2008
Fourth “Tips for Green Living” Carnival
The fourth Tips for Green Living blog carnival.
sustainable living for the rest of us
A Year Ago at Green Your Apartment 2008
Fourth "Tips for Green Living" Carnival
The fourth Tips for Green Living blog carnival.
15th Carnival for Green Living Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Tips for Green Living! We have so many good submissions, so let’s get started!.
dining & entertaining
Sam over at Best Cheap Weddings shares some...
A Year Ago at Green Your Apartment 2008
Back to Basics: Recycle
The final post in a series of three on the basic principles of green living.
A Year Ago at Green Your Apartment 2008
Call to Action
Will you help save the earth with only one hour of your time? www.EarthHour.org
Back to Basics: Reduce
The first in a series of three posts on the basic principles of green living.
Back...
What are Parabens, Exactly? Labeled as one of the new culprit for many a-modern defect is a group of preservatives called parabens. You may have seen the Breast Cancer Fund site's rundown of them or just saw a lotion bottle on the...
Category : Featured
Fourth “Tips for Green Living” Carnival
The fourth Tips for Green Living blog carnival.
Category : Featured
Back to Basics: Recycle
The final post in a series of three on the basic principles of green living.
Category : Featured
Call to Action
Will you help save the earth with only one hour of your time? www.EarthHour.org
Back to Basics: Reduce
The first in a series of three posts on the basic principles of green living.
Back to Basics: Reuse
The second in a series of three posts focusing on the basic principles of green living.
Category : Featured, Health & Beauty
Labeled as one of the new culprit for many a-modern defect is a group of preservatives called parabens. You may have seen the Breast Cancer Fund site’s rundown of them or just saw a lotion bottle on the shelf at the store proudly and boldly proclaiming the product “Paraben-free”.
Parabens are antibacterial and antifungal agents used as preservatives in foods and pharmaceuticals (thank you Merriam-Webster.com). They are pretty ubiquitous in modern life, found in everything from tanning lotions to toothpaste and are even used as food additives.
Good question. Parabens have similar chemical structures to some of our own hormones, mostly estrogen. While some naturally occur in various plants like blueberries, it is their “esters” or alcohol-derived forms that are more potent “pseudo-estrogen”. A certain amount of estrogen is the body is clearly a good thing though healthy levels are dependent upon sex, age, and individual. However, constantly slathering oneself with lotions containing 0.01-0.3% with up to or consuming a “pseudo-estrogen” in their food can raise those levels and cause problems. Breast cancer, for example, is encouraged by high levels of estrogen. In fact, they have found parabens in breast cancer cells which led to the early 2000s email declaring everyone should swear off antiperspirants.
But does this mean parabens cause breast cancer?
Not quite, which is why the jury is still out. The FDA’s website says:
A study published in 2004 (Darbre, in the Journal of Applied Toxicology) detected parabens in breast tumors. The study also discussed this information in the context of the weak estrogen-like properties of parabens and the influence of estrogen on breast cancer. However, the study left several questions unanswered. For example, the study did not show that parabens cause cancer, or that they are harmful in any way, and the study did not look at possible paraben levels in normal tissue.
So this is a cause versus correlation issue. Do the parabens cause cancer? Or are parabens and cancer co-related through some other factor?
The answer: We don’t know.
The FDA’s verdict: No.
The EPA’s verdict: Maybe.
Green Your Apartment’s verdict: Would you eat it?
Up to 70% of what you put on your skin can be absorbed into your dermis and blood stream. That ratio is more efficient than even consumption – that’s why we have a birth control patch and a nicotine patch.
So I ask again, would you eat your face cream? Your shampoo? Aside from the fact it may not taste so good, would you be more worried about poisoning or allergic reactions?
I believe you have your answer.
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Image courtesy of djcodrin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Welcome to the fourteenth edition of Tips for Green Living! We have so many good submissions, so let’s get started!
Surbhi Bhatia talks about how to Dispose Mind Waste, Not Food posted at The Viewspaper.
You more East Coasters – winter has been pretty harsh for you this year. So Guffly shares How to Stay Warm This Winter the Eco-Friendly Way posted at Guffly.
Gracyqueen presents 50 Big Ways that Schools Are Going Green posted at Associate Degree – Facts and Information.
Luke Spencer wants to demystify your electric bill and the Kilowatt hour in Kilowatt Hours and Your Electric Bill over at That old house.
Suzane Smith presents 56 Healthy & Natural hacks you should be using in the Kitchen at MRI Technician Schools.
savvybrown wants you to Clean your dishes with Kool-Aid. Yeah, Kool-Aid. It’s actually a green option over at savvy brown.
Suzane Smith presents 100 Healthy Remedies That Are Right In Your Home posted at Pharmacy Technician Certification.
Eugene Smith writes about gentle alternatives to commercial soaps with the post How To Make Natural Homemade Soap, at (surprise, surprise) How to Make You Own Soap.
Thinking about getting into that new and growing green job sector? You better study up on what the tech actually is. GreenJobsGuru explains the Solar Energy Facts at Green Jobs Ready.
Did you miss “Word Wetlands Day” on February 2nd? Yeah, me too. But Morgan Schwartz brings us up to date with Nebraska’s Wetlands posted at Nature Boy on Omaha.
Who hasn’t been thinking about Haiti? Well, Katy Unitek returns to tell us about Sol: A light in the darkness of Haiti posted at Boots On The Roof. Thanks Katy for yet another interesting post!
marjorie talks about food and the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign in the post Let’s Get a Move! at Green Thinking Blog. Um, I thought this was a green blog carnival? Ah, but it is… what is more green than fresh fruits and veggies and prepared foods with less preservatives? Now you get the picture!
