Go Green for Earth Day!

by Michael & Bianca Alexander

You don’t have to be Al Gore to understand that going green is vital to Mother Earth’s survival—and our own. Most of us want to do our part to prevent global warming, but aren’t sure how. The good news is, scientists have reported that if each of us did our part to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by just 2% a year, we could actually prevent the worst effects of global warming by the year 2050! So celebrate Earth Day every day by making a few small lifestyle changes. Not only will they help save our planet, but they can also save you money. Here’s how:

1. Say Goodbye to energy vampires. Reduce your utility bill and your carbon dioxide emissions by upgrading to energy-efficient appliances, like an adjustable thermostat, throughout your home. Also, unplug common appliances like your cell phone charger, computer and TV when not in use: if they’re plugged in, they’re draining energy even if they’re not turned on. And instead of cranking the heat—pile on the extra layers and get cozy with your loved ones.

Tip: Don’t have time to go around unplugging appliances at night? No worries, with a multi-plug power strip you can save tons of energy just by pressing the off button each night.

2. Make the switch to CFLs. Still waiting around to change out your regular incandescent light bulbs with CFLs or LEDs? By making the switch, you can save about $50 over the life of each bulb—and reduce your CO2 emissions.

Bonus: Nowadays, CFL’s and LEDs come in a variety of fashionable shapes and sizes, perfect for even the most fabulous light fixture.

3. De-tox your home. Since green is everywhere, nowadays you can opt for an eco-friendly redecoration by using low-voc paint, carpet, paints, and even wood cabinetry. Also, detoxify your home by avoiding standard household cleaning and personal care products, which contain toxic chemicals like sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and phosphates. These chemicals are not only carcinogenic, but also wreak havoc on the planet when rinsed down the drain and into our rivers and streams.

Fact: Every cup of dish or laundry detergent you use eventually kills one cubic foot of photoplankton, tiny ocean organisms that can actually help prevent global warming. Through photosynthesis, they replenish the planet with oxygen, and absorb ozone-destroying CO2 from the atmosphere. Try eco-friendly cleaning products for your home, like Biokleen detergent, and Dr. Hauschka’s biodynamic personal care products for your face and body.

4. Install a Water Filter. Using a water filter will not only keep you from digesting toxins in our water and give you better-tasting water, but it will also reduce your dependence on plastic water bottles. In fact, a typical filter used can eliminate up to two tractor trailers full of plastic bottles in our landfills, and the energy (and CO2) required to manufacture those bottles.

Try: A point-of-use filter (for a single faucet) or point-of entry filter (for water used throughout the home). But beware of reverse osmosis filters, which over strip water, depleting it of body-benefiting minerals, and waste water and also water softeners, which deposit harsh chemicals into the earth.

5. Eat organic or sustainably grown food. Organic farming is better for the planet than industrial farming because it’s free of harmful pesticides that run into our rivers and streams. Organic food is also a natural immune booster during cold-season, because it’s free of toxins like GMO’s (genetic modifiers), antibiotics and hormones, which are dangerous to your health when digested and have been linked to degenerative diseases and learning disabilities in children.

What to look for when you shop: Don’t be fooled by products labeled “natural”--this term is unregulated by the FDA and serves primarily as a marketing tool. Instead, look for the USDA Certified Organic seal to ensure you’re getting the highest quality organic (95% or higher).

6. Reduce your meat consumption. Most people don’t know that the meat industry is the largest industrial polluter of the planet, wasting millions of tons of precious water, land and natural resources each year. In fact, studies show that 18% of greenhouse gases have been linked to farming animals for food. Fact: A meat-eating diet requires more than 4000 gallons of water per day. By comparison, a vegetarian diet requires only 300 gallons of water per day, and is less costly to your wallet and the planet.

Not ready to give up all of your favorite meat treats? Then try going vegetarian for just one or two meals a day, then move up to one or two days a week.

7. Wear Eco-Chic Clothing. Before going on your next shopping excursion, take into account that about 1/3 of a pound of pesticides are used just to make one cotton t-shirt! Do your part by purchasing clothing made from sustainable fabrics like bamboo, hemp, or organic cotton, which feels like silk on your skin.

Better yet: Do your part to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle by buying one-of-a-kind vintage clothing at a local retro boutique, or go treasure hunting with your girlfriend at a weekend estate sale.

8. Travel green whenever you can. To cut down on C02 emissions, consider driving a fuel or energy efficient vehicle. If you can't buy a new car or aren’t ready to trade yours in for a Prius, opt to walk, bike, or carpool (public transportation counts) instead of driving.

Love to travel? Make your winter vacation extra-special by staying at an upscale green hotel that supports green practices.

9. Offset your carbon footprint. When all else fails, do your part to neutralize your carbon footprint the easy way by purchasing carbon offset credits. Carbon offsetting is one of the most popular ways clean up CO2 emissions from daily activities in your home or business like driving your car, flying, or turning on the heat.

Tip: For usually less than $100, carbon offsetting will help you calculate your annual energy use and offset it with pro-environment activities like replanting trees and purchasing renewable energy like wind or solar.

