Earth Month is Here

While every day is Earth Day, in that every day we should do what we can to minimize our pollution and destruction of the earth, and maximize our care for it, April 22 is the official Earth Day this year, which makes April Earth Month. I've mentioned before that I'm not big on holidays, in that I don't get overly excited and count down the days or anything, but I love Earth Day. I love what it stands for, and I love that it gets people to think more about how their actions affect the earth (now if everyone thought more about this every day....)

So, I have this book called 1,001 Ways to Save the Earth. It's one of those mini coffee-table type books, where each page has a few tips. My goal is to share a tip every day this month (yeah, we both know right now that it probably won't happen every day, but I will post 30 total tips), and some of these tips are really easy. Like this one:

#323 Use a glass at the water cooler instead of disposable plastic cups or paper cones.

How simple, right? Just bring a glass from home, and wash it out at the end of each day. And if you are home every day (like me), invest in a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water. Think of all that plastic (and money) you'll be saving... Even though most plastic water bottles are recyclable, "millions find their way into landfills every day in the U.S. alone," says the Berkeley Ecology Center. Plus, "the manufacture of plastic #1 [which is used for most disposable water bottles] uses large amounts of energy and resources and generates toxic emissions and pollutants that contribute to global warming."

Have I given you enough reasons yet?

EDIT: It seems that the business world is a bit further ahead in the environmental game than I realized. Here's my dad's comment, which had too many characters for him to post in the comment forum:

Great tip but might be a little obsolete, most respectable companies moved into this space in 2005 doing away with the traditional water cooler (Larger Plastic Bottle Type) in favor of the more environmentally friendly purification systems. Most business I have entered since 2005 (over 100 a week for at least 4 years around the Twin Cities) went to a workplace with user friendly carbon reduction solutions instead of the traditional water cooler. Most went to a two stage (reverse osmosis) or six stage dispenser that also reduces the need of non recyclable filters (again reducing carbon). Most employees are instructed to bring their own glasses/water bottles and the last two companies I was employed at, provided them to employees and guests alike. Now when we have to order paper products for larger events or guests who choose to use them (normally for hot products like coffee) we use products made from paper with PLA corn plastic lining which require less energy to produce than petrochemical plastics and are fully biodegradable/compostable in commercial composting environments. They are also ASTM D6400 Compliant, BPI Certified Compostable. And believe it or not we still make a profit. Now government buildings/offices are a totally different animal, big time waste and abuse of the environment. I won’t even get started on schools that have energy star rated windows and ventilation systems but waste more plastic shipping bands, plastic water bottles, paper, cardboard, the list is almost never ending. Side note, also the biggest user of the old school water cooler......

This makes me happy.

photo source

Minnesota Blog for Choice

Hi everyone. If you're interested in reading more of what my guest blogger Kira has to say, you can follow her at Minnesota Blog for Choice, a blog she's running as part of her internship with NARAL. Here's a snippet from what NARAL represents (my emphasis):

The mission of NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota is to develop and sustain a constituency that uses the political process to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion.

A somewhat related personal anecdote comes to mind . . . when I was pregnant with Evelyn, someone from my partner's family sent us a check for $100 - an amount this person says he/she usually donates to the national Pro-Life campaign each year but was sending to us this year instead. With the check came a card that said (again, my emphasis), "Thank you so much for choosing life."

It almost makes me chuckle. Almost.

"Buying for Workplace Equality"

The Human Rights Campaign has put together a 2011 guide for buying from companies that support LGBT equality in the workplace. Companies receive a score 0-100, 100 being the best, "based on whether or not they have policies that support LGBT employees. These include anti-discrimination protections, domestic partner benefits, diversity training and transgender-inclusive benefits" (read more FAQs).

This is pretty cool, because whenever I buy something I wonder what ideologies I am supporting by supporting that company. The next step is to cross the Buying for Workplace Equality Guide with a Buying for the Environment Guide to get the Ultimate Buying for a Better World Guide (of course, there are other guides that I can think of that should be tossed in there, too).

And, on a somewhat related note, the Environmental Working Group has guides not so much based on company policies but on produce and products that are safer for you:

Shopper's Guide to Safe Cosmetics (this is more than makeup)
Shopper's Guide to Pesticides

No, I don't go around the store with all these guides falling out of my purse. But maybe I should.

Now that I've sufficiently procrastinated writing my paper, I should go, write that paper. Now.

EDIT: I've taken a quick break from my paper and thought of an important fact that would be a part of the Buying for a Better World Guide: Buy less shit. And also, buy used shit.

DOUBLE EDIT: I forgot to mention this green guide that I discovered a bookmarked a couple weeks ago: Good Guide. I haven't had the chance to fully check it out, but it seems pretty helpful.

