As we continue to look at our recycling efforts, I want to interject one idea worthy of consideration. Environmental advocates are calling on manufacturers to consider the entire life cycle of products from manufacture through disposal and to create products that don’t need to be dumped at the end of their lives into a landfill, but can actually be composted or made into other products with a minimum of waste. Architect William McDonough is a pioneer in this movement and came up with the phrase “cradle to cradle.” You can learn more about Mr. McDonough and his programs at his website www.mcdonough.com and/or read the book he wrote with coauthor Michael Braungart: Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Ultimately, in our efforts to sustain our planet, we will have to look at how we manufacture things as well as what we purchase (and who and what we support). As consumers, we can begin demanding changes in this direction. Along with doing that, however, we do need to continue in our efforts to recycle as well as to reduce and reuse.

In this last segment on recycling, I promised to talk about e-waste (electronic waste), plastic, and paper. Tomorrow, look for information on buying recycled and precycling.

E-waste is really technological trash and it is the fastest growing municipal waste issue in our country. Since faster, more efficient high-tech products are introduced regularly and it’s usually cheaper to buy that new piece of electronic ingenuity, we are faced with the dilemma of how to dispose of our former versions in a responsible manner. As the cycle time of bringing new products to market continues to accelerate, this dilemma will only get worse. The optimal answer will be for manufacturers to make products that last longer and can be repaired easily and relatively inexpensively, which ties into what I stated earlier: ultimately, we will have to look at how things are manufactured and what and how much we consume. So far, our recycling technology has not been advancing at the same rate as our electronic technology. It’s improving–at least now when you ask a store about their recycling programs, your question is usually not met with a blank stare–but much, much more needs to be done.

The best resource for determining how to recycle your old model is to talk to the store where you are purchasing the new model. More manufacturers and retailers are offering EASY ways to recycle electronics. Since recycling is profit driven, big businesses appreciate that the easier they make it for you to use their recycling services, the more likely you will be to actually use them! Everyone benefits: you are able to let go of the equipment you no longer are using, manufacturers save money on reusing the parts, and the environment saves natural resources.

If you are not able to recycle directly through the manufacturer, there is a great online service called E-Cycling Central. Their mission is “bringing you everything you need to know about electronics recycling” throughout the United States. There are links to questions for you to ask potential recyclers, such as “What are your policies and practices for destroying personal data that may still exist on used computers or cell phones?” and “What percentage of the materials you collect are recycled and what percentage is disposed (either through landfilling or incineration)?” along with guidelines for the best answers to look for. There are also links to other recycling and green purchasing resources–this is a great resource.

Many other stores–such as office supplies, pet supplies, cell phone providers, and grocers–will help you with recycling batteries, ink cartridges, cell phones, game systems, and more. Before you leave any electronic device at the curb for garbage collection, look for a company or service to help you recycle.

Plastic can be another category that poses challenges. Plastic has become an integral part of the way we live–most of us no longer even realize to what extent plastic has permeated our lives. From packaging to toys to outdoor furniture to the inside of our cars, plastic is everywhere. When we think about recycling plastic, we usually think of clear plastic containers, like water bottles. However, plastics come in all shapes, colors and sizes. As we look at our recycling efforts, it’s important to consider all these varieties of plastics. In this post, though, I’ll focus on the many different numbers on plastics and which numbers are usually associated with which products. You’ll find a number on the bottom of almost all plastic containers which is surrounded by the triangular arrows–the recycling symbol. How you dispose of each of these numbers can vary from place to place so be sure to check with your local waste management company. In my neighborhood #1-#7 are recycled.

