Dry cleaners go green

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I just read some fascinating news about Minneapolis -- it's the first major city to have no perc-based dry cleaners!  The city financially supported businesses as they eliminated this possible carcinogen from their cleaning processes.  So in recognition of Minneapolis' accomplishment, here's a re-post of a dry-cleaning article I wrote back in 2013 -- enjoy!

Yesterday, I was “flipping” my closet – in a hopeful nod to spring, I was taking out my warm weather clothes and getting ready to store the sweaters.  But before the sweaters are put away, I always like to get them cleaned.  As a college professor and greenmomster, I’m not exactly Beau Brummel.  Most of my clothes are relatively casual and machine- or hand-washable.   But those sweaters and some of my fancier clothes get sent to the dry cleaners for a good scrub.  So that got me thinking, what are the environmental effects of dry cleaning and how can I “green” my dry cleaning?

Dry cleaning is not actually dry, and the traditional method is far from green.  The clothes are often cleaned in a solvent called perchloroethylene (or “perc” for short).  Perc is some pretty nasty stuff – EPA lists possible effects of short-term exposure to be “irritation of the upper respiratory tract and eyes, kidney dysfunction, and neurological effects such as reversible mood and behavioral changes, impairment of coordination, dizziness, headache, sleepiness, and unconsciousness.” (U.S. EPA 2013) Long-term breathing of the chemical can lead to “ neurological, including impaired cognitive and motor neurobehavioral performance.  Tetrachloroethylene exposure may also cause adverse effects in the kidney, liver, immune system and hematologic system, and on development and reproduction.” (U.S. EPA 2013).  Perc is also listed as likely to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing) to humans. (U.S. EPA 2013)

So when I do want to dry clean my clothes, how can I limit my environmental footprint?  Here are a couple of tips:

• Choose a local dry cleaner that uses one of the two EPA-recommended methods:  wet-cleaning or CO2 cleaning.  Your dry cleaner should tell you whether they use perc, or one of the more eco-friendly methods.  My dry cleaner was very proud to tell me she doesn’t use perc!

Other ways to green your dry cleaning:

• Hand wash your items when you can.  Here are some tips for cleaning wool, silk, and rayon.
• Ask the dry cleaner to put your clothes in your garment bag, rather than wrapping in plastic
• Always recycle hangers by returning them to the dry cleaner
• Reuse tissue paper inserts in gift bags or other wrapping.

Here’s to being green AND clean!

Have you seen this film where a plastic bag is the star?

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Is watching more movies one of your New Year's resolutions?  Then check out this fascinating short film:

Time for Stream Monitoring

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We were back in the stream to monitor for invertebrates this month!  Unfortunately, our stream didn't score in the healthy range, but that could be due to the fact that we were monitoring in the middle of the summer heat, or we monitored after a major rainstorm, or we didn't search in enough places....  We did find some pretty interesting invertebrates anyway.  We found lots of scuds, which are pretty tolerant to pollution or other imperfect water conditions:

We saw many clams and and true fly larvae (also pretty tolerant):

 

One interesting find was these neat dragonfly larvae:

And it's always nice to see a katydid on the way back to the car!

In case you missed it -- EPA cuts

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Did you know that, before we had robust environmental protections in this country, rivers caught on fire?  Google "Cuyahoga river fire" (photo:  Ohio History Central).  And check out Love Canal and Tom's River, too.  We've come a long way, but unfortunately we may be headed back to the bad old days.

The White House has proposed deep cuts to the EPA's budget for implementation of environmental protections.  Here's a summary of the cuts that have been proposed (from Washington Post, 3/2/17):

• annual budget would drop from $8.2 billion to $6.1 billion, including grants to States for environmental protection
• EPA staff would be cut from 15,000 to 12,000 employees nationwide
• the Chesapeake Bay cleanup budget would be slashed from the current $73 million to $5 million in the next fiscal year
• 38 programs will be eliminated including grants to clean up brownfields, environmental justice programs (yup, protections for our poorest citizens), climate change initiatives, and funding for native Alaskan villages
• the Office of Research and Development could lose 42% of its funding

The Flint MI lead poisoning is an example of what happens when we don't enforce environmental protections; this disaster will have impacts for many decades to come.  The proposed EPA cuts will multiply the Flint MI disaster and affect folks around the country.   Time to let our representatives know that we don't support rolling back protections.

Washed Ashore

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I strolled around the National Zoo last week, a place that I've visited hundreds of times, and had a very pleasant surprise.  Unlike my past visits, it wasn't the live animals that I found so fascinating -- it was an art exhibit!  This exhibit, called Washed Ashore, is presented by a non-profit organization "whose mission is to use the arts to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in oceans and waterways and to spark positive changes in consumer habits."

This powerful exhibit does a terrific job of demonstrating the type of trash found in the sea and explaining its impact on marine life.  The sculptures, built totally out of trash from the sea, are beautiful,  Each sculpture is accompanied by an interpretive sign to help the public understand the exhibit and learn how they can change their behavior to protect the oceans.

