Sustainability Made Simple Series: Part 3B
Posted by Michelle Moquin on October 12th, 2009
So how’s it going so far? Have you been able to incorporate some of the things that I have written about into your lives? I hope so. It really can be pretty simple with a little effort yes? Ya know, it’s kind of like flossing, once you get into it, it becomes habit and you don’t really think about it anymore. Of course, for those of you still trying to make flossing a habit, this may be a bit more challenging. Fortunately, you not making a habit of flossing doesn’t affect any one but you. Unfortunately, not making a habit of some of these sustainable suggestions not only affects you but the rest of the world too. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for the world. Okay. Enough said. Here’s the final post Sustainability Made Simple Series, and the continuation of At Home:
And as a final reminder, once again, there are several categories and each has three steps, progressing from the simplest to the most complex.
Insulation:
- Conduct a home energy audit. You can do it yourself online. Companies is some areas will conduct a free at-home audit; check your local listings.
- Replace any single-paned windows with double-paned models.
- Install modern, effective insulation in your home.
Electronics and Appliances:
- Turn off all electronics including TVs and computer when not in use.
- Unplug or shut off everything using power strips - many electronics consume standby power when they are turned off but still plugged in.
- Purchase Energy Star appliances.
I am always so surprised when I walk into someone’s house and the television is blaring but no one is watching it. To me there is so much noise in this world, I love the opportunity for quiet. Silence is golden.
We use very little light in out house so many lighting fixtures are left unplugged until they need to be used. Now that it is fall and the light is disappearing quicker, warm up your house with candles. They are great for picking up your mood and not only does everyone look better in candlelight but it is more romantic, even if it’s just you hanging out solo :)
Water Conservation
- Reduce the amount you water your lawn and gardens. Water in the evening and early mornings to reduce evaporation.
- Install low-flow toilets or place jugs filled with water in your toilet tanks to lower the water they use per flush.
- Install low-flow faucets and shower heads. – they can reduce water use by up to 50%.
Lawns are passé and not very pc these days. I know lots of friends who are giving up there lawns and opting for a rock garden which is much more low maintenance and eco-friendly, not to mention, zen. We have a very eco-friendly lawn, one that only needs to be moved a few times a year and uses less water, but I’m still not happy with it. We’re slowly letting it go.
We also had low-flow dual flush toilets installed a few years ago, and I love them. We even got most of it paid for by our utility company because they use less water. Something worth checking into in your area.
I have to admit though, I like my shower head and have resisted switching to a low-flow. Although to make up for it, I turn off my shower when soaping up and shaving. For those of you that don’t like to do that, getting a low-flow would be good. Speaking of….Doug are you living up to your pledge?
Hot Water Conservation:
Lowering your hot water use means lowering both your overall water use and your energy need
- Take shorter showers.
- Wash your clothes in warm or cold water only.
- Turn down your hot water heater to 120 degrees F and wrap it in a thermal blanket.
Taking shorter showers is always easier during the summer than the winter. And the old saying, ‘shower with a friend..’ yeah right….From my experience, showering with ‘a friend’ has never conserved water. The way to conserve it best is to turn it off.
Purchasing
- When you go shopping bring your own reusable bags.
- Buy eco-friendly products that contain no toxic chemicals, and are produced using sustainable methods.
- Evaluate your needs and cut down on unnecessary purchases. Donate or sell unneeded items, and buy used items from your friends and neighbors.
To me all three of these are easy. I still can’t believe how many people don’t bring there own bags when they go grocery shopping. I am appalled at people who leave the grocery store with armloads of those horrible plastic bags filled with food. It is just unacceptable these days.
Eco-friendly products are available everywhere and they aren’t much more expensive than the toxic ones. And they are so much better for the environment and your health.
And this last one is most important. We are a consumeristic society that has to have the latest and greatest. If we keep buying the latest, the companies will always develop more, and we’ll always get tempted to buy more. The shelf life of electronics is so short lived because of our demands. I’ve written about the precious minerals in the congo. Remember, our fingers are tapping daily on devices that contributes to the plight of so many women. Be a conscious, caring buyer.
