March 20, 2019
And it needs your support
By Sarah “Steve” Mosko
Versions Appeared:
E–The Environmental Magazine, 19-Mar, 2019
Escondido Grapevine, 27-Mar, 2019
Times of San Diego, 30-Mar, 2019
Voice of OC, 08-Apr, 2019
Irvine Community News & Views, 08-Apr, 2019
Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act addresses the climate crisis head on.
A bipartisan bill introduced January in the House of Representatives inspires hope that our children and grandchildren can be saved from what scientists tell us is an ongoing and growing climate disaster.
The evidence is incontrovertible that the climate is in crisis and that burning fossil fuels is the primary cause. A recognized global authority on climate change has warned that there is precious little time left, just 12 years, to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions enough to avert the worst effects of climate change. By putting a price on carbon emissions, The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R.763) shines a spotlight directly on the hidden costs of burning fossil fuels and very swiftly reins in GHG emissions. Here’s how it would work and how it’s a win-win for the public and industry.
A steadily rising price is placed on the carbon content of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas – when they enter the economy. It starts low ($15/ton of CO2-equivalent emissions) and increases yearly by $10/ton until GHG emissions are reduced by 90 percent. The predictable increases in fossil energy prices stimulate the market-driven innovation needed to transition to renewable energy sources, all without government intervention: no subsidies and no new rules and regulations.
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Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
September 29, 2016
By Sarah “Steve” Mosko
Appeared:
Natural Life Magazine, Oct issue, 2016
San Diego Free Press, 04 Oct, 2016
EarthTalk, 05 Oct, 2016
What typically comes to mind when contemplating our personal environmental footprint is the energy efficiency of the car we drive, how religiously we recycle, and maybe whether or not we have a water thirsty lawn. However, everything we do and own has impacts on the environment, and that includes the choices we make in dressing ourselves.
This point was driven home in a smart little book published in 1997 titled, “Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things,” which describes the planetary impacts of everyday material goods. One chapter details what goes into producing a wardrobe basic, the cotton/polyester blend T-shirt.
A few highlights include the overseas extraction of the crude oil from which polyester is synthesized, the energy and pesticide intensive process of growing and harvesting cotton, and transporting milled fabrics abroad and back again so they can be sewn into T-shirts by cheap foreign labor.
From this T-shirt saga emerges a simple truth: The T-shirts with the least environmental impact are the ones you already own, or maybe ones purchased at a secondhand shop.
Nonetheless, clothes do wear out and wardrobe adjustments become necessary when we take on new jobs or sports, change weight or treat ourselves to the latest fashion. So the question remains how to make apparel selections which better protect both the environment and the people involved in the production process. The good news is that there are already more sustainable clothing options on the market, plus there is game-changing movement within the apparel industry to provide consumers with a point of purchase “index” conveying the environmental footprint of items being offered. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | green business, plastics, pollution, science, sustainable living, waste, wildlife | Tagged: apparel, Fair Trade USA, Fairtrade International, Higg Index. fair trade, recycled polyester, sustainability, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, USDA organic cotton | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
July 7, 2016
By Sarah “Steve” Mosko
Appeared:
E-Magazine’s EarthTalk, 09 Jul, 2016
PopularResistance.org, 15 Jul, 2016
San Diego Free Press, 21 Jul, 2016
Natural Life Magazine, 27 Jul, 2016
Life.ca, 27 Jul, 2016
Ian Muttoo, Wikimedia Commons
Flowers add color and gaiety to any special occasion and are a time-honored way to say thank you or beautify living spaces. However, cut flowers have become a multi-billion dollar global trade industry with a not so pretty underbelly rooted in where and how they are grown.
Historically in the U.S., flowers were first grown in greenhouses in Eastern states and later in Western and Southern states when commercial air transportation made preserving freshness possible. In the 1970’s, the U.S. grew more cut flowers than it imported, only a small fraction originated in Colombia.
However, new market forces were unleashed in 1991 when the U.S. suspended import duties on flowers from Colombia to curb growing of coca for cocaine and to bolster the Colombian economy. By 2003, the U.S. was importing more flowers from Colombia than were produced domestically. The combination of cheap unskilled labor (largely female) and ideal, year-round growing conditions created an explosive market for Colombian floriculture.
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2 Comments | California, green business, health, pollution, science, sustainable living, toxics, wildlife | Tagged: BloomCheck, California Cut Flower Commission, cut flowers, organic, pesticides, sustainable agriculture | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
March 29, 2013
By Sarah (Steve) Mosko, PhD
Appeared in:
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Perhaps you already bring your own reusable grocery bags, have kicked the bottled water habit and know better than to microwave in plastics, but still find daily life swimming in plastics and want to use less of it. After recycling, the average American still generates a half pound of plastic refuse daily, a concrete indicator of how deeply entrenched are plastic materials in our 21st century lifestyle (USEPA, 2010).
