So, in terms of just the materials used to make the toothbrush, here’s my personal ranking of the options mentioned above:
7th place: Over-engineered soft-grip toothbrush (made from “advanced” thermoplastic elastomers) Continue reading Daily Footprint, #2 – Toothbrush
The next several posts will take a look at the things we use or consume over a typical day from a social and environmental point of view. To keep posts to a reasonable length I’ll just look at a few aspects of each example, but let me know if you want more on a specific topic. So, rise and shine, it’s time to get up … Continue reading Daily Footprint, #1 – Toothpaste
One of my favorite non-fiction books of the last decade (actually it was published in 2005 but I didn’t discover it until a few years ago) is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I bring it up because I think it ties into some aspects of the Green Stars Project that I haven’t gone into before, related to living a conscious life and living in … Continue reading A New Earth – Eckhart Tolle & Ethical Consumerism
I’ve been posting quite a few product reviews over the last two years. At first I posted them only on amazon.com, partly because it’s an obvious place to start (as the largest internet retailer and major resource for product reviews) and partly because it provides a good means of tracking progress. People vote on Amazon reviews (helpful or not) and this has been a very … Continue reading Green Star Reviews from the Garden Island
In part one I took a look at the trend of gaining independence from large corporations by making our own stuff. Here, I’m going to take the specific example of making your own food bars (i.e., energy bars, granola bars, fruit and nut bars, or whatever you want to call them). Why make your own energy bars? Why would you want to go to the … Continue reading Energy Bars: Do It Yourself, part two
Diet Books! How many do we need, really? I have to admit though, when I see a shiny new hardback in the local bookstore with an eye-catching image (a big stack of sinister-looking bagels, or a piece of broccoli in the shape of a brain) and an author with credentials – Dr. Mitch Somebody, M.D. – it’s hard not to get sucked in. Especially when … Continue reading Proteinaholic / Integrity in Science
When it comes to reducing our global footprint and avoiding corporations that we disapprove of, one of the most encouraging trends is that of DIY, or the culture of makers, to use a more hip parlance. This can involve anything from converting your car to run on biodiesel to knitting a scarf. For projects that require specialized tools and equipment, there are hundreds of spaces … Continue reading Cooking is Activism: Do It Yourself, part one.
Nestlé continues to bottle water in California during the worst drought on record. Many of you are well aware of this, so I won’t go into too much detail – you can catch up on it here. Rather than a session of hand-wringing and frustration I want to understand the company’s perspective on the situation in order to address it. So, briefly, here are a … Continue reading Water
It turns out that certain companies have been putting little plastic beads into products such as toothpastes and exfoliating scrubs. These “microbeads” are made from polyethylene, the same kind of plastic that’s used to make most beverage bottles. Why on earth would they do this, you might ask? In the case of scrubs they are used as a cheaper alternative to natural exfoliants. In toothpaste, … Continue reading Attack of the Microbeads!!
In part one, I took a look at Martha Stout’s The Sociopath Next Door which examines the prevalence of sociopaths who, unhampered by consciences, may rise to positions of power at the expense of others. Milgram’s experiments on obedience together with studies on the psychology of killing during warfare show that most of us will obey authority, even when this goes against our better judgement, … Continue reading Sociopathy and Kindness (part two)
The Green Stars Project 