2.  Think before trashing your old electronics. “Call2Recycle provides a free and convenient way to recycle old cell phones and used rechargeable batteries found in cordless electronic products such as laptops, camcorders, digital cameras, cordless power tools, mp3 players, PDAs and more,” Briana Papa of Call2Recycle, said.

“There are more than 30,000 retail, community and business collection sites enrolled in the program throughout the U.S. and Canada. Consumers can simply drop their used rechargeable batteries and old cell phones in branded Call2Recycle collection boxes at participating retailers such as Best Buy, Target, RadioShack, The Home Depot and Lowe’s. Call2Recycle is operated by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC), a nonprofit, public service agency dedicated to recycling used rechargeable batteries.  For more information on the program and to find a comprehensive list of collection sites, please visit www.call2recycle.org.”

3.  Rather than spending your Sunday mornings clipping coupons, only to leave them at home when you go to the store, why not keep them close in a convenient way?  Try TheSavingsPost.com, “a local coupon site that allows consumers to text message local coupons to their cell phones.”

“Consumers always have their cell phones with them so they always have their coupons with them,” Dan Sexton, president of TheSavingsPost.com, said.  “Consumers are not only saving on paper, ink, etc….but they are also saving money while they shop locally.”

4.  Want to wish your friends and family “happy birthday” and stay green?  There’s an option for that now with BirthdayDialer.com.  This “new website allows the user to select from a menu of fun musical birthday greetings and send one directly to their friends’ phones for free,” Heidi Glauser of www.birthdaydialer.com, said.  Fun, free and green.  That’s hard to beat.

5.   Are you drowning in foil, plastic wrap and paper towels?  Make your household a little greener and “look for glass containers that are sturdy, sealable and reusable and use cloth napkins,” Shelby Zadow, marketing director for BioAg.com, said.

6.  Want to make your razor last longer? “Corrosion causes most razor heads to go bad not dullness,” Raddenbach said. “My wife and I use manual razors with disposable heads. After each shave we use a spray bottle to clean the heads out thoroughly and blot it dry with a towel, and we don’t leave the razor in the shower.”

7.  We plan our hectic schedules around our work, so why not our errands as well?  Group your trips for less stress, both on you and the environment! “Whether it’s by car or public transit, planning your trips to the store or to run errands can be most efficiently accomplished with the least environmental impact if you make sure you’re not backtracking or running one errand a day,” A.J. Dax, green lifestyle expert, said.  “Best of all, of course, is planning you errands so you can do them by walking or bicycle whenever possible.”

8.  Similarly, Dax recommends planning your cooking.  “Because I have an electric stove, I time my cooking with how long the burner will remain hot so I’m not letting the heat from the burner go to waste.  I also recommend Staub and Le Creuset cooking pots (or similar enameled cast iron).  Once these pots get warm, they retain their heat and cook similarly to a slow cooker.  So you don’t have to have the burner turned up on a higher setting until the cooking is done.  That said, people should also remember to use lids properly when cooking.  So many people forget that if they’re boiling water or other items, they will heat faster and use less energy if you put a lid on the pot to hold the heat in.  Those old fashioned tips really do work a lot.  Grandma knew her stuff!”

9.  Start thinking “functional chic” when you shop for your home rather than “fashionable chic,” Zadow said.  “I think the biggest change has been in my mind set.  Areas I would typically want to redecorate (remove out dated tile etc), I’ve decided instead to find ways to decorate around instead of creating more waste.”

10.  Clothing and shoes, however, can be another deal entirely.  You can still be fashionable and green.  Dax created and continues to follow his own shopping rules. “If I see a great new pair of shoes and those shoes aren’t replacing a pair that has worn out, I buy them.  But when I go home, I have to pick a pair of shoes that will be donated to charity.  The same goes for clothing.”  This is a great way to recycle your clothes and shoes for a greater purpose while still buying what you want.

Thanks to all of these great ideas from the HARO contributors!

Have green tips for SocialYell?  Tell us today at SocialYell or tweet about it to SocialYellBlog on Twitter!

Ashley Strickland is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.  She loves reading the green tips people send out!

