Mena-based speakers made similar points, not least that any electricity generated will first be desperately needed by local populations as they fight poverty.

“When the idea for Desertec was first announced there was anger and irritation from the Arab League,” admits Van Son. “They didn’t understand it at first, but we explained that it would benefit their members, too. We explained it would be a cooperative process and they became more relaxed. It’s a win-win for all, we stressed. The relationship is all positive now.”

Desertec should also be supported, argue its champions, because it will improve energy security by helping to diversify supply. At present, says Van Son, Europeans are vulnerable to the so-called “energy weapon”, namely, when an energy-rich country holds its neighbours to ransom by restricting or denying supply. Think Russia and its gas, he says. Or a terrorist attack on an oil pipeline. Desertec will help to dilute these threats.

He is bemused, though, that the current domination of Dii by German companies should rouse suspicion. (There was not a single political or corporate representative from the UK at the conference, yet at least half hailed from Germany.) “Yes, the initiative came from Germany. But there are 15 different nationalities involved, including companies such as HSBC and Morgan Stanley. This is just the start.”

A common question at the conference is: “Who is going to pay for Desertec?” There is talk of loans from development institutions such as the World Bank (the route being taken by Morocco). The presence of German banks suggests they are considering being key lenders, too. But there is also the implication that much of the burden will fall on the European taxpayer, either through EU subsidies, or tariffs added to their energy bills.

Angelika Niebler, a Christian Democrat MEP from Germany, travelled to Cairo as a member of the European parliament’s energy committee. She says it is “too early” to talk about EU financing but adds: “Energy is going to be a bigger priority for the EU in coming years than agriculture has been in the past and Desertec will surely feature.”

Hans Josef-Fell, a representative of Germany’s Green party, is also in Cairo for the conference. “There is a fear in Germany that paying for green electricity direct from North Africa will be too heavy a burden on our consumers,” he says. Germany already has among the highest electricity prices in Europe, in part because of a huge wave of renewable energy installations across the country.

Europe, particularly Germany, seems to increasingly know what it wants from Desertec. But what of its Mena partners? Obaïd Amrane, a board member of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy, the government body responsible for overseeing Desertec’s first plant, says his country has its own plans for the electricity generated at the facility – and for the other four that will follow by 2020 – and it doesn’t necessarily include selling it to Europe.

“By 2020, we are expecting a doubling of electricity consumption in Morocco, as the population and standard of living grow,” he says. “At the moment, we are 97% dependent on foreign energy which is becoming increasingly unsustainable. But we are now aiming to have 42% capacity of renewable electricity by 2020. We will build extra capacity beyond what Morocco needs if someone wants us to, but we will need a big share of the electricity produced by these projects.”

Such sentiments propose another challenge for Desertec: how will it guarantee that the electricity Europe needs is sent down the transmission cables and not just all consumed locally? And how will Mena countries justify selling the electricity to Europe – where the retail price of electricity can be up to 20 times more expensive – if the local population is, say, experiencing regular blackouts?

At the visitor centre at Kuraymat, bottles of chilled water are being distributed ahead of a tour of the parabolic troughs. The mid-morning November sun is already heating the engine oil-like fluid inside the troughs’ receiver tubes – a technology not that far removed from Shuman’s century-old design – up towards 400C.

The technical questions are coming thick and fast for Bodo Becker, the operations manager at Flagsol, the German company that specialises in building concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in the deserts of the US, Spain and now Egypt. The leading query is how the troughs perform in such harsh conditions.

“We only have one sandstorm, on average, pass through here each year,” he says, “but we tilt the troughs down and away from the wind whenever it gets up beyond 12 metres per second, as they act like giant sails.”

Keeping them clean is the main challenge, he adds. “Due to the dusty conditions, we are witnessing about 2% degradation every day in performance, so we need to clean them daily. We use about 39 cubic metres of demineralised water each day for cleaning across the whole site.”

This surprises many delegates, as they have previously been told at the conference that CSP troughs need cleaning weekly compared to photovoltaic panels which need cleaning monthly. Either way, it highlights yet another challenge for Desertec: can enough local water ever be secured for cleaning duties? The Nile is just a few miles from Kuraymat, but some countries aim to push much deeper into their deserts to build such facilities. “Dry cleaning” technologies are being developed, but they reduce the generating efficiency at the plant. Either way, the super-heated transfer fluid requires cooling before it can loop back to the troughs for re-use, and, as with cleaning, water is the cheapest and easiest way to do this. Until “dry cooling” technologies are further advanced, it could limit solar farms to the desert fringes close to large bodies of water.

