Somewhere around the turn of the century, people began to realize that new car smell is actually an unhealthy combination of 50-60 VOCs off-gassing from plastics, vinyl, and glues. For a while, environmentalists paid a lot of attention to avoiding VOCs, but it’s hard to maintain attention these days. The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for handling false advertising claims, […]
Mercury is a metal that is liquid at room temperature and which can be toxic to humans and the environment. While mercury is a natural element that’s present in small amounts in our environment, it is present in some household items and used for industrial purposes. Knowing where you may find mercury is the first step to avoiding exposure and […]
LEDs are the darlings of the lighting world. If lightbulbs were in high school, LEDs would be universally popular. They’re user-friendly and help save money. LEDs are versatile. And they are a positive step toward making a home energy efficient. LEDs (light-emitting diodes) for residential use consume at least 75% less energy and last up to 25 times longer than […]
Many of us enjoy adding homegrown herbs, garden fresh tomatoes, and crispy salad greens to our meals, but are limited in what we can grow ourselves. Thankfully, even the most urban yards and patios have the potential for producing relatively high yields. Here are some helpful tactics that can help you cultivate the most produce per square foot of your […]
The plight of the polar bears is tragic indeed, but if you need charismatic megafauna to make you care about climate change, you can just look in the mirror. The melting ice that is eliminating polar bear habitat is well on its way to eliminating human habitat as well. All that water pouring into the oceans is raising the sea […]
Maddy Rotman, head of Sustainability at Imperfect Foods, a delivery service for sustainably sourced produce and packaged food that would otherwise end up in landfills as food waste, joins the conversation to find an end to one of the largest sources of easily avoided greenhouse gas emissions. More than a third of the food humans grow each year goes unused. […]
Earth911 Mattress Ranking research is sponsored by Avocado Brands Sleep is bliss, but it isn’t always environmentally responsible. Many mattresses contain a toxic brew of chemicals — from flame-retardant chemicals like polybrominated diphenyl ethers to formaldehyde and mercury — as well as petroleum-based ingredients. In recent years, sustainable mattress companies have risen to the challenge of making a clean, earth-friendly […]
Cadmium wasn’t discovered until the 19th century, when it quickly found use as a pigment that could produce bright yellows, oranges, and reds. Cadmium is still used in some pigments. But today it is also an important component of batteries, metal alloys, electroplating, solar panels, and plastic stabilizers. It’s kind of hard to imagine how we ever got along without […]
A lawn may be beautiful but it can take a heavy toll on the environment, accounting for between 30% and 60% of residential water use in the United States. Rob Moir, Ph.D., is president and executive director of the Ocean River Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ORI works with residential lawn owners to heal damaged ecosystems by restoring coastal areas to […]
As an eco-conscious animal lover, I’ve long been looking for ways to reduce my pet’s impact on the environment and make owning a dog more sustainable. In the U.S. alone, pets are linked to the release of more than 60 million tons of greenhouse gases every year! Commercial foods and treats are responsible for the majority of these emissions, although […]