When you get pneumonia or a really bad bug do you change anything in your less than green life? When I checked myself into Emergency a few days ago, the M.D.  diagnosed me with pneumonia and then went holistic on me by sending me to a Compound Pharmacy. I thought I was visiting a doctor, not a naturapathic holistic nutritionist.

I’m not judging anything yet, until I try for more than a week, what he recommended, including probiotics, lots of vitamin D, fish oils and Alkaline water to cure my burping problems. The pricey water tastes better than tap until you get on the internet where experts rip it big time.   

Here’s one Doctor’s opinion with quite the notariety.

“Taking calcium supplements or drinking alkaline water will not change the pH of your blood. If you hear someone say that your body is too acidic and you should use their product to make it more alkaline, you would be wise not to believe anything else the person tells you.”

He continues with “no foods change the acidity of anything in your body except your urine. Your stomach is so acidic that no food can change its acidity. Citrus fruits, vinegar, and vitamins such as ascorbic acid or folic acid do not change the acidity of your stomach or your bloodstream. An entire bottle of calcium pills or antacids would not change the acidity of your stomach for more than a few minutes.”

Mayo Clinic tells us…

“Alkaline water has a higher pH level than normal tap water. Some proponents say that alkaline water can neutralize acid in your bloodstream, boost your energy level and metabolism, and help your body absorb nutrients more effectively. Others say that alkaline water can help you resist disease and slow the aging process. However, there’s no scientific proof that any of these claims are true. For most people, plain water is best.”

What do you believe about Alkaline water?

We know our tap water provides us with safe levels of toxins, so any improvement with filtering is a smart green choice.

We know PLASTIC bottled water, like “Fiji”, which is supposedly “carbon-negative,” and the Lexus of PLASTIC bottled spring waters can’t be that good for us.

According to the company’s website, this product is carbon-negative - implying the planet would actually be worse off without it - for numerous reasons.

Starting in 2010, for instance, Fiji “will require 25% fewer emissions to produce and deliver; 50% of our energy will come from renewable sources like wind, to power their bottling facility in Fiji and biodiesel to replace traditional fuels used in transportation.”

The company is also investing in “forest carbon (e.g., reforestation) and renewable energy projects that prevent the release of carbon into the atmosphere; these add up to at least 120% of our remaining product lifecycle emissions.”

While carbon-offsets are a great way to make up for green sins, the fact remains that shipping water across the world in plastic bottles is far from environmentally sound. Tap water in a reusable stainless steel bottle is still a far better option.

I think the Fiji water thing is a joke. It’s a textbook example of using one so-called green aspect of a product as marketing tactic. I could maybe see this making sense if they were shipping it to countries that don’t have drinking water readily available, but we’ve got lots of water in America. At least for now.

So many topics to discuss. Brad Pitt’s biodegrable body lotion, Tiger Woods is now like the rest of us, a real human being. America’s dollar is weaker, China is building huge solar plants in Arizona and India will not buy our bonds, rather they buy more gold. Most of what I just said is not that interesting so lets do some “You Got to be Kidding Me” gift ingredient audits.

I’ve been shopping for holiday gifts and as a cheif responsible blogger at Hart of Green, I have to pull back that veil on “Biodegradable”. What you don’t know will only help you feel more stupid when you find out whats really in these products posing as 100% green.

You got to be kidding me #1…

100% biodegradable body wash? …really? 100?

On the positive side, when I look at all the ingredients in most of these products, I found most are able to break down within 28 days. Not much biodegrades available as ingredients, especially the thing we care about the most, THE SCENT - there are really only three scents to choose from. Hence, why we see so much aloe.

Packaging-wise, most bottles are made of post-consumer recycled plastic

However, all had fragrances and preservatives such as potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, which can form into the carcinogen benzene if it comes in contact with acids. And there’s isoeugenol, also found in the body wash, which is currently listed as a “high hazard” ingredient on the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic database.

Of course, it’s not as though using this body wash will cause skin cancer, but compare it to something like Dr. Bronner’s soaps, which are made of nothing but glycerin and essential oils - fair-trade, organic ones at that - and it suddenly doesn’t seem so impressive.

You got to be kidding me #2

While most all bottles are recyclable, the pumps are not. Even Brad Pitt’s, Kiehl’s, generally tries to be eco-conscious in their product development and retail, it has yet to offer an in-store refill option.

What’s scary is we should grab a bottle of Jean-Nate and see what’s in that. Remember that stuff? They still sell it.  Even scarier, I bet Brad Pitt and Angelina flood thier bathtub with it.

Furthermore, biodegradable soap is actually not biodegradable when it ends up in a body of water, because it requires soil for it to break down properly.

This is why many “camping friendly” soaps have labels reading “Do all washing, bathing or cleaning at least 200 feet from any water sources.”

So you make the call. More products posturing as green this holiday season on the margins of what is otherwise an unsustainable product. There are two components with biodegradable, the ingredients and the packaging, and neither is as sustainable as something like a bar soap, which is natural, doesn’t require packaging and has a long shelf life.”

There are two categories of green products:

Best in class, which refers to the best of a bad set of products (for example, biodegradable plastic bags, which are better than regular plastic bags but still belong to a category that’s inherently unsustainable); and alternatives to unsustainable products, such as a cleaning solution that uses vinegar instead of ammonia as a base.

Companies that are genuinely trying to change their ways for the sake of the environment should be commended, even if they’re not perfectly green in the end.

But consumers who are serious about reducing their footprint will soon figure out that words like “recyclable,” “biodegradable” and “natural” don’t always translate into sustainable.

