Ten Green Strategies to Help Improve Our Environment

If you think you need to join movements and lobby in Congress just to become an environmentalist, think again. There are many ways you can contribute to help the environment. Our air is largely polluted because of combustion emissions coming out of our cars. Our streams, rivers, and oceans became polluted because of industrial wastes from manufacturers whose products we patronize; only to carelessly throw them away later once we’re done with them. Our land resources are almost depleted because all we did is take and hardly gave back anything to ensure sustainability 

We all took part in ravaging the Earth and we all benefitted. If the results of our actions before created a monumental impact to destroy our environment, then it is possible that all of us can work together to restore our environment to what it used to be.

Let us all “go green”, that way we can demand from manufacturers to produce eco-friendly products that won’t produce harmful wastes and emissions. Let’s all adapt to green living strategies because the Earth is already suffocating with greenhouse gasses and detrimental wastes. Checkout these green strategies, once you start on in, you’ll find out that it’s not so hard after all:      

1.     Organize and participate in carpools; if it’s not too far, walk, jog or pedal.   

We all need to cut down on gas money anyway, with its constantly rising costs. Organize a carpool, or if there’s already one, be a part of it. Less cars on the road on the way to the grocery, mall or school, means less combustion to pollute the air and damage the ozone layer. Get some exercise by walking, jogging, or riding your bike to do some errands, you need to exercise more often.

2.     Clean with Green

Use natural or organic cleaning products for your housekeeping needs. You can also use vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice, these are the same basic materials used by manufacturers sans the harmful chemicals and less on the costs. There’s nothing wrong with going back to basics, people used them in the olden days and everything was also spotlessly clean.      

3.     Feed and Groom You Pets Green

Since the whole household will “go green”, green your pets too by feeding them natural and organic pet foods and by grooming them with “green” based shampoos, flea and tick repellents and other innovatively green pet supplies.

4.     Consider Other ways to Keep Cool or to Stay Warm

Save on energy and save on your energy money during the summer. Sweating it out a little isn’t too bad for your health. Beat the heat by wearing cool light clothes and by drinking lots of fluids. Health advocates tell us, drinking plenty of water helps in detoxifying our body. During the winter, bundle yourself up with enough warm clothes and warming gear to conserve on energy costs. Drink hot beverages to keep your body warm from the inside.      

5.     Patronize your Local Market

Patronizing your local market and commercial areas makes your community self-sufficient. You’re not only helping your community to grow but you’re also cutting down costs on your purchases. Make some sort of community wish lists for products not available in your community, perhaps your local grocer or suppliers can make them available. This way, the energy and fuel used for shipping will be limited to a few.  

6.     Maintain Proper Waste Disposal by separating Biodegradables from Non- Biodegradables

This simply means separate those that can be recycled from the non-recyclables. Recyclables include those that can be used for compost while the non-recyclables can be re-sold to manufacturers who are also into recycling.

7.     Try to Eliminate Paper Wastes

Try to keep your transactions electronic by e-mails, e-banking, e-shopping, and most other activities that use paper, which are now accessible online. Keep your files secured in flash disks instead of maintaining paper documents in dust gathering files.   

8.     Insulation for Conservation

Consider the use of solar power and heat giving insulators. They were designed to cut down on energy and to lessen the demand for electricity. The less electricity that each household consumes, the less production can be expected from the pollution emitting power plants.

9.     Go easy on Meat

 Lessen your demand for meat and you’ll lessen farm run-offs carrying animal manure. Besides, less meat  in our diet is not only healthy it’s also budget friendly. 

10.  Recycle or Buy Recycled

There’s nothing wrong in re-using things; the Internet offers many ideas on how to make things look new and re-usable. If you can’t recycle, buy recycled. You’ll be surprised on how imaginative and creative recycled things are coming along nowadays.

Work hand in hand with the community and perhaps ask your local government to provide more spaces where trees could be planted to make your community green. Trees will provide you, your protection from the scorching sun as well as give off fresh oxygen your community can inhale.

For your guide to green products visit The Green Ability, it's also a good place to learn more . 

