If you can believe it, around 60,000,000 plastic bottles are used and discarded every single day in the US, adding to the already overflowing landfills full of toxic waste.

The sad fact is that the answer to, are plastic water bottles eco friendly is no. Only a few these days are as it costs more to manufacture them and therefore it lowers the company’s profits.

In addition, bottled water is no better for you than the tap variety, both being full of hundreds of toxic chemicals and often coming from the same source, yet costs anywhere from $2 – $4 a gallon for the privilege!

There are a few exceptional eco friendly plastic water bottles to be found, with the best being made of glass or a special stainless steel. You should ensure they are BPA free which means they will not leach out any chemicals into your water.

The best stainless steel ones have no chemical lining or plastic caps as these can still present an opportunity from chemicals to get into the contents. This is the problem that affects many of us today when we use ordinary plastic bottles.

The long term health effects are not fully known but it is not safe to leave any liquids sitting in your fridge or cupboards in a plastic container as the risks are too high and you are contributing to the landfill problems too.

The ultimate way to go is to install a home filtration system to remove all the harmful contaminants that exist in our supplies today and bottle your own healthy water for your trips out!

I always used to buy drinks out, especially for the kids and invariably in plastic bottles but now use glass bottles at home and chill them in the fridge ready to go out with.

It’s just simple and small changes to our habits that we need to do in order to become more earth friendly and promote our health as well. I hope I have helped to answer the question are plastic water bottles eco friendly and that you will try to only use eco friendly glass or stainless steel containers for the future.

Visit my website today if you would like to learn more about the types of eco friendly glass water bottles that I personally recommend and use.

Discover the best eco friendly water bottles today.

Ray Hamilton is a dedicated advocate and researcher of the incredible benefits of safe, clean healthy filtered water. Discover which products Ray recommends after extensive research.

Author: Raymond Hamilton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Children are highly vulnerable to chemical toxins. Their ability to metabolize, detoxify and excrete harmful chemicals differs from that of adults. In addition, children have a faster metabolism which speeds up the absorption of contaminants and toxins.

Additionally, children are always placing items in the mouth. Scientists at Rutgers University discovered that pesticides that are sprayed in the home evaporate and re-condense onto the floors, carpets, and toys. Researchers concluded that these contaminated toys and areas are likely to give young children a much higher dose of poison than adults would get in the same environment.

The National Academy of Science has recommended that infants and children be considered more vulnerable to chemicals, such as those found in household products, than adults in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

Common household cleaners and appliances give off fumes which can increase the risk of developing asthma in children. During the last 30 years, asthma has become the most chronic childhood disease today. In a study conducted by THORAX in 2004, it concluded that common household cleaners give of fumes which can increase the risk of developing asthma in children.

A study was also conducted to investigate the association between the use of chemical based products in the prenatal period and patterns of wheeze in early childhood. These findings suggest a direct correlation between the frequent use of chemical based products by pregnant women and the wheezing in young children.

Many household cleaning products and air fresheners produce unhealthy fumes. Again, the frequent use of air fresheners and cleaners produce high levels of volatile organic compounds and harmful ultra fine dust in the air.

Several all-purpose cleansers contain neurotoxins and nasal irritants that can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled. Exposure to these toxic chemicals while pregnant can disrupt the development or even cause death of the fetus. In addition, maternal exposure to these toxins can include birth defects, low birth weight, and/or behavioral deficits that may become apparent as the child ages.

For your health, healths of your family, and the health of our environment, please use caution when using common household cleaners. Additionally, dispose of empty containers as indicated on the label. Better yet, think green and buy non-toxic, and biodegradable when purchasing household cleaners.

For environmentally safe, non-toxic household cleaning supplies, visit Green Starter Kit [http://www.shaklee.net/carolbelanger/getclean/getstarted/index] as seen on Oprah!

