Manufacturers, not wanting to miss out on the huge California population, will usually bend to these rules, even if it means listing something as carcinogenic on the label, if they get to continue selling their products in California.  The rest of us reap the rewards!

According to The Daily Green, 30 more chemicals were just listed by the State of California to be toxic in one or more ways.  Check ‘em out – In the words of The Daily Green

Male Reproductive Toxicants

1. n-Butyl glycidyl ether, a chemical used to make epoxy resins with a number of uses in common products
2. Carbaryl, a household pesticide used to kill a range of insects, and sold as Sevin by GardenTech and Bayer (also a developmental toxicant)
3. 2-Chloropropionic acid, a chemical used to make herbicides
4. Dichloroacetic acid, which forms in drinking water as a byproduct of disinfection using chlorine
5. Diglycidyl ether, a chemical used to make epoxy resins
6. Ethylene oxide, a chemical mainly used in the manufacturing of chemicals like antifreeze and polyester (also a developmental toxicant)
7. Ethyl-tert-butyl ether, a common gasoline additive
8. Methyl chloride, a chemical used primarily to make silicone polymers, but also used in other processes, including the oil refining
9. Methyl n-butyl ketone, an industrial solvent
10. Phenyl glycidyl ether, an industrial chemical
11. 1,3,5-Triglycidyl-s-triazinetrione, a constituent of some paints
12. 4-Vinyl-cyclohexene, a chemical used in the production of epoxy resins (also a female reproductive toxicant)

Carcinogens

1. Amsacrine, a chemotherapy drug
2. Bleomycins, antibiotics used in chemotherapy treatments
3. Chlorophenoxy herbicides, including 2,4-D, are common weedkillers sold for lawn and garden use
4. Marine diesel fuel
5. Progestins, synthetic hormones found in some birth controls
6. Styrene, an ingredient in many plastic and foam products
7. Toxins derived fromFusarium moniliforme (Fusarium verticillioides), a fungus
8. Vinyl acetate, a compound used to make polymers used in plastics, films, lacquers, adhesives, inks, water-based emulsion paints, floor tiling, safety glasses, cosmetics and personal care products and other goods
9. Wood dust
10. Zalcitabine, an HIV drug sold as Hivid
11. Zidovudine (AZT), an HIV drug

Developmental Toxicants

1. Tert-Amyl methyl ether, a common fuel additive
2. Carbaryl, a household pesticide used to kill a range of insects, and sold as Sevin by GardenTech and Bayer (also a male reproductive toxicant)
3. Chloroform, which is used in the manufacturing of other chemicals, and which can form in drinking water as a byproduct of disinfection using chlorine
4. N,N-dimethylacetamide, a solvent used in industries ranging from fibers and adhesives to pharmaceuticals and plasticizers
5. Ethylene oxide, a chemical mainly used in the manufacturing of chemicals like antifreeze and polyester (also a male reproductive toxicant)
6. 2-Ethylhexanoic acid, a chemical associated with phthalates and PVC plastics
7. p,p’-Oxybis (benzenesulfonyl hydrazide), an industrial chemical
8. Phenylphosphine, an industrial chemical

Female Reproductive Toxicants

1. Toluene, a constituent of oil, is found in gasoline and is used to make paints, paint thinners, fingernail polish, lacquers, adhesives and rubber
2. 4-Vinyl-cyclohexene, a chemical used in the production of epoxy resins (also a male reproductive toxicant)

We can all be a little more mindful of what we’re putting into and onto our bodies.  The lesson? check the labels of your cosmetics products and begin changing over to greener, safer products today!  Changing over also prevents these chemicals from being produced and eventually ending up in our environment!

A great place to start with cosmetics products is to check them at Skin Deep.  If you find products with any of the toxins listed above, share them in the comments section below!

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I was reading about different ways colleges are trying to reduce their costs of operations and turned up some greener options being taken on, mostly as a way to save money.  According to this New York Times story by Tamar Lewin, the savings are in some ways favoring the environment as well.

Here are a few highlights:

Most widespread, most proudly announced — and, it seems, most likely to have nicknames — are cost-cutting programs that help sustainability. Hundreds of colleges and universities are turning down their thermostats to save on heating, in programs like “Chill-Out” at Davidson College in North Carolina.

