Ev e n t sdocshare01.docshare.tips/files/4587/45879968.pdf · Test your New Year’s Eve green knowledge 1. When was the first year that the New Year’s ball in Times Square was

2 GOING GREEN | S u n d ay , December 2 6, 2010 co m m e r c i a l a p p ea l .co m

Healthy, green anddoable resolutionsStart the new year off rightby heeding these tips

Historicp r es e r v a t i o nByhalia bus stopgets new life asr es t a u r a n t

Nissan Leaf’sfirst ownertakes off

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!Going Green is a special online publication ofThe Commercial Appeal. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Follow GoingGreen on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis.

Ed i t o r : Kim Coleman, 529-5243, [email protected]

Community Editor: Emily Adams Keplinger, [email protected]

What’s in this issue ...

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8

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On the cover:Image from istockphoto.com

Minimizewrappingwaste

11

Bella Café isnaturallyinclined

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What should you do with all that leftoverchampagne? How do you cure a hangovernaturally? Test your knowledge with our NewYea r ’s quiz. PAGE 6

The Commercial Appeal S u n d ay , December 2 6, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3

The Green Page

GroupsTo find out what other “green” events arehappening around the area, visit thewebsites of these organizations:

Citizens to Preserve Overton Park(C P O P)o v e r t o n p a r k fo r ev e r .o r g

Clean Memphisc l ea n m e m p h i s .o r g

Coalition of Livable Communitiesl l i v a b l e m e m p h i s .o r g /

Friends for Our Riverfrontf r i e n d s fo r o u r r i v e r f r o n t .o r g /

Greater Memphis Greenlineg r ea t e r m e m p h i s g r e e n l i n e.o r g /

Lichterman Nature Centerm e m p h i s m u s e u m s .o r g / l i c h t e r m a n -o v e r v i ew /

Memphis Botanic Gardenm e m p h i s b o t a n i c ga r d e n .co m /

Shelby Farms Park Conservancy

s h e l by fa r m s p a r k .o r gSierra Club — Chickasaw Group

t e n n es s e e.s i e r r a c l u b.o r g /c h i c ka s aw /

Strawberry Plains Audubon Centers t r aw b e r r y p l a i n s . a u d u b o n .o r g /

Tennessee Clean Water Networkt cw n .o r g

Tennessee Ornithological Societyt n b i r d s .o r gt n b i r d s .o r g /c h a p t e r s / M e m p h i s/Memphis.htm

Tennessee Parks and GreenwaysFo u n d a t i o nt e n n g r e e n .o r g /

Tennessee Trails Association —Memphis Chaptert e n n es s e e t r a i l s .o r g /m e m p h i s . p h p

V&E Greenlinev e g r e e n l i n e.o r g / i n d ex . h t m l

Wolf River Conservancyw o l f r i v e r .o r g

Ev e n t sGreen Cleaning: Join

The Commercial Appealcolumnist Deanna Caswellfor a green cleaningproducts class on Jan. 11from 6:30-8 p.m. at theMemphis Botanic Garden.$20 ($15 for MBGmembers). Prepaymentdue by Jan. 7. Students mixand take home eightdifferent householdcleaners to try. Theseproducts are easier on theplanet and the wallet.Students need to bringspray bottles and liddedcontainers to class. Call

636-4128 for a list of theproducts that will be made,

to register, and for a supplylist.


It’s that time of year when we make promises about how we’llchange in the upcoming new year. We look for ways to make achange in our lives, hoping for better health or a better job or lessstress. Some are small; others are big.

New Year’s resolutions are often broken, especially if they arehastily made. But if you take a few moments to think about whatyou want for the upcoming year, you’re more likely to chooserealistic commitments.

Going green is a great way to start off the new year, but it’ssuch a broad term that the specifics of how you’ll go green couldend up taking a back seat to daily life. Instead of making a broadgeneralization, choose a few specific ways to green your life in 2011.

Not sure where to start? Here are a few options.


General1. Banish paper and plastic bags from

your life. Always carry at least one reusablebag with you; it will soon be as routine asgrabbing your keys when you head out.

2. Switch your monthly bills to e-billing.Even if you print them out at home, you’lleliminate the postage carbon footprint andreduce paper use (no envelopes andannoying “special offer” inserts).

3. Before you throw anything away, askyourself if you can use it in a new way or ifsomeone else could use it.

4. Recycle everything you can. Even if youhave to drive items to a depot once a month,it’s worth it to save raw materials.

Home5. Start composting. It’s simple and you

get free fertilizer.6. Install a gray water system.7. Paint only with no-VOC formulas.8. Switch to an electric kettle for boiling

water. Electric kettles use less energy thantheir stove-top counterparts, and there arestainless steel options available if you’rewary about boiling water in plastic.

9. If you’re replacing appliances in 2011,pay a little more for the most efficientEnergy Star models. They’ll save you moneyin the long run.

