The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

12 ways to go green in 2012

By Rita R. Robison

Is going green among your New Year’s resolutions for 2012?

If so, the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research organization, has these suggestions for you:

1. Recycle

Put a separate container next to your trash can or printer, making it easier to recycle your bottles, cans, and paper.

2. Turn off the lights

Turn off lights during bright daylight, or whenever you’ll be away for an extended period of time.

3. Make the switch

Use compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs because they use only 20 to 30 percent of the energy required by incandescents to create the same amount of light, and light emitting diodes or LEDs use only 10 percent, helping reduce both electric bills and carbon emissions.

4. Turn on the tap

Fill up your glasses and reusable water bottles with tap water.

5. Turn down the heat

Turn down your thermostat when you leave for work, or use a programmable thermostat to control your heating settings.

6. Support food recovery programs

Encourage your local restaurants and grocery stores to partner with food rescue organizations, such as City Harvest in New York City or Second Harvest Heartland in Minnesota. Go through your cabinets and shelves and donate any non-perishable canned and dried foods that you won't be using to your nearest food bank or shelter.

7. Buy local

Consider farmers markets and local farms for your produce, eggs, dairy, and meat instead of relying only on large supermarkets. Food from these sources is usually fresher and more flavorful, and your money will be going directly to these food producers. 

8. Get out and ride 

Use your city's bike share program to run short errands or commute to work if one is available in your community. Check out Bike Belong.org to find a listing of bike sharing programs in the United States. Take advantage of the bike lanes many cities and towns are providing, making it easier and safer to use your bike for transportation and recreation.

9. Share a car

Join a car share program. See Zipcar.com for information on car share programs in the U.S.

10. Plant a garden

Start by planting some lettuce in a window box. Lettuce seeds are inexpensive. When planted in full sun, one window box can provide enough lettuce to make numerous salads throughout a season. Move on to planting seedlings in pots on your patio. Next, investigate where in your yard you could create a raised bed garden.

11. Compost

See websites such as HowToCompost.org, which provide easy steps to reuse your organic waste.

12. Reduce your meat consumption

Cut down on the amount of meat you consume by substituting one meal day with a vegetarian option. Websites such as Meatless Monday and Eating Well offer many vegetarian recipes that are healthy for you and the environment.

For more and more people across the world, the impacts of hunger, poverty, and climate change are felt every day, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Simple practices, such as recycling or riding a bike, can have great impact on making 2012 a healthier, happier, and greener year for all.

 

Copyright 2011, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Ways to help the planet on Earth Day

By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

We live in challenging times. The economy continues to limp along in a slow recovery from the Great Recession, brought to us by corporate greed.

Because tax revenues are down, conservatives are leading a charge to cut the size of government – and with these reductions come the elimination of valuable government programs. Unfortunately, rhetoric from the right is capturing the public’s attention.

Just this week, we marked the first anniversary of the Gulf Oil Spill. In Japan, a cluster of damaged nuclear power plants continues to spew radiation into the air and sea daily.

You’d think environmental issues would be rising on our list of public interest priorities. Instead, they’re being overshadowed with deficit debates and another war.

What can consumers do to help the environment? My advice is to join a consumer group and take action to protect the environment.

Here are groups I think are worthwhile:

The Environmental Working Group – The EWG researches issues and tells consumers things they wouldn’t know otherwise. I appreciated their research on cell phone radiation. I’ve put off buying a smartphone until Verizon Wireless produces a phone that emits low levels of radiation.

The Sierra Club – Since 1892, the Sierra Club has been working to protect communities, wild places, and the planet. It’s the largest environmental organization in the United States with 1.4 million members. Local chapters throughout the U.S. offer opportunities for hikes and other outings and action on local and state issues.

Earthjustice – The group’s slogan is, “Because the earth needs a good lawyer.” The public interest law firm works to protect natural resources and wildlife and to defend the right of all people to a healthy environment.

National Resources Defense Council – The NRDC’s priorities are establishing a clean energy future that curbs climate change, reviving the world's oceans, defending endangered wildlife and wild places, protecting health by preventing pollution, fostering sustainable communities, and ensuring safe and sufficient water.

Friends of the Earth – The group’s current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, keeping toxic and risky technologies out of the food consumers eat and products they use, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.

