LIME Blogs

Antibacterials Go Retro

Kim D — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:33:42 -0400

If your shaving cream bottle boasted, "Now With Toxic Pesticides!" would you still slather it all over your face? What if your toothbrush came free with a canister of roach killer? Would you think twice before putting it in your mouth? Although these products are not so transparent with their ingredients, they do contain pesticides. The popularity and danger posed by antibacterial products can be seen in the fact that one of the most common pesticides used in these products,...

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Food for Thought, Indeed

JessicaHarlan — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:14:12 -0400

I'll admit it: My daughter's nearly two, and I never quite lost my post-pregnancy baby weight. In fact, come to think of it, the only time I was ever truly happy with my weight was around the time I got married. Talking to many of my friends, I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Most of us struggle with our weight for most of our lives, depriving ourselves in diets, attempting exercise regimes, but still being unable to resist that one last cookie in the jar, or taking a few more...

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Four-Year-Olds Save the Earth

BelindaMom — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:11:28 -0400

Momster: I want to ask you guys a few questions about the earth and the environment, and pollution. Georgia: And shoes on the wire! And I’ll tell you now in fact. Shoes on the wire are for silliness! (We had passed some guerilla art, visible all over town, various pairs of shoes — not just your usual sneakers, but high heels and cowboy boots, this time a pair of oxfords — slung over the power lines.) Momster: Yes, that’s true! But let’s talk about the environment now. Baxter: Oh...

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An Eco-Wedding Train and Lots of Bicycle Fun

greenlagirl — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:39:51 -0400

Happy Bike to Work Week! Did you cycle to work today? If you didn't, don't worry — you still have a couple days left. In fact, tomorrow, May 15, is Bike to Work Day — so if you can only bike to work one day this month, make it tomorrow. Lots of bike-related activities are happening across the US. Check out the League of American Bicyclists event calendar to find out what's going on near you. One caveat: The calendar isn't comprehensive, so if you don't see your city listed, get in touch with...

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The GIY Guide: Seed Bombs Away!

NG — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:21:38 -0400

Though I admit I harbor a special fondness for urban entropy — the muted allure of vacant lots and barren earth — I am also a fan of reclaiming under-utilized space, which guerilla gardening exemplifies nicely. While there are all sorts of methods of garden space reclamation, from the labor intensive to the casual, by far the easiest is the seed package or “bomb.” Reportedly invented in the 70s in New York City and championed by proponents of “do-nothing” or Fukuoka farming, seed bombs have...

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One (Itty Bitty) Step at a Time

savasthi — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:20:11 -0400

As of this week, I've become a kaizen convert. I'd never heard of kaizen, since I'm clueless about Japanese businesss management practices. Then I read an article in the New York Times on improving our daily habits. It touched on kaizen, a Japanese technique for creating healthier habits based on tiny, continuous improvements. The American business world has used kaizen concepts for decades, because it encourages steady, consistent changes, rather than drastic, sweeping ones. ...

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What Lurks Inside...

Kim D — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:55:54 -0400

Along with drain products, acid-based toilet bowl cleaners are in the top three of the most toxic household products available because they contain caustic ingredients that burn eyes, skin and internal tissues. They can also contain chlorine or ammonia and even pesticides. So here’s another cleaning task where going green can make a serious difference in the safety and health of your household and the environment. The problem is that cleaning the toilet is, um… gross. Brightly colored...

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5 Ways to Save on Groceries

JessicaHarlan — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:51:19 -0400

Lately, it seems that not a week goes by without more scary news about the rising cost of food. Food prices increased at a compound annual rate of nearly 5 percent over a three-month period ending in February, and nearly every staple ingredient has experienced significant increases: eggs are about 38 percent more per dozen, and loaves of bread cost about 19 percent more. The issue seems so complicated; part of the increase is because investors are suddenly interested in commodities like...

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Yummy Foodie Books For the Hungry Environmentalist

greenlagirl — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:50:21 -0400

Read The Omnivore's Dilemma already — and want more? Then check out these hot new foodie books to take you a step further in your enviro-culinary adventures: For the Gmail crowd: Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google by Charlie Ayers. Former Google chef Ayers says "we can all eat delicious, clean, fast cuisine that is good for us, good for the community, and good for the Earth." We can make these foods without spending a lot of time too, he asserts — then proves it in...

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How Many Kids is Too Many?

BelindaMom — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:57:17 -0400

You may have surmised that Georgia is an only child. If my husband Hova could carry, nurse and mother a baby, we’d probably have another, but I am done. I’ve always secretly considered big families a little wasteful or ostentatious, plus I’ve never liked my own sibling, so I just didn’t see the point. It took a long time for us to decide to have one child in this world, and I don’t have the energy for another. I’ve never felt bad about this decision, even when one friend called me selfish,...

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