The Environmental Impact Of The Fashion Industry.
Dear EarthTalk: Can you enlighten on the environmental impact of the fashion industry? As I understand it, the industry overall is no friend to the environment. According to the non-profit Earth Pledge, today some 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used throughout the world to turn raw materials into textiles. Domestically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that one-quarter of all pesticides used nationwide go toward growing cotton, primarily for the clothing indu

Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 144.
Paying More for Flights Eases Guilt, Not Emissions “The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Justin Francis, the managing director of Responsible Travel, one of the world’s largest green travel companies to embrace environmental sustainability, said in an interview. “It’s seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I ca

Book Review & Giveaway: Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide To Feeling Great
Let me just say right up front that I am not a vegetarian; not even close. But I do my best to eat as well as I can, and the meat I do consume is almost always organic and from sustainable sources. That all being said, when I was offered a chance to check out Alicia Silverstone’s new book “The Kind Diet” I jumped at the chance because I had heard such great things about it already. A friend of mine runs a site dedicated to skin care called

Do One Thing: Check Local Recycling Laws.
This week’s Do One Thing is all about recycling. Each state and city has their own recycling laws, so it is very important that you find out what can and cannot be recycled where you live. Check to see if your recycling can be mixed together, what kinds of plastic can be recycled (check out my post about the plastic recycling numbers if you are not sure), and if your items need to be cleaned prior to drop off. The last thing you want to do is to either contaminate the recycling stream or make much more work for the people sorting your recyclab

Greenwash Of The Week: Green Private Jets.
Uh….yeaaaa. Not buying it. There is absolutely no such thing as an eco-friendly private jet that is meant to fly the filthy rich, by themselves, around the globe at 30,000 feet and 300 miles per hour. Mind you, the jets themselves are not green – rather, the companies that operate them are offering their clients a way to buy their way out of any guilt with carbon offsets that typically cost only 1% of the expense of the flight…a dollar amount that a private jet client would hardly notice. From The Guardian in the UK: Ot