by Sonya Kanelstrand

Since the beginning of October, Denmark has become the first country in the world to introduce fat tax in regard to the unhealthily eating part of its population. In the name of reducing cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes, the tax will affect saturated fats found in animal products like butter, cream, and meat, as well as in processed and junk food.

The tax is complex and its rates correspond with the percentage of fat in a product leading to an increase of 16 kroner ($2.90) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of saturated fat in a product. The tax will be applied to any food product that has a saturated fat content of more than 2.3 percent.

According to the food director at Denmark’s Confederation of Industry, Ole Linnet Juul, the tax will increase the price of a burger by around $0.15 and raise the price of a small package of butter by around $0.40.

This is one of the first steps on a government level in the direction of conscious control of the growing obesity problem in the world. Denmark is closely followed by France, as the country introduces a tax on sugary drinks like Coca-Cola. France also recently introduced a ban on using ketchup and mayonnaise in schools. In September, Hungary introduced a new tax popularly known as the “Hamburger Law,” introducing higher taxes on soft drinks, pastries, salty snacks and food flavorings.

According to Wikipedia, scientific research has shown that taxing soft drinks and pizza can decrease the amount of calories that people consume from these foods. It has also found that a 10 percent tax on soda led to a 7 percent reduction in calories from soft drinks, and a 10 percent tax on pizza led to a 12 percent reduction in calories from pizza. It is believed that an 18 percent tax on these foods could cut daily intake by 56 calories per person, resulting in a weight loss of 5 pounds (2 kg) per person per year.

Scandinavian countries have traditionally high taxes on alcohol and tobacco and know that heavy taxing reduces consumption. But will that be the case with junk and fatty foods? The fat tax has been met with major approval but it has received criticisms as well by people who think that the government is only looking for additional ways to tax its people.

Reprinted with permission from Green Living Ideas

by Ziggy

There are many benefits to heating with wood, some obvious, and others not so much if you’ve never had the pleasure of lighting a wood fire and getting warm next to a nice tiny wood stove.

Here are five unique reasons you should consider heating your home with wood.

Okay, disclaimer: obviously wood heat is not applicable to everyone — if you live in a dense city, for example, or a part of the country where tree growth is very slim. But for those folks interested in exploring heating with wood, and who live in a part of the country where wood is plentiful and available, check this out.

1.) Wood Heat is more self-reliant

Heating with wood is a step towards becoming more self-reliant. Home heating options such as gas or coal are non-renewable resources, far removed from an individual’s control, while a properly managed forest is a self-propagating, healthy, and renewable alternative. A homeowner can manage, cut, and process his/her own firewood and know exactly where his/her energy source is coming from, while natural gas and coal are completely inaccessible as far as how these resources are handled by massive utilities companies. Forests, if well-maintained, can provide home heat indefinitely, and individuals can become much more self-reliant by managing their own home heat sources.

2.) Get fit processing your own firewood

If you decide to take the wood heat plunge, you’ll get the added benefit of added exercise to your seasonal routine. Cutting, splitting, stacking, and moving firewood involves a significant amount of physical labor. Or a better way of looking at it is — more exercise opportunities! Especially during cold winter months, when spending time outside is often a less-than-appealing notion, splitting firewood brings a welcome reason to be outside and get your body moving. And everyone knows that old adage: you get warm twice when you heat with wood — once when you cut it, and second when you burn it.

3.) Save money heating your home with wood

Wood heat is in most cases much cheaper than heating with fossil fuel sources. (Again, that’s assuming you live in an area with enough forested land, and not in a large city.) If you have the wherewithal to provide your own wood, it can cost as little as the tools needed to cut and process the wood. Even if you have it delivered, it should still only cost between $50-200 per cord. In this age of ever-increasing energy costs, that’s a significant savings over what you’d spend per month on heating costs through giant utilities companies. Not to mention, money spent on firewood is kept within local communities!

