PERSONAL CARE
Halfway through our half-decade courtship, I watched my now husband clean the shower stall in my rental apartment. It had never sparkled until after he donned his yellow gloves and face mask and proceeded to scrub the living daylights out of that bathroom. The unfortunate thing is this room connected the bedroom to the kitchen-living areas and the apartment quickly filled with cough-inducing, eye-watering fumes!
I have to marry this man; he cleans whenever I avoid the chore. I just need to get him better product!
Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. - Thomas A. Edison
As a former Chemical Engineer, I believe CPG products sold to the American public must result from supply-chain, clean-manufacturing success. The fact that the White House only serves American wines mainly from Virginia, Idaho, and California is a point of pride. [French wine was taken off the menu during the Ford administration.]
Having grown up with siblings who experience asthma, laundry products were carefully chosen. Phosphate-based detergents that require washing a load of clothes in hot water do use more electricity than leaving your refrigerator door open a whole day. We chose to use enzymatic cleaners because they clean effectively at cold water temperatures and thus save on electricity. Manufactured without parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde nor chlorine bleach, our homes contribute no toxic chemicals in our wastewater.
A recent phenomenon called greenwashing however bothers Leyla Acaroglu, a TED speaker and Sustainability Provocateur. One corporate strategy was to buy small, green manufacturers to persuade consumers that their brand is doing more towards sustainability. One example? Purchased by Kraft Heinz (KH) in March 2013, Boca Burgers had been manufacturing its meat alternative since 1979. There is scant evidence that KH has decreased the use of aluminum, hexane, and other toxic chemicals in this highly-processed veggie burger, nor improved on its plant-based protein market share.
Would it then be healthier to make your own meatless burger from scratch? Vincent Pedre, MD PLLC wrote the book Happy Gut and explains in a video how to discriminate among plant-based burgers.
Sustainable Communities
I became aware of the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE). Founded in 1996, this nonprofit serves as an advisory services organization. Since 2013, they help administer Chula Vista's Sustainable Communities Program. They educate so the city planning examiners, building inspectors, architects, and contractors can adhere to the "green" Building Energy Efficiency Standards in Title 24, Parts 6 and 11.
Closer to home, the city of Chula Vista also loans out a Sustainable Toolkit through the library for families to ascertain their energy consumption and conservation strategies.
Green manufacturers can thrive in the marketplace if more and more consumers consider a sustainable future for both our energy consumption, protection of our coastal waterways and use of concentrated consumer-packaged goods that reduce landfill waste.
#WhyIEducateForAGreenManufacturer
Did you know that Thomas Edison and Mark Twain were more than acquaintances. The only footage filmed of Mark Twain was a silent film taken by Thomas Edison. His quote is what makes downsizing hard. As a mechanic and electronics engineering technician, I see a use for everything.
ReplyDeleteAs a human beings, evolution shows us to be carnivores. We have canines, and our bodies have difficulty surviving without the vitamins, proteins and amino acids we glean from eating meat. Many of the problems people have eating meat is eating processed meat. Over processed foods be it wheat or meat is our health downfall.
I love your comment, Floyd. I like cooking at home with fresh ingredients to "run away from" the sugar, salt and filler content of overly-processed foodstuffs on supermarket shelves.
Delete