Hitting the Bottle is Safer Than Ever: NY Bans BPA in Baby Products

August 2nd, 2010 | Posted by cramcharran in Green Products | Living Green - (3 Comments)

On Friday, New York State Governor David Paterson signed a bill into law that prohibits babies’ and children’s food and beverage containers from containing Bisphenol A, or BPA. Under the legislation (S 3296H/A 6919D), sippy cups, baby bottles, straws, and pacifiers containing BPA can no longer be sold in New York State. The law goes into effect on December 1, 2010.

Working under the  “JustGreen” umbrella, a coalition of at least 45 advocacy groups worked together for passage of the bill; they included mainstream environmental organizations, consumer groups, health and cancer networks, women’s groups, academic institutions, and environmental justice groups.

According to a press release issued by JustGreen, “New York is now the seventh state and by far the largest in both population and economy to pass phase out of BPA in young children’s products, joining Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. It will be one of the first state laws to go into effect, however. In addition, Maine has declared bisphenol A (BPA) as a ‘priority chemical’ and will institute regulations to phase out its use in children’s food and beverage containers and infant formula containers.  The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is moving forward with similar regulations to cover children’s beverage containers. California has BPA legislation pending.”

BPA has been associated with a wide range of children’s health problems, including “early onset puberty, polycystic ovary syndrome and breast and prostate cancer,” said Senator Antoine Thompson, Chair of the New York State Senate Environmental Conservation Committee.

Because children’s bodies are smaller and metabolize more rapidly than adults, toxins build up in their bodies quickly, and infants have been detected with high levels of BPA in their bodies. JustGreen cited connections between low doses of BPA and “obesity, infertility in males and females, brain dysfunctions, thyroid disruption, heart disease, and diabetes.”

Stephen Boese, Executive Director of the Learning Disabilities Association of New York State, said that BPA has been implicated in learning disabilities and other neurological impairment.

The full press release, and a list of advocates, can be viewed on the Just Green website.

Wee-Go glass bottles

Green Depot Founder Sarah Beatty testified in support of the bill in May, prior to it being passed unanimously in both houses of the NY State legislature (download her testimony here). Since the opening of Green Depot’s flagship store at 222 Bowery in February 2009, Green Depot has put an emphasis on healthy green products for babies and children, including certified organic cotton clothing and bedding, diapers without harsh chemicals, and BPA-free baby bottles. One of our most popular sellers has been the Wee-Go, a glass baby bottle with a soft silicone sleeve that’s easy to grip and prevents breakage. It’s available in 4- and 9-ounce sizes, in six different bright colors.

Green to Grow

Another is the Green to Grow nurser–a bottle that’s phthalate-free, BPA-free, dishwasher safe, and comes in 100% recycled packaging.

We all know that breastfeeding is best, but when bottle feeding is necessary, at least now there are safer ways to do it in New York State.

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Beat the heat with low-energy fans and other tricks

July 13th, 2010 | Posted by cramcharran in Green Homes | Green Products | Living Green - (3 Comments)

Have you been suffering through the recent heat wave on the East Coast? I know I have. Yes, the Texans are calling us all wimps, but I’m sorry, I just am not comfortable when sweat is dripping into my eyes! Temperatures here have broken records going back decades. In New York City, the mercury hit 103° on July 6th. Triple-digit temps were recorded in Boston, Philadelphia and Providence, RI.

When temperatures soar, most people crank up their air conditioners, collectively placing a very heavy demand on electric utilities. Not only are power failures a risk, but greenhouse gas emissions soar along with rising electricity generation. Air pollutants increase, too, because utilities are forced to bring older, dirtier plants on line when peak demand is high. Extra pollutants increase the risk of smog formation, acid rain, and poor outdoor air quality that impacts children, the elderly and people with respiratory problems.

Tips for staying cool while minimizing your environmental impact:

In the house or office:

  • If you own a central air conditioner that is over 12 years old, the EPA recommends that you replace it with a more efficient Energy Star model that can cut your home cooling costs by up to 30%.

  • Use room A/C units. If you spend most of the day in one room of the house, install a window air conditioner there and turn off the central air. A medium-sized room unit draws about 900 watts, compared to over 3000 watts for a typical central air system. (Check out Mr. Electricity’s cool site!)  Don’t forget to keep the door closed!

  • Use a fan instead of an air conditioner, especially at night in the bedroom. Fans use much less electricity than air conditioners, don’t run the risk of getting mildewy, and are portable and inexpensive. Green Depot carries a few neat models: the lightweight and colorful Vornado Flippi 6 fan is one of the coolest green products you’ll find: literally! It uses only 14 watts on High, and can move air up to 20 feet: perfect for bedroom or office.

    Flippi V6 Fan: uses only 14 watts
  • Finally, the Sycamore Ceiling Fan combines futuristic styling with awesome aerodynamics: moves 5,000 cubic feet per minute using under 50 watts. Cool indeed.

