Month: January 2016

What’s New With Aldi? The Low-cost Supermarket is Making Green and Healthy Moves

The German grocers, Aldi Süd, made the news a few days ago due to their new ban on pesticides. As of January 1, they are requiring their German and Dutch suppliers to phase out the following eight chemical pesticides that are legal but hazardous to bees:

  • Thiamethoxam
  • Chlorpyrifos
  • Clothianidin
  • Cypermethrin
  • Deltamethrin
  • Fipronil
  • Imidacloprid
  • Sulfoxaflor

Aldi’s ban was in response to a Greenpeace campaign supporting ecological farming. Christiane Huxdorff, Ecological Farming Campaigner at Greenpeace Germany, said, “Aldi Süd shows that the toxic dependency on pesticides can be broken and in this sense becomes a pioneer in the retail sector. Other European supermarkets are now called upon to follow this first step.”

Unfortunately, this ban does not extend to the United States nor does is extend throughout Europe. Ms. Huxdorff confirms that the ban is limited in scope, applying only to German and Swiss production.

Aldi, owned by the Albrecht family, is one of the world’s largest privately owned companies. The company does seem to be moving in the right direction, in more ways than one. Aldi told Business Insider that it has removed “…certified synthetic colors, partially hydrogenated oils, and added MSG from all its private-label products,” which make up 90% of its sales. Aldi is also expanding its selection of organic meat and produce along with its gluten-free brand, liveGfree, and its SimplyNature line, which is free of 125 artificial ingredients. The milk Aldi sells does not contain rBGH. Aldi is in the process of assuring its other dairy products do not contain this growth hormone.

Unlike their sister company, Trader Joe’s, (Trader Joe’s is also owned by the Albrecht family and is in our opinion the Willy Wonka of grocery stores. Where else can you buy chocolate covered potato chips?), Aldi is removing candy from its checkout lanes. Candy will be replaced with healthier options like nuts and trail mix.

If you’ve never shopped at Aldi before, go prepared. You will have to pay a quarter to rent a shopping cart and either bring your own bags or pay for them. You will find items displayed in their boxes in an atmosphere more like a farmer’s market or wholesale mart than a traditional grocery store. Aldi does not accept WIC or checks. Be prepared to pay with cash, debit, or EBT and to bag your own groceries. But be prepared for savings as well. Many bloggers and reporters claim Aldi beats Walmart on price.

If there is no Aldi near you, one may be coming soon. Currently, Aldi operates nearly 1,400 stores in the U.S. but plans to expand to nearly 2,000 stores by 2018. Aldi will open its first stores in Southern California in March 2016. If there is one near you, check it out. We need to support efforts to bring clean, safe, organic foods to market.

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Four Ways to Compliment Your Energy Efficient Windows

Although you may find it hard to love your energy efficient windows any more than you already do thanks to their beauty, longevity, and eco-friendliness, it turns out you can do even more to make your windows work for your home. There are a lot of accessories and add-ons that can not only make your eco-friendly windows more attractive, they’ll also help further protect and insulate your home during winter. Below, we’ve listed our four favorite ways to compliment your energy efficient windows with easy upgrades.

Insulated Drapes

Although energy efficient windows are unmatched in their ability to keep your home warm and the cold air out during the winter, insulated drapes can provide even more protection against that chilly air. What sets these panels apart from regular heavy curtains is that they contain a thermal liner that helps block drafts and moisture and reflects heat back into the room. Plus, they come in nearly every color and print imaginable, so you should have no trouble finding just the right look for your space.

Wood Finish

Wood windows are prized for their natural beauty, but they require a lot of maintenance and can crack and warp in severe weather. Nowadays, energy efficient windows come in realistic wood finishes that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. So, if you’re planning on installing new energy efficient windows, consider going with this natural look. You can also consider switching the interior cladding to real wood. Wood is a great insulator and can help add beauty and thermal protection inside while the energy efficient portion does its job protecting your home from the elements.

Shades

Many windows, energy efficient included, now come with integrated shades sandwiched between the glass panes that can be raised and lowered by external cranks. Or, you can choose to simply install shades inside your window frame. Both options help insulate your home and can add a great decorative touch that really ties the room together. From minimal honeycomb to elegant roman panels, shades are available in all sorts of styles, colors, and materials to match the look and feel of your home. Plus, shades offer privacy whenever you need it — simply pull them down and you’re done!

Decorative Insulated Glass

Another great way to enhance a window is with decorative insulated glass. This feature consists of two or three panels of glass with argon gas trapped between. The panes have a low-emittance coating on the surface, which further helps control heat transfer in all seasons. Nowadays, insulated glass comes in a variety of decorative patterns and textures that can create a great accent piece in a doorway, add beauty to front-facing windows, or add privacy for bathroom windows.