10. Build a rain barrel to get free water foryour garden and other plants.

Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n11. Walk more, particularly if your

destination is less than 30 minutes away onfoot. It’s good for your health and theenvironment.

12. Take public transit.13. If you can live without a car, do it. In

most cities, the cost of a transit pass is stillless than you’d shell out for insurance, gasand maintenance or car payments.

14. If you must take a taxi, call thecompany that has a fleet of hybrids orelectric cars.

15. In the market for a new car? Choose a

hybrid or electric.16. Buy a bike, or build one at your local

bike shop. While other people are stuck inthe snarl of rush-hour traffic, you’ll breezeby and be home much more quickly.

Fo o d17. Go vegetarian one day a week. The

livestock industry is a huge greenhouse gasemitter.

18. Eat organic. It may not be nutritionallysuperior, but it’s a lot better for the planet.

19. Refuse to buy foods that areunnecessarily packaged, such as fruits andv e ge t a b l es .

20. Annoyed by excessive foodpackaging? Tell your grocer or themanufacturer. Fire off an e-mail or write aformal letter expressing your concern. (As arule, every letter a company receivesrepresents about 50 people of a like mind.)

21. Grow your own fruits, veggies and herbs.

Fashion and beauty22. Commit to buying green fashions.

Think organic cotton, bamboo, hemp andother sustainable, natural fibers, as well asrecycled fabrics.

23. Switch to all-natural cosmetics. Agood rule: If the ingredients list looks like alesson in chemistry, steer clear; if you’restumbling over Latin, you’re looking at thenames of plants.

24. Switch to a nail polish brand that ismade without toluene, DBP and formaldehyde.(Piggy Paint, London and American ApparelNail Lacquer are a few options.)

25. Shop at secondhand and charityshops before hitting the mall or your favoriteboutiques. You can usually find some ge m s .

These are just a few of the ways you cancommit to a more sustainable new year. Justremember: It can be a challenge as youadjust to a new way of thinking, but it’sworth sticking with it. Try one thing at a timeuntil you get to where you want to be.

Happy New Year!Source: planetgreen.com


Test your New Year’s Eve green knowledge

1. When was the first yearthat the New Year’s ballin Times Square was litentirely with LED bulbs?A. 2008B. 2007C. 2006D. 2005

2. What ingredient ineggs is great to cure aNew Year’s partyhangover naturally?A. CysteineB. MagnesiumC. IronD. None of the above

3. Which of the followingis not a version of a luckyNew Year’s meal?A. Black-eyed peasB. Pork and sauerkrautC. 12 grapes eaten at thestroke of midnightD. Grits and collards

4. If you were to resolveto buy a programmablethermostat for 2011, byhow much could it helpreduce your energy bill?A. 5 percentB. 10 percentC. 15 percentD. 20 percent

5. If you live on the EastCoast, which has a lowerimpact?A. Sparkling wine fromC a l i fo r n i aB. Champagne from France

6. What does leftoverchampagne transforminto after a few weeks?A. WineB. A sweet syrupC. VinegarD. None of the above

7. Detoxing the bodythrough liquid juice fastsor lemonade diets is theonly true way to releasetoxins and clean out yoursystem after the NewYear. True or false?A. TrueB. False

The Times Square Ballgot an LED makeoverwith 32,256 new bulbsand should use 20%less energy. The ball iscapable of displaying16 million colors andbillions of patterns.


8. What percentage ofNew Year’s resolutionsget dumped by MLK Day?A. 60 percentB. 80 percentC. 90 percentD. 95 percent

9. Korks 4 Kids will takeall your used New Year’scorks for a minimal fee.A. TrueB. False

10. When making yourown cocktails for theNew Year’s Eve party,how long does it take toinfuse your own vodka?A. 2 daysB. 1 weekC. 2 weeksD. 1 month

— From planetgreen.com

Answers1. C. 2006: Phillipsadorned the New Year’s ballin Times Square with LEDbulbs. LED lights can saveup to 90 percent in energyusage and they shine 255times brighter thantraditional lights .2. A. Cysteine: Eggs are agreat way to cure ahangover because theyhave a lot of cysteine,which helps to break downthe toxins in the liver. Tr ybananas for potassium toreplenish your starved bodyof vital nutrients and avoidthe depression that canaccompany a hangover.Skip the prepackaged painkillers and try a morenatural means of feelinglike yourself again.3. D. Grits and collards:Black-eyed peas are a luckymeal traditional in theSouthern states. Pork andsauerkraut are a lucky mealtraditional to thePennsylvania Dutchcountry, and 12 grapes atmidnight are a tradition inSpain. But no matter whatyour tradition, source yourfoods from local providers.4. C. 15 percent: Just bypurchasing aprogrammable thermostat,you could reduce yourenergy bill by 15 percent.And for every degree thatyou turn down yourthermostat in the winter,you will save 1 percent.5. B. Champagne fromFr a n c e : Because shippingis better than trucking,t,buying champagne from

