GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

Top Green Living Blog

8/18/2014

Back on July 24, 2014 I was pleased to announce that GoingTrueGreen's Blog was nominated for a Blog Award.

Today I am honored to share the news that eCollegeFinder.org selected Going True Green's Blog for the:

TOP GREEN LIVING BLOG AWARD

I know that a major contributing factor to receiving this acknowledgement is because of our followers, readers, and my support team of experts throughout the fields of living a sustainable life who I collaborate with regularly.

Also the Likes, Comments, Discussions, Emails, and Website visits help provide a clean well rounded evaluation of our situations and the presentation of better solutions. I graciously extend my sincere thanks to all of you who have made a contribution in the form of a "Like" or "Insight".

In part, the email received stated:

"We’ve selected Going True Green as a winner of eCollegeFinder’s Top Green Living Blogs Award! Your blog stood out amongst stiff competition and is now featured on our site as a recommended technology resource for our readers."

Thank you,
Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmental Scientist at
GoingTrueGreen.com
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Watermelon With Seeds

8/15/2014

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seedless fruit, Genetically Modified, GM foods, seedless, watermelon with seeds, amish, farm, farm stand, composting, clone bananas, corn, food labels, backyard, super bugs, propagate, Cavendish cultivar

Amish Farm, PA.

As I stood by an Amish farm stand in Pennsylvania, I found my thoughts going back to when I was a child eating watermelon in my grandparents big city backyard.
"Grandma, what do I do with the pits?" I then presented a fist full of pits in my left hand as I held a slice of watermelon in the other.
"Toss the seeds in the garden on the pile of coffee grinds," Grandma directed as she pointed to the small compost pile she had that was mostly comprised of egg shells and coffee grinds.

Then some years later the pits magically disappeared from watermelon. I was older then and at first I thought this was fantastic! Today I miss the pits and not because of memories, but because of my need to know why...

Seedless Watermelon

Seedless fruit possess no mature seeds and consumption is more enjoyable, thus you have a product that is more commercially valuable than fruit with seeds. Today we have seedless watermelons, tomatoes, grapes, oranges, lemons, limes, and bananas just to sell more of a product and increase profits. Were these steps necessary? I think not, because watermelon is my favorite fruit. I would have purchased no less over the years if the seeds remained.

Yet, the situation grows... Just perhaps, because of the success with seedless fruits we now have an onslaught of Genetically Modified (GM) foods. Now this is a concern I have because all the facts are not in and long term research is obscured at best. Also our current government administration has failed us by no longer backing Label laws that would help guide us when purchasing our food. Additionally, reports have been presented showing concerns between GM foods and issues with bees and insects. Bees pollinate and GM seeds with pesticides built in "may" be creating super bugs.

Nevertheless, we must feed the masses and the "only way" we are told (or sold) this can be done is through GM foods. That is why they are working hard in the lab to have corn stalks produce two or three ears of corn per stalk instead of the natural God given one. Only way? Sorry, there is always another way!

How about more people start to have their own gardens. Let them be in an unused field, backyard, rooftop or window sills. What is wrong with people helping to feed themselves and others? Lower profits, that's what is wrong.

So what do "We the People" receive from companies that put money first and people last?

- To kill insects that consume our crops we have added genetically modified proteins to perforate cell membranes of insects. Can these insect killing proteins harm us when we eat the food? Consequences to these actions are really unknown. The majority of studies are done over 90 days and this short time span can not adequately evaluate chronic toxicity!

- Genetically Modified corn and soy has shown serious concerns in some studies for liver and kidney problems after consumption.

- Lacking seeds means there is no capacity to propagate from the fruit, so man has to propagate by "vegetatively" with cuttings or grafting. Bananas are done this way and are genetically identical clones.

There are known disadvantages with seedless crops. A decrease in genetic diversity occurs for the species. So a disease or insect that attacks one version can be capable of affecting each clone of that version. One example now being used is from bananas. A vast majority of commercially produced bananas are from a single source called the Cavendish cultivar. These plants are now being attacked worldwide by a new fungal disease. All the cloned Cavendish cultivar are highly susceptible and mankind doesn't have anything to stop this attack.

