Sep 5 2008

Dirty Clothes?

Cotton is as American as Apple Pie, but what I bet you didn’t know, is how dirty it is.
 

Although cotton is marketed as clean, fresh and natural, conventional cotton is anything but. 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides in the US are used to grow cotton. It takes 1/3 pound of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce (1) cotton t-shirt.

 

Cotton Farms aren’t just using any pesticides. Cotton growers typically use many of the most hazardous pesticides on the market including aldicarb, phorate, methamidophos and endosulfan. These are broad spectrum organo-phosphates–pesticides originally developed as toxic nerve agents during World War II. Many of these pesticides are endocrine disruptor’s and are creeping into our systems.

 

What does this mean to us?

 

Water Contamination - Cotton pesticides are contaminating our groundwater and surface waters which lead to our drinking water. Pesticides can be washed into streams and rivers where they contaminate aquatic ecosystems and kill fish.

 

Beneficial Insect Destruction - Pesticides kill beneficial insects as well as pests. Pesticides are suspected to be responsible for the severe drop in honeybees, the increase in frogs with extra legs and eyes, and the annual death of 67 million birds.

 

Farm worker poisoning - Pesticides used on cotton poison farm workers worldwide–causing acute poisoning and chronic illnesses. In California, cotton was ranked the third highest crop for pesticide-related worker illnesses.

 

Insect Resistance - Cotton pests are become resistant to pesticides. Insect resistance costs US cotton growers up to $1.4 billion per year and has caused a 30% drop in cotton yields in recent years.

 

Food Residues - Cotton pesticides can enter the human food chain through cotton seed oil used in processed foods and through meat and dairy products from cows fed on cotton seed meal.

 

What Can I Do?

 

Buy Organic. There are a lot of alternatives to conventional cotton. Organic fabrics these days are plentiful. The Blue Ridge Eco Shop sells organic cotton, soy, bamboo, hemp, a variety of organic fabrics. Buying used clothing is a great inexpensive alternative as well. This decreases the demand for convention new cotton clothing.
 

 

Posted by Paige at 1:46 PM 1 comment
Sep 15 2008

Water Conservation - Save More Than Just Water

Water Bill Got You Down? Do something about it!

It feels like every bill I get in the mail, my rates are rising. Gas prices are rising, water rates are rising, electricity just has a huge increase. Well don’t sit on your hands–do something!

Did you know that making a few inexpensive changes in your home, can make a huge difference in your monthly water bill? I’m sure you’ve heard it before and thought you should do something, but seriously, why wait any longer? At the Blue Ridge Eco Shop there are multiple inexpensive ($10 and under) aerators, shower heads and toilet dams that can start saving water and your pocket book right now.

Typical shower heads and faucets use anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 gallons of water per minute. Water conserving fixtures can decrease that flow rate, without you even noticing a difference in water pressure and save you money. Changing one shower head to a 1.5 gallon per minute shower head will save you up to $350/year. Retro-fitting your toilet to be more efficient can save up to 2 gallons per flush or 30,000 gallons per year.

Don’t believe me? One Blue Ridge Eco Shop customer did the math herself and tested out switching all of her water fixtures in the house. Overall she spent around $30 at the Shop buying toilet dams, faucet aerators and shower heads. For the next month she tracked her water bill and usage. She saved $50 that first month on her water bill. That means, the $30 she spent will save her about $600 annually. I’m sure we can all think of more efficient ways to spend $600 than sending it down the drain.

Have a well? I hear this one a lot. Just because you don’t use municipal water, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t conserve water. Only five years ago, there was a long summer drought and many County residences’ wells went dry. Water is a precious resource and should be conserved whether or not it is freely flowing from our faucets. Working in the Peace Corps I realized first hand how much I took water for granted. Not having clean drinking water and not having bathing and flushing water once a week at times was an adjustment.

Already have low-flow appliances? There are many other water saving practices we can utilize to cut down on our water usage:

 

  • Rain Water Harvesting - I am happy to see so many Charlotteville residents using rain barrels to catch the rain water off of their roofs. Using this water on your lawn and garden saves you $$ on your water bill and is healthier for your lawn (untreated water).
  • Take shorter showers - shaving 30 seconds off of you shower cans save tons over the year.
  • If 10,000 residents shorten their showers by just 30 seconds, in a year we’ll save enough water to fill up to 22 Olympic-size swimming pools. (IdealBite.com)
  • Turn off the faucet when soaping up at the sink and in the shower.
  • Make sure to have full loads in the washer and dishwasher.
  • If hand washing dishes, save up a stack, fill the sink and wash, rather than having the faucet running while washing each plate.

Add on what you do at your house to save water. So far my favorite has been: Collecting shower water to water flowers!

Posted by Paige at 1:26 PM 3 comments