The first step for everyone is to learn the early detection signs of Alzheimers.  As with many diseases, education, understanding and early detection are keys to fighting the affliction.

Over 200 companies are supporting the Alzheimer’s Association by joining the Early Detection Alliance and educating their employees and the public on the early detection of Alzheimers.  Learn about the Champions and support these companies that help support global health!

As an individual, you can go sign up to become a champion today!

Michael Pollan Speaks at UBC Farm (June 6, 2009)

A guest post by Dave Mcdonald.

Dave is a Certified Management Accountant based in Vancouver, Canada.  Since 2007, he has taken a personal and professional interest in sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through strategy and responsible purchasing.  He believes that sound personal and professional purchasing strategies, integrated with our values and our missions, are the foundation for protecting the environment and our health while increasing community engagement.

On June 6th, I had the good fortune of attending a talk at UBC Farm by Michael Pollan – author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defence of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. It was a beautiful day out at the farm – the sun could have come out and burned us, but stayed nicely behind the clouds. I’ve yet to read either of Pollan’s books, but his talk resonated with me in several ways I’d like to share.

Food is a complex issue – on all of industrial, societal, and even psychological levels. Discussing food as a system, seemingly without variation, is painting some fairly broad strokes, but the key to this, if I read Pollan correctly, is through culture. Pollan began by stating his premise: That you can’t have a healthy population without a healthy diet and that you can’t have a healthy diet without a healthy food system. This makes sense on an intuitive level and even he admitted that the latter is a point that will take some convincing. Assuming Pollan is correct, there’s a chicken-and-egg paradox here: In order to have a healthy food system, producers need to be providing healthy, sustainable food options to consumers. But producers are not currently providing these options to consumers in any large number, so without these options, how does this all start on a meaningful scale? Because they act in the interest of sales and profits, it’s really not likely that producers will change their models for the sake of sustainability. In fact, I would speculate that most traditional food providers would not be able make these changes even if they wanted to because they are so deeply rooted in their strategies, supply chains and general processes that any change would be entirely profound and beyond the capacity of most. The onus is unfortunately pushed onto the “eater” to be diligent. This is where I have the most concern – we’re asking the masses to act independently and there’s no obvious compelling case to convey that there is a tipping point for most; that is, a reason that appeals to people’s pocketbooks and sense of value, to ensure they act responsibly. Appealing to intellect, values, and the general sense of what one ‘should’ do, versus corporate decision making on the scale of a half trillion dollar industry is a gargantuan task. Looking at a larger system, roughly sketched out below, there’s a significant vested interest in parties representing economic sustainability and growth to keep things as they are.

There is so much money being made at all these different layers, that no one has an incentive to change beyond the leap of faith related to what is generally good. Pollan notes that $283 billion in revenue is generated in the US thanks to food-related health care. I am someone who depends heavily on the British Columbia health care industry for my own sustenance and the thought of losing that scares me. Where’s my ROI for the right choice? I’m not certain that the people on the planet today are facing the most hardships seen on the planet in history, but I am sure there’s a case to be made for that. We certainly have one of the most difficult choices in the history of the planet – to take action against the corporate earnings per share mentality from 20 years ago and force change in supply chains we don’t even fully understand. It’s an interesting leap of faith, indeed.

Atrazine is a common weed killer used on farms, golf courses and lawns across the country.  The chemical can wash into watersheds and drinking water supplies are monitored for contamination. Officials are required to report increases in atrazine to consumers. The Times investigation found that in some areas concentrations had spiked but the rise was not reported to residents.

Studies on the health impacts of atrazine done after regulations for the chemical were put into place have shown new information. Exposure may cause serious developmental effects during times of fetal development.

“There are short, critical times — like when a fetus’s brain is developing — when chemicals can have disastrous impacts, even in very small concentrations,” said Deborah A. Cory-Slechta, a professor at the University of Rochester in New York who has studied atrazine’s effects on the brain and serves on the E.P.A.’s science advisory board. “The way the E.P.A. tests chemicals can vastly underestimate risks.”

“There’s still a huge amount we don’t know about atrazine,” she added.

Well, I’m going to pick up a water filter…Yell out your thoughts!