There are lots of great ways to enhance the beauty of your energy efficient windows and help them further increase the eco-friendliness of your home. Whether you’re still deciding on the energy efficient windows you want to install or you want to enhance your existing windows, there are tons of customization options available. What accents do you prefer for your energy efficient windows?

Eco-Friendly Death – The Green Trend In The Funeral Industry

A funeral is usually your last chance to leave your mark on the world, so why not make it an eco-friendly one? Green funerals are becoming ever more popular. Here’s what you need to know for planning your green service.

What Is An Eco-Friendly Funeral?

There’s no one way to plan a green funeral, but the goal is always the same. Eco-friendly services aim to reduce their impact on the environment as much as possible, whether by using sustainable resources or by reducing the relative carbon footprint of the event. Many of the elements, such as natural burials, have been around since the first pioneers of America.

Why Is This Important?

For those not yet familiar with the concept of a green burial, it can be surprising just how much a toll a regular service can take on the environment. Take a tombstone, for instance, as these are made from unsustainable resources such as marble or stone. Once you add in transport costs, you’re only increasing your carbon footprint. The rise in green funerals has seen a decrease in the need for wooden and metal caskets. So much so, in fact, the metal needed to meet casket demand has almost halved.

What Happens To The Body?

Typically, funeral service providers embalm the body, but this is seldom the case with green alternatives. Many people do not want their body to lie in the ground unused, preserved by various chemicals and toxins. Instead, they are buried as they are with a biodegradable casket so that their remains are used by the earth over time. In fact, many are forgoing burials altogether. A 2014 study by the National Funeral Directors Association concluded that 46.7% of funerals that year involved cremation, with estimates that this figure will rise to 71% by 2030. Cremations offer many green benefits, such as not taking up land space and, of course, carbon-heavy ashes.

What Marker Is Left Behind?

As mentioned already, tombstones are not very green. Although the traditional marker of choice, a survey by the Green Burial Council found they’re the least popular choice for eco-friendly ceremonies. Alternatives include planting a tree, a bench, wooden marker, or even natural stones. There’s also a shift away from grand structures such as mausoleums. This also applies to cremations, too, as you can leave a marker or memorial wall if you wish. As for the urn itself, there are many bio-urns available, in case you want to plant a tree or bush. Similarly, if you’re planning on having your ashes scattered, why spend money on an expensive urn? Like caskets, urns often utilize natural resources such as marble or metal, which are hard to replace.

What Are The Personal Benefits?

There are, arguably, two main benefits to green funerals. The first is that an environmentally conscious approach offers peace in one’s final moments, ensuring their last act isn’t selfish. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly for funeral planners,  there are many cost saving features. Cremations don’t cost as much as funerals. The NFDA estimates cremations cost an average of $6,078 compared to $7,181 for a burial service, and when you cut out the costs of embalming ($659), casket (over $2000, if made of metal) and other surplus features, you can generally cut down on quite a large amount of expenditure. Further cuts can always be made by using local suppliers for flowers, food, and more. Not only will this help bring down costs, it also boosts the local businesses and economy!

It’s clear to see why eco-friendly funerals are the greenest trend in the industry right now. Aside from saving the bereaved money, these services enable people to ensure their last goodbyes help the environment. For many, it may prove comforting to know a loved one’s final moments are being used to help the world.

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Inulin – Natural Dietary Fiber

Inulin is a type of fiber consisting of naturally occurring polysaccharides and storage carbohydrates that can be found in 36,000 types of plants and vegetables. If you read the labels on processed foods, you will find that most of them list inulin. Yes, you have eaten inulin many times in your life.

What exactly is inulin? How does it benefit your body?

What You Need To Know About Inulin

Inulin is a non-digestible, natural, soluble dietary fiber that can be found in many varieties of vegetables, fruits, and other food products. It is composed of several simple sugars linked together and is a naturally occurring oligosaccharide that belongs to a group of fructans (carbohydrates).

Inulin is used as a prebiotic agent to stimulate the development of healthy intestinal bacteria. Inulin can be found in common food products such as fruits, vegetables, dietary supplements, and other health supplements.

What Are the Benefits of Inulin?

