Green Daily

Down the road several miles from our home, lives a farmer who grows blueberries. On an early summer morning each year before the heat of the sun becomes too intense, my son and I visit the farm to pick blueberries. When done, we will have filled our buckets with enough blueberries to last our family until the following summer.

Environmentally, our blueberries travel two miles from field to table. As the family cook, I am fond of these locally-grown super food berries for their antioxidant cancer prevention properties. It is amazing how much money I save compared to what the grocery store charges for blueberries. I have some numbers -- let's take a look.

With 70 percent of the earth's surface covered in water, drought should not be a problem we need ever face, right? However, Josh explains in Georgia literally reaches for water that Georgia and Tennessee are arguing over state boundaries because on one side of the state line there is plenty of water. On the other side of the state line there is severe drought. Patrick shares the unsettling water crisis reality in Climate change drying up western states the current drought affecting the Western US has California considering water rationing.

Of all the water on this planet, less than three percent is fresh water and drought might become a real issue for us all.

There are steps to take to conserve water and make the best use of available water. Here at Green Daily, we have offered ideas on ways to save water at home and watering a garden wisely to save water. Bill Volk of DIY Life covers many of these tips, as well as a simple way to determine if you are losing water due to a hidden leak by monitoring your water meter while away from home. Find out how to do this and other ways to save water at home in Conserving water -- 19 ways (OK, maybe a couple more) to reduce water use around your home.

Dark chocolate is chocked full of the same antioxidant flavonoid health benefit as brightly-colored dark vegetables. The antioxidant confection known as the decadent treat of lovers and those who enjoy the finer things in life promotes heart health, balances hormones, slows aging, and might even reduce cancer risk.

If those were not enough reasons to extol the health benefit of chocolate, dark chocolate stimulates pleasurable feel good endorphins, works as a stimulant and helps to fight depression. Only dark chocolate -- milk chocolate does not offer the same health benefits. And not all chocolatiers make the same chocolate confections.

Fruit can craft. Take a pop top fruit can sans fruit and with clever imagination turn it into a thing of beauty and practical function. Michelle Allen of Stamping Creations creatively transforms a fruit can into a beautiful container for a gift. With complete step-by-step instructions and an illustration of the finished product, her Take one can of fruit is inspirational recycling. An excellent gift giving idea for any occasion, and plenty of time to make one of these gift containers to deliver a gift for your mother on Mother's Day.

Yummy plastic soup. No, it is far from yummy but it is a soupy stomach turning collection of plastic debris floating around in the water at sea. In addition to cargo spills of Nike shoes and rubber duckies, there is an estimated 3.5 million tons of plastic in fragments as small as a penny polluting our ocean. Nothing explains the present plastic soup swirling around better than a graphic video. Zaproot features Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen as they show what they found in a recent voyage across the North Pacific gyre in Yummy Plastic Soup at Anna's Bring Your Own blog.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall notice for Backyard and Beyond metal water bottles.

Made in China and sold from February 2006 through February 2008, the surface paint on the metal water bottles have been found to contain excessive levels of lead. Designed for children, consumers are instructed to stop using the product immediately. The recalled water bottles can be returned to the place of purchase for a refund.

Why is exposure to excessive lead levels a danger?

For the green living health-minded, including more fruits and vegetables in the daily diet is a wise choice. We feel better about our healthy unprocessed straight from nature food choice -- until the latest food recall is announced. Then eating healthy becomes eating dangerous and assurance the food supply is "remarkably safe" does little to make us feel very healthy at all.

To avoid becoming one of the 76 million people who will get sick from food poisoning each year, what can we do? Aside from backyard gardens and growing everything we eat to eliminate contamination of produce and fresh squeezed juices, here are 12 tips to reduce the risk of raw food produce, fresh fruits and vegetable juice contamination.

Known as a Zen garden, Strolling garden, Dry garden, Contemplation garden or Japanese garden, the Zen garden can be deceptive in its simplicity of sand, pebbles, gravel, rock and yet, profound in its tranquil affect.

Originating with Buddhist priests centuries ago, Zen gardens have been discovered in the West as a place of peaceful reflection and meditation. In a Zen garden, the large rock represents mountain, the flowing design in the sand represents the stillness of water. There will be no plants, flowers, trees or weeds in the Zen garden.

