Obamafest! Just couldn't resist this one

Hi everyone although this doesn't directly have to do with going green I couldn't resist posting this after reading a German article with this picture. All politicians this year are claiming they are going to do tons for the environment and soon I plan to blog about Obama's and McCains stances. Tonight just enjoy the Obama button a vendor was selling to the crowd of 200,000 in Berlin last Thursday. Take care and keep going green!

Help your baby go green from day one!: Cloth diapers have come a long way baby!

My wife is due to give birth to our second child on the 25th of August. We are looking forward to it with great anticipation! Our first is now four years old and we brought her up on cloth diapers. Now don't think of the ones you or your brother or sister used to wear. Cloth diapers like Apple Computers have come a long way since the 80's. There are a number of brands available on the Internet but my sister helped us by having her child first and experimenting with several not so improved cloth diaper incarnations. We did try a few of them ourselves but for us Fuzzibunz was the best solution! These babies behave and preform as well as almost any disposable out there only they are reusable and baby's bottom will thank you as well because they cut down considerably on incidences of baby rash. They are of the family of cloth diapers called "pocket" diapers. The diaper is waterproof on the outside and warm fuzzy and absorbent on the inside thanks to a microfiber fleece that keeps babys' bottom warm and dry. The fleece acts as a wick and draws any wetness into the inserts. The inserts are the second part of the groovey technology you "stuff" 1-3 absorbent inserts into the pocket of the diaper and these help keep baby dry. We usally use 1 or 2 during the day and 3 at night. We have recommended them to many of our friends and some have taken us up on it! One friend even decided to use fuzzibunz on her third daughter after using disposables for their first two. With the money they saved on disposable diapers they bought themselves a new dinning room set. Really switching to these diapers can save you alot. The initial investment can be 2 to 3 hundred dollars but in the long run you save thousands. Worried about washing them? Don't worry just have a diaper pail with a little water and a teaspoon of your favorite detergent in it and run the diapers to the washing machine every evening after baby goes to bed. Really like any other suggestions I have made on my blog it is just a small new habit you have to start. Also these cloth diapers don't only save baby's bottom they help your bottom line!!!

Bag the Paper and the Plastic!/ Paper or Plastic neither nor!

First some facts

• The average reusable bag consumer uses only four bags per year
• The average disposable bag user consumes more than 700 bags a year.

Whenever you are standing in the checkout line you are sometimes faced with the question "paper or plastic?" Knee jerk logic has you thinking well paper is probably easier to recycle, so that's better, right? While you can reuse plastic bags as a trash bag liner, or a convenient pooper-scooper for your doggy and no trees had to be cut down to make the plastic bag, that doesn't mean it is lighter on the environment. So which choice do you think is truly better?

The deal with plastic bags

Plastic bags are not bio-degradable and are made from polyethylene (a byproduct of petroleum). So if we quit using them we might help cut down on the consumption of crude oil too! Besides plastic bags remain intact for thousands of years in the landfill. The U.S. uses about 100 billion of the 500 billion to a trillion plastic bags that are used and then thrown away every year worldwide ! The hundred billion we use in the U.S. use up 12 million barrels of crude oil to make them.

Only one percent of plastic bags actually get recycled, leaving 99% of the plastic to leach into soil and groundwater. Scientist are finding that the remaining discarded plastic bags (200,000 make their way to the landfill every hour!) are killing an estimated 100,00 marine mammals and sea turtles each year due to their ingesting the bags. Recent studies by these same scientists show that the oceans are full of tiny plastic pieces which in some areas of the ocean are beginning to outweigh plankton.

The deal with paper bags

In the production of paper bags many trees are used. Chainsaws, and all the other trucks and machinery needed to harvest trees require a lot of fossil fuel and the laying down of roads that put stress on forest ecology and wildlife. The process of making paper also involves using huge amounts of clean water. So the production of paper really has an huge environmental impact when you add it up.

Of course generally paper bags hold more groceries than the average plastic bag, so fewer are used (one paper bag can hold the same volume as three to four plastic bags). Even though paper bags can be made from 100 percent recycled content and they're considered CO2 neutral. Still more energy is used in their production than plastic, and the energy and chemicals involved pollutes our water and air.

So what do I do?
Here comes the challenge I promised. No don't stop reading now! There is an alternative to paper or plastic that most Americans don't consider mainly because it isn't as "convenient", and that is reusable cloth or canvas bags. I know this because even I have sacrificed sensibility and logic for convenience myself. While abroad in Germany 2 years ago, I always brought cloth bags along to the store because there I didn't have a choice. If you want a bag there you have to pay for it! (Not to mention we pay for it in the U.S. in the price of the products!). So really it is just a simple habit you need to change. I suggest you buy yourself a few good reusable bags and keep them in the trunk of your car so you never have the excuse you forgot them at home. Recently I remembered my bags and it felt so good to take the groceries that the clerk had already packed in plastic bags out of them and put the groceries in my cloth bags. So here's the challenge try to start using reusable bags when you go to the grocery store. It is a simple thing you can feel good about. I am going to be sure I always use mine from now on. Besides many stores will give you 5 cents of your bill for every reusable bag you bring with you to the store! Good luck and keep going green!

P.S. Other International inspirations

• China, France, and Bangladesh have all banned plastic bags.
• Ireland put a consumer tax on plastic bags that resulted in a 90 percent reduction in use.
• In an Indian province (Himachal Pradesh, people get fined $2,000 if caught with plastic bags.

I got the information for this article from the following books and sources: The Complete Idiot's Guide to green Living by Trish Riley ($16.95Alpha, 2007) * "The Great Plastic Bag Plague" by Tara Lohan, www.alternet.org, 9/5/07*www.cawrecycles.org*"Paper or Plastic-What's the Greener Choice?" by Anne Thompson, www.msnbc.mns.com, 5/7/07*www.reusablebags.com*www.techalive.mtu.edu*"paper, Plastic or Prada?" by Lisa McLauhlin, www.time.com 8/2/07