There you have it again. What do ya think? Doable yes? Now…go out and do what you can. Thanks :)
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Hey Roy: Welcome to Earth! I hope that you have been enjoying yourself here. I am so curious after reading what you wrote about life on your planet. What is your government like? Do the men and women rule equally? Is there racism? Crime? Or does everyone love, live, and let live? Do you respect your environment and the plant and animal life? Are you able to traverse to all of the planets in your solar system and what are the inhabitants like on other planets? I know…lots of questions. Feel free to answer only those that you wish.
Hello Lloyd: Don’t you mean you are commenting again? Obviously you are always reading or you wouldn’t know that the aliens are back :)
Hi Ruth: I’m not sure what you found on the web but I’m looking forward to it. Try again please. It seems like you have your hands full but you seem to enjoy it. Big hugs to the little women.
Readers: It is the beginning of a new week – make it good whatever you’re doing.
Peace out.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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October 12th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Hafa adai
It’s been tough getting in. All my entries keep comin back “you have said that.” I wanted to talk about how difficult it is for OTWs to get war reparations.
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Island Moves ‘Onward And Upward’ Toward Compensation After Senate Armed Services Committee Spells Out Reasons For Rejection
By Jeff Marchesseault
GUAM – All hope is not lost in Guam’s quest for reparations to compensate the generation that suffered through brutal, deadly Imperial Japanese occupation and then endured the Battle of Guam during World War II.
In letters to key U.S. Senators John McCain, R-Arizona, and Carl Levin, D-Michigan, local Guam Senator Frank Blas, Jr. writes, “While we are disheartened for those who have waited 65 years and have been asked to wait again, we will press onward and upward in fighting for what we believe Guam’s decedents and survivors of World War II rightfully deserve.”
Despite its recent defeat in a joint conference committee responsible for finalizing the Defense Authorization Act of 2010 on Capitol Hill last week, House Resolution 44, the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, remains an active standalone piece of legislation still before Congress, with hearings pending.
Questions Of Fairness
Under the watchful eyes of Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Carl Levin and Ranking Committeeman John McCain, the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act suffered preclusive defeat within the context of the 2010 Defense bill, (1) due to the legislation’s intent to award reparations to spouses and children of those who suffered personal injury at the time of occupation or war, and (2) because the inclusion of war reparations within a Defense authorization bill could set a precedent for other war claims to be made within the context of legislation designed to finance defense.
Although Levin and McCain offered two alternative courses of action on war reparations, Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo dismissed the more expedient but less compensatory solution and settled for a compromise that will take a little more time to thresh out but that could wind up being fairer to prospective recipients of war claims. Last Thursday, Bordallo sent a release to media explaining the compromise:
Chairman Levin and Ranking Member McCain offered to keep war claims in the final defense bill if claims were awarded solely to those killed during the war and to living survivors of the occupation. Congresswoman Bordallo rejected this counter proposal. However, a compromise was reached whereby the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings on H.R. 44 and that the issue will be again be addressed in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 if it has not been resolved by other legislative means in the Senate by next year.
“I did not accept the offer from the Senate conferees because it would not recognize all of those who endured Guam’s occupation,” Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said today. “While I am disappointed that H.R. 44 was not included in the final defense authorization bill, the compromise that was reached allows another opportunity to build on the progress we have made and to bring closure to this issue within a year. I believe that hearings on H.R. 44 would allow the Senate’s concerns to be aired openly, and to have our concerns heard by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.”
Grace Under Pressure
Bordallo told Newstalk K57 radio host Ray Gibson this morning that her decision to forego the alternative compensation package for inclusion in FY2010 spending was agonizing but had to be made quickly and that she felt she acted in the best interest of the pool of claimants originally prescribed for compensation within the Loyalty Recognition Act.
Time Enough To Make It Right
Blas concluded his identical letters to Levin in McCain by resolving to do what is right for Guam’s ‘greatest generation’ by way of war reparations legislation:
“While it is recognized that your opposition to its inclusion in the Defense bill [was] based on two concerns, I am pleased with the promise of an opportunity to address the matter in order to produce legislation that will help to close this dark chapter of our history. We will not give up. Our fighting for full war reparations is the least that they deserve for their patriotism, and it is the least that our Nation can do for them.”
