04 April 2008

Ten Things You Should Never Buy Again


1.  Styrofoam cups
2.  Paper towels
3.  Bleached coffee filters
4.  Teak and mahogany
5.  Chemical pesticides and herbicides
6.  Conventional household cleaners
7.  Toys made with PVC plastic
8.  Plastic forks and spoons
9.  Farm raised salmon
10.  Rayon
(and 11.  Cling Wrap!)

Why?  Click here to go to Coop America's Top Ten List of Things You Should Never Buy Again to find out why!

5 comments:

  1. isnt farm raised salmon a great thing since it reduces overfishing?

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  2. i did wonder the same thing. if you clicked on the Coop America's site i provided above, they provide the reasons behind their Top Ten list. i copied this from their site:

    1. Farm raised salmon. Several studies, including one performed by researchers at Indiana University, have found that PCB's and other environmental toxins are present at higher levels in farm raised salmon than wild salmon.

    Pregnant women, women of child-bearing ages, and children should be very careful when choosing fish due to high levels of environmental toxins including mercury found in many fish. Check out our Safe Seafood Tip Sheet to see what the environmental and health risks posed by different fish.

    Avoid:

    Catfish (farmed) (T), Caviar (wild) (E), Chilean sea bass/toothfish (E), Cod (Atlantic) (T, E), Grouper (E), Gulf Coast Oysters (T), Halibut (T, E), King mackerel (T), Largemouth bass (T), Marlin (T), Monkfish (E), Orange Roughy (T, E), Pike (T), Pacific rockfish/rock cod (E), Salmon (Great Lakes) (T), Salmon (Atlantic and most farmed) (T, E), Sea bass (T), Shark (T, E), Shrimp (wild, imported) (E), Snapper (T*, E), Sturgeon (wild) (E), Swordfish (T), Tilefish (T), Tuna (canned) (T), Tuna steaks (T, E), Walleye (T), White croaker (T)

    Data from: FDA, EPA, Environmental Working Group, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Blue Oceans Institute, Environmental Defense.

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  3. Pesticides and herbicides-- most definetely not recommended! thought to share this to those who love gardening... I do organic gardening and have a few ways to remove pests from my gardens. I use unbleached filter brewed coffee grounds into my garden (yes, I put filter in my garden). I compost my soil naturally by adding all foods that grows from the ground (i.e.- apples, banana, coffee grounds, etc). Pests hates coffee. Pests love damp dark places. I do not wet my plants. I only water where the roots grow, meaning water the base of the plants. It works and my gardens look great! (Maybe it depends on where you live?) Also for vegetables, fruit, and herb gardening, change the location of plants yearly because pests do remember where your "last year" plants were planted.

    --Tina Ann

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  4. Tina Ann,

    I could not help but smile broadly and thank you for the coffee grounds in filter tip and watering only the base of plants. I will definitely take you up on the grounded coffee aspect. Nonetheless, watering only the base of plants is quite time consuming. Although I live in the city and have a lot, I have a lot of plants/veggies/fruits and trees. I just cannot imagine watering each one of them one by one. Usually, I hose them. When it comes to slugs, I use beer in shallow dishes and place those near the plants. The other thing that I really like is using Neem Oil. It deters bugs. Another thing that deters bugs is having many birds around - and I arrange for that by having bird food (sunflower seeds are most popular) to attract the birds. It is fun to watch different types of birds and rest assured that the bugs are decimated by numbers.

    Dina

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  5. Concerning salmon, here is some information by PETA how they suffer:

    http://www.fishinghurts.com/feat/salmon/?c=weekly_enews

    All animals die a horrendeous death for human consumption, be it food and/or their skin. I just learned that 97% of all pigs/piglets are crated and mistreated since birth until slaughterhouse. That leaves only 3% a life of freedom and happiness.

    Same goes for many other farmed animals, I'm certain. It makes me wonder if we humans are really compassionate and intelligent because of the treatment we allowed of the animals.

    Katherine

    ReplyDelete