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Author |
Published |
Section |
Flak and Tan
Most sunscreens ineffective or pose a health risk, says group |
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22 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:12 PM on 22 Jul 2008 Some 85 percent of 952 sunscreens tested are ineffective or contain potentially harmful chemicals, says this year's annual sunscreen review by the Environmental Working Group. Of 144 sunscreen products distributed by the top three leading brands -- Coppertone, Banana Boat, and Neutrogena -- only one meets EWG's criteria for safety and efficacy. The group raises especial alarm about common ... |
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| Topics: green living, green products, health, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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The Death of Environmentalist
How to green your funeral |
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22 Jul 2008 |
From A to Green |
| Not dead yet? There's still hope for a green funeral. There's no getting around it: One day, we're all gonna die. And while most of us won't have much control over the circumstances of our deaths, there are things you can do before you go to ensure that your funeral and earthly remains are as light on the planet as you've tried to be in life. If you think about it, there are almost as many ways to green your funeral as the ... |
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| Topics: ecological footprint, green living, health, toxics, waste (all these topics) |
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Deflater House
On air mattresses |
Umbra Fisk |
14 Jul 2008 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, We live in a small house, and when we have guests, the bed situation is limiting. Convenience tells me that an inflatable bed would be ideal. However, the "no vinyl, that's final" rule reigns supreme in our household. What sort of options can you suggest for a sleeping surface that is easy to store, environmentally responsible, and comfy? Sleepily, Angie Huntington Beach, Calif. Dearest Angie, The night I spent on ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, green products, health, shopping, toxics (all these topics) |
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The new film Wall-E gets it right
The link between obesity and the environment |
Maywa Montenegro |
11 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Slate's Dan Engber has attempted to take down Wall-E in classic Green Room style with a piece slamming the film's connection between obesity and environmental destruction. Engber's critique is flawed in so many ways that it's hard to know where to begin ... For instance, he doesn't seem to believe that obesity really has much to do with being too sedentary or eating too much. To support this, he cites research saying that 80 percent of the variation in body weight ... |
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| Topics: climate, food, green living, health, movies (all these topics) |
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SKB on NPR re: PVC
Everything you wanted to know about toxic shower curtains, in my dulcet tones |
Sarah K. Burkhalter |
08 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Here I am again on the Environment Report, this time chatting about toxic shower curtains. Everything you ever wanted to know on the subject, complete with Psycho shower-scene screeching, allusions to shower-curtain licking, and quips about exhibitionism. |
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| Topics: shopping, toxics, health, shameless self-promotion, green living (all these topics) |
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The Saga of Fume
On exerting yourself in traffic |
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02 Jul 2008 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I bus, bike, or walk to work 98 percent of the time. I was wondering, when I'm biking (or walking, for that matter), am I inhaling more pollutants than those around me who are emitting them from their gas-guzzlers? Your answer won't change my habits, since I'm not going to drive to work anytime soon -- I'm just wondering if I'm the one paying the price for my enviro-friendly commuting? Thanks for your help! Sara Tucson, Ar ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, bikes, cars, green living, health, public transportation (all these topics) |
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Rotten tomatoes
Latest health scare exposes a frayed food-safety net |
Guest author |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest post by Meredith Niles, coordinator of the Cool Foods campaign at the Center for Food Safety. Salmonella-infected tomatoes have made headlines over the course of the last week, but there's nothing new about the problem that tainted tomatoes reveal.This outbreak has put more than 25 people in the hospital and sickened hundreds, but it is just the latest in a long line of sickness and recalls. Salmonella in tomatoes, spinach, and lettuce, eColi in ... |
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| Topics: food, green living, Health, Food and Drug Administration (all these topics) |
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I Think You Sink
A test of six green dish soaps |
Katharine Wroth |
17 Jun 2008 |
The Bottom Line |
| Clean for a day. Ah, dish duty. Who hasn't ignored it, dreaded it, rock-paper-scissored over it? But there comes a time in each eater's life when dishes must be done. Happily, today's generation of eco-detergents makes it a less-toxic task than in the past -- though not completely pure. When I set out to test six "eco" dish soaps, I had little idea of the sudsy morass I was about to wade into. For the mos ... |
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| Topics: advice, green living, green products, health, shopping, The Bottom Line (all these topics) |
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Oprah off the meat-free wagon
The all-powerful talk-show host ends her vegan cleanse |
