Although we love nature, some yard-invading parts of it are less welcome. This sonic deterrent for gophers, moles and other burrowing creatures does no harm, but irritates them and encourages them to move home. It’s powered by a built-in solar panel.

The deterrent costs $17.95 from SmartHome.

Next time you’re headed out into the wilds (or the park) on a picnic, why not take along a hamper that’s 100% compostable? Tree- and petroleum-free in manufacture, everything in these party sets can be recycled and spread on the garden.

Party set pieces start at $5.00 from Real Goods.

Camping need not necessarily mean leaving behind all the comforts of home. This 6-person tent includes a solar panel that provides battery power to run the tent’s built-in lighting. Here is a link to a previous post we made on another model of solar tents that was more comprehensive.

Available for $249.99 (Canadian) from Canadian Tire.

last week Congress passed — and President Obama signed into law — a bill giving Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar the authority to immediately rescind Bush administration regulations that eliminate essential protections for the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Under the bill, if Salazar doesn’t withdraw the Bush regulations within 60 days, the regulations stay in effect and the polar bear is deprived of the legal protections it needs to survive.

Secretary Salazar must act immediately, or we’ll lose this precious opportunity to instantly remedy one of Bush’s worst environmental attacks. Please sign the petition to Salazar and demand that he immediately rescind the Bush regulations harming the polar bear.

Please consider taking a moment to go to the Center for Biological Diversity save the polar bear site and sign their petition.

Great short video from Greenpeace on the destruction of Ocean life from Bottom Trawling factory ships and overfishing in general. If you want to eat only fish that are caught in a sustainable manner, check out
The World Wildlife Federation’s website on sustainable fishing.

The North Pacific sub-tropical gyre has a massive spiral of floating plastic crap floating over an area estimated from the size of Texas to bigger than the continental United States. Most of this plastic is from run-off from rivers and streams from around the world, much of it gradually breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that eventually become as small as plankton. Already in vast areas of the ocean these plankton-sized particles outnumber the real particles by greater than 7 : 1.

This plastic can also act as a chemical sponge soaking up and concentrating all kinds of nasty chemicals which then enter the food chain with devastating impact to all kinds of marine life, birds and perhaps eventually returning back to us in new deadly forms. This is an complex and urgent issue we should all learn as much as possible about and put pressure on politicians to reduce and eliminate plastic pollution as much as possible and to launch campaigns to start to clean up the oceans.

Here is a great video, The Sythetic Sea and below are some great links for information on this issue.

Synthetic Sea
World biggest garbage dump – plastic in the Ocean

Trashed great article and site by Mindfully.org on plastic in the ocean.

Plastic Soup Flash presentation on the Alguita oceanographic research voyage into the great pacific garbage patch.

The Trash Vortex Greenpeace article on this issue.

Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch wikipedia

Sea of Trash – NYT article 6/22/08

UV Natural ADULT Sunscreen SPF 30+
5.29 oz. 37.80 at uv natural sunscreen store

Blue Lizard Australian Suncream, SPF 30, Sensitive
5 fl oz (148 ml) $10.29 at drugstore.com

What’s the greenest sunscreen?

Despite that it’s the middle of winter, I’ve been worrying about what to do about sunscreens. On one hand I am concerned about protection from skin cancer as I spend a lot of time outdoors here in relentlessly sunny San Diego. On the other hand I also worry about the studies I’ve just read about which says the some of the ingredients for most brands of sunscreen may contain potential hazardous chemicals to your body as well as the environment.

One such chemical, Oxybenzone, is able to be absorbed through the skin and has been shown to be excreted in urine and can accumulate in fatty tissue. Studies have shown Oxybenzone, may be able to disrupt the human hormone system and may have other detrimental health effects. Center for Disease Control scientists gave results from a 2008 national survey of 2,500 Americans showing that oxybenzone readily absorbs into the body and is present in 97% of Americans tested. Another thing that freaks me out about Oxybenzone is that it is potent to the degree that when people’s sunscreen washes off in swimming and urine excreted, enough of it winds up in the ocean to cause viral infection in coral reefs and cause feminization of male fish. This link from the Environmental Working Group has an in depth article about this issue. Also there seems to have been lax oversight by the FDA in regard the safety of some of these chemicals. Here is some excellent info on what you can do about this issue here.