#1–Type of plastic: polyethylene terephthalate (PETE or PET). Used for single-serve water bottles, soft drink bottles and cans, plastic peanut butter jars, and oven-ready meal. When recycled, it can become beverage and food containers, luggage, and film.
#2–Type of plastic: high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Used for detergent bottles and grocery bags. When recycled, it can become recycling bins, motor oil bottles and buckets.
#3–Type of plastic: polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Used for window cleaner bottles, cling wrap, window frames, carpet backing, floor tiles, and food trays. When recycled, it can become traffic cones, garden hoses, and loose-leaf binders.
#4–Type of plastic: low-density polyethylene, commonly called LDPE. Used for grocery store bags, most plastic wrap, frozen food bags. When recycled, it can become compost bins, trash cans, and floor tiles.
#5: Type of plastic: polypropylene (PP). Used for some baby bottles, most Rubbermaid products, microwave meal trays, medicine bottles, yogurt cups. When recycled, it can become ice scrapers, bike racks, and rakes.
#6: Type of plastic: polystyrene (PS). Used for takeout food containers, plastic cutlery, and protective packaging for electronics, such as CD covers. When recycled, it can become egg cartons, foam packing, and thermal insulation.
#7: Type of plastic: Other polycarbonate materials and miscellaneous materials. Used for most baby bottles, sippy cups, plastic plates, and reusable water bottles. When recycled, it can become more bottles.

Again, find out in your area which of these are accepted by your waste management pickup. Also, you may want to inquire about what happens to the different categories of plastic once they leave your home. One company who is making a difference is Stonyfield Farms. Often, #5 plastics (used for yogurt containers) are hard to recycle or are simply burned. On their website, Stonyfield Farms states, “Finally, a recycling solution for your yogurt cups, hummus tubs and other #5 plastic containers! If you’re serious about recycling, you know that most communities don’t accept these common containers for recycling. There’s not enough money in it for them to make it work. And those communities that do accept #5s almost always bundle those with other low value plastics and sell them to someone else who burns them for energy. Yuck!” So, Stonyfield Farms has created a project–reflecting their commitment to reusing–called “Preserve Gimme 5.” Through this link, you can find locations for dropping off your containers as well as Stonyfield’s address to mail the cleaned containers directly to them. It is companies such as this who are trying to bring “cradle to cradle” practices into action!

Paper is our last–but not least–category. The wiser we can be with our paper consumption, the more we’ll help preserve our precious forests and reduce solid waste. We also have the ability to reduce pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions, the major contributor to global climate change. Here are some major ways to make a significant difference. Buy post-consumer recycled paper or try to find paper that’s been certified according to the Forest Stewardship Council’s standards. When paper is made from recycled content rather than virgin fiber, 75 percent LESS air pollution and 35 percent LESS water pollution are created. It’s also best to use paper that hasn’t been bleached by chlorine (which is done to make it look whiter) because the bleaching process causes both air and water pollution. Also, ALWAYS recycle your paper. It’s still the most frequent item found in landfills, according to the EPA. If everyone recycled JUST their Sunday newspaper, 550,000 trees would be saved each week, according to the Earth Day Network.

As I previously posted, banish junk mail and reduce the mail sent to you by receiving more electronic mail! Additionally, here are some other ways to minimize paper:
*Print on both sides of the paper and think twice before printing. Oftentimes, we can simply save a document to our computer or bookmark a website to refer back to the information.
*Cancel phone book deliveries and recycle old phone books.
*If paper hasn’t been printed on both sides, cut it up, make note pads, and use the blank side for notes.

Use your intuition to find more ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. The more we adopt the attitude that everything can become something more, the more we’ll automatically look for the way to make that happen!

Every October, we are reminded about breast cancer–we are invited to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What has always bothered me about this is the focus on disease–we are focused on celebrating our awareness of a disease. In my opinion, our focus is in the wrong place, because I believe what we focus on, we manifest. I wish we could begin to focus on breast health instead.

In order to move this posting in the direction of ways you can promote breast health, however, I feel the need to include some comments and statistics excerpted from Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way by Susun S. Wise as background and to substantiate what I believe:

Susun S. Wise states in her book, which was published in 1996, “It’s true that there’s more breast cancer now than ever before, that between 1979 and 1986 the incidence of invasive breast cancer in the United States increased 29 percent among white women and 41 percent among black women, and incidence of all breast cancers doubled. It’s true that the percentage of women dying from breast cancer has remained virtually unchanged over the past 50 years, and that every 12 minutes throughout the last half of the twentieth century another woman died of breast cancer. And it’s true that breast cancer is the disease that women fear more than any other, that breast cancer is the biggest killer of all women aged 35 to 54, and that of the 2.5 million women currently diagnosed with breast cancer, half will be dead within 10 years.”