4.) Heat your home more efficiently with firewood

A lot of energy is wasted in the conventional home with a typical heating arrangement. Why do we have baseboards in bathrooms, and why do bedrooms get equally heated compared to areas that are actually most frequently used? If you heat with a wood stove, you can place it smack dab in the middle of the space that you actually use most of the time, such as the kitchen or living room. You’ll spend a lot less energy (and money) heating spaces that do not need to be as warm as primary living quarters. That’s good for your wallet and the environment.

These are just a few benefits to heating your home with wood. Others include: firewood is more economically accessible than complicated and expensive solar and geothermal systems, and the psychological benefits of having a fire in the home are fantastic — a live fire is visually warming! Not only that, but modern day wood stoves are much more efficient than they used to be — many stoves hover around 70 percent efficiency. And did I mention the top of a wood stove doubles as a cooking surface?

The benefits are indeed many.

Reprinted with permission from Sustainablog

by belleterre

For several years now there have been on and off discussions and controversy surrounding the dangers of Bisphenol A (BPA). It has been long known that BPA is an endocrine disruptor and dangerous for infants, children, and women who are pregnant. These concerns drew enough attention that the European Union and Canada now completely ban BPA in baby bottles.

Reports that began in 2008 went a step further and left consumers questioning the safety of long-term exposure for everyone. These reports linked BPA to various conditions including heart disease, sexual difficulties and, most recently, breast cancer. As of now, the US has not banned BPA in any products and consumers are left with the responsibility of knowing the risks of BPA exposure and protecting themselves.

What Items Contain BPA?

Many, many consumer goods contain BPA. It can be quite disturbing when you realize just how far reaching the chemical is. Recently the focus has turned specifically toward canned goods. We’ve known for some time that BPA was present in these items, but recent research has brought this back to the forefront by finding high BPA levels in canned goods that are marketed specifically to kids.

What Can Consumers Do to Avoid Exposure?

The canned food concern is a bit hard to tackle. This recent controversy may serve as the turning point and push the government toward a ban. In the meantime, seek out manufacturers that offer BPA-free canned goods. Eden Foods is a great option.

For those of us who would like to can our own food instead of purchasing from the grocery store, we are also faced with the BPA concern. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone’s favorite canning jar lids also contains BPA. So what’s a girl (or guy…or family) to do?

BPA-Free Home Canning Alternatives

One option is to use European style canning jars. As an example, Weck offers jars that are BPA free. The jars and lids are glass and have a reusable rubber gasket. As a side perk, they are absolutely gorgeous. The downsides? Replacing your canning arsenal is not a cheap endeavor and these jars are quite expensive to purchase in the US and Canada. It should also be noted that although this style jar is frequently used abroad, the USDA does not consider it a recommended canning option.

Another alternative is to purchase Tattler Products. Their two piece lid set looks remarkably like the typical version used in the US, but it contains no BPA and they work with standard canning jars. As a bonus, their products are USA Made.

Reprinted with permission from Green Living Ideas

Soap is soap, right? Absolutely not.

Just like any other product, what’s in it or not makes all the difference. In fact, most commercial soap is not really soap at all, it’s closer to a detergent.

A common byproduct of the soap making process, glycerin, is one of the major benefits of soap. It aids your skin in maintaining moisture. Commercial companies remove it as it reduces the shelf life of their product. To replace the loss, they add back in synthetics and chemicals that may not be the best thing for our bodies.

So, what should we do?

How is a consumer to know?

First and foremost, read the ingredients of anything you consider buying. It shouldn’t be rocket science to understand what is in the products you are using on your skin. Found an unfamiliar ingredient? Do what I did above and look it up. A fantastic source that was used in this post is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database. Just type in an ingredient and it will give you basic information and lists any potential concerns as well as a safety rating. If what you’re purchasing doesn’t list the detailed ingredients, I would skip it.

Let’s look at an example:

Taking a Closer Look

As an example, let’s look at the ingredient listing of a popular commercial soap:

Stearic acid, Tetrasodium EDTA, 2, 6-Di-t-butyl-p-cresol (BHT), Sodium stearate, Trisodium etidronate, Sodium chloride, Water, Sodium tallowate, Titanium dioxide, Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, Coconut fatty acids, Sodium cocoate, Sodium cocoyl isethionate, Cocoamidopropyl betaine, Sodium palm kernelate, Sodium alkylbenzenesulfonate

Wow. It’s a bit overwhelming isn’t it?

Let’s try to break that down a bit and see what some of these ingredients are. We’ll start with a few of the easy ones.

Ingredients We Expect

Water – Check….I think we’re all okay with that one.

Sodium Tallowate – the end product of the reaction of sodium hydroxide (used to make soap), and tallow (an animal fat). Natural? Yes. Vegan/Vegetarian? No.

Sodium Cocoate & Sodium Palm Kernelate – As above, these are the reactions between oils (coconut oil & palm kernel oil) and sodium hydroxide.

Titanium Dioxide – naturally occurring oxide of titanium, often used as pigment

All the ingredients above can be found in many soap recipes including natural ones. Now on to the more interesting ingredients.

Ingredients We Don’t Expect

Tetrasodium EDTA – “a chelating agent, used to sequester and decrease the reactivity of metal ions that may be present in a product” (Skin Deep)

6-Di-t-butyl-p-cresol (BHT) – “used as an antioxidant food additive (E number E321) as well as an antioxidant additive in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jet fuels, rubber,petroleum products, electrical transformer oil, and embalming fluid” (Wikipedia). Skin Deep lists this ingredient as having allergies & immunotoxicity concerns.

Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate – Frequently used in laundry detergent. A cleansing agent and emulsifier.

Cocoamidopropyl betaine – used in “cosmetics as an emulsifying agent and thickener, and to reduce irritation purely ionic surfactants would cause.” (Wikipedia) Skin Deep lists this ingredient as having allergies & immunotoxicity concerns.

Sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate – primarily used in laundry detergent

I may be a picky person, in fact, I know I am. But a few of the ingredients above just don’t seem necessary to me. My skin is not the same as my laundry. I want to understand what is in my products and why they are included without having to do hours worth of research which often results in still being left a bit confused.

So, how do we know what to choose?

Making the right choices

If you have the time and the ability, your best option is to make your own products. You’d be surprised to learn how easy it is to make soap, shampoo, beauty care products, sunscreen alternatives, and common household cleaners yourself. A quick Google search will produce recipes and videos. This is the best way to guarantee what you’re using on your body.

Again, proceed with caution and use common sense. Some of the ingredients used to make products such as soap can be dangerous. That said, as long as you’re careful, the process is often fun.

Don’t have the time? Get to know your producers. If you have the opportunity to buy from a farmers market, you can have a long conversation with the person/people making your personal care products. Make sure they know their stuff and that you are comfortable with their ingredient list and the choices they make.

If you want to purchase from a national company, do some research first. Most companies will have their full ingredient listing online and would be happy to answer questions you may have.

As an owner of a natural bath and body company, you can imagine that I can wax eloquent about this topic. That said, I’m not asking you to trust my word – I’m asking you to do your own research. Inform yourself and make sure each purchase you make is the right one for you.

Reprinted with permission from Green Living Ideas

by Karen Lee

It might still feel like summer in some parts of the country but it’s “back-to-school” season. But before you go out and start outfitting your future scholars with everything for a new academic year, think of ways to green their “back-to-school” while keeping your money in your wallet.

Here are ten great ways to green back-to-school and save money.

1. Reuse last year’s supplies before you hit the stores. Go through the inventory of your storage closet and see what they brought home from their lockers at the end of the school year. The chances are, there are items that you can reuse. Locker shelves, pencil cup, magnets, locks, backpacks, and even staplers.

2. If you must buy new supplies, buy items made with recycled materials, including paper, backpacks, and pencils, etc. There are so many choices now for school supplies, there’s no reason not to. Better yet, since teachers are using online resources, you don’t have to buy as many file folders or even papers. So figure out what to buy, after school starts.

3. Swap and exchange with friends. If you have books that you don’t need anymore but a underclassmen might, ask if anyone wants to take the book off your hands. And do the same with upperclassmen; find out if anyone has books that you can use.

