Greenversations

Los productos beneficiosos para el medio ambiente denominados “verdes” pueden ayudar a proteger más al ambiente y a contaminar menos que otros productos equivalentes. Comparta con nosotros cómo y cuándo usted busca productos verdes al momento de comprar.

¿Qué significa la expresión “productos verdes” para usted?

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.

How much do you know about the environment of where you live? That’s right, not the rain forest, not the polar icecaps, but your neighborhood. Lots of us take our environment for granted. Water comes out of spigots and waste gets carted or flushed away. Unless there’s an environmental problem nearby, like a polluting factory, most folks don’t give it a second thought. Our environment just is.

But environmental protection starts at home, and it is important to understand how one thing affects another, so here’s the challenge (actually a great project for a class to do) – find out and then write up a report so others can understand your local environment too.

I did this a few years ago for the town in which I live, Narberth, Pa. I looked into:

How our electricity is produced.

• Where the oil that runs my heater came from.
• Where the natural gas that runs my stove came from.
• The origin of my drinking water.
• Where my waste water goes.
• What happens to the recyclables (plastics, paper, glass) that are collected.
• What happens to our yard waste that’s picked up.
• Where my household waste/trash goes.
• The quality of the air I breathe.The levels of radon from the ground.
• What happens to our rainwater after it goes down the storm drains.
• The name of our watershed and the location of our streams.
• Our climate and planting zone.
• Where our gasoline comes from.
• What mass transit is available.
• Our topography and geography.
• How our town is zoned.
• The location of our historic buildings.

In the process I discovered some interesting things. Some streams had been piped underground and weren’t on the surface anymore. Our household waste goes to an incinerator where it is burned to produce electricity. Our rainwater goes directly into streams; it’s not treated first. The oldest intact structure in Narberth is a Swedish log cabin. But since it has had many additions, it just looks like a normal house now.

My report is on the web.  Feel free to use it as a model for yours. Go out and discover your local environment!

About the Author: Nancy Grundahl has worked for the Philadelphia office of EPA since the mid-80’s. She currently manages the web for the Environmental Assessment and Innovation Division. Before getting involved with the web, she worked as an environmental scientist. Nancy believes in looking at environmental problems in a holistic, multi-media way and is a strong advocate of preventing pollution instead of dealing with it after it has been created.

I still remember the brief exchange in the 1967 movie “The Graduate.” The actor Walter Brooke insisted on giving the young Dustin Hoffman one piece of advice: “Plastics….There’s a great future in plastics….” I guess this just shows my age. However, I still recall the time when most of the containers for household detergents and common hygiene products were made of glass instead of the more commonly used plastics that we see nowadays. During the past decades, advances in the petrochemical industry have led to positive uses for plastics in the fields of medicine, construction, automotive, packaging, and many others. The innovative usage of plastics has fundamentally changed our world. Unfortunately, its proliferation has had unintended consequences.

Today, plastics are a constant in our lives. From beverage containers, household items to packaging, plastics are everywhere. Ultimately, many of these items are discarded on a daily basis and they end up as trash in our landfills or oceans. For example, in the year 2007, almost 12.1 percent of the total municipal solid waste in the United States came from 31 million tons of plastics. Since plastics do not easily break down into simpler components, they become virtually everlasting in the environment. Increasing awareness of the situation is just the first step in addressing the problem. Recycling deals with just one area. Technological advances are only part of the solution.

That brings me to another aspect of the preponderance of plastics: their toll on the environment. The adverse effects of plastics are not solely related to the tonnage of plastic debris produced yearly. Moreover, the negative impacts on human health and the environment stem from some of the chemicals added to plastics during the manufacturing process.  Recently, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson outlined the Obama Administration’s principles for reforming the legislation commonly known as TSCA, the 1976 Toxic Substance Control Act.  In a recent speech at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Administrator Lisa P. Jackson spoke of the need to fix the weaknesses in TSCA with a new chemical risk management law. The planets seem to be aligning in the right direction. Important players in government, the private sector, health and environmental organizations all seem to agree that the time for reform is now.

