Did you know that the ‘gentle exfoliating microbeads’ that are in many facial products are made of plastic? That’s right, the same plastics that take hundreds if not thousands of years to degrade, and every time you wash your face with them, they go right down the drain, and eventually into the ocean. And while there haven’t been any studies about what happens to them when they reach the ocean, it surely cannot be good.As the blog Low Impact notes:
There haven’t been that many studies on what the long term effect is of these plastic granules floating around the ocean. It appears likely that the particles do end up inside of marine creatures. Zooplankton in particular, tiny marine creatures that filter particles out of the water for food, can end up “swallowing†these little beads. It’s not clear whether the plastic ends up harming these little critters, or if it can start to build up in higher levels as it goes up the food chain.One study has found that these plastic beads can act as a sponge for such poisons as DDT and PCBs. So wherever these bits of plastic end up, they bring some unwelcome baggage with them!Â
If you’d like to avoid making this problem worse, look for “polyethylene” in the ingredients. Olay Smooth Skin Exfoliating Scrub with Gentle Microbeads, for instance, has plastic microbeads, as you can tell from it’s ingredient list:
Water, Cetyl Betaine, PPG 15 Stearyl Ether, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Glycerine, Oxidized Polyethylene, Stearyl Alcohol, Salicylic Acid, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Steareth 21, Behenyl Alcohol, PPG 30, Steareth 2, Fragrance, Disodium EDTA, Ferric Ammonium FerrocyanideÂ
For those of you who love the Toyota Prius as much as I do, you’ll be happy to hear that Toyota recently announced plans for a new plug-in version, which is estimated to hit the streets in 2010. The new Prius is rumored to have several features, including:
- New battery technology – Toyota will upgrade the current batteries, but claims lithium-ion technology isn’t quite hybrid ready. We’ll see what Toyota does, especially since GM has plans to use lithium-ion batteries.
- Full battery charge in four hours.
- Travel up to 60 miles per hour and 7 miles on electricity only.
- More aggressive electric only mode (e.g. you can accelerate harder without engaging the gas engine).
- Household electric plug compatible (3-prong plug).
Before you get too excited, rumors are the first version of the plug-in hybrid feature will likely be offered as an optional feature, and may only be available to large, leased fleets such as company cars. I really hope that’s not the case because I’m ready for a plug-in hybrid now! I’m fortunate to have electricity rates about 50% lower in the area where I live since the city purchases and resells electricity in bulk.
What I love about this idea is that those who wish to plug in the car can do so, and those who want to drive it like a normal car can do so as well and never bother with plugging in the car. As a side note, I also learned that Toyota’s Lexus line of cars may come out with a new, pure-hybrid model not based off of any of its existing vehicles. More on that when I have more information.
OK, how freaking cute is this dog? Paul showed me this picture a couple of years ago and since then, I’ve been dreaming about getting one of my own, even though I’m not really a small dog person. I’ve always thought of myself as owning a larger dog.
Anyway, I don’t have a dog, or any pets for that matter – my lifestyle (long hours, lack of a yard, small house, etc.) preclude me from owning any, but I was curious to know, how do you dog-owners take care of your dog waste? Reader Betsy asked a very good question:
I have always gotten plastic bags at the grocery store to use as doggy pick-up on my walks. I am trying to go more green in my life and this plastic bag usage is my one last “obstacleâ€. Does anyone have any green ideas for picking up after my dog that’s both environmentally friendly and reasonably priced?
I google’d this and found that there is certainly no dearth of bio-degradable bags which promise eco-friendliness, yada yada yada. But man, they do seem expensive! Does anyone have any advice or solutions they can share with Betsy?
Some of you may know that I have previously mused about how great it would be for Al Gore to be President – that it would be a strong signal that we were serious about the environment, and that we had a strong leader who could actually do something about it.  Well, of course there’s no chance of that, but what about Vice President? In the following video, James Carville muses about why Al Gore would be a great VP, and I can’t disagree. Obama could give him a Energy Czar position, and with Gore in there, I have no doubt that we’d see serious action. And Gore is for the carbon tax!    Â
China is notorious for its poor air quality, ranging from the burning of raw coal, to millions of cars crowding city roads, and to blatant industrial pollution from factories and companies. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that pollution had gotten so bad in China last week that heavy pollution warnings were issued. This means that residents with respiratory problems are encouraged to stay indoors.
For those of you who haven’t been to China, I’ve heard from numerous sources that pollution is bad there, especially in and around the larger cities. When you go out during the day, you will often come back with a face full of soot and pollution – so much so that your towel will turn black if you wipe your face. Apparently, even if you blow your nose, it will come out dark because of all the pollution. I’ve heard lakes and rivers are nowhere near clear, let alone the skies.
I recognize that we in the U.S. aren’t exactly innocent either. Considering we’re only a fraction of the world’s population, we do more than our fair share when contributing to global warming. I think all countries, especially those with resources like China really need to take a step back and look at what they are doing. Remember the Industrial Revolution during the late 19th century? We saw all those pictures of coal burning, smokestacks spewing raw pollution into the air, and industrial waste everywhere. Well, China is like that… but 100 times worse given the scale at which they are going through their Industrial Revolution.
No matter who is at fault or who the worst violators are, we all need to stop pointing fingers and do our part to help. The more blame we try to shift, the worse the problem will get. All countries, especially China and the U.S., need to set examples. I know we can start by passing legislation that will help our environment, such as the
