I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you spend much time outdoors, you’re probably going to get bitten by a tick. And that means you could contract Lyme disease.

Climate change is partly to blame. Warming global temperatures are helping boost tick populations in two ways: they’re giving ticks more time to complete their life cycle, and they’re making  it easier for these pests to survive in more northerly latitudes that used to be too cold for them.

But development and sprawl are factors, too.  As development shrinks forests and wetlands, deer, foxes, and other animals that carry ticks move into suburban and even urban neighborhoods. The ticks may rub off onto bushes or fall into the grass, where pets can easily pick them up, or you’ll get them when you’re gardening or having a barbecue.

More Lyme Disease

More ticks everywhere only means one thing: More Lyme disease.

According to researchers from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto, Canada, Lyme disease incidence increased about 80% in the United States between 1993 and 2007.  And it’s still going strong.

The symptoms of this wretched affliction can be miserable: fever, headache, fatigue, and a skin rash that often creates a distinctive “bull’s eye” circle around the place where you were bitten.

If you don’t treat the disease, the infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. And once it gets hold of you, it can last for years. Immediate treatment, usually with antibiotics, is absolutely critical.

Just as important, though, is to protect yourself against getting a tick bite in the first place.

How to Prevent a Tick Bite

1) Take precautions year-round, but especially April – September, when ticks are most active.

2) Stay on paths and avoid high grass. It’s easy for ticks to attach themselves to your clothes or skin if you’re walking through woods, a meadow, a forest, or even a tall lawn that hasn’t been mowed for a while. Stay on a clear path where you won’t brush up against foliage that could be bearing ticks. Walk in the center of trails.

3) When hiking through woods or tall grass, wear protective clothing. That includes long pants that fit close to your ankles, socks, boots or shoes that enclose your entire foot, long-sleeved shirts, and a hat.

4) Garden carefully. When gardening in your yard or mowing your lawn, wear long pants, socks, and shoes rather than shorts and sandals. Don a long-sleeve shirt and a hat, too. Remember, ticks can brush off deer and other wildlife and end up in the low branches of a tree, where they can drop onto you if you happen to be walking below.

5) Apply tick repellent insecticides sparingly. I prefer to wear protective clothes and spray the clothing than to spray my skin directly.

6) Look for ticks when you finish your hike or come in from outdoors. Brush off your clothes, shake out your hair, and examine your exposed skin and your scalp closely. A tick is very very tiny so take your time as you look yourself over. Parents should take extra care with their children, looking under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and especially in their hair.

7) Examine your pets. Keep your cats and dogs up-to-date on their flea and tick regimen. Pets can get Lyme disease, too. They can also transport ticks into your home, where they could bite you. The best strategy is to keep ticks out of the house and off your body and that of your pet. Before you bring your pet inside, comb its fur with a fine comb to reveal any ticks that could be clinging to it. Otherwise, it’s easy for the pet to transfer the tick to you.

Meet My Tick Bite

Last May, after a weekend spent gardening in my backyard, I woke up to discover this big red welt on my lower abdomen.

As soon as I saw it, I thought “tick bite,” though I don’t remember seeing a tick, and there was no tick apparent.

I immediately went to the doctor, and his reaction was the same as mine. He took one look and decided to put me on antibiotics right away so I wouldn’t get Lyme disease. 

It took almost two weeks for the welt to go away. I finished the antibiotic treatment and have no Lyme disease symptoms. But this spring and summer, I’ll be much more careful about dressing to protect myself against getting bitten again.

The post Why You Are Probably Going to Get Bitten by a Tick This Summer (Unless You Follow My Advice) appeared first on Big Green Purse.

You might think asbestos was banned. Not so. It was briefly up for a ban in 1991, but that was quickly overturned, and asbestos can still be used in many products today. As long as products contain only 1 percent or less asbestos, they’re perfectly legal.

Asbestos Causes Cancer

Mesothelioma is an aggressive and deadly form of cancer, says the Mayo Clinic, for which there is no cure for many people. Since the primary risk factor is from asbestos exposure, the most effective way to prevent this disease is to reduce your exposure whenever possible.

