Fleas and ticks are constant sources of consternation. Pet owners, in an effort to protect their animals and family from fleas and serious tick borne illnesses, often turn to topical spot-on flea and tick treatments.

It is no secret that pesticides pose a dangerous threat to humans, wildlife and the environment. These topical remedies are powerful pesticides.

A recent upsurge in complaints, since 2008, from consumers about serious ill-side-effects arising from the use of these remedies has caused the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the safety of these products. According to an article in the New York Times these sequella include skin irritations, hair loss, tremors and even fatality.

The EPA will be reviewing label efficacy and cautions as well as developing more complete and stringent testing protocols for these products." Steve Owens, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances states that “New restrictions will be placed on these products and pet owners need to carefully read and follow all labeling before exposing your pet to a pesticide.”

An official EPA report is expected by October of this year and will be published on their website.

(Photo credit:mslume on flickr)

“Water is the one substance from which the earth can conceal nothing; it sucks out its innermost secrets and brings them to our very lips.”
Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944)

Although the United States has one of the safest, most bountiful supplies of potable drinking water, there is no guarantee that the water coming out of our tap is completely safe.

The EPA offers some very helpful water safety guidelines and testing protocols. Once our water has been tested, we can choose from the many water purification options available.

Here are some easy, green measures that we can all take:

1. Waste-not, want-not, even though we may have plenty of water, it is important to remember that the most of the world does not. Conserving our fresh water resources is the most fundamentally green first step. Checking all of our faucets for leaks and keeping those valuable drips and drops from being wasted, is a good common sense measure.
2. Recycling gray water from our home and using rain barrels to collect runoff from roof downspouts to water our gardens and houseplants saves a ton of valuable drinking water yearly.
3. Whether or not we have your own well, it is so very important not to use pesticides or chemical fertilizers on our lawn or in your gardens, what we spread around on the ground winds up in the nation's water supply. Properly dispose of unused prescriptions and medications, do not flush them down the toilet! Clean green, being cautious about what products we use to clean up around our homes helps to safeguard the water supply.
4. Using an in-home water purifier is always a great idea. While reverse osmosis water purification can be effective for commercial applications, it wastes much more water than it purifies and can be very expensive to properly maintain. Pressure from consumers and environmental activists has caused Britta to team up with Preserve to begin recycling their filters here in the United States (they already recycle them in Europe). Writing to companies like PUR will hopefully inspire them to follow suit.
5. Ditch the plastic water bottle habit for a reusable green one that you fill at home from your own purified water source.

(Photo credit:OiMax on flickr)

Endless parking lots are the devil—not just because they're wearisome to schlep through in the rain as you struggle fruitlessly to remember where you parked, but because they're actually one of the worst contributors to runoff and waterway pollution. That's why we're optimistic about a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) effort to test environmentally friendly, permeable pavements at its own facility.

Stormwater picks up oil and gas drippings, chemicals, sediment and debris as it washes across paved surfaces, all of which swirl inexorably into local waterways every time it rains. Soil erosion alters local ecosystems and magnifies runoff problems.

The EPA is testing three different types of permeable pavement in a 43,000-square-foot section of its Edison, N.J., parking lot. Over the next decade, the agency plans to observe how each permeable surface filters some pollutants from stormwater runoff and allows water to seeps through the pavement back into the ground.

"Runoff from parking lots and driveways is a significant source of water pollution in the United States and puts undo stress on our water infrastructure, especially in densely-populated urban areas," said EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou. "By evaluating different designs and materials, this study will help us develop strategies to lessen the environmental impacts of parking lots across the country and make our communities more sustainable."

Miles and miles of paved parking lots may be the leading offender among environmental pavement offenders, but sidewalks play their part as well. Check out this sustainable innovation: interlocking sidewalk segments made from recycled tires are pervious to rainwater, reduce heat island effects within cities and resist damage from tree roots and shifting ground. Now that's walking the walk!

(Photo credit:Cholin, SXC)

Was it just last week we wondered if the EPA's effectiveness might be on the upswing? No need for the Ouija board, because more and more signs are pointing to "Yes." Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson announced yesterday that the EPA is reversing Bush-era changes to how science is used to set air pollution standards.

The EPA is required by the Clean Air Act to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for harmful pollutants using "best available science." The Bush administration sideswiped this process, eliminating independent assessments by scientific experts, suppressing recommendations from EPA scientists and instead injecting high-level political appointees into the process.

