Green Parent Chicago™

The Green Stork Recommends: There’s Something In the Water

After reading about all the contaminants – including cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, titanium and chlorine (not to mention pharmaceuticals, PCB’s and rocket fuel!)  that were in the water – all American city water – I nagged my husband into putting a whole house water filter on our water system before my first son was born. Honestly, it was the best gift he ever gave me.

I am frequently asked by women what they should register for. And my first recommendation is always a whole house water filter. Your child bathes and drinks this stuff daily – and it just isn’t clean or pure enough for your babies highly absorbent skin and vulnerable developing system. He needs clean water more than cute onesies, stuffed rabbits and silver rattles. I know that water filters aren’t adorable, photogenic or engravable – but the benefits to your child’s immediate and long term health are inestimable. THIS is one of the top ten best gifts you’ll ever give your child. All for the price of one really nice handbag. Not including installation.

Why am I mentioning this again now? Earlier this month, the Chicago Tribune featured an article on lead in Chicago drinking water …

High lead levels were found in drinking water in seven of 38 Chicago homes tested by federal regulators this spring, according to records obtained by the Tribune.

 Why should you care?

Experts say there is no safe level of exposure to lead, which has been known to cause diminished IQs in children, even at low levels, and heart attacks and strokes in adults.

 This is bad stuff, ya’ll. And very easily kept from your child’s system.

If you are preggos you honestly want to think about registering for a whole house water system.  Our water isn’t safe enough for you or anyone you really love (maybe for a despised boss – but that’s it). At first, other moms will roll their eyes and think that you’re a right nutter – but ask them to Google “water quality” and let’s see who is rolling their eyes then.

Note: Champagne has none of these contaminants.

Cheers!

-"The Green Stork" Claire Douglass is a first time Chicago mom, concerned with ever increasing data connecting childhood health issues from asthma to autism to exposure to common household toxins, chemicals and air quality – seeks to detoxify her nest, and create as green a nursery and playroom as possible.Without driving herself, or her husband, crazy. The former is going far better than the latter.

Local Resident, Stephanie Dunn, in Hunger Strike for Clean Power Ordinance | P.E.R.R.O.

Chicago, IL — Local Chicago resident, Stephanie Dunn, started a hunger strike on August 1st in downtown Chicago to call on the Mayor and City Council of Chicago to pass the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance.

Show your support for Stephanie by joining and visiting with her in Daley Plaza, in downtown Chicago, and to contact the Mayor of Chicago or the non-sponsoring Aldermen by calling 311. You can contact Stephanie at (312) 768-9949.

Stephanie will be holding her hunger strike until the end of Friday August 5.

via pilsenperro.org

The Chicago Vegan Chef Showdown

Top vegan chefs from around the city will compete in the first ever Chicago Vegan Chef Showdown to win the coveted title of "Best Vegan Chef", while raising charitable funds for farmed animal protection.

The contest will be held Saturday July 23 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Funky Buddha Lounge at 728 West Grand Ave. The all ages event is open to the public. There is no admission fee, but there is a $1 suggested donation for each sample. Funds raised will go to benefit Mercy for Animals, a Chicago based animal advocacy organization.

The event is being organized by Upton's Naturals, a locally based producer of all natural foods specializing in vegan/vegetarian meat alternatives. Twenty individual chefs, or teams of chefs (three people maximum per team) will face off for the Best Vegan Chef title.

Each chef, or team, will be expected to create a dish using Upton’s Naturals seitan. The winner will be determined by the people's choice: whichever chef or team sells the most samples, wins. The top three chefs will also win products from Chicago’s favorite vegan-friendly restaurants and businesses.

There is a $25 entry fee per chef or team of chefs, and entry to the competition closes July 7. Each chef or team will be provided with complimentary Upton's Naturals seitan, but must provide the other ingredients and methods to keep their food warm or cold.  For more information or to enter to compete, email nicole@UptonsNaturals.com.

-photo credit: Upton's Naturals

EarthTalk: Spray Sunscreen Convenience Over Safety

Dear EarthTalk: Isn’t spray sunscreen a health and environmental nightmare when it seems that more of the sunscreen ends up going up my nose than on the kid at the beach next to me? -- Lillian Robertson, Methuen, MA

Spray cans of sunscreen may no longer contain chlorofluorocarbons (also known as CFCs, which were phased out in the 1990s for causing holes in the stratospheric ozone layer), but many contain other chemicals that are no good for our health or the environment. Researchers have found that the chemicals and/or minerals in the vast majority of commercially available sunscreens—even the rub-in creamy or oily varieties—can cause health problems just from ordinary use; inhaling them only magnifies the risks.

