The point of purchasing environmentally responsible products is that they are environmentally responsible, ethically sourced and manufactured. Unfortunately, products manufactured with Palm Oil are contributing to the demand for Palm Oil. A demand that is being met through deforestation, razing the forests, firing the land and establishing palm plantations.
This practice is a leading cause of the destruction of habitats for the animals and people of South Asia.
According to Toni Soehartono (Conservation Director of the Indonesian Forestry Department) on the killing of Orangutans for Palm Oil development,
I’m sure that happens – in order to establish palm oil land companies clear forests, which causes the death of fauna such as orang utans and gibbons I Kalimenatan and elephants, tigers and others, including orangutans in Sumatra. But all development requires sacrifice-we just have to make it equal to some extent.” (The Australian, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent, November 10, 2007)
We at The Zero Point cannot support this.
To do our part, we’re working to remove products from our community store that are manufactured with Palm Oil.As a result, some of your favourite products, such as the Ecover line are no longer being carried in store. We have replaced them with the Canadian made, palm oil free, BIOVERT line, Faerhaven Soaps and Ecological/Economical laundry soaps, shampoo and skin care line.
“Oil Palm is the world’s most productive oil seed generating more vegetable oil at a lower cost than any other crop per unit of area. A single hectare of oil palm may yield nearly 6, 000 liters of crude palm oil, outperforming soy, canola/rapeseed, and corn by ten to twenty fold.” (www.pan.org)
If you want to know why the building industry is excited about things green, you only need look at the Global Shades of Green survey that was released by TNS in May 2008. In the US, 49 per cent of respondents agreed that they are more aware of eco-issues than they were five years ago and 53 per cent of those surveyed said they would be willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.
It is clear that a consumer market has emerged and with all this potential in the market, it might be a good time to ask the question: what exactly constitutes ‘green’ paint today?
The ideal ‘green’ coating will have minimal impact to the environment, including air, water, land, wildlife and people, yet perform the primary functions of protecting and beautifying. These last two points are vital. If ‘green’ paints don’t perform at least as well as their predecessors, we won’t see widespread market acceptance.
The Makings of Eco-friendly Paint
Every paint producer has the ability to make a greener coating by simply removing the ‘bad actors’ from the formula. Making a green coating that meets the requirements of the manufacturing environment, the paint specifier, the painting contractor and the consumer is much more difficult.
For every raw material reduced or formulated out, there is an impact on performance. That means new ingredient options need to be evaluated.
Reducing VOCs (volatile organic compounds) is the first tactic of every paint formulator charged with building environmentally friendly paint. The biggest contributors to VOC are co-solvents and coalescing agents, which together account for more than 90 per cent of VOC. At the same time, there are other issues in developing green paints that can be addressed.
Looking Beyond VOCs
Many of the chemicals manufacturers wish to formulate out of paint will not be “ingredients” listed on the recipe. These include sub-components of raw material or constituents generated by the raw material. For example, many manufacturers have actively formulated out formaldehyde-producing ingredients for years. By adjusting the biocide package, formulators may remove this OSHA-listed carcinogen from paint products.
Another consideration is the removal of crystalline silica, found in extender pigments since crystalline silica in paint has been linked to inhalation dangers to the lungs during sanding of the dry paint film.
Some ‘green’ building certifications, such as the one granted by GreenGuard Environmental Institute, also require that coatings be free of alkylphenol ethoxylates (APE). APEs are commonly found in nonionic surfactants that assist with colour acceptance, product stability and freeze-thaw stability in paint formulas. Unfortunately, according to published reports, APEs have been shown in laboratory studies to mimic the effects of the hormone estradiol and are suspected of causing health issues. APE-containing surfactants can be introduced into paint via three routes: the resin system, added directly to the paint formula, or in the colorant package. Thus, for a paint to reach many green certifications, a formulator must examine all three sources in order to formulate out these compounds.
Addressing VOCs and performance
As mentioned earlier, reducing VOCs—and hence odour—in a paint formulation is the primary target of concern and technology development, and this means addressing the fundamental issue of solvents and coalescing agents.
Additives like defoamers and surfactants may add a trace amount of VOC to the resulting paint product, however, these ingredients typically do not pose an issue for manufacturers trying to reach 100 or even 50 g/L VOC.
Solvents and coalescing agents play a critical role in film formation, open time and freeze/thaw stability and may not be left out without making a fundamental change to the paint formula. They are essential to conventional (solvent-containing) paint formulations.
Now more than ever, low odour, eco-friendly paints can be marketed to the growing market for green products. They are better for the environment, with lower VOCs and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) and improve indoor air quality.
They pose a lower risk to the professional painter who has high exposure rates. And consumers who want to protect their family’s health and the environment prefer them.