Environmental Defense Fund – The EDF works on stabilizing climate, improving the health of the ocean, supporting people and wildlife by preserving land and freshwater ecosystems, protecting health by studying air pollution and chemicals that effect health.

National Audubon Society – The society works to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humans and the earth's biological diversity.

Earth Island Institute – Earth Island acts as an umbrella organization, providing individual projects with the freedom to develop new initiatives by offering professional services, from fiscal administration and program management to office space and equipment.

Greenpeace International – Greenpeace takes action to protect the oceans and forests, eliminate the use of harmful chemicals, and transition to a world powered by clean and unlimited energy sources like the wind and sun.

Washington Toxics Coalition – This is the group I contact when I want to find out about harmful chemicals. The coalition’s website offers tips on healthy living, including suggestions for less toxic products to clean your home, safer products for children, and pesticide free food.

For other Earth Day tips, see my article, “Top 10 Earth Day Tips.”

Copyright 2011, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 worst environmental stories of 2010

The Environmental Working Group polled its staff and came up with the environmental happenings they thought had the worst impact last year. Here are the results:

 
 

1. BP's Gulf oil spill was the top environmental disaster of 2010, with slow response, use of dispersants, and secrecy about what's in the dispersants.

2. Congress failed to ban Bisphenol A, an endocrine-disrupting chemical, in baby bottles and children's sippy cups.

3. Brazilian Blowout, a hair-straightening product, is shown to have high levels of toxic formaldehyde despite the company's insistence that it's "formaldehyde free."

4. The climate change bill dies in the U.S. Senate, due to vocal and persuasive arguments by climate change skeptics and protectors of the energy status quo.

5. Chromium-6, a carcinogen, was found in tap water samples in 31 of 35 cities tested by the Environmental Working Group.

6. California's "Green Chemistry" rule is gutted, when regulators announced weak rules for carrying out the state's pioneering law designed to reduce the use of toxic substances in consumer products and shift toward safer alternatives.

7. Texas, Ohio, and other states approved the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from deep rock formations beneath school property, because they were tempted by the revenue they could gain by leasing mineral rights to drilling companies.

8. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t adopted sunscreen rules that would ensure that sunscreens are safe, effective, and don't make exaggerated claims, despite the fact that the agency has been working on the rules for 32 years.

9. Congress failed to revise the Toxic Substances Control Act, the 1976 environmental law that is inadequate and has never been updated.

10. Congress reauthorized the tax credit that pays gas refiners 45 cents a gallon to blend corn ethanol into gasoline and the excise tax that blocks imports of cheaper Brazilian ethanol made from cane sugar.

See the Environmental Working Group’s article for more information on these environmental disasters.

Let’s hope that 2011 is a better year for the environment and consumers.

Copyright 2011, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

 

Top 10 positive environmental stories of 2010

 

Recently, I wrote about the top 10 stories for consumers in 2010.

Since what happens in the environment also is important to consumers, I’m posting about this list of the top 10 good news stories for the environment in 2010 by The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization.

 1. Gas drilling using hydraulic fracking is beginning to be seriously examined by Congress and regulators.

2. Californians stand up for their climate change law by voting to retain it despite millions spent by oil companies to defeat the law in a referendum.

3. Consumers in San Francisco know how much radiation cell phones release, due to a new law passed by the city.

4. Perchlorate, a toxic chemical known to disrupt thyroid hormones that are essential to brain development, will finally be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.

5. The passage of a federal food safety law will bring safer, healthier food for everyone.

6. States and cities dump Bisphenol A, even though Congress declined to vote on banning the endocrine-disrupting plastics chemical in baby bottles and sippy cups.

7. Small steps toward better controls on toxic chemicals have been taken, with bills introduced in the House and Senate to update and strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act.

8. Presidential advisors take a fresh look at cancer causes, with a report that concludes the "true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated."

9. Plastic bags are being outlawed from coast to coast, as more cities vote to ban them.

10. Some brands are disclosing what’s in their cleaning products, including S.C. Johnson, the maker of Windex, Nature's Source, and Shout.

See the Environmental Working Group’s article for more information on these accomplishments.

My next post will be on the group’s list of the worst environmental stories of 2010.

Copyright 2011, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist 

Top 10 consumer stories for 2010

It’s been a mixed year for American consumers. While some important consumer protection measures have been passed, a sluggish economy continues to hurt those who are unemployed and corporations continue to gain power at the expense of consumers.

