Monday, Sept. 28
Today’s Tip: Green your office.
Does this describe you? You recycle, save energy and conserve water at home, but once you get to work, it feels like stepping into a parallel universe, where waste is the norm?

The government’s Energy Star program has a solution, or at least a toolbox you can take to work to help reduce energy waste at the office. The new Energy Star@ Work web site shows you where most offices can save energy. Many of the tips, like shutting blinds on hot sunny days, turning off lights and computer equipment when not in use, or swapping out old incandescent bulbs for efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, are the same strategies you’d use at home. Others, like investing in an Energy Star water cooler or a three-in-one copies-fax-scanner, are specific to the office environment.

Because employees typically have less unilateral decision-making power at work than they do at home, the new site also explains how to build an argument for change by developing a “Green Team” to study energy use and make recommendations to management.
So be green 24/7. Find out how at www.energystar.gov.

Tuesday, Sept. 29
Today’s Tip: Get carbon-free power.
Every time you switch on lights, heat up leftovers, watch TV, or surf the web, chances are the electricity you use—and pay for each month—comes from coal.
Across America, coal plants are responsible for more than 80% of global warming from electricity. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You are a valued customer of your power company, and what you say matters.

Power companies can buy the power they sell from coal and other fossil fuels, or from renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal power. Yet less than 5% of total electricity sales in the U.S. come from these sources. If enough customers demand that their energy come from these climate-friendly sources, your power company will listen.

Demand renewable energy from your local power company. Call or email your power company’s customer service department and ask for more renewable power. Slip a note into your next bill and make it clear you expect your power company to include more renewable energy. Talk with others. Get your neighbors involved.

Together, we can solve the problem of global warming.

Wednesday, Sept. 30
Today’s Tip: Protect kids from flame retardants.
And while you’re at it, protect yourself, too.
The Environmental Working Group just finished its first investigation of toxic fire retardants (called Deca) and found that toddlers had three times the levels of Deca in their blood as their mothers.

That means that young children in the U.S. bear the heaviest burden of flame retardant pollution in the world. Deca is a neurological and hormone disrupter, and children are more susceptible to its effects than adults.

What’s a parent to do?

First, inspect foam items and replace any with ripped covers or misshapen/breaking-down foam.

Second, use a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
Third, don’t reupholster foam furniture in homes where children or pregnant women live.

Foam cushions and mattresses are the most likely places to find these flame retardants, so rid your house of them and when it comes time to replace furniture and mattresses, buy non-foam products.

Thursday, Oct. 1
Today’s Tip: Box up all the hazardous products in your house and dispose of them properly.
Americans store at least 100 pounds of household hazardous waste in garages, storage sheds, basements, under sinks. That’s a staggering statistic. Most hazardous products fit into four categories, which makes identification a bit easier. The categories are:
1. Automotive Products: motor oil, brake and transmission fluid, windshield wiper fluid, and antifreeze, for example.

2. Home Improvement Products: such as paint, varnish, stain, caulk, adhesives, turpentine, and glues.
3. Household Cleaners: that host of products including drain cleaners, oven cleaners, spot removers, polishes, window cleaners, bleach, dyes.

4. Pesticides: including insect repellant, weed killer, rat and mouse poison, pet spray and dip, flea collars, mothballs, ant/roach killer, wood preservative.
Hazardous products that don’t fit into these categories include certain electronics, batteries, aerosols, air fresheners, smoke detectors, shoe polish, cosmetics, pool chemicals, lighter fluid, prescription medicines, and arts and craft materials.

Find all the hazardous products you don’t use in your house, box them up, and take them to the Regional Collection Center in Bondurant, 1105 Prairie Drive SW, near Adventureland. It’s a short drive, and you’ll rest easier having these products out of your home. The Center is open Tuesdays from 1 to 5, and the first and third Saturdays from 8 to noon.

Friday, Oct. 2
Today’s Tip: Cell phones may be unsafe for teens
Another study has added to growing concerns among scientists that cell phones—particularly when used by younger people—could increase the risk of a rare brain cancer. The Swedish study found people who started using cell phones before the age of 20 were five times as likely to develop glioma. Those who use cell phones for ten years were twice as likely to develop gliomas.
The culprit? Non-ionizing radiation which is more intense when the phone is in use and when reception is poor. As with toxic chemicals, radiation from cell phones may be more risky for children than for adults, because children’s brains and nervous systems are still developing and because—since their heads are smaller and their skulls are thinner—the radiation penetrates deeper into their brains.

What to do?

• Use a land line whenever possible.
• Use a hands-free headset whenever using a cell phone (Bluetooth devices also emit radiation, but at much lower levels)
• Keep your phone switched off whenever possible, particularly in areas with low reception.
• Text, rather than talk, to reduce radiation near the brain.