The air we breathe is essential to living healthy modern day lives. There are some places where you can find ionizers separately from the traditional fans and air conditioners and surely their use is to help sanitize the air in the room from germs and untoward pests roaming around unseen by the naked eye.

Proton is offering a portable air conditioner that not only aims to provide great ventilation but also a cleaner air and atmosphere to help keep healthy and sustainable lives.

Via Yanko Designs

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There are two things that people want to resolve today: get proper ventilation against crazy climate changes and reduce energy consumption. Air conditioning is at its peak during hot days and apparently thanks to climate change, we no longer know when that is. In fact, if before you knew which months that your air conditioner would be less utilized, now you have to consider using it extensively.

So how do people address this? Well there is the usual ceiling fans which may solve this problem. Known to be lesser in energy consumption, they have their ways of providing the proper room temperature in your home. Some homes have them while others are contemplating on it. After reading this, do not be surprised if you find yourself rushing to the nearest store to get one and install it immediately.

Ceiling fans reduce energy consumption by decreasing the use of air conditioning. In summer, they create a downdraft which increases the rate of evaporation of moisture on the skin. In the winter, they de-stratify the air, displacing the heated layer that rises to the ceiling with cooler air from the lower levels of the room.

Fans are operated with a clockwise rotation in the winter to create an updraft and counter clockwise direction in the summer to create downdraft. This direction is determined as you look up at the fan.

The amount of air movement is a function of the size of the blades and their pitch, which varies from about

12 to 20 degrees, says Goemans. Other factors include the distance from the ceiling and between the blades, as well as the length of the blades to the size of the room.

(Source) Calgary Herald

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People these days, particularly the women, are sure to be looking for alternatives to the usual stuff they would need for beauty and skin care to store in their medicine cabinets. While checking out the contents and ingredients made to produce various cosmetic products such as lipstick and nail polish is a good manner to control these things, it simply remains that you need further information to avoid the toxins and chemicals that such products provide.

Fortunately, there are some groups that can help you in determining the level of toxic content (if any) and the products you should endorse and check out.

Luckily, Web sites such as the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic safety database Skin Deep and PristinePlanet.com have done much of the work for you. On Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group has compiled information on ingredients in thousands of personal-care products and matched them against data in more than 50 toxicity and regulatory databases. Based on the results, each product is given its own “hazard” score. Pristine Planet, which grew its traffic from 50,000 to 100,000 shoppers over the past year, lets consumers browse, compare and review sustainable companies’ products, including price points, says Catherine Finn, owner and co-founder.

(Source) Forbes

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The Fourth of July is just three days away and you can bet that most people are figuring out how to celebrate this annual event in the most eco-friendly way possible. For sure, fireworks will be the first in mind. But are there any eco-friendly fireworks within reach?

The answer here is coloring agents. We are all amazed at the fireworks display because of color and light. The usual harmful elements are potassium perchlorate which is a known element in pyrotechnics. So taking that out and using another compound in the form of strontium-based oxidants may help provide eco-friendly firework solutions that people will be looking for come this Friday during the regular Fourth of July celebration.

The C&EN article also warns us that coloring agents used during fireworks could be friendlier to the planet. “The other area in which pyrotechnics could improve from an environmental standpoint is their use of coloring agents. To achieve colored fireworks and flares, pyrotechnic makers employ metals or metal compounds that emit light in the visible spectrum. Red hues come from strontium, sodium glows yellow, barium burns green, and blues and greens come from copper. At one time, mercury and lead compounds were used as colorants, but they were phased out long ago. Ironically, the modern pyrotechnic components that could use some “greening” are the barium compounds that give fireworks and flares their green color.”

(Source) ZDNet

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As part of their drive to become eco-friendly, Indian Railways has implemented the use of bio-toilets in their tracks. Unlike a normal toilet, in the bio-toilet only the water trickles down the track, while the sludge is retained in the tank.

They aim to implement this 100% in all their 9,000 trains by 2013, shifting from the biological toilets that waste water profusely. While there are detractors on the feasibility of this investment, the logic of the whole system flow of bio-toilet installation is indeed something to ponder on.

This toilet uses less than 5 litres of water per flush against uncontrolled use of water in open toilets. In a year, about a kg of waste will be collected in the tank, which will be cleared manually. Though it will save water, the bio-toilet comes at a price. For every coach, the railways will have to shell out Rs 8 lakh as equipment cost and Rs 1.5-2 lakh as operations cost per year.

