Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »In the heart of Texas
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
America’s First Zero Waste Grocery Store in the US coming to Austin!
in.gredients
Reducing waste while eating foods that are good for the body and earth can seem impractical. While packaging makes up 40 percent of municipal waste streams in the US, avoiding packaging is sometimes impossible. Nearly all the food we buy in the grocery store is packaged, leaving us no choice but to buy packaged food that’s not always recyclable.
The first package-free, zero-waste grocery store in the U.S. will open this year in Austin, Texas, if founders can meet their funding goals. In.gredients will offer the usual grocery fare like organic produce, household cleaners, dairy, and wine with a refreshing twist: everything will be sold in bulk, revolutionizing grocery shopping as we know it. Their goal is to reduce waste by ditching packaging altogether, shoppers will bring their own reusable containers and bags to the grocery (or opt for the store’s compostable containers if they forget).
Americans generate 250 million tons of trash annually and 1/3 of that waste comes from packaging, so a zero-waste grocery store would be great news for the environment. GOOD reports that the United Kingdom already has an all-bulk store, but In.gredients would start the trend in the United States. Founders are crowdsourcing the funds to launch the grocery; investors can contribute to In.gredients on Indiegogo.com.
Posted in Environment, living | No Comments »
Earth Art – Recycled Cork Display by Anthropologie and the CFCA
Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
You might have missed these amazing window displays that could’ve been seen at Anthropologie around Earth Day and last month. In honor of Earth Day, Anthropologie and the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance teamed up to promote cork recycling and the preservation of Mediterranean cork forests through artful window displays in Anthropologie stores across the country. For the displays, the CFCA donated 2 million recycled corks to be arranged into unique window displays.
The CFCA campaigns globally for the protection and preservation of the Mediterranean cork forests, its inhabitants and biodiversity, through education, direct action, and partnerships with communities, businesses and governments. And why are cork forests so important? They contain one of the world’s highest levels of forest biodiversity including endemic plants and endangered species such as the Iberian Lynx, the Iberian Imperial Eagle, and the Barbary Deer. It is also vital source of income for thousands of family farmers, who for generations have worked these forests. These forests absorb millions of tons of CO2 each year and are a vast provider of oxygen to our planet. The forests also provide the greatest defense against the desertification of this region. The cork forests are one of the most sustainable and environmentally harvested forests in the world.
Here is a ”behind the scenes” look at 3 Anthropologie stores to watch their creative geniuses, create amazing cork art window displays. 2.5 million natural wine corks were sent to 153 Anthropologie stores in the US, UK and Canada, to promote Earth Day and the cork forest conservation efforts of the Cork Forest Conservation Alliance.
Posted in Environment, Fashion, living | No Comments »
Plastic Bag Recycling!
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
This Weekend ONLY!!!!
Join the Solid Waste Management Department, Recyclebank, and Ziploc in recycling your plastic shopping bags. Representatives will be at local area Kroger and Randalls grocery 
stores this weekend, May 21-22, 2011 to answer your questions on plastic bags and other recycling programs and to help register you and your family for the Recyclebank Rewards program.
Recycling Education Event Locations and Times:
Saturday Morning, May 21, 2011 – 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Randalls – 5161 San Felipe Street, Houston 77056
Kroger – 6425 FM 1464, Richmond 77407
Kroger – 1505 Wirt Road, Houston 77055
Kroger – 12222 Jones Road, Houston 77070
Saturday Afternoon, May 21, 2011 – 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Randalls – 3131 W. Holcombe Boulevard, Houston 77025
Kroger – 12555 Briar Forest Drive, Houston 77077
Kroger – 1035 N. Shepherd Drive, Houston 77008
Kroger – 9330 Jones Road, Houston 77065
Sunday Morning, May 22, 2011 – 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Kroger – 9919 Westheimer Road, Houston 77042
Kroger – 1801 S. Voss Road, Houston 77057
Kroger – 10306 S. Post Oak Road, Houston 77035
Kroger – 6350 N. Eldridge Parkway, Houston 77041
Sunday Afternoon, May 22, 2011 – 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Randalls – 9660 Westheimer Road, Houston 77063
Randalls – 12850 Memorial Drive, Houston 77024
Kroger – 7747 Kirby Drive, Houston 77030
Kroger – 1520 Eldridge Parkway, Houston 77077
Posted in Environment | No Comments »
Houston Green Film Series: The Economics of Happiness
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
We hear a lot about the benefits of buying local, but what impact does this movement have on society and the economy? What is localization vs globalization?
To find out what it’s all about…today, at the Rice University Media Center as a part of Houston Green Film Series, The Economics of Happiness, a documentary about the worldwide movement for economic localization will be screened.
Time: 5/10/2011 - 6:30pm - 9:00pm
According to The Economics of Happiness, Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and… ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction; financial instability and unemployment. There are personal costs too. For the majority of people on the planet life is becoming increasingly stressful. We have less time for friends and family and we face mounting pressures at work.
‘The Economics of Happiness’ describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance—and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.
Following the movie there will be an expert panel to discuss relocalization in a Houston context.
Schedule:
6:30 meet and greet
7:00 featured film
8:00 expert panel
A $5 donation is requested, but no one will be turned away.
Rice University Media Center
2030 University Blvd. (Entrance #8, Stockton and University)
Houston, Texas
Hosting groups include Rice University Environmental Club, Emerging Professionals of the Houston USGBC, Transition Houston, and Houston Tomorrow. For more information about these groups visit:
USGBC Emerging Professionals: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=45071209891
Transition Houston: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=117845721564775
Posted in Environment, living | No Comments »
DEFINE recycle
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Recycling isn’t just about paper and plastic! We took a pair of tragic velvety pepto pink high backed arm chars to “Zen-tique chic”! We found these great chairs at a tiny resale market in the Heights! We purchased this pair of chairs for less than $150! Re-stuffed and re-covered, and we made ourselves a great new set that matches beautifully with our DEFINE interior!
Recycling can be a fun project! Do you have any fun recycling stories to share? If so, send to DEFINE@DEFINEbody.com and we would love to tell our readers about it (please send pics!)
Posted in Environment, living | 2 Comments »
Wellness Wednesday
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
One way to not only improve your health but to also go green this Earth Day is to eat local. Choosing a unique variety of locally grown fruits and vegetables helps reduce your carbon footprint, sustain biodiversity as well as dinnertime variety, and it just tastes better!
Posted in Environment, Nutrition | No Comments »
Earth Day
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
This year, the theme for Earth Day is: Billion Acts of Green. The purpose being to mobilize one billion acts of environmental service around the world. The Billion Acts of Green campaign calls for people to commit to an act that helps reduce carbon emissions and promotes sustainability.
And as you know, at DEFINE, we’re all about being green! We believe that a healthy environment enables you to have a healthy body and a healthy mind. There are a ton of green elements found throughout both our Tanglewood and River Oaks studios, including no-VOC paints, recycled furniture and doors, cork or refinished flooring, and energy efficient lighting to name a few. But all week, we would like to encourage YOU to commit an act of GREEN with us!
Here are a couple of suggestions:
- eat local
- wash clothes in cold water
- recycle
- turn off the lights and appliances when you leave the room
- bring reusable shopping bags to the store
These are just a few examples of things that you could do as an ACT of GREEN, but the real question is…what will you do? Let us know!
Posted in Environment, living | No Comments »
Fresh Water Friday
Friday, March 25th, 2011
I know a couple of weeks ago we posted about the chlorine that is absorbed by the skin when you take a shower, in Chlorine Free is the Way to Be. But now we have a renewed fear of our water. (In my head here, I’m cueing the music from Jaws as someone yells, “Get out of the water! Get out of the water!”)
From our friends over at New Living, we now know some scary facts about Houston’s water supply and why one of the most important things you will ever do for your health is to filter your water. Not only is the body’s largest organ the skin, in the typical shower you absorb as much toxins and contaminates as if you had just drunk one-half gallon of tap water. And the chemicals in that water go straight through the skin and into the bloodstream, and then into your cells. Yikes! AND in a study published in Dec 2009, Houston’s water quality ranked 95th in the country OUT OF 100 CITIES, due to the chemical contaminants in Houston’s water! Double, triple yikes!
