Minute, Morning, Month
There are so many simple ways to save money, protect health, preserve the environment and better daily life. Use the filters to the right to find the actions you can take in the time you have.
Get your kids' school to serve local, organic milk.
Month
Milk is a vital part of young children's diets, but childhood is a sensitive growth period for the brain, reproductive and immune systems. "Conventional milk comes with a high toxic load" says Dr. Gina Solomon, a scientist with NRDC's health program, putting kids at a higher risk of cancer, thyroid and reproductive troubles as well as reduced IQ scores.
What milk then should your kids drink? As reported here, it is especially important to buy organic milk for kids and pregnant mothers, and the very best milk choice for everyone is low-fat, organic and local. Switching to organic milk at home is simple, since you make the purchasing decisions. Getting your school or daycare to switch over shouldn't be too much harder, but it may take a bit of time and you should be prepared. Ask for a meeting with the director and/or the head of the cafeteria to find out what milk they serve. Come ready with facts about the health and environmental benefits.
If they would like to know more, offer to help research distributors of dairy products from local and/or organic farmers. They might be very interested to know of USDA's Farm to School Program which connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farmers. Who know, cnce you've got them comfortable with the idea of serving organic milk, they may be interested in adding other organic products.
Check to make sure your drinking water is safe.
Morning
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates the community water systems that supply drinking water to most Americans. Every water system is required to publish a yearly “consumer confidence report” detailing contaminants or violations of water quality standards. You can see the report for your water system by contacting the system directly. To find your water system, visit EPA's water systems website.
If you are on well water, you should have it tested annually. Wells, which are not typically regulated by the SDWA, are more likely to contain contaminants than municipal water systems. Your municipality, county or state health department may offer free or low-cost testing services; otherwise, use one of the certified laboratories in your state listed here.
Ask for guidance from the lab or your local health department on which contaminants to test for. Find out whether radon or heavy metals like arsenic are present in underground rocks or soils in your area. Tell the laboratory if you live near a farm, an industrial cattle-feeding operation, a gas station, a mine, a factory, a dump or any kind of operation that might produce contaminants that can find their way into ground water.
If you find your water is contaminated, click here to learn what remedies to take to address your particular problem. If a filter is necessary, consult our Checkout Counter: Water Filters for help selecting the filter that best meets your needs.
Stop the waste. Support an opt-out for paper phone books.
Minute
Did you know that up to 5 million trees are cut down each year to create the white pages phone book and that taxpayers are spending $17 million each year to have these books recycled? With online directories, social networks and mobile phone applications now providing alternative ways to get the contact information you need, if you don't want the printed version of the phone book, you shouldn't have to get it.
That's why banthephonebook.org is urging you to sign the petition requesting an opt-out delivery program for the white pages phone book.
Once you've signed the petition, which takes literally seconds, share the link with your friends. Just think of all the resources (trees, energy, and money) our communities will save by not having to print, deliver and recycle the millions of volumes of white pages produced each year.
Ready for another way to save the forest and reduce paper waste? Find out here how to reduce the junk mail that's clogging up your mail box.
Check the water safety at your favorite beach.
Minute
What's the water like where you swim — not the temperature, but the quality? An annual report released by NRDC, Testing the Waters concluded that beach water quality is not improving across the country. Not only does every coastal state suffer from polluted and contaminated beaches but those problems resulted in more than 20,000 closing and swimming advisory days in 2008 alone. Unlucky beachgoers can suffer infections, rashes, stomach flu, hepatitis and worse.
Before heading off to the beach, check out the Testing the Water’s interactive map to see how safe your favorite beach is. NRDC’s study rated the 200 most popular U.S. beaches. The hopeful news is, one of the major causes of beach pollution is storm water runoff, which we can help prevent through some simple changes around the home.
For ways to reduce stormwater runoff, check out here, and also this NRDC slideshow with examples of communities across America cleaning up their water – and saving money – with low impact development. For more, see what these Smarter Cities are doing to protect water quality: Burnsville, MN, Norwalk, CT, Kansas, City, MO, Ann Arbor, MI, Santa Monica, CA and Denver, CO.
Keep fish safe from nurdles, recycle plastic bags
Morning
Would it surprise you to learn the seemingly innocuous plastic bag we use to bring fish home from the supermarket is contributing to its contamination with highly toxic chemicals way out in the ocean? It’s widely known that plastic bags are often mistaken for jellyfish by endangered sea turtles and other wildlife, which die from ingesting them. But what do you know about “nurdles?” Formed in the ocean from broken down plastic debris, “nurdles” are yet another reason to seriously and immediately rethink our reliance on plastic bags.
Harmless as they may sound, “nurdles” are a serious threat to the food chain, including the fish you may be preparing for dinner. What are nurdles?: Lentil-sized pellets of plastic that absorb and carry harmful polymers including persistent organic pollutants like polychlorinated biphenyls and DDT, also known as POPs. Fish and plankton mistake these little pellets for food, and ingest them. The POPs bioaccumulate in the fatty tissues of fish, becoming something that might end up in the evening meal. A study sponsored by the California State Water Resources Control Board estimated that nurdles now account for 10 percent of plastic ocean debris.
The UN Environment Program recently banned nine more POPs, bringing the total to 21. But these toxins are referred to as “persistent” for a reason, they don’t break down quickly. As nurdles concentrate these poisons tens of thousands of times more than the seawater can, you can help to reduce the bioaccumulation of toxins in fish by keeping plastics out of the ocean. Make it a point to bring your own shopping bag every time you shop. And recycle plastic bags responsibly. Check earth911.com for nearby drop-off spots. Finally, contact your city council to urge them to ban the use of plastic grocery bags as San Francisco, a top ranking Smarter City has done.
Keep kids safe, test your park's wooden play equipment.
Month
For decades, nearly all outdoor wooden structures—play sets, picnic tables, fences, decks—were made with "pressure-treated" wood injected with chromated copper arsenate (CCA)—an insecticide and preservative that is 22-percent pure arsenic, a known carcinogen that can also cause nerve damage. The problem is that arsenic can leach from wood onto kids’ hands and into the soil below. Making matters worse, arsenic leaching doesn't decrease with time, even structures 15 years old release just as much arsenic as newer ones.
With studies showing soil from 40% of US backyards and parks exceeded EPA's Superfund levels for hazardous waste cleanup, manufacturers agreed to halt production of CCA-treated wood for home use and playgrounds beginning in 2004, though existing stock were allowed to be sold. If your kids are regulars at the neighborhood playground or your family enjoys picnics in the park, and the play equipment, tables and benches are made of wood, test them to see if they are leaching arsenic. Test kits for wood and soil are available for $20 from The Safe Playgrounds Project. Test during dry weather: Rain can wash surface arsenic away.
If the tests turn up arsenic at the school or public recreational facility, talk to the school or city parks department about a plan for replacing or sealing arsenic-treated wood. If they're already taking action, find out how often they reseal, what kind of sealant is used, and how future demolition will be handled. They should be sealed with a solid or semi-transparent deck stain; AFM Safecoat recommends low-VOC Durostain with low-VOC Safecoat Watershield (www.afmsafecoat.com). Organize a volunteer day at your local park or playground to seal all arsenic-treated wood. Arsenic-treated wood should be sealed at least once a year.
Until the park equipment is safe, be vigilant about contact with treated lumber and wash hands thoroughly. Don't allow food anywhere near treated surfaces such as old picnic tables.
Save water, reduce runoff, install permeable pavement.
Month
Storm water runoff is one of the major causes of beach and water pollution (see annual rating of water quality at 200 popular beaches in NRDC report, Testing the Waters. One way to reduce stormwater runoff is to replace impermeable surfaces such as driveways and sidewalks with permeable pavement. The Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at the North Carolina State University provides descriptions of types of paving and research on their effectiveness.
For other ways to reduce stormwater runoff, click here and here. Also, check out this NRDC slideshow with examples of communities across America cleaning up their water – and saving money – with low impact development. For more, see what these Smarter Cities are doing to protect water quality: Burnsville, MN, Norwalk, CT, Kansas, City, MO, Ann Arbor, MI, Santa Monica, CA and Denver, CO.
Reduce stormwater runoff, plant rain gardens.
Month
What's the water like where you swim — not the temperature, but the quality? An annual report released by NRDC, Testing the Waters concluded that beach water quality is not improving across the country. Not only does every coastal state suffer from polluted and contaminated beaches, but those problems resulted in more than 20,000 closing and swimming advisory days in 2008 alone.
Storm water runoff is one of the major causes of beach pollution, which we can help prevent through simple changes around our homes. Cities such as Burnsville, Minnesota are encouraging residents to plant rain gardens, often hardy, native species planted in depressions that collect rain water as it runs off your driveway, rooftop and other areas. By modifying the curbside, rain gardens can help divert rainwater from streets. For help planting your own, see Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
For other ways to reduce stormwater runoff, click here and here. Also, check out this NRDC slideshow with examples of communities across America cleaning up their water – and saving money – with low impact development. For more, see what these Smarter Cities are doing to protect water quality: Burnsville, MN, Norwalk, CT, Kansas City, MO, Ann Arbor, MI, Santa Monica, CA and Denver, CO.
Green your business.
Month
Business and the environment are closely linked. Though some businesses have more obvious impacts on the environment than others, all businesses have some environmental impact, through the products they manufacture or purchase, the energy and water they use, the transportation associated with employee commutes, and many other factors. Similarly, the health of a business is often contingent upon a healthy environment and the availability of abundant natural resources. No business can operate for long without clean water, clean air or a chemically stable atmosphere. By improving the environmental performance of your business, you help to ensure a clean and healthy environment for future generations, as well as a healthy and more efficient economy. Green your business with NRDC's Greening Advisor. NRDC's Green Advisor provides a list of opportunities for cost-conscious environmental improvement ranging from air quality to water use.
As a start, businesses should reconsidering their sourcing and use of paper. Environmentally preferable paper products can often be purchased at little or no extra cost. In addition, paper use often can be decreased by taking a few simple steps, such as double-siding copies and reducing the number of printers in use. These measure can reduce your company’s overall paper budget. Use NRDC's Greening Advisor to implement a smart paper purchasing and reduced use program in your office.
Once you've tackled paper, come back to NRDC's greening advisor for more ways to green up your business. You'll find advice on virtually every aspect of your business' purchasing needs and day-to-day operations, from construction and renovation projects, energy use, transportation and accommodation, to waste management, air and water quality and water use.
Keep the water clean. Help your city address stormwater runoff.
Month
The best way for communities to keep their waterways clean is to address the problem of stormwater runoff that so many face. Bring to the next meeting of your city council examples of what other cities around the country are doing to encourage private landowners and institutions to use landscaping and changes in drainage patterns to reduce the amount of water entering the city’s stormwater and sewage systems. Start here to see great examples from cities and towns near you. NRDC provides many more strategies and examples for addressing storm water runoff in new development and redevelopment in the report, Stormwater Strategies: Community Responses to Runoff Pollution
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