How Global Warming Affects Our Pets

Global warming has brought about extreme weather conditions, extreme cold or extreme heat, which can even come unexpectedly. Have you noticed how the weather nowadays can seem to be out of date or out of season? Yet when they come, they always seem to be at an intense level.

The Department of Pathology and Animal Health, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy warned, that the effects of these climate changes include the increase in numerous vector borne diseases. Vector in biology means an agent or organism capable of transmitting disease-causing microorganisms from one infected human being or animal to another. The most common vectors are mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks.

Humans are not the only ones susceptible to the effects of these severe climate conditions. Even our pets who are supposed to have built-in adapters for wild life condition can be affected. Why not? We have sheltered and protected them just like our own offspring. We feed, bathe, and care for them to make them feel comfortable so they would never run away from home. Just like humans, pets would prefer to stay snug, cared for, and cozy in a loving home. However, they are the likely carriers of fleas and ticks.

According to the paper reviews of the university, one such vector borne parasite is called "Dirofilaria" and poses a great risk of infecting humans and animals because they are mosquito-borne parasites. The past summer temperatures had been ideal for the incubation of these parasites and its impact can spread in different parts of the world.

As winters have become shorter and milder, ticks have more time to be active during the year. In Europe, dog tick is said to be responsible for spreading a malaria-like disease called "canine babesiosis" to other countries that rarely experienced any such diseases in their communities. In other cases, ticks called  "Ixodes' medically pinpointed as responsible for tick-borne encephalitis that occur in horses and dogs, are now gaining greater density in Europe. Cat flea typhus, which used to be a rare disease, is now feared to become widespread in both dogs and cats.  

As responsible pet lovers and owners, our tendency is to treat our household pets with anti-flea products that contain insecticides. They may come in the form of shampoos, spray or dusting agents to make sure fleas will not thrive to cause discomfort in our pets. However, there is still another problem to contend with.

As early as June 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave out its warning that flea control products sold as shampoos, dips, and other forms of flea insecticides pose a threat to its users, handlers and the pet itself. Most of them contain some of the most dangerous pesticides collectively known as "organophosphate" (OP). Individually there are seven known "organophosphates" widely used in pet products. These are: malathion, dichlorvos, phosmet, tetrachlorvinphos, diazinon, naled, and chlorpyrifos.

The CDC came out with this warning after several cases of children being hospitalized for "organophosphate" poisoning as a result of their exposure to pesticides found in their respective dogs or cats. The CDC further warned that children who will continuously be exposed to these toxic hazards face an increased risk of impaired brain development.

It was established that a child who is still in the developing stage of his or her nervous system is highly vulnerable to the toxic effects of "organophosphate". This report aims to bring to the consumer the knowledge that the anti-flea product they have patronized not only contribute to our environmental ruin but also threaten our health, especially that of our children.

Anti-flea shampoos are carried in water-run offs that will eventually find its way to canals, rivers and streams. Aerosol sprays evaporate and mingle in our atmosphere while dusting powders are particulate matters that contribute in polluting our air. There is a call to go green, which means changing our lifestyle including that of our pets, by utilizing products made from less hazardous raw materials.

There is a green and safer alternative to care for our pets.  The Natural Resources Defense Council suggests a little extra effort like regular washing and combing of pets as well as cleaning of furniture and vacuuming of carpets can control cases of mild flea infestations. If necessary, there are other newer substances known as insect growth regulators not classified as pesticides but as chemicals that are effective in arresting the propagation of young fleas. They are safe to spray and apply on our pets since the ingredients were verified to be non-hazardous.  

Based on the above report, the facts presented to the buying public aim to convince them of the need to go green. Change must also come from them because they are the end users and hazardous wastes result from their use of non-eco friendly goods. Increasing the public's demand for green products can lessen the demand on products made from toxic raw materials. 

Hopefully, we will finally see the day that environmental concerns for toxic wastes and pollution will become a thing of the past.  Don't you think it's about time we stopped using toxic products and all other consumer goods that result to toxic wastes? 

For your guide to green products, visit The GreenAbility. it's also a good place to learn more.