Eco Green Tips

photo credit: Pembroke Dave

We have all heard that drinking milk is good for your health and bones and thus we buy it by the gallons and consume at least the required amount. However, is the milk generally available on the market really so god for a person’s health?

In the early 1990s FDA approved the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), otherwise known as bovine somatotropin (rbST), in cows. This synthetic hormone is thus injected into the animals to increase their milk production. Even though this practice has been banned in Europe, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, it is still used on a large scale in the US.

Moreover, according to the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, the hormone injections cause cows to suffer from frequent udder infections known as mastitis. Consequently, the animals are treated with antibiotics more often, which, in turn, contributes to the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Additionally, both the synthetic hormones and the antibiotics remain in the meat as well as dairy products and are consumed by the public.

The manufacturers of dairy products (milk included) coming from treated animals are not required to mark it in any particular way to alert the consumers. However, farmers who do not inject their animals with the growth hormone nor the antibiotics often label their products as containing “no artificial hormones or antibiotics” strictly on voluntary basis.

So, next time you’re in your local store shopping for milk or other dairy products, look for labels such as “no artificial hormones or antibiotics used” or (if not available) simply opt for certified organic milk and dairy since these are guaranteed free of both hormones and antibiotics. Moreover, organic usually means healthier animals, which, in turn, means healthier products for you and your family.

Have you ever heard the old wives tale about the brick in the toilet tank? No? It goes something like this: putting a brick in the toilet tank will save water while flushing the toilet… Or so they say…

However, as much as the laws of physics prove the tale, there is a slight problem with the brick itself. Unfortunately, bricks tend to disintegrate when submerged under water for a longer periods of time thus, keeping it in the tank may actually cause more problems than it’s worth, such as clogged plumbing, for instance. You wouldn’t want that, now would you?

However, saving water is becoming more of an issue since water is increasingly scarce these days. And there are many ways one can do that, from installing a two-way tank to dropping the proverbial brick in the tank. You don’t have to spend a ton of money and nearly redecorate your bathroom to be able to save both water and some cash on your bill. Simply, put a plastic bottle filled with sand or pebbles and water into your tank making sure not to disturb the working parts, and voilà.

An average toilet will flush properly with much less water than what they are set up to use, which is three to seven gallons per flush. By placing a bottle in the tank, you will save up to ten gallons of water a day!

Some European countries offer a device called Save-a-Flush, which is a bag filled with crystals that expand after being submerged in water making the tank fill up with less water.

Whatever means you decide to go for, it is worth a try if, in the end, not only will you keep dollars in your wallet but also save a flush or two…

A new sturdy has recently found that the life-saving ozone layer is slowly recovering and may be nearly restored to a healthy level by the mid XXI century however, it may never go back to what it used to look like, the scientists say.

Ozone is an incredibly important gas that protects the earth and all form of life (including humans, animals, plants and various ecosystems) from the blistering effects of the UV rays by absorbing most of them in the stratospheric zone surrounding the planet. However, the last decades have had a terrible effect on the ozone, destroying its layer to ‘barely there’ levels.

Luckily, drastic measures, which started with a worldwide ban (called Montreal Protocol) of the use of chemicals mostly hazardous to ozone—namely chlorofluocarbons (CFCs) found in aerosols and refrigerants, are beginning to pay off. Various studies performed over the past 25 years have shown that the ozone in the polar region stopped depleting around 1997 and have stabilized or even increased in the last decade. 

However, full recovery (that is to the levels form the early 1980s) is still decades away due to numerous reasons, which include changing temperatures and atmospheric dynamics. According to the scientists, greenhouse gasses are the biggest culprits for the thwarting the ozone layer recovery. Some experts state that in some areas the ozone will be thicker than before the ban on ozone-depleting chemicals while other areas may remain insufficient.

Still, hope remains… For us, the planet and the protective ozone layer.