Somewhat counter-intuitively, some countries, such as Jordan, now favour wind over solar as a source of desert energy, because it is currently more affordable and isn’t so water-intensive. But it is suspected that it will be many years before a single desert energy technology comes to dominate the market. Some within the industry advocate photovoltaic panels, but, currently, CSP is more popular. However, even within CSP, there are loyalists for parabolic troughs and others for “solar towers”, which rely on hundreds of pivoting mirrors laid out on the ground to track the sun and direct its rays towards one fixed point at the top of a giant tower.

Whichever technology succeeds, it is already clear which nation in particular will win out as Desertec develops in the coming decades. One member of the visiting delegation asks Becker where the troughs are made.

“The metal cradles were made here in Egypt, but the glass troughs were all made in Germany,” he says. “And only two companies in the world make the glass tube receivers, which is where the main intellectual property of this technology lays – Schott Solar and Siemens.” Both companies are German.

Courtesy of The GUARDIAN

The United States Navy will use a biofuel blend to fuel both aircraft and warship during a Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, the globe’s largest naval war games, next year near Hawaii.

The Navy and Department of Agriculture, which together have worked on biofuels research since early 2010, announced on Monday that 450,000 gallons of biofuels will in part propel a Navy carrier group next summer.

The contract, to which the Defense Logistics Agency agreed last week, is the largest federal government purchase of biofuels in history at a US$12 million price tag. Two firms benefit: Solazyme, a renewable oil and bio-products company, and Dynamic Fuels LLC, a joint venture between the chicken processing giant Tyson Foods and Syntroleum.

The fuels will be part of a 50-50 blend with petroleum based diesel and aviation fuel. The “drop-in” fuels can work without any engine modification, and met the Navy’s criteria that the fuels come from sources that will not affect the country’s food supply. Solazyme’s diesel is sourced from algae, while Dynamic’s is manufactured from non-food grade animal plants.

At first glance, the deal appears expensive with a total cost of about US$26 a gallon for the actual biofuels. By the time they are blended with conventional diesel, the cost will be about US$15 a gallon. In context, however, it is a tiny sliver of the federal defense budget, which in 2012 will total anywhere from US$1.30 to 1.415 trillion, including interest payments on debut incurred from past wars. Furthermore, the cost of vehicle fuel can run up as high as $400 a gallon when costs from transportation and security to remote regions are factored. Air conditioning, in fact, may cost up to US$20 billion annually in the American military’s Iraq and Afghanistan operations. Meanwhile, tax breaks and oil industry subsidies run from US$4 to $12 billion a year, depending on how the numbers are crunched.

So why should the military bother with biofuels and other forms of clean energy anyway? For a host of regions: protecting its budget in the event that fossil face fuels spike again; ensuring that petroleum-based fuels are plentiful for the military operations that are the most crucial; and as US Navy Secretary Ray Mabus stated at a press conference, renewables can lessen America’s dependence on foreign fuels, too. Overall, the military is far ahead of the politicians on this issue.

The nascent American clean energy sector can benefit as well. While the trick with biofuels is that they need reliable sources of feedstocks in order to scale, these companies need reliable customers. Even with looming threats of budget cuts, the US military would still be a very reliable customer if these technologies can succeed. Military technology also trickles down to the civilian world, too; in addition to the Internet, GPS and composite materials, aviation companies could win in the long run if they had a less volatile fuel supply. Of course, the question of growing food versus fuel needs to be addressed as well. Watch for more announcements similar to this week’s in the coming years.

Courtesy of Leon Kaye

You can make GALLONS of soapy ammonia solution from one bottle of pure ammonia and save allot of money over the store bought price. Vary the concentration, depending upon the job. Use it without the detergent for windows instead of brand name window cleaners.

We have the know that conservation works if executed in a timely manner.  But, without strong political will in combination with targeted efforts and resources, the wonders of nature and the services it provides can be lost to us forever.

Despite the action of conservation programmes, 25% of mammals are at risk of extinction. The  Black Rhino in western Africa, the Western Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) has officially been declared Extinct. The subspecies of the White Rhino in central Africa, the Northern White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is currently near the brink of extinction and has been listed as Possibly Extinct in the Wild. The Javan Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is also at risk, and the subspecies Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus is probably Extinct, following the poaching of what is thought to be the last animal in Viet Nam in 2010. Although this is not the end of the Javan Rhino, it does reduce the species to a single, very small, declining population on Java. A lack of political support/will power for conservation efforts in many rhino habitats, international organized crime groups targeting rhinos and increasing illegal demand for rhino horns/commercial poaching are the main threats faced by rhinos.

Human beings are stewards of this earth and are responsible for protecting the species that share the environment. In the case of the Western Black Rhino, and the Northern White Rhino, the situation could have had very different  if the advised conservation measures had been inacted.  Measures must be strengthened now, specifically managing habitats in order to improve breeding performance, preventing other rhinos from fading into extinction.

Several conservation successes have already been achieved including the Southern White Rhino subspecies (Ceratotherium simum simum), which has increased from a population of less than 100 at the end of the 19th century, to an estimated wild population of more than 20,000. The Przewalski’s Horse (Equus ferus) is another success story, improving its status from Critically Endangered to Endangered. Originally, it was listed as Extinct in the Wild in 1996, but thanks to a captive breeding programme and a successful reintroduction programme, the population is now cpmsodered to be more than 300.

Reptiles make up a significant component of biodiversity, particularly in dryland habitats and on islands around the world. In recent years, many more reptile species have been assessed including most of those found in Madagascar. The current Red List reveals that an alarming 40% of Madagascar’s terrestrial reptiles are threatened. The 22 Madagascan species currently identified as Critically Endangered, which include chameleons, geckoes, skinks and snakes, are now a conservation challenge. This new information helps inform biodiversity planning and allows for an evaluation of the protection that protected areas in Madagascar offer reptiles. Encouragingly, there are new conservation areas being designated in Madagascar that will help conserve a significant proportion of Critically Endangered species, such as Tarzan’s Chameleon (Calumma tarzan), the Bizarre-nosed Chameleon (Calumma hafahafa) and the Limbless Skink (Paracontias fasika). Because of their IUCN Red List status, species which have traditionally been overlooked in conservation efforts, such as the Endangered geckos Paroedura masobe and Uroplatus pietschmanni will now be featured more prominently in future plans.

Plants are an essential resource for human well-being and are a critical component for wildlife habitats, yet they are still underrepresented on the IUCN Red List. Current work underway to increase knowledge includes a review of all Conifers. The results so far uncover some disturbing trends. The Chinese Water Fir (Glyptostrobus pensilis), for example, which was formerly widespread throughout China and Viet Nam has moved from Endangered to Critically Endangered. The main cause of decline is the loss of habitat to expanding intensive agriculture and in China there appear to be no wild plants remaining. The largest group of recently discovered Chinese Water Fir in LAO PDR was killed through flooding for a newly constructed hydro scheme and very few, if any, of the trees in Viet Nam produce viable seeds, meaning that this species is rapidly moving towards becoming Extinct in the Wild. Another example, Taxus contorta, which is used to produce Taxol, a chemotherapy drug, has moved from Vulnerable to Endangered due to over-exploitation for medicinal use and over-collection for fuel wood and fodder. Many other tropical plant species are also at risk. The majority of endemic flowering plants in the granitic Seychelles islands have been assessed and current studies show that of the 79 endemic species, 77% are at risk of extinction. Most of these are new assessments but one species, the infamous Coco de Mer (Lodoicea maldivica) has been uplisted from Vulnerable to Endangered. Known for its supposed aphrodisiac properties, the Coco de Mer faces threats from fires and illegal harvesting of its kernels. Presently, all collection and sale of its seed is highly regulated, but there is thought to be a significant black market trade in the kernels.

The IUCN Red List keeps apace with scientific discoveries—for example, until recently only one species of Manta Ray was known, but new comparisons of field observations now reveal that there are actually two species of ‘manta’: the Reef Manta Ray (Manta alfredi) and the Giant Manta Ray (Manta birostris), both of which are now classified as Vulnerable. The Giant Manta Ray is the largest living ray, which can grow to more than seven meters across. Manta Ray products have a high value in international trade markets and targeted fisheries hunt them for their valuable gill rakers used in traditional Chinese medicine. Monitoring and regulation of the exploitation and trade of both manta ray species is urgently needed, as well as protection of key habitats.