Elizabeth Ulion is a graduate student at Northwestern University.

Photo courtesy of lindyireland/Flickr

Slide a few aisles down in the supermarket and hit processed foods – for the purposes of this post, anything that isn’t a whole food (see aforementioned definition).  From crackers to frozen meals and everything in between, there is a seemingly endless variety of organic foods.

There are many reputable organic food manufacturers out there.  Keep in mind it’s also a growing industry which forces competition… and adherence to rules, but perhaps only the specific rules laid out to attain organic certification (through myriad certifying entities).  So, your picture of what is organic may not be an entirely full picture.

Consider this, from an LA Times article, USDA Organics Label Comes Under Fire:

Grated organic cheese, for example, contains wood starch to prevent clumping. Organic beer can be made from non-organic hops.

True organics are better for you and the earth and are better tasting.  We need to vote with our forks and purchase foods that are sustainably produced.  Take few extra minutes to be sure what you are eating really is organic and not fauxganic.  How do you do that?  Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. READ – Flip the package over and take a quick scan of the ingredients.  You may be surprised at what is actually in those crackers you are about to buy.  The list starts of with organic ingredients, but there could be other (very hard to pronounce) ingredients as well.
2. GET IN THE KITCHEN – Start with organic whole foods that are locally grown.  Starting from fresh ingredients that you put together is the best way to ensure you are eating the freshest food.
3. BE EDUCATED – Take steps like you are right now, reading blog posts, articles, and books.  Spend some of the time that you might be educating yourself on the latest tech gadget, on what you are putting in your body.
4. CONNECT – Connect with local farmers.  Find a farmers market or buy into a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  Surrounding yourself with like minded individuals will help you understand the food you are buying and eating.
5. FIND - Sustainable farms on SocialYell.  If you know of a great, local organic farm, add it!

Meghan Nesta is a sustainability and social media nut residing in the Philadelphia, PA metro area and loves to connect with other greenies on twitter.

Win this water filter!

We’ve been talking a lot about clean water, lately.

Some great blog posts have discussed tips for making sure you drink clean water, the good and bad of bottled water and the problems of bottled water waste.

Ratings and discussions have started to grow on ZeroWater, eSpring, Give Water and more.

We’ve even put our support behind a great cause on our Facebook page to raise money and awareness for Charity Water.

To help us promote the clean water conversation, the good people at ZeroWater are giving away a free water filter to a lucky winner.

To enter to win, EITHER:

1.  On Twitter follow@ SocialYell and Tweet:  Free clean water! http://bit.ly/Zq7RP Retweet for a chance to win 100% clean water from @SocialYell and ZeroWater

- OR -

2. On Facebook become a fan of SocialYell and leave a comment on our wall

The contest will end at midnight (Eastern time) on Tuesday and we’ll announce the winner on Wednesday.

Good luck and thanks to ZeroWater (go check them out!)

The compound most common in antibacterial products triclosan has been used for 35 years and is becoming more prevalent in household products. It’s also showing up in breast milk.

Most antibacterial products are disposed of down residential drains and the environmental impact is not pretty. “According to Mike Layton, program manager with advocacy group Environmental Defence, triclosan can react to chlorine in drinking water and form chloroform, which is a carcinogen. And when triclosan reacts with light, it can actually form poisonous dioxins, he says.”

Where are these compounds found?

“There are hundreds of products that contain triclosan nowadays, with everything from liquid soaps and toothpastes to deodorants, clothing, tissues and toys. Beyond Pesticides, a non-profit organization in the United States, has an extensive list of everyday products containing triclosan, such as Colgate Total, Old Spice High Endurance Stick Deodorant, Aveeno Therapeutic Shave Gel and J Cloth towels.”

Well, that’s frightening.

What do you use instead of antibacterial products? Yell it out!

Elizabeth Ulion is a graduate student at Northwestern University.

Are you a bottled water kind of person or do you take your water from a filtered tap?  Not sure what you do and don’t know about safe drinking water?  Check out what the experts have to say!