While legislators (in Canada and the US) may dictate a VOC number, meeting the consumer needs for more environmentally-friendly products will drive the profitability of paint manufacturers in the future.
Written by Craig Mitchell for Coatings World, March 2009
Reprinted here with permission from Craig Mitchell.
Welcome to the beginning of summer... well sort of! We've been very busy at The Zero Point getting people ready for their spring and summer renovation projects, but there's one area that has been on a lot of people's minds lately - The Garden. Yes folks, it's about time to get the seeds in the ground, but for those of us who haven't the time or space for a full-scale garden there is good news!
Gardening Guru and local food activist Zora Ignjatovic will be hosting a workshop this Sunday May 30th from 10 am to 12pm on her innovative Living Food Boxes. Please stop by the store to learn how easy it is to grow your own food and have fun doing it!
Here's what Zora has to say about the Living Food Boxes:
Living Food Box
Life affirming education
We are in a time of great planetary awakening. Wanted are pioneering souls who are willing to unleash their true potential and Be the Change!
The Living Food Box is the easy and simple tool to access the space of connectedness without feeling overwhelmed. Manageable size garden in a box will open the whole new world of consciousness about the world we belong. Especially convenient for kids, youth, older and people who doesn't have access to the land.
This activity can help us to find our Heart's Path and make a decision that keep us safe and allow us to move in harmony with our larger world.
To me it is the way to share sustainable solutions about producing and eating local food which is highly nutritious and vibrationally charged. It allows me to share my passion for gardening as an active participation in deepest mysteries of the universe. Trough engagement with this portable garden people are able to discover the place of beauty and go back to the times when gardens and forests were part of our common spiritual tradition. I am teaching people that we can produce our own medicines and culinary nourishment and open the gate to a deeper understanding of our roots and reconnect with our Mother Earth. Creating the soil is one of the most important tasks and it help us to expand the understanding of growing and tending of plants and deepen the union with the source of life.
Living Food Box is a small model for all this lessons and I am trying to spread the good word.
Now Magazine's Adria Vasil was interviewed on Earth Day by CFRB 1010's John Tory. She brought along with her some popular products from The Zero Point.
One that generated a lot of interest was our new BYE BYE STANDBY Energy saving Kit. The starter kit consists of two plug adapters and a remote control that allows you to save valuable standby energy in your home with the press of one button. Instead of crawling around on the floor unplugging and switching off power bars just use the handy programmable remote which can control up to 12 different outlets from up to 90 feet away.
Plug in your TV, computer, stereo, lamps and other electronic gear and turn them off easily when you leave the house or go to bed for the night. Say goodbye to the vampires!
On March 27 at 8:30pm it will be Earth Hour. I love this time because I'm usually so busy running and driving everywhere this is my time to stop. I get to turn off the lights with my children, light our candles and talk.
We tell stories, sing songs and generally cuddle. My children are 5 and 7 so there is a lot of cuddling. For me Earth Hour is time that I get back for family. A time I get to focus on family. I am so glad that during this 1 hour every year, we all get the opportunity to turn everything off, allow our bodies to relax and just breathe.
Plastics are classified by their Resin Identification Code, a number, from 1 to 7. When you look at the bottom of your container you'll see the familiar recycling triangle with a number in the middle. This number represents the type of resin your container has.
Resin Code
Description
Properties
Examples
What to Buy
Recyclabe?
1
Polyethylene Terephthalat (PET, PETE)
Clear, smooth surface
Water and Soft Drink Bottles, Textiles, Carpet
Yes, with caution.
Fine for Single Use.
Do Not Reuse as plastic is porous and lead to bacteria.
A customer came into the showroom a couple of days ago and asked us for a Sigg bottle. We told him we don't carry them because of the BPA issue (Sigg admitted the lining of some of their bottles contained BPA) and he became angry and stormed out.
We laughed it off at the time, but on reflection I started to think, were we too flippant, had we made an assumption? We assumed everyone was aware of the front page press on the Sigg issue and obviously our assumption was incorrect. So, for that our apologies. But let's clear this up for our readers and customers.
We carry Klean Kanteen Bottles in a variety of sizes, colours and insulated and non insulated. We carry the Kanteens because they are stainless steel only. They are not lined with BPA because stainless steel does not require this additional step because stainless steel is non reactive. Meaning, it does not react with water, foods or, other liquids. Stainless steel means that what you put into the bottle is what you get out of the bottle.
What is BPA?
BPA or Bisephenol A is an ingredient used in the chemical compound lining of canned goods for food, juice and milk and in plastics such as, baby bottles, water bottles, storage containers, CDs, bike helmets and sunglasses. It is also used to coat the inside of bottle tops and metal cans.
What is the concern around BPA?