And just what are the risks? According to the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG), there are two major types of sunscreens available in the U.S. “Chemical” sunscreens, the more common kind, penetrate the skin and may disrupt the body’s endocrine system, as their active ingredients (e.g., octylmethylcinnamate, oxybenzone, avobenzone, benzophone, mexoryl, PABA or PARSOL 1789) mimic the body’s natural hormones and as such can essentially confuse the body’s systems. Quite a risk to take, considering that the chemical varieties don’t even work for very long once applied.

Meanwhile, “mineral” sunscreens are considered somewhat safer, as their active ingredients are natural elements such as zinc or titanium. But “micronized” or “nano-scale” particles of these minerals can get below the skin surface and cause allergic reactions and other problems for some people. EWG recommends sticking with “mineral” sunscreens whenever possible but, more important, taking other precautions to avoid prolonged sun exposure altogether. “At EWG we use sunscreens, but we look for shade, wear protective clothing, and avoid the noontime sun before we smear on the cream,” the group reports.

As for spray varieties, EWG recommends avoiding them entirely: “These ingredients are not meant to be inhaled into the lungs.” With so little known about the effects of sunscreen chemicals on the body when rubbed into the skin, we may never know how much worse the effects may be when they are inhaled. But suffice it to say: When your neighbor at the beach is spraying down Junior, it’s in your best interest to turn away and cover your nose and mouth.

The root of the problem, according to EWG, is failure on the part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), despite repeated requests from public health and consumer advocates, to implement sunscreen safety standards, some of which were proposed by government scientists more than three decades ago.

EWG only considers a small percentage of the sunscreens on the market—none of which come packaged in spray cans—safe for human use. Some of the top rated varieties come from manufacturers including All Terrain, Aubrey Organics, Badger, Blue Lizard, California Baby, La Roche-Posay, Purple Prairie Botanicals, thinksport, and UV Natural. None of the mainstream drug store variety brands appear on EWG’s recommended list. The full list is available on the sunscreens section of EWG’s Skin Deep website. With summer now upon us, stock up on good sunscreen before it’s too late.

CONTACT: Skin Deep, www.ewg.org/skindeep.

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

-photo credit: Thinkstock

EarthTalk: What's Green About Legal Weed?

Dear EarthTalk: I heard someone say that legalizing pot—as Californians considered doing last year—would benefit the environment. How would that be? -- William T., Portland, OR

It is well known that legalizing pot could have great economic benefits in California and elsewhere by allowing the government to tax it (like it now does on liquor and cigarettes), by ending expensive and ongoing operations to eradicate it, and by keeping millions of otherwise innocent and non-violent marijuana offenders out of already overburdened federal and state prisons. But what you might not know is that legalizing pot could also pay environmental dividends as well.

Nikki Gloudeman, a senior fellow at Mother Jones magazine, reports on the change.org website that the current system of growing pot—surreptitious growers illegally colonizing remote forest lands and moving pesticides, waste and irrigation tubes into otherwise pristine ecosystems—is nothing short of a toxic scourge. Legalizing pot, she says, would clean things up substantially, as the growing would both eliminate the strain on public lands and meet higher standards for the use and disposal of toxic substances.

Legalization would also reduce the environmental impacts of smuggling across the U.S./Mexico border, says Gloudeman: “Cartels routinely use generators, diesel storage tanks and animal poison to preserve their cache, when the border area is surrounded by more than 4 million acres of sensitive federal wilderness.”

Also, legalizing pot would move its production out into the open, literally, meaning that growers would no longer need to rack up huge energy costs to keep their illegal indoor growing operations lit up by artificial light. This means that the energy consumption and carbon footprint of marijuana growers would go way down, as the light the plants need for photosynthesis could be provided more naturally by the sun.

Yet another green benefit of legalizing marijuana would be an end to the destructive eradication efforts employed by law enforcement at bust sites, where the crop and the land they are rooted in are sometimes subjected to harsh chemical herbicides for expedited removal.

The legalization of pot in the U.S. would also likely open the door to the legal production of hemp, a variety of the same Cannabis plant that contains much lower amounts of the psychoactive drug, THC. Proponents say hemp could meet an increasingly larger percentage of our domestic fiber and fuel needs. Cannabis, the plant from which marijuana and hemp is derived, grows quickly without the need for excessive amounts of fertilizer or pesticide (it’s a “weed” after all) and absorbs carbon dioxide like any plant engaged in photosynthesis. The fiber and fuel derived from hemp would be carbon neutral and as such wouldn’t contribute to global warming—and in fact could help mitigate rising temperatures by replacing chemical-intensive crops like cotton and imported fossil fuels like oil and gas.

Of course, one might argue that the best thing for the environment would be to stop growing cannabis altogether. “But let’s be real: That’s never going to happen,” says Gloudeman. “In light of that, the next best bet is to make it legal.”