1.  “The best way to ensure your water is safe to drink is to have it tested with a certified laboratory.  At a minimum folks should have their water tested once per year for coliform bacteria, nitrates, lead and, depending on risk factors, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).  If any contamination is found, it can be treated.   Americans spend billions of dollars on bottled water which may be no safer then their own tap water,” according to Sara Kuzma of Suburban Water Testing Labs in Pennsylvania.

2. “Boiling controls most harmful microorganism. Refrigerator filters are only as safe as the water supply or water line entering your refrigerator,” says Mark Latimore, Jr., an Interim Dean and Soil Microbiologist of Fort Valley State University.

3. “If your home is connected to a public drinking water system you have two fairly easy ways of getting information about the quality of your drinking water.  All public water systems are required under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to prepare and distribute an annual Consumer Confidence Report that discusses the levels of various contaminants in that system’s drinking water.  The report can often be found online on the water system’s webpage, if they have one.  Another way you can get information on your local water quality is through the US EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS).

“Between these two sources of information you can find out a lot about your local water. You would have a hard time finding equivalent information about your bottled water,” says Craig Mains of the National Environmental Services Center.

4.  Curious about home filters?  “Your Consumer Confidence Report can provide information that could indicate whether you need a filter or not.   A carbon filter can be installed at just one sink so it isn’t necessary to have an expensive unit that treats the water for the entire house.  A carbon filter won’t necessarily remove every contaminant that might be in your water but it will remove some contaminants in addition to chlorine. In most cases I think it is the only type of filter that would be needed for a household on a public water system,” recommends Craig Mains of the National Environmental Services Center.

5.  Try to find a local, safe source for your water!  “My personal solution is to purchase 5-gallon jugs of real spring water from a local source I trust explicitly and that publishes their raw testing results, which cover hundreds of potential contaminants. The water I buy comes from a single, naturally free-flowing spring here in Maine. The water starts out as pure as it gets and is tested regularly for hundreds of potential contaminants.

“By buying the bulk jugs and filling my own reusable bottle I minimize waste. The jugs are cleaned and used hundreds of times before being recycled. And most importantly I know where the water I drink comes from and what is and isn’t in it,” shares Sheldon Perkins of Maine.

6. “Water filters currently provide the best and healthiest solution to the problems of both bottled water and tap water.  Water filters remove more dangerous contaminants than any other purification method, and they are uniquely designed to work with municipally treated water. The water they produce is not subject to phthalate contamination, and they are able to remove cryptosporidium from drinking water, a feat that neither municipal water treatment plants nor bottled water companies have yet managed.

“Also, drinking filtered water is a much more economical practice than drinking bottled water. The pure water product of a water filter costs very little more than untreated tap water. Furthermore, because water filters use no more energy than is already required to propel water through a home’s plumbing system, they circumvent several of the environmental problems of the bottled water industry. If you are truly concerned about municipal water and how it effects your health a whole house filter system is the best solution because clean, filtered water emerges from every water source in the house,” says Dan Godfrey.

7.  Are you on well water?  Then, “you need to test your own water regularly. Metals, nitrates, etc. Also need to be conscious of risk of radon in your water,” cautions Jennifer Taggart of thesmartmama.com.

8. Are you curious about testing your water?  It’s “easy enough to get a $25 kit and send your [tap] water sample off,” says Jennifer Taggart of thesmartmama.com.

9. What about all of the places your water travels through?  “Know your pipes. Your pipes, fittings, faucet and aerator can contribute lead. A simple solution – let it run if water left standing more than 6 hours; don’t boil to drink; get a NSF certified for lead removal filter,” recommends Jennifer Taggart of thesmartmama.com.

10.  “An important water safety tip few people consider is not using plastic with your water. Plastic bottled water is a waste as nearly 80% of those bottles end up in the trash and not the recycling bin. Also, multiple tests have found plastics can leach toxins into your water. For 20 years, Lipsey Mountain Spring Water has been delivering purified mountain spring water bottled in glass,” says Kate Griffin in Atlanta, GA.  If you do chose bottled water, try looking for an option in glass, as it has been proven safer than plastic, but be sure to recycle when you’re through! 

Thanks to all of the HARO experts and participants who shared their knowledge for this blog!

