Sunday, August 28, 2011

5 Easy Tips to Green the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) of your Home, School & Business


1. Use “green” cleaning products and techniques to reduce harmful effects of unhealthy chemical exposure.

2. Properly maintain your HVAC system to ensure good indoor air quality.

3. When painting, replacing carpeting or furniture, use products with low VOC emissions.

4. Use task lighting in work areas to decrease energy use and increase human comfort.

5. Provide opportunities for your family and/or employees to have indoor plants that create healthy air quality in their personal breathing space. The peace lily is my top pick – it filters toxins from the air very effectively, and most important, is almost impossible to kill even if you have a brown thumb.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Go Green Initiative Partners with Keep America Beautiful to Promote School Recycling Competition


Are you looking for a fun and creative way to increase recycling participation in your school? Do you need technical assistance and help starting a school recycling program? Recycle-Bowl, a new nationwide comprehensive school recycling competition, could be your ticket to success.

The Go Green Initiative is a promotional partner of Keep America Beautiful’s Recycle-Bowl competition, the first comprehensive nationwide recycling competition for elementary, middle and high-school students. Recycle-Bowl was created to provide students with a fun, interactive way to learn about waste reduction and environmental responsibility through in-school recycling.

Open to all schools and classrooms, the incentive-based recycling competition and benchmarking program kicks off this October and registration is now open on the Recycle-Bowl website at http://recycle-bowl.org. The competition runs from October 17 through November 12, culminating around America Recycles Day. Participating schools will track and report how much recyclable material they collect for a chance to win prizes. At the close of the four-week competition, the school in each state that collects the most recyclable material per capita will win $1,000. A national champion will then be chosen from among the statewide winners to receive an additional grand prize of $2,500.

Educational recycling activities will also be provided on-line and through a registration toolkit. To learn more about the competition, join Keep America Beautiful for a one-hour educator Recycle-Bowl kickoff webinar. The webinar will explain the competition, provide an overview of available resources and highlight the use of a recycling competition at a local Pennsylvania school. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 4:00 PM EDT. Register via this link - https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/532593336.

The inaugural Recycle-Bowl is being sponsored by Nestlé Waters North America.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

5 Easy Tips to Green Your Workplace

  1. Track your electricity usage each month, and set goals to use less
  2. Ditto with water usage
  3. Recycle everything you can, and ensure that you have the proper agreements with both your janitorial service and waste hauler to ensure proper management of your waste and recyclables.
  4. Use less…paper, plastic, electricity, water…everything.
  5. Get your entire supply chain onboard. Make sure that what you purchase comes from companies who share your commitment to ‘going green’.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Are you snacking “sustainably”?

Do you know how much water and electricity it takes to produce your favorite beverages, or if the corn in your favorite bag of chips was grown with the highest standards of sustainable farming? Does your favorite healthy snack travel to your local grocer in an emissions-free vehicle? There is a company working to ensure that their customers can answer all those questions with confidence – PepsiCo. In 2009, PepsiCo made a promise to deliver sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for their consumers, our planet, and our communities. They are working throughout their supply chain to become more efficient with their consumption of water and energy, and to dramatically decrease the amount of solid waste and greenhouse gas emissions they produce. Tune in to the latest episode of Go Green Radio to learn more about the Promise of PepsiCo, or download the podcast by clicking here.

Friday, August 5, 2011

5 Easy Tips to Green Your Parties or Corporate Events


  1. Instead of giving participants printed copies of handouts, brochures and power point slides, save them all on USB drives, and give those away.
  2. If serving food and drinks, ask the venue to use dinnerware that can be washed and reused vs. disposable items.
  3. Make sure that recycling bins are as readily accessible as garbage cans.
  4. Make your event “goodie bag” a reusable grocery bag.
  5. As the venue or caterer to use locally grown food for any meals that you serve, in order to avoid transporting foods long distances to your event.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Keeping Drugs Out of Your Drink

Did you know…

· More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams throughout the world.1

· Pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment and there is genuine concern that these compounds, in the small concentrations that they're at, could be causing impacts to human health or to aquatic organisms.1

· A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.1

· The New York state health department and the USGS tested the source of the city's water, upstate. They found trace concentrations of heart medicine, antibiotics, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a tranquilizer.1

· Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems.1

· In the United States, the problem isn't confined to surface waters. Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of 40% of the nation's water supply. Federal scientists who drew water in 24 states from aquifers near contaminant sources such as landfills and animal feed lots found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs.1

1. USA Today. AP: Drugs found in drinking water. Available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm. Accessed on February 26, 2010.

Scary stuff! But there is an organization committed to a solution. The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) has launched a program that will allow consumers to return their unwanted medications to their local pharmacist vs. flushing them down the toilet or putting them in the trash. On the most recent episode of Go Green Radio, Dr. Lisa Faast, owner of her own local pharmacy, describes how the program works in her store. Brad Arthur owns two pharmacies, and sits on the Executive Committee of the NCPA – he discusses the costs and details of the take back program. Finally, Dr. Carolyn Ha, the Association Director of Professional Affairs for NCPA, discusses the legal aspects of the take back program. You can learn more at www.disposemymeds.org.

Check out the podcast of the interview by clicking here:

http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/55423/keeping-drugs-out-of-your-drink