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.

Todavía me recuerdo del breve intercambio en la película de 1967 “El graduado.” El actor Walter Brooke insistía en aconsejar al joven Dustin Hoffman y resumió sus palabras sabias así: “Los plásticos…hay un gran futuro en el plástico”. Creo que eso pone en evidencia mi edad. Sin embargo, todavía me recuerdo de la época en la cual la mayoría de los envases de detergentes caseros y productos de higiene eran hechos de cristal en lugar de los plásticos que comúnmente vemos hoy en día. Durante las pasadas décadas, los avances en la industria petroquímica han conducido a usos positivos del plástico en los campos de la medicina, la construcción, la industria automotriz, en el embalaje, y en muchos otros. El uso innovador del plástico ha cambiado fundamentalmente nuestro mundo. Desafortunadamente, su proliferación también ha tenido consecuencias inesperadas.

En la actualidad, los plásticos son un constante en nuestras vidas. Desde envases de refrescos, artículos caseros, a la envoltura de muchos productos, los plásticos están en todas partes. En fin, muchos de estos artículos son descartados diariamente y terminan como basura en nuestros vertederos u océanos. Por ejemplo, en el 2007, casi el 12.1 por ciento de todos los desperdicios sólidos municipales en Estados Unidos provenían de 31 millones de toneladas de plásticos.  Ya que los plásticos no se descomponen fácilmente en componentes más sencillos, estos permanecen casi indefinidamente en el medio ambiente. El fomentar la concienciación sobre la situación es tan sólo el primer paso en abordar el problema. El reciclaje aborda sólo un aspecto. Los avances tecnológicos sólo son una parte de la solución.

Eso me lleva a otro aspecto de la preponderancia de los plásticos: su carga en el medio ambiente.  Los efectos adversos de los plásticos no sólo están relacionadas a las toneladas de basura plástica producidas anualmente. Asimismo, los impactos negativos en la salud humana y el medio ambiente están vinculados a algunas de las sustancias químicas que se añaden a los plásticos durante el proceso de manufactura y elaboración. Recientemente, la administradora de EPA Lisa Jackson delineó los principios de la administración Obama para reformar la legislación comúnmente conocida como TSCA, la Ley de Control de Sustancias Tóxicas de 1976. En un discurso reciente en el Club Commonwealth de San Francisco, la administradora Lisa P. Jackson habló sobre la necesidad de reparar las debilidades de TSCA con una nueva ley para el manejo de riesgos químicos. Los planetas parecen estar alineándose en la dirección correcta. Importantes protagonistas a nivel gubernamental, el sector privado, organizaciones de salud y ambientales todos parecen concordar que el momento de reformar esta ley ha llegado.

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.

My late grandfather was always full of advice and giving out tips. Whenever he visited, he always came with newspaper clippings and all sorts of articles from magazines. He had all sorts of information for everyone and would talk with each of us grandchildren or children about the information he found. He also would constantly remind me to tell people to spell my last name correctly. Even if it was ordering a pizza and giving your last name. No place was left out of hearing the spelling of our, somewhat lengthy, surname. Make sure you tell them two n’s, not one, he would say. He has made me so very proud of my family’s history. I learned a lot from his words of wisdom, more than I could type out in this blog. I always think about him, especially this time of year, when my grandparents would come and visit us in the fall. I also remember him around November because he was a World War II veteran. As Veteran’s Day quickly approaches, I thought I might provide some reminders of my own, to grandparents, parents, or any veteran out there with little ones. Here are some tips to keep in mind when kids come over to visit and stay with you, some things that you may not even think about normally, but may be important when you have younger company coming over.

