Do You Know By Rcdohare

By R.C.Dohare B.E.(mech),PGDCSc,M.E.(Env.Sc.&EnG.) Thursday, June 18, 2009

Up to 75 or 80 percent of our clothing's lifecycle impact comes from washing and drying, because it takes so much energy to heat the wash water and run the drying cycle. That means that, though it's typically the largest impact, there's lots of room to make the process greener. Yep, in addition to a huge reduction in pesticides, organic cotton also requires less water. A conventional producer of cotton requires 3000 cubic meters of water per acre more than the organic farmer. According to Patagonia's Footprint Chronicles —the life cycle assessment process they're using to measure the impact of their garments—a pair of Wave farer Board Shorts travels 10,785 miles, from fabric sourcing in Japan, manufacturing in Thailand, to their distribution center in Reno, Nevada. That same pair of shorts racks up a carbon footprint of about 18 pounds, and uses almost 20 kilowatt hours of electricity. According to this German study , (here's an English translation of the numbers ) sea freight is the greenest shipping method, though there are ranges of carbon emissions for each method, depending on factors like space efficiency (how full each ship is, for example) and the like. Though there is some overlap in the numbers—train shipping can be pretty efficient—sea freight usually comes out on top Though lots of cargo fits on air freighters, the slower the shipping, in general, the greener it is. Air freight emits about five times as much carbon dioxide, per pound of material shipped, compared to truck freight. Rail freight is even more efficient—about twice as efficient as trucks, on average—but, sadly, train shipping isn't often an option for consumers at the point of sale. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste, which includes anything made of fabric, is annually collected and prevented from entering directly into the waste stream. This represents almost 10 pounds for every person in the United States, but is still just 15 percent of all textiles tossed each year While textile recycling has come a long way in recent years, a viable method to recycle nylon—a petroleumbased fabric—came most recently to the clothing industry. In a process that took 17 years, garment company Patagonia first initiated audits of their textiles, and then developed processes to recycle and reuse them. In-store polyester started in 2005, and nylon is now on board. Mulesing is the grisly-sounding practice in which a layer of skin around the animal's rear end is removed to help prevent disease. Certain breeds of sheep are susceptible to "fly strike," whereby flies lay eggs in the skin of the sheep, which hatch and literally eat the animal from inside—yikes! While some folks think mulesing helps insuring the long-term health of wool-producing sheep, animal welfare advocates tend to disagree. So if you care about the health of those who help produce your clothes, look for mulesing-free wool. According to Continental Clothing, a U.K.-based clothing label who initiated the world's first Carbon Reduction Label for textiles, the carbon footprint of the life cycle of one of their t-shirts is about 5 pounds. That number is smaller than many conventional designers because of their use of renewable energy, and they recommend further reducing it by skipping the clothes dryer and washing in cold water.

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China accounts for about 30 percent of world apparel exports, according to the UN Commodity Trade Statistics database. In her 2005 book The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy , Pietra Rivoli, a professor of international business at the McDonough School of Business of Georgetown University, writes that each year, Americans purchase approximately 1 billion garments made in China, the equivalent of four pieces of clothing for every U.S. citizen. Using a bike for transportation can help you lose weight and improve your overall health. The health benefits of regular aerobic exercise are well known. Depending on your riding style and local road conditions, you could easily burn 600 calories an hour through brisk cycling. Most bike commuters report losing 15 to 20 pounds during their first year in the saddle without changing their eating habits. And it isn't just the cash that is spent; it is also the pollution that is saved. During its lifetime, on the road, each car produces another 1.3 billion cubic yards of polluted air and scatters an additional 40 pounds of worn tire particles, brake debris and worn road surface into the atmosphere. An astounding 16% of people in Portland use their bikes for their basic transportation. in Boulder, Colorado, it is 14%. In New York, the number of individuals cycling to work increased by 35% when the city started adding lots of bike lanes in 2002. Is cycling safe? It depends how you look at the statistics; if you look at injuries per mile traveled, bikes probably don't look that safe. But if you look at the amount of time spent doing the activity, the Exposure Hour, it might be different. For example, driving a motorcycle has a death rate of 8.8 per million hours of exposure. The average of all causes of death is 1.53 fatalities per million hours of exposure. Passenger cars have a rate of0 .47 fatalities per million hours. Bikes has a rate of0 .26/million hours. According to the study by failure accessors Exponent , bikes have a fatality rate of half of that of cars. In some ways that makes sense; cars go a lot faster. But others have questioned this study and suggest that cycling has a death rate that is higher than driving, as much as twice as high. But it is still a fraction of that from riding a motorcycle or scooter. A gallon of gasoline contains about 31,000 calories, and "Bicycles can travel at least 10 times farther on a given amount of energy than the most efficient car," according to Nicholas Goddard, a graduate of Duke University who decided to see just how far he could bike on 31,000 calories. He rode the 633 miles over eight days, eating a wide range of foods, including "two Gatorades, five ham-and-cheese sandwiches, a steak burrito from Cosmic Cantina, a glass of sangria, a quesadilla, chips and salsa, and a pint of beer." According to the New England Journal of Medicine, "Riders with helmets had an 85 percent reduction in their risk of head injury and an 88 percent reduction in their risk of brain injury. We conclude that bicycle safety helmets are highly effective in preventing head injury. Helmets are particularly important for children, since they suffer the majority of serious head injuries from bicycling accidents." Helmet laws like those in effect in Australia levy a substantial cost on healthcare systems because savings from fewer head injuries pale in comparison to the costs incurred by decreases in cycling-people were getting less exercise. World Environment Day, or WED, is an United Nations-sponsored World Environment Day . Held annually during the week of June 5, the event is commemorated with an international exposition hosted in a different city each year. Started in 1972, the goal of WED is to encourage awareness of environmental issues and spark public and political action. Based on studies of the fossil record, Paleontologists estimate the "background" extinction rate (rate of extinction without the presence of humans), to be between one and 10 species per year , per million present at the time. However, many scientists believe that the extinction rate could now be as high as 100 to 10,000 species per year (adjusting for an estimated 10 million species on earth). The increase is attributed to loss of habitat, global warming, and diminished resources.

