pass me the chicken please

American’s eat, on average, three hamburgers a week. Knowing cows produce some sort of gas (methane), I was wondering what the environmental impacts of this are. I found an interesting article, “Go Green by Eating More of Your Greens ” – basically the author has some pretty pointed numbers, for example, “Water: H2O = Life”: 600 gallons of water are needed to produce a single hamburger. 600 gallons — that’s enough water to hydrate a person for over 3 years (at the recommended rate of 8 glasses per day). And that’s just the beef patty–no bun or fixings included.

That’s just one aspect of the burger, for example cows release methane gas (up to 100 gallons per cow per day), caused by cows burping because of what they are fed. Methane is 21 times more dangerous to our environment than carbon dioxide by weight. As the developing countries like China get richer, this means more cows are needed. More cows mean more land is needed for grazing (look at Argentina, they are cutting down rain forest for cow pastures!), more methane is released by cows, and more oil is needed to transport the meat to these countries.

According to wired mag, organic cows don’t make much of a difference, and can be in fact worse to the environment:

“Take milk. Dairy cows raised on organic feed aren’t pumped full of hormones. That means they produce less milk per Holstein — about 8 percent less than conventionally raised cattle. So it takes 25 organic cows to make as much milk as 23 industrial ones. More cows, more cow emissions. But that’s just the beginning. A single organically raised cow puts out 16 percent more greenhouse gases than its counterpart. That double whammy — more cows and more emissions per cow — makes organic dairies a cog in the global warming machine.

How about that burger? Organic beef steers take longer to achieve slaughter weight, which gives them more time to emit polluting methane. And if you’re eating hamburgers made from grass-fed cattle, don’t award yourself any prizes just yet. While pastured beef offers some environmental benefit — these cows don’t require carbon-intensive corn for feed, and the land they graze stores carbon more efficiently than land used for crops or left alone — they’re burping up nearly twice as much methane as cattle fed grain diets, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. If you really want to adopt a climate-friendly diet, cut out meat entirely. Researchers at the University of Chicago showed that the meat-intensive diet of the average American generates 1.5 more tons of greenhouse gases per year than the diet of a vegetarian.”

– source..

So I think for the time being, I will move more towards chicken.

Bio vs. Non-Bio

Bio powders contain enzymes which are designed to break down food, dirt and other stains at low temperatures. The enzymes are used to lesson the impact of something called ‘surfactants’ . Surfactants are the active ingredient in a washing and cleaning products, and change the characteristics of water by altering the surface tension so that the active ingredient can access a stain more easily. By using enzymes, this reduces the amount of surfactants needed, but doesn’t necessarily remove it completely. In addition when using bio powder, some companies use genetically modified enzymes, others don’t.

Non Bio doesn’t contain the enzymes and typically requires higher temperatures to break down the powder. This in turn means you use more electricity and water.

To make it more confusing, the more I read, I found out about other “nasties” that are part of some companies washing products. These are called Optical Brighteners. Basically they make your clothes and other wash appear lighter and brighter than they are. These aren’t listed as being bad for the environment per say, but they do make a permanent chemical bond with your skin.

So after reading all of this, I’m still not sure what to do so I think I will stick with my Bio tablets from a company called Ecover. My clothes smell nice; I do them at the lowest setting on my washer, they have a recyclable box, and they don’t product test on animals. My only wish is they would make it a bit clearer which is better for the environment as a whole by factoring temperature usage/enzyme impact and that they would get rid of the silly plastic wrappers around the tablets.

Ireland, the emerald isle

Four years and a couple of trips around the entire island has certainly changed my mind. At a high level its still as lovely, but if you look with open eyes, you’ll see quiet a different reality.

Want to swim?

Seal swimming in Howth with the trash and oil

No shame, and no its not tourist, its locals you’ll see doing this and then complain that the city councils won’t pick up their mess.

Duck among garbage

cleaning with baking soda

So whats this mystery cleaner you ask? Baking soda. 99% of of us have it in our kitchens and it cost less than a bag of peanuts. Usually we use it for cooking and removing smells from the refrigerator but it has many more uses and event better,it’s biodegradable, and safe to use around children and pets.

For deodorizing:

• Trash cans which in the summer means less flies.
• Cat litter boxes. To make it stay fresh, after you clean it out, add a scoop of BS. In between changing add another scoop.
• Scouring powder. Combine 1tbsp pure & natural lemon essential oil with 1 cup of baking soda. Mix thoroughly and then store in an airtight container.

For cleaning:

• Bath tub cleaner: Make a stiff paste using water and baking soda. Left sit on rings and mold in the bath tub/tiling for a few hours to overnight.
• Oven cleaner: Sprinkle baking soda onto the bottom of the oven. Squirt with enough water that the baking soda is damp. Let set overnight. In the morning, scoop the baking soda and grime out with a sponge. Rinse.

For polishing:

• Make a paste of baking soda and water, scoop some onto a clean, soft rag, and polish the silver. Rinse and polish dry. This works on silverware, stainless steel sinks and more.

For beauty:

• Relaxing bath: Add 1/2 cup of Baking Soda to your bath to neutralize acids on the skin and help wash away oil and perspiration.
• Shampoo: If you can live without the ‘bubbles’ theres even recipes for baking soda shampoo. One can be found here. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Clarifying-Shampoo-with-Baking-Soda

  The list goes on and on – over time I plan on trying cleaning, polishing and beauty tips making use of Baking Soda as I can. Stay tuned for the results!

  ]]> http://organicflair.com/blog/2009/06/05/a-natural-product-that-cleans-everything-almost/feed/ 1 http://organicflair.com/blog/2009/06/05/how-to-make-your-own-worm-bin/ http://organicflair.com/blog/2009/06/05/how-to-make-your-own-worm-bin/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:39:58 +0000 Administrator http://organicflair.com/blog/?p=10 Watch this step by step video on setting up an indoor worm bin for your kitchen scraps. You will be able to raise worms, keep your kitchen scraps out of the landfill, and have rich compost for you plants. This is an easy project you can do with the kids. Distributed by Tubemogul.
  ]]> http://organicflair.com/blog/2009/06/05/how-to-make-your-own-worm-bin/feed/ 4 http://organicflair.com/blog/2009/06/05/wwoofing-around/ http://organicflair.com/blog/2009/06/05/wwoofing-around/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:19:56 +0000 Administrator http://organicflair.com/blog/?p=6 If your looking for green travel where you can participate in green organic living, this might be your find of the year. WWOOF – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. They have farms throughout the United States, Europe and the rest of world, in exchange for participation on the farm, they provide food and accommodation. For those backpackers and people looking to get away from city life, this could be one opportunity worth checking out. There is even stuff for people who don’t want to be be to far away from city life, take this example.

  We are an urban community in Hamilton (NE Baltimore) who maintain several gardens throughout the neighborhood, using organic methods. The produce from the garden plots is divided amongst the community, used for falafel toppings at our Baltimore Farmer’s market stand, and sold to local restaurants. Work is currently underway to create a market and educational garden at a local school. We have many bio-construction and beautification projects going on around the urban neighborhood, including green roofing, straw bale construction, earth oven construction and baking , stone constructions, mosaic tiling, mural painting, We want to provide a place for wwoofers to experience living-of-the-land in an urban environment with a growing, tight-knit community. We will teach our skills and are eager to learn from wwoofers.

  ]]> http://organicflair.com/blog/2009/06/05/wwoofing-around/feed/ 1