The new procedures will set the EPA back on track to deal with six key pollutants found nationwide: ozone, particle pollution (particulate matter), lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Jackson's procedural cleanup loops science back into the process at a much earlier point in air quality reviews.

• Reinstatement of a policy document containing EPA staff analyses of options for administrators to consider when setting air quality standards
• A public workshop early in the NAAQS review process
• Restructuring of science and risks documents to make them more concise and more tightly focused on key scientific and policy issues
• EPA staff consultations with scientific experts in other federal agencies that have responsibility for public health and environmental protection

“It’s essential that the best science and the greatest transparency inform air quality standards that prevent illness and save lives,” Jackson said. “These changes will help us bring a greater rigor and openness to our standard-setting process and improve the scientific basis for our standards.” We agree—kudos on this step back toward real oversight.

(Photo credit:krayker, stock.xchng)

It's official. Greenhouse gases are really air pollution. They endanger the public health and welfare of the citizens of the US of A. Well, it's not official yet. There are still public hearings to be held. But this could be the year that science and the public interest trump the interests of big oil and the US auto industry (or at least what remains of it).

Last week the Environmental Protection Agency published the findings that will make it official that carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) constitute "air pollution."

And I thought those ingredients were there just to toughen up our lungs! Silly me.

This finding has been two years in the making. For some reason, after the Supreme Court put the air pollution problem in the hands of the EPA in April 2007, they were a little slow-yes, cautious and reserved-about attacking the problem. While the court found that greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act they left it up the EPA Administrator to determine whether or not automobile emissions contribute to air pollution. Lisa Jackson, the new Administrator, found last week that auto exhaust indeed does contribute to climate change.

To this I say, "Well, duhhhhh...."

I mean, I'm grateful and all. I'm pleased with the new direction. I get it about this being a sign of a fundamental shift in the US stance on global warming, and I get it that until recently we've acted like our national bird was the ostrich in our approach to climate change. But there's something a little embarrassing about the belated interest we're showing in greenhouse gases on the public policy front. 

Public hearings on the finding will be held next month in Arlington, Virginia and Seattle, Washington. The hearings will be webcast for people who can't be present. I wonder what big oil and the auto makers will have to say.

(Photo credit:mksfly, Flickr)

Is it ever too late to apologize? Apparently not for Joe Hazelwood, the oil supertanker captain who—while drunk and stoned—sent the Exxon Valdez on an autopilot crash course with the shores of Prince William Sound. Now he’s clearing his conscience with “a very heartfelt apology” to Alaskans for the largest, deadliest oil spill in American history. His "sorry" arrives just in time for the environmental catastrophe's 20th anniversary and, of course, a much-hyped book commemorating it.

Does Hazelwood’s (unofficial) “Oops, my bad,” extend to the hundreds of thousands of sea and land animals—entire ecosystems—that didn’t survive the toxic fallout of his wasted-at-the-wheel lapse of judgment (and steering)? We'll have to crack Sharon Bushell’s "The Spill: Personal Stories from the Exxon Valdez Disaster" to find out how repentant Hazelwood, who now (ironically) works as a maritime legal consultant, really is.

Continue reading Valdez captain 'sorry' for America's worst oil spill ›

(Photo credit:Marine Photo Bank, flicker)

What happens to your old laptop or television set when it's run its course? Currently, 80% of unwanted electronics items end up at the garbage dump. These kinds of products are classified as e-waste; they contain mercury, lead, chromium and other flame retardants that need to be properly processed and recycled instead of simply thrown away.

The recycling process is very expensive, however, and most states simply put the extra burden on their waste management units, who pass it along to the taxpayers. According to National Public Radio affiliate KUOW in Seattle, Washington, the state has passed a new law requiring the product manufacturers to pay for the complex recycling process. Washington is one of several states that have recently enacted special e-waste laws.

Paying for the process might be a larger problem for smaller manufacturers than for major players like Sony and Microsoft, but the big corporations would surely prefer a specific federal law over having to adhere to separate regulations state-by-state. For once, I'm on the same side as Sony and Microsoft. The federal government must mandate not only the collection of electronics, but the recycling process as well. A 60 Minutes report in November 2008 revealed that many "recycled" electronics are shipped to China, where they are harvested for their precious metals. Unfortunately, many Chinese towns don't engage in proper recycling processes, and these gang-ridden areas are threatened by epidemics of lead poisoning and other diseases.

The EPA website doesn't mention anything about China, but it does have a recycling audit program to ensure that recyclers have "sound practices." If you are looking to recycle an old television or laptop, check here so you can make sure the product will be handled properly and ethically.

(Photo credit:AvWijk, Wikimedia Commons)

On Monday, President Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately review California's request for stricter automobile tail pipe emission standards and to determine the best way forward. California standards would require auto companies to achieve a 30 percent reduction of emissions by cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles by 2016. Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have already adopted California’s standards.

A waiver from the EPA is required before California can enact air-pollution laws stricter than the federal laws. Lisa Jackson, the new EPA Administrator, is expected to complete a review by May.

At the same time that the emissions story dominated the conversation and the headlines, Obama also directed the Secretary of Transportation to publish mileage standards by March 30 2009, effective for the 2011 automobile model year. The goal is to ensure that new vehicles reach the 35 mile-per-gallon level set by Congress for 2020.

The auto industry faces a challenge. How does it re-engineer its products for the 21st century? At the recent Detroit Auto Show, electric vehicles (EV) from Chevy and Toyota promised infinite gas mileage. Electric cars have no tail pipe, so they won't be much bothered by tail pipe emissions standards. Fuel cells, ethanol, veggie diesel, batteries, and battery/gas hybrids are all on the way. The auto industry might have to shake out a standard like the high definition DVD industry is doing. Blu-ray or HDTV? Hybrid or EV? (News flash: I just learned that HDTV is officially discontinued, but the analogy holds.)

The auto makers are on the ropes right now, but they'll bounce back. They have to. And by putting new power packages in new cars, they'll be driving the recovery. And we'll be driving cleaner cars!

(Photo credit:jurvetson, flickr)

Where I live in San Francisco, not recycling or trying to make changes to save the planet would be utterly unthinkable. The great prevalence of the Prius on all the highways up and down the state, substantiates the claim that Californians live in a liberal bubble. This is probably true, but maybe it's time for that bubble to pop and those sentiments to spread—the United States has got a brand new President, a brand-new Administrator of the EPA, and now, some brand-new standards to live up to, with California leading the way.

Last year the government blocked California's request to enforce its pioneering emission standards on new cars, and automakers breathed a sigh of relief. But now California has renewed its petition to drop the hammer on the auto industry, demanding that current standards be tightened so that new cars will average 7 more miles per gallon by 2020. Lisa Jackson, the new head of the EPA, has promised that it's a top priority for her office.

Next step—making California's tough new regulations standard across the board and throughout the states. If, as auto companies argue, a "patchwork" of state-by-state regulations makes it difficult and expensive for auto manufacturers to comply across the board, why not standardize? And not to the lowest common denominator, but to the highest. As Roland Hwang, San Francisco's Vehicles Policy Director points out, they've got three fine reasons why this is the best solution all around—because they can, because they should, and because they have to, if they want to survive.

Failing that, I suppose, we can all move to California and breathe the fine, forward-thinking air.

(Photo credit:grazie, davvero, Flickr)

It amazes me the habits that we get into without ever thinking about changing.

I used to work as a move coordinator, helping people organize their moves and I always went for cardboard boxes of various sizes that I'd try to reuse. Many customers were happy with used boxes, but after a couple of moves they'd usually end up in the recycling. And if I wasn't doing the unpacking? Who knew where they'd end up!

And don't forget all that tape. In some moves I'd go through a good dozen rolls of packing tape before I was through.

But businesses don't go through this. When they move, they get plastic bins and transport everything that way. Why therefore did I never think of using plastic bins with the residential moves I coordinated?

Probably because no one thought about it. Until now.

Well, actually someone thought of it three years ago—Spencer Brown created Rentagreenbox.com where a truck full of different sized plastic bins shows up at your house in Los Angeles or Orange County and leaves you to pack. The movers take the bins to your new home and Brown's people come and pick them up. The company currently has 7,500 boxes in circulation at any given moment.

And it's not just LA that's getting into the act. Over on the other coast Movers Not Shakers provide green bins for New York and New Jersey moves.

Continue reading Making a green move ›

(Photo credit:ejhogbin, flickr)