The results of the assessments of all species of scombrids (tunas, bonitos, mackerels and Spanish mackerels) and billfishes (swordfish and marlins) were published recently in the magazine Science. The detailed results now on the IUCN Red List show that the situation is particularly serious for tunas. Five of the eight species of tuna are in the threatened or Near Threatened categories. These include: Southern Bluefin (Thunnus maccoyii), Critically Endangered; Atlantic Bluefin (T. thynnus), Endangered; Bigeye (T. obesus), Vulnerable; Yellowfin (T. albacares), Near Threatened; and Albacore (T. alalunga), Near Threatened. This information will be invaluable in helping governments make decisions which will safeguard the future of these species, many of which are of extremely high economic value.

The assessment for the Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), an iconic salmon species found in the North Pacific, was recently reviewed. Whilst the species’ global status remains the same, Least Concern, the assessment at the subpopulation scale shows elevated threats to the species in its North America habitats, with 31% of the assessed subpopulations threatened, underscoring the need for continued conservation action.

Amphibians form a vital role in ecosystems, are indicators of environmental health, and are literally ‘hopping pharmacies’ being used in the search for new medicines. As one of the most threatened groups, amphibians are closely monitored by IUCN and 26 recently discovered Amphibians have been added to the IUCN Red List. The Blessed Poison Frog (Ranitomeya benedicta) is currently listed as Vulnerable and the Summers’ Poison Frog (Ranitomeya summersi) is Endangered. Both are threatened by habitat loss and harvesting for the international pet trade.

The world is full of amazing species that are rapidly moving towards becoming things of myth and legend if conservation efforts are not more successfully implemented—if we do not act now, future generations may not know what a Chinese Water Fir or a Bizarre-nosed Chameleon look like.

Grill degreaser-

To maintain a clean barbecue grill, sprinkle dry baking soda on a damp brush, scrub, then rinse.

Weed killer

Instead of using harsh chemicals, spray vinegar in the cracks of your walkway to get rid of weeds.

Paint remover for skin

To take off oil-based paint on your skin, put a little extra-virgin olive oil on a soft cloth and rub clean.

Plant duster

Clean and shine the leaves of houseplants by wiping them down with the inside of a banana peel.

Cord organizer

Store cords tangle-free by winding each one back and forth, then inserting it into an empty toilet paper tube.

Vase cleaner

To get glass vases sparkling clean, fill three-quarters with hot water, add a teaspoon of baking soda and shake. Let stand overnight; rinse.

Drawer lubricant

Unstick drawers and keep them sliding smoothly by rubbing the runners with a candle or bar of soap.

Anti-tarnishing paper

Place a piece of white chalk in your silver or jewelry chest to absorb moisture and prevent tarnish.

Fan duster

Slip an old pillowcase over each blade of a ceiling fan, then apply mild pressure as you peel it off. The dust will stay in the case.

Blind duster

Use an antistatic spray on blinds to keep dust from piling up.

Antibacterial bathroom cleaner

To kill bathroom germs, spray full-strength vinegar around the sink and tub. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

Silver jewelry polish

Using a soft toothbrush, scrub pieces of silver jewelry with a bit of toothpaste containing baking soda. Rinse with warm water to restore sparkle.

Mirror Cleaner

Clean a bathroom mirror with shaving cream (the old-fashioned white kind, not a gel variety), then wipe with a soft cloth. This tip also helps keep the mirror fog-free after showers.

Laundry bleach

For a natural bleaching effect and to save money on energy costs (you don’t have to use the dryer!), hang your whites outside to dry.

Washing machine cleaner

Using the warm water setting, fill the basin and add 2 cups white vinegar. Let stand for an hour, then run the cycle as usual.

Stovetop protectant

Rub a thin veneer of car wax on your stovetop, then wipe it off. The wax allows future cooking spills to lift off more easily.

Enamel repair paint

Use correction fluid (like White-Out) to cover nicks and chips on white enamel kitchen appliances like ranges and mixers.