Asbestos Pollutes the Planet

Asbestos exposure isn’t just a worry for our health, either. It can work its way back into the environment, contaminating soil, air and water. Mesothelioma.Net points out that asbestos is still widely used in traditional power plants that burn fossil fuels. The asbestos may be found in plant insulation to prevent heat from escaping as well as to prevent fires. Workers may also use fireproof gear containing asbestos.

Asbestos may be used in coal mines, too, and in the gear miners use to stay safe. When not properly contained, asbestos can contaminate the air, soil, and water around mines, refineries, and power plants. “Residents may end up with asbestos in the air they breathe and the water they drink, putting them at risk for mesothelioma and other illnesses,” says Mesothelioma.net.

Asbestos is not only a risk when inhaled, but also when ingested.

The following chart shows the 9 most likely sources of asbestos exposure in your home. As the chart notes, though new asbestos use for home construction ended by 1980, many old homes still contain asbestos-laden insulation, flooring, ceiling tiles, and other materials.

Review the chart, take note of when your home was built, and get professional help from a contractor certified in safe asbestos abatement if your home was built before 1980 and you undertake home renovations.

Don’t DIY where asbestos is concerned!

What Else Can You Do to Avoid Asbestos Exposure?

In addition to renovating your home safely, you can protect yourself and your family by buying asbestos-free products.

Not only will this keep your family and the environment safe from exposure, but it’ll also show companies still using asbestos that you’ve had enough, says the Alliance.

Here are a few products that may still contain asbestos.

Textiles

Flame resistance is one of asbestos’ most useful qualities. For many years it was considered a miracle material for its ability to quench flames. In fact, the very name comes from the Greek word, asvestos, which means unquenchable or inextinguishable.

Asbestos was used frequently in fabrics designed to be flame resistant, like fire blankets, stunt man suits, and even curtains. Fabric usage was one of the most dangerous, because when these products came into contact with flames, the dangerous fibers would be released into the air.

How to Stay Safe

Using repurposed products like fire blankets and stunt man suits could seriously impact your health. So, if you’re looking for rustic accents to your bedroom or living room, stay away from vintage military or fireman clothes that may contain asbestos fibers.

Also, be careful when handling any family relics like old jackets or work clothes. Buying vintage is a great way to make your wardrobe eco friendly, but avoid old gear that could have been worn by firemen or repair men unsuspectingly working on contaminated sites.

Back to School Supplies

Reports of asbestos in Playskool crayons surfaced early in August, 2018, after the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) analyzed 27 back-to-school products. Playskool is sold primarily at Dollar Tree, but also through Amazon, eBay and DollarDays.com.

Even though the amounts found were very small, PIRG noted that children often chew on crayons or sharpen them, increasing chances that kids could end up swallowing or inhaling tiny but dangerous crayon shavings.

How to Stay Safe

Use colored pencils, beeswax crayons, and water-based markers from non toxic certified suppliers.

Don’t Miss Our Green Back-to-School Shopping Tips That Will Also Save You Money!

Kids Makeup

Earlier this year, a consumer watchdog group found asbestos in the products of Claire’s, a children’s makeup store. Claire’s has since said it’s removed the dangerous items from its stores and the remaining products are asbestos-free. But still…

How to Stay Safe

Skip the kids’ stuff and go with safe, plant-based, organic regular make up. For decorations, use face masks rather than painting right on kids’ skin, or easy peel-off stickers. Avoid face glitter (which kids could inhale or get in their eyes).

We pulled together 6 Non-Toxic Ways to Paint Your Face right here.

IMPORTANT!!

A proposed Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) opens the doors for increased asbestos production. This rule details how companies can present cases for asbestos use to the EPA, which would evaluate these appeals on a case-by-case basis.

That means that companies could resume using asbestos and potentially put consumers’ live at risk.

What you can do:

Share this post widely on your social media and with your friends and family.

 Contact the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance to learn more and find out what you can do to protect you and your loved ones from asbestos.

The post 9 Sneaky Ways You May End Up a Victim of Asbestos Exposure appeared first on Big Green Purse.

How clean is the air you breathe?

Because you don’t see smog inside your home, you might think your air is pretty clean. You’d sure want it to be, since you spend 90% of your time indoors, either in your home or at work. But in fact, indoor air can be two-five times more polluted than outdoor air.

Why? One reason is that 25% of outdoor pollution can still get indoors.

But more importantly, many common items we use in our homes actually pollute our indoor air.

Because indoor air doesn’t circulate as much as the air outside, it can stagnate, and the pollutants inside can concentrate.

Fortunately, there’s a LOT you can do to reduce indoor air pollution. We’ve partnered with AirFilterBuy.com to bring you this two-part series on indoor air pollution causes and what you can do right now, and affordably, to clean up your air.

HOW INDOOR AIR POLLUTION MAKES YOU SICK

The chemicals in indoor air pollution can have any or all of the following effects:

Irritation – Did you ever get itchy eyes or a scratchy throat after using an air “freshener” or home “cleaning” product? Most common cleansers contain powerful chemicals that we shouldn’t be inhaling.

Headache, Fatigue, Nausea, Dizziness – Those same chemicals can give you an annoying headache, make you feel inexplicably tired or dizzy, and even give you an upset stomach.

Shortness of Breath – You might also feel shortness of breath, not something that’s pleasant at all.

Trouble Concentrating – If you’ve got a headache or feel sick to your stomach, or just have an uneasy feeling, it will be hard to concentrate on what you have to do.

Allergic Reactions, Sinus Congestion, Coughing & Sneezing – If you already suffer from allergies or are prone to sinus infections, these can get worse when you breathe in polluted air.

INDOOR AIR POLLUTION CAUSES

Here are 16 surprising sources of air pollution inside your home. Let’s start with the no-brainers first:

1) Second-hand Smoke – If you are still smoking inside your home, at the very least, please go outside. The smoke you exhale along with the smoke that comes from a burning cigarette is full of all kinds of carcinogens that can get into the lungs and blood vessels of people who are in a room with smokers, even if they’re not smoking themselves.

2) Pesticides – Do you use pesticides when you spot ants or spiders or other bugs? Insecticides contain toxic chemicals designed to kill a pest upon contact. But if you inhales them, they can make you sick, too.

3) Mold – Mold crops up in lots of places in your home: damp showers and bathrooms, around leaky faucets, behind a wall that might have water damage, around the drain of a washing machine or dehumidifier. You’ll recognize it by the black stuff that looks like soot, or the grey or pale green spots you see on a wall, ceiling or floor.

Now, here are some other sources:

4) Your Pet Cat and/or Dog – I’m really sorry to report that dander and hair from Fido or Felix can pollute the air you breathe – but they can.

5) Fireplaces, Gas Stoves, Cars & Trucks – Both fireplaces and gas stoves can give off carbon monoxide. This is a tricky pollutant because you can’t smell it at all – but it is deadly. Your car or truck emits carbon monoxide (as well as carbon dioxide) when they burn gasoline.

6) Furniture in Your Living Room, Kitchen, or Bedroom – Furniture that is made from plywood or pressed wood may contain formaldehyde and glues that “off gas” those chemicals for a long time.

7) Your Beauty Products – I know, they’re supposed to make you beautiful! But make-up, soaps, and shampoos are often made from artificial fragrances and ingredients that contain trace amounts of toxic chemicals. Using one product one time wouldn’t be a problem. But because we use so many different products every day, the burden on your body can increase significantly.

8) Non-Stick Pots & Pans – If you use non-stick cookware, beware. The coating that gives non-stick pots and pans their non-stickiness may contain PFOA, a known carcinogen that goes airborne at high temperatures.

9) Household Cleaners – Most common household cleansers, especially sprays, contain artificial fragrances made from “volatile organic compounds” or VOCs. Depending on your sensitivity, they could cause most of the ill-effects described above. They do for me!

10) Home Computer Printer/Fax Machine – Depending on the equipment you use and your level of sensitivity, the chemicals in printer and fax machine ink could make you feel uncomfortable.

11) Household Paints & Finishes – Common wall paint is a big source of VOCs. Before I switched to non-VOC paint, I would have to leave my home to have it painted, and then wait until it completely aired out before I could move back in.

12) Radon – Radon is an odorless gas that can be extremely toxic, causing lung cancer and even death. It comes from the breakdown of naturally occurring uranium in soil, and gets into your home through cracks in your foundation, spaces in the walls, and even water that gets contaminated when radon gets into tiny cracks in your water pipes.

13) Pillows, Cushions, Bedding – Dust makes your house look dirty. Imagine if you’re breathing the same stuff that’s settling on your coffee table. An ounce of dust can be home to 40,000 dust mites. If you’re allergic, you’ll be miserable.

14) Crumbling Paint & Paint Chips – The paint used in homes built before xx probably contains lead, a powerful neurotoxin that is particularly dangerous for kids and can cause learning disabilities

15) Asbestos Flooring, Shingles, Siding, & Insulation – Asbestos has been widely used in home construction because if resists fire. Unfortunately, asbestos also causes mesothelioma and other cancers.

16) Rotten Food – Food will rot – plain and simple. When it rots in your compost pile, that’s good. When it rots underneath your couch or at the bottom of your trash can, that’s bad. Not only might it stink to high heaven. It might draw ants or roaches or mice or rats, and then you’ll have an even bigger problem to content with than cleaning up the rotten food.

DON’T DESPAIR…

Yes, this is a pretty big list. But for every item on it, there’s a clear and simple solution, and with a couple of exceptions, the solutions cost very little money.

Stay tuned (or jump ahead to “Everything You Need to Know about Indoor Air Pollution,” a very useful infographic produced by AirFilterBuy.com, the sponsors of this post).

The post Indoor Air Pollution Causes: 16 Surprising Things That Pollute The Air in Your House appeared first on Big Green Purse.

According to Clean Air Partners, a non-profit organization that helps cities and communities in Washington and Baltimore raise awareness about air pollution so they can reduce it, code orange means that the air I’m breathing outside is, well, pretty bad.

Specifically, it warns that “pollution levels are harmful to children, older adults, and anyone with a respiratory or heart condition.”

On a code orange day, parents should keep their kids indoors – even though it’s summer and they’d love to be running around outside. It means that older folks should stay inside, too – no brisk walks around the block, definitely no lawn mowing. Ditto for anyone with asthma or other lung ailments. When I hear “code orange,” I automatically think, “Uh, oh. I better stay inside,” even though summer is my favorite time of year.

Clean Air Partners bases its recommendations on a sort of measuring stick called the Air Quality Index, or AQI. The AQI, seen right, uses both a color-coded and a numerical scale to report on how clean or polluted the air is and what associated health effects might be of concern. The AQI, says Clean Air Partners, focuses on health effects people may experience within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air. Pollutants it monitors include particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.

Obviously, even if you don’t have a weakened immune system or heart disease or a similar problem, it’s not a good idea to breathe dirty air, no matter how old you are. Staying inside on code orange days or worse is a way you can protect yourself and your family in the short-term. Long term, we all need to work together to protect the air we all breath.

The most important action we can take is to use less energy, since burning oil, coal and other fossil fuels is the primary source of so much air pollution.

AT HOME:

Turn off lights and electronics when you’re not using them. Use a programmable thermostat like the Nest to keep your air conditioning at a reasonable and even temperature. Don’t mow the lawn if you really don’t need to. Use a gas or electric grill instead of charcoal.

AT WORK:

Telecommute if possible. Otherwise, carpool or take mass transit to work to reduce the amount of gasoline being burned. Support your employer’s energy-saving initiatives, which will help clear up the air in your entire community.

If you live in the Washington/Baltimore region, you can also sign up for free Air Alerts to get air quality updates, especially when pollution levels are projected to be high.

Our air can get dirty and smoggy, but it doesn’t have to. Saving energy always makes sense. It increases our national security and saves us money, too. But in the summer, it’s especially important, since it’s the best way to keep our air clean.