Rather that wait till the FDA gets it act together under the Obama administration I am looking at some greeener and healthier options available right now.

thegreenguide.com has a comprehensive study and article here called Sunscreen 101
which should give you most everything you’ll want to know about the issue and has a list of all the major brands and shows their pros and cons in a comparison table. Plain and cheap – old Zinc Oxide Ointment is also the least toxic and most green as well as offering reasonable protection, is it better than the chemical laden brands in terms of prevention of skin cancer and ability to block all the harmful rays? The jury seems divided on this issue and I personally don’t like the way it seems to take forever before dissolving from its white cream to something more acceptable to walk outside with. But for children and people with sensitive skin this might be your best bet.

The UV Natural Sunscreen is the only officially recommend sunscreen by the greenguide.com, if that influences you at all. It does seem a cut above the others in that you need less of it and that its ingredients offer good protection as well as having all natural ingredients. Its price seems a bit steep but its no surprise that a quality product will tend to cost more.

Forget the toxic plastic artificial trees and the pesticide laden live trees. Here is nn excellent way to remove some of the consumerism out of Christmas and make your holiday’s a tad greener is to make your own Christmas tree. This video (and the book they promote) shows how you can make a Christmas tree shaped plywood constructed and drilled holes to be a holder for live pine branches that you can gather from discards at nurseries, your own back yard or local woods. (just don’t take enough branches that might actually harm the tree) If you make it sturdy enough you can use this for many years.

Can’t afford a Prius or Solar system for you home? There is another, basically free, way you can do even more to do your part to help reduce greenhouse emissions and lower your carbon footprint in a big way – Stop eating beef.

The constant belching and flatulence from cattle produces enormous quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide. This makes for more greenhouse gases than all the cars, trucks and ships combined. This UN news article discusses the many ways the rearing of cattle is playing a major role in contributing to global warming.

There are many people currently working on a variety of innovative approaches on ways to curtail bovine methane such as cow “beano” type medications or food additives like cashew oil, special grasses to be added to their feed, flatulence vaccine, and more. However cows wearing gas masks and fart-capture backpacks won’t be likely to go over too well with the cows or people.

One thing that is easy for us non-farmers and cattle-people to do right now is to dramatically reduce or stop eating beef. Going veggie will not only do as much for the planet as driving a Prius but will give you the added benefit of being healthier from eating less saturated fats, hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals. Factory farmed cattle are bad the planet in many ways, here is a excellent huffingtonpost article that discusses this at length.

It’s been a bummer for the bees lately with colony collapse disorder still a problem as this youtube PBS Nature video “Silence Of The Bees” explains,

While scientists, politicians, farmers, beekeepers and other concerned people try to figure this out, we can do our little bit to help by first trying to learn more about the issue and also perhaps increase your local population of bees right in your own backyard. This wiki on colony collapse disorder gives a great background picture of the problem. The bushfarms.com website is an excellent resource for all things related to bees and beekeeping.

The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden by Kim Flottum $20.00 at Gaiam.com

If you are looking for a great book to get you started with beekeeping in your backyard consider the The Backyard Beekeeper.

Bee Condo $32 Real Goods

One way you might help boost your local bee populations and enjoy the results of their labor is with this Bee condo is made for mason bees who pollinate in the spring and are great near orchards and your garden, the Mason Bees are reported to be mellow as bees go. These condos are made from reclaimed, untreated fir posts and comes with installation and bee ordering information. Sadly, the bee condo doesn’t seem to be available until March 2009 – but you wouldn’t need it before then except to put under your tree or Festivus pole where they wouldn’t bee welcome anyway!

Beginner Beekeeping Kit $299.00 from Real Goods
You might consider this starter Beekeeping Kit that has all the elements you’ll need to raise your own backyard bees – except the bees themselves. This Kit from Real Goods includes a complete hive, wax, smoker and fuel, helmet, veil, brush, and instructions. However, at least one beekeeper in this article doesn’t think starter kits are such a great idea – and caution against it. At 299.00 it would be a good idea to do your research closely.