Rational reasons to cut back on plastics fall into one of two spheres: limiting exposure to hazardous chemicals associated with plastics – like bisphenol-A, phthalates and flame retardants – or reducing the harm to the environment incurred at all stages in plastics’ lifecycle, from extraction of the petroleum needed for manufacturing to disposal of the non-biodegradable finished products.
Short of adopting a Tarzan-like jungle existence, it’s probably impossible to completely eliminate plastics from modern day life, but with a little digging and shopping savvy, you can enlarge that dent in your plastics consumption. Some ideas follow.
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1 Comment | diet, green business, health, plastics, pollution, science, sustainable living, waste | Tagged: BPA, flame retardants, phthalates, plastic packaging, plastics, pollution | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
April 16, 2012
By Sarah (Steve) Mosko, PhD
Appeared in:
- San Diego Free Press, July 12, 2014
- PopularResistance.org, June 16, 2013
- Southern Sierran as Advertising’s Not-So-Subtle Effect on the Planet, June 6, 2012
- Surf City Voice, May 27, 2012
Advertising wooes the typical American to spend an extra $8,659 a year
Here’s an inescapable reality: There are only two ways to be rich – make more or want less. This is known as “Rimo’s Rule,” though that’s beside the point.
Rather, the point here is to recognize, in our consumer-based, advertising-saturated society, how very hard it is to want less materially yet why we must to do so anyway. While it’s intuitive that most people – both the “99 percent” and the “1 percent” – could achieve greater contentment in life by better appreciating the non-material and material riches they already have, there are far-reaching, global consequences of which path to richness a society as a whole chooses.
Consider an often repeated fact, that Americans make up less than five percent of the world’s population but consume 20 to 25 percent of the world’s resources (like food, fresh water, wood, minerals and energy). This means that, on average, Americans consume five to seven times the resources per capita as the rest of humanity combined.
Renowned ecologist and agronomist David Pimentel of Cornell University has calculated that the Earth’s resources could sustain a population of only two billion if everyone had the current average standard of living in the United States. His detailed analysis was published in the journal Human Ecology in 2010.
The world population is already at seven billion, and the latest United Nations projection is that the head count will reach 10 billion well before 2100. For all 10 billion to enjoy the American standard of living, Pimentel’s data imply that it would take four additional Earth planets to supply the necessary natural resources.
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1 Comment | energy, green business, politics, pollution, science, sustainable living | Tagged: adspend, advertising, environment, greenwashing, resource consumption, sustainable living | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
March 11, 2011
“BPA-Free” Label No Guarantee That Plastics Are Safe
by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
Appeared:
The bad reputation recently earned by BPA or bisphenol A, a chemical constituent of polycarbonate resin plastics, is probably well-deserved because it is an estrogen hormone mimic linked in hundreds of studies to potentially adverse health effects in mammals ranging from cancers and infertility to diabetes and obesity.
Fetal and juvenile mammals are particularly sensitive to exposure to low doses of estrogen mimics, raising particular concerns about BPA-containing plastics that infants and toddlers might encounter. Consequently, some manufacturers of baby bottles, water bottles and other plastic products are now marketing items as “BPA-free.”
Unfortunately, a “BPA-free” label offers no assurance that a product won’t leach chemicals with estrogenic activity (EA), according to a study appearing in the online March 2 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives. In fact, the study measured EA leaching from all sorts of food-contact plastic products made with resins other than polycarbonate.
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2 Comments | green business, health, plastics, science, sustainable living, waste | Tagged: bispheno A, BPA, BPA-Free, estrogenic activity, George Bittner, health, plastics | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
July 23, 2010
Sun recharges your favorite e-gadgets
by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
Appeared in:
- E-Magazine Blog as “Camping with Gadgets,” 13 Aug 2012
- Vall-E-Vents Sierra Club Newsletter, June 2011
- Fullerton Observer, Aug 2010, p. 10
- Surf City Voice, 21 July 2010
Recharge solar lanterns and small electronics with solar rechargers
Does the prospect of spending a weekend away from your favorite e-gadgets (cell phone, laptop, iPod or PDA) stir up separation anxiety? Around our house we’ve dubbed this e-angst, and it can kill enthusiasm for an otherwise welcome family camping vacation.
For teens or adults similarly infected with e-angst, a diversity of devices are on the market which let you bring your e-gadgets along with you camping and also trim your carbon footprint because they utilize only sunshine for power.
