Random Musings of an Eco Warrior

When choosing and using commercial household cleaners, many of us forget that whatever we pour down our drains ends up in our water supply, reservoirs, oceans, rivers and groundwater where the chemicals released pose serious threats to marine and wildlife. In addition to our outdoor environment, the toxins in typical commercial cleaners also pollute our indoor air and in fact, our own bodies. It is an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality we have adopted in which we think whatever we discard is “gone”. The truth of the matter is, whatever is washed away or thrown away never really GOES anywhere, it is simply moved from one place (our homes) to another place on our planet (our waterways or landfills). So it is for those reasons that I created a green cleaning web page back in 1997. It was a labor of love during which I taught myself basic HTML code (having no web creation software to do it for me back then). After weeks of learning HTML, designing the page and researching and compiling

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A number of years ago I saw a short program about an enormous swirling mass of trash in the Pacific Ocean, at a place called the North Pacific Gyre. Even though a somewhat jaded and not easily shocked environmentalist, the details of this anomaly was more than even I could deal with, so I quickly absorbed the information but just as quickly tried to forget about it and attempted to focus on slightly less disturbing environmental issues that I felt I could personally do something about.

I successfully ignored what was going on in the Pacific until a recent web surfing marathon, when the issue hit me again squarely in the face, this time in living color in the form of a 3 part online video filmed by an investigative sailing crew and then again by a video clip of a recent Oprah Winfrey Earth Day show. This floating whirlpool of trash takes up a large portion of the Pacific Ocean between California and Japan and is described as being twice the …

Well, it’s that time of year again when the gardens are going to sleep for the winter. Because I live in a small home, with a postage stamp size yard, I belong to a community garden here in Philly and am waiting for the inevitable email informing me the garden will be closing for the season and that we all need to get together to do the final fall cleanup. This year hasn’t been real good in the garden with all the rain we had for so long but now that things have finally dried up and the sun is getting through, the plants are giving one last effort to produce some fruits and veggies so I am hoping the fall cleanup email comes later rather than sooner.

The reason I joined the garden group was to plant and harvest 100% organically grown veggies. With the economy the way it’s been and the high cost of buying organic, I thought I would give growing my own a try. In the past I’ve grown the typical

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19125 is turning green! Early this year an initiative was started to turn my zip code into the greenest in the city. It’s gone from the talking stages to the planning stages to the implementation. Of course I am up to my eyeballs in it as I always am with anything I am passionate about.

October 1st is Green Guide Mobilization Day when we, the volunteer Green Guides, get our schwag bags filled with eco friendly tools such as Compact Fluorescent Bulbs and other yet to be disclosed goodies to pass out to our neighbors. My block is small and rather than just knocking at doors and handing out the freebies, I thought a better idea is to post a sign on the corner and invite all the neighbors to pick up their free green stuff at a table in front of my house. I am hoping that approach will stimulate conversation and involvement among

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Buying second hand is a major way to reduce your carbon footprint on the earth. It is the REUSE in the green mantra “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”.

1. Buying used merchandise helps to reduce waste in both the manufacture of new products and the disposal of old products. Any used and unwanted furniture, household items and clothing that is reused will not have to be manufactured and will stay out of landfills longer, toxic sites which contribute to global warming and green house gases.
2. By shopping for second hand goods in charity, thrift, consignment, vintage and antique stores, you can help to support a charity or a small entrepreneurial business.
3. Second hand costs less than new items. A find in a thrift store, charity shop or flea market costs only a fraction of it’s original new price especially on high-end items.
4. You can get

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