• Make sure to wash children’s hands before they eat and also wash fruits and vegetables.
• In older homes particularly, make sure to wash floors and window sills to protect kids from dust and peeling paint that could be contaminated with lead.
• Store pesticides and toxic chemicals far out of reach where children can’t get to them; try to put them in a locked cabinet or area first.
• Make sure you close any container marked ‘child resistant’ very tightly after the product has been used. Child resistant does not mean child proof so you should still be careful with products with child-resistant packaging.
• Store food and trash in closed containers to prevent pests from coming inside.
• Don’t let children handle or play with mercury. (Find out where mercury containing product recycling programs are in your area.)
• Hide medical prescriptions in a locked up location or a secure place so children can not reach them or mistake them for candy.

So as visitors start to pile in, especially children, take a moment to look over these tips and apply them around your home. Also, take some time to remember all of the veterans out there and all that they have given while serving our country.

About the author: Emily Bruckmann is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a senior attending Indiana University who will graduate with a degree in public health this spring.

I have worked with the ENERGY STAR for New Homes program for nearly 10 years - first as the program’s Partner Support Coordinator and now as its Communications Coordinator. When I first came aboard in 2000, less than 14,000 ENERGY STAR homes had been built since the program first kicked-off in 1995. Today, I am truly amazed that we have reached the milestone of 1 million ENERGY STAR Homes built. I could not be more proud!

Consider some of these numbers:

• This year, families living in the 1 million ENERGY STAR homes will save more than $270 million on their utility bills, while avoiding greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 370,000 vehicles.
• There are more than 6,500 builders across the nation currently building homes that earn the ENERGY STAR label. These range from the largest national homebuilders to small custom builders to builders of manufactured and affordable homes.
• Nearly 17 percent of all single-family homes built nationally last year earned the ENERGY STAR label, up from 12 percent in 2007. And market share for ENERGY STAR is 20 percent or greater in 15 states.

To earn the ENERGY STAR label, a home must meet strict guidelines for energy efficiency set by EPA. ENERGY STAR homes are at least 15% more efficient than those built to the 2004 Energy Code, and include additional energy-saving features that make them 20-30% more energy efficient than typical new homes. They achieve these energy savings through established, reliable building technologies and a whole home approach to home building, including: effective insulation systems, high-performance windows, tight construction and ducts, efficient heating and cooling equipment, and high-efficiency lighting and appliances. An independent Home Energy Rater conducts onsite testing and inspections to verify that the home’s performance meets ENERGY STAR requirements.

Our success would not have been possible without the tremendous level of support that our program has received from the organizations that have partnered with ENERGY STAR. From the homebuilders who put our label on their homes, to the Home Energy Raters who do the verification needed for homes to earn the label, to the utilities and other organizations that have sponsored ENERGY STAR in their markets through incentives, training, and consumer education and outreach.

It is truly gratifying to know that by looking for the ENERGY STAR, home buyers can get a home that provides greater comfort, saves energy and money, and helps them join in the fight against global warming.

I wonder how long it will take us to reach the 2 million mark?

About the author: Jonathan Passe is the Communications Coordinator for ENERGY STAR Residential Programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  In this role, he oversees national and local communication and outreach efforts to increase consumer awareness of ENERGY STAR in both the new home and home improvement markets.  He has supported EPA voluntary programs, as an Agency employee and as a consultant, for nearly 20 years.

We put cans and bottle out for curbside recycling. We take electronics to a collection center. Kids collect newspapers to raise money for school projects. Share what you do. November 15 is America Recycles Day.

How do you recycle?

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.

Colocamos latas y botellas en la acera para reciclar. Llevamos equipos electrónicos a un centro de acopio (recolección). Los niños recogen periódicos para recaudar dinero para proyectos escolares. ¡Comparta con nosotros lo que usted hace! El 15 de noviembre es el Día de Reciclaje en Estados Unidos.

¿Como usted recicla?

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.