After an outbreak of salmonella food poisoning, the Australian Food Safety Authority is advising consumers to clean eggs before cracking them open.

Food Safety Authority public health adviser Dr Donald Campbell said eggs should be washed under cold running water. Egg Producers Federation executive director Michael Brooks disagreed. Because the egg shell is porous, water can force bacteria inside the egg. He advises an egg be wiped with a damp cloth before breaking the eggshell.

Most of the 200 people reported ill as a result of food poisoning ate chocolate mousse or Caesar salad dressing made from raw eggs. Salmonella bacteria was found on the shells of eggs packaged in retail cartons or trays. Even though contaminated eggshells are not all that common, damp cloth cleaning seems an easy enough safeguard.

Toxic Easter eggs. Tainted pet food and toothpaste. Toxic toys. In the last several years, recall headlines have dominated the news. Consumers are understandably exhausted. Now, Easter egg spinning tops, plastic Easter eggs, bunny hair clips and chick-style sipper cups exceed lead standard: Plastic Easter Eggs Linked to Lead Paint

GMO contaminated organic food. Farmers can grow food using organic methods, but if the crops are contaminated with genetically modified crops then ultimately, how organic is the food? Biotech corn, soybean, cotton and canola threaten the organic food industry and they are calling for standards before it is too late: US organic food industry fears GMO contamination

LBAM You're Dead. Call it an agricultural emergency and aerial pesticide spraying of untested chemicals can be conducted without an environmental impact report or public review: LBAM You're Dead

Golf courses as Audubon Sanctuaries. With a comittment to environmental planning, wildlife and habitat management, outreach and education, chemical use reduction and safety, water conservation, and water quality management, Marriott's 34 golf courses will become Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries by the end of the year: Marriott Golf announces plans for Audubon Sanctuaries

Melanie Rimmer of Bean Sprouts likens roof insulation to a blanket on a cold winter night. If during the night you wake to find your partner has rolled over and taken all the blanket, you are going to be suffering from bitterly cold body parts. While a thin blanket is better than none, a thick down comforter is best. Same with your roof insulation. Without insulation, your house is going to lose a tremendous amount of heat. While a little insulation will trap some heat, it is thick insulation that will keep your home truly warm. With a ruler and flashlight (camera optional), she climbs up into her attic to measure the thickness of the roof insulation. It as simple as that in Loft Insulation.

Bean Sprouts has been following the progress of Almost Mrs Average Karen Cannard at The Rubbish Diet blog as she attempts to create zero waste. Having little left in the bin on trash day was an eight week challenge the family voluntarily took on with astounding results.

After eight weeks of what Karen refers to as, "buying less, learning new habits, double-checking recycling opportunities and being ever mindful of what I'm throwing away," just how much trash did the family have in the bin at the end of the rubbish diet? Look for yourself in Zero Waste Week Final Weigh In. Kudos Mrs A.

ComEd is encouraging customers to go paperless. If every customer enrolled in the online billing service:

• Paper consumption would be reduced by 1,344,000 pounds
• 13,000 trees would be saved
• Carbon dioxide emissions from paper processing would be reduced by 3,399,000 pounds
  

3,399,000 pounds less carbon dioxide emissions is equivalent to three hundred less automobiles on the road. Promoting e-Bill and direct debit is part of ComEd's 12 Ways to Green program. For every one hundred customers who sign up for the e-Bill and direct debit program, ComEd will donate one tree to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.

Each month, ConEd features steps customers can take to live greener, save energy and reduce their carbon footprint. ComEd customers can visit ComEd's 12 Ways to Green to learn how to reduce energy for both home and business. For home, get a breakdown of your energy use, learn easy ways to save energy, and buy discounted energy-saving products. For business, get a customized energy use analysis and learn energy-saving strategies. ComEd hosts Ask the Energy Doctor. Email a how-to lower your electricity bill by reducing energy use question, and the doctor will get back to you with an answer.

