Your Questions About Green Living

The Expert answers:

Plastic refers to a number of materials not neccesarily made from petroleum based raw materials. Starch and protein can be converted in a relatively simple industrial process into a plastic that is then extruded, molded and formed into different shapes that have similar properties to ‘plastic’ items. To be biodegradeable the material needs certain conditions (adequate moisture, nitrogen, micorganisms, pH etc) to get the process going otherwise it could just sit there.

Http://www.bioplastic.org/Biodegradable-Bioplastic.html

The Expert answers:

There are lots of eco-friendly programs that avoid adware and do not allow bad practices.

Eastern Mountain Sports which you can find on Share a Sale for example has eco-friendly products and the Affiliate Manager doesn’t allow any of that nonsense.

Share a Sale also has a green section in their interface for eco-friendly products.

The Expert answers:

AfterGlow cosmetics are great, they don’t test on animals and it is all vegan and organic. It is also HEALTHY for your skin. Its just a little expensive.

Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d7lr0X44hM – See it in Action

Physicians Formula is also great! You can find at Target
http://www.physiciansformula.com/en-us/category.html

My favorite for all cosmetics that aren’t make-up, is Lush.Com too because it has all your lotions and soaps that are eco-friendly.
They both have brushes, but they are gorgeous brushes at Target called EcoTools. I have them. They are like buying MAC for 80% off!
Http://www.parispresents.com/EcoTools_s/36.htm

The Expert answers:

The most eco friendly thing you can do is not buy things. I wouldn’t replace a bulb until it burned out. My logic is if I use it a lot it will burn out so I will save money by replacing it with a CFL, if it takes 5 years to burn out, I didn’t use it much, so I wasn’t wasting much energy. Look at the consumable items you use, those are items you have to buy every week or month. Try to replace them with reusable items or at least recycled content. For example I use cloth towels and napkins in my kitchen, but sometimes I have a need for paper towels, so when I buy them I get recycled paper, same with toilet paper and tissue. If you are still in school you can get everything you need made from recycled content.

I big on conserving and reducing waste. I look for ways to conserve energy, make use of natural light, make my home energy efficient etc. I find that food waste can be cut dramatically with a little planning, I pay attention to packaging and buy very few processed foods. I plan a menu and shop with a list. I buy local and organic as much as possible and use the bulk bins for a variety of items.

Many of us automatically buy clothes at certain times of year, yet we have more clothes than we need. I have a clour scheme to my wardrobe, so it all coordinates and I only replace things when they are worn out. So, for example I have 5 pairs of jeans, I will never have more. I decided that is enough to last me a almost 2 weeks without doing laundry. That is still probably more than I need. So before you shop count how many items like jeans, shirts etc. To see if you really need any more. Also look at the color of items that you have but never wear and don’t buy anything without trying it on and looking at yourself in the mirror.

The Expert answers:

There are a number of reasons why a self-interested public business will serve its best interests by investing in eco friendly products:

1) societal approval – having a great reputation as a corporation is very good for business. Having a bad reputation is bad for business. Example being walmart where they have been hurt financially by their bad reputation b/c many people refuse to shop there. Think about how toyota’s reputation improved after launching the prius hybrid. This not only translates to high sales of its hybrids, but also higher sales of all of its products!

2) great for recruiting employees – especially younger employees under 40, who really want to work for a company that is eco friendly. Many of these folks will be the most talent folks so anything a company can do to improve its image will help it recruit the best employees.

3) eco friendly is more accepted in europe. An eco friendly product will do very well in many european and overseas markets where consumers want this.

4) eco friendly usually means sustainable by definition. Meaning unlike other types of products, there should be no problems securing these basic materials for production. Compare this to petroleum, which has very high cost variability and an uncertain future.

5) government regulatory environment. Some eco friendly processes that reduce carbon emissions may eventually help the company to save lots of money if the us government passes a carbon cap and trade scheme, as has been done in europe.