All About Water

We can help our planet by living green in many ways, large and small. One decision in the grocery store or car dealership can make a big difference for the environment and your health. Using eco-friendly cleaning products in the kitchen can minimize pollution and enhance the healthiness of your home environment. All cleaning products are not created equal. Some are downright dangerous, while others clean just as well but are safe and environmentally friendly.

The chemicals used in cleaning products and their packaging, can harm the environment and our water supply. Cleaning products contain thousands of untested chemicals, but are flushed down drains into our waterways. These chemicals may leak into streams and rivers, where they may take a long time to decompose into harmless substances, or may never break down at all. Algae blooms can kill life in waterways. “Nutrient overloads” in waterways, caused by cleaning chemicals, have ruined popular fishing areas and shellfish beds.

Some of the chemicals in cleaning products enter the food chain and can return to us in toxic form to cause cancer or even birth defects. Some harmful chemicals commonly found in cleaning products include phosphates, alkalies, bleach, ammonia, acids, alkylphenol ethoxylates, phosphorus, nitrogen and VOCs. Phosphates pollute ocean, river and stream ecosystems with algae blooms and even dead zones.

When we drink water or eat foods that have been contaminated by the dangerous chemicals in cleaning products, we may face health consequences. Over one hundred of the chemicals found in cleaning products have been linked to health problems like allergies, skin rashes, birth defects, cancer, headaches, depression, joint pain, chronic fatigue, chest pains, asthma and dizziness. We can acquire these health problems by breathing air tainted by our cleaning products. Dish washing detergent accounts for the largest percentage of accidental poisonings of children in the home. Housewives have a 50% greater chance of getting cancer than working women; scientists suspect that housewives’ daily cleaning agent usage is to blame. Choosing eco-friendly cleaning products improves your health as well as environmental health.

Hundreds of green, eco-friendly cleaning products are available for our kitchens. We need only find and choose them. Purchase eco-friendly cleaning products online or at your local retailers. Read labels and ask questions to find the best products. Ask for non-toxic cleaners: you should never pour anything but natural substances down the drain. We can also make our own eco-friendly cleaning solutions out of common household substances like salt, vinegar, lemon juice, water and baking soda.

Toxic cleaner usage in bathrooms around the country has harmed our environment for decades. Respiratory irritants in conventional bathroom cleaners increase air pollution. Toxic chemicals in cleaners, personal hygiene products and pharmaceuticals are washed down the drains of American homes and contaminate our drinking water. These cleaners impact not only those who obtain their drinking water from a government-regulated source, but also the 15% of our population who use unregulated, private wells. The environment would greatly benefit from green cleaning supplies.

The EPA has created a list of contaminates that includes every known substance found in drinking water and how much of these substances we can safely consume. Many of these contaminants enter the water system via improper disposal, but others enter through unsafe cleaning products. Using green cleaning supplies is the best way to ensure safe, clean drinking water. Phosphorus and nitrogen are two of the top contaminates found in drinking water. According to the American Water Works Association, higher levels of these substances in water can be attributed partly to toxic bathroom cleaners. Green cleaning supplies avoid using these chemicals in order to reduce the impact of household chemicals on the environment.

Pollutants found in drinking water can cause a multitude of diseases, including nervous disorders and some types of cancer. Airborne particles released by traditional cleaning products cause or aggravate respiratory diseases like asthma.

Purchase green cleaning supplies from health markets or make green cleaning supplies at home using common household ingredients. These green cleaning supplies effectively disinfect bathrooms. Commercial green cleaning supplies offer non-toxic substances in recyclable packaging, further reducing their environmental impact. There are endless recipes for homemade green cleaning supplies, and though the results may vary from batch to batch, all are generally effective.

Many companies are “green-washing” their products to seem more environmentally friendly than they actually are. Always read the ingredient and warning labels found on any products that are sold as green cleaning supplies. Many so-called green cleaning supplies merely change the proper names of toxic chemicals to less offensive-sounding titles. Greenpeace has investigated many of these faux-environmentalist companies’ and found that they touted their products with false information to make their products seem eco-friendly.

Human activity has had a drastic effect on the world’s natural resources. Even casual day to day activities like washing the car, doing dishes, taking a shower or watering the lawn can have consequences. Urban runoff is the largest source of marine pollution today.

What Causes Urban Runoff?

Wastewater from homes and rainwater carrying chemicals and concentrated naturally occurring compounds flows into storm drains and makes its way into local waterways and eventually to the ocean. Activities like hosing down the sidewalks, not cleaning up pet waste, tossing trash onto the ground or into storm drains, and over-watering lawns create additional incidences of urban runoff, which in turn creates more marine pollution.

What Effect Does Urban Runoff Have on the Earth?

Toxins and sediments from urban runoff can lead to many problems that are devastating to waterways:

• Disease in organisms
• Reproductive failure in marine life
• Overload of organic material
• Depletion of oxygen in the water
• Smothering of sea grass and coral reefs, which breaks the food chain
• Reduction of light penetration
• Death of marine life

What Effect Does Urban Runoff Have on Humans?

When urban runoff creates problems in the oceans and other waterways, it’s not just marine life that is affected. Many problems arise for humans, as well, including:

• Health risks from eating contaminated seafood
• Health risks to people who swim in contaminated areas
• Localized flooding, leading to traffic problems and unsanitary conditions
• Beach closures
• Loss of tourism
• Financial cost of cleanup
• Poor water quality

How Can I Help the Situation?

Although industry was a big polluter in the past, today most urban runoff is caused by everyday people, which means that the solution is up to each and every one of us. You have plenty of options to decrease your contribution to urban runoff. Never dump anything down a storm drain. Do not hose off paved surfaces like your driveway or sideway — use a broom instead. Pick up litter so that it doesn’t get washed down a storm drain the next time it rains, and don’t contribute to the problem by littering yourself. Clean up after your pet. In many places this isn’t just a good idea, it’s the law! Dispose of hazardous waste properly. Look up your local laws and find your local hazardous waste collection site. Many household cleaners are considered hazardous waste. Be aware of this and read labels before tossing things out. Avoid using pesticides or fertilizers on your lawn. Take your car to a car wash center that recycles its water. If you notice your car leaking, fix it quickly. Use a rain barrel to collect water to use when watering your garden, preventing additional runoff. Working together, we can reduce the amount of marine pollutants we produce as a society.

 

Baking soda effectively cleans and deodorizes everything from your kitchen sink to your stove. For tough stove top stains, mix baking soda with a little bit of water to create a paste, and use it as you would use any commercially made cleanser. Products from around your home, such as salt, flour, and vinegar mixed together, will clean brass; other products, such as lemon juice and salt, will safely remove tarnish from copper.

Furniture Polish

Many people are unaware of the environmentally friendly products that can be used to polish their furniture. To make eco-friendly furniture polish, mix together two parts of olive oil and one part of lemon juice. If you do not have any olive oil, you can substitute vegetable oil. Apply the mixture with a soft cloth and then buff your furniture to a beautiful shine. To double-check that will not harm your wood, you may want to test this cleaner in an inconspicuous spot before applying it to an entire piece of furniture.

Bathroom Cleaners

Many bathroom cleaners contain pollutants that contaminate water. Many environmentally friendly products that can effectively clean and deodorize your bathroom can be found in your own home. An open dish of vinegar or a potpourri-warmer filled with cloves or cinnamon will absorb odors. Sprinkling baking soda on a sponge will effectively remove mold from grout. For mold and mildew on shower curtains, a sponge soaked in lemon juice can wipe mold and mildew off of shower curtains without contaminating water or creating pollution. Hard water and lime deposits can be difficult to remove from any bathroom surface; most products that are made for this purpose are not eco-friendly. However, you can loosen the lime and hard water deposits with white vinegar, making them easy to clean with baking soda and a sponge. There are even more ways to boost your efforts by conserving water in your bathroom.

Laundry Room Products

Environmentally friendly products from around the house can also ease our work in the laundry room. As an eco-friendly alternative to commercial fabric softeners, add one cup of white vinegar to the final rinse cycle of your laundry. However, chlorine bleach and vinegar should never be mixed; if you are washing whites with bleach, an alternative fabric softener would be 1/4 cup of baking soda added to the rinse cycle instead.

You can also help the environment by conserving your water usage at home!

In today’s society, many of us have become accustomed to the sight of birds and marine animals struggling for life on an oil-slicked beach after a massive oil spill. We have also become more aware of the devastating effects that automobile emissions have on the atmosphere.  Some may even recall the hellish image of burning oil wells in Kuwait spewing black clouds into the sky after the Gulf War.  However, one danger of the petroleum industry has not received much attention in recent years: the petroleum pollutants created by industrial production and refinement.

Toxins Galore

For crude oil to be converted into its many useful forms, such as gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, it must be processed extensively in large chemical refineries. These refineries are full of toxic chemicals that, especially in under-regulated third-world nations, often leak into local atmospheres and water systems. Each year the petroleum-refining industry produces hundreds of millions of pounds of pollutants, pollutants that consist of over one hundred different toxic chemicals, many of which find their way into the air, water, and land. Some of the petroleum pollutants released by refineries include sulfuric and hydrofluoric acid, ammonia, chlorine, benzine, lead, and mercury, all of which harm human health.

Air, Water and Land

When concentrated in high enough levels, these petroleum pollutants harm and disrupt ecosystems and human communities. Runoff from refineries and unlined waste ponds harms–or even destroys–local ecosystems whenever it enters the local water system. Often little can be done to undo the harm caused by this pollution. Sometimes the pollutants directly affect agriculture and livestock, harming animals and local economies, as well as humans themselves. Unprotected populations near petroleum facilities often see higher rates of cancer, dermatitis, fungal infection, headaches, and nausea.

Peripheral Damage

Transporting products to and from refineries often results in massive spills, which are also very damaging to local environments. Additionally, the creation of refineries and the roadways to and from these facilities has been responsible for the irreparable destruction of huge tracts of virgin wilderness, including the highly threatened Amazon Rainforest. As petroleum production continues, levels of petroleum pollutants will only increase and, in some areas, will eventually reach levels at which massive environmental damage may become irreversible.

The Next Step

The best thing that the average citizen can do to help stop the problems associated with petroleum pollutants is to become aware of these problems. This awareness alone will impact how you use petroleum and its products and will help you to inform others. You may also take further steps through donation or volunteer work to help mitigate the damage already caused; however, the threat of petroleum pollutants will only continue as long as the petroleum industry remains profitable.

When you live in a developed country where clean, potable water comes out of the tap whenever you want, it’s easy to take a luxury like clean water for granted. In many parts of the world people must carry water over long distances. Over one billion people currently do not have access to clean drinking water. Efforts are being made to help support the people in those countries.

Who is Carrying Water?

Half of all rural households in Africa do not have easy access to potable water. In places like Ethiopia, carrying water for the family is primarily the job of the women and children, who must often be carrying water on their heads and shoulders in large jugs that can cause shoulder and back injuries over time. Families may travel miles to retrieve river water that may not be suitable for consumption. Then they carry the water–enough to drink, cook, and wash with–back. Some villages have hand pumps, but these may only work intermittently and are difficult to fix once broken. Sometimes private water carriers bring water to homes, but this service charges a fee that many people cannot afford.

How are These People Being Helped?

Many charitable organizations and non-profits devote money and resources to helping people who do not have easy access to drinking water. These include UNICEF, WaterAid, Charity: Water, World Concern, The Water Project, Global Water, Operation Hydros and our friends at water.org .

Some of the projects involve services like digging wells and establishing water pumps, or building spring protection systems, rainwater catchment, and biosand filters, or rehabilitating previous water systems that are no longer in good repair.

How is Water Transported Around the World?

Technological advances are being made for communities that still rely on carrying water from the source to help make that job easier. One of these advances is the Q Drum, a rolling barrel that is filled and then pulled along with a cord. The Q Drum has been used successfully in Africa, and was recently used during the cholera outbreak in Haiti. Another successful advance is the “Pumpkin,” a device that is worn like a shoulder bag and can carry up to 15 liters of water. The tubes in this device also act as a filter.

What is the Best Way to Help People Gain Access to Water?

The best solution to the problem of carrying water varies, depending on one’s location. One must take into account variables like climate and geography. In some communities, a good solution is providing a working hand pump. In others, a good solution is providing a way to collect rainwater and keep it from sinking into the ground. Traditions die hard, and some families insist upon continuing to travel long distances for water. In these cases, a device that eases the task of carrying water will be the most helpful.

If you want to make a huge difference in others’ lives, you can get involved. Volunteer with or donate to a charity that helps provide clean drinking water to communities in need.

What are Native Plants?

Native plants are the flora that evolved naturally within the local ecology (together with animals, fungi and microbes) to create the local ecosystem. Native plants are the foundation upon which the rest of the ecosystem is built. Indigenous plants provide food and shelter for local wildlife and do not force out other species that belong in the local ecosystem. Non-native plants can harm the local system, becoming invasive and forcing out or harming other local plant or animal life.

How Do Native Plants Save Water?

Native plants are adapted to local conditions, including rainfall. Whereas a non-native species may come from a more tropical climate, requiring daily watering, a local plant should never need watering beyond what is naturally provided, unless the season is unusually dry.

How Can I Learn Which Plants Are Native?

A little research on the Internet should quickly answer this question. Use a search engine with your location (for example, Pacific Northwest or New England) and search for “native plants.” Most regions have a local native gardening society that can help you decide what to plant. You can also take a walk in a local wildlife area, though not necessarily a park, as that may have been planted with imports. Observe what is growing naturally. Use a notebook and a camera to capture plant life that has caught your eye.

How Do I Purchase Native Plants?

Visit a local nursery. Avoid the large, big-box home improvement stores; instead, browse small, local businesses. These are usually run by people who know their stuff and are eager to share it with interested listeners. Another bonus of gardening with native plants is that you will also save a lot of money on products like soil, pesticides and fertilizer. Native plants are already adapted to local conditions and have evolved to withstand local insects and diseases.

Tips for Planting and Cultivating Native Plants

• Visit your city or state’s local website. These often contain information that can help you choose plants indigenous to your region. Your local library is also a great source of this information.
• Choose your native plants carefully, making that you aren’t planting native weeds!
• Local wildflowers are beautiful and can make a yard look like a cottage garden with minimal effort.
• Get rid of your grass. Grass is rarely a native plant and requires a lot of work, water, fertilizer and time to be kept green. It is also acts as a desert to local wildlife, as it does not provide any sort of sustenance or shelter. Plant a flower or vegetable garden instead.