Eliminating dairy and meat from cafeteria menus will help the environment by reducing carbon emissions. The livestock industry is responsible for 18 percent of the world's carbon emissions, according to a United Nations report. A London council wants staff to go vegetarian: Council's green advice to staff: Go vegetarian

Almost 75 percent of consumers with an income over $75,000 indicate they prefer to purchase environmentally friendly products, according to a marketing research study. In choosing a wine purchase, over 90 percent would lean towards a wine from sustainably grown grapes: Gourmet Goes Green: Study Confirms Luxury Wanted With Good Conscience

As part of Lights Out Lancashire, the Wigan's Heinz factory turned off its Heinz 57 neon sign. Participation in the day of environmental action to raise awareness of saving energy lasted 57 minutes: Heinz sign goes green

Michigan's first large greenhouse operation, the new four million dollar completely organic Elzinga & Hoeksema Organic Greenhouse will provide Meijer's stores with organic produce. Organic continues to go mainstream and more widely-accessible for the consumer: A local greenhouse that is truly green

Megan of not martha broke a light bulb. No big deal, right? No big deal until she remembered it was a compact fluorescent bulb. Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) contain mercury. After taking a panic shower, she checked the internet for information about CFLs. Although research led to the conclusion a Hazmat team was not required, the EPA guidelines make one feel uneasy for the advised steps in reducing the danger of mercury exposure from what should be something as simple and innocuous as a light bulb. Ultimately, Megan questions the eco-friendliness of a CFL light bulb.

An American food and travel writer, a reformed consumer, now living a rural slow life in the south of France with her husband and daughter, Riana of These Days in French Life began living a slow year back in August 2007. The slow life and the green life have much in common. In How to Start a Slow Year, Riana writes,

"This slow year is just me learning how to get close to nature - mother earth - by not abusing her (not shopping and thus not throwing trash into her soil, not furthering farmers to destroy the land with pesticides, nor the unfair treatment of people all over this globe)."

In My Grocery List, Riana makes a list of a new way of getting food to the table and shopping for food. There are items like coffee and olive oil she is looking to barter for but still buys at the store. Fruit trees on government land are ripe for the picking. She keeps bags in the car for fortuitous fruit. While the sidebar of These Days in French Life features about 16 specific slow life posts, the entire blog reflects the slow life. Enjoy.

• Choose foods kissed by the sun. Fresh food. Not all additives added to prolong the shelf life of processed food are considered safe, and there are five best avoided: Five Controversial Food Additives

• Foodies take heart. Eating organic and local might cost a bit more, but even if you are living at the financial poverty line, you do not have to abandon your healthy food sustainable ways: How to be a foodie without breaking the bank

• On a visit to New Orleans, former President Bill Clinton said he believes energy efficient, green building and the green jobs that will create in rebuilding a city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina is the way to go in restoring the city to its unique character and culture. Young people who want to change the world can. Clinton met up with actor Brad Pitt who has launched a project to build green homes in the Lower 9th Ward: Bill Clinton: Green can be key to New Orleans' future

• When Crap At The Environment comedian Mark Watson suggested to An Inconvenient Truth former Vice President Al Gore that climate change could be funny, Watson says, ""A nerve-wracking moment, really. He's a very big man and very intense and close up all the more so.": Green Gags

Inside the veggie bus. Threadbanger features a video tour of the inside of the veggie bus they lived on while traveling the country raising sustainable living awareness. The refrigerator, outlets and amplifier are powered by solar power; the stove is run on denatured alcohol; and the interiors are made of compressed recycled paper, bamboo, coconut palm and sustainable hemp. If you want to take a look around, watch The Kopali Bus Eco Show Room Tour video published in Threadbanger's The Veggie Bus Eco Show Room Video!

Spring is almost here. Sign up for a CSA program. Tiffany of the Nature Moms blog reminds us it is time to sign up for Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA). CSA's help connect the community with local small scale farmers for the benefit of both. As a CSA member, fresh vegetables are delivered each week directly from the farm the produce is grown and helps a small farmer compete in a market dominated by large agricultural farm operations. If you are not entirely familiar with how a CSA works, Tiffany offers an easy to understand and comprehensive explanation in Now it the time to pick a CSA.

Tips for adopting a pet. Drawing from various experts, Britt Bravo of Have Fun, Do Good offers tips on adopting a pet from a shelter. Sadly, half of the pets in shelters do not get adopted. Britt asks, "Do you have room in your home for a homeless pet?" While you are considering, consider this: research studies show having a pet and our relationship with pets are mutually beneficial for both the pet and pet owner. People with pets have less heart attack risk, and if they do have a heart attack will recover faster and live longer if they are a pet owner. Check out Tips for adopting a pet from the shelter.