1. The Great Recession continues on.

As of November, more than 6.3 million people have been without work for six months or more, making up nearly 42 percent of the unemployed. People out of work for long periods find it difficult to get back to work.

2. Gigantic gains in corporate power are devestating to consumers. 

With the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision ushering in unlimited corporate campaign contributions, corporations bought dozens of elections throughout the country. It happened in the Third Congressional District where I live. A young, conservative woman – who touted as experience playing varsity basketball in high school and belonging to 4-H – defeated a candidate with extensive experience in government.

3. Help is lacking for consumers with housing dilemmas.

American taxpayers bailed out the big banks. However, very little help is being made available to homeowners who are having housing problems. The banks and the mortgage industry, through predatory lending, roped consumers into ill-advised loans. Then complicated mortgage instruments were created, including bad loans now called toxic assets. Despite a collapse in the housing market, the banks want to collect inflated housing prices. They harass consumers who want to do short sales and are forcing thousands of families into foreclosure.

4. Food safety bill grants new authority to curb the contamination of food.

Congress passed the most comprehensive reform of the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety authority in 70 years. The new law provides the FDA with the authority to proactively help prevent food from becoming contaminated. It requires food companies to develop preventive controls; empowers the FDA to set standards for safe production of fruits and vegetables; mandates mandatory minimum inspection periods for food processing plants; improves food traceability systems; puts in place programs to assure that imported foods are as safe as domestic foods; and provides the FDA with authority to mandate food recalls.

5. Consumer financial agency is created.

As part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to guard against unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices when consumers take out a loan, use a credit card, or get a mortgage. The bureau will monitor the financial services market and write and enforce consumer protection rules.

6. Credit card reforms help consumers.

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act or CARD Act provides consumers with a number of new protections. Creditors are prohibited from: increasing interest rates on old charges in most cases; charging unjustifiably high penalty fees; assessing over-limit fees unless consumers choose to exceed their credit limit; and assessing interest charges on purchases that have already been paid off. Companies also must provide at least 45-days notice before making significant changes to card terms, mail monthly bills at least three weeks before payment is due, and apply payments first to the highest interest rate balance that is owed.

7. Tax cut compromise is unfortunate.

Now that corporate American has been bailed out and corporate executives are making big bucks again, the political right wants to cut the federal deficit. But cutting taxes for the rich isn’t how they want to go about it. They’re proposing to slash Medicare, stop unemployment payments, reduce Social Security benefits, and cut other social programs. These unfortunate proposals would hurt consumers already reeling from the 2008 economic collapse.

8. Corporate disregard for the environment continues.

The BP Gulf oil spill shows the lack of regard corporate America has for the environment. The diminishing of regulatory authority and the disregard for safety on oil rigs led to the worst oil spill in history. And spills of even larger amounts are common throughout the world. While a handful of environmental groups work to reverse these trends and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tries to regulate, corporate power wins again and again. Another example this year is the failure by Congress to pass reforms of toxic chemical laws. Legislation was proposed, but industry flexed its muscles. This comes at a time when more is being learned about the link between chemical exposure and cancer.

9. Retirement uncertainties continue for baby boomers.

On Jan. 1, 2011, the oldest baby boomers will turn 65. Every day for the next 19 years, about 10,000 more will cross that threshold. Among those baby boomers ages 50 to 61 who are approaching the end of their working years, six-in-10 say they may have to postpone retirement, according to Pew Research Center survey.

10. Another year at war brings more deaths and expenditures.

America’s foreign policy continues to drag the country into unfortunate wars. Now, the United States is involved in two at the same time. While the killing of civilians and our young men and women is wrong, the tremendous expenditures for war efforts affect domestic programs. We need to wind up these actions and concentrate on what consumers need here.

                  Copyright 2010, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 hopeful stories for 2010 for consumers and the environment

One thing that cheers me up every year is going to the Green Festival in Seattle sponsored by Green America and other organizations.

It was at my first Green Festival that I met David Korten, cofounder of the Positive Futures Network which publishes Yes! Magazine. Korten, an economist, believes decision making needs to be shifted from global corporations to local communities so everyone can experience healthy, joyful living.

The Green Festival concentrates on what’s being accomplished to heal the earth and its people. I always go home inspired rather than feeling despair, as I often do after watching TV news.