    The Sycamore Ceiling Fan
  • Pull down shades or blinds on the south side of the house, and on the western side of the house after 1 or 2 pm. Consider buying insulating shades: they benefit you in summer and winter.
  • Look into buying awnings for south-facing windows. They’ll not only cool the house during the summer, but will let you keep those windows open when it rains, further refreshing the air in your house.

Personal care tips:

  • Sleep with a sheet instead of a blanket. Your body heat will escape instead of getting trapped.
  • Hot flash relief! If you’re menopausal and going insane at night, you’ll love this low-profile Bedfan that circulates cool air under the sheets on your side of the bed (your partner will never know!). One of the few green products that’s made to keep your body cool.

    The Bedfan
  • Drink ice water, and take tepid or cool showers. Both will cool your core body temperature, with effects that can last for a few hours.
  • Don’t eat big meals before bed. Your body will work overtime trying to digest the excess calories, generating extra heat that may make sleeping difficult.
  • Exercise early in the morning while it’s still relatively cool.
  • When outside: wear a hat and stay hydrated—even if you’re not the water-glugging type. Check out this Klean Kanteen all-stainless, insulated water bottle that will keep your iced drinks cold while you’re in the car, walking down the street, or at your desk.

 

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Crying over spilled oil

July 12th, 2010 | Posted by cramcharran in Environment | Fuel Efficiency | Living Green - (6 Comments)

The BP oil spill has been on all our minds since April. Much press coverage has focused on the ineptitude of BP’s cleanup efforts, the cozy ties between industry and government, and the environmental and economic impacts of the spill on the Gulf coast.

BP wellhead leakingBut every time I listen to the news while driving in the car, I can’t help but think about the sheer waste of oil and gas.

As of today, about 90 million gallons of oil have leaked from the ruptured wellhead: 8 times what was leaked by the Exxon Valdez. (PBS News has a cool running counter on the amount of oil spilled to date, including how much has been flared.)

Less than half of that has been contained or managed in some way: by skimmer vessels, through messy controlled burns on the surface (creating air quality problems for Gulf residents), and by the cap on the broken pipe leading to the Q4000 rig that flares the oil and gas. Although BP’s website refers to flaring efforts as “recovery,” in fact a only a small part of the oil leaked from the Deepwater Horizon is actually being recovered (saved) for refining and use. According to Max McGahan, a press officer I spoke to at BP today, the Q4000 rig has been flaring about 8,000 barrels (336,000 gallons) per day since its deployment on June 15th . Mr. McGahan would not reveal how much oil has been recovered for refining, although he did say that as of July 10th, the total volume of oil “collected or flared” (not including surface burns) is 749,100 barrels (31.5 million gallons). Do the math: (24 days x 336,000g flared/day = 8 million gallons flared). Subtract that from 31.5, and you see that as of July 10th, only about 23 million gallons had been captured to be refined. In other words, as of July 10th, about 67 million gallons have been lost.

Q4000 flaring BP oil in Gulf
The Q4000 flaring oil in Gulf

I cannot help but measure this loss in terms of Prius-miles. My used blue Prius gets about 42 mpg in the winter, 51 in the summer, and 47 in spring and fall (So let’s say 48 mpg on average). Compare this to the 25 mpg I got in my last car, a 10-year old Ford Taurus wagon. On a 325-mile road trip (to New York City and back), that adds up to about 6 gallons saved. Over the course of a year, if I–like the average American–drive about 12,000 miles, I am now saving about 230 gallons over what I did with my former car. Not a huge amount, but more than a drop in the bucket. In 2009, 23.1 mpg was the CAFÉ standard (corporate average fuel economy) standard for cars and light trucks. Compared to this mediocre rate, I am saving almost 270 gallons per year.

When I bought the Prius, my brother gave me a hard time for paying a premium for a hybrid. We did the math together—at that time gas was $4/gallon—and over the long term I still didn’t break even over paying cash for a cheaper used car in similar condition. But I told him that the economics weren’t the only issue for me; doing the right thing was. I wanted to reduce my personal carbon footprint as much as possible. I’d already insulated and air-sealed my house, replaced my old leaky windows and doors, and had remodeled a few rooms with as many green building products and green materials as I could. I recycle and compost. We’ve cut way back on meat. I hang the laundry on the line to dry. Buying a Prius was the next big consumer step I could take to reduce my impact on the world. I thought that saving a few hundred gallons per year through my autombile selection was a choice worth making.

If only a million Americans (one third of 1% of the population) bought a Prius or similar hybrid this year, they could save an additional 270 million gallons per year—three times the amount of oil spilled to date by BP in the Gulf. Imagine a world with fewer oil wells that blow out or are abandoned, creating a permanent risk of leakage.

I’d like to see the federal government offer better financial incentives for individuals and companies to buy hybrids (check out these state and federal incentives), and to make a host of other energy efficiency moves. Because when a huge corporation loses control of its operation in an environmentally sensitive area, the problem is absorbed by everyone. It’s in all our best interests to maximize the ways that society as a whole can use less energy, and make more green product choices.

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