Go Green

Today is Earth Day!

And what a gloomy day it is!  Completely overcast, raining, humid. It’s the kind of day that makes you change your desktop background to one of those gorgeous beach scenes with palm trees, soft, sandy beaches and blue skies. Sometimes I just sit at my desk and watch the screen saver change from one utopian scene to the next. Productive, I know.

But, if you’re lucky, you’ll be taking a summer vacation soon! And before you head off to paradise, be sure to pack your green sunscreen! I’m not referring to the green-colored zinc sunscreen that graces the noses of so many tourists in the tropics. I’m talking about eco-friendly sunscreens.

 Traditional sunscreens contain chemical UV filters, preservatives and sometimes coloring or scents that can wash off in the water and contaminate pools, oceans, lakes and streams. Some of those chemicals can even survive sewage treatment processes and are released back into the environment.

Researchers at the Polytechnic University in Marche, Italy conducted a study on how sunscreen affects coral reefs in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. The researchers estimate that 4 to 6,000 metric tons of sunscreen washes off swimmers annually worldwide. The study concludes that even low levels of sunscreen chemicals could promote viral infections that can completely bleach coral in just four days.

Certain eco-parks in Mexico have already banned the use of sun-tan lotions and sunscreens with oils and chemical ingredients because they “damage marine flora and kill fish.”

Eco-friendly sunscreens like MelanSol, an all-natural, antioxidant-rich sunscreen, care chemical free and still provide great protection from UV rays.  Check out http://www.PureSunscreen.com for a complete list of ingredients. Other green sunscreen products can be found at www.pristineplanet.com.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to hit the beach. Until then, maybe I’ll put on some of this green sunscreen, just in case. I mean, the fluorescent lights in here are pretty strong, and this screen saver seems to really be doing the trick.

 Lisa

The title of this blog post is not some trite remark about the dangers of too much bottled water; rather it’s a valid commentary on a disturbing situation. Before I go further, this magazine article should be mandatory reading for anyone who wonders what happens with all the plastic we use day in and day out. It’s a long article, but one well worth the read. Here’s the intro paragraph:

“A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of a plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility…and worse.”

You read that right. There is a giant, floating mass of discarded plastic — bottles, grocery sacks and tires, to name some of it — in the Pacific Ocean.

If you don’t have time to read the whole article, let me sum it up for you best as possible: Humans create a huge amount of plastic waste every day; the waste is hardly ever recycled; a huge amount of it has found its way into the ocean; plastics are made with toxic chemicals; as plastics s-l-o-w-l-y break down, they release toxic particles into the water and air; this is having a hugely negative impact on ocean life; microscopic plastic particles also are finding their way into human bodies; doubly worse, a lot of plastics, when heated, leach chemicals into whatever they happen to be touching — including food; exposure to such toxins causes a number of serious problems that may slowly be making people in this world sick.

I know it sounds melodramatic, but this magazine article has influenced my perception of the world around me. Since reading this, my wife and I have stopped buying bottled water for our house and have moved to wooden toys for our son. We bought glass containers to store and reheat our leftovers.

If fertility problems, obesity, increased incidences of diabetes and various types of cancer don’t concern you, than don’t worry about plastics. If they do — and all these serious maladies have been connected to exposure to chemicals found in everyday plastic items — then you owe it to yourself to be educated about the dangers of the products you use.

As consumers and people who have to live on this Earth for the rest of our lives, we have to ask ourselves some questions here: Doesn’t it seem like you hear about medical costs rising every year in America? Does it seem like America is getting sicker and sicker every year? Why is that? Is there a chance, even a slight one, that all the toxic chemicals we are forced to live with are slowly undermining everyone’s health?

If there is a chance, and much research says there is, all you can do is take action to cut these things out of your life. Start by reading the article I mention above, and see where you want to go from there.

- Nick

View this Associated Press article on the rate of glacier shrinkage.

Dark blue areas in this figure of the global distribution of chlorophyll are the areas with the least surface chlorophyll. Care of NASA.

Maybe that’s a bit dramatic - but the oceans’ deserts are expanding faster than usual according to this article.

What does this mean for marine life? Well, it may dramatically reduce the habitats and, therefore, the population of fish that can’t withstand the “desert” environment.

““The fact that we are seeing an expansion of the ocean’s least productive areas as the subtropical gyres warm is consistent with our understanding of the impact of global warming. But with a nine-year time series, it is difficult to rule out decadal variation,” said Jeffrey J. Polovina, an oceanographer with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service in Honolulu.”

The map above shows low areas of chlorophyll which indicates where there are low areas of phytoplankton - the bottom of the food chain for marine life. So, where’s there’s low phytoplankton, there’s low populations of marine life.

Certainly a concerning trend.

- Linds