Well it’s over. Yup, after weeks of planning, EPA’s Environmental Science Center’s 10th Anniversary celebration came to a successful conclusion.  After a 1996 groundbreaking, the Science Center opened for business in February 1999 and was dedicated by a host of politicians in April, 1999.  From then on it’s been my pleasure to be the facility manager.

I may not use Avogadro’s number very often, but I get to interact with both in-house customers and work with our hosts – the US Army.  Back in the mid-1980’s due to an earlier Base Realignment and Closure effort (BRAC for short), the Army was looking to transform Fort Meade into a federal office complex.  And EPA sought a modern home that consolidated facilities in Annapolis and Beltsville, Maryland and Cincinnati, Ohio.  While we normally enjoy poking fun at politicians, I have to say that Maryland’s two senators at the time enabled EPA to have a green, state-of-the-art facility to allow applied environmental analytical chemistry and microbiology to flourish.  The Army agreed to provide land for the new Environmental Science Center and Congress provided EPA the funds to design and build the facility.  Because EPA owns the Science Center, it’s facilities management’s job to make sure it serves the technical and scientific needs of the staff and scientists without getting in their way.

A lot has changed in the past 10 years.  When we arrived at Fort Meade, it was an “open post.”  Employees and most visitors were free to come and go with little or no interaction with the military.  Of course all that changed on that 2001 September day.  Managing a non-Defense facility on the other side of the fence line hasn’t been easy for us non-DoDer’s.  Fortunately, our hosts have gone out of their way to make us feel part of the community and we’ve learned to become more security aware.  Like all Americans we’ve adjusted to the times.  While we fight to protect the nation’s natural environmental resources, we work side by side with the men and women who defend our liberty day to day.

Our 10-year celebration gave us a perfect reason to step back and reflect on the sound science and other important achievements the staff has performed over the years.  All too often we’re so enmeshed in our day to day duties and focusing on the next crisis that we don’t take time to reflect.  Fortunately, there is something about the calendar and decennial time periods that force us to think about our recent past. When we did that to prepare for the anniversary, we were amazed at how many people who were with us in 1999 still work at the Science Center.  Seventy four of our 143 original employees still work here.  That’s a good sign that the Agency in general and the Environmental Science Center in particular is a satisfying, challenging place to work.

I’ll be back in touch with Greenversations for our 20th reunion.

About the author: Rick is a thirty plus year career federal employee with the Environmental Protection Agency. While with EPA, he has served in multiple capacities, and has been the Facility Manager at the Environmental Science  Center since the Center’s opening in 1999.  He is interested in travel, fly fishing, crabbing, genealogy and foreign languages.

Hey Pick 5’ers, it’s time again for you to share what you’ve done, how you did it, etc.  If you haven’t done it yet, Pick 5 for the Environment and then come back to comment. Today we cover action #5: Test your home for radon! Please share your stories as comments below.

I never really thought that radon would ever become an issue in my home. Radon is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and chemically inert. Unless you test for it, there is no way of telling how much is present in your home. According to EPA estimates, radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. I’m a non-smoker and I needed to know if radon is present in my home.

So on my day off, I decided to visit my county health department to get a free radon test. I received the test. It was easy to set up. So I did the testing for three days. I then sent the kit back to the manufacturer for my results. Later I went on line and used my serial number from my test and got my results. I was really happy to know that my home was radon-free.

EPA has designated January as National Radon Action Month.  Please get your home tested; radon is serious.

Now it’s your turn: how do you test your home for radon? If you’re not sure what you can do, learn more on our site.

You can also still share how you save water, commute without polluting, save electricity, and reduce, reuse, recycle.

Note: to ward off advertisers using our blog as a platform, we don’t allow specific product endorsements.  But feel free to suggest Web sites that review products, suggest types of products, and share your experiences using them!

About the author: Denise Owens has worked at EPA for over twenty years. She is currently working in the Office of Public Affairs in Washington, DC.