Solar chargers
An assortment of portable solar-powered chargers is available that adapt to virtually any handheld electronic appliance including digital cameras and GPS units. Most rely on photovoltaic silicon cell technology akin to what is used on rooftop solar panels. Many are small enough to fit in a back pocket or certainly a glove box so can travel with you virtually anywhere. The cost is as little as $15 on up to $150 depending on the capacity. Because rechargeable batteries are incorporated, gadgets can be recharged even after the sun goes down. Small electronics generally charge in 2-4 hours.
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2 Comments | climate change, energy, global warming, green business, health, solar, sustainable living, wildlife | Tagged: camping, climate change, conservation, energy, environment, fossil fuels, global warming, petroleum, photovoltaics, pollution, solar charger, solar cooker, solar lantern, sustainability, sustainable living | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
May 27, 2010
by Sarah (Steve) Mosko, PhD
Appeared in:
- Vall-E Vents Sierra Club Newsletter, Nov 2011
- E-Magazine’s Planet Weekly, June 23, 2010
- Fullerton Observer, Mid June 2010
- Surf City Voice as What is Organic Food and is it Worth it?‘ May 26, 2010
New organic standards insure greater access to pasture for grazing.
Presented with two equal-priced apples or cheeses – one organic and the other produced with conventional methods – which would you choose? Does upping the price of the organic product by 10-40 percent change your mind?
Will knowing that substituting organic for conventional fruits and vegetables drastically reduces the body’s burden of pesticides alter your choice?
Such decisions have become routine for even mainstream shoppers who’ve never set foot in a specialty health food store, now that Wal-Mart and major supermarket chains are competing with their own organic product lines and corporate giants, such as General Mills and Kraft, have jumped into the organic market under different brand names like Cascadian Farms and Boca.
What consumers believe about the differences between organic and conventional foods, and the value they place on those differences, will obviously drive their choices. However, most people probably have only a rough idea of what an organic label signifies and even sketchier knowledge of how conventional foods are produced, leaving them ill-equipped to make an informed choice.
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4 Comments | diet, green business, health, science, sustainable living, toxics | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
December 10, 2009
©iStockphoto.com/dbuffoon
by Sarah (Steve) Mosko, PhD.
Appeared in:
- El Cuervo de Orange, Feb 14, 2012
- Vall-E-Vents, May 2010.
- E-Magazine’s ‘Our Planet Weekly,’ April 8, 2010.
- Fullerton Observer, early March, 2010, p. 17.
- Orange Coast Voice, Dec. 7, 2009.
Which consumes more fossil fuels, lawn maintenance with gas-powered tools or lawn watering? For residents of Southern California, the correct answer is watering because of the energy it takes to transport water to the region.
Southern California (SoCal) is a semi-arid desert. Rainfall averages only 15 inches per year, for example, in the Los Angeles area. Local water sources have fallen far short of meeting the region’s water needs for more than a century.
With 2/3 of the state’s rainfall in Northern California and 2/3 of the water demand in SoCal, the State deals with this imbalance by pumping in half of SoCal’s water supply from sources hundreds of miles away, the Colorado River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The Water-Electricity Relationship
Piping water long distances is costly in terms of electricity, especially water imported from the Delta which has to be pumped uphill 2,000 ft to get over the Tehachapi Mountains.
In a first ever analysis of the energy embedded in bringing potable water to residential faucets and hoses in SoCal, a 2005 Calif Energy Commission analysis calculated 11,111 kWh/MG (kilowatt hours per million gallons), three times costlier than in Northern California. Most of the electricity is for water transportation, much less for water treatment and maintaining water pressure. Every 100 gallons of imported water eats up enough electricity to keep a 100 W bulb lit for 11 hours.
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6 Comments | California, energy, global warming, green business, pollution, science, sustainable living, toxics, waste, wildlife | Tagged: California Energy Commission, Colorado River, desalination, drought, electricity, energy, fossil fuels, grass, lawn, lawn care, lawn maintenance, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, nitrogen fertilizers, pesticides, Sacramento San Joaquin Delta, SoCal Water$mart, Southern California, sprinklers, water shortage, watering | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
September 22, 2009
by Sarah (Steve) Mosko, PhD.
Appeared in:
- Orange Coast Voice, Dec. 16, 2009
- Southern Sierran, Dec. 2009
- Fullerton Observer as A Few Less Toxins in Toyland, Nov. 2009, page 9
- San Fernando Valley Sierra Club newsletter, Nov. 2009
This is an updated version of
Fewer Toxins in Toyland that incorporates recently stalled legislation in California aimed at protecting young children from risky chemicals.
This holiday season, parents shopping for children can rest just a tad easier because of a recent California law restricting the use of toxic phthalate plasticizers in toys and childcare products made of plastic. Additional legislative efforts to rein in two other classes of chemicals suspected of posing health risks to youngsters, bisphenol A and halogenated flame retardants, emerged this year in the State Senate, although neither met with success.
