Ever wonder why just 3% of the fruit you can buy is free of potentially dangerous pesticides? Or only 2% of vegetables? Or less than 0.02% of corn? It’s not a simple matter of “that’s all that farmers grow.” Organic farmers competing against conventional agricultural interests (i.e., the ones that use pesticides and herbicides) don’t […]
Archive | Green Living
What is it about Rachel Carson that some misguided souls just love to hate?
Rachel Carson, who would have turned 100 years old on May 27, was a marine biologist and award-winning writer who warned the world about the dangers of pesticides and herbicides in her fearless book, Silent Spring. Published in 1962, Silent Spring revealed that toxic chemicals have a long-lasting presence in our water and on the […]
How would you spend $456 billion?
Unbelievable as it seems, the total cost of the Iraq war may reach $456 billion in September, according to the National Priorities Project, an organization that tracks public spending. That amount got editors at The Boston Globe wondering: What would $456 billion buy? With just one-sixth of the US money targeted for the Iraq war, […]
First, deadly dog food. Now, contaminated chickens. Locally grown, organic fruits and veggies never looked so good!
If you ever needed a reason to eat fruits and vegetables that were grown by people you know and trust, read this week’s news reports about dead pets and contaminated chickens. At least 4,000 dogs and cats have died and thousands more have gotten sick from pet food manufactured in China that contains melamine. Melamine […]
Thumbs Down: Windex Antibacterial Multi-Surface Cleaner
With all the havoc that increased resistance to antibiotics is causing in treating disease, why in the world do we need another antibacterial product in the marketplace? Especially an antibacterial window cleaner? Yet that’s exactly what S.C. Johnson has introduced: Windex Antibacterial Multi-Surface Cleaner, a product that promises to “kill 99.9% of bacteria” on […]
Be One in a Million
How can we really make our money matter? One way is to focus our spending so that its power can be felt. That’s what the Big Green Purse “One in a Million” campaign is all about. It’s encouraging one million women to intentionally shift at least $1,000 of their existing budget to environmentally-friendly products — […]
Women Wield their Marketplace Clout — and Imus Feels the Heat
The uproar over Don Imus’ appalling comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team have thrown a sharp spotlight onto how powerful consumers can be in the marketplace — simply when they stand up for what’s right. By rebuking Imus’ racist, mysogynistic statements, the distinguished women of Rutgers and the men and women who have supported […]
Leading the Bull
Remember when people used to say, “you’ve got the whole world in your hands”? Not any more. These days, we women have the whole world in our purses – or we could, if we’d only change the way we spend our money. Big Green Purse contends that women who shift their spending to environmentally-friendly products […]