One of the major safety concerns of BPA is that is unsafe at (even) the low levels used in plastic bottles and other food containers. (The Wall Street Journal, FDA to Revist Decision on Safety of BPA by Jared A. Favole, June 3, 2009)
Since BPA appears to mimic hormones it can potentially act as a hormone disruptor interfering with normal growth. This concern affects children who are growing more than adults who have already reached their potential. There also appears to be a link between BPA and some cancers, Type II diabetes and obesity.
While the debate over BPA continues to rage, with the chemical industry attempting to refute every suggestion that this is a harmful chemical, many scientists are fighting back. The following is a response from Frederick S. vom Saal (University of Missouri) and Claude Hughes (East Carolina University) refuting a report from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA) that was funded by the American Plastics Council in 2004. This is signicant because governments researching whether or not to ban BPA are using studies done in the 1990's to make their decisions.
Here is the response from vom Saal and Hughes:
Our commentary describing the extensive new literature reporting low-dose effects of bisphenol A (BPA) in experimental animals (vom Saal and Hughes 2005) was written in response to a report from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA) by Gray et al. (2004), who concluded that “the weight of the evidence for low-dose effects [of BPA] is very weak.” The HCRA report was funded by the American Plastics Council and involved a selective review of only 19 of a much larger number of studies that could have been reviewed. In our commentary we showed that a comprehensive review of the now extensive literature concerning studies in experimental animals that used doses of BPA within the range of human exposure led to exactly the opposite conclusion from that reached in the HCRA report (Gray et al. 2004), which was released 2.5 years after it was written.
At this time there are only two published epidemiologic studies showing a relationship between blood levels of BPA and diseases in humans. In his letter, Politch focuses his attention on a single study by Takeuchi et al. (2004) that describes a relationship between BPA in blood and polycystic ovary disease (PCOS) in Japanese women. In a second recently published article, Sugiura-Ogasawara et al. (2005) reported a relationship between blood levels of BPA and recurrent miscarriage in Japanese women. Politch seeks to deflect attention from the central issue of our review by focusing only on the study by Takeuchi et al. (2004) and stating that such studies “cannot address causal relationships” and suggesting that “appropriately controlled” human studies are required. We are certain that readers of Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) realize that these are criticisms that can be directed at all epidemiologic studies, which can never achieve the control required in laboratory experiments. Additionally, there is always some risk in arguing the methodologic details of a peer-reviewed publication in one field of scientific research (epidemiology) when the commentator’s core expertise (biopsychology) lies elsewhere. Most importantly, based on his criticism of the levels of BPA reported in the blood of women by Takeuchi et al. (2004), Politch appears to be unaware of the large literature concerning the levels of BPA in human blood, urine, and tissues from studies conducted in different regions of the world reporting virtually identical mean and/or median values. For example, in a recent study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Calafat et al. (2005) found BPA in 95% of the human urine samples they assayed—in the same range reported in human blood in other studies (e.g., Schonfelder et al. 2002; Tan and Mohd 2003). All of this published literature is listed in a document available on the University of Missouri Endocrine Disruptor web site (Endocrine Disruptors Group 2005).
One point-of-view expressed by Politch that we strongly support is the proposition that human studies linking developmental exposure with adult disease are also required, based on the extensive evidence that the developing fetus and neonate are the most vulnerable to endocrine disruption. We hope that the planned National Children’s Study will address this issue and begin to characterize which exposures are and are not consequential for human health. In the absence of such a study, which will take decades to complete, we rely on experimental studies in animals to make decisions regarding the potential hazards posed by chemicals.
Our comment that the epidemiologic evidence “adds to our concern” about the potential hazards posed to humans by BPA hardly qualifies as justification for the criticism that we “overstated the importance” of this or any other single study. Our concern about the potential hazards of BPA to humans is justified by the fact that the limited epidemiologic studies do follow and generally support findings from over 125 experiments with laboratory animals showing that low doses of BPA cause adverse effects on a wide range of outcomes. We also pointed out in our article (vom Saal and Hughes 2005) that 100% of the studies showing significant effects of BPA in laboratory animals were funded by government agencies, and 100% of the studies funded by chemical corporations conclude that the same low doses of BPA do not cause significant effects. What is crucial in relation to the critique by Politch is that the two epidemiologic studies relating BPA in blood to diseases in women are consistent with the findings from studies of the hazards of BPA in animals at doses that lead to blood levels in animals within and below those detected in human blood.
The bottom line is that we all have to make our own decisions on what is safe for ourselves and our family. In my home, I have removed almost all plastic and we use glass more often than not. In my store, I have decided to carry Klean Kanteens and not Sigg. I want to work with companies that pride themselves on putting safety and ethics before profit. Klean Kanteen does this. Sigg does not.