But, perhaps the best news is that California has enacted laws establishing a groundbreaking precautionary approach to the oversight of chemicals that should soon make such painstaking chemical-by-chemical regulation a thing of the past.
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1 Comment | California, green business, health, plastics, politics, pollution, science, sustainable living, toxics | Tagged: bisphenol-a, California, cancer, endocrine disruptors, flame retardants, Green Chemistry Initiative, halogenated flame retardants, health, infant formula, PBDE, phthalates, plasticizers, plastics, politics, polybrominated diphenyl ether, polyvinyl chloride, PVC, SB 772 Leno, SB 797 Pavley, toxic chemicals | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
June 13, 2009
“Hot” Food Controversies That Labels Do Not Disclose
by Sarah (Steve) Mosko, PhD
Appeared in:
- Val-E-Vents, Sept. 2010
- Santa Monica Daily Press, Oct. 26, 2009, as Food Labels Don’t Disclose Everything to Consumers.
- Fullerton Observer, Mid Oct. 2009, page 10.
- Southern Sierran, Sept. 2009, as Caveat Shopper: You Can’t Always Trust Those Food Labels.
Full disclosure on food labels is more critical as controversial food processing practices become commonplace. Photo courtesy of illuminating9_11 at flickr.com.
As the food supply is increasingly altered by controversial practices like liberal use of antibiotics, genetic engineering and irradiation, food labels take on greater significance as shoppers’ only link to how products are produced. Depending on what issues matters most to consumers, what labels do not say can be more meaningful than what they do.
To get a handle on contentious food processing techniques that food labels don’t disclose, it’s helpful first to understand what is mandated. Oversight is split between the USDA, which enforces labeling on meat, poultry and some egg products, and the FDA, which covers most other foods.
Most foods sold in grocery stores are required to sport an “information panel” that lists:
- the ingredients
- Nutrition Facts detailing the calories, fats, protein and other nutrients
- the manufacturer, packer or distributor.
Major Food Allergens (e.g. peanuts), relevant inspections (like USDA) and special handling instructions (such as “Keep Refrigerated”) must also be declared.
However, providing Nutrition Facts on raw foods, like fruits and vegetables, seafood, meat and poultry, is only voluntary but is often posted anyway on the display case.
Fish labels must also specify whether it is wild-caught or farm-raised and, for the latter, if colorant was added to the feed to turn their naturally gray flesh pink. In California, a previous requirement that canned tuna carry a warning label about the potential dangers from mercury was struck down in the State Superior Court in 2006.
Antibiotics
Groundbreaking legislation, which would have made California the first state to prohibit feeding antibiotics to healthy livestock meant for human consumption, was voted down on June 3 (SB 416, Florez). This practice is employed routinely at large-scale industrial cattle, hog and poultry operations to hasten growth and prevent the spread of disease.
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1 Comment | green business, health, politics, science, sustainable living | Tagged: antibiotic resistence, antibiotics, bacteria, beef, California, COOL, country of origin, diet, factory farms, FDA, Florez, food, food additives, food bourne illness, food iradiation, food labeling, food labels, food safety, genetic engineering, genetically engineered, genetically modified, industrial, livestock, meat, microorganisms, pathogems, pigs, poultry, SB 416, swine, USDA | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
June 1, 2009
Fullerton Observer, June 2009, page 9
Orange Coast Voice, July 2007, page 9
San Fernando Valley Sierra Club newsletter, May 2007
What My Solor Roof Taught Me: Knowledge Really Does = Power
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
My solar roof cost $15,000 to install after rebates and tax breaks, but the value of the house increased by $20,000 and the power bills decreased to $0.
I was pretty clueless when I recently installed photovoltaic (solar) panels on the roof of my house. All I knew was that all forms of energy consumption contribute to global warming (not just driving) and that I wanted to be part of the solution. I was nothing short of giddy when the “consumption wheel” on my electricity meter started turning backwards for the first time, veritable proof that I was generating more electricity than I was using. Energy was flowing from my rooftop right onto the grid.
Elation soon gave way to curiosity, however, just like after I had purchased a hybrid Prius and could not help but experiment with ways to maximize my gas mileage. My new passion centered on how to insure an energy surplus on my next electric bill. Switching out the incandescent light bulbs in my house for energy saving compact fluorescent ones was a no brainer. But I also had to get acquainted with my household appliances along a totally new dimension: I needed to know how much energy a given appliance consumes when in use so I could make more informed decisions when contemplating turning it on. Here is what I found out. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | California, energy, global warming, green business, pollution, solar, sustainable living | Tagged: electricity, energy, global warming, kilowatts, photovoltaics, power, solar panels, solar rooftop | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
February 18, 2009
Surfing might seem like an earth-friendly sport, but a closer look reveals that the environmental impact may be more than you realize. Photo c1967 at Old Man’s Beach, San Clemente, California.
