Fly Less
Everyone knows that air travel is bad for the environment. But according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, aviation is responsible for a mere 10% percent of global carbon emissions—as opposed to 61% from cars. Seems reassuring, doesn’t it? Kinda makes you want to hop the next flight to anywhere, right? But think about this: […]
Agua4Change, Recycle Water Bottles into Roof Tiles
Donald Thomson, a Canadian designer and entrepreneur who has been living in Costa Rica since 1990, has created a company that recycles its water bottles into housing materials for low-income families. Having lived in Costa Rica since 1990, he and his wife were so struck by the amount of plastic waste rolling up onto the […]
Clean Out Your Cleaners
Mother doesn’t necessarily know best. Most of us clean our houses with the products that we remember from childhood—if it was good enough for mom, it’s good enough for us. But the chemicals in cleaning products introduced since the 1950s have been linked to illnesses like asthma and allergies, among other nasties too numerous to […]
Ban the Antibacs
Antibacterials like triclosan interfere with testosterone production and have been detected in breast milk; overuse prevents them from working when they’re really needed, such as to fight things like E. coli and Salmonella bacteria. Studies have shown that hot water and soap work just as well (or better) to fight germs and don’t mess with […]
Send Better Flowers
Thinking about sending flowers to mom this year? Think twice about conventionally grown. The floral foam that most pros use is full of formaldehyde, which is considered a “probably human carcinogen” by the EPA—plus it can cause a reaction when inhaled. Bouquets from South America—where up to 85% of flowers are grown—can be doused with […]
Buy Real Natural
Wouldn’t it be great if we could check our critical thinking at the drugstore door and trust that a label declaring something’s “organic” and “natural” really does mean it is? Sadly, you still need to do a little bit of homework to make sure your products are safe—by your standards. If buying truly natural is […]
Lose the (Toxic) Leather
Do you know what’s in your leather? Conventional leather requires an estimated 225 toxic chemicals in its tanning process and is a by-product of the meat industry, to which we allocate 25% of our world’s land surface, one-third of our grain, and a majority of our carbon emissions. (According to a 2009 Worldwatch Institute study, […]
Get Wise with Plastic
BPA became a parent’s worst nightmare in May 2008 when the FDA acknowledged that this chemical—used to make hard plastic—was detected in urine of 93 percent of the population, including infants. A hormone disruptor, BPA migrates from cans and bottles into the substance inside; once ingested, it mimics estrogen and has been blamed for growing […]
Forego Food Dyes
Yellow 5, Red 40, and six other widely used artificial dyes found in sugary cereals, candies, sodas and snack foods have been linked to hyperactivity and behavior problems in children and should be prohibited from use in foods, according to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. And don’t just think they stop […]
Avoid Obesogens
The increased use of synthetic chemicals between 1930 and 2000 directly correlates with the rise of obesity in adults. Coincidink? Scientists don’t think so. There’s even a new word for these obesity-promoting chemicals: Obesogens. Yes, really. Including pesticides, preservatives, parabens, hormones, Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, obesogens are endocrine disruptors—chemicals that mimic hormones and mess […]
Patronize Peace Silk
Looking for a cheap fix on a luxury fabric? Polyester silk impersonators like nylon and polyester are made from petrochemicals derived from oil and aren’t biodegradable, which means once you and the thrift store are done with that retro-chic pantsuit, it will live in the landfill forever. Plus, nylon manufacturing creates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse […]
Fight Fracking
During natural-gas drilling known as “fracking,” chemicals, water and sand are injected into the earth in order to create enough pressure to crack open rocks and release oil or natural gas. The nearly 600 chemicals used in fracking include known carcinogens such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene, among others, which can leach into […]
Smell Better
Want to smell better? Avoid synthetic fragrances. They’re in our cleaners, air fresheners, beauty products and—of course—perfumes. And they’re pretty much all made from oil: According to the National Academy of Sciences, more than 95 percent of the chemicals used in synthetic fragrances are derived from petroleum. Plus, they’re toxic: A study by the Environmental […]
Plan An Organic Weekend
Federal subsidies on things like soybeans and corn—used in cheap feed for livestock and high-fructose corn syrup, respectively—means that America can product a lot of mono-crops, which benefit the big corporations that produce high-volume food but don’t do much for our environment, or our health. The bad news is that because of this practice, most […]
Try Meatless Monday
Raising animals for food requires massive amounts of land, food, energy, and water, and the byproducts of animal agriculture pollute our air and waterways. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that roughly 80 percent of ammonia emissions in the U.S. come from animal waste and that the agricultural runoff caused by the three trillion pounds of […]
Wash Don’t Dry
Most dry cleaners use the toxic chemical perchloroethylene—also known as tetrachloroethylene—to clean clothes. Classified as a hazardous air contaminant by the EPA, perc can also contaminate drinking water when it gets into the water table and has been identified as cancer-causing by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, among other organizations. Perc has also […]
Make Sweets Fair Trade
Shopping for Valentine’s Day sweets? Here’s the dirty little secret behind mass-produced candy: As many as 200,000 children work the cocoa fields of Africa’s Ivory Coast, many against their will. On the sugar side, massive amounts of herbicides and pesticides are routinely sprayed on sugar cane crops, which are burned after harvest, leading to ground, […]
WildLifeRisk Exposes Mass Whale Slaughter in China
Last week WildLifeRisk, an endangered species conservation group based in Hong Kong, released a deeply upsetting video as part of their investigation on the mass slaughtering of whale sharks in China. Though there has long been discussion and concern about how recent obsession with fish oil within the cosmetic industry is affecting endangered sharks, the reveal […]
Sweat Better
When it comes to underarms, it’s important to understand one essential distinction: Deodorants stop odor. Antiperspirants stop sweating. Some scientists have suggested that stopping that sweat with chemical compounds can affect the lymph system and compromise the immune system. The debate can get heated (pun intended), but even if conventional medicine says they’re safe, why […]
Envision Costa Rica, February 20-23
I first came across a flyer for Envision Costa Rica at a small coffee shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where I live. When I saw the number of bands on the playbill I knew I had to check out this growing music/meditation/arts festival, a Burning Man of sorts in Central America, where creatives gather to party […]
Suds Safely
Recognize 1,4 dioxane on your sudsing labels? It may sound innocuous, but the stuff is actually a human and animal carcinogen and a nasty byproduct of processing harsh petro-chemicals with ethylene oxide. (Got sodium lauryl sulfate? Ethyoxylate it and you get sodium laureth—the “eth” indicates the process.) The next time you’re seeking out shampoos or […]
Get Offset
A carbon footprint is the measure of the impact that a person or business has on the environment, specifically in terms of climate change, as measured in kilograms of carbon dioxide. It’s also probably the most over-used term in recent history. Calculate your impact at CarbonFund, where you can also buy carbon offsets—one equals the […]
Know Your GMOs
A genetically modified organism (GMO), genetically engineered organism (GEO) or genetically engineered (GE) food—it’s all the same thing, under different acronyms—is typically a plant that’s had its genes altered, which is how you get things like golden rice fortified with vitamin A, pesticide-producing corn and “terminator” seeds that force farmers to buy new ones yearly […]
Central Creatives: Lee Fritz and Jenna Morse on the Solar Women of Totogalpa
NOTE: Today we launch a new series: “Central Creatives”—Wednesday posts featuring artists who create projects in and around Costa Rica! We hope you find their work as exciting as we do. Kicking it off are Lee Fritz and Jenna Morse, whose incredible short documentary Adelante Con El Sol: The Solar Women of Totogalpa was an Official Selection […]