To learn more about Houston’s water and how with New Living’s Whole House Filtration System you can have pure, clean water in your home, click here.
Posted in Environment, living | No Comments »
How Clean is Your Bedroom?
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011
Here’s a little sneak peek into this weekend’s Healthy Home, Healthy Body workshop with Allison and Kelly of Three Branches Healthy Living.
We can’t wait to learn more on Saturday!
Posted in Environment | No Comments »
Chlorine Free is the way to be (in the shower)
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
It’s not pool weather quite yet here in Houston, so why should you even be thinking about chlorine?
Well, here’s the why…did you know that in a ten-minute shower you absorb more chlorine, trihalomethanes, and other chemicals than by drinking 8 glasses of that same unpurified water?! Thanks to the ladies at Three Branches Healthy Living, and one of their recent blog posts, now you do!
And lucky for us, Kelly and Allison of Three Branches are hosting a workshop, Healthy Home, Healthy Body at DEFINE on March 5th, to share the role of both environment and diet as we strive to live a clean and therefore healthy, lifestyle.
And now back to the chlorine. According to Kelly and Allison:
Your skin is your largest organ and is covered with millions of tiny little pores that take in these chemicals through the water AND the vapors created during a hot shower. That hot shower may feel good but it may not be good for you! At 100 degrees, the cloud of steam created in your shower and bathroom is full of chlorine and chlorine byproducts that you are breathing in and absorbing through your skin. The chlorine and chloramines rob the skin of oils and contribute to dry skin. (Dry skin can also be attributed to soaps with chemicals in them. Read the ingredient labels on your soaps and body washes to make sure they are chemical-free!)
Why not start taking a chlorine-free shower when it is as easy as 1-2-3? I just moved and the before I even took my first shower, I simply unscrewed the shower head, screwed on the CQ-1000 Shower Filter, and then screwed the shower head on. (I didn’t screw the original shower head back on because I put the Bernouli Power Shower on instead. It’s amazing how much more pressure it puts out. If you feel like your shower pressure needs a pick-me up, then I highly recommend the power shower!)
The CQ-1000 and the New Century® shower filters are essentially the same only the New Century® is larger so it will last longer. The CQ-1000 typically lasts 9-12 months, where the New Century® usually lasts 18 months. These are KDF filters designed by the father of shower filters himself! George Ricci at Rainshow’r (who Allison and I had the pleasure of meeting while we were out in Los Angeles a few months ago) was the first to come up with the idea of a filter for your shower.
The secret to the Rainshow’r shower filters is their KDF-55 – a proprietary blend of copper and zinc. This blend actually dissolves the chlorine and other toxins versus just trapping them in the water, like carbon filters. Another unique advantage of the Rainshow’r shower filter is that is actually works better in hot water as opposed to carbon filters working best in cold water. (Who likes cold showers?!?) The reason why KDF works better for hot water is because the chlorine molecules expand when they’re heated and the bigger they are, the quicker the KDF-55 can dissolve them right up! Also, Rainshow’r filtration systems aren’t made with materials will leech into the water as it passes through the purifier such as caulks, adhesives, and plasticizers (many filters have plastic components that can leech into the water.)
Finally, if you like to take baths either in addition to your showers or in place of showers, the Crystal Bath Ball 3000 Filter is a great thing to have on hand. Think about it…..that relaxing bath you love so much (or you bathe your kids in every night) is giving you (or your kids) a healthy dose of chlorine and other chemicals. The bath ball has a special media called KDF-73 that converts the chlorine ions in the water to a harmless chloride so it eliminates the toxic effects of chlorine, chloriamines, and chlorine gas. Simply fill the bathtub up with water and pull the bath ball through it for a few minutes by the string attached. Don’t add salts or soap until after you’ve dechlorinated the water. And voila, there you have it….a chlorine-free bathtub!
Posted in Environment, living | 1 Comment »
Flickr Photos
|
Recent Comments