Author: Carolyn S Belanger
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Mt. Airy Rain Catchers is an EPA project that enlisted the help of Mt. Airy (Ohio) neighborhood partners to install rain gardens and rain barrels in their yards. The EPA’s goal is to evaluate how these individual, household actions can improve local water quality. To quantify the impact of these measures, the EPA is monitoring the health of the local watershed, Shepherd Creek. Data was gathered before the installation of rain barrels and rain gardens; this will be compared to the data collected in the years following the installation, allowing a complete understanding of the project’s impact. The EPA chose this community because rainwater runoff was impairing the health of Shepherd Creek.

A rain garden is essentially the opposite of a raised-bed garden. A bowl-shaped depression is dug into the ground and native plants that develop large root systems are planted in the ‘bowl’. The plants are covered with loose mulch and left to nature. By siting the rain gardens in areas that see rainfall run-off streams and puddles, much more of the rainfall can be captured. In fact, up to 30% more rainfall is captured by a lawns with rain gardens versus a traditional lawns. Rain barrels are exactly what the name implies. By placing these barrels under gutter downspouts, the roof runoff is collected; a valve at the base of the barrel allows the rainwater to be dispensed and used for gardening and household plants.

What is most interesting however is the novel approach that the EPA took in implementing these solutions within the community. The project began with the installation of a rain barrel and two demonstration rain gardens at the community arboretum. In the spring if 2007, the EPA mailed informational packets to property owners in the community. Each home was eligible to receive up to four rain barrels and a rain garden; homeowners could chose to receive either or both. Installation, planting and hardware costs were borne by the EPA. Homeowners bid the amount they wished to be paid for installation and maintenance of rain gardens and rain barrels. Lower payments (lower bids) were more likely to be selected. After the auction-winners were selected, US EPA’s contractors installed 50 rain gardens and 101 rain barrels at the selected homes in the summer of 2007. Each rain catcher owner received an owner’s manual.

This is the largest project of its kind in the country, to date. It also is a pilot program to test the auction-based method of encouraging the public to participate in reducing storm water runoff and pollution at the household level. By taking such a proactive approach to the problem, the EPA was able to engage the individual property owners and make them ‘stakeholders’ in their community’s watershed. In addition to viewing their rain gardens as points of neighborhood pride, the citizens in the community are now more educated about their own watershed resources.

Editor of H2bid.com writes interesting articles on global water issues and periodically publishes in the blog http://www.h2bidblog.com

Author: Michael Sheppard
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The term Green Computing involves study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. The broad goals in any Green Computing initiative are

·         maximization of energy efficiency
·         emphasize on recyclables and biodegradability
·         reduce hazardous materials

There can be many approaches which can be employed for achieving these goals. And we might have come face to face with many of them in our day to day experiences. Any approach or initiative which leads to better energy efficiency and fulfills any of the objectives which are associated with Green Computing, is worth emulating.
Approaches:

·         Better coding and algorithms: Better coding and use of algorithms which puts least load on server in terms of processing etc, can results in lots savings in energy. For better understanding, if coding has been done in a way which involves optimum usages of caching, validations, cookies etc putting lesser strain on server and in addition algorithms are smartly written using fewer lines of code to perform the same logic, then server is being used efficiently.

·         Virtual: System administration could combine several logical computer systems on one physical hardware system which results in lesser strain on computer systems. INTEL and AMD both have built up virtuals to their x86 chips.

·         Terminal services: In terminal services, all computing is done at server level and connecting devices are thin clients, utilizing only 1/8Th of the total power which otherwise would have been required in normal desktops.

·         Power management: This approach involves, setting preset time  in computers and their components(hard drives, system RAMs) after which they are turned off. Windows Vista has this feature where Power management features can be activated from central administration levels. Central Power management was an issue with earlier versions of Windows, but Vista has none of such problems.

Green computing is the need of the hour. We will have to resort to every possible means to optimize our operations.

Virtual Web Symphony A blog by a management and software consultant, SEO and SEM expert, E-learning evangelist and all weather Guru.

Author: Neeta B
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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