New stuff in TAKE ACTION! GO!
So, this is how I think these days … whatever I look at, whatever people consume, whatever you see around you, there are ways to do it that are greener, sustainable, eco-friendly, animal-friendly, and people-friendly. I swear it’s true, but you have to look.
Today, the nasty, pink, deicing salt was scattered all over the apartment community where I live. Almost immediately, Mina got some stuck up in her paw and started limping. I always wipe off her feet when we come inside to get that nasty stuff off of her skin. Deicing salts are The Devil.
Those crystals melt and eventually find their way into our groundwater, which creates chloride contamination and causes a host of problems, including death of vegetation. That’s the trees we need to breathe on this planet, y’know? You can learn more about this effect by reading a Virginia Tech study written several years ago.
There are other, eco-friendly products you can use that really work.
One of them that I found through a SearchKindly search is “Bare Ground”, “… an all natural environmentally safe co-product of corn, grain or agricultural processing sometimes containing distillers condensed solubles that is added to a base of Magnesium Chloride (MgCl2). Bare Ground is non toxic, water soluble, non flammable, biodegradable and less corrosive than water.”
It’s a spray that you apply to pavement during a snowfall or before the snow falls. There’s a video from a news station that tested the product and gave it high marks on the Bare Ground Web site.
Another eco-friendly deicer to consider is “Ice Clear,” “… a 100% organic product made up of potassium carboxaylates, carbo-hydrates and a corrosive inhibitor. In fact it is closely related to products used by the airline industry to de-ice airplanes. IceClear(R) is one of the safest, most cost-effective and environmentally friendly deicing/anti-icing agents on the market. While IceClear(R) has excellent ice melting capacity, IceClear(R) is most effectively used as an anti-icing agent to actually prevent ice formation and accumulation in the first place. In addition to providing obvious safety benefits, IceClear(R) actually stops ice from bonding to walkway and driveway surfaces, taking the work out of winter snow and ice removal. IceClear(R) is the ideal material for safe and effective winter maintenance operations in applications where environmental impact and corrosion protection are a concern.”
Finally, there’s “Icenator,” a “… liquid ice melt. It is a special blend of corn by products, MgCl and anit-corrosive agents that enhance ice melting, prevent ice build-up, and help keep snow from bonding to the road surface. Our liquid de-icer is not corrosive to painted surfaces, sealed surfaces, plastic, fiberglass or rubber and is simi,ar in corrsiveness on metal to distilled water. It can be used before or after ice forms.”
I know a lot of people don’t think about what goes into our groundwater, but since it all comes around to us eventually, perhaps YOU could take the lead on some environmental issues and start doing things greener. We’ll all appreciate it.
Now, doesn’t everyone love sparkly Christmas lights? Do you also love burning more coal to power those lights every year? Is it really worth melting the planet to have more Christmas lights than your neighbor?
No, it’s not.
There are alternatives to the old-fashioned incandescent holiday lights – no lights at all, or you can use LED lights in multiple colors!
The Lufkin (TX) Daily News reports: “The typical multi-colored C7 LED bulb uses .08 watts compared .48 watts required by its incandescent counterpart, according to the Energy Ideas Clearinghouse of Washington State University Extension Energy Program.
The Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., estimates that 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide could be cut, along with $250 million in energy costs, if every U.S. house switched standard incandescents to energy-saving LED Christmas lights.
Fire-hazard safety wise, the LED lights stay at room or outdoor temperature, whereas incandescents quickly become scalding to the touch. Heat is a necessary reaction in the incandescent lights because its by-product is light.”
Where can you buy them? Tons of places on the interweb, just SearchKindly for “led christmas lights.” Target sells them, too. GET ON IT.
s.
Filed under: global warming pollution, green living