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Peter
October 12th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Anita Dunn, the communications director for the White House gave a lengthy and brutal denunciation of Fox News, calling the cable outlet a vehicle for Republican Party propaganda and an ideological opponent of the president.
Here are just a few choice nuggets from Dunn’s appearance on CNN’s Reliable Sources
“If we went back a year ago to the fall of 2008, to the campaign, that was a time this country was in two wars that we had a financial collapse probably more significant than any financial collapse since the Great Depression. If you were a Fox News viewer in the fall election what you would have seen were that the biggest stories and the biggest threats facing America were a guy named Bill Ayers and a something called ACORN.”
“The reality of it is that Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party. And it is not ideological… what I think is fair to say about Fox, and the way we view it, is that it is more of a wing of the Republican Party.”
“Obviously [the President] will go on Fox because he engages with ideological opponents. He has done that before and he will do it again… when he goes on Fox he understands he is not going on it as a news network at this point. He is going on it to debate the opposition.”
“[Fox is] widely viewed as a part of the Republican Party: take their talking points and put them on the air, take their opposition research and put it on the air. And that’s fine. But let’s not pretend they’re a news organization like CNN is.”
In response, Senior Vice President of News for FOX News Michael Clemente defended the network in the following statement to CNN’s Reliable Sources:
An increasing number of viewers are relying on FOX News for both news and opinion. And the average news consumer can certainly distinguish between the A section of the newspaper and the editorial page, which is what our programming represents. So, with all due respect to anyone who still might be confused about the difference between news reporting and vibrant opinion, my suggestion would be to talk about the stories and the facts rather than attack the messenger…which over time, has never worked.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
HOW FAT CAN FUEL WEIGHT LOSS
Did you know that there is a kind of fat that can actually help you lose weight? It’s called brown fat, and we have been aware of it for years — but, until just recently, scientists believed that it was only found in babies, small mammals and hibernating animals.
The big news is that adult humans have brown fat as well, so scientists are working furiously to figure out how to put it to work. If this research continues along its promising path, it may someday also be used as a mechanism to help people lose weight.
BROWN FAT BURNS LOTS OF CALORIES
Curiously, the discovery that adults have brown fat came about because PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans of the neck area were sometimes blocked by a mysterious gleaming tissue beneath the subcutaneous fat, which turned out to be brown fat.
When I spoke with Aaron M. Cypess, MD, PhD, who led the brown fat study at Joslin Diabetes Center (Boston), he told me that scientists had assumed adults didn’t have brown fat because there is none between their shoulder blades, which is where babies carry most of theirs.
As it turns out, adult brown fat is found primarily in the front of the neck and around the collar bone, but Dr. Cypess told me that researchers believe we probably carry it in other areas of the body as well.
Even babies have only a bit of brown fat (just 1% of their total body weight) and adults certainly have far less… but, as it happens, even small amounts can make a big difference. A mere two ounces can burn 300 to 500 calories per day.
Furthermore, while brown fat gets some of its fuel from glucose, it also leeches it away from white fat. So it’s not a huge step to theorize that increasing the amount of brown fat in the body could lead to decreased stores of white fat — in other words, significant weight loss.
This has been achieved already in the mouse world, in fact… but things get a little more complicated when it comes to human beings.
ACTIVATING BROWN FAT
Brown fat burns calories when it is activated, which normally is done by cold — and bundling up against the cold inactivates it. Not surprisingly, obese people have less brown fat than do lean people, possibly because their excess fat insulates against the cold, says Dr. Cypess.
Brown fat also decreases with age, for reasons unknown, which may be one reason it is harder to lose weight as we get older.
Unfortunately, all the ways that we currently know to activate this energy-expenditure process (called thermogenesis) in amounts sufficient for weight loss are problematic. Nicotine is one, for instance (although Dr. Cypess says this is not the reason why smokers are often thin), but we know that’s not good for us.
