Archive for the ‘Green Living’ Category

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Consider re-purposing used motor oils

by xarki, on Mon, Feb 6 2012 | 13 Comments

courtesy of sjgov.orgI just had one of our family cars’ engine oil replaced as a periodic maintenance to keep our vehicles in tip-top shape. Considering we have three (3) vehicles at our home and each year we amount to 3-4 times of oil change for each car with almost 4 gallons of oil removed each time. Imagine that we are dumping 16 gallons of used oil for each car.

 

Used oil is toxic for the environment. Dumping used oil in our garbage bins or in the soil does not reduce the negative effects of sustaining even plant life as they may seep into our water tables.

 

I believe most of us who do our own oil change would end up stacking large cans of these used oils in our garages or even just leaving them lying around our backyard – waiting for them to be reused for any possible household application which more often than not, will not be done.

 

It is good to know that used engine oil can be recycled by re-refining it, reconditioning or re-processing.

 

Re-refining used engine oil is now possible provided that a proper and modern way of processing can treat used motor oils for them to be used as a base stock to create “new” engine oil. However, the demand for these products is currently not that significant in the market, making it hard for manufacturers to consider undertaking the process.

 

Used oil can also be reconditioned or cleaned by removing insoluble impurities present so the oil can be used again and again, yet the cleaning process will not likely restore the original quality of the oil. However, it can still aid in lubricating tasks using additives thus extending the oil’s life and purpose.

 

Used oil is one of the industrial wastes that we have to consider since majority of the population is using cars in their daily activities. I hope we can find a way to lessen the dumping of used motor oils so we can sustain life even with the presence of our cool rides.

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Taking advantage of re-usable cloth bags

by xarki, on Tue, Jan 24 2012 | No Comments

courtesy of squidoo.comMy wife and I are frequent customers of malls and supermarkets and for quite some time of doing our shopping of grocery items, we found out that we have accumulated almost a sack full of plastic bags of different colors and sizes.

 

I was about to throw them away but then I remember that these plastics are not biodegradable and will continue to be part of the landfill for decades to count before they completely vanish.

 

We are now left to re-use them and avoid discarding them as part of our own participation in protecting what’s left of the environment.

 

And to further lessen the continuous pile up of plastic bags inside our home, we decided to purchase cloth bags which we can use when we do our groceries almost every week.

 

Most retail establishments and supermarkets offer them at a reasonable price and what’s good about it is that some grocers even offer points in using environment friendly containers when you shop at their store.

 

Take for example SM’s Supermarket and Hypermarket. Bringing your own recyclable cloth bags when you do your groceries gives additional points to your “advantage cards” if you have one. For a few weeks of doing my shopping, I save the environment while I unknowingly earned a lot of points on my privilege card.

 

For just a little amount you can help save the environment. I bought 3 quality cloth bags for less than a hundred pesos. This way I’ll not have to worry about finding ways to properly dump or reuse plastic bags.

 

I hope there will come a time that cloth bags will no longer be purchased so everyone can participate in the ecological cause. Purchasing a recyclable shopping bag still restricts most of our shoppers. Why pay for another bag when you can get one for free? Moreover, a discount can be a good incentive for people who would bring their own containers when they shop at a particular store.

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Environmental scare kills 27 and left dozens missing

by xarki, on Sat, Jan 7 2012 | No Comments

courtesy of reuters.comOver 27 are found dead and dozens of people still missing after a small scale mining community in Pantukan, Compostela Valley was buried under tons of mud in the morning (before dawn) of Thursday, January 5, 2012. Including those who are killed are women and children who are said to be part of mining families in barangay of Napnapan.

 

Mining has been banned on these areas due to heavy rains and risks of landslides particularly in Mt. Diwata where small scale miners have settled.

 

Pantukan and other villages around Mt. Diwata sits in gold rich deposits which is the primary reason why people have preferred to settle and build their make shift dwellings with their families on the foot of this land mass. Miners are believed to be earning at least 2,000 pesos on their daily mining activity.

 

Again, it is obvious that our greed to earn more despite the dangers amidst our work environment has been ignored. Notwithstanding the warnings issued by the government agencies to keep us safe from such hazards but then we strive to disregard the possible threats just for mere financial abundance.

 

There is nothing wrong with mining as long as we keep it at moderated levels. We always aim to gain more than we what we only need to survive and we are now becoming more comparable to parasites rather than human beings. We grow in number, we commune in one place and we exhaust all possible resources. As always we dismiss living a simple life.