Be sure to visit this exhibit when it comes to your area for a moving and educational experience for all ages.  Here's a little more of what you'll see:

We’re not getting any younger…

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If you’re like me, hope springs eternal!  I’d like to believe that with a little more maintenance, this

could look like this

Who doesn’t want to look younger, more shiny and beautiful, or at least as good as you can look?  You may have heard of magic “microbeads” that are guaranteed to make us look younger and brighter.  These tiny scrubbers promise to brighten our skin and teeth gently!  What’s a microbead? According to Plastic Free Seas, “Microbeads are tiny particles of plastic less than 1mm in size that can be spherical or irregular in shape and produced in a multitude of colours.  Microbeads  are manufactured for use in consumer products such as body and face scrubs to produce a “feel good factor”.  The types of plastic most commonly used as microbeads are: polyethylene (PE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), nylon polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP).”  What could be better than gentle scrubbing? (photo credit:  Steven Davy)

Well, there’s an environmental downside to these plastic microbeads.  Check out this video to understand why you might want to remove a few of these products from your beauty regimen.  According to PRI, New York State dumps 19 tons of microbeads down the drain every year!  We all want to look good, but maybe the price for this beauty tool is a little too high.

Canada is moving toward banning microbeads and several U.S. states are planning to ban their sale by 2018.  Want to try to avoid microbeads?  Here’s a helpful list of products containing microbeads.  And oh yeah, there’s an app for that!

But it’s biodegradable….

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Have you ever heard someone say that it’s OK to throw trash like excess fruit, sandwiches,or nuts out of a car window because “it’s biodegradable”.  I think most of us know that excuse doesn’t pass the sniff test, but for those who still need a little convincing, take a look at this guy .  He loves your trash and will go almost anywhere to get it.  During a recent wildlife presentation at Sky Meadows State Park, the folks at the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center reminded campers that edible trash near roads attracts wildlife, such as this Virginia opossum.  Unfortunately, animals that are attracted to the sides of roads are often hit by cars – bad news for both animals and cars.  So instead of tossing your “biodegradables” out of the car window, always take them to the nearest trash can.  The deer, gophers, skunks, and possums thank you!

No more dryer sheets!

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If you’ve been wishing you could get rid of all those dryer sheets, but you absolutely hate static in your clothes, here’s a neat product to try.  I tested out the Method dryer-activated fabric softener and it works like a charm!  A few spritzes into the clothes in the dryer and no more static – yay!  Method is a company that tries to go a little greener with its cleaning products.  I have good luck with many of the products, but was especially pleased with this fabric softener.  Greenmomster’s disclaimer:  I received zip, nada, zilch for this endorsement.  I just liked the product and thought you might want to remove a few dryer sheets from the planet.

Be sure to "Like" greenmomster on Facebook for lots of great green info!

New Years Resolution–Save the Bay!

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Want an original New Years resolution?  Why not do your part to save the Chesapeake Bay!  If you live in DC, WV, MD, VA, PA, NY, or DE, there’s a good chance you live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  The Chesapeake Bay program has written a short summary of how you can help to save the bay this coming year by controlling stormwater runoff from your lawn.  If you don’t quite remember why we need to reduce pollution in our stormwater runoff, check out our family’s adventures in stream monitoring to see the effect of pollution on our local streams and rivers.  And if you’d like to learn more about eco-friendly landscaping, we’ve covered that too!

Here’s to a happy and green 2014! 

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Neonicotinoids–they’re bugging me

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For many years, scientist have been trying to determine what’s killing many of our pollinators and beneficial insects.  A new report by the Xerces Society has consolidated published articles and summarized the possible effects of neonicotinoid insecticides.  When originally introduced, these insecticides were projected to be low impact – both for human and non-target species.  Newer research, though, is pointing to more negative impacts from these chemicals.  Here’s a link to download your copy of the report.  And this isn’t just an agricultural issue – these products are used in residential areas, often at much higher application rates.  Next steps?  Here’s what the Xerces Society is recommending (from a Xerces Society e-mail, no citation available):

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should re-assess the ecological safety of currently approved neonicotinoids and immediately suspend registration of imidacloprid, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran for all applications where there is a risk to nontarget organisms.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should significantly speed up the registration review process for neonicotinoids. The risk from exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides needs to be scientifically evaluated against the risk posed to beneficial species by alternative control measures.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should expand the number of nontarget terrestrial insect species used in the risk assessment process.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should adopt risk assessment protocols for exposure to nontarget insects that account for cumulative and synergistic effects, effects of long-term exposure to low concentrations, and exposure to pesticides through pollen and nectar.
• The USDA Risk Management Agency's Federal Crop Insurance Corporation should approve reductions in crop insurance premiums for producers who avoid prophylactic use of neonicotinoids where the pest pressure does not warrant use.
• The prophylactic use of neonicotinoids on crops should be halted. Neonicotinoids should only be used as part of an Integrated Pest Management plan.
• The use of neonicotinoids for cosmetic reasons (such as against aphids in parks and gardens) rather than economic reasons should be banned on city- and county-owned lands.

For more information, check out the Xerces Society pesticides webpage.

So you slept through science class, part 7–healthy streams…..

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Many of you have been following our family’s stream monitoring adventures and know that the streams in our area are not particularly healthy.  Several readers have been asking me why the streams are in the shape they’re in.  Urban streams are often “sick” for a number of reasons, including nitrogen and phosphorous runoff, the speed of the water moving through the streams (which increases erosion and decreases the soil’s natural filtering of pollutants), temperature changes in the water, and various toxic pollutants.  Here’s a  short, informative video from a division of NBC that does a nice job of explaining some of the threats to our local urban and suburban waterways: