Greenversations

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

Every 13 seconds, U.S. Poison Control Centers receive a call about someone being exposed to a poison. Forty percent of those cases involve a child under three years of age.  March is National Poison Prevention Month.

What do you do to keep children safe from household poisons?

En español: Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

Cada 13 segundos, los Centros de Control de Envenenamientos de EE.UU. reciben una llamada de alguien que ha sido expuesto a un veneno. El cuarenta por ciento de los casos ocurren en niños menores de tres años. Marzo es el Mes Nacional Para la Prevención de Envenenamientos.

¿Qué hace para proteger a sus hijos de los venenos caseros?

About the author: Amanda Sweda joined EPA’s Office of Environmental Information in 2001 and develops policy development for web related issues and serves on the Environmental Education Web Workgroup. Amanda is a former Social Studies and Deaf Education teacher and is married to a math teacher so education is an important topic in their home.

Most of us would love to go back to our high school days. Sounds unlikely, huh? A lot of adults remember high school as being care-free – our families took care of the big stuff like food, bills, and “grown-up” stuff. As we get older we take those responsibilities on for ourselves – going to college or getting job training, working full-time, finding and taking care of where we live, settling down whether it be marriage or a steady relationship, starting families, and paying bills. But as we get older we forget that teenagers have a lot of responsibilities too and that our younger days were not just fun and games! There is homework, writing papers and doing research, practice for sports, debate, band, theater, etc., being involved in school clubs, volunteering and community service work, working part-time jobs, doing chores at home, spending time with friends and relaxing (very important!), and thinking about the future and what happens after high school.

Most of us who work at EPA are way past our high school days, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t think about high school issues. EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment – high school students are definitely included. One of the ways that we interact with high school students directly is on our Web site. There is a group of dedicated EPA staff who maintains this site – the Environmental Education Web Workgroup (EEWW). Our members work all over the country in our different region offices but we share a common goal - to make sure that our high school education resources is of the highest quality and meets your needs. We can always make the high school site better…and one of the ways that we’d like to hear form you is on this blog. Once a month on the last Friday of the month, a member of EEWW will post a new entry for high school students. We hope you’ll join us and share with us your thoughts and opinions. Let us know what environmental topics you are interested in. We’re curious to hear if your school has an environmental club and what kinds of projects they’re working on. Just so you know we are not going to do your homework, but we can help you find information about the environment, community service, and other topics that might be of interest to you.

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

Many people don’t own their living space such as renters or workers assigned to temporary housing. Non-owners general don’t make major changes to their homes, such as buying more efficient large appliances or improving insulation.  Concerned citizens

What do you do at home to help protect the environment if you don’t own your home?

En español: Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

Muchas personas no son los propietarios del lugar donde viven tales como los inquilinos u obreros asignados a viviendas temporeras. En general, los que no son dueños no hacen arreglos importantes en sus casas como comprar enseres eléctricos grandes que sean más eficientes o proveer aislamiento.

¿Qué hace en su hogar para ayudar el medio ambiente si usted no es el dueño de su casa?

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

The other day I was running some errands with my 7 year old daughter. As we approached the car, she noticed some litter scattered around and said spontaneously “Littering is bad because it’s mean to the Earth. We should protect it.” I was speechless. I was impressed with her insight, but at the same time sad that we are being “mean” to Planet Earth with the senseless things we often do-like generating so much trash in the first place.

While in my family, we try our best to live by the three R’s —reduce, reuse and recycle—I must confess that the hardest R seems to be reducing waste from the outset of any activity. In our daily lives, there are so many things that generate waste like excessive packaging, fast food wrappings, disposable products, to name a few. With some planning, we can reduce the trash even before it’s created.

Here are some suggestions:

• Buy in bulk to reduce packaging
• Choose reusable products like utensils, tableware, cloth napkins instead of disposable ones
• Prepare a waste free lunch at home and take it to work— It saves money, too!

There are numerous possibilities if we put our mind to it. These are just some consumer tips that can be easily used at home for waste prevention. I also highly recommend my colleague’s blog with an extensive list of habit-changing tips.

If our children can take care of Mother Earth at an early age, why can’t we?

Sobre la autor: Lina M. F. Younes ha trabajado en la EPA desde el 2002 y está a cargo del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comunicaciones Multilingües. Como periodista, dirigió la oficina en Washington de dos periódicos puertorriqueños y ha laborado en varias agencias gubernamentales.

El otro día estaba haciendo varias diligencias con mi hija de siete años. Cuando nos acercamos al auto, ella notó que había basura regada en el suelo y dijo espontáneamente <<el echar basura es malo para el Planeta Tierra. Debemos protegerlo>>. Me dejó atónita. Me impresionó su sensibilidad, pero a la misma vez me entristeció por lo “malos” que estamos siendo con nuestro Planeta Tierra debido a las cosas que hacemos frecuentemente sin pensar—como la generación desmedida de tanta basura.

Aunque yo y mi familia tratamos de vivir bajo los principios de las tres R’s —reducción, reutilización y reciclaje—confieso que la “R” más difícil de implementar es el de reducir la basura antes de emprender una actividad. En nuestras vidas cotidianas, hay tantas cosas que generan desechos como el embalaje excesivo, las envolturas de comida rápida, los productos desechables, por ejemplo. Si planificamos con antelación, podríamos reducir la basura aún antes de crearla.

He aquí algunas sugerencias:

• Compre en envases de gran tamaño para reducir la envoltura
• Escoja productos que pueda volver a utilizar como utensilios, mantelería, servilletas de tela en lugar de las desechables
• Prepare su almuerzo y lléveselo al trabajo en envases reutilizables para reducir los desechos. ¡Esto le ahorra dinero también!

Hay numerosas posibilidades si se lo propone. Incluyo también algunos consejos para el consumidor que son fáciles de seguir en el hogar para la prevención de basura. También les invito que consulten el blog de mi amiga Brenda que delinea una extensa lista de consejos para cambiar los hábitos a favor de la protección ambiental.

Si los niños se preocupan por nuestro planeta a temprana edad, ¿Por qué no lo hacemos nosotros también?

About the author: Jeffrey Levy joined EPA in 1993 to help protect the ozone layer. He is now the National Web Content Manager.

A few months ago, my wife and I bought a house slightly bigger than our current home, but organized inside in pretty strange ways. Since we plan to spend the next 30-40 years there, we decided to renovate it. We want to do it in the greenest way possible. That means reduce, reuse, and recycle through the renovation.

“Reduce” starts with choosing where to live. Both our current house and the new one are about ½ mile from Metro, the DC-area subway; I walk and ride in. We also accepted smaller houses than what was available much further out.

The environment gains from these choices in a few ways: less fuel to commute and less energy used to heat and cool our house. But our quality of life is also better, because my short commute leaves me more time at home, and I’m relaxed on the train instead of driving in rush hour. Not everyone can choose where to live, but I think not enough people put living close to work on their “wants” list when house hunting.

Reducing also means:

• choosing sustainable, low-emitting cabinets and flooring (THAT decision is a whole blog post by itself
• insulating well
• replacing drafty windows with efficient ones, and
• finding efficient plumbing (2-mode flushing toilets, anyone?)

It also meant asking the contractor to seal the basement so the heater isn’t running nonstop to keep the pipes from freezing.

“Reuse” comes in several forms. First, we’re keeping the existing appliances. I haven’t done the math, but it’s hard for me to believe that on a life cycle basis, even more efficient appliances are better than getting the full life out of existing ones. It just takes so many resources to create a new item. We also had the contractors keep trim work so they can reinstall it. Old kitchen cabinets will go in the basement. And what we’re not reusing ourselves, we’ll donate.

“Recycle” in this context includes scrap wood, metal, and bricks. We’ve been searching the web for help with that. It also includes recycling stuff we no longer want and won’t move with us (need an old computer power supply?).

Since it’s Radon Action Month, I should also mention we tested the house before we bought it, and it’s fine.

What are your favorite tips and tricks for renovating in a green way? Remember we don’t allow advertising in our comments, so please stick to generic product descriptions instead of specific companies.

Acerca del autor: El constructor Fuad Reveiz* es un ex jugador estrella del fútbol americano profesional y un miembro de la Asociación Nacional de Constructores de Viviendas. El tiene su propia compañía de construcción y desarrollo en Knoxville, TN. Además, incluye elementos resistentes al radón cuando construye nuevas viviendas.

Recientemente los titulares han sido bastantes sombríos—crisis en los mercados financieros y de vivienda, una temporada adversa para los minoristas, por ejemplo. Al reflexionar sobre estos asuntos, un amigo me dijo recientemente “al menos estoy en buenas condiciones de salud”. ¡Cuánta razón tenía! Yo atesoro mi salud y la de mi familia. Como constructor, propietario de vivienda, y padre, sé que el tener una casa saludable y verde es extremadamente importante para proteger la salud de mi familia.

En mi experiencia como constructor, las casas que son construidas tomando en cuenta las normas de salud y seguridad se venden más rápidamente. Día a día son más los clientes que saben cuán importante es la calidad del aire interior para la salud de su familia. También saben que uno de los contaminantes más peligrosos del aire en entornos interiores es el radón. Hace varios años aprendí sobre los riesgos a la salud que surgen al respirar el radón de la Asociación Americana del Pulmón y aprendí cómo se podrían construir nuevos hogares prevenir el radón penetre en los mismos.

El radón es un gas radioactiva mortal que sube desde debajo del suelo y penetra en cualquier hogar. El respirar radón puede ocasionar cáncer pulmonar. De hecho, el radón en la principal causa de cáncer de los pulmones después de la de fumar—y entre los no-fumadores es la principal causa de cáncer pulmonar.

Las buenas nuevas son que las casas pueden estar construidas más seguras, más saludables y resistentes al radón. Las técnicas para prevenir el radón de entrar en el hogar son prácticas y directas para cualquier constructor. Es una manera de bajo costo para ofrecer a las familias un beneficio que podría reducir su riesgo al cáncer pulmonar. Es una manera inteligente de desarrollar confianza entre los constructores y sus clientes. Si está pensando comprar una nueva vivienda, pregúntele al constructor acerca de los elementos resistentes al radón o busque un constructor que utilice estas prácticas resistentes al radón para hacer que su hogar sea más saludable y verde a la vez.

Espero que usted decida proteger a sus seres queridos al aprender acerca del radón, realizar la prueba del radón, y eliminarlo de su hogar. La temporada de invierno es un buen momento para informarse acerca del radón ya que enero es el Mes Nacional de Acción del Radón y es una buena época para crear conciencia sobre el radón. Como alguien que ha dedicado tiempo a este esfuerzo, recomiendo que inicie el nuevo año con el propósito de tener una casa más saludable comenzando desde los cimientos hacia arriba.

Para información detallada acerca de la nueva construcción resistente al radón, las pruebas de radón y el Mes Nacional de Acción del Radón, visite: http://www.epa.gov/radon/.

*EPA no auspicia ningún contratista en particular ni ninguna otra empresa o servicio comercial.

About the author: Brenda Reyes Tomassini joined EPA in 2002. She is a public affairs specialist in the San Juan, Puerto Rico office and also handles community relations for the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division.

In my previous post, I provided tips that everyone can incorporate into their daily routines. Today you will find the last 26 for a total of 52 changes you can make during 2009 to protect the environment and reduce your carbon footprint.

When Traveling:
27.  Take it on the road – even when traveling, don’t leave the sink running unnecessarily and turn off the lights when you leave your hotel room.
28. Fly direct – it saves fuel and reduces your carbon footprint.
29. Pick a destination where you can walk, bike or use public transportation.
30. Choose a destination with activities related to environmental protection or enjoying nature.

At Work:
31. If you need to attend an off-site meeting, consider videoconferencing.
32. Bring your own reusable cup to your local coffee shop.
33. Think before your print. Go paperless when you can.

At Home:
34. A WaterSense labeled bathroom sink faucet or aerator will help you reduce water use and save money.
35. Don’t let your car idle while waiting. Turn off the engine after 30 seconds.
36. Check the air in your car’s tires to improve your gas mileage.
37. Consider walking, biking, public transportation or carpooling. Combine multiple errands when driving.
38. Consider natural pesticides. For example. boiling hot water with phosphate-free detergent can eliminate an infestation of mole crickets.
39. Choose natural and machine washable fabrics when purchasing clothes.
40. If clothes must be dry-cleaned, try hanging them to air out after each use to extend time between cleaning.
41. Use rechargeable batteries and recycle them properly
42. When purchasing gifts, consider environmentally friendly alternatives such as movie-tickets, memberships or donations to a favorite charity.
43. In the summertime, save on electricity by closing blinds early in the day to keep the hot sun out.
44. Don’t throw prescriptions down the drain. For guidance, visit the Proper Disposal of Prescription Drugs site.
45. Avoid toys for outside play that require a constant flow of water.
46. Wash your car with a bucket, instead of the hose, or use a commercial car wash that recycles water.
47. Detect and repair all water leaks around the house and garden.
48. Wash full loads of laundry and use the appropriate water level.
49. Repair and caulk windows during winter months.
50. Repurpose old things or refurbish worn/slightly damaged but favorite items.

In the classroom:
51. For “back to school,” swap books and uniforms with other parents
52. If you are a teacher, take the lesson outside the classroom. Let students experience nature.