Inulin has many health benefits especially for those who are having digestion problems. Other benefits include:

  • It controls blood sugar levels. This is especially helpful for diabetes patients. Inulin has natural antioxidant properties that help with balancing the glucose level of the blood.  People who take inulin report better  responses to sugar with blood sugar levels.
  • It lowers risks of hypertension and heart diseases. Research confirms that inulin lowers levels of fats in the body, specifically triglycerides. Patients with heart conditions are given supplements containing inulin. It can prevent high blood pressure and heart problems.
  • It helps with digestion. Studies show that inulin is used to help with bowel movement and digestion. It is used for constipation and irregular bowel movement. It is widely used with elders who have problems with digestion.
  • It can help with weight loss. Although it is rich in fibre and all signs pinpoint to inulin being a weight loss agent, it should be paired with exercise and a healthy diet.

For users with high triglycerides, the recommended dose is 10 to 15 grams every day. For digestion treatments, the recommended dose is 20 to 40 grams every day until the digestion becomes regular again.

Foods Rich in Inulin

Inulin can be found in many food products but some specific foods that are rich in this dietary fibre include:

  • oats
  • wheat
  • bananas
  • berries
  • pineapple
  • asparagus
  • onions
  • radish

Inulin can aid in cleansing and detoxification. Regular use can eliminate digestive problems and remove fats from the body. Thus, this dietary fibre is an absolutely healthy part of your diet.

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Eco-Friendly Landscaping: Helping Ensure the Future

For many people, landscaping is a form of personal and artistic expression. It’s also a desire to improve the quality of life for the entire community. Lush beautiful gardens are a delight to those taking neighborhood strolls, and more than one life-long friendship has begun with appreciation of natural beauty freely shared and the exchange of gardening secrets. Landscaping is also a great way to incorporate more of the beauty of nature into urban environments.

A combination of events such as increasing energy and water costs and global warming have caused homeowners to consider the far-reaching benefits of eco-friendly landscaping. To make your landscaping more eco-friendly, there are a number of things you can do. Eco-friendly landscaping doesn’t just reduce global warming and the cost of yard maintenance, though. It usually reduces the amount of work required for upkeep, which leaves more time for enjoying your yard.

Replacing Traditional Lawns

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “…maintenance over a 20-year span for a non-native turf grass landscape can cost almost seven times more than the cumulative costs of maintenance for a native prairie or wetland.” The high cost of maintaining a traditional lawn isn’t just economic, though. Research shows that lawn maintenance produces greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

The fertilizer and pesticides commonly used are also a source of potential pollution of groundwater. As public awareness of the negative environmental impact of traditional lawn maintenance has increased, many states have begun providing information for their residents on how they can make their own home environments as healthy as they are welcoming.

For those who love greenery and the look of a lawn, one alternative is planting clover. Clover contains natural insect repellents and competes well against weeds, reducing the need for pesticides.

Native Plants

One way to reduce water costs and honor the particular environment you’ve chosen as your home is by using plants that are native to your area. Native plants require less maintenance and they have developed a natural resistance to common pests and diseases, reducing the need to use pesticides. An additional benefit is that they attract beneficial insects and local wildlife.

Xeriscaping is a set of seven design principles introduced in Colorado to help people utilize native plants to help conserve water. Some critics claim that these principles limit their choices too much. However, if plants native to your area don’t provide enough variety, there are many disease-resistant plants available that provide beauty as well as variety.

Garden Plots

Growing concerns about the health effects of genetically modified foods is another reason many people are choosing to replace at least part of their lawns with low-maintenance garden plots that produce fresh organic fruits and vegetables. According to experts, drip irrigation systems deliver water directly to your plants with 90 percent efficiency, compared to the 50 to 70 percent efficiency of traditional sprinkler systems.

This new trend has led many communities to begin gardening cooperatives in which each member grows one or two items, and everyone comes together to trade items after the harvest. One advantage is that everyone is able to enjoy a wide variety of fresh vegetables without the difficult task of creating multiple soil conditions and planting and watering schedules for different plants. Fruit trees provide shade in addition to fresh fruit, and also raise real estate values. Deciduous trees that drop their leaves in the fall can help cool your home in the summer and provide compost for flower beds. Trees typically don’t require much maintenance so there’s really no reason you should skip on planting some in your garden!

Natural Pesticides

Unlike chemical pesticides, natural pesticides won’t seep into the ground water causing contamination of drinking water. One natural pesticide, made from the pyrethrum plant (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium) is rated highly effective against a large number of insects.

Another natural pesticide can be made by soaking ground onions or garlic in warm water overnight. After straining, the liquid is sprayed on flowers and fruit trees. This natural insecticide is especially effective against aphids and apple borers.

These examples of eco-friendly landscaping prove that we can help preserve the earth without sacrificing beauty or variety.

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