Got ideas for tips, or do you just have a voice to share?  Let us know today at Socialyell.com!

Ashley Strickland is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.  She never realized how little she knew about water safety!

Is your food really organic?

The truths about greenwashing are everywhere.  If you are just starting out on this journey of living a more sustainable lifestyle, along with the increasingly “green” product line on your local Walmart’s shelves, you’ll most likely notice a growing awareness that claims of greenness may not be 100% truthful.  So, OK, you check out SocialYell’s rankings, read news bits off your twitter stream and feel pretty confident on what to believe.

What you may not realize is that there is a greenwashing taking place in our food that, to the average consumer, may be even more difficult to decipher and understand.  Fauxganic (faux organic) food is becoming more prevalent and more difficult to really understand.

Organic means organic, right?  Well, kind of.  Like any industry, and yes Organic food is an industry of almost $23 billion a year (yes, that’s with a B), the bigger it is the more blurred the lines are.  Your organic strawberries may not be treated with pesticides, but truly sustainable farming practices are not being practiced at the farm they came from.  (For an in depth exploration of these topics, a must read is Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma.)

Here’s an illustration on the more far reaching effects of sustainability in food: I was on vacation in Florida a few weeks back and went to buy some organic oranges.  I’m in Flordia, a citrus mecca of sorts, right?  When I turn the bag over, I’m shocked to find that these oranges are actually from California!  So, does the lack of pesticides compensate for the journey these little fruits took to the store?  It’s something to think about.

The origins of organics, I argue, take into account much more than just adhering to a non-pesticide rule.  It’s the whole picture, the whole approach to how we produce from start to finish.  Earth to plate.

Be educated!  Take a few minutes to flip over the package, read the fine print, and peruse the interwebs to see where your food really comes from.  It’s an eye opening experience.

Meghan Nesta is a sustainability and social media nut residing in the Philadelphia, PA metro area.

“Managers should try to act more responsibly. But they should not expect the market to necessarily reward them–or punish their less responsible competitors,” stated a 2008 Forbes article. While many have claimed that a socially responsible company will do better in business there has been little evidence to support this across the economy.  ““Part of the reason why CSR does not necessarily pay is that only a handful or consumers know or care about the environmental or social records of more than a handful of firms,” said David Vogel, a professor at U.C. Berkley’s business school. The public is more concerned with price, convenience and quality when purchasing products.

Even those who are aware of the impact a company has on the world will find it extremely difficult to find a completely responsible or irresponsible supplier of their needed wares. An example given by Vogel was Merck. The pharmaceutical giant “has been widely applauded for its development and free distribution of a drug to cure river-blindness, a dreadful disease which affects tens of millions of the world’s poorest people. Yet this same company withheld important information regarding the safety of its highly profitable drug Vioxx.”

While it’s always nice to hear about a company building green or donating to charities for many corporate social responsibility is more about what the company does not do. Betsy Atkins , CEO of Baja Ventures highlighted what CSR should focus on:

–Transparency in financial reporting
–A quality product, not misrepresented through marketing
–If something about the product endangers the consumer, be forthright and let the public know
–Do not use predatory practices in offshore manufacturing, such as child labor.
–Do not pollute your environment or other environments, and adhere to laws and regulations.
–Be respectful, fair and open in your employment practices.

There are also misconceptions surrounding corporate social responsibility.  Deborah Doane, the chair of the Britain organization CORE Coalition listed four common myths of CSR.

1. The market can deliver both short-term financial returns and long-term social benefits – the interests of businesses are often at odds and responsible investment is unlikely to pay off as quickly as the stock market requires
2. The ethical consumer will drive change – again, consumers are looking for price and convenience, just look at Wal-Mart
3. There will be a competition to be the most ethical business – often CSR is just good PR without any incentive for changes in behavior
4. Countries will compete to have the best ethical practices – competitive pressure for foreign investment has created a system where less stringent for human rights standards or environmental regulations attract more investors.

What do you think? Yell it out at SocialYell.com! Or in the comments below.

Elizabeth Ulion is a graduate student at Northwestern University.

Photo courtesy of Office Now/Flickr.