France is better thansparkling wine fromCalifornia because it isusually transported viacargo ship. The quality ofthe wine and the packagingare naturally factors, as wellas choosing sustainablyproduced wines.6. C. Vinegar: Vi n e ga ractually means sour wine inFr e n c h . You can make adelicious champagnevinaigrette from New Year’sl ef t o v e r s .7. B. False: Consider amore natural detox whereyou give up caffeine,alcohol, processed foods,meat and dairy. You canstill eat plenty of fruits,vegetables, grains, nutsand legumes. Make sure topurchase local foods thatare grown without the useof pesticides or herbicides.8. B. 80 percent: This yearresolve to reduce yourcarbon footprint, yourwater footprint, sell the caror go vegetarian. Make achange that truly has long-term implications.9. False: Korks 4 Kidswon’t charge you a thing totake all your used corksafter your New Year’s bash,just the price of postage.The program raises fundsfor children’s charitiesthrough cork recycling.10. C. 2 weeks: Do n ’tspend tons of money onexpensive infused vodkaswhen it’s really easy toinfuse your own. Make yourown lavender honey vodka ,apple spiced vodka, or usewhatever is available.


FO CUS ❘ HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Bus Stop recycled as restaurant

Among those attending the recent grand opening of the All-American Bus Stopwere Tina Crum (left), Doris Moore, co-owners Ramona and Phillip Nicastro,Byhalia Mayor Phil Malone, Eugene Wilkerson, Byhalia Alderman James Tunstall,Pat Woods, Vickie Powers and Byhalia Chamber executive director Sarah Sawyer.

By Sarah SawyerSpecial to Going Green

Following the sentiment that “thegreenest building is the one that’salready built,” Byhalia Area Chamber ofCommerce, Byhalia officials, customersand employees recently assisted the All-American Bus Stop with a ribboncutting and grand opening.

The Greyhound bus no longer stops atthe location, but after much remodeling,the historic building has been turned

into a restaurant. Co-owners Ramonaand Phillip Nicastro are pleased to touttheir historic preservation endeavor as“the ultimate recycling.”

The restaurant features s andwiches,Chicago hot dogs and pizza, and a lunchbuffet Monday through Friday. Breakfastfoods, convenience store items andgasoline are also available. Hours areMonday through Saturday, from 6 a.m. to8 p.m., and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Sarah Sawyer is executive director of theByhalia Chamber of Commerce.


By Felicia BenamonSpecial to Going Green

Southerners sure love their sweet tea.What if that tea were sweetened with atouch of all-natural pure cane sugar andconsisted of bits of herbs, fruit andspices instead of aspartame (found insome sweeteners) in the regular blandvariety of teas on store shelves today?

At Bella Café in Millington, locatedinside Open Marketplace at 8235 U. S .

51 N., their house tea combines ginger,a spice that helps digestion, and peach.

“The peach sweetens it naturally. Theteas we offer are all-natural black teablend with unbleached tea bags. Manypeople come in and want sweet tea, butwe mention our ginger peach tea; peopletry it and love it — the majority of peoplelike it,” said co-owner Mitch Buckner.

Buckner, who shares ownership of thecafe with his mother, Donna, said hispassion is to bring fresh Italian eats and

Everything says ‘n a t u ra l ’at Bella Café in Millington

Enjoy freshItalian cuisinewhen youvisit BellaCafe inMillington.They offer10 0 - p e r c e n tfruits m o o t h i es ,spring waterfrom Tuscanyand aC a p r es epaninialongside ahomemadebroccolisalad.


beverages to areas that don’t otherwisehave access to such fare. In addition toherbal teas, homemade salads andsoups, fresh Italian gelato and ItalianWater Ice, 100 percent fruit smoothies(no corn syrup added), and much more,Mitch emphasizes freshness ineverything he touches.

Enjoy leafy green vegetables on asandwich with fresh Italian prosciutto,mortadella, salami, fontina cheese andthe house mayonnaise made fromscratch that includes fire-roasted redp e p p e rs .

The cafe offers Acqua Panna, naturalspring water straight from Tuscany.

Donna Buckner takes it a step further,sharing her love of natural ingredientsto heal and soothe the body through hercollection of soy soaps, body butter andcandles. The candles double as amoisturizing agent as they are oil-basedand not wax.

“My candles don’t emit soot. Theydon’t put toxins in the air and they haveall-natural wicks,” she said.

Donna said the difference betweenregular wax candles and soy is that soycandles “burn all the way down, theyburn ‘l evel ’ and clean, all the way to thewick. Regular wax candles don’t. Thesoy candles are ‘slow burning’… eve r ybit of the candle is used so it is veryeconomical.”

Donna Buckner’s soy products containthe highest grade of soy and are sogentle that even babies’ skin will benefit.

“We always try to use naturalingredients. It helps to keep that higherquality and better flavor,” said Mitch.