As 2010 draws to a close, Sarah Van Gelder, executive editor of Yes! Magazine, offers these stories as the most hopeful of the year:

1. Climate crisis response takes a new direction, with indigenous people, climate activists, and grassroots leaders offering a solution to the climate crisis based on a recognition of the rights of Mother Earth.

2. Wikileaks lifts the veil on U.S. government actions around the world, offering data points for a bracing, reality-based conversation on the future of war.

3. Momentum is building for the abolition of nuclear weapons with the ratification of the START Treaty.

4. Resilience is the new watchword, as familiar sources of security erode and people are rebuilding their communities to be green and resilient.

5. Health care is still in play, as a federal judge strikes down the individual mandate in the Obama health care package, some advocate the expansion of Medicare to cover more people – or everyone, and Vermont explores adopting a statewide single-payer healthcare system.

6. Corporate power is challenged, as small businesses distance themselves from the Chamber of Commerce and towns and cities declare that the rights of people and nature supersede the rights of corporations.

7. A local economy movement is taking off, as it becomes clear that the corporate economy is a net drain on the well-being of people, the environment, communities, and jobs.

8. Cooperatives are making a comeback, as new model for local, just, and green job creation is gaining national attention.

9. A turn away from homophobia is occurring with the revoking of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the widespread adoption of anti-bullying campaigns.

10. Social movements provide the best hope, as movement leaders are connecting the dots between Wall Street’s plunder, growing poverty, and the climate crisis, and setting priorities instead for people and the planet.

See "10 Most Hopeful Stories of 2010" for more information.

Copyright 2010, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 Earth Day tips

This year is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.

I remember when Earth Day was created. More was being learned about harmful environmental practices after years of unabated development and pollution.

As young people, we had hope that things would turn around and humans could learn to live in more environmentally friendly ways. However, now we face climate change and getting governments, even our own, to do much about it remains a big stumbling block.

While special interests continue to hustle politicians in battles over the environment, it’s still possible for the actions of individuals to make a difference.

Here are some suggestions to consider as Earth Day approaches on how you can take action to improve the environment:

1. Don’t use pesticides in your yard or garden. Pesticides are harmful to you, your children, grandchildren, pets, and the environment.

2. Buy organic food as often as you can. Your purchases help to support local farmers markets and farmers who grow organic food.

3. Eat more vegetables and grow them yourself, even if it’s only a container garden. Livestock production requires enormous amounts of energy. Far more energy is put into animals per unit of food than for any plant crop. The main reason is that cattle consume 16 times as much grain as they produce as meat.

4. Gather information from green Web sites. It will help you green your life by making better environmental choices and by buying less.

5. Use natural, non-toxic cleaning products and make simple natural cleaners with ingredients such as vinegar, baking soda, and water. A recent survey conducted at the Massachusetts-based Silent Spring Institute indicated that 216 chemicals and radiation sources have been recognized by national and international regulatory agencies as being implicated in breast cancer causation.

6. Leave the grass clippings on your lawn. The clippings act as fertilizer and using them in this way means they won’t go to the landfill.

7. Work at the local, state, and national level for healthier food choices. Some examples are advocating for the serving of locally grown, organic food in school lunchrooms and the labeling of genetically modified food.

8. Join an environmental group and work to help it carry out its goals. With the serious problems of climate change beginning to impact the planet, consumers need to redouble their efforts to reverse environmental degradation and stop practices that destroy the soil, air, and water.

9. Support strong revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act, which Congress is debating. The act is largely ineffective, and reforms are needed that meet the needs of consumers rather than corporations.

10. Buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle or cut your driving time by carpooling or taking public transportation.

Let me know what you’re doing in your community to help the environment on Earth Day and throughout the year.

Copyright 2010, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 stories of the decade for baby boomers

My last post discussed the top stories of 2009 for baby boomers.

Many changes have taken place since 2000, so I thought I’d develop a list of the most important stories of the decade.

Here are my ideas on the top stories of the decade for boomers:

 

1. 9/11 attacks and increased surveillance measures.