The post What is a Code Orange Day & How Does It Hurt Your Lungs? appeared first on Big Green Purse.

There are two ways to protect yourself from mosquitoes: reduce the number of mosquitoes in your area, and reduce your chances of being bitten.

REDUCE BREEDING

Mosquitoes breed anywhere there is standing water. The key to reducing mosquito populations is to limit the places where they can reproduce.

* Empty standing pools of water. Especially after it rains, keep an eye out for standing pools of water that provide perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Those include baby pools, watering cans, old tires, gutters and drains, buckets, and pretty much anything else that can trap water long enough for a mosquito to lay its eggs.

* Keep water moving in ponds and fountains. Use a small pump to keep water circulating, or put some fish or frogs in the pond to eat up mosquito larvae. Here’s a picture of the pond in my front yard, with the pump sitting right in the middle. (We used to keep fish in the pond, but the neighbor’s dog kept jumping in and stirring things up; the poor fish had a hard time surviving among four paws and a tail!).

* Fill in ditches, trenches and ruts. Like pools and ponds, ditches and ruts also collect water and turn into breeding swamps. Fill them in with gravel or dirt, or drain them into a larger pond where the water can circulate.

* Set traps. Traps lure mosquitoes into an inescapable container, where they lay their eggs and then die when they can’t escape. My neighbors and I use these Oak Stump Traps by Springstar to good effect. If you can get several neighbors to use the traps, you get more control throughout the neighborhood. Traps are more effective than electric bug zappers, and use less energy, too.

* Attract animals and other insects that eat mosquitoes. Bats and birds are famous for eating millions of mosquitos, but so do dragonflies. Put up bat bird houses to provide more nesting areas for these friendly creatures, and plant flower gardens to attract dragonflies.

REDUCE BITING

1) First, cover up. The less skin you expose, the less likely you are to get bitten. If you’re working in your garden, mowing your lawn, watering your bushes, or hiking in the woods, wear shoes, socks, lightweight pants, a lightweight, long-sleeved shirt with a collar, and a hat. If you’re sitting on the porch or at an outdoor event and don’t want to wear long pants or long sleeves, drape a light-weight shawl or scarf over your legs or arms. As much as possible, spray your clothes, not your skin (and launder when you get in the house).

2) Light citronella candles or run a small fan when you’re sitting outside. You may still need to squirt bug spray on your ankles and legs, but the candles will emit an aroma that helps keep mosquitoes away from your arms and face. The more candles, the better. A small rotating fan will create enough of a breeze to blow mosquitos away while you’re on your porch or patio.

3) If you’re the do-it-yourself type, pick up a bottle of an essential oil like eucalyptus, lavender, citronella, or geraniol, or try some combination. Get a 4- or 6-ounce pump bottle; add somewhere between 10 and 20 drops of each oil to a couple of ounces of water or rubbing alcohol and shake well. Spray on exposed skin, always avoiding your face. (Pay attention: some herbal oils may irritate the skin. Find one that works for you. I found lavender oil and vanilla worked well for me, which I wrote about here.)

4) Try one of the herbal repellents available in most grocery, hardware, and gardening stores, or order online. They generally cost about the same as conventional, pesticide-based sprays. Consumer Reports analyzed the effectiveness of various bug sprays, and found that Repel, which relies on lemon and eucalyptus to deter bites, is just as effective as brands that contain more toxic chemicals. (We sell Repel in our Amazon store here.)

5) If you feel you must use something stronger than essential oils, choose a product containing Picaridin, which does not seem to irritate the skin the same way DEET does. Always use the lowest concentration that will work for you. Here’s why you should never use DEET or other pesticides on infants or children. If you need a sunscreen as well as a repellent, apply them separately, rather than use one product that contains both, as the sunscreen may contain a more potent repellent than what you might normally use. Wash your hands immediately after applying.

You can find more non-toxic mosquito repellents and traps in our Amazon store here. And please, let us know what works for you!

(Disclosure: We earn a tiny commission on our Amazon store sales, which helps us continue to maintain our blog at no cost to you.)

The post Simple, Non-Toxic Ways to Protect Yourself from West Nile Virus appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Actually, weight loss is not as much a goal for me as getting strong and staying healthy! I generally don’t have a big appetite, and I’ve gotten the message about fatty, sugary foods and how they screw up your body, so my weight has been pretty manageable over the last 10 years or so. I actually trained for the Marine Corps marathon some years back, and like to think I would have finished it, had I not blown out my knees somewhere along mile 16.

Where I need help is in the strength department. I’ve never had much upper body strength, but isn’t it about time I had the power to open a jar of spaghetti sauce without needing the help of a brawny guy? Besides, as I get older, I’d like to do what I can to ward off osteoporosis, arthritis, and other illnesses. Load-bearing exercise, like lifting weights and walking or running, helps build strong bones and muscle power. It sounds like it’s worth the effort.

There’s also the mental benefit that comes from aerobics. My 94-year-old dad is sharp as a tack, and I think it’s due in large part to the fact that he played ice hockey from the time he could lace up his skates until he was into his 60s. He continued to walk a couple of miles every day until he turned 92. I don’t plan on learning how to shoot a puck, but if I can get my heart rate up a bit, I know I’ll feel more alert.

The “Go Green, Get Fit Challenge,”which is being hosted by the EcoMom Alliance and Healthy Home Magazine, is asking all participants to set a specific goal or goals for the next three months.

Here are mine:

First, I am going to complete the DVD-based P-90X “Beach Body” Program. I attempted the whole program earlier this year, and found parts of it (especially the yoga and the biceps-triceps routines) very difficult. As part of the “Go Green, Get Fit Challenge,” I’m going to take on the whole P90X program again. This time, I promise not to use the fast-forward button to skip over the exercises I thought I couldn’t manage before.

Second, I am going to aim for one very specific goal: I want to be able to do at least 5 underhand pull-ups on a chin-up bar. Remember what I said about no upper body strength? Right now, I can’t even pull myself up off the ground one inch when I’m hanging at a dead weight. Will I be able to do 5 chin ups three months from now?

Stay tuned!

FYI,

• › In 2010, only 16.4% of women age 18 and older met the 2008 Federal Physical Activity Guidelines (US Center for Disease Control (CDC) 2012).
• › Among women age 20 and older, the following are overweight or obese: 59.3% of non-Hispanic whites; 70.8% of non-Hispanic blacks and 75.1% of Mexican Americans (CDC, 2012)
• › A 2008 Center for Disease Control study found a majority of American women overextended, depressed, anxious and isolated. (CDC 2008)
• › One in three female adults has some kind of cardiovascular disease (CDC, 2012)
• › Personal health and environmental health are intertwined and equally important, yet women often allow their personal health to take a back seat to other demands in their lives

What’s your personal physical fitness goal? Let’s reach our goals together!

The post I Joined the Go Green, Get Fit Challenge! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

That will change on June 20, when the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20, opens in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the clamor of thousands of women demanding a global commitment to family planning.

They’ll be making a strong case. Studies by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and The Futures Group have shown that empowering women to have babies when they want could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 8-15%. That’s comparable to stopping all deforestation today, or to increasing the world’s reliance on wind power 40 times over.

Strengthening women’s reproductive rights would have another obvious benefit: it would improve the quality of life for women around the globe. More than 200 million women in the U.S. and developing countries are sexually active and do not want to become pregnant. Yet often, these women lack access to birth control pills, IUDs, diaphragms, and other means of modern contraception. Consequently, one out of every four births worldwide is unplanned, resulting in 42 million abortions each year, killing 68,000 women as a result.

Fulfilling the unmet need these women have for safe, affordable and available family planning would protect their lives while reducing the global population growth that undermines environmental sustainability. Global population currently numbers over 7 billion and is projected to reach 9 billion by 2050. Many scientists believe this number is beyond the earth’s “carrying”capacity, given human demands for energy, water, and other natural resources along with the impact using these resources has on the climate, air and water quality, food availability, and more. Providing women with the family planning and reproductive services they want would improve both the health of women and the world on which they live.

Women are already feeling the impact of a planet stretched to the limit. A study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) reported that “women are disproportionately vulnerable to environmental changes.”

* Women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men during natural disasters like heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes.

* In areas of spreading drought, women must spend more time and travel greater distances looking for firewood and trying to raise crops, often risking assault, rape and even death.

* Pregnant and lactating women are more vulnerable to diseases like malaria and dengue fever, both of which are extending their reach into new regions of the world as climate change forces temperatures to rise.

* Women find it harder to make ends meet as food prices increase to compensate for agricultural shortages due to drought or natural disaster. In developing countries, women may be forced to migrate if their lands become uninhabitable. Yet moving off their land to relocation camps or crowded urban areas makes many women homeless and unable to support themselves and their children.

“Sustainable development isn’t sustainable if it doesn’t include empowering women to plan their families, educate themselves and their children, and have a voice in government at all levels,” says Musimbi Kanyoro, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women. “Rio+20 must have human rights – and women’s rights – at its core.”

So why doesn’t it? Providing family planning services is not complicated. Indeed, thousands of successful programs are operating on every inhabitated continent and in every religious, cultural and political milieu. Nevertheless, reproductive rights have not been included in the Rio+20 agenda.

Dr. Carmen Barroso leads the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region. On a conference call with her and Ms. Kanyoro prior to their departure for Rio, I asked her why, if family planning offered so many human and environmental benefits, it wasn’t a greater priority.

“People in power hold strong ideologically based, extreme religious convictions that women should not be equal,” she replied without reserve. “Anything that favors women’s autonomy is a threat to a world vision that rests on the assurance that the world will not change.”

Nevertheless, said Ms. Kanyoro. “We are not going to be quiet…We no longer see ourselves as isolated, in small groups…we’re stronger because our voices are together.”

The two women leaders said they and a large contingent of women advocates will be pushing for three significant milestones during what’s also being called an Earth Summit. First, they will be urging participating governments to commit to finance reproductive health for any and all who want it. By and large, family planning is among the most affordable strategies for improving women’s health and well-being. And as the graphic below shows, dollar for dollar, investments in reproductive services generate far greater reductions in the greenhouse gases that disrupt the climate and wreak environmental havoc than the same level of investments in non-fossil fuel-based technologies, even solar energy and hybrids.

Second, governments need to adopt policies that actually improve health for women of all ages, including in that sphere a commitment to reduce violence against women. In many countries, women still do not enjoy basic human rights. Women comprise 51 percent of the world’s population, says Ms. Kanyoro, “yet own only one percent of its assets; are two-thirds of the world’s workers but earn a mere 10 percent of wages. Rio+20 must not become another forum in which women’s issues are not heard. Instead, the summit must demonstrate that women’s voices are integral to all development. “

Finally, governments must actually provide family planning services to women. It will be meaningless to make financial and ideological commitments if those are not followed up with on-the-ground, government-initiated programs that ensure reproductive rights for all.

Even though she’s not attending the forum, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seems to concur.

“It’s rather odd to talk about climate change and what we must do to stop it and prevent the ill effects without talking about population and family planning,” she has said.

This is the first in a three-part series I’ve been retained to write about the efforts women are making to ensure that family planning and reproductive rights are priorities in any sustainable development goals that emerge from Rio+20. Part two of the series will feature an interview with Misumbi Kanyoro and Dr. Carmen Barroso from Rio. Part three will summarize the results of Rio + 20 and next steps.

RELATED POSTS:

Why Climate Change Matters to Women

It’s World Population Day. Or is that “Over” Population Day?

What’s the Link Between Population and Nuclear Energy?

The post At Rio+20, Women to Set Sustainability on Achievable Course with Sharp Focus on Reproductive Rights and Family Planning appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Just scan the front pages of this week’s New York Times if you need to be convinced. “Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Fouls Wells,” documents instances of children contracting serious ear infections, some requiring surgery, from bathing in polluted water.  “Toxic Waters: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected at a Cost in Suffering” focuses on scabs and rashes being inflicted on children because their tap water contains barium, lead, arsenic and many other toxins that cause cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system. A Fight Grows Over Labeling on Cleaning Products addresses consumer concerns that the chemicals in common household cleansers are giving people asthma, acne, nervous disorders, and more.