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The United States is responsible for 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions, pumping an average of 6.049 billion metric tons into the atmosphere every year. China, with 18% or 5 billion tons, and the European Union, with 14% or 4 billion tons.. Most scientists agree that between the 1899-1901 and 1999-2001 measurement periods, the average global temperature has risen from 13.88 degrees Celsius to 14.44 degrees, representing a 0.56 degree increase. It might not seem like a lot, but the change is alarming for a few reasons. Most worrying is that the rate of increase has climbed dramatically in the last two decades, suggesting that the future will bring radically warmer temperatures. The NRDC estimates that the cost from just four things— hurricane damage, real estate losses, energy costs, and water costs—impacted by global warming could cost the United States $1.9 trillion annually by 2100. Most estimates place the number of bicycles in the world between 1 billion and 1.5 billion. Compared to the global population, which now exceeds 6.5 billion, this doesn't seem like a lot. Still, it's more than twice the number of passenger vehicles, which still hovers around 500 million. While cheap cars being manufactured in India threaten to shift this ratio, several projects are also underway to bring pedal power to even more people. Current models show half the world's population living in areas of "acute water shortage" by 2030. Even today, access to potable water is a significant issue. In May 2009, more than 50 acts of violence over water were reported. Experts believe that using 2.5 gallons per person per day is sustainable for the world but Americans use an average of 100 gallons per day. Clearly, something must be done if we are going to avoid a "Peak Water" scenario. Worldwide, 284 million tons of meat is produced annually. This has increased dramatically from the 71 million tons produced in 1961. Global meat consumption has exploded due to increased affluence and the spread of industrialized production and some experts believe that consumption will double again by 2050. So what does this mean for the environment? Producing meat requires 16 times more energy than the same weight of rice and vegetables and generates 24 times the emissions. Since the 1950s, global annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from 5 million tons to nearly 100 million tons. Americans alone throw away 100 billion plastic bags every year. It's true that plastic is used in a wide range of applications, from medical technology to electronics, housewares to transportation. Still, 35% of all plastic is used for packaging purposes. the protein myth states that we need up to 100 grams of protein daily if we want a healthy body, strong physique, and big, beautiful muscles. Athletes and coaches have only helped to further this myth by advocating protein up the kazoo (quite literally, as many forms of animal protein are known to hang out in the digestive tract a very long time). Most research suggests that the average healthy individual needs only somewhere between 2 to 5 percent of our daily calories from protein, which is easily achieved by the vegetarian. most recent study shows body required 0.35 gram/kilogram of body weight. A hybrid vehicle shared between four people is your best option, while a plane is by far your worst. A hybrid between four people from New York to San Fransisco would produce somewhere around 305 lbs of CO2 (per person). Taking a bus would emit approximately 520 lbs CO2, A train traveling the same distance would emit 1,220 lbs of CO2, and a plane (airliner) a whopping 2,446 lbs CO2. While the verdict is out as to whether or not cooking with nonstick pans made with Perfluorooctanoic Acid is carcinogenic, we do know these types of pans cannot hold a candle to a properly season cast-iron pan. Non-stick coated pans used on a daily basis may last anywhere from one to five years before enough of the coating has faded to no longer work properly. Cast-iron on the other hand can last 100 years if properly seasoned, and its non-stick capabilities only get better with age! It is a myth that a computer will last the longest if left on. It is also untrue that screen savers save energy, and in fact, not even sleep mode saves all that much energy. The only way to truly achieve maximum

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efficiency and longevity it to turn a computer all the way off. Most experts agree that a computer will need replacing due to outdated technology long before multiple switching on and off will have a negative impact. It is a big misconception that air-conditioning is not efficient. In truth, today's modern vehicles are so welldesigned, driving a vehicle on the highway with the windows up and air-conditioning on, is the same as driving with the windows down (loss of aerodynamics) and air-conditioner off. This was proven by a series of tests conducted by Edmunds.com. The lesson here is just to drive whichever way makes you feel most comfortable whenever driving on the highway. A microwave uses the least amount of energy, especially for smaller portions of food. While microwaves do gobble up a lot of energy, as much as 800 watts in some cases, their quick method of heating allows them to use less energy over the long run. This is not to say that stoves do not have their place, as once heated, they can cook a rather large meal with reasonable efficiency due to their heat retention.

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