Appeared in:
- Orange Coast Voice, Dec. 18, 2009
- Santa Monica Daily Press, May 15, 2009
- Orange Coast Voice blog, April 24, 2009
A Wave of Green Hits Surfing Industry
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
At first glance, surfing might seem like an inherently earth-friendly sport. Surfers paddle out and catch waves by sheer force of will and muscle. No need for fossil fuel-burning speed boats to get around. And, surfers have a reputation for caring about ocean pollution.
But a closer look reveals that, like most human activities, the environmental impact is far from nil and, consequently, there’s a nascent movement within the surfing industry to clean up it its act.
The Essentials
The bare necessities of surfing are surfboard, wetsuit, good waves and wheels to and fro. The waves are courtesy of Mother Nature, but the choices surfers make to otherwise outfit themselves determine the toll on the environment.
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4 Comments | California, global warming, green business, health, pollution, sustainable living, toxics, waste | Tagged: alternative transportation, beach cleanups, California beaches, climate change, coastlines, eco-friendly surfing, energy, environment, epoxy, EPS, expanded polystyrene, global warming, green business, health, ocean pollution, ocean protection, organic foods, pesticides, plastics, politics, pollution, polyurethane, recyclable sporting equipment, recyclable surf boards, science, sport surfing, surf boards, surfing industry, Surfrider Foundation, sustainability, sustainable living, synthetic fertilizers, toxic chemicals, vegetarian diets | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
January 8, 2009
Appeared in:
- OurPlanet (E-Magazine’s weekly newsletter) as Cell Phone Ecology, Jan. 5, 2010
- Santa Monica Daily Press as The Ecology of Cell Phones, Aug. 31, 2009
- Southern Sierran, May 2009
- Vall-E-Vents, newsletter for Sierra Club San Fernando Valley, May 2009.
The Ecology of Loving and Leaving Your Cell Phone
Sarah S. Mosko Ph.D.
Given all the environmental costs of cell phones, certainly the most eco-friendly cell is the one you already own.
It’s not much of a stretch to liken America’s relationship with cells phones to a once sizzling romance that ends in good bye.
Fated love affairs typically begin with blind infatuation and fiery passion before reality sets in, cooling the embers enough to allow more guarded, sometimes less attractive aspects of the self to surface. Interest wanes until the love object is abandoned or replaced by an alluring new one.
Americans relate to cell phones in much the same way. An old phone, with once novel features that drew fascination, is discarded with hardly a thought when an updated model makes it seem obsolete. That consumers replace cell phones about every two years – with Californians purchasing in a single year nearly one new cell for every two state residents – makes this analogy seem less silly.
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2 Comments | global warming, green business, health, pollution, sustainable living, toxics, waste | Tagged: cell phone waste, cell phones, cell phones in california, disposal of cell phones, gold in cell phones, gold mining, plastics, rechargeable batteries, recycle cell phones, sustainability, sustainable living, toxic chemicals, toxic metals | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
November 24, 2008
Appeared in:
- Southern Sierran, January 2009.
- An edited version of this post appeared in the Orange Coast Voice newspaper, December 2008, page 11.
Disneyland Boasts Eco-Friendly Policies
But could it be doing more?
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
Walt Disney designed Disneyland Resort for enchantment, an oasis free of cares where everything wondrous seems possible. Worries over the park’s environmental impact were probably not at the forefront of his mind, although he is often quoted for voicing appreciation that natural resources are not inexhaustible and that nature must be preserved for future generations.
But the environment is in a lot more trouble today than it was when Disneyland opened in 1955, so it’s fair to ask, “How green is the Happiest Place on Earth today?”
Disneyland is really akin to a small city, employing 20,000 employees and passing double that many guests through the turnstiles daily. Entertaining, feeding and managing the waste of a mob that size in an environmentally responsible fashion is no easy task.
Evironmentality is the Disney trademark program that aims to keep Walt Disney’s conservation legacy alive through diverse environmental policies, some visible to parkgoers. For example, the lagoon scenes in the recently opened Nemo Submarine Voyage were colored using crushed glass from discarded bottles, and the subs are propelled by an innovative zero-emission magnetic coil system, eliminating the need for hundreds of thousand of gallons of diesel fuel each year.
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Leave a Comment » | energy, green business, health, Orange County, pollution, sustainable living, toxics, waste | Tagged: bisphenol-a, Center for Health Environment and Justice, conservation, disney-go-green, disneyland, environmentality, nemo submarine voyage, phthalates, plastics, sustainability, sustainable living, toxic chemicals, toys, walt disney | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
September 1, 2008
Appeared in San Fernando Valley Sierra Club newsletter in September, 2008.