For more information on Bella Café,contact Donna Buckner at 833-5000. VisitBella Café online at bellacaffecatering.com.

Donna Buckner, owner of Bella Cafelocated inside Open Marketplace inMillington, shows off displays of herunique soy moisturizing candles.


All of the articles I read this yearabout having a green Christmas wereabout shopping. But I’m going toassume that like me, you have alreadyover-bought, the presents are wrapped

with new paper and youalready have the totallyfake or non-organicallygrown real tree trimmedwith incandescentcolored lights.

No worries. Once all ofthe presents are opened,t h at ’s really the time togo green.

The mostenvironment allyappalling thing aboutChristmas is the

following garbage day. Your shoppingisn’t going to kill the planet, but yourcurb? Possibly.

With three adorable young children,36 family members and three separatepresent-o-ramas, the weight of the stuffon my curb next Thursday just mightfracture the concrete.

So, let’s talk damage control.

Wrapping cleanupGrab the cardboard box from your

kid’s biggest present, and fill it with allof the reusable wrapping supplies fornext year — boxes, gift bags, bows,folded tissue paper.

Break down the rest of yourcardboard for curbside recycling. If youdon’t have that service, gather it forusing as a weed blanket for next year,composting or burning as kindling.

Stuff a big bag with all therecyclable wrapping paper, torn tissuepaper and tags. Tie loosely enough to letair escape, and encourage your childrento drive over it with their new ridingtoys until it’s squashed flat. Removeflattened material and place in therecycling bin.

Fill another bag with all of thenonreusable, nonrecyclable garbage, likeripped foil wrapping paper, glittery giftbags that someone wrote on instead ofusing a tag, and those 700 plastic-covered twist-ties that held Barbie to thecardboard insert.

Mealtime cleanupLet’s admit it. We’re not going to use

real plates and cloth napkins. And all ofthose used paper plates, napkins andpaper towels are 100 percentnonrecyclable. Bummer. Here are a fewoptions:

Compost them. Shred and stir intoyour pile. Or if you’re really lazy anddon’t mind slow decomposition, tossthem in whole and dampen. (Which onedo you think I do?)

Use as weed blanket. Just beforeyou mulch, deal them out like cards all

After presents unwrapped,h e re ’s how to clean it up

DEANNACASW E L L

Pra c t i ca l l yG reen


over your bed. Dampen if it’swindy. Otherwise, just mulchright on top. No weeds!

Roast chestnuts. Not really. Idon’t even know how to do that.But food-contaminated paperproducts make great kindling.

Out with the oldYou can’t organize clutter. So

before you buy new plastic tubsto house all those battery-powered hamsters and theirexcessively bright paraphernalia,you need to get rid of some oldstuff, right?

Take new presents to thecloset that you hope will be theirnew home. Bring one large blackbag. No clear bags or open-toppedboxes allowed. (You can’t imaginethe wailing when you toss out thatbroken drive-through toy no onehas played with since last June.)

Put all doubles or anythingyou haven’t used in 12 monthsinto the black bag.

Place new possessions inopen spaces and containers.

Place black bag in thega ra ge .

Wait one month.If you haven’t missed what’s

in the bag, take it to Goodwill —without opening it.

Deanna Caswell is a local writerwho blogs atlittlehouseinthesuburbs.com . Her firstbook, "First Ballet, " was releasedthis year by Hyperion. Caswell andher husband, Jeff, live in Collierville.She practices eco-friendly living whileraising their three children, alongwith pygmy goats and chickens.

DO YOUR PART

Top five items torecycle this holidayBy Terri BennettMcClatchy Newspapers

Once Santa’s sleigh has left the neigh-borhood and the gifts have all been opened,there are a few important items you’ll wantto make sure you get rid of the right way.Do your part and recycle these five itemsthat the holidays are sure to leave behind.

1. Live Christmas treesChristmas trees are naturally biodegrad-

able and beneficial for the environmentoutside our homes. If you purchased a treewith roots, plant it in your backyard ordonate it to a local school, park or ceme-tery for planting. For trees without roots,search Earth911.com for “Christmas Tree”to check for recyclers in your area. Oth-erwise, if you have a large backyard, let thetree decompose naturally in an out-of-the-way location while it continues to providea natural habitat for birds.

2. Used electronicsChances are some of those new holiday

gifts will be replacing older-model elec-tronics. Instead of letting them collectdust, recycle or donate them. Many trade -in websites can help you with this task, andmay even pay you for the working ones. Ifyo u ’d rather skip the hassle of shipping andhandling, bring used electronics to a localGoodwill collection center where the elec-tronics will be refurbished or recycled.

3. Packaging materialsCardboard gift boxes, shipping boxes


and other packaging material can berecycled along with other paper. If thegift box is still in usable condition, saveit to reuse again next year. Packagingmaterials like Styrofoam peanuts are notrecyclable but can be taken back toshipping stores for reuse.

