For many years, regulators have been attempting to put temporary band-aids on many of the problems in our food supply. In 2008, the government allowed spinach and iceberg lettuce producers to “irradiate” their products in order to kill the E. coli and salmonella lurking within them. There is some speculation that eggs will follow a similar path. Instead of forcing farmers to “clean up their act”, the FDA may allow eggs to be chemically-treated—a process that kills not only the culprits but much of the nutrition as well. These band-aids allow chickens to live and lay their eggs in the worst possible conditions while producing eggs that still meet government standards.

The best way for you, as a consumer, to protect yourselves against salmonella-laced eggs is to buy locally. Most local farms raise chickens in small quantities whereas commercial farms may house as many as 500,000 chickens. The more chickens and the closer the quarters, the greater the opportunity for disease. Also eggs from local farmers are fresher and more nutritious. When hens are allowed to roam and forage for insects, their eggs are richer in protein and their yolks are bright orange. Farmers’ Markets are an excellent way to buy local eggs. Meet the farmers and ask to see their operations. Make sure their hens are being treated humanely and fed an organic diet. Or check out the website of UUCOC members, Diane and Aaron Mitschke, and buy your eggs from them. Go to One World Farm for more information.

The “American Power Act” is John Kerry and Joe Lieberman’s bill that has passed the House and is currently being debated in the Senate. Like the healthcare reform bill that passed a few months ago, many liberal Americans are opposing this clean energy legislation because it includes support for nuclear power, oil drilling and coal mining. Yet even with these concessions, not one Republican is likely to vote for the bill. In fact they have filibustered it which means 60 votes are required to pass it instead of a simple majority.

According to the EPA passing the Act would “…create 440,000 jobs a year through 2020 and 540,000 jobs a year through 2030 while saving families $35/year on utility bills. And it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 45%.”

The reason the Republicans are adamantly against the bill is its inclusion of a cap on carbon emissions. But that cap is what makes the bill successful. With the cap in place, energy that emits the largest amount of carbon, like coal and fossil fuels, becomes more expensive. This drives the quest for cleaner, greener energy while creating jobs and economic activity.

In my opinion, the House should make it a priority to pass the “American Power Act” despite its flaws. It should use every means possible (including reconciliation that helped pass the healthcare reform bill) to achieve this goal. The American people understand the need to fix the problem of our dependence on foreign oil. The time is right. We can let our representatives know that unless they get something done this summer, we will vote new members to congress in the fall who will take our views into consideration. And everyone should know that if the Republicans gain power, America won’t be free of its oil dependence anytime soon.

For further information, see: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2010/06/21/americans-are-ready-for-a-climate-bill/

According to an article at SolveClimate.com, written by David Sassoon on May 24th, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) was warned several months ago by Dan Zimmerman, an independent environmental investigator, of the dangers of methane gas hydrates in deepwater offshore drilling. “Between 1992 and 2006, almost 2,500 deepwater wells were drilled…there were 39 blowouts during that period—38 of them in the Gulf of Mexico.” Apparently deepwater drilling has been moving ahead so quickly that key safety measures have been overlooked. Key personnel are no longer qualified. All this has been done in an effort to make more money more quickly—why doesn’t this surprise me? Eleven precious lives were lost—in the name of greed?
Where there is oil, there is usually gas. The oil and gas industry is well aware that methane hydrates are the primary hazard when drilling in deepwater for oil.

What the layman doesn’t know is that vast quantities of methane are being released into the atmosphere daily as a result of ongoing oil and gas exploration. Methane is “a gas 20 times more powerful as a warming agent than CO2.”
There is much evidence to suggest—eyewitness accounts from survivors, the fact that the rig was located in an area thought to contain methane hydrates, and the fact that the cap which was lowered over the gushing pipe almost immediately became clogged with methane hydrates—certainly points to gas being the culprit. On May 26th, in articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications, it was reported that a Congressional Committee discovered trouble with rising gas levels several hours before the blowout.

Other than the problem with the methane hydrates why is BP having such a difficult time plugging the well? According to Ron Zimmerman, if the cement around the blowout preventer is damaged or if there is a leak in the bore hole, the “top kill” might not be successful. If that is the case, BP has very few options left. One of them is to drill a well adjacent to the blown-out well, but that has never even been attempted at such a depth.