10. Become a conscious consumer. Being a conscious consumer means voting with your spending dollars to create the change you want to see in the world. Buy only what you need. Purchase green products and services whenever you can. Support local businesses that offer products and services sourced from no more than 100 miles from your home (start with your local farmer’s market). And finally, think about expanding your portfolio by investing in socially responsible businesses.

These are but a few of the ways you can stay green, not only on Earth Day, but all year long. And, if overhauling your whole life to go green still feels a little overwhelming, take your time. Incorporating just one of these tips on an ongoing basis can make a world of difference, so feel free to experiment and make your green lifestyle work for you!

For more tips on living sustainably, or to share some of your own, check out www.ConsciousLivingTV.com.

Meat-Y Reasons for Global Warming

By Michael Alexander

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” --Albert Einstein

Did you know that animal agriculture is the number 1 polluter of our planet and that it wastes much of our natural resources?

Unfortunately, no one wants to talk about this...why?

Because the fact of the matter is that we love our meat, especially here in the U.S. In fact, it is simply un-American not to love meat, hamburgers, hot dogs, and Thanksgiving Turkey. I'm sure there are many cities in the U.S. where being a vegetarian is grounds for being shot. Bush country anyone?

But the facts are the facts.

I too, used to love eating meat. At breakfast with my eggs. At lunch in my sandwiches. And at night, a dinner without meat just wasn’t a meal! Then I heard that each time I ate meat, it lowered my vibration to the vibration of death. With each satisfying chew, the energy that the animal died with was going straight into my system. Whether I was aware of it or not, the suffering the animal I was eating felt when they died now became my suffering. In fact, I was ingesting death every single time I ate meat. Finally, had to confront my own hypocrisy as a carnivore—I was living my life to raise the consciousness of the planet, to encourage life in all of its forms, but enthusiastically ingesting death on a regular basis?

So I stopped cold turkey. I became a vegetarian and eliminated meat from my diet two years ago and have never felt better. I know what you’re thinking: where do I get my protein? From a variety of sources. I still eat plenty of organic eggs and cheese (so I’m far from vegan), unprocessed soy, peanut butter, beans and even greens, all of which are highly nutritional live sources of protein that don’t require the needless slaughter of a helpless animal.

In case you need more incentive, here are some facts that may be worth considering the next time you saddle up to a burger*:

Water Pollution: According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the runoff from factory farms pollutes our rivers and lakes more than all other industries combined. Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population — 86,000 pounds per second. A typical pig factory farm generates as much raw waste as a city of 50,000 people. Chicken, hog, and cattle excrement have polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated groundwater in 17 states.

Land: Of all agricultural land in the U. S., nearly 80 percent is used to raise animals for food. More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals. Twenty times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than a vegetarian. (A meat-eater requires 3 and ¼ acres of land to feed him/herself per year, whereas vegetarians require only 1/6 of an acre.)

Rainforest: 214,000 acres, an area greater than that of New York City, is destroyed every day by the meat industry. Some of this is so “beef” cattle can graze, while some of it is to grow crops to feed factory farmed animals. More than 2.9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season in order to grow crops that feed chickens and other animals in factory farms.

Water: Raising animals for food consumes nearly half the water used in the United States. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. A single individual’s carnivorous diet requires a whopping 4,200 gallons of water per day. A vegetarian diet requires just 300 gallons of water per day.

Global Warming: Meat production exacerbates global warming by emitting both carbon dioxide and methane: In “Diet, Energy and Global Warming” (http://geosci.uchicago.edu/~gidon/papers/nutri/nutriEI.pdf ), scientists at the University of Chicago calculate that switching from the average carnivorous American diet to a vegetarian one will cause a 50% greater reduction in climate warming than switching from the average gas-guzzling car to a Prius, thus suggesting that a shift toward a plant-based diet should be at least as high a priority as advocating improved fuel economy.

Animal burps, flatulence, and feces are the largest sources of airborne methane. According to the EPA, methane is 21 times more effective than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. In “A New Global Warming Strategy” (http://www.earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm), Noam Mohr, a physicist graduated from Yale and Penn (and a former lobbyist on global warming with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group), demonstrates that methane from the billions of animals raised on factory farms will be the most significant source of climate change over the next half-century, not cars and power plants.

Energy: Raising animals for food requires more than one-third of all the raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States. The processes that bring meat to the table (tilling grains, corn, and soy, transporting these to feed factories, transporting the feed to factory farms, operating the factory farms, transporting the animals to slaughter, operating the slaughterhouses, transporting the sliced up animals to processing factories and then onto grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) are wasteful and pollute our environment more than anything else human beings do, including driving automobiles.

Frightening as the thought of global warming can be, the good news is, there’s plenty you and I can do about it. Question is, are you ready to give up some of the things you think you can’t live without to ensure our survival as a species? That’s the same question I ask myself each day. And though some days are better than others, I’m trying my best to do my part.

“If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you can do.” —Sir Paul McCartney

*For more sources on the facts contained in this article, as well as a plethora of info on how to go veg, visit www.goveg.com (click on “The Issues” and then on “The Environment”).
*Special Thanks to Benay Vynerib and Bart Potenza of the amazingly delicious
Candle 79 & Candle Cafe in NYC (http://www.candlecafe.com/) for putting these facts together!