2. The War in Afghanistan.

3. The War in Iraq.

4. The weakening of consumer and environmental laws and rules under the George W. Bush administration.

5. The collapse of the economy with the loss of 7.2 million jobs and the foreclosure of four million homes.

6. The $787 billion economic stimulus and the bank bailout package.

7. The election of President Barack Obama and changes in domestic and foreign policies.

8. Health care costs and efforts to adopt reforms.

9. The explosion in Internet use, including social networking and new technology such as the iPhone and SmartPhones.

10. The interest in green business, products, and technology and climate change.

Were these the most significant stories of the decade for you? What would you add to those listed? Which ones would you delete? Let me know by leaving your thoughts in the Comment section below.

Copyright 2010, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 Earth Day top 10 lists

For Earth Day, I thought I’d review Earth Day top 10 lists and see which ones I thought were tops.

1. “Top 10 Earth Day Campaigns You Can’t Miss” – Takepart.com.

I liked this list best because it describes actions and activities from a wide variety of organizations – from Greenpeace to National Geographic to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

2. “Top 10 Cities to Celebrate Earth Day” – NBC.com.

This list is fun. Seattle is described as “Where the folks are green and the plastic bags are taxed.” Among the other cities included are Austin, Texas; Boston; Ashville, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco.

3. “Top 10 Earth Day Songs” – Y! Music.

Robert the Radish picked these songs, but many of those leaving comment thought “Earth Song” by Michael Jackson should have been included.

4. “Top 10 Things You Can Do to Reduce Global Warming” – Earth Day Network.

This is a standard to do list for Earth Day. I selected it because it includes “Plant a tree.”

5. “Top 10 KBB Green Stories of 2009 – Early Edition” – Kelley Blue Book.

It was encouraging to see this list of green stories about cars.

6. “World’s Top 10 Eco-hostels” – Travelbite.co.uk.

This list made me dream – Ireland, Hawaii, Singapore, England, Iceland. I’d love to spend Earth Day at any of these hostels.

7. “Earth Day 2009: Top 10 TV Shows on Planet Green” – Examiner.com.

These TV shows looked interesting and may be worth a look after Turnoff Week is over.

8. “Happy Earth Day – 10 Environmental Films You Can Watch Online for Free” – Urlesque.com.

The films highlight the impact people have on the environment, and the responsibilities they share for the planet's future.

9. “Top 10 Greenest Celebs” – Metromix/Detroit.

Here’s what 10 stars are doing for the Green Movement.

10. “10 Environmental Disasters to Remember on Earth Day” – AlterNet.com.

I put this one last because it’s discouraging to think about events such as species extinction, mountaintop removal, Love Canal, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Hurricane Katrina, and the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

But that’s what Earth Day is about – to recognize all the environmental destruction that has occurred and to develop policies and projects to develop a greener world.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Organic Transitions offers way to survive and thrive in turbulent times

The Organic Consumers Association is offering a new grassroots campaign called Organic Transitions. It’s designed to mobilize consumers and local communities to begin planning and carrying out transition strategies to help people survive and thrive in the turbulent times ahead.
 
Using this new model, organic food and farming will provide a healthy cornerstone for a new, more localized, and sustainable green economy, according Ronnie Cummins, national director of the association.

“We don’t have to wait for Washington bureaucrats or corporate marketers to tell us what to do,” said Cummins in his article “Organic Transitions: Beyond the Gloom and Doom of Economic Depression, Climate Change, and Peak Oil” on Organic Consumers Association.com.

The effort will begin with citizens organizing Organic Transitions committees and campaigns in local areas, he said. Local organic food buying clubs will be contacted and house parties and study and action circles offered.

Cummins said the timing is vital:

We still have a strategic window of opportunity to take back control over our political, cultural, and economic institutions; to create millions of urban and rural green jobs; to transform our educational systems; and to make a smooth transition from fossil fuels, climate chaos, and resource wars to a renewable, peaceful, solar-based agriculture and economy.

I agree with Cummins that we need to green and relocalize our economy and our politics.

Recently I blogged about “What Consumers Need to Do to Help Themselves During the Great Recession.”

I wrote:

What’s needed, I think, is for consumers to join together and help each other in these recessionary times. Consumers, as a player in the economy along with businesses and the government, can have power in the marketplace. However, they seldom organize and act on their own behalf. Consumers more often identify with the interests of the company or group they work for rather than their consumer interests.

Organic Transitions is a great way for citizens to come together to help formulate a new economic model so that we can survive and thrive in tough economic times.

For more information about Organic Transitions, see the Organic Consumers Association Web site.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist