Paperless Books - What Rock Have I Been Under?

Okay, I'm not sure how long "they've" been around and what the whole scoop is on "them" yet, but I've just read about "e-books"!! Did you know that you can purchase these electronic book readers, and elimate the clutter, paper usage, weight, etc, from your life?
Apparently, up to 200 books and periodicals can be downloaded to a reader, at any given time. And, better than that, it remembers what page you left off at reading, you can change the size of the text, look up the meaning of specific words. Holy Cow, it's AMAZING !
I guess you can preview chapters to books that you're interested in reading and when you do decide to make the purchase, it can be done almost instantly.
They also have found a technology that they call electronic ink, so the reader doesn't burn up a lot of power, but uses some when you turn a page.
How many trees is this going to save? Obviously, millons.
You gotta admit it, technology is WONDERFUL !

He Won The War / He Lived Well - Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch, lost his battle today with pancreatic cancer, but won the war on living well and a full life! Today's news release is here.

If, you hadn't yet heard of Randy, he was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who did two incredible presentations about life and what it meant to him, after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in Sept 2006. An update on Randy's condition was posted yesterday on his website.

A quote from Randy Pausch:
“We don’t beat the reaper by living longer. We beat the reaper by living well, and living fully, for the reaper will come for all of us. The question is what do we do between the time we are born and the time he shows up. Cause when he shows up it’s too late to do all the things that you’re always were kinda going to get around to.”

If, you haven't seen Randy's presentations, or you'd like to view them again, I've listed them below.

God bless Randy's family and all who loved him.

Randy Pausch - Last Lecture - Achieving Your Dreams



Randy Pausch - May 2008 Carnegie Mellon Commencement ceremony

Cleaning Your Indoor Air

It's been no secret for a long time, that plants in a home or any building, can improve the air quality inside. I found this cool link with info on common plants that can help reduce indoor air pollution. It shares which plants help best with removing formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide from the air.

Another method, which works a lot faster than plants and reduces more nasty stuff, is an air purifier. Here's information available on one air purifier, that is quite the machine! If, you become a member and place the order in July, the shipping if free. That saves you over $100 bucks!

This system suppresses mold and bacteria growth, reduces odors, and reduces VOC's (Violatile Organic Compounds). There are several PDF's on the webpage that explains the item in much more detail. Check it out if you're interested.

Easy Global Warming Solutions

There's more and more discussion on Global Warming these days and that's a REALLY GOOD thing! Even though there are many debates out there about Global Warming, the end result of the positive actions towards it's end, certainly won't hurt the planet or us!

What's it gonna hurt? Nothing is it? So come on, give it a try, it's relatively painless, ya know ;-)

Here's some of those easy tips on Global Warming Solutions at the National Wildlife Federation's website.

I'd love to hear back from folks, about how it's going on instituting these practical ideas. I mean, how hard can it be to inflate your tires a little more, or turn down your thermostat two degrees?

Hope you'll "Warm Up" to these Global Warming issues.

Recyling Cell Phones - A Win-Win

My "Church-Son", Riley Hoobery, is an awesome guy, who has a heart bigger than the State of Idaho. Riley is an active volunteer for usually one or two organizations at any given time.

For the last couple of years, he's been the an area rep for Cell Phones For Life, Inc. Riley maintains drop boxes at several locations in our local community and then goes out and retrieves the phones that are donated.

If, you weren't aware, even after an owner of a cellphone terminates his cellphone provider service, i.e.; Sprint, Verizon, etc., the cellphone will still work if the battery is kept charged and can be used to call 911, in the event of an emergency.

So, these donated cell phones are then cleared of all contacts, phone numbers, and any miscellanous information and redistributed to the disabled, elderly and domestic violence shelters. There is no record back to the original owner. The broken or non-reusable phones are recycled through Project KOPEG out of Boise, ID.

What a wonderful way to keep your unwanted or broken cell phone out of the landfills! And then, the cell phone's lifetime is extended to who knows how long, being used by someone who may have no other way to call for help, in an emergency situation.

For more information you can email or call Riley. His email is rhoobery@fmtc.com and his contact phone is 206/888-6582. Also, you can get more information on this organization via their website at www.cellphonesforlife.org

P.S. Your donation is also Tax Deductible.

Options for Recycling CFL's

While usage of the CFL (Compact Flourescent Light) controversy still rages on; (IMHO), they are definitely a sustainable option for everyone. Yes, the mercury content and disposal issues are yet to be resolved, but there are some options in place to safely dispose of your used/damaged CFL's.