4. Holiday lightsIf your incandescent holiday lights no

longer work, be sure to recycle them.Large retailers offer holiday light trade-in or recycling programs as an incentiveto upgrade to LED lights. Holi-dayLEDS.com will accept your broken orno longer wanted incandescent lightsany time and they’ll even give you credittoward your next purchase of LED lights.

5. Holiday greeting cardsFor decades St. Jude’s Ranch for Chil-

dren in Boulder City, Nev., has beencollecting Christmas cards that they re-

purpose and resell to raise funds for theo rga n i z at i o n ’s mission. Add a new tra-dition to the end of your holiday seasonby donating your stack of holiday cardsto a good cause. Only the fronts ofcards are needed and they should beclear of writing or other marks on theback of the front flap.

Wrapping paper is the glaring itemmissing from this list. While all wrap-ping paper should be recyclable, that’ssimply not the case. Many are laminatedor mixed with other nonrecyclable ma-terials like foil, glitter or plastic. You’rebetter off choosing recyclable items orones that can be used again such as giftbags, sheets of paper from magazines ornewspapers, sheet music or even col-orful scarves.

Visit DoYourPart.com/Columns for moreinformation .

Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal files

Unsold and used Christmas trees are just one of the things to be recycled thisholiday season.


Clean up your act witha natural laundrydetergent

Some loads of laundrydeserve special attention, notjust the delicate cycle. Forundergarments, feminineblouses and shouldn’t - h av e -spent-that-much pieces, I’mwilling to pay a little extra for anatural detergent.

Vaska promises not to harmpeople or the planet, so I gave ita spin. The Herbatergent liquidcontains real lavender and“potent botanical cleaninga ge n t s , ” but I used the scent-free kind. My skin can be on thesensitive side, so I was glad tosee that it is free of perfumes,dyes and optical brighteners.

The result? Clean and softwithout any color-bleeding. Andeven in the scent-free version,there is a subtle herbal aroma.

The detergent, $9.99 for 48ounces (32 loads) and $15.99for 96 ounces (64 loads), isavailable at Target and works instandard and high-efficiencywashing machines.

For more information, visitv a s ka h o m e.co m .

— Jocelyn Jacobson, McClatchyNe w s p a p e rs

E A RT H TA L K

Automatic dishwasherdetergents lose theirphosphates, potency

Dear EarthTalk: What’s up with dish-washer detergents of late? They’re clearlynot working as well. I hope whatever wasdone is helping the environment becauseit’s not helping my dishes.

What happened was that in July 2010 asignificant reduction in the amount ofphosphates allowed in automatic dish-washer detergent went into effect inWashington state. Similar regulationswere implemented in 14 other states (Illi-nois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts,Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, NewHampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah,Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin) for2009 before Oregon and Washingtonadded their names to the list this year.Previously phosphates could constituteup to 8.7 percent of dishwasher deter-gent; the new regulations limit them to0.5 percent.

The main problem with phosphates,which also come from agricultural andlandscaping activities, is that they getinto natural water bodies and act as fer-tilizer, accelerating plant and algaegrowth. When the plants and algae die, afeeding frenzy of bacteria consume all theoxygen dissolved in the water, creating anenvironment inhospitable to fish and oth-er aquatic life. These oxygen-devoid“dead zones” can occur in freshwater or


in the ocean. In fact, two of the world’slargest dead zones are in the Baltic Seaand the Gulf of Mexico, the result offertilizers running off of farmland. Be-sides phosphates’ negative effect on wa-ter bodies, their presence in the en-vironment can also be harmful toterrestrial wildlife and can trigger skinand eye irritation and allergies, amongother ill effects, in humans.

Environment alistsand others supportiveof the reduction inphosphates claim thatthe new regulationswill spare wastewatertreatment systemsfrom dealing with 10-12 percent of thephosphates previouslyencountered. Wastew-ater treatment man-agers in Spokane,Wash., for example,found that a local year-old ban on phosphatesin dishwashing deter-gent there saved themfrom dealing with up-wards of 180 poundsof phosphates — orabout 10 percent of thetotal load — each andevery day at municipalwastewater treatmentfacilities — saving notonly money but alsothe other chemicalsused to treat the water.

Given the shift in so many states,many manufacturers have reformulatedtheir entire product lines for marketsacross the country, so even if you don’t

live in one of the affected states youmight be getting dishwashing detergentwith a lot less phosphorous as well.

Consumer Reports tested 24 of theleading low-phosphate dishwasher de-tergents to see which ones got dishescleanest. The top finishers were Cas-cade Complete All in 1 pacs (at a costof 28 cents per load), Ecover tablets (27cents), Finish Powerball Tabs tablets

(22 cents) and MethodSmarty Dish tablets (21cents), but other brandsand formulations alsoperformed adequately ifused properly.

Consumer Reports al-so provides tips on op-timizing the perfor-mance of yourdishwasher and dish-washing detergent nomatter which brand youuse. For starters, loadlarge items at the sidesand back of the dish-washer so they don’tblock water and deter-gent from reaching otherdishes. And place thedirtier side of dishes to-ward the center of themachine to provide moreexposure to the sprayer.Also, try to prevent dish-es and utensils fromnesting within one an-other so that the water

can reach all surfaces.Send questions to EarthTalk., c/o E The

Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098,Westport, CT 06881 or toearthtalk@ emagazine.com .

Sixteen U.S. states nowseverely limit the amount ofphosphates allowed inautomatic dishwasherdetergents. While some donot clean as well as a result,Consumer Reports tested 24leading low-phosphateofferings and gave highestmarks to brands by Cascade,Finish, Method and Ecover.


By Siel JuMother Nature Network

Trying to save energy by ditching the iron andwearing wrinkle-free shirts? Your new closet’ssadly not as green as you may have expected.Why? Formaldehyde’s what keeps your no-ironclothes unnaturally wrinkle-free. “Fo r m a l d eh yd ebasically keeps the fabric’s fibers in place after aspin in the washing machine,” according to TheNew York Times. “Without it, the fibers becomewrinkled or creases may fade.”

And that formaldehyde is giving sensitive peo-ple skin problems. If you’ve had contact der-matitis — which the Times reports “can causeitchy skin, rashes and blisters” — wrinkle -freeclothing could be to blame.

Most people won’t develop skin problems with

Re-embrace the iron

Wrinkle-freeclothes

treated withformaldehyde

can causehealth

problems forpeople with

sensitive skin


the low levels of formaldehyde usedin wrinkle-free clothing, butformaldehyde is a known carcino-gen. The problem is, f it’s difficultto avoid. Reports the Times:

“The United States does not reg-ulate formaldehyde levels in cloth-ing, most of which is now madeoverseas. Nor does any governmentagency require manufacturers todisclose the use of the chemical onlabels. So sensitive consumers mayhave a hard time avoiding it(though washing the clothes beforewearing them helps).”

So what’s an eco-fashionista —or simply someone who’s prone toskin rashes — to do? My sugges-tions:

1. Don’t buy “w r i n k l e -f r e e ” or“easy care” clothing or linens.The no-iron stuff most certainly hasformaldehyde in it, so getting toknow your iron is your first line ofdefense.

2. Wash clothes before wearingthem. Since labeling isn’t requiredfor formaldehyde-treated clothes,I’d stay on the safe side by washingany item you buy before putting iton. A lot of the formaldehyde wash-es out even after one wash.

3. Buy used. Pre-loved fashionscan be good for your environmentalhealth — since they’ve likely shedmost of the chemicals they weretreated with on someone else. I stillrecommend giving used clothing awash before wearing them, how-ever, lest you get bedbugs!

Siel Ju blogs about health, beauty andlife at mnn .com/featured-b l ogs /g re e n l i v i n g.

By Mike SwiftSan Jose Mercury News

Whooshing down Highway 101 to-ward his home in Redwood City, Calif.,from San Francisco, Olivier Chalouhiwas a happy man — the world’s firstbuyer of the all-electric Nissan Leaf totake possession of his new car.

“It’s great on the highway,” the ex-cited new owner said, with the sound ofwind but not the growl of a gasolineengine audible in the background as hespoke over a hands-free phone. “Whenyou accelerate, it sounds like you have ajet engine or a turbine under the hood.You have to hear it — it’s very fu-

Wo r l d ’s first buyerof all-electric NissanLeaf drives home

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

Olivier Chalouhi holds the keys of hisnew electric Nissan Leaf. He is thefirst customer worldwide to receivethe all-electric Nissan Leaf.


turistic.”Electric car advocates sa-

vored the moment Chalouhiclimbed into his new Leaf at aNissan dealership in Petaluma,Calif., on Dec. 11, as a historicmilestone, the first everydayconsumer to buy an all-electriccar built by a major automakerthat was trying to respond toconsumer demand rather thana government mandate.

“I think we are looking atthe true takeoff of electric cars— f i n a l l y, ” said Marc Geller,the co-founder of Plug InAmerica, a national advocacygroup for electric cars, who at-tended Nissan ceremonies inPetaluma and San Franciscowith journalists from as faraway as Korea.

“The most important part ofthis project is getting cars intothe hands of real people, realconsumers. Consumers seemto be ahead of both the gov-ernment and the automakers,in that the demand is outstrip-ping the supply,” he said.

Nissan is marketing the Leafas the world’s first affordable,all-electric car available to themass market. In the next year,the automaker plans to deliver50,000 Leafs to buyers inNorth America, Europe andaround the world, althoughsome U.S. buyers are discov-ering they may have to wait 10months or more between plac-ing a first reservation with Nis-san and actually receiving theirc a r.

Photos by Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

Olivier Chalouhi smiles as he takes ownershipof his new all-electric Nissan Leaf.