 

I hope we should all soon realize that nature is always working to balance things. Nature takes equal amounts of what was taken from her. We should learn to give back and maintain these resources so that we could still co-exist with our environment or else we should be ready to face the music when the time comes.

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Celebrating a safer and eco-friendly New Year

by xarki, on Tue, Dec 27 2011 | No Comments

courtesy of 352luxmag.luIn just a few days, we will be celebrating the coming of the New Year and it is common for us Filipinos to welcome it with a big bang. That is with fireworks and firecrackers. More so, the cheap price of fire crackers has always been one of the reasons why Pinoys continue to patronize and utilize them in hailing the upcoming year.

 

As a child, I had several “fun” experiences lighting up one, particularly the “watusi”, the baby rocket and the Roman candle. Our neighbor had always given us boxes of all these items to play with my childhood friends. We really never got the chance or even thought of lighting up strong ones like the “pla-pla”, crying cow and Judas’ belt. I don’t know if all these stuff are still existent as of this time.

 

It was a fun-filled moment to ignite one of those baby-rockets as they soar up in the sky not knowing that we as children are exposed in whatever dangers these explosive play-things would incur on us.

 

As time goes by, the magnitude of the explosion that emanates from these fire crackers became stronger and more damaging that children and even adults are forewarned on the impending threat. Our government agencies even issued advertising campaigns in the effort to minimize the casualties of the New Year festivities.

 

Again this year as we approach another era, we are encouraged to participate in decreasing the usage of fire crackers to make it safer for everyone and instead culminate in establishing community based fire-works or employing safer practices in welcoming the New Year.

 

Aside from the chances of inflicting injury, the EcoWaste Coalition has pointed out that several fire crackers are not safe for our health and for the environment. They have tested some of these fireworks that are regularly bought in Divisoria in Manila and results showed that these items contain highly toxic materials.

 

“EcoWaste Coalition said that the tests it conducted on 11 types of fireworks bought in Divisoria, Manila, showed that they contain toxic metals like arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese and zinc.”

 

The most toxic among the 11 tested fireworks are the sparklers which are sold at P20 per box. Considering this is one of those handheld fireworks, it makes its users more pliant to the exposure to the toxic metals present in these sparklers.

 

“We are very concerned about the health effects of these crackers and sparklers, many of which are held by hand or lighted near users who directly breathe [in] the toxic fumes,” said Aileen Lucero, Eco-Waste’s “Iwas PapuToxic” campaigner.

 

I hope we could all participate in lessening the use of fireworks and firecrackers this coming New Year’s Eve. Not only they can cause injury, destroy our houses by fire or expose us to toxic materials but also the chemical smoke that persists in our atmosphere in several days can aggravate our environmental condition.

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Green personal care gifts for Christmas

by Melody Claire, on Mon, Dec 19 2011 | 2 Comments

human heart nature christmas bundles

You may have not yet finished shopping for Christmas gifts so allow me to provide more options that would not just make the recipient happy but also Mother Earth as well.

 

You may already have heard of Human Heart Nature which is the number one seller of biodegradable, all-natural beauty and wellness products in the country. They are pro-Philippines since their products are 100% Philippine made, pro-environment considering they carefully deliberate the impact of all their business decisions on the environment from the making of the merchandise to their packages and even the catalogs where they are printed, and lastly pro-poor with the company being set up with the goal of providing more livelihood to Gawad Kalinga residents and communities.

 

I love their Natural Feminine Wash which you can use for how many times you would like to without worrying about dryness or itch that normally comes with other brands. As further explained on their catalog, this is because it doesn’t contain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) which according to the Danish Institute of Public Health tends to damage skin proteins causing skin barrier disruption.

 

I’ve also tried their All-natural Deodorant which does not prevent you from perspiring but protects from body odor. You may just need to put one from time to time or as needed. Even though this is the case at least you will be worry free of aluminum salts and parabens contained in chemical anti-perspirants which are linked with neurotoxicity to reproductive problems.

 

Also their Mineral Powder is the first face powder in which I am not allergic to. You may check Human Heart Nature’s catalog by going to http://www.humanheartnature.com/flcatalog.html

 

As Bacolod City Councilor Em Ang said “Christmas should be a time to give thanks to our Creator for giving us one earth to live in, and the best way to show this gratitude is by being responsible stewards of His creation.”

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