Stainless steel polish

A staple in most garages, WD-40 also works wonders on stainless steel. Just spray and rub with a cloth for a spotless shine.

Wallpaper cleaner

Soft chunks of crustless white bread will get smudges off wallpaper and wipe away fingerprints and other grime.

Hardwater stain remover

To get rid of lime buildup, make a paste of 1 teaspoon vinegar and 2 tablespoons salt. Apply to sink fixtures and rub with a cloth.

Drain cleaner

Sprinkle 1/4 cup baking soda in the drain, followed by 1 cup vinegar. Let sit for 15 minutes, then flush with a pot of boilng water.

Scuff remover

To get rid of scuff marks, rub the inside of a banana peel over silverware, leather shoes and leather furniture. Wipe with a soft cloth. Be sure to test on a small, inconspicuous section first.

Wall filler

You can use white toothpaste to fill in errant holes in your walls. As long as the walls are painted white, the toothpaste will blend right in.

In OHIO they already DO use sheep to mow their lawns.

The sheep eat free, saving hundreds of dollars a month in food costs, and people get a freshly cut lawn, with none of the carbon emissions of a conventional gas-powered mower. There ARE other emissions, which make for all-natural fertilizer.

Of course this project won’t be a simple matter of backing the truck into the driveway and letting the animals hop out and do their thing. Once you’ve made sure your neighborhood is zoned for ruminants, you’ll have to sheep-proof the grounds, which means fencing off whatever vegetation you don’t want the sheep to get at, as well as identifying and removing any toxic plants that might be growing on the premises. You’ll also need some kind of shelter to protect the sheep from the elements.

The next question is how many sheep you’ll need; the answer is two at a minimum. Though their famously low-key affect might suggest otherwise, sheep are gregarious creatures, and it’s unfair to ask them to work solo. (There was a 2001 study from the journal Nature in which British researchers reported that sheep shown photos of other sheep were able to recognize the faces of at least 50 individual animals; such sophisticated neural wiring, the authors argued, implies that ovine social life may be significantly more involved than we typically give it credit for.) It’d probably be best to start off with a pair of ewes and see how the lawn looks after they’ve grazed it for a while.

To keep the grass suitably productive you’ll have to make with the nitrogen fertilizer, a pound per acre every growing day. (The sheep, of course, will contribute some fertilizer of their own, which you’ll have to look out for as you enjoy your yard.) Meanwhile, the animals will need to be watered, receive mineral supplements, get sheared, have their hooves trimmed, get treated for worms and ticks, etc.

Then there’s the issue of grass length management. In general, the ag experts say to achieve optimal yield you want the grass to be no less than three inches long. If your sheep make it shorter than that, you might need to team up with a few neighbors and shuttle the animals from lawn to lawn in ten-day shifts. Pluses include splitting your maintenance costs and providing the sheep with a change of scenery; on the other hand, now you’re looking at potentially contentious meetings of the sheep co-op board, which may not be what you signed on for. But it’s key to avoid overgrazing, where the sheep trim the grass down so far that it can’t regrow. This can become a particular problem as the weather gets cold — the grass stops growing but the sheep keep eating. At your latitude you should count on maybe 120 winter feed days a year, when your flock will have to subsist on hay or grain you’ve carted in.

If all this labor saving is starting to sound like a lot of work, you can do what they’re doing in Turin — namely, enlist someone else’s sheep rather than buy your own, letting the owner handle all the expensive and time-consuming upkeep. Or you can opt for high-tech lawn care instead. The Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna makes a Roomba-style robotic unit that operates on a combination of solar and plug-in electric power; it’ll automatically trim the grass to a length of your choosing, periodically trundling back to its charging station as needed. Sure, you’ll be taking a big hit in the pastoral charm department, but I bet the tradeoff will look pretty decent on a February morning when you can sleep in rather than go outside and feed the lawn mowers.

 

 

TRENTON, N.J. — Two chemicals considered harmful to babies remain in Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo sold in the U.S., even though the company already makes versions without them, according to a coalition of health and environmental groups.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has unsuccessfully been urging the world’s largest health care company for 2 1/2 years to remove the trace amounts of potentially cancer-causing chemicals – dioxane and a substance called quaternium-15 that releases formaldehyde – from Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, one of its signature products.