C a l i fo r n i a ’s ambitious planAn alliance of automakers, utility companies,

regulators and clean-air advocates are touting anambitious plan to make California a nationalleader in adopting electric vehicles by makingcharging terminals available in thousands ofhomes, office buildings, shopping malls and otherconvenient locations within the next 10 years.


Strong demandAllen Wood of Palo Alto, Calif., an

electric car enthusiast who placed areservation for a Leaf in August, re-ceived an e-mail from Nissan sayingthat “the response to this 100 percentelectric car has been amazing,” and thatwhile he was on track to be able toformally order his Leaf in February, de-livery of the car would not be until fourto seven months later.

“I didn’t expect to get one in Febru-ary, but I must say the four- to seven-month wait was longer than I thought,”Wood said. “I was a little disappointedin that, but I’ll still be one of the first toget one.”

A Nissan spokesman insisted that de-liveries of the Leaf, which has a sug-gested retail price as low as $25,280after a $7,500 federal tax credit, havenot been delayed.

“We said long ago that we would startsales in December, and that is what weare doing” with the delivery of the firstcar to Chalouhi, said the spokesman,Tim Gallagher. “Most car launches roll

vehicles out in phases, and this launchis quite unique. We will fulfill orders atan increasingly growing pace as 2011begins.”

With its zest for technology and en-vironmental protection, the Bay Area isexpected to be a hot market for electriccars, and Nissan says it has receivedmore reservations for the Leaf from theBay Area than any other U.S. region.While Chalouhi, the 31-year old chieftechnical officer of a San Mateo digitalmedia startup called Fanhattan, wouldseem to be the ideal example of Nis-s an’s target market, Gallagher said hewas selected to be the world’s first Leafbuyer only because he was the firstperson in line.

Anxious to ownChalouhi placed his reservation for a

Leaf on April 20, the first day that con-sumers could plunk down a $99 reser-vation to buy a car. And he was the firstperson to put in his order for a car justafter midnight on Aug. 31, the first daybuyers could formally order their pre-ferred model and color. This isChalouhi’s first electric vehicle, and hehasn’t even had a car of his own in recentmonths, as he and his wife shared a car.He plans to use his new Leaf to commutethe 10 miles each way to work betweenRedwood City and San Mateo, Calif.

“I felt there was too much attentionto me,” Chalouhi said of the electric carceremonies, in which he was surround-ed by a paparazzi-like horde of media,and which also included a public eventat City Hall in San Francisco. “To mymind, the car is the real deal today. I’mjust a lucky guy who managed to be thefirst one to get one.”

The charging panel for the Nissan: theright charger is for home use and theleft charger is for public chargingterminal stations.


The 22.8-year switch:GE’s Energy Smart LED

As the common household incandescentbulb marches toward extinction (they’ll becompletely phased out in the U.S. by 2014),the “battle of the bulb” heats up with CFLs,LEDs and a new long-lasting contender, theESL bulb, vying to take its place and usher in anew era of energy-efficient lighting.

GE just announced the release of theEnergy Smart LED, a new omni-directional, 9-watt bulb designed to replace the common40-watt incandescent bulb used in bedsideand table lamps. According to GE, the life of

the Energy Smart LED is25,000 hours or 22.8years (based on threehour/day usage) andoffers a 77 percentenergy savings whencompared to 40-wattincandescent bulbs. It’salso the first A-Line LEDbulb to receive anEnergyStar rating.

The price? Braceyourself: The Energy Smart LED sells for $50.It’s admittedly a daunting price to pay for asingle light bulb that will live (and perhapsoutlive) your bedside lamp, but when you dothe math (which GE has thankfully done forus:ge l i g h t i n g .co m /n a /e n e r g y s m a r t L E D/m a t h . h t m l )the dramatic cost becomes easier to swallow.With an estimated yearly cost of $1.08 versus$4.82 for a 40-watt incandescent (based on$.11 per kilowatt hour), a single Energy SmartLED can save homeowners $85 over thelifetime over the bulb.

Learn more about this 40-watt substitute atGE’s Energy Smart LED mini-site,ge l i g h t i n g .co m /n a /e n e r g y s m a r t L E D/ h o m e. h t m l ,where you can also purchase the bulb now. Orwait until January when the Energy Smart LEDhits retail shelves.

Matt Hickman, Mother Nature NetworkMatt Hickman blogs at mnn.com/featured-

b l ogs /g re e n h o m e .

App pointstoward bestlight bulbsBy Thomas ContentMilwaukee Journal Sentinel

MILWAUKEE — When it comesto buying an energy-saving lightbulb, some consumers want to curbtheir carbon footprint. Even morewant to save money.

Most light sockets in the countrystill use Thomas Edison technology:the incandescent. What consumerscrave most may be convenience.

With that in mind, Milwaukee sus-tainability venture EcoHatchery hasintroduced a new smart phone app,the Light Bulb Finder.