So there I stood by the Amish farm stand looking at watermelons and I asked, "Do your watermelons have the big seeds in them?"
"Yes, they have seeds," was the answer I received with a smile that seemed to say why won't they have seeds.
"Can you sell me some of your watermelon seeds?"
The young lady smiled, turned around and looked at her little sister who then reached behind a basket. She came up to me and handed me a fist full of watermelon pits. There was no charge. I smiled and thank them.
I will be growing my own watermelons with seeds in my backyard from now on. My grandma would be proud.

Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmental Scientist at
GoingTrueGreen.com
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GTG Galleries

8/8/2014

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Going Green, Going True Green, sustainable living, saving our environment, energy, saving energy, GTG, Zazzle, saving the world, go green, green, environmental actions

GTG's Gallery Web Page

Excuse this post for not being a "true" blog about Going True Green to save money, energy and earth.

Thank you for allowing me some of your time to announce that our GTG Galleries are working on our website. For those who emailed and asked about when items with our Logo will be available, thank you for your patience. We now have 3 Galleries to peruse and they will grow over time.

The first is our Gift Gallery with shirts, hats, grocery bags, and coffee mugs. Each item is sporting our GTG Logo. The products are produced by Zazzle and most items are made with sustainable steps. Clothing such as T-Shirts, are organic and you can view a few examples below:

GTG's Reusable Grocery Bag

GTG's Embroidered Cap

GTG's Polo Shirt

The second Gallery offers HD Prints. These photographs are produced by professional photographers and you can frame them to match your own decor when hanging them around your business or home. Some examples are:

Rochester Flood

Butterfly Sequence

Below Orlando

Our last Gallery is for Books. All books will be from BBV Publishing who prints here in the United States. They ensure that their publishing process leaves little or no waste, saves trees and energy, while allowing the reader to still hold a book in their hands. Of course with their commitment to help the environment they also offer all of their books in a variety of digital formats. The first book that will be offered has yet to be titled and will be a critical, but constructive look at ourselves as Americans and the way we produce, sell, and consume energy.

The reason as to why we established these galleries is because we need each of you to help share information about our work done here at GoingTrueGreen.com and EnergyHotwire.com. We can't do this alone and yes, there will be a few dollars from each purchase you make that comes back to us as support. For that, all of us at Going True Green sincerely Thank You. Together we can make a difference!

Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmental Scientist at
GoingTrueGreen.com
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Stop Wasting Waste

8/1/2014

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garbage, garbage cans, waste, trash, recycle, reuse, reduce, resources, pollution, going green, going true green

Last week, Going True Green's Blog provided information about Electronic waste and recycling. This current blog is about Waste and some numbers associated with what we throw out because we think or consider it garbage.

For my first job after college I was an Environmental Specialist Level Two at a Resource Recovery plant. I prepared data reports on electrical, oil, water, air and steam usage from the overall system that created power by converting garbage to electricity. From the garbage we removed all items that we could recycle before burning the remaining garbage to produce electricity that was sold to the power company.

"...glass was recycled by color and when a clear diamond went through
the system, alarms went off..."

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One Diamond Stone

For example, glass was recycled by color and when a clear diamond went through the system, alarms went off and the system shut down until someone from the accounting department provided access codes to manually remove the stone from its uniquely designated holding bin. Within one year, three diamonds were recovered. Additionally, just over $100,000.00 dollars in coins were sorted and collected from the garbage in one year. Any paper bills were burned in the production of electricity, but I was amazed about how many coins ended up in the trash.

So where do Americans stand today with our garbage? How much are we wasting? Studies have been conducted that sorted and weighted the contents of garbage cans or trash bags. I even sorted out my garbage to compare and I was pleased with my results, yet I can do better.

On average, each American puts into the trash the following:
1.) Items that can be Recycled totaled 24% of the trash!
2.) Items that can be Composted totaled 48% of the trash!
3.) Items that were reusable, such as closet hangers, totaled 6%!

The BOTTOM LINE: Only 22% of the items in the trash, belonged in the trash!!!

Please think twice before you toss something away. We are wasting our waste! At this rate, we will need future companies to go mining in our landfills to recover metals that have run out. Even with a major cleaning project at home, think twice. For the same amount of time it takes to call and find a company to deliver a Dumpster at the best price, you can call your Church, Community Center and a local Non-profit organization to pick up that old kitchen table or sofa. America, we must stop wasting Waste.

Bill Lauto, GTG
Environmental Scientist at
GoingTrueGreen.com
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