CONTACTS: Change.org, www.change.org; Drug Policy Alliance, www.drugpolicy.org.

EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine ( www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

-photo credit: Wikipedia

Keeping Hopes and Dreams Alive: Blackstone Bicycle Works

Our congratulations to Blackstone Bicycle Works for becoming the first ever Seattle's Best Brew-lanthropy award recipient. The program based out of Experimental Station on the city's southside, allows neighborhood kids and teens to learn bike repair, safety, and business and life skills while saving old bikes from being tossed away in landfills.

As evident from this beautifully shot video highlighting BBW, its staff and its young participants, there's a lot you can learn about yourself and your world when you know you're accomplishing something meaningful.

via www.youtube.com

-Christine

EarthTalk: Food Safety Act's Key Protections Explained

Dear EarthTalk: What specific issues and protections are covered by the Food Safety Modernization Act recently signed into law?-- P. Palmerino, New York, NY

Existing laws and oversight from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have done a decent job of keeping the vast majority of Americans safe from food borne illnesses, but several recent cases of contamination have put the spotlight on what more we can do to protect ourselves from unwittingly consuming harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses and toxins that could be lurking on our dinner plates.

 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that, of the 48 million Americans afflicted with some sort of food borne illness every year, 128,000 are hospitalized and about 3,000 die. In response to this growing problem, in January 2011 Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a comprehensive $1.4 billion bill that aims to stop outbreaks of food borne illnesses before they begin.

“This law makes everyone responsible and accountable at each step in today's global food supply chain,” reports FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. “This law represents a sea change for food safety in America, bringing a new focus on prevention, and I expect that in the coming years it will have a dramatic and positive effect on the safety of the food supply.”

FDA inspectors have monitored domestic producers of seafood, juice, meat, eggs and poultry for decades, but the new law expands their powers to evaluate hazards in all kinds of food and to impose stricter standards on imported foods. Processors are now required to proactively take measures to prevent contamination, and must have plans in place for corrective action when something does go wrong.

Ten Strikes Against Nuclear Power

In the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor crisis, some countries, like Germany, have responded with due caution, pulling the plug on several nuclear power plants, and calling their nuclear energy programs into question.

Here in the US, the Obama administration’s response to the crisis has been less encouraging.

A week after the disaster, with brave work crews still risking their lives in Japan to bring the situation under control, Energy Secretary Steven Chu affirmed in congressional testimony that the president’s request for $36 billion in appropriations for the nuclear loan guarantee program remains on the table.

There’s no way US taxpayers should underwrite construction of new nuclear power plants in this country. While it’s certainly true that our energy needs require a diversity of solutions, nuclear power shouldn’t be in the mix. Solar, wind, and geothermal power, combined with energy efficiency, can overcome our reliance on fossil fuels, provide energy security, and mitigate the climate crisis. Nuclear power may be low-carbon, but it is not clean energy.

Here are the top 10 reasons why we shouldn’t build any more nuclear reactors:

1) Nuclear waste – The waste from nuclear power plants is toxic for humans and the planet for more than 100,000 years. It's untenable now to secure and store all of the waste from the plants that exist. With nuclear proponents saying we need as many as 3,000 more plants (some say it’s more like 17,00) to scale up to meet the climate challenge, nuclear waste containment is unthinkable.

2) Nuclear proliferation – In discussing the proliferation issue, Al Gore said, "During my eight years in the White House, every nuclear weapons proliferation issue we dealt with was connected to a nuclear reactor program." Iran   and North Korea are reminding us of this every day. We can't develop a domestic nuclear energy program without confronting proliferation in other countries.

3) National Security – Nuclear reactors represent a clear national security risk, and an attractive target for terrorists.

4) Accidents – Forget terrorism for a moment, and remember that accidents – human error or natural disasters – can wreak havoc at a nuclear power plant site. The Chernobyl disaster forced the evacuation and resettlement of nearly 400,000 people, with thousands poisoned by radiation.

5) Cancer – There are growing concerns that living near even accident-free nuclear plants increases the risk for childhood leukemia and other cancers. One Texas study found increased cancer rates in north central Texas since a nuclear power plant was established in 1990, and a recent German study found childhood leukemia clusters near several nuclear power sites in Europe.

6) Not enough sites – Nuclear plants must locate near a source of water for cooling, and there aren't enough worldwide locations safe from droughts, flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, or other disasters that could trigger an accident. Over 24 nuclear plants are at risk of shutting down this year because of drought in the Southeast.

7)Not enough uranium – Even if we could find enough sites for a new generation of nuclear plants, we're running out of the uranium necessary to power them. Scientists in both the US and UK have shown that if nuclear power were expanded to provide all the world's electricity, our uranium would be depleted in ten years.