“Part of my expectation coming inwas that people, when handed a sim-ple solution, would immediately grav-itate to it,” said EcoHatchery co-founder and chief executive AdamBorut. “And what we found is it’sreally critical to combine a straight-forward solution with something youcan do in the moment.”

The new app, which made its de-but on Android phones and becameavailable on iPhones earlier thismonth, helps guide a homeowner orrenter through the process of figur-ing out the right bulb to buy and the


payback the bulb will deliver on utilitybills and carbon dioxide emissions.

The instantaneous information pro-vided by the app is aimed at over-coming a variety of hurdles energy ad-vocates and researchers have foundwhen it comes to deploying compactfluorescent light, or CFL, technology.

Barriers include the high up-front costof buying new bulbs, as well as con-sumer complaints about the quality ofthe light and concerns about the smallamount of mercury the bulbs contain.

People don’t want to pay more at thestore for bulbs but the economics arefavorable, given that they last eight timeslonger and use one-fourth the energy.

“The energy savings are powerful, ifyou actually do the math, but we don’texpect people to be doing math in thecheckout aisle of the store,” he said.

EcoHatchery was launched to providesoftware and services, including eco-starter kits that provide tips on energyand water use savings that can also helpconsumers on utility bills.

The eco kits included a paper formthat homeowners would fill out beforeentering their information on the Eco-Hatchery website to find the right bulbsand the payback information.

“As more and more smart phoneshave come out, they are the ideal ve-hicle for this. You can go through yourhome, stand in front of your fixtures,input the information you need, and seewhether this is a bulb you want tore p l a c e , ” Borut said.

Borut and his Los Angeles businesspartner opted to go for a free app tohelp generate interest. Customers havethe option of e-mailing a light-bulbshopping list to themselves or buyingdirectly from EcoHatchery.

The company’s timing may be good:As the U.S. moves toward a phase-outof incandescent bulbs over the next fouryears, consumers will be searching formore information about new bulbs.

Online: Light Bulb Finder:l i g h t b u l b fi n d e r. n e t

Adam Borut is aMilwaukeeentrepreneurwho hasdeveloped a freee n e r g y - s av i n glight bulb finderphone app. Itpoints you tothe propercompactf l u o r es c e n tbulbs for yourneeds.

Tom LynnAssociated Press files


By Victor R. MartinezEl Paso Times

ALBUQUERQUE — ESPN haslong been known as an innovativeleader in sports coverage with its 24-hour sports programming.

Now, 31 years after it launched onSept. 7, 1979, the total-sports net-work is leading an environmental

sustainability effort that included ef-forts in Albuquerque as part of the2010 New Mexico Bowl.

The New Mexico Bowl, which isowned and operated by ESPN, isgoing green.

The University of Texas at El Pasofell to Brigham Young University 52-24 on Dec. 18 at University Stadium.

But that wasn’t the only newswor-

ESPN goes greenSustainability the focus of New Mexico Bowl activities

A “green tent” was set up for pre-game events at University Stadium wherefans were able to recycle old batteries, cell phones and sporting equipment.


thy story of the day.From the ESPN lanyards with “I

used to be a soda bottle” printed onthem to the wood-based, com-postable key cards used at the teamhotels, ESPN created an awarenessand educated UTEP and BYU fansabout the efforts necessary for agreener future.

“A waste management company atthe Phoenix Open put on an eventand talked to us about all the wasteand what we could do in our sta-diums and universities to improve onwhat we are doing,” UTEP coachMike Price said.

“I was just dumbfounded by howmuch we waste. It was an eye-openerfor me, so I joined this crusade 100percent .

“We have to wake up a little bitand smell the roses — just make surethey’re not plastic.”

A “green tent” was set up at thepre-game Fan Fest at University Sta-dium’s north parking area where fanswere able to recycle old batteries, cellphones and sporting equipment.

There was also a T-shirt recyclingprogram in which fans were encour-aged to bring a T-shirt or sweatshirtfrom home. They were given the op-tion to have that shirt “u p g ra d e d ”with a free new silk-screen imagecreated with environment-friendlyink.

“This is just another aspect of theNew Mexico Bowl,” said Jeff Siem-bieda, the New Mexico Bowl exec-utive director.

“This event is not all about a foot-ball game. It’s being able to expandin what we’re doing and being thefirst ESPN event to wrap our arms

around it. It makes so much sense,and it broadens what we are able todo.”

The New Mexico Bowl was one oftwo — the BBVA Compass Bowl isthe other — to implement the sus-tainability project. ESPN’s goal is toincrease participation every year byat least two bowls.

The MAACO Las Vegas Bowl hasalready signed on for 2011.

“I was justdumbfounded by howmuch we waste. Itwas an eye-openerfor me, so I joinedthis crusade 100percent.UTEP COACH MIKE PRICE

Associated Press

Documents

Ev e n t sdocshare01.docshare.tips/files/4587/45879968.pdf · Test your New Year’s Eve green knowledge 1. When was the first year that the New Year’s ball in Times Square was