Then there is the stimulant ephedra, which as you may recall was once a principal ingredient in over-the-counter weight-loss drugs until it proved to cause a variety of problems from anxiety to heart attack. The other known activator is norepinephrine, the stress hormone that triggers the flight-or-fight response in the body, which also has undesirable effects.
FUTURE RESEARCH
Challenges aside, I think we can expect to hear lots more about brown fat in the future as scientists and manufacturers continue to search for the holy grail of weight loss.
Its discovery in adults is just the first step, says Dr. Cypess — researchers are working to learn its role in the adult body, with a focus on finding out how to increase levels as well as how to “selectively” turn on the brown fat function.
Finding those answers could mean that future struggles to lose weight would become much easier for all.
Source(s):
Aaron M. Cypess, MD, PhD, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I understand and respect your opinion, cgin…..
However, these are the same people who successfully portrayed John Kerry (a decorated war hero) as a coward and a traitor…you can not underestimate them. Don’t dismiss their intentions, as this is their desire, to the detriment of all of us.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Michelle
At first we only knew about two other inhabited planets. One we could visit one we could not. Now we know about 14 others. There are 31 planets and 17 are inhabited. The aliens have given us the ability to travel to all of them.
At first it was exciting. Now, we hate it. Some of the beings are so hideous that I had nightmare for years after only seeing one of them for a few minutes.
Roy
October 12th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
“An increasing number of viewers are relying on FOX News for both news and opinion.”
I think the “increasing number” are the people who tune in to see the dumb stuff people on Fox say. They watch for the comedy of it, not for news or opinions. It’s not news, it’s crazy spinned stuff and is so unbelievable that it is funny.
Go White House! You are part of this country and have freedom of speech just like the rest of us. If Fox doesn’t like, oh well. They will whine about it just like they do everything else. Is Glenn Beck going to cry over the White House calling out the lies? Tune in to Fox to find out!
October 12th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I know that I am not a TAO* but I could not get the above comment in without using the title. S
Sprry
Cathy
October 13th, 2009 at 7:36 am
If its true that Fox is an arm of the Republican party, then its good that they at least have ONE. The democratic party owns all of the other so-called “news” channels!!!!
October 13th, 2009 at 7:50 am
House Passes Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act
Eleven years ago today, Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered. Since that tragic day, I have renewed my commitment to working along with my Congressional colleagues and LGBT equal rights community to ensure House passage of federal hate crimes legislation. This pursuit has been driven by the immutable truth that all Americans have a fundamental right to feel safe in their communities.
Speaker Pelosi meets with LGBT community leaders in San Francisco.
On Thursday, Oct. 8, the House passed H.R. 2647, the Department of Defense Authorization Act conference report, which included the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, by a vote of 281 to 146.
Ending discrimination against gays and lesbians has been a top priority for me throughout my 22 years in Congress. Congress has been debating federal hate crimes legislation for more than a decade, and we have fought long and hard against the forces of hate and discrimination. The time for debate is finally over, and we will soon send this federal hate crimes legislation to President Obama’s desk to become the law of the land.
This legislation will help protect Americans against violence based on sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, national origin, disability, or gender identity by extending the federal hate crimes statute. This legislation also gives state and local law enforcement the tools they need to prevent and prosecute hate crimes nationwide, helping protect Americans against bias-motivated violence and securing our fundamental right to feel safe in our communities.
This nation was founded on the promise of pluralism; a commitment to equality and opportunity; and the belief that ‘liberty and justice for all’ is not simply an empty pledge – it rests at the core of our identity as a people. No American should ever have to suffer persecution or violence because of who they are, how they look, or what they believe.
We are standing with the families of Matthew Shepard, James Byrd Jr., and countless other victims of hate crimes. Their voices are our inspiration. Their cries for justice are our motive for action. I applaud my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who supported this measure and stated in a clear voice that the forces of hate have no place in the United States of America.
New San Francisco Office
My San Francisco Congressional Office has moved. We are now located in the new Federal Building at 90 7th Street, Suite 2-800, San Francisco, California 94103. The phone number will remain the same, 415-556-4862.
Please feel free to forward this information to your family and friends. To learn more about these efforts, to express your views, or to sign up for email updates, please visit my Web site.
Sincerely,
Member of Congress