4. Use reusable lunch containers and utensils. If you have to pack lunch, use reusable lunch bag with stainless containers and utensils. Why would you want to waste paper bag or a plastic wrap and waste money when you can use reusables?

5. Rent Textbooks – If you have to buy textbooks, consider renting them from sites like Campus Book Rentals They are cheaper, shipping is free and it’s eco-friendly. Or try digital textbooks.

6. If you are college bound, don’t bring a car. Most campuses are pedestrian friendly. Also, you can rent bikes, and mostly likely, school’s mass transit system will be far more efficient than having a car on campus, if it’s allowed at all.

7. Share any big appliances with your roommate. Find out what your roommate is bringing and share big items like a refrigerator, a microwave, a popcorn maker, blow dryer, etc. Chances are, space is limited anyway so why bring energy sucking appliances and take up valuable ‘real estate’ when you can share.

8. Buy your geek a power strip for all electronic gadgets. Train them to turn off the strip when they are done using their laptops, desk lamps. and chargers. You have to teach them when they are young, right?

9. Rent your refrigerator/microwave from a company that a school most likely recommends. There is no reason to buy a college sized refrigerator and then be stuck with storing it over the summer or lugging it back home every year. For the amount you pay for the refrigerator and a storage fee, you can rent it and return it at the end of the year.

10. Plan on carpooling for going to and from school. Whether you are traveling to go back to college or go a mile to high school, plan on carpooling. There is no need to drive when you can share the cost and save energy.

One more tip; ask your (older) child to take a course or two in environmental studies. Even if they are not going to be major in the field, it’s a great way to learn about the environment. After all, it’s going to be their future.

Reprinted with permission from Green Living Ideas

by Joanna

Ever notice how heavy a wine bottle weighs? Heavier wine bottles means more energy to transport since most wines are imported. Here are some ways to lighten up the environmental impact of your favorite wine.

Alternative packaging
Choosing a wine that weighs less or using alternative packaging such as plastic will help reduce the carbon footprint in consuming wine. Plastic containers won’t change the taste of Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot, which both have tested well in blind wine tasting competitions. You can also look for boxed wines, which despite their reputation, actually keep young wines tasting fresher, and replace four bottles with one easily recyclable cardboard box.

Choose a reduced weight glass bottle
A beer bottle today is 30 percent lighter than it was 20 years ago, and Coca-Cola’s 2007 Ultra bottle is 40 percent stronger but 20 percent lighter than in the past. Although the wine industry hasn’t caught on the motion to reduce their bottle weight, it’s time for consumers to make that request. The biggest weight reduction in the bottle would be the base, which helps with aging sediment. However, if you’re not aging your wine that feature wouldn’t be necessary.

Bottle your own wine
Thanks to an increase in wine making facilities, you don’t need a vineyard or centuries of experience to bottle your own great-tasting wines. Most allow you to choose from a large selection of red and white grape concentrates to produce wines like Australian Shiraz to Sauvignon Blanc and Italian Amarone that normally sell for about $30 a bottle at the liquor store. Making your own wine reduces this cost to between $3.50 to $5 per 750 ml bottle. Although you’ll have to supply or purchase the glass bottles initially, they can be used over and over again every time you make a new batch of wine.

What’s your favorite kind of wine? How do you reduce the environmental impact of the packaging?

Photo by Selena N.B.H./flickr/Creative Commons

Reprinted with permission from Insteading

by Vivian Nelson Melle

As heat waves roll across the states with little relief on the horizon, many are searching for ways to keep cool without clicking down the thermostat. And for many, the negative effects of overusing our resources on mother earth is just too much to bare. But no worries, here are 5 ways to combat the high temperatures without becoming indebted to the utility companies.

1. Cool Your Pulse Points

People around the world know the power of controlling pulse points. You may see people living in the Sahara with scarves around their necks and there’s a reason for that besides guarding against the sun. The neck, along with wrists, the tops of the feet, inner ankles, inner thighs and the temple on the head, are all pressure points. Theses areas, when cooled, relay that sensation throughout the entire body. Focusing attention on these small areas can bring down the body’s temperature. Use moistened handkerchiefs, scarves or even ice cubes held on these points to chill out in even the hottest deserts of the world.

