P.W. McRandle, for the Green Guide’s Posts

• All Bottled Up

  Bottled water flies off the shelves, but smart money is on filter systems 2

  Posted 5 years, 6 months ago

  

  Thirsty for facts on bottled water?

  When the United Nations declared 2003 the International Year of Freshwater, they likely weren't thinking of Perrier. And yet bottled water has become freshwater's most high-profile face, from Evian to Dasani and scores of other brands that now crowd store shelves.

  Why have products that cost 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water soared in sales since the 1980s? According to the World Wildlife Fund, in 1976 U.S. consumption of bottled water was 5.7 liters per person; by 1999, it was 35 liters… Read More

• Control-Alt-Recycle

  Tips on greener computing 1

  Posted 5 years, 7 months ago

  

  OK computer.

  U.S. consumers are being cheated out of the chance to buy the greenest possible computers, according to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and other environmental groups that have joined forces on the Computer TakeBack Campaign.

  The campaign's latest report card examined 28 computer manufacturers' practices regarding hazardous materials, worker health and safety, and systems for taking back used products. CTBC found that fewer relatively eco-friendly computers are offered for sale in the U.S. than in countries with stronger environmental regulations, such as Japan and European Union nations, which… Read More

• Fish and Tips

  Get the word on seafood that's safe to consume 0

  Posted 5 years, 9 months ago

  

  The dish on fish.

  It's been a winter of bad news for seafood lovers. A joint draft fish advisory from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. EPA added tuna -- America's second-most popular seafood after shrimp -- to its list of mercury-containing fish that should be restricted in the diets of pregnant women and young children. A separate new study found unhealthy pollutants in far higher amounts in farmed salmon than in their wild kin. And, as reported in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, Great Lakes' sport-caught… Read More

• Far From the Maddened Cow

  How to find cleaner, greener beef and fix our broken food-safety system 1

  Posted 5 years, 9 months ago

  In December, the vision of a "downer" cow stricken with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) caused indigestion in more than a few Americans, especially those who'd eaten beef in one of the six Western states in which the "mad" cow's meat might have been sold. The potential hazards of this disease have been apparent since Britain's disastrous handling of its mad cow crisis in the early 1990s, which led to the deaths of 137 people. But did the U.S. heed any of these lessons? We look into the lax regulations that let mad cow catch hold in the U.S., the risks… Read More

• Talking Turkey

  Make your Thanksgiving and holiday meals go easy on the Earth 1

  Posted 6 years ago

  Sharpen your knives and hone your appetite -- it's that time of year again. Every fall, we stuff ourselves at Thanksgiving, take a quick break, then fill up again over the winter holidays, sometimes gorging at event after event to accommodate multiple sets of family and friends. But environmentalists, beware: The industry set up to sate this orgy of consumption is none too kind to animals or the environment.

  

  Eat, drink, and be green.

  Take that staple of Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey. We've bred turkeys for superior breast meat for so long… Read More

All Posts