Bureaucratic Red Tape Casts Dark Cloud Over California’s Solar Initiative
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D
Bureaucratic red tape seriously hampered the California Solar Initiative. Illustration by Willis Simms.
California’s Solar Initiative (CSI) went into effect in January 2007, promising to boost solar electric-panel installations on both residential and commercial roofs. Instead, the law has seriously backfired because of bureaucratic red tape.
CSI aimed to put CA at the forefront of solar-generated electricity by offering customers rebates subsidized via the imposition of a surcharge on electricity bills. The plan was that increased demand would drive down costs over time and eventually make the program self-sustaining. However, two fatal flaws in the law have literally boomeranged its stated intent.
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3 Comments | California, energy, global warming, green business, politics, solar, sustainable living | Tagged: California Solar Initiative, CSI, solar electric, solar power, solar water heater, utilities | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
August 1, 2008
Appeared in:
- Orange Coast Voice blog, August 16, 2008
- Orange Coast Voice newspaper, August 2008
Better Food Choices Get Better Results in Global Warming Battle than Food Miles Reduction
By Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
California Certified Farmers' Markets let genuine California farmers sell their fresh-picked crops directly to the public in over 500 communities throughout the state.
“Buying local” has become a mantra of many committed to shrinking their personal climate footprint by limiting the miles their food travels from producer to plate. The increasing globalization of food supplies has served to fan this trend.
However, a new study finds that what you eat has a far greater impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than where that food was produced. What’s more, saying no to red meat and dairy products even one day a week matters more than buying local all week long.
Number crunchers Christopher Weber and Scott Matthews at Carnegie Mellon University drew on U.S. government statistics from 1997 to expose the entire life-cycle GHG emissions associated with the diet of the average American household.
Emissions fell into one of four categories, starting with upstream supply chain transportation wherein equipment and supplies are supplied to food producers. Then comes the food production phase, followed by final delivery transportation from point of production to retailer. The latter is synonymous with so-called food-miles that are the focus of advocates of buying local. The fourth source of emissions occurs during wholesaling and retailing and includes store heating and air-conditioning and food refrigeration.
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Leave a Comment » | global warming, green business, health, pollution, science, sustainable living | Tagged: buying local, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate footprint, dairy, environment, food miles, global warming, green business, greenhouse gas, health, methane, nitrous oxide, pollution, red meat, science, sustainability, vegetarian | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
July 1, 2008
Appeared in:
- San Fernando Valley Sierra Club newsletter as The Dirt on Laundry Detergents, Nov 2008 & July 2009.
- Orange Coast Voice as Dirty Detergent: Your laundry may not be so clean, July 2008, page 11.
The Dirt on Laundry Detergents
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
Not so clean: Human health issues arise because exposure to laundry products is continuous in most households.
As your fluffy, sweet-smelling, spotless laundry comes tumbling out of the dryer, images of oil rigs and synthetic chemical fabric residues probably never cross your mind. But today’s mainstream laundry detergents are heavily laden with man-made petro-chemicals, some representing risks to aquatic life and human health.
Historically, soaps were made by simply heating plant or animal oils with wood ashes, a strong alkali. The result is a two-ended compound called a surfactant that can rout out greasy soils because the oil-loving (lipophylic) end is attracted to oily dirt, budging it out of the fabric, while the water-loving (hydrophilic) end is attracted to the water, keeping the lifted dirt in the wash water.
A scarcity of such oils in WWII fostered the birth of synthetic laundry detergents (LDs) based instead on cheaper, petroleum-based surfactants that now dominate the market. The most common ones today are LAS (linear alkylbenzene sulphonate) and AS (alkyl sulphates).
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Leave a Comment » | green business, health, pollution, science, sustainable living, toxics | Tagged: additives, artificial fragrance, optical brighteners, petroleum-based laundry detergents, Soap and Detergent Association, soaps, surfactants | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
June 1, 2008
Appeared in:
- Orange Coast Voice, June 2008, page 15
- Southern Sierran, June 2009 as ‘Thinking Outside the Dump: Zero Waste’
- Fullerton Observer, Oct. 2009, page 11, as ‘Zero Waste: Thinking Outside the Dump’
Zero Waste!
Let’s Get Out of This Dump
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D .
Our throw-away habits are making a dump out of our world.
A fond memory from my childhood is of visiting the neighborhood “dump” with my dad to drop off whatever refuse, like old tires, we could not burn in our backyard incinerator.