And:

Cafeterias, too, are saving money, cutting food waste and reducing hot-water and detergent costs by eliminating trays. When Whittier began “Trayless Tuesdays” last fall, lunchtime food waste dropped to 4.6 ounces per student from 7.4 ounces — and the college saved almost $30,000 a semester after going fully trayless in the spring.

Less food wasted is a great thing!  It’s carbon-intensive to produce, ship, keep cool, and cook food!  And there are many hungry people in this world.  

 

Many colleges are reducing their use of paper by putting admissions brochures, course catalogs and phone directories online instead of on paper.

Colleges are also installing low-flow shower heads and energy-saving light bulbs and holding contests to see which dorm can most reduce its electricity costs.

At Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., the contest resulted in almost $3,000 saved as students competed in turning off lights and unplugging chargers and printers. Students in participating dorms got 25 percent of the savings, $730, for pizza parties and other programs.

Davidson saved more than $10,000 by switching from bottled water to tap at most college events.

Many colleges are rebuilding computers instead of buying new ones, limiting the purchase and use of campus vehicles and scheduling more videoconferences and less travel.

 

So it doesn’t amount to saving us from global warming, but it shows that we all can take a few small steps toward improving our envirohuman impact.  And you could save some serious money in the process!

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In Royal Oak, Mich., a woman investigated how to start a fruit exchange modeled after Fallen Fruit (fallenfruit.org), an arts group that designs maps of accessible fruit growing in Los Angeles neighborhoods.

In Alaska, cooks used Facebook to find willing donors of backyard rhubarb, the first dessert crop that grows after the long winter. In Columbia, S.C., university students pulled spare peaches from orchards and donated them to a local food bank.

Supporters of this movement hold two basic principles. One, it’s a shame to let fruit go to waste. And two, neighborhood fruit tastes best when it’s free.

Wow, so people taking advantage of the wealth of fruit trees and bushes in people’s yards.  Sounds great, but pickers should be aware that asking first is the best policy:

 

Jennifer Perillo, a mother and food writer who lives in Brooklyn, became an accidental neighborhood fruit forager last summer. She was driving to her mother’s house in Bensonhurst when she saw vibrant red balls hanging from a tree in someone’s yard. Cherries!

She saw a peach tree, too, and leaned over a fence for a sample. The owner was none too happy, but when she explained that she only wanted her children to taste a fresh Brooklyn peach, he gave her half a dozen.

 

But it sounds as if most of the feedback has been positive:

 

She and some friends went to the home of a woman who had planted apple trees 30 years before, but was too old to pick them. They gathered nearly 200 pounds, gave some to the woman and went back to prune her trees.

That apple adventure inspired the Portland Fruit Tree Project, a database of more than 300 trees, each registered by the owner, who promises to call about two weeks before the fruit is ripe to arrange a harvest.

“A family can only really eat 20 pounds of fresh apples or so before they cry uncle,” Ms. Kolker said. “A fruit tree is really made for sharing with your neighborhood.”

This year, 20 picking parties are planned. Half the fruit goes to the people who pick, and half to a local food bank. Ms. Kolker reserves half of the dozen slots at each picking party for low-income people.

 

Commentary:

This is awesome!  As I was reading this story, I decided to take a break to see if Chicago has an organization doing this activity.  I came up empty-handed but I think that this will be a part of the food movement that grows into most small and large cities where respect for such fruit maybe has over time fallen to the wayside.  I remember the apricot trees and blueberry and blackberry bushes from my grandmother’s yard never going to waste.  My grandfather knew people who wanted to have different nut trees picked and he would go and pick many buckets full each year, cracking them in his basement and disbursing them to friends, neighbors, and family.  

This is the type of activity that will hopefully lead to not only more people taking advantage of the fruit trees and bushes that exist already but also adding new varieties of trees and bushes to the mix.  We could turn our yards into not only gardens but also into food sources, even orchards, by planting fruit trees that will grow fresh fruits each year.  Imagine the backyards of every home on a block each having one or two fruit trees and several fruit bushes giving us local, cheap, fair food for the picking, or foraging, year after year!

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