If you've ever been concerned about germs, viruses and other bugs, you may have reached for the bleach, ammonia or other powerful synthetic chemicals. But the potential effects of these chemicals, found in so many products, are dangerous. Tumors, liver damage, Irritation of the lungs (usually indicated by coughing) and reproductive disorders are not worth the risk.
Did you know that you need to let bleach sit for at least 5 minutes before you wipe it up? When was the last time you let bleach sit for that long on any surface? Most people I've spoken with, pour it on and wipe it up. If that's your m.o. then you're wasting your money. Pour it on, wipe it up, does nothing besides wasting your money. Check out the directions on the bleach bottle if you are in any doubt.
There are safer ways to clean. My favourite is the Ladybug Steam Cleaners.
Like other steam vapor systems, they use only water to clean, but that's where all similarities end. Ladybug systems are made in Italy and are of robust design and function. What makes them unique is TANCS. Thermo Accelarted Nano Crystal Sanitation has allowed the Ladybugs to be certified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a DISINFECTANT.
Water. As a disinfectant. Pretty amazing!
These steam vapor systems clean every area of your home eliminating the need for hundreds of cleaning products every year. We have a self cleaning oven and we use the steamer to clean the racks since they can't be cleaned in the oven on the self cleaning cycle.
We use them to clean/disinfect our countertops, floors, door handles, bathrooms, beds, walls, everywhere. My favourite part of these systems is the steam gets into places cleaning products cannot, all those nooks and crannies that usually remain dirty get cleaned with the Ladybug.
The next best part of steam vapor cleaning with the Ladybug is my home stays clean longer! Because nothing gets left behind with the Ladybug. There is no chemical residue, no perfumey odours, nothing. My home is clean and it smells clean. There is no "mountain dew scent," no "fresh like a spring day," odour. There's nothing, but the abscence of odours and scents. It's really amazing.
As you can tell, I love my Ladybug.
One of our customers from Nova Scotia shortly after he received his Ladybug Steam System called us. He had one question, “The dirt just keeps coming, When do I stop cleaning?” We told him, it’s up to him. When you clean your home with a Ladybug Steam Vapor System, the steam reaches into areas that a traditional cleaning product cannot get to and pushes the dirt up for you to wipe away. So clean until no more dirt is being released and take comfort in knowing that your home really is clean enough to eat off the floors.
The Ladybug Steam Vapor Systems are serious appliances. Ladybug red, elegant, robust and durable, they come with a comprehensive warranty that attests to the strength, sophistication and durability of these incredible machines.
Get rid of the plastic BPA Water Bottles and say farewell to expensive water delivery.
A very basic need that we cannot do with out. Yet more and more of our water is being polluted and our solutions to disinfecting it sometimes cause even greater problems.
Instead of spending money on bottled water of dubious quality, treat yourself to a Santevia Water System. This affordable water purifier sits on your countertop and with each slow drip removes chlorine, rust, lead and mercury. The Bio Ceramic layer breaks water molecules into minute fractions to greatly improve absorption and increase the oxygen content. All for a fraction of the cost of bottled water and with none of the environmental impact.
Don’t forget to take your water with you in of our stainless steel Kanteen water Bottles.
If your tastes run to the elegant and the artistic, you can order AcquaOvo a water purifier that embodies both form and function. The striking egg-shaped body keeps up to 11 liters of water cool and fresh without electricity.
2. Chemical Free Disinfection:
The average Canadian Household has between 25 and 40 different cleaning products. They are expensive, most likely little used and definitely wasting space.
Pack up your products and toss them in the dump (the toxic section please) and improve your health: financial and body.
We really only need a few key products for cleaning: a good plant based soap, all purpose cleaner, scouring powder and well, really that’s it. Of course you’ll need a laundry soap and in our winters (okay, not so bad at all this year) a fabric softener.
Now the math is pretty simple here – 25 products minus 20 products equals big savings, which means more money in your pocket.
Removing all the toxic products and using only non toxic healthy products means improving your health because you’re not inhaling all those carcinogens and other nasty stuff.
Bamboo has seen an incredible rise in popularity as a flooring product in last few years because of its beauty and durability. When purchasing bamboo flooring, be sure to make sure the company producing it is taking care to pay workers in overseas factories fairly, that the bamboo is being harvested sustainably (between 5-7 years) and the quality is being controlled at all levels of manufacturing.
Bamboo is often harvested before maturity to speed up the process. This results in the weaker, softer products on the market which are giving bamboo a bad name! More often than not Urea Formaldehyde is added to Bamboo flooring as an adhesive and preservative. This can off-gas toxic fumes into your home compromising indoor air quality for you and your family. EcoTimber® ‘s Bamboo flooring is rated number one on the Consumer Reports flooring list. It is NAUF (No Added Urea Formaldehyde) and sustainably harvested and matured for 6-7 years before harvesting to ensure superior quality.