Nowadays, the local dump has been supplanted by centralized landfills, and major restrictions have been placed on backyard incineration. Our waste stream has been transformed also since the introduction of petroleum-based plastics, single-use disposables, and packaging excess. Too, products once designed for durability and repair have been replaced with flimsier versions intended to be tossed and replaced.
In short, we have become a throw away society. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | California, energy, green business, Orange County, plastics, pollution, sustainable living, toxics, waste | Tagged: climate change, disposables, economy, energy, environment, global warming, green business, health, landfills, petroleum-based plastics, plastics, pollution, recycling, science, sustainability, zero waste | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
April 1, 2008
Appeared in
- Southern Sierran as Firefighters Back Ban on Flame Retardants, July 2008, page 2
- Orange Coast Voice as Toxic Flame Retardants: Ubiquitious but toxic BFRs are everywhere, even the Artic, April 2008, page 11
Firefighters Back Banning Controversial Flame Retardant
Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
BFRs are so ubiquitous that they are found in remote areas of the Artic and throughout the food chain, from zooplankton to dolphins and polar bears.
Your TV, mattress, couch and computer could be sources of man-made toxic chemicals building up in human tissues, including breast milk. Sounds crazy, but it’s not.
Many consumer products are imbued with a class of flame retardants considered by many to be bad news since they accumulate in fatty tissues, resist breakdown in the environment, and disrupt normal development in lab animals. They are called polybrominated diphenyl ethers or just brominated flame retardants (BFRs).
Introduced in the 1970’s, BFRs have become commonplace in upholstery foam, textiles and electronics because synthetic materials, like petroleum-based plastics, are generally more flammable. BFRs impede the spread of fire bycreating a layer of bromine gas around a heated product, keeping oxygen at bay. They comprise up to 30% of an item’s weight and migrate out over time into air, dust, and soil. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
January 1, 2008
Appeared in Orange Coast Voice newspaper January 2008, page 11.
Is Your Coffee Green?
How to find your eco-responsible coffee shop
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
Not the winner: Starbucks does not report percentage of coffee grown without synthetic chemicals.
It takes 12 coffee trees to support a 2-cup-a-day coffee habit, according to the Sightline Institute, a non-profit research center in Seattle. And not all coffee is created equal from an environmental standpoint.
People who frequent specialty coffee stores seek a perfect brew served up in a connoisseur’s ambiance. If you are one of them, but also care how eco-friendly your cup of java is, you might want to know how different establishments stack up environmentally. A little background on how coffee is grown and labeled is essential.
Coffee Talk: The dizzying selection that entices the gourmet coffee drinker is every bit linked to the varying conditions under which coffee is cultivated. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
November 1, 2007
Appeared in Orange County Voice as The Green Reaper: How to Die Ecologically, November 2007, page 11.
Green Endings – A Better Way to Go
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
The Green Burial Council has contacts in many states who are willing to accommodate green burial.
There’s one topic that people like to think about even less than what they owe in taxes or the most humiliating thing they have ever done — funerals and burials, especially their own.
We avoid it not just because it brings up the really big questions (Why are we here? Is there life after death?), but also because we feel no connection to the whole mortuary scene — the cold sterile slab, the smelly embalming fluids, the dreary funeral parlor. These facets of modern burials say nothing about us, or the values we hold.
But there’s a movement afoot to offer an alternative that is less impersonal and, for many people, more meaningfully connected to the life that was lived. It is called green burials.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
November 1, 2007
Appeared in Vall-E-Vents, the San Fernanado Valley Sierra Club newsletter, Nov-Dec, 2007
Also see All That Shines Is Not Gold
Hot Beverage Cups Go Green
(#12 of the Plastic Plague Series)
Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
If your paper cup has a plastic lining, it will end up in the landfill.
For the very first time, certain paper packaging products with a shiny resin lining are being produced that can be recycled or composted.
The obstacle to recycling and composting has been the petroleum-based polyethylene moisture barrier that lines hot coffee cups and many other paper food/drink packaging containers. Since the polyethylene resin resists biodegradation, it fails to meet standards for compostability and is an unacceptable contaminant that precludes diversion to the paper recycling waste stream. (Click for related article).
A paper hot cup is the first in a series of novel resin-lined paper products dubbed “ecotainers” that are being rolled out in a joint effort by two companies, International Paper and DaniMer Scientific. The new cup lining is based 99% on the corn-derived resin called PLA (for polylactic acid) that has been tweaked chemically to produce a coating that sticks well to paper (PLA alone sticks poorly). Part of the good news is that petrochemicals do not contribute to the 1% of synthetic chemicals added to the PLA, according to DaniMer’s President. The hot cup not only meets international BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute) standards for compostability, but is also “repulpable” so can even be recycled in the paper waste stream. Look for cups bearing the logo of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters who are the first to adopt the new technology.