How Green is Dry

Time to hold your dry cleaner accountable when they’re using the word ORGANIC.

The truth is, businesses who go green need to stop using false labels that lead to false advertising.

Did you know, chemists define anything organic to be anything containing carbon, and those things aren’t necessarily good for you.

#1
Dry cleaning really isn’t dry – it just means that instead of water being used to clean the clothes, a chemical solvent is used in its place.

#2
Most dry cleaners use perchloroethylene, otherwise known as perc. The EPA has classified this handy little cleaner as a probable cancer-causing chemical.

#3
Many organic dry cleaners use a solvent called DF-2000 (sounds totally organic, right?) to clean clothes instead of perc. A derivative of gasoline, DF-2000 is only slightly less harmful than perc.

#4
Have you noticed that within 1 mile of your home you will probably find “organic” dry cleaners in a one-mile radius?

#5
At the first couple of places I went to, the clerk behind the counter couldn’t even answer my question. A manager was summoned to tell me that, indeed, DF-2000 was used in their facility to clean clothes in a “healthier” way. Another told me that perc was used to clean the clothes in their establishment, and the sign “organic” in the window only meant that they operated in an environmentally responsible way – meaning that they recycle those toxic perc containers, I guess.

#6
According to the clerk in the fourth store, they were actually using a method called wet cleaning, in which water is used to clean the garment, but in a computerized machine that prevents shrinkage and wrinkles. Prices there, however, were a bit steeper.

#7
I went home to do a bit more research, and found out that wet cleaning actually works great for most garments and is actually a much greener alternative to either perc or DF-2000. Another alternative? Carbon dioxide cleaning, which turns CO2 into a liquid to clean clothes.

Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a greener way to dry clean, try finding a dry cleaner that uses a truly greener method here.

Are you ready to STOP BUYING dry clean-only clothes altogether? I’m not. But I am enjoying this continued education of how fake people show up with veneer green labels and expect everyone to honor them when they aren’t authentic. What the hell?

How Green and Cheap can we get this Halloween? Budgets are tight and so is that thong. First thing here… on the Today show last week, Meredith Vieira mentioned to Reese Witherspoon that one of the hot adult costumes this year is Prisoner Paris Hilton.

(Here’s one example.) But Reese didn’t nibble. Instead, she said, “I’m going to be a very scary witch.”

Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Fandango did a recent survey of hot adult costumes taken from movies.

No. 1 for men: Captain Jack Sparrow  (otherwise the age-old pirate costume).

Borat is No. 10. We’re not sure if that’s with his green thong mankini or not.

Women picked Catwoman — worn well by Halle Berry here — as their No. 1 costume, with Hairspray’s Edna Turnblad bringing up the bottom of the list.

If you are low on dough and need to look slick and sassy for pennies, lets get creative. Especially if you have kids, this is how cost effective we need to be this year

Timeless Mummy Costume

Check out the awesome Instructable for how to make your own mummy costume from the awesome and crafty folks at Thread Banger. All you need is:

White sheets (2)
White pants/jeans
White long sleeve shirt (preferably turtleneck)
Box of 100 tea bags
Some 3-5 gallon buckets
Seam ripper
Sewing machine
Scissors

Your HOT body and 3 bucks and you are a SPARTAN!

Make a $2.00 costume from almost only cardboard! Here’s what you’ll need:

PART I:

Cardboard - 3-5 larger boxes should do
Hot glue gun and glue
A box cutter or razor blade

PART II:

Fiberglass sheets/matting (optional)
Fiberglass Resin (optional)
Bondo or another type of filler with hardener (optional)
Sandpaper - 100, 350, and 600 grits (optional)
Spray paint - a black or gray base-coat , a Black Lacquer (optional), a Gold, a Bronze and a copper

You’ll only need the fiberglass, resin, bondo, and sandpaper if you want to use some fiberglass to add a more finished look and strength to your costume.

Grab a swine flu mask when you’re sanding please.

By the way, one of my colleagues contracted
swine flu this week and I’m surprised this is the first person I know that contracted this bug. Get well Deb. Are you freaking out or what? I think I would be. Maybe not. I’ve heard significants facts that say the regular old flu kills many more people than this virus called “Swine” has killed.

If you think Green gifts are cheesy and expensive, well, keep that skepticism front and center and drop down to the end of this post for some UN-green holiday gifts from our friends at Best Buy.

If you really need to cut the Ho Ho HOLY COW No Cash for Gifts, then let’s find a cool way to say I love you when shopping this holiday season. Nothing says I love you like a pallet for your shoes with a new twist to living Green. As of today, consider yourself an Upcycler.

Upcycling is SO much more fun than recycling. Upcycling is taking something that has outlived its intended usefulness and gets converted into something even more awesome.

One of our favorite things to upcycle here at Hart of Green are shipping pallets!

Israeli designers, Junk+Ion, are absolute masters at upcycling shipping pallets and other everyday items into wonderfully useful pieces of art and furniture, like the DIY shoe rack you see here.

So what else can you do with shipping pallets?

Maybe more than wondering what you could build with salvaged shipping pallets, you could find yourself wondering, “Why would I want to use shipping pallets to make anything?”

One user in this pallet project metafilter says,

“Pallet furniture is actually a big deal right now, as used pallets are an endemic disposal problem throughout the industrialized world. But what’s being talked about is recycling the wood and using that wood to build furniture.”

Just as a reminder, when working with shipping pallets (or any lumber, for that matter)…be sure you are using non-treated wood. Pressure  treated wood has been treated with various chemicals to help it resist weather, rot, and insects.

Arsenic is the monster. Yeah, like the poison.