Sarah van Schagen |
17 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Well, Oprah is no longer a caffeine-free, sugar-free, gluten-free vegan. She says her '21-day cleanse' has been 'enlightening.' I will forever be a more cautious and conscious eater. That's my commitment for now. To stay awakened. Hopefully along the way she's also enlightened some of her million-bajillion faithful followers. |
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| Topics: celebrity, food, green living, health, vegetarianism and veganism (all these topics) |
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Toying with you
Something for everyone in the emerging green market |
Joseph Romm |
12 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Kari Manlove, fellows assistant at the Center for American Progress. ----- Good news: Anyone looking for more environmentally responsible options now has choices. Green alternatives are turning up all over these days -- from children's toys to weddings. Families concerned with all the reports in the last year of toys tainted with lead paint will be happy to hear there's a new market for toys that bypass lead and other pote ... |
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| Topics: green living, green products, health, parenting, shopping (all these topics) |
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C6 of One, Half Dozen of the Other
Replacement for nasty chemical may be no less nasty, says EWG |
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10 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:40 PM on 10 Jun 2008 Under pressure from the U.S. EPA, eight chemical companies are phasing out perfluorooctanoic acid in nonstick, oil-resistant, and stain-resistant products -- but industry-favored substitutes may be no safer, says a new report from the Environmental Working Group. The chemical, known for brevity as PFOA or C8, has been linked to cancer, reproductive problems, and immu ... |
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| Topics: green living, health, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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Notable quotable
Even green space can't get us off our lazy you-know-whats |
Katharine Wroth |
10 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'This study shows you don't really need green space.' -- Dutch researcher Jolanda Maas, commenting on a new study showing that living near green space doesn't correlate to exercising more |
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| Topics: placemaking, green living, health, quotables (all these topics) |
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Splash Animation
On kiddie pools |
Umbra Fisk |
09 Jun 2008 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, Regarding your obsession with vinyl, as pertains to summer parenting: Greenpeace's thorough Vinyl Alternatives list indicates that no good alternatives to vinyl kiddie pools exist. Do you think it is worth it to put a huge effort into manufacturing or finding a vinyl-free backyard wading experience? I can't stop thinking about this, and think it merits faking a question. Yours as always, Umbra Dearest Me, What a great questi ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, green living, health, parenting, toxics (all these topics) |
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A Lung Time Coming
Ozone-depleting asthma inhalers being phased out |
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02 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:27 AM on 02 Jun 2008 Asthma inhalers containing ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons will be phased out by the end of 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Friday. The phaseout of CFCs is required under the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty that the United States actually deigned to sign on to. Alternatives to CFC inhalers use hydrofluoroalkanem as a propellant; HFA inhalers may taste differe ... |
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| Topics: Food and Drug Administration, green living, health, international treaties, news, ozone (all these topics) |
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Leading to problems
Implications of the study linking childhood lead exposure and adult criminality |
Liz Borkowski |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A study just published in the journal PLoS Medicine (and written up in the L.A. Times) suggests a link between childhood lead exposure and adult arrests for violent crimes. Studying 250 adults for whom they had prenatal and childhood blood lead level measurements, University of Cincinnati researchers found that each 5-microgram-per-deciliter increase in blood lead levels at age 6 was associated with a nearly 50 percent increased risk of arrest as a young adult (the ris ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, green living, health, parenting, scientific research, toxics (all these topics) |
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Candy-shaped rat poison on its way out
EPA gives manufacturers three years to adjust to new regulations designed to protect children |
Fawn Pattison |
30 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The U.S. EPA announced today that it would be tightening up the safety requirements on ten nasty rodenticides that are blamed for poisoning around 10,000 children -- mostly black and Latino inner-city kids -- every year. Those ten chemicals will no longer be available in the form of little pellets that look like candy, and that small children are so prone to stick in their mouths. The new rules will require non-agricultural users of rat poison to use it only inside tam ... |
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| Topics: green living, health, parenting, regulation, toxics, US EPA (all these topics) |
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Michigan WIC whacks organic
Evidently, women, infants, and children in need don't deserve organic |
Tom Philpott |
28 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Women, Infants, and Children program provides food aid to 'low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk,' according to the USDA website. The federal government funds the program through grants to states, which then decide how to allocate the cash. Evidently, in Michigan -- a state undergoing severe economic strain -- some bureaucrats have bought into ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, food, green living, health, Michigan, organic food, parenting, shopping (all these topics) |
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The Lawn and Short of It
How to green your yard -- even more |
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13 May 2008 |
From A to Green |
| One of the most enduring truisms on earth is that all you need -- aside from love, of course -- is loam. Good dirt and a few seeds can get you a plot of paradise, whether you're nursing daffodils in a window box, planting a native tree, or cultivating carrots, cukes, and Incredible Hulk-sized zucchini in a perfectly preened organic garden. Go a few steps further -- grab a rake, shovel, spade, soaker hose, hemp gardening ... |
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| Topics: advice, From A to Green, gardening, green living, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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On the Ball: Balls, balls, and more balls
Give this roundup a sporting chance |
Sarah K. Burkhalter |
08 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Ado, ado, ado. It's been a while since our last sports roundup, so with no further ado: Baseball: Major League Baseball was all about Earth Day. The Seattle Mariners hosted the league's first carbon-neutral game, while the uniforms of the Boston Red Sox displayed a pair of red socks in a green recycling logo. (Reaction from Grist Prez -- and Sox fan -- Chip Giller: 'This is butt ugly! And what does the recycling sign have to do with energy issues?') Me ... |
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| Topics: carbon neutral, climate, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, health, sports (all these topics) |
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SKB and BPA on NPR
Everything you wanted to know about bisphenol A, in my dulcet tones |
Sarah K. Burkhalter |
08 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I was on NPR talking about bisphenol A (that nasty chemical all up in our plastics). Audio is here. I expect these questions will be forthcoming: Do you always sound a bit froggy? No, I was a wee bit sick. Do you always make up rhymes on the spot? Yes. Yes, I do. |
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| Topics: green living, health, shameless self-promotion, toxics (all these topics) |
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Tough as Nails
A five-fingered review of less-toxic nail polishes |
Sarah van Schagen |
06 May 2008 |
The Bottom Line |
| If you've ever gone in for a manicure and, getting a good whiff of the stuff, wondered what sort of chemicals create a smell like that, you've hit the nail polish issue on the head. Those tiny little glass bottles of paint that we apply so gingerly to our fingernails and toenails -- and unless you're a manicure Michelangelo, often our skin as well -- contain a long list of chemicals, some of th ... |
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| Topics: advice, green living, green products, health, shopping, The Bottom Line, toxics (all these topics) |
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Soiled Again
On lead and gardens |
Umbra Fisk |
05 May 2008 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, In your reply to the question about pollution and rooftop gardening, you talked a fair amount about lead pollution. Since gasoline is no longer leaded, and since it's container gardening that wouldn't have any lead paint in it, and surely nobody has lead water pipes any more, why is lead even a concern? Teresa Brenham, Tex. Dearest Teresa, Our ecological history hangs around our necks like a lead weight. Still heavy after al ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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Lipstick Bungle
An interview with Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics |
Katharine Wroth |
02 May 2008 |
Grist Feature |
| Stacy Malkan. Beauty, they say, is only skin deep. But given the load of toxic chemicals in everyday products like shampoo, deodorant, and makeup, that superficial truth is still cause for concern. With increasing frequency, studies point to hidden dangers in the medicine cabinet: things like lead in lipstick, phthalates in baby lotions, aluminum in deodorant. While the am ... |
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| Topics: consumerism, grassroots activism, green living, health, interview, shopping, toxics (all these topics) |
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Paint by number
Seattle artist illustrates statistics on waste, health, and consumption |
Adam Browning |
18 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A graphic -- very graphic -- look at the numbers that define America. |
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| Topics: air travel, art, deforestation, e-waste, green living, health, recycling, waste (all these topics) |
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Down to the Last Drop
Nalgene, Wal-Mart back away from BPA |
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18 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:08 PM on 18 Apr 2008 Bottle manufacturer Nalgene will stop using plastic containing bisphenol A in response to concerns from the National Toxicology Program and the Canadian health department that the chemical probably shouldn't be sucked on by kids. Nalgene says it still believes its clear, hard plastic bottles "are safe for their intended use" but says it's responding to customers who "indicated they preferr ... |
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| Topics: business, food, green living, green products, health, news, shopping, toxics (all these topics) |
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