Maybe it’s time fror Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to put their heads together and realize that America could reduce health care costs significantly if we focused on cleaning up the planet. And get some of those polluters to help foot the bill. The cleaning products industry alone is a $14 billion/yr enterprise.

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Marketing hype and inadequate labeling entice consumers to buy bottled water even though it is far more expensive and usually not as healthy as tap water.

Bottled water also takes its toll on the environment. At least 3/4 of the millions of plastic water bottles produced each year are thrown away rather than recycled. Plus, producing bottled water actually uses more water and is far more energy intensive than providing the same amount of water to the public via the tap.

These are among the most damning conclusions reached by the U.S. General Accounting Office upon completion of a thorough comparison of the health, safety and environmental benefits of tap vs. bottled water.

The GAO attributes the dangers in bottled water to the fact that it is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whose safety requirements are far less stringent than those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates tap water. The GAO recommended that the FDA adopt EPA’s requirements within the year.

Consumers should not have to wait a year for plastic water bottles to be safe.

Take action on bottled water now:

* Stop buying bottled water, or any beverage sold in a plastic bottle. Remember the power of the purse: the way you spend your money sends a signal loud and clear to polluters that they will lose market share unless they provide you with safe products and services.

* Shift to healthier, safer reusable bottles. Aluminum and stainless steel bottles are better, as are bottles with filters that are free of the chemicals most throwaway water bottles contain.

* Contact manufacturers and tell them to pull bottled water off the market. Just because a company makes a bottle that uses less plastic doesn’t mean that bottle is a good choice.

Throwaway plastic bottles need to go.

Note: You can find more reusable water bottle options in our store. We earn a tiny commission on our store purchases; all our recommendations are based on our determination that the items suggested offer a cleaner, greener, safer alternative to what you may currently be using. Thanks.

The post Bottled Water is Not as Safe as Tap Water, says GAO appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The deadly disease has started to emerge in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Hong Kong, worrying public health officials and leading many consumers to wonder how they can stay safe.

Here are some suggestions from the Centers for Disease Control to help you proceed with caution.

What is Swine Flu? Swine flu is a respiratory disease in pigs caused by Type A influenza viruses. Though people do not normally contract swine flu, they can become ill with the disease through contact with pigs. The illness is highly contagious and is easily passed from person to person. However, you cannot get swine flu from eating pork. Writing on Grist, Tom Philpott theorizes that the disease is linked to factory farms in Mexico, where polluted water and air from concentrated animal feed lots expose workers and nearby residents to pigs and their illnesses. Once one person is exposed, it becomes easy for the virus to spread.

How will I recognize Swine Flu if I have it? Symptoms include fever, diahrrea, runny nose, vomiting, dizziness, shortness of breath and irritability.

How serious is the current Swine Flu outbreak? According to the Centers for Disease Control, as of April 27, 40 cases of the illness had been reported in the U.S.: in Kansas, California, Ohio, New York City, and Texas. There have been no deaths in the U.S. to date. Mexican health authorities have confirmed 149 deaths and over 1,600 cases reported. Public health officials around the globe are tracking the disease for signs that it will turn into an epidemic, though for the moment there is no reason for alarm.

How Can I Stay Healthy?

1) Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then throw the tissue away.

2) Wash your hands often with soap and hot water, or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (not an antibacterial sanitizer, which is ineffective against flu virus).

3) Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, since that is how germs spread more easily through the body.

4) Avoid close contact with someone who appears to be sick (look for symptoms like a runny nose, cough or sneezing, and fever).

5) If you feel like you are getting sick, contact your doctor immediately. Don’t go into the office or emergency room until they are prepared for you, so you will avoid contaminating others. Stay home from work or school.

6) If you are planning to travel to Mexico, check with the CDC, the U.S. State Department or your local doctor. Since the most serious outbreaks of swine flu appear to be in Mexico, you may want to postpone your trip until you can be sure your health will not be jeopardized.

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