It is my fervent prayer that this massive contamination of the Gulf of Mexico will cause our government and the regulatory agencies of the oil & gas industry to take their jobs more seriously. In addition to the loss of human life, as of May 24th, over 300 birds, 200 turtles and 19 dolphins have been found dead along the U.S. coastline since the Deepwater Horizon blew. Let your voices be heard. Tell your government how you feel about this gross negligence.

P.S. Just wanted ya’ll to know that “the Compost Experiment” at the Church Member’s Luncheon on May 23rd didn’t really go as planned. But to be fair, it was our first real go at separating compost materials from trash and recyclables. From one of my previous Green Tips and as a reminder, compost consists of “vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, and crushed egg shells.” The paper plates we used didn’t have a plastic coating so they also are considered compost. Meat should be separated from the compost and put in the trash container. Let’s try harder next time!

I found an excellent website to help me in my search: http://www.ewg.org/cellphoneradiation. On this site, you are able to look up your current cell phone to find out its radiation level. Another link ranks cell phones by radiation levels while another discusses the 10 cell phones with the best radiation levels. Still another link discusses new 2010 cell phones and which emit the most and the least radiation.

Best of all there is a 42-page document detailing “everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know” about cell phone radiation written by the Environmental Working Group. It is called “Cell Phone Radiation – Science Review on Cancer Risks and Children’s Health”.

This document details recent studies done on cell phone radiation around the world and discusses their findings. Three major problem areas are associated with cell phone use: brain tumors, behavioral problems in young children and migraines and vertigo. Multiple studies show an increase in these health challenges with increased cell phone usage. The countries of Germany, Switzerland, Israel , UK, France, Finland and the European Parliament, believe the findings warrant alerting their public to the possible risks.

The recommendations of the document entail requiring the U.S. government to label cell phones with their radiation emissions and requiring the cell phone industry to offer cell phones to the public with the least possible amount of radiation. People should be made aware of the dangers of frequent and lengthy cell phone conversations—the phone should be in speaker mode or a headset should be worn. Protect yourself, your family and your friends. Pass the word!

The other item was brought to my attention over breakfast at IHOP. I was aghast to find out that compact fluorescent light bulbs (or the curly cue bulbs that are more environmentally- friendly) contain mercury? Later in this article, I will share the facts and what to do about recycling the light bulbs.

First, the Bloom Box, produced by Bloom Energy Corporation: There has been a lot of speculation and skepticism about the Bloom Box since the 60 Minutes episode aired February 21st. Most experts are questioning whether the box will be cheaper than solar power, cheaper than wind power and cheap enough to produce for individual consumers. Inside the boxes are hundreds of fuel cells made by baking sand, turning it into ceramic and painting it with a secret formula of green and black ink. These cells produce wireless electricity through a chemical process when fuel is added. Many types of fuel can be used – fossil fuel, natural gas, biodiesel—and the Bloom Box requires half of what a traditional power plant would use.

What makes this more than just pie-in-the-sky is the fact that twenty well-known companies have been trying out the product for as long as eighteen months. Google’s data center was Bloom’s first customer. EBay, another customer, claims it has saved over $100,000 in electricity costs in 9 months. FedEx and WalMart are also customers. I am sure in future months and years, we will be hearing much more about the Bloom Box. There are many YouTube videos on the subject, if you’d care to have a look.

Second, compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFL’s: So the curly cue “green” light bulbs contain mercury? How could I have missed that? According to mercury facts on lightbulbrecycling.com,

The mercury from one fluorescent bulb can pollute 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe levels for drinking!

Thankfully, there is a remedy and we need to get the word out: Every Home Depot has offered recycling for CFL’s since June, 2008. In the future, the U.S. government may mandate recycling of CFL’s. California already does. For everything you ever wanted to know about CFL recycling, go to the EPA website on the subject.

But hold the fort, even better LED light bulbs are on the way, and they contain no mercury. According to Josh Peterson of Fayetteville, AR,

…a 1.3-watt LED bulb uses less electricity than both the 60-watt incandescent and the 9-watt CFL bulb.

And—get this—they last up to 100,000 hours. Of course they are more expensive at around $80, but when you only have to buy them once every 10 years, who cares? The only problem is, they aren’t as bright as CFL’s—the equivalent of a 60-watt bulb is about their max.

http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/26660/The-Global-Warming-Debate—Introduction?private_key=665a-54a6-1b4a-2fc5-336c-9e78-af1a-4fda

All slides labeled “cce1976” pertain to this report.