Green Living Workshop update week 20 2008

Sustainable Works Green Living Workshops,

Scroll down to find your Workshop topic

There are 4 workshops currently running:

Mondays 6-7:30pm
John Muir/SMASH
Library
2526 6th St.

and

Wednesdays 7-8:30pm
715 Navy St.
Residence

Week 1 Introduction+WATER 5/12, 5/14
Next Week ENERGY 5/20, 5/21

Homework
Life Style Survey
read Water and Energy
3 WATER Solutions
Ecological Footprint www.ecofoot.org

Introduction
Santa Monica Sustainable City Plan
Santa Monica Ecological Footprint description
Santa Monica Ecological Footprint graphic

Green Community Groups
Sustainable Business Council
Net Impact Los Angeles
Green Business Networking
LA Green Drinks

WATER

SMURRF Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility

Tankless Water Heaters

Takagi USA - top-of-the-line tankless water heater company that has models that can heat up to 5 gal per Tankless Water Heaters min.

GreenHomeGuide - great rundown of what to look for when buying a tankless water heater.

Native/Invasive Plants

Garden Garden
Santa Monica's Environmental Programs Division demonstration garden comparison

Theodore Payne Foundation promotes the understanding and preservation of California native
flora

Plant Right a voluntary, proactive program for the horticultural community to prevent invasive plant introductions through horticulture. PlantRight was designed by the steering committee of California Horticultural Invasives Prevention (Cal-HIP) partnership to communicate the need to transition away from invasive plants in the gardening and landscaping trade.

Weed Watch
Los Angeles Regional Invasive Ornamental Plant Guide
This Guide is produced and distributed by the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council for the primary purpose of educating landscape professionals and the general-public regarding the cultivation, selection, use and management of invasive plants in our local landscape.

California Invasive Plant Council
Across California, invasive plants damage wildlands. Invasive plants displace native plants and wildlife, increase wildfire and flood danger, consume valuable water, degrade recreational opportunities, and destroy productive range and timber lands. Cal-IPC works with land managers, researchers, concerned citizens, and policy makers to protect the state from invasive plants.

Tuesdays 7-8:30pm
Unitarian Church of Santa Monica
Forbes hall
18th and Arizona

and

Wednesdays 7-8:30pm
Santa Monica Public Library
601 Santa Monica Blvd.

Week 4 CHEMICALS 5/13, 5/14
Next Week TRANSPORTATION&TRAVEL 5/20, 5/21

Homework
read TRANSPORTATION&TRAVEL
3 CHEMICALS Solutions

CHEMICALS

Skin Deep
Take a look at the best resource available for finding out the safety of your daily hygiene products. The Environmental Working Group, who put together the Skin Deep website, is a terrific resource for information regarding environmental health.

www.ewg.org

DIY Cleaning Products

Consumer Reports' GreenerChoices.org lists several simple recipes for making cleaners at home using familiar household ingredients. See all the recipes.

Alternative Household Product Recipes

Common chemicals are linked to breast cancer

PVC

PVC Poison Plastic

List of Companies Phasing out PVC

Toxic toys

PBS web video documenting the Phthalates issue as an example of the safer EU standards versus the more dangerous US standards.

Center for Investigative Reporting: About the book "Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power "

A test of eight green bathroom-cleaning products from Grist.org

1,4-Dioxane

Carcinogenic 1,4-Dioxane Found in Leading "Organic" Brand Personal Care Products from Organic Consumers Association

Press Release in PDF format

1,4-Dioxane Alert with full product testing results (2-page PDF)

1,4-Dioxane Fact Sheet (PDF)

Popular 'green' products test positive for toxicant
LA Times article interviewing corporate representatives regarding the 1,4-dioxane

from the Organic Consumers Association
MYTH
Cosmetics are carefully regulated by the FDA

FACTS
▶ The FDA does not conduct or require independent pre-market
safety testing of new products or chemicals. The cosmetics
and personal care products industry must provide
its own safety testing.
▶ Companies are industry allowed to provide data to the FDA
regarding the safety of their own product ingredients by
funding scientific review boards comprised of doctors and
toxicologists which they select. In this way, companies seeking
to profit from products may influence the selection of
.study results submitted to the FDA submits.
▶ Once a product is on the market, the burden of legal proof
required for its removal is extremely high.
▶ Since cancer and birth defects are often latent occurrences,
it is difficult if not impossible to prove causation in the judicial
system. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to remove a
potentially dangerous product.