Doctor Doesn't Always Know Best

This post kind of stems off of my super long post that probably no one read, in which I did my best to give a snapshot of the history of Christianity, patriarchy, and women's health. Don't get me wrong, there are some brilliant doctors out there. I personally haven't had the best experiences (again, see my super long post), but Evelyn's pediatrician, for example, is wonderful. But our society still puts too much unquestioning trust into doctors - sometimes its almost like we think they're gods and goddesses or something, ruling over us in their clean white coats (not all doctors wear white coats, but that's the undeniable image of an American doctor). And while advancements in medicine and medical technology have no doubt improved and saved the lives of many, we have to remember that doctors are humans, mortals. They make mistakes, too. Some commit crimes even. Some really sick, medieval-seeming crimes. The folks from Masters in Healthcare have asked me to share with you some of these excerpts from their blog:

Dr. Jan Adams is most famous for performing the breast augmentation surgery on Donda West, Kanye West’s mom, that resulted in her death in 2007. But that’s not the only blemish on his record. In a malpractice suit against Adams, a previous patient claimed that she didn’t receive proper preoperative or postoperative care, leading to an infection that needed two more surgeries. What’s more, one patient claimed he got her drunk after a surgery and impregnated her, and another claimed a surgical sponge was left inside of her after a breast augmentation. Adams, who attended Harvard University, never received his diploma despite apparently completing his academic requirements. He’s also not a board certified plastic surgeon despite claiming to be one.

The notorious Dr. James Burt was exposed for his harmful and downright bizarre practices in the late 1980s when numerous former patients came forward and initiated lawsuits. Beginning in the late 1960s, Burt took it upon himself to perform "love surgeries" in which he altered his patients’ vulvas without their consent. He justified his work in a book he authored in 1975, explaining that "Women are structurally inadequate for intercourse. This is a pathological condition amenable by surgery." He stated the procedure turns them into "horny little mice," though in reality, many of them suffered sexual dysfunction, infection and required corrective surgeries as a result. A $21 million suit was filed against Burt that couldn’t have come close to covering the physical and emotional damages endured by the at least 40 women he hurt.

As a fertility doctor, it was Dr. Cecil Jacobson’s duty to assist women in conceiving, and in the 1980s, it appeared he was doing a pretty good job. His patients reported high success rates due to his use of hCG, a hormone released during pregnancy that causes the typical bodily changes. During the supposed pregnancies initiated by hCG, he would identify the fetuses during an ultrasound, but they would usually "die" after about three months. Patients who suspected something was amiss informed a local television station, which investigated and exposed Jacobson. In the process, they discovered he used his semen to artificially inseminate patients who were told they were matched with an anonymous donor. Genetic testing later showed that he was the biological father of at least seven of his patients’ children. Jacobson, who won the Ig Nobel Prize for Biology in 1992 and claimed to have successfully oversaw the impregnation of a male baboon in the 1960s, was stripped of medical license and sentenced to five years in prison.

Ingrid Paulicivic certainly won’t be recommending Dr. Alinsod given what occurred during her June 2009 hysterectomy. According to Paulicivic’s lawsuit, while putting the finishing touches on the surgery, Dr. Alinsod decided to brand his work by using an "electrocautery device to carve and burn" her name into her removed uterus. Alinsod claimed the move was necessary to ensure he wouldn’t confuse the uterus with others. Paulicivic became aware of the branding during a follow-up visit in which she complained of the resulting burns on her legs.

And those are only four of the ten listed on the site. I mean, really, wtf is wrong with people? These doctors must have been on huge power trips. Or just psychotic. I have no other explanation. But no, this post is not to scare you or bash the medical industry. Just sharing some information that was brought to my attention.

In other news, it's Friday! I love Fridays. Thanks for reading my rambles.

P.S. I just remembered: I watched the latest episode of House last night, and when he was asked if he would convert to Judaism if he and Cutty (sp?) get married, he said, "I'm an atheist." How many times to you even hear the word "atheist" on prime time television? Yay (again, see this post) Dr. House! (although, I'm finding more and more things wrong with the show, but that's another post).

What's in Your Personal Care Products?

The Environmental Working Group launched a personal care product safety guide called Skin Deep in 2004. The search-able database can tell you what is in many of the everyday personal care products we use, and the health risks that those ingredients have been linked to.

On a daily basis, I don't wear much make-up - just some tinted moisturizer, some mascara, and maybe some blush or something to make me look alive (I am deathly pale in these cold months). I do have eye shadow and liner for when I feel like it, and of course hand creme and lotion and toothpaste and shampoo and the regular stuff most of us have. I am entering each of my products into this Skin Deep database, and I am surprised that products I thought weren't bad actually contain some pretty harmful chemicals, some of which have been linked (through scientific research) to cancer.

This is possible because personal care products are not required to be tested for safety. And if you think small, even trace amounts of chemicals and other ingredients are harmless, maybe this video will change your mind (oh, and this isn't just about women's products- the average man uses six personal care products a day):

Kid-Safe Chemicals Act: 10 Americans @ Yahoo! Video