Johnson & Johnson said it is reducing or gradually phasing out the chemicals, but did not respond directly to the campaign’s demands.

Now the group is ratcheting up the pressure and urging consumers to boycott Johnson & Johnson baby products until the company agrees to remove the chemicals from its baby products sold around the world.

Johnson & Johnson clearly can make safer baby shampoo in all the markets around the world, but it’s not doing it.

Groups have met with Johnson & Johnson representatives three times since spring 2009, and is disappointed the company is not making safer baby shampoo and other products in the U.S. when it does elsewhere.

On Monday, the campaign sent Johnson & Johnson a letter, signed by about 25 environmental, medical and other groups representing about 3.5 million people in the U.S. and other countries. It urges the company to publicly commit by Nov. 15 to removing the chemicals from all personal care products worldwide.

In response, Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are safe and approved by regulators in the U.S. and other countries, but that it is gradually phasing them out of its baby products. It said it is also reformulating baby products to reduce the level of dioxane below detectable levels. But it did not say whether it would respond to or meet the campaign’s full demands.

The letter, addressed to CEO William Weldon, was signed by groups including the Breast Cancer Fund, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Green America. chemical levels in the baby products add to other chemicals infants are exposed to every day.

According to the report, obtained by The Associated Press, one of the suspect chemicals, quaternium-15, is a preservative that kills bacteria by releasing formaldehyde. Formaldehyde, used as a disinfectant and embalming fluid, was declared a known human carcinogen this past June by the U.S. National Toxicology Program. Formaldehyde also is a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.

Quaternium-15 is still an ingredient on Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo sold in the U.S., Canada, China, Indonesia and Australia, but the campaign’s research this summer found it’s not in the same product sold in at least eight other countries, from the U.K. and Denmark to Japan and South Africa.

The second chemical, 1,4-dioxane, is considered a likely carcinogen. It’s a byproduct of a process for making chemicals more soluble and gentler on the skin.

The campaign’s May 2009 report, called “No More Toxic Tub,” stated that studies by an independent laboratory it hired, Analytical Sciences LLC of Petaluma, Calif., found that 1,4-dioxane was contained in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, Oatmeal Baby Wash, Moisture Care Baby Wash and Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Creamy Wash.

According to the report, the company has since launched a baby shampoo called Johnson’s Naturals, sold in the U.S., that does not include 1,4-dioxane. But original Johnson’s baby shampoo, which costs about half as much, has not been reformulated for the U.S. market, according to the campaign.

Analytical Sciences tested multiple J&J baby product samples from the U.S. for the first report, finding low levels of the chemicals. After that consumer groups in South Africa, Sweden and Japan contacted groups to note that quaternium-15 was not being used in products in their countries. The updated report was based on an examination of label ingredients for Johnson & Johnson baby products in 13 countries.

Some of the countries where the products did not contain the harsh chemicals had bans on them in personal care products, but others didn’t.

There is evidence that formaldehyde is associated with nose, lung and blood cancers such as leukemia. An infant’s scalp is more permeable than and adult’s, so exposure to the chemicals could cause more harm for babies than adults.

You’re exposing a child during a very vulnerable period of development, when the effect may be worse.

 

The charming rural scene pictured above actually contains 50 tons of discarded water bottles and sandwich containers, which were blended up and refashioned into this 90-foot-long plastic bridge.

According to maker Vertech, which assembled the project with the help of teams from Rutgers university in the US and Cardiff uni, the bridge took a total of two weeks to put in place over the Tweed River in Peebleshire — including fabricating the thing off-site and the four days it took to lower the completed sections into place.

And it ought to be a winning water feature. It doesn't require painting, won't rust, plus if no one likes it or global warming dries up the river bed and renders it obsolete, it can be re-recycled into something else. Like plastic bottles.

Philips EnduraLEDs

A better way to look forward with a high-efficiency (and mercury-free) bulb that can screw into an incandescent socket.

Philips has been a pioneer in trimming down the wattage required to produce and scale 60-watt equivalent bulbs. The product is a 60-watt replacement that uses 12 watts–but next year another version of this bulb is the L-Prize-winning 10-watt version.

