What’s your cell phone radiation level? Is it safe?

Look it up with this tool: http://www.ewg.org/cellphoneradiation/Get-a-Safer-Phone
My phone (Treo 650) has high radiation. In fact, among the Top 10 Worst PDA/Smartphones!  (The super-popular iPhone 3G is not among the top 10, but it’s a high-radiator, too.)
What to do? Should I toss out my phone, even though it still works fine? Or should I hang on to [...]

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Food, Inc. movie opens Friday (watch trailer)

Food, Inc., a new documentary about the US food supply opens today in NY, SF and LA. I wonder if it has anything new to say to those of us who have already read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Fast Food Nation and are committed to sustainable (as possible) eating?
I guess there’s only one way to [...]

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tetra pak: good or bad?

Every time I finish a box of soymilk, I sigh. Because I have to put it in the landfill-bound trash.
But, according to this analysis of the sustainability of tetra pak,
All in all, Tetra Pak figures that its packaging has a smaller carbon footprint than polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high density polyethylene (HDPE) or glass. A 32-ounce [...]

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kids after my creative-reuse heart

Alexandra Lehrer, 5, and her classmates at Beginnings Nursery School in New York are my kind of people!
“I like building stuff,” she said. “If you throw everything away, there will be just a big pile of garbage, and you won’t have anything to make collages with.” (From the New York Times, Where One Man’s Trash [...]

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home green home (house cleaning)

The Seventh Generation newsletter recently shared this news about a new healthy house-cleaning service:
We recently launched a new and innovative partnership to help you maintain a clean and healthy home called Home Green Home. We are working with our good friends at Women’s Action to Gain Economic Security (WAGES) to launch an environmentally-friendly residential cleaning [...]

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cities -> economies of scale -> greener

Really enjoyed this New York Times column on Math and the City which uses mathematics to connect cities with organisms; i.e., cities are living things. 
I especially liked this paragraph that describes how city size affects things like infrastructure, specifically gas stations.
For instance, if one city is 10 times as populous as another one, does it need 10 times [...]

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10% water use reduction: what does that mean?

Here in drought-reality California, we’re being told to reduce our water usage, voluntarily. I’m all for water conservation, but what does a 10% reduction look like?
My household of two uses 145 gallons per day*, so 10% means 14.5 gallons per day, which is equal to, daily:

9 toilet flushes (at 1.6 gallons/flush)
7 minute shower (at 2 [...]

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are you biking (or walking) to work on Thursday?

Maybe you already ride your bike to work. If you do, you are a member of an elite group: 0.4% of commuters nationwide. If you live in Portland, Oregon, you’re part of a larger crowd–3.5%–, but you already know this. (Source: US Census 2005)
The rest of us (87.7%) drive to work. Most (77%) drive alone.
If [...]

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earth day: pick your battles

Today is Earth Day, so lots of attention is being paid to earth-friendly efforts. Fortunately, the interest in energy-saving and CO2-reducing efforts is increasing every day.
But really, isn’t it Earth Day every day?
Since the topic of this blog is “Everyday Sustainable”, I want to reflect on what is truly sustainable, everyday. It’s true that until [...]

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line drying: good for the earth, good for your clothes

90-degree April days, a perfect time to inaugurate my new clothesline.

Did you know your clothes dryer accounts for about 10-15% of your house’s energy consumption?
Do you know where all that lint comes from? YOUR CLOTHES!
Have you noticed how nice sun and air-dried clothes and sheets smell?

For all these reasons, I love to line dry my [...]

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