For all the busy housewives, there comes a new and fun activity to spend with family in helping tidying up your own household. By making your own cleaning supplies, many households could prevent using toxic and hazardous chemicals in their own homes and around their children. Windex, Pledge, and Mr.Clean all come with their eye catching commercials, but they also come with toxic chemicals that we’re exposing to those we love the most. A sit down family activity can end the toxic nightmare and create a new alternative many never dreamed of. Currently, Congress members are attempting to ban the use of phosphates in cleaning supplies. They are toxic chemicals that are used to clean, but affect algae growth. 
However, a secret kept quiet to many American households is that you can make very effective and non-toxic cleaning products. And luckily, the ingredients can be found at home in our own cupboards and pantries. With a simple mix of ingredients ranging from baking soda, vinegar, lemon, and even soap, many families can control what they’re using around their children and what they’re putting on their countertops. Making your own cleaning products at home can save you time and money because you no longer need to run out to the supermarket to purchase a bottle of toxic hazardous cleaning product. The products that allow our furniture and floors to sparkle and shine contain phosphates that pollute groundwater and contain hazardous substances. Even though they’re cleaning our homes, they might irritate our skin, eyes, and allow for us to breathe in chemicals we shouldn’t be exposed to. By making your own products at home, you’re guaranteed a spotless shine and a satisfied peace of mind.
-Nicholas Chan
Greenhouse gases and global warming is becoming a serious threat to the environment and it’s important now more than ever to change human history. Environmental organizations constantly look for ways to reduce and limit the emissions emitted, but don’t target the leading causes of it. Society is looking past the most logistical, probable, and effective strategy for global warming: vegetarian diets. Temperatures are higher than expected and have been climbing the charter much faster than we ever expected. Consequences of unchecked warming are coastal flooding, disastrous weather conditions, disease spread, and mass species extinctions. Domestic bills and legislation passed through Congress strictly focuses on fuel economy standards, capping emissions, and investing time and funds on alternative energy sources, but Dr. James Hansen indicates that C02 emissions are not the main cause of atmospheric warming. Many other gases trap heat and are evidently more potent and powerful. According to studies, the most important greenhouse gas is methane and is caused most by livestock and animal agriculture. Methane is 21 times more powerful than C02 and methane concentrations have doubled. Coal mining, landfills, and most of all animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. About 80-85% of methane is produced by emissions from livestock and however comical the situation may be, targeting the root cause of global warming is incredibly important. The best way to reduce global warming is to eliminate heavy consumption in animal products. Simply promoting vegetarian diets and cutting back on meat leads to a reduction of supply and demand efforts for livestock. The overall benefits of vegetarian diets prove to be cost effective, empirically proven to work, and faster than any of the status quo initiatives to win a small battle in a larger war.
As discussed in earlier blogs, we see that natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, and unpredictable changes in weather are just some of the terrible byproducts of global warming. These events alone have much of the public shaking in terror, but if you think that only humans are seeing the worst of it, you are wrong.
From fossil fuels to corn ethanol, Americans need to switch over to brighter and greener forms of energy. Switchgrass, a fast growing plant is looking quite promising, but is overlooked among citizens. The Department of Energy truly believes that biofuels are the keystone transition from dependence to independence. The native crop can easily reduce reliance on foreign oil, curb greenhouse gas emissions, and strengthen the agricultural sector. The major problem with corn ethanol is the price fluctuation and the fast paced transition instead of a gradual switch over. Switchgrass, however provides many benefits such as the cost competitiveness, the push in biodiversity, and the lack of a need for pesticides. It is one of the fastest growing crops that can be processed into a biofuel, but with corn ethanol and oil overshadowing the true potential of the grass, switchgrass is still stuck in the research and development phase. It is also empirically proven that switchgrass actuall adds organic nutrients to the soil ensuring a long lasting harvest. With its strong roots, the cash crop can last through the winter and prevent soil erosion. The air produced from the plant reduces carbon dioxide and it slows the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Naturally, since we don’t eat grass, price spikes won’t occur as with corn ethanol. Only with determination and public knowledge can society bring this promising grass to the forefront, so American, now, switch!
It seems that a lot of the buzz about saving the earth from global warming has been replaced with questions of whether or not global warming is even real. On one hand you have scientists saying that the global temperatures have increased. We constantly hear about the ice caps melting, a decrease in air quality, and the hole in the ozone layer. There is plenty of research and articles that back this up, yet there are still some that disagree. You see on the other hand, we also have scientist that believe global warming is nothing but speculation. They have their own studies that show no change in global temperature. In fact it just snowed for the second time in history in Ras Al Khaimah. The closest they’ve come to snow was a hail storm twenty years ago. Now if that’s true, how is it possible that temperature are increasing. Of course this issue is not just black and white, there are shades of grey. Some scientist says that the global temperature is rising, but it has nothing to do with CO2 emission, and is not caused by humans. They believe that the earth periodically warms and cools, and there is nothing we can do to affect that. Regardless of what the answer is the actions we take should still be the same. We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle, despite how cliché it sounds. Even if there is no such thing as global warming and our lifes are not at risk, the fact is that just about everything we do effects the environment. So no matter what we do, we should keep the environment in mind.
What would you do if I told you that you could get a lightbulb that doesn’t increase your electric bill, lights up as good as a regular lightbulb, produces no carbon emissions, and is self-sustainable?