(Source) Down to Earth

Conservation, Consumerism, Eco Travel, Green Design, Green Ideas, Green News, Health and Well-being, indian railways, Reduce, sludge, system flow, toilet installation, toilets, trains, waste water, water trickles Conservation, Consumerism, Eco Travel, Green Design, Green Ideas, Green News, Health and Well-being, indian railways, Reduce, sludge, system flow, toilet installation, toilets, trains, waste water, water trickles

In a recent article in a health newsletter i get in my mail, was a good tip on how foods that contain soy aid in the symptoms of menopause. The article is actually a Q&A column with a doctor that specializes in treating and caring menopause patients.

Menopause Doctor - Dr. John Sunyecz

The question is:

What are some natural remedies for alleviating the symptoms of menopause? I’ve heard that soymilk and taking herbs can help.

The answer is:

Natural remedies for alleviating symptoms of menopause have existed for yeras. Up to 80 percent of women have used alternative remedies during the menopause transition. A comprehensive review of natural remedies for menopause symptoms found that the foods which contain soy show promise for the treatment of menopause symptoms.

To read more on the topic head on over to MenopauseRX.com

This is a green blog, not a medical blog, so do head on over to the site mentioned above which is run by doctors and other medical pros. Just wanted to mention the article i came across, as i feel it contained an interesting find.

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Just when you thought that you could have an eco-friendly burial, cremation seems to be hanging in the air as far as eco-friendly proportions of burials by cremation is concerned. A lot of questions has been hurled at the cardboard coffins for the reason that some safety issues as well as the issue of the ashes that they will be creating.

Crematorium Society of Canterbury general manager Barbara Terry said the Ecocoffins, imported from China, could be used for burials but not burnt in the crematorium because of the amount of ash they produced, coupled with safety concerns.

“There is no credible data or research that can make us feel confident the emissions from this product are of acceptable standards,” she said.

“This particular supplier has made the decision to bring these caskets into the country and the onus is on him to present information to the industry.

“They leave a tremendous amount of fly ash, which does not combust and settles amongst the remains of the deceased like a tacky attachment. It is a sensitive issue and we must take care to return ashes to the family to our satisfaction.”

(Source) Stuff.co.nz

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This device could really be a lifesaver in many cases where there has been a natural disaster and the drinking water has become contaminated for one reason or another. This would be particularly good in areas which have been affected by flood or earthquake.

They have used the name Lifesaver for product which is what it could be in many cases, it is one of the worlds first ultra filtration water bottle and is so simple to use, because in many cases there will be children who will have to collect water too.

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Palm oil mostly originating from Asia has had its share of controversies connected with the whole eco-friendliness issue today. Apparently, people today look more towards the havoc that it has done rather than what it can do to help make the environment greener.

Palm oil has been blamed for deforestation and for driving species such as the orangutan to the verge of extinction. But if you look a little bit closer, you will find that certain products such as margarine, washing power, ice cream or even cosmetics that make use of it.

So between the two, which outweighs which? Perhaps the real deal here is identifying what palm oil can really provide and how we can control it and make it sustainable.

Palm oil is in a vast range of consumer products, from margarine to washing powder, and is probably in your favourite ice-cream, coffee creamer or even your lipstick. You might not be aware of this because many manufacturers simply call it “vegetable oil” on the label, often to try to avoid the stigma that has become attached to palm oil.

Campaigns by groups such as Friends of the Earth in the United Kingdom and Europe saw consumer boycotts of products containing palm oil forcing retail giants to put pressure on producers to prove that their product is sustainable and eco-friendly.

(Source) Mail and Guardian

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If you haven’t noticed, the warm climate that has been hitting various parts of the world like Australia and various parts of Asia like the Philippines are not your usual heat waves that come in seasons like summer. While most of us think that they are only normal they are not. They are products of the global warming issue which has been made popular by Al Gore.

All the things we do to harm our environment like pollution and improper waste management have been key ingredients towards the global warming recipe. We may not associate it now but global warming is a reality.

Many people feel that this would be a good time the beaches but be sure to apply added amounts of sun blocks. Getting a tan is one thing but suffering from the heat in the form of sunburn or heat stroke is not as simple as most of us deem it to be. Global warming is a clear culprit in the worsening climate we all have to deal with so be wiser when you go out!