She further states, “These facts frighten me, and they also make me angry. My studies spanning 25 years and many disciplines have convinced me that the majority of breast cancers are causally related to the high levels of radiation and chemicals released into our air, water, soil and food over the past 50 years. United States government researchers estimate that 80 percent of all cancers are environmentally linked.”

She asks in her book, “What can be done?” As she explains, and I concur, “The answer isn’t as simple as a yearly mammogram. That may help detect breast cancer, but it won’t prevent it. To prevent breast cancer we need to take individual and collective action.”

The action necessary isn’t to continue to search for a cure. As Ms. Weed explains, “Effective action requires understanding the causes of breast cancer and what decreases breast cancer risk. But there are few conclusive answers to these queries, partly because most research focuses on eliminating breast cancer after–not before–it occurs. Science has validated so few risk factors for breast cancer that 70 percent of the women diagnosed with breast cancer have ‘no identifiable risk factors.’”

There are risk factors for breast cancer that are scientifically accepted. These include sex, age, lifetime exposure to estrogen (which includes whether or not and when a woman had children, whether or not and for how long a woman nursed,and when a woman started and ended menses), family history (including genetic predisposition), lifetime exposure to radiation, race, culture, height and weight, level of exercise, and a woman’s exposure to DES in utero.

There are other risk factors that I believe are likely ones–and Susan Weed discusses these as well in her book–however these are not yet scientifically accepted. These, along with a few others, are listed on the American Cancer Society’s website as causes that are not yet proven. They include organochlorines, petrochemicals, electromagnetic fields, and tobacco smoke (which is usually linked to lung cancer).

According to the American Cancer Society, the only steps one should take to lower your risk of breast cancer, are as follows:
1. Yearly mammograms.
2. Eat a healthy diet to help control weight, since being overweight or obese may raise breast cancer risk.
3. Get regular physical activity. The American Cancer Society recommends 30 minutes a day, 5 or more days a week. Forty-five to 60 minutes a day is even better for reducing breast cancer risk.
4. Limit the amount of alcohol you drink to no more than 1 drink per day. Alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

This is not enough! In my opinion, and as stated in Ms. Weed’s book, there are actions we can take as individuals to promote breast health and thus prevent breast cancer that go far beyond what the American Cancer Society lists. There is a limit to the control we have over our exposure to petrochemicals, radiation and other environmental cancer-inciters; however, the more we understand and learn, the more we can make educated choices about what we ALLOW into our lives. So, some of the steps I believe we can take as individuals include the following:

1. Buy organically grown food. It is important that we eat foods that have not been chemically treated with pesticides, antibiotics, or growth hormone. It is better to eat a primarily vegetarian diet, or if you follow the guidelines of The China Study, eat a completely vegan diet, with all foods derived from plants, seeds and grains. According to Whole Foods Diet Cookbook, you can elect to become a “flexitarian” which is someone who eats a predominantly plant-based diet but still eats moderate-size servings of land and sea animals one or two times a day. Whichever you prefer or whichever way you choose to go, the essential elements to a healthy diet are to GO ORGANIC and EAT WHOLE FOODS primarily.

2. Wherever and as much as possible, avoid organochlorines. Here are some ways to do that:
*Buy only organic butter, dairy, grains, beans, meat.
*Avoid non-organic produce from places where pesticide standards are lax.
*Avoid microwaving food and minimize your use of canned food.
*Avoid drinking chlorinated water. Install a chlorine filter in your home that services the entire home or, at a minimum, on the tap where you draw water for drinking and cooking.
*Avoid showering or swimming in chlorinated water. Again, install a household chlorine filter or, at a minimum, put chlorine filters on your showerheads.
*Buy peroxide-bleached or unbleached paper products.
*Use non-chemical cleaning supplies and no bleach. It’s easy to make your own cleaning supplies–you need very few ingredients and it’s very cost-effective too!
*Minimize or eliminate plastic usage in your home.

3. Avoid or minimize exposure to petrochemicals. Handling and breathing petroleum products, such as gasoline, kerosene, formaldehyde, and benzene, is risky. Petrochemicals CAN be absorbed through the skin and scalp, and then human organs and tissues – and over time these chemical agents can lead to nerve, liver and brain damage, birth defects, acute asthma, and cancer – Shocking, but true! Petrochemicals can be found in household cleaning products, fruits and vegetables, water, personal care products (mineral oil is a petrochemical), and home furnishings.

4. Distance yourself from electromagnetic fields in your home. Our house wiring, computers, TVs, refrigerators, hair dryers, electric blankets, clocks, ovens, electric fans, electrical appliances, cordless phones and cells phones all produce EMFs. Within 28 inches of the source; however, they are less than 80 percent as powerful. So, keep all electrical products at a distance. Try to minimize the time you keep other electrical products close to your head (such as cell phones and hair dryers).

5. Avoid tobacco smoke, excessive use of alcohol, and excessive calories in your diet.

6. Do include the following in your diet: phytoestrogens, cabbage family plants, grains, beans, foods with plenty of carotenes and high levels of Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and selenium.

7. Get plenty of Vitamin D.

8. Get adequate levels of melatonin production by sleeping in total darkness and consuming a low-calorie diet.

9. Get regular, significant exercise throughout your life by maintaining an active lifestyle and incorporating exercise or movement that pleases you into your life.

10. Incorporate spiritual practices that nourish your soul: prayer, meditation, journaling, and visualization are all wonderful!

11. Include laughter and play in your life! Entertain and give voice to the child within!!

12. Do what you can and then let go! Let go of fear and worry and trust that you are doing as much as you can to promote good health for yourself and your family!

13. Above all else, love and allow yourself to be loved!!!

The first week of September, my family and I had the chance to spend a week on a beach near Santa Cruz, California. After spending time there and being close to some of California’s agricultural lands, there’s a lot on my mind.

One of the areas to look at further is plastic–I can’t seem to let this subject go. When it comes to plastic and our oceans, there’s even more to think about. According to the book, 50 Simple Things, the United Nations estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile in the world’s oceans. Plastic bags in oceans kill a million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals a year.

As we walked along the beach, we didn’t see much garbage there. It seemed that our stretch of beach was being cared for on a regular basis. But I know that’s not the case everywhere. And the worst offenders, when it comes to the garbage that ends up in our oceans and on our beaches, are plastic bags. According to Greenpeace, Americans discard 100 billion plastic bags a year–only 2% of which get recycled. The rest end up in landfills and often in our oceans. So, the solution of course should be an easy one–if we use less plastic bags, fewer will get into our oceans.

I realize it can be difficult to stop using plastic bags. Look what happened to us in California–we didn’t bring our reusable bags in our suitcase and one of the stores we shopped at only offered plastic. We weren’t able to find a Whole Foods nearby (they no longer provide plastic bags at checkout). But…if every shopper takes just ONE LESS PLASTIC BAG PER MONTH, hundreds of millions of plastic bags could be eliminated as garbage each year! And if we each bought net bags to use for produce purchases, think how many less plastic produce bags we would use each and every week!

Of course, this comes back to practicing new habits. Today my husband went to the store for our family and forgot to take the net bags. Unfortunately, we ended up with about 10 undesired plastic bags in our house. So now what do we do when this happens? Well, we can rinse out the bags and reuse them. We can also use them for our pet’s waste. It’s not a perfect solution but at least we’ll do something more with them than simply toss them immediately in the garbage. And we will put them in the garbage rather than risk that they somehow enter our waterways. Next time my husband does the shopping, I’ll just have to make sure he has everything he needs to help us be environmentally supportive.

DID YOU KNOW…

Though oceans cover over 70% of the world’s surface, 80% of the pollution in them–including garbage–originates on land.

The North Pacific Garbage Patch near Hawaii is a vortex made up of 100 million tons of trash–90% of which is plastic–that is drawn by winds and currents from land sources. This whirlpool of plastic, junk, and dead sea life is now larger than the continental U.S.

Though plastic bags take 1,000 years to completely degrade in the ocean; sun, wind, and water break them into tiny bits–which sea creatures mistake for plankton, a main food source. There are now 13 lbs. of plastic for every 2 lbs. of plankton in the vortex!

Last but not least, persistent pollutants bond to these tiny pieces of plastic, making them toxic. These toxins end up in the fish which end up on our plates and in us!

FOR TODAY…I’m going to try and go the rest of this week without accumulating any new plastic bags. That means, no matter which store I and my family go to this week, we will not take a plastic bag from them. We’ll either just take our purchases in hand or bring reusable bags along.