A second fully biodegradable & compostable hot cup on the market has solved the polyethylene lining dilemma by eliminating the lining completely. Brought to us by World Centric, the cup is made from 100% bagasse, the sugarcane fiber left over once the sugarcane juice is extracted. The cup comes without a label and sports a less high-tech look and feel than theecotainer. Although it is soak proof, hot beverages do create some “perspiration” on the outside. However, some big environmental pluses might easily make up for these esthetic drawbacks. Bagasse is sometimes eliminated by open-air incineration after the sugarcane juice is extracted, so converting it into cups both makes more complete use of a natural resource and rids a source of air pollution. Plus, no trees are ever cut down!
Forward looking companies as described here will no doubt continue their quest for the perfect, environmentally friendly hot cup and make it available to retailers. Now it is up to us consumers to tell our favorite gourmet coffee stores that we want our cup of coffee “green” whether we drink it black or with cream!
To participate in a California-based statewide plastics reduction campaign, contact Earth Resource Foundation or call (949) 645-5163.
Leave a Comment » | green business, plastics, sustainable living | Tagged: biodegradable, climate change, compostable, economy, energy, environment, global warming, green business, health, hot cups, plastics, pollution, polyethylene, polyethylene moisture barrier, polylactic, polylactic acid, science, sustainability | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
April 1, 2007
Appeared in:
Driving on Sunshine
Ethanol: Starve While You Drive
Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
From President Bush on down, it seems everyone is talking up “biofuels”, especially corn-grain ethanol and soy-diesel, as the panacea to the country’s energy woes . . . global warming, air pollution, increasing prices at the pump and dependence on foreign oil.
Automakers are promoting flex-fuel cars that run on either E85, a gasoline mixture that is 85% ethanol, or straight gasoline. Agribusiness giants like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland are trumpeting their ethanol, Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | climate change, energy, global warming, green business, health, politics, pollution, solar, sustainable living | Tagged: biofuels, climate change, corn ethanol, energy, environment, fossil fuels, gasoline, global warming, health, photovoltaics, pollution, science, sunlight, sunshine, sustainability | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
March 1, 2007
Appeared in San Fernando Valley Sierra Club Chapter newsletter, Mar-Apr 2007
Related article: Paper Cups Go Green.
All That Shines Is Not Gold
(#11 of the Plastic Plague Series)
by Sarah S. Mosko, Ph.D.
If your paper cup has a plastic lining, it will end up in the landfill.
Did you ever notice the shiny lining on the inside of those paper cups designed for hot beverages . . the ones you get at your favorite specialty coffee store? Although the lining’s purpose is noble (prevents the liquid from seeping through the paper), its presence is the very reason those paper cups all end up in landfills.
Manufacturers tell me the lining is typically a polyethylene resin or some other petroleum-based emulsion. As such, it is a contaminant that prevents recycling as a paper item, and like petroleum-based plastics, it doesn’t biodegrade so is not appropriate for composting.
Such resins also coat milk cartons and many paper picnic products, thus preventing you from putting them in your curbside recycling bin or your backyard compost.
Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | green business, plastics, sustainable living | Tagged: biodegrade, Chinet, climate change, coffee cup, economy, energy, environment, global warming, green business, health, hot cup, petroleum-based, plastics, pollution, polyetheylene, recycling, resin, science, sustainability | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
November 1, 2005
Appeared in
- Orange Coast Voice as Is Your Bottled Water Safer?, May 2007, page 5.
- Vall-E-Vents, the San Fernanado Valley Sierra Club Newsletter, Nov-Dec., 2005.
Is Bottled Water Really Safer? Billions of Plastic Bottles Harm the Environment
(#4 of the Plastic Plague Series)
by Sarah S. Mosko and Stuart Moody (Green Sangha)
The FDA regulates bottled water as a food product, whereas tap water is EPA-regulated. Surprisingly perhaps, FDA rules are not necessarily stricter.
Bottled water has become a symbol of our culture, whether it is the 5-gallon jug at the office or the single-serve bottles we lug around every time we leave the house. We have been led to believe that bottled water is better for us than tap water, but is it? And, what impact are all those plastic bottles having on the planet?
Is bottled water really safer?
The FDA regulates bottled water as a food product, whereas tap water is EPA-regulated. Surprisingly perhaps, FDA rules are not necessarily stricter. For example, the FDA does not prohibit low levels of fecal bacteria in water while the EPA does. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | energy, green business, health, plastics, pollution, science, sustainable living, waste | Tagged: bisphenol-a, bottled water, California, contaminants, energy, environment, FDA, green business, HDPE, health, landfill, PETE, plastics, pollution, recycling rates, science, sustainability, tap water | Permalink
Posted by Sarah (Steve) Mosko
Boogie Green 