2. Stay Hydrated

Water is essential to life, but it can also make it more bearable during the summer months. Keeping hydrated helps ensure perspiration to keep the core body temperature down. Ultra hydrating drinks are water, herbal teas and natural juices. Coconut juice which is made from young coconuts is very hydrating while helping to balance electrolytes.

Photo by Greg Riegler is used under Creative Commons License

3. Eat Spicy Food

Turn on your body’s own evaporative cooler by forcing an increase in perspiration. Once your amply moist body hits a fan’s breeze or air conditioning, the body feels cooler instantly and maintained perspiration will keep the body cooler. Spicy foods also increase blood circulation with aids in effectively cooling the core temperature. It needn’t be a fiery hot meal, an iced chai or ginger tea has a similar though more mild effect as New Mexican chili.

Photo by Delphaber is used under Creative Commons License

4. Spritz Away the Heat

Keep a water-filled spray bottle in the fridge and use throughout the day. You can also keep lotions and toners in the fridge to add an extra chilling sensation to your morning and evening facial routine. Toss a small water-filled atomizer in your purse or backpack to provide a cooling spritz as needed.

Photo by CDW9 is used under creative commons license

5. Indulge in Peppermint

Iced peppermint tea is a refreshing and cooling treat, but even peppermint mints and gum can offer a cooling sensation. Runners know the benefits of peppermint to help cool and relieve tired, hot feet. Add a little peppermint oil to lotion or a carrier oil and slather on hot, tired feet for an instant cooling sensation. Dab it on pulse points to cool down quickly and keep the chill factor going.

Photo by wonderferret is used under Creative Commons License

Reprinted with permission from Green Living Ideas

The royal wedding taking place this week in England will follow in Prince Charles's green footsteps.

All the paper used for the wedding is recycled or FSC-certified, as is the building's scaffolding; renewable energy will partially power the event and the remaining carbon emissions will be offset. One of the beneficiaries will be the Earthwatch Institute.

The food will be locally grown and sustainably sourced and the flowers will be seasonal. The wedding cake will be made from locallly sourced, organic ingredients. It's been rumored that Kate will wear a Fair Trade wedding ring.

And guests are being asked to donate to charity instead of buying wedding gifts.

For some time, the policy at Clarence House and St James Palace has been to minimize carbon emissions through energy efficiency and increasing use of renewables. They annually measure and price remaining emissions and purchase offsets that go toward preserving forests around the world.

Hopefully, the green aspects of William and Kate's wedding will receive some publicity, inspiring others to make green choices in their lives.

In addition to being a public advocate for organic food and rainforest protection, Prince Charles has been increasingly vocal on the unsustainability of the world's economy - which is based on relentless, persistent growth.

In a speech to the Low Carbon Prosperity Summit at the European Parliament in Brussels, he said, a "business as usual" response to rising demand and competition for energy, land and other resources was no longer an option for the global economy.

"I cannot see how we can possibly maintain the growth of Growth Domestic Product (GDP) in the long-term if we continue to consume our planet as voraciously as we are doing," he said. "We have to move away from our conventional economic model of growth, based, as it is, on the production and consumption of high carbon intensity goods.

"We have to see that there is a direct relationship between the resilience of nature's ecosystems and the resilience of our national economies. If nature's capital loses its innate resilience - then how long does it take for our economic capital and economic systems to lose their resilience too?"

Instead, we must put a financial value on ecosystems and develop models that offer an alternative to profit and loss.

"It would be an economy that would, on the one hand, put much more emphasis on planning sustainable urban developments and helping businesses to maintain biodiversity and safeguard ecosystems, while, on the other, placing less reliance on those government subsidies and mechanisms which, perversely, can end up eroding the vital, natural components that provide us with our essential capital resources," he added.

"Alice in Wonderland economics must end - we need a new approach which has the well-being of people and our planet at its very heart," he said. "We have the know-how to build a safe, prosperous and sustainable society - and with bold political leadership it can become a reality."