8) Costs – Some types of energy production experience decreasing costs to scale. Like computers and cell phones, when you make more solar panels, costs come down. Nuclear power, however, will experience increasing costs to scale. Due to dwindling sites and uranium resources, each successive new nuclear power plant will see its costs rise.

9) Private sector unwilling to finance – Due to all of the above, the private sector has largely taken a pass on the financial risks of nuclear power, leading the industry to seek taxpayer loan guarantees from Congress instead.

And finally, even if all of the above didn't exist, nuclear power still can't be a climate solution because there is …

10) No time -- We have the next ten years to mount a global effort against climate change. It simply isn't possible to build enough new plants in ten years.

Solar power, wind power, geothermal, and aggressive energy efficiency are climate solutions that are safer, cheaper, faster, more secure, and less wasteful than nuclear power.

With so many strikes against nuclear power, we should challenge our candidates for higher office to remove it from the table as a climate solution, and turn our energies toward the technologies and strategies that can truly make a difference.

-Adapted from a speech by Alisa Gravitz, executive director of Green America. 
An expanded version of this editorial can be found at www.greenamerica.org/go/tenstrikes.

-photo credit: Topato, flickr

2011 Chicago Flower & Garden Show Kicks Off Saturday

Spring is set to begin in only a few weeks, so what better way to get a head start on your garden planning than by checking out the 2011 Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier.

The show begins Saturday and will run until March 13. Highlights of the event include the ever popular Children's Activity Garden, which is (trust us, we've been there) tons of fun for all ages with a sandbox, swings, plant potting activities and crafts, cooking demos with top local chefs, a marketplace to browse the latest gardening and outdoor living innovations and horticultural displays and competitions.

Admission is $5 for children age 4 to 12. Adults are $15 weekdays, $13 from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday and $17 on Saturdays and Sundays. Discount parking in the Navy Pier garage is $14.

Tickets for the 2011 Chicago Flower & Garden Show will be available at the door or may be purchased online. Show hours are Monday to Saturday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

-Christine

 

EarthTalk: Update on Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency

Dear EarthTalk: A number of federal energy efficiency related tax incentives expired at the end of 2010. Will any such programs remain in force and if not, are there other ways to save money on green upgrades?-- Jen Franklin, Chicago, IL

It is true that some federal tax credits for energy efficiency upgrades expired at the end of 2010, but there is legislative effort afoot to extend some of those credits—and there are plenty of other ways to defray the costs of turning over a new green leaf or two this year and beyond.

One of the best known green federal tax incentives, the Residential Energy Efficiency Tax Credit—which kicked in 30 percent of the cost of household efficiency upgrades up to $1,500 on items including water heaters, furnaces, heat pumps, central air conditioning systems, insulation, windows, doors and roofs—is no longer available as of January 1, 2011. However, some lawmakers are looking to extend the credit. U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) have drafted legislation calling for keeping the program going, in a slightly revised form, for another two years.

“Residential energy efficiency has been identified as the most effective strategy to enhance our energy security and save money on energy bills,” says Snowe. “The residential energy efficiency tax credits…have been key catalysts in improving the energy efficiency of homes throughout the country [and] have driven companies to produce the most advanced products current technology allows…”

And if you were thinking you would save thousands of dollars on the price of a Toyota Prius thanks to federal incentives, think again. Federal tax credits also expired at the end of 2010 on the purchase of hybrid gas-electric cars and trucks. However, if you want to roll away in one of the sporty new all-electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt, you can now qualify for up to a $7,500 (depending on battery capacity) federal tax credit. The federal government now also offers a tax credit for 10 percent (up to $4,000) of the cost of a kit to convert an existing hybrid vehicle into a plug-in hybrid.

All of these programs expire themselves at the end of 2011. Whether or not new federal alternative fuel vehicle incentives crop up for 2012—when many new ultra-efficient plug-in hybrids from the likes of Toyota, Honda, Volvo and others are slated for release—remains to be seen.

Regardless, many states have their own programs to encourage energy efficiency. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) regularly updates its free online State Energy Efficiency Policy Database, which makes accessing information on your state’s energy efficiency programs, standards and “reward structures” as easy as clicking on a map. Likewise, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) is another free online resource that lists state and federal incentives for buying an alternative fuel car, greening up your home or otherwise embracing energy efficiency. And the Energy Star website details special offers and rebates from cities, towns, counties and utilities on the purchase of appliances and equipment that meet federal standards for energy efficiency.

CONTACTS: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE), www.dsireusa.org; ACEEE’s State Energy Efficiency Policy Database, www.aceee.org/sector/state-policy; Energy Star Special Offers and Rebates, www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=rebate.rebate_locator.

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-Photo courtesy Nissan