Climate change is plain to see in southern Australia. After 10 years of seriously below average rainfalls, folks have had to adapt: There is a weekly two-hour outdoor water restriction. Residents collect every bit of what little rain they get. They have re-landscaped their yards with indigenous plants and given up English-style gardens. It is no longer a question of whether to get an 11,000-gallon cistern for rain collection - the question now is how many.

We just spent a day driving around Victoria, going up mountains (small ones) with vast lookouts over dry barren land. I am told that in the springtime the land is green for a few weeks, but right now that is hard to imagine. Every land holder determines the lowest point on their land and collects water in a small dugout pond. However, this prevents the water from flowing into creeks, so it was no surprise to find all of the creeks bone dry. What few rivers we did drive over had stagnant puddles of water with tiers of grass between them - no flowing water was anywhere to be seen.

(Source) Condor Monitor

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We all want to stay as fit as possible but apparently, there are some factors like climate change which we cannot avoid. For countries like the Philippines, a well-known but deadly disease like Dengue will feast on such an opportunity and even go to the extent of claiming lives despite numerous health warnings regarding the spread of this epidemic.

Worst of all, it is the children who will be sitting ducks. While adults have a high immunization to these diseases, they are still not spared. Dengue is a virus that is hard to avoid and adding the problems of garbage and waste to countries like the Philippines, you can imagine the high risk setting that this country is sitting on.

Dengue is just one disease. There are other potential health risks such as Typhoid and Malaria cases that are leading the illnesses in this Asian country. It can only get worse as climate change issues continue to worsen.

“In the Philippines, there already are trends of increasing number of hot days and warm nights, but decreasing number of cold days and cool nights. Other extreme weather climate events like intense rains have been seen to be more frequent.”

(Source) Philippine Daily Inquirer

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The best way to avoid all that public pollution is to stay indoors. However, it also remains a fact that not all people can be able to escape the pollution bug as most establishments have to make sure that they have provisions to keep the dreaded smoke and pollution problems from getting into protected areas.

Notable places where you can stay in are the hotels. Most hotels today are costly but your best bet to escape the pollution bug. Hotels such as the Lenox Hotel boasts of climate neutral rooms which most guests can look forward to when they want safe accommodations and environment to look forward to wherever they may be.

The Lenox Hotel touts its rooms as climate neutral and says it offsets the air pollution and carbon emissions of 100 percent of the electricity used on the property.

(Source) St. Petersburg Times

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Everybody is looking for ways to trim down and stay healthy. Apparently, this is not enough these days as people also have to consider the area of being eco-friendly about it. There are a number of ways people can achieve both. Ranging from a simple walk with nature or working out at home can achieve that health goal people always wanted.

People can achieve both if they put their minds into it. Here are some ideas to explain them more into detail.

Get outside. Electrically powered exercise machines at fitness centers and home gyms require a lot of energy to operate.

Unplug at home. If outdoor exercise is not an option, try creating a home gym using equipment that, again, requires you to generate the power. Some examples: dumbbells, tubing, kettle bells, jump ropes and self-powered cardio machines such as spinning bikes and rowing machines.

Dress the part. When choosing your workout clothes and accessories, consider those made of organic cotton, bamboo or other natural fibers — even coconut shells! You could also look for clothes and shoes made of recycled materials, such as sneakers with recycled rubber soles. (Green coloring is up to you.)

(Source) MSNBC

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Many people associate green tea with health. This originates from people who have tried it or have been advised by physicians and friends who have tried it. The mentality is that to most, green tea health benefits are a myth until they experience it themselves. But the question is, how do they try this much talked about health drink and how they can take note of its health benefits entirely.

Here are some highlights of benefits we can get from green tea:

1. Cut Cancer Risks
2. Soothe Your Skin
3. Protect Your Skin
4. Steady Your Blood Pressure
5. Protect Your Memory
6. Stay Young
7. Lose Weight

(Source) Fitsugar

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Have you heard of Airborne? It is an all natural (citrus flavored) herbal formula that is loaded with Vitamin C, and wards off (or keeps at bay) the symptoms that accompany a cold.

Well now you can grab a FREE sample to try it out. Go to Airborne Sample.com and request a freebie which will be sent to you in the mail. There are several varieties of Airborne, this sample is for the NEW! Power Pixies.

Found this green freebie alert in my local Sunday supplement. Get yours!

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