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business

What began as a ripple in a profitable housing market bubble has, in the course of a year in a half, turned into a potentially world-changing credit crisis. While tough times for industry often open the door for clean tech advances, tougher conditions for consumers could be a different story. Because much of the recent interest in the shift to sustainable practices is viewed largely as a luxury, will reduced consumer access to credit result also in reduced purchases of eco-friendly goods?

It’s an alluring argument. After all, it’s hard to imagine a cash-strapped consumer springing for an eco-friendly party kit over a less sustainable plastic one. Similarly, car buyers faced with lower gas prices due to decreased demand will have less incentives to focus on buying efficient cars, leading to increased levels of carbon and smog-forming emissions per mile traveled. This problem is further complicated by the higher cost of most hybrid vehicles, which are often saddled with high-end gizmos to run up the price.

But the thing is, many bearish economists aren’t simply predicting a decrease in consumer spending; they’re predicting a decrease in available consumer credit. While it seems like a petty distinction—there’s no real difference between paying for something with an ATM card now, verses using a credit card and paying for it at the end of the month—less credit could actually have a significant beneficial impact for the environment by hitting the economy in two of its least green-friendly sectors: cars and housing.

Unlike biodegradable party sets, cars and homes are seldom bought all at once. They require consistent repayment of a debt, and thus are harder to come by in times of tight credit. This mean less incentive for people to simply buy new cars when older ones begin to fall apart. Keeping and old car running has long been touted as more eco-friendly than buying a hybrid, and without easy credit for loans, consumers may have no choice but to keep their old jalopies kicking.

While older cars create more (and worse) emissions, the knowledge that they can’t be easily replaced may reduce miles driven, and lower turnover means fewer cars in landfills and less energy expended building new machines. Tight purse strings at lending institutions might also force consumers into smaller, less expensive cars when they do purchase a new vehicle, even if gas prices are depressed by the weak economy.

Similarly, lack of available credit will steer homebuyers away from larger, less efficient homes. While sustainable touches can do wonders for the resale value of a house, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the allure of raw square footage. Tough-to-come-by mortgages might also encourage renting instead of home buying, which generally places multiple households into a single, large building, more efficiently conserving energy spent on heat.

So while it may make conspicuous, sustainable luxury a thing of the past, the impending credit crunch is far from a death knell for the burgeoning sustainability movement.

Photo by Flickr user SqueakyMarmot

Clothing manufacturer Icebreaker has made it easy for buyers to discover how the company's garments are made. With Icebreaker's 'Baacode,' customers can trace a garment through every step of Icebreaker's production process.

Icebreaker has previously committed to creating sustainable garments through ethical practices. Their Baacode is a masterstroke: not only does Icebreaker promise to provide sustainable clothing, but the company has also made itself transparent in an effort to support its promise. Consumers don't need to rely on third-party certification to decide whether the product is sustainable — they just go online and trace the process themselves.

According to Icebreaker founder and CEO Jeremy Moon, transparency is integral to the company's mission.  "For us, sustainability is about transparency and being able to show the whole design of the business, which starts with the growers and continues through every step of the supply chain," he says. 

The Baacode system allows a buyer to track a garment right back to the source: Merino fibers bought from New Zealand farmers who comply with a set of stringent guidelines covering long-term environmental practices, animal health and welfare and fiber quality. Customers see the living conditions of the sheep on the specific station or farm where the fibers for their garments come from and meet the farmers responsible, as well as examine the production process.

While other companies have introduced a level of transparency by offering access to their production facilities and methods, very few go to the lengths to which Icebreaker goes to link a product right back to the people responsible for materials. Remember, these sheep farmers are not actually part of Icebreaker's company. Legally, Icebreaker has no obligation to check the methods they use to produce merino fibers.

"We made the decision to put this information online to give consumers a clear understanding of Icebreaker, and of our deep commitment to the environment and to social ethics," Moon says.

Related articles:

Carbon Neutral Underwear: In Stores Now
Sustainability as a Fashion Statement
Renewable Energy Advocates Call for Carbon Price Tag
Shoppers Do Care About the Environment