Lifeline PVC-free resilient flooring

Many people don’t realize that resilient vinyl flooring doesn’t have a built-in wear layer. Its durability relies on a constant cycle of waxing, stripping, and re-waxing: this process, which occurs quite frequently in hospitals and schools, pollutes the indoor air with a variety of toxic chemicals. Vinyl flooring also contains PVC, which has long-term impacts due to persistent, carcinogenic chemicals used in its manufacture that also can leach out after disposal.

Lifeline does have a tough, built-in wear layer and does not require this constant waxing and stripping. It also contains no PVC, an added bonus. So it helps protect kids and hospital patients from one of the most prevalent sources of potent indoor VOCs while also avoiding the introduction of persistent organic pollutants like dioxins to the environment.

CI-Girt Rainscreen System

Rainscreens are great at keeping moisture away from commercial buildings, but a typical rainscreen system comes with an energy penalty.

That’s because during installation the insulation must be hand-cut, an imperfect process that is quite expensive and also ends up allowing significant thermal bridging. The CI-Girt system is designed to allow continuous insulation, though, and they also contain an interchangeable cladding system that will allow a building to adapt to new owners and uses, without sacrificing performance.

EonCoat waterborne ceramic coating

All these years we’ve been using industrial and commercial coatings high in health-threatening and smog-producing VOCs when the ingredients we needed could have been found at any 1950s drug store.

This two-part, waterborne ceramic coating is made out of phosphoric acid and milk of magnesia. It’s a great solution to a problem that has been a problem for decades.  The performance is there: industrial facilities are starting to use it in highly corrosive environments and finding it VERY durable.

Aqua2use Graywater System

While many regions are dealing with way more water than they can handle as “global weirding” really starts to hit home, in other places clean water is becoming an ever-scarcer resource. A really effective system that allows us to reuse water is going to be a crucial part of facing climate change.

The Aqua2use system is kind of like a rain barrel, but instead of collecting rain it collects the water that goes down the drain from your sinks and washing machine. The water goes through several (cleanable) filters and can then be safely used for outdoor irrigation. In places where drought and wildfires are a problem, people are actually sometimes ordered to water lawns to help keep the fires from spreading. A system like this makes it possible to water lawns or keep backyard food crops going during a drought without requiring precious potable water.

Cypress Envirosystems’ analog-to-digital wireless thermostat

An innovative retrofit product. It replaces an analog pneumatic thermostat with wireless digital controls, allowing much more granular energy automation, management, and data tracking than you will ever get out of a manual system.

During a recession when hardly any new buildings are going up, people are instead looking for ways to upgrade older buildings to save money. This wireless retrofit can be set up in about 30 minutes without tearing out walls or replacing air-handling infrastructure.

Ritter XL solar thermal system

This solar thermal system is also offering a new twist on existing technologies, but in this case it’s combining several of them to achieve unprecedented levels of solar thermal efficiency that can be used in really high-demand applications like district heating and multifamily housing.

By combining evacuated tubes, compound parabolic reflectors, and water–which is a more efficient heat-transfer fluid than the usual glycol–these sophisticated modules can produce very hot water even in very cold climates. The advanced controls keep the heat-transfer fluid from freezing. As we look beyond buildings to larger-scale energy solutions, projects like renewable district heating are going to be key.

Mitsubishi ductless heat pumps and variable-refrigerant-flow systems

Ground-source heat pumps (which use water or glycol) provide energy-efficient heating and cooling–but they require deep wells or a nearby water source, and they are expensive. Ideally, air-to-air heat pumps (also known as “split” systems) can lower the initial cost while providing similar performance, but these systems often don’t operate well at very low temperatures.

The Mitsubishi ductless heat pumps are a leap forward in air-to-air efficiency, almost rivaling ground-source at a fraction of the cost. They can be used in multifamily and hotel applications, where custom setpoints and even submetering may be desirable, and they work well even at very low temperatures–a limitation on air-to-air heat pumps in the past.

AllSun Trackers

The AllSun Tracker is an innovative, climate-adaptive product with some really sophisticated controls that maximize efficiency while also protecting the equipment from severe weather.

The trackers use GPS to track the sun’s path across the sky from dawn to dark. In high winds, the module folds itself flat on the ground to help prevent damage from a hurricane or tornado. And what better self-sufficiency feature for northern climates could you ask for than a daily snow-dump feature? A product like this one will help those of us with less plentiful solar resources to harvest every photon we can get.