Now here’s a post that took me by surprise. Vera Lang tells us about Back to School: Make a Dorm Bean Bag – Free Video Tutorials at Fine Craft Guild .com. In her own words: “Bean bags are ‘always in’, and according to the free tutorial with videos here, can be made with 100% recyclables. The sky is the limit, but in a bean bag you get to lay low and … relax. Pick a neutral cover and it’ll be a welcome addition to any room.” Who knew?!
savvybrown gives us another post, this time proclaiming I ♥ Dryer Balls over at savvy brown. Apparently these little guys eliminate the need for dryer sheets and fabric softener, which are both not eco-friendly. I’ll have to try these!
Beverly Saltonstall tells us about Six Home Air Misconceptions posted at A Green Lady Blog. I love this topic as it is not discussed as much as it needs to be. In fact, I wrote about in the post Breathe Deeply with the Indoor Air Pollution. Thank you Beverly!
Angela Martin presents Teaching Green: 100 Tips, Toools & Resources for Every Kind of Classroom posted at Online Degree Programs.org: Top Online Degrees. Mr. Green Apartment is working on becoming a high school teacher, so this will definitely be passed along!
For you dorm-dwellers, Angela Martin also offers up 101 Ways to Go Green In Your Dorm Room posted at Online Degree Programs.org: Top Online Degrees.
Renee Benzaim gives us some Tools & Tips for Compost Making at Compost Tumblers & Compost Making. If you have enough room in your small yard, garden, or patio, then you better pay attention to this!
Have some room? NHE presents How To Grow Blueberries In Your Home Garden posted at Natural Health Ezine. Now who wouldn’t love some fresh blueberries for a smoothie or in your morning oatmeal? Yum! But I wonder how they fare in container gardening…
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Well, my dear Internet, that concludes this edition of Tips for Green Living. Thank you all for your excellent submissions and I hope you found some useful info in this carnival. You can find a new edition posted every second and fourth Monday here at Green Your Apartment. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Tips for Green Living using our carnival submission form.
Go green and live well!
________________
Tips for Green Living logo image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Please, watch this video on YouTube – the whole thing – before you leave this site. It’s too important to miss.
Now there’s even more:
What do YOU think?
(Photo courtesy of prozac1 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
Late? Yes. Unfortunately, allergies have been running amok with all this rain at the Green Apartment so last week was awful and this week was catch-up. Oh the joy!
But, I do have a fabulous carnival for you!
Mrs. Green presents Price vs principles – 6 tips for eating organic on a budget posted at Little Green Blog. It’s funny, I already implement a lot of these tips but I just can’t find a co-op we’d really benefit from yet. Ideas?
Mrs. Green also gives us another post, 11 reuse ideas for coffee grounds posted at MY ZERO WASTE. Make my hair smell like coffee? You may be my green soul mate, Mrs. Green!
Pumpkin lasagna? Yeah, she said it! Kathy Hester, a.k.a. GeekyPoet, gives us the recipe for a Slow Cooker Protein Packed Pumpkin Lasagna posted at Healthy Slow Cooking. Wow!
Need some educating? Sandra Lopez can help! Her 100 Amazing Lectures to Follow the Future of Energy is posted at Online Degree Programs.org. My bookmarks just got so much bigger!
Now who doesn’t want to save money on gasoline? Yeah, I thought so and so does The Smarter Wallet. The post Save Money On Gas With These 10 Tips posted at The Smarter Wallet tells you how! Makes me think I really should clear out the trunk of my car.
Here at Green Your Apartment, we like a bit of shock and awe every now and then. This time, Emily Moser over at Online Nurse Practitioner Schools tells us about 20 Weird Allergies That Actually Exist just after allergies attacked our apartment all last week. But allergic to water? Oh yes, people, it can be that crazy. Green? Not so much but fascinating nonetheless.
Looks like Katy Unitek is back with her inspirational post The Dream of a Child Changes a Community posted at Boots On The Roof. Amazing what some tenacity can do!
Stuff With A Purpose, a newbie to our carnival, introduces us to the Reu$e And Save Series: Plastic Bags posted at Stuff With A Purpose. This is the very reason you need to become a bag-person!
Ambitious much? Emily Moser is! She discusses the Top 25 Soap Making Resources Online posted at Becoming A Radiologist.
Ah, to cook and clean. paystolivegreen talks about Being Green in the Kitchen over at Pays to Live Green. All great stuff, especially about reducing waste.
I’m going to be honest – it is a rare instance for me to find a green tip or reuse suggestion that I haven’t thought of or read about before. But Annette Berlin shows me up in this terribly clever post, 12 Crafty Ways To Reuse Phone Books posted at Craft Stew. Amusing and helpful!
To me, clutter is the antithesis of a green life. June Tree agrees in her post Cash In On Clutter over at The Digerati Life. Fabulous! (By the way, I <3 your blog!)
Have a pet and feel guilty about their droppings? Have no fear, Renee Benzaim is here! She explains What is a Worm Compost? posted at Compost Tumblers & Compost Making noting that “worm composting … is good for small spaces and also works for animal feces.” So looking into that…
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That concludes this edition of Tips for Green Living. Thank you all for your excellent submissions and I hope you found some useful info in this carnival. You can find a new edition posted every second and fourth Monday here at Green Your Apartment. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Tips for Green Living using our carnival submission form.
Go green and live well!
________________
Tips for Green Living logo image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
A Tribute to My Pile of Laundry
How to go green with your laundry.
First “Tips for Green Living” Carnival
The very first round-up of green tips from across the web.