So, I'm at my "Like-a-brother" hairdresser's home last week, getting my gray washed out. I'm chatting with his roommate, who's an awesome guy and on the management team of a Lowe's store in Boise, Idaho.

I ask this Lowe's manager, if he is aware that Home Depot has gone to accepting used and damaged CFL's for recycling and ask him, "When is Lowe's going to step up to the plate and start doing good things like Home Depot?". He then proceeds to diplomatically inform me that Lowe's has been recycling CFL's for sometime, and in fact, Lowe's also recycles batteries (AA,D,C,etc.).

Well, naturally I apologized for my assumption of Lowe's lack of environmental responsibility, and just thought I'd share my ignorance, with the rest of you. This just goes to show you, that "one" never knows what another person or another company is doing to make a more positive impact on the planet.

This was my reminder on continuing my education of the plethora of resources and options that are available and never A S S - U - M E !!

Sorry guys, another lesson learned!

Spilled Milk

Well, slowly the tide keeps turning for more sustainability, in the world of "Big Business". Apparently, Costco & WalMart have decided to change the shape of their plastic milk jugs so that they can fit more on a pallet, hence, reducing shipping expenses!!

Now, just how simple was that to figure out? It just goes to show me, that with a little extra thought into something, there are many alternatives.

But, I guess the jugs will be a little more cumbersome to use, when pouring. Soooo, watch out for spilled milk. We may end up having to transfer the milk into a more "pour friendly" container. Whatever it takes, it's still a step forward and I love it!!

Plastics - Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

Today, I had a visit in my home with a business associate from my local BNI networking group. Both she and I, are still novices when it comes to sustainability, but we're constantly stretching to learn and incorporate more, into our lifestyles.

On the other hand, we have two very smart husbands that are cool-to-warm on the subject of sustainability and especially recycling. I'm sure that if they both sat down and thought about it for any length of time, they would "see the light". But, in the meantime, she and I will continue to grow and hopefully they will grow with us.

One of the areas that has been a little scary to me, is plastics. Which types are "the good kind", which ones can be recycled, etc, etc. Basically, probably the best practice is just not to use plastic as much as possible. Obviously, that's a very hard thing to do these days, but there are many alternatives.

Also, the recycling mantra; Reduce, Reuse & Recycle goes a long way when it comes to plastics. I included a link to Earth 911's Plastics/Recycling page on their website, to give you some easy ideas.

In addition, here's a link with the Plastics Pocket Card that I found on the Green Guide's website. This is handy to carry around in your wallet. That way, when you're out and about and you're trying to remember "which is which" before making a plastic purchase, you can refer to this little cheat sheet.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week and enjoying the summertime. Blessings and prayers to everyone dealing with the fires, floods and other "mountains" in their lives.

Bisphenol A (BPA) Found In Some Baby Formulas

We've been hearing about this Bisphenol A (BPA), being in baby bottles, sippy cups, water bottles and the like. And hopefully, many are seeing the light on that and finding safer alternatives.

But, there's also an issue with BPA being found in liquid infant baby formulas. It's in the metal lining of some of the cans of several of the "big name" baby formula manufacturers. Here's a link to an article done by the EWG (Environmental Working Group), on this topic.

The National Toxicology Program, a subgroup of the Department of Health & Human Services, has been taking a VERY serious look at BPA, for awhile now. In a 69 page study, a summary question was posed: Are Current Exposures to Bisphenol A High Enough To Cause Concern? A portion of their answer was: "Possibly, the high dose effects to exposure in lab animals provide clear evidence for adverse effects on development, i.e., reduced survival, birth weight, delayed puberty...".

Please don't be hesitant to view the above study after I mentioned it's 69 pages long. If, you look over the table of contents on Page 2 of the study, you can easily see the specific sections that address areas that you might be most interested in reading. And, it's not a hard read either!

I know, I know, there's a lot of bad stuff out there that we breathe or eat everyday. But, why make conscious choices to consume something that has a toxic chemical linked to possible reproductive disorders and neurobehavioral disorders in lab tests? There are safer alternatives out there and they are coming up with more and more every day.

Green Your 4th of July

The holiday of our Nation's independence approaches the end of this week, and I am so thankful for what our forefather's established for all of us. The United States of America and this whole planet, are more often than not, taken for granted.
I know that I have been and I am still, guilty of taking for granted all our natural and man-made resources. The accessibility to anything and everything a person could want for, numbs me sometimes, to the long-term cost to our nation and/or planet.
I've attached a link to the Earth 911 website, that offers 8 practical ways to green your Independence Day.
Enjoy your celebration and God bless !