GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

Glyphosate Study: Killing Both Weeds And Us

8/7/2023

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How Do You Kill Weeds?

I had read about research done on Glyphosate at MIT by Dr. Stephanie Seneff. Glyphosate is in herbicides that many people use throughout the world as a weed killer.

The data Dr. Seneff presents on Glyphosate is very concerning and she believes that this chemical is a slow kill for humans and other lifeforms. Seneff, a senior researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, believes that the constant use of glyphosate throughout the world in agriculture since 1974, is the reason behind the dramatic increase in autism, diabetes, cancer, and allergies.

One of the earliest glyphosate studies by Dr. Gilles-Éric Séralini, a French molecular biologist, showed that low exposure over a lifetime leads to shorter lifespans and organ damage in rats. Other laboratory studies on human cells show that glyphosate caused a major factor in cancer by DNA breakage in the cells.

For years we have known that farmers have a higher risk of developing NHL (Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma) and a 2002 Swedish study showed the link with glyphosate to a three-fold increase in NHL. Seneff’s study presents that NHL may be due to glyphosate’s effect on micronutrients, particularly from deficiencies in manganese. Glyphosate can bond to metals such as manganese and magnesium.

Dr. Seneff said she is encouraged by the recent Supreme Court cases where manufacturers lost an appeal for their glyphosate use and that the EPA was ordered by SCOTUS to re-evaluate certain products as carcinogenic. Additional recommendations from Dr. Seneff include staying away from highways where there’s a high exposure to car exhaust. Studies in Brazil have shown that the glyphosate in the air around highways and agricultural areas using herbicides is not much different.

Another factor with glyphosate used to kill weeds, many plants such as corn, soy, canola, sugar beets, cotton and alfalfa are genetically modified so that they would not be harmed by glyphosate! This has significantly increased glyphosate content in plants especially when farmers also spraying the plants as opposed to just the weeds.

As for solutions to reduce our intake of glyphosate, eat organic food and drink distilled water. Use a home made weed killer and pull weeds out with tools, such as the one made by Fiskar.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Ancient Roman Concrete Can Help Our Environment!

5/24/2023

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Bill Lauto, Going True Green, Roman cement, cement, clasts, lime clasts, self-healing cement, sustainability, Rome, Roma, volcanic ash, calcium carbonate, MIT, Archeological Museum of Priverno in Italy.

Ancient Roman Concrete 2K Years Old

Roman concrete, aka concrete made 2,000 years ago by the ancient Romans has lasted amazingly well compared to modern concrete. Some data states that today's concrete starts to breakdown within 50 years. Actually, I have seen concrete for sidewalks start to flake off surface layers within 5 years. Yet, Rome’s famed Pantheon, which has the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome dedicated in 128 AD is still intact. In the photograph on the left, I am standing next to concrete steps and the columns of a Roman Temple, now a Catholic Church in Assisi Italy. This structure was made over 2,000 years ago.

Now since some calculations say that manufacturing concrete today contributes 8% of carbon emissions world wide and our modern concrete can crumble within decades, especially when exposed to eroding environmental conditions, longer lasting concrete will help our environment by lowering carbon emissions.

So why does Roman concrete last thousands of years? The answer came this year in a 2023 study that used reverse engineering on samples of concrete made by the ancient Romans. A team of investigators from MIT and laboratories in Italy and Switzerland, discovered ancient concrete-manufacturing strategies that incorporated several key self-healing functionalities. One of several papers was published in the journal Science Advances.

First, everything previously assumed about ancient Roman concrete is wrong:

The one magic ingredient was pozzolanic material such as volcanic ash
The various small particles in the concrete was due to poor mixing practices or just being sloppy
The slaking process using water and lime to form a highly reactive paste material made the difference

Under high-resolution with multi-scale imaging and chemical mapping techniques, researchers gained new insights into the potential functionality of "Lime Clasts" and the slaking process was not a contributing factor. Studying samples of ancient concrete, the small white particles were forms of calcium carbonate. Under spectroscopic examination it was determined they had been formed at extreme temperatures. This was the key to the super-durable nature of Roman concrete and the hot mixing produced compounds that would not otherwise form. Additionally, this increased temperature significantly reduces curing, setting and construction times.

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Rome's Trevi Fountain With Water via 2K Year Old Aqueduct

Studies conducted show that the hot mixing process has the lime clasts develop brittle nanoparticulate architecture, thus creating the ability for self healing. If a crack started in the concrete, a reaction would start with water and create a calcium-saturated solution that would recrystallize as calcium carbonate filling the crack. This adds further strength to the concrete and heals cracks before they can spread. Recent examination of ancient Roman concrete samples exhibited calcite-filled cracks.

To test this mechanism, which was responsible for the durability of the Roman concrete, samples of hot-mixed concrete were made and then deliberately cracked. Water was sent through the cracks and within two weeks the cracks had completely healed. As a result of these successful tests, work is being done to commercialize this modified concrete material.

If commercializing is successful, this "old made anew" concrete material will help improve the durability of the 3D Printing of concrete homes for the poor, (see previous GTG blog post of this topic) save money in production and time, less concrete manufacturing due to this concrete having a longer lifespan, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

Research was done by Janille Maragh at MIT, Paolo Sabatini at DMAT in Italy, Michel Di Tommaso at the Instituto Meccanica dei Materiali in Switzerland, and James Weaver at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. The work was carried out with the assistance of the Archeological Museum of Priverno in Italy.

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Climate Conversations Across the Atlantic

3/15/2023

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Italy, Assisi, solar, climate change, hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen, Mt. Kenya, warming, climate warming, sustainability, saving money, saving earth, eu, europe, environment

Italy's Countryside in Assisi

I recently returned from traveling in Italy. I spoke with business owners, families and scholars throughout a large section of the country. I saw the beauty of the land as I traveled in the most efficient way possible from coast to coast. I also saw the issues in the cities and the small towns.

Only when one spends time listening to the people and living with them for at least a small period of time, can we comprehend the complete picture. Italy, along with most of Europe has taken tremendous actions to help our planet. Yes, the United States has also taken a multitude of actions. I know first hand, because I have been a part of these actions for over 40 years now. The early years were the most difficult because that was long before my friends, family, organizations and business owners that I worked with actually saw the advantages to what I consulted on and about. These actions that I presented in reports were to save Money, Energy and Earth for us and our children’s children. To live healthier today and tomorrow and to be more sustainable without sacrifices by using our current technology within our own budget of time and money. These were not recommendations made because we were doomed based on predictions, they were long term solutions. Today I can state with confidence, that all fear filled predictions made were to make money and not to provide solutions like I and other unpretentious scientists were doing. Major predictions of doom have all failed to come true well beyond their presented time frames.

Additionally, here in America we have taken positive actions to clean our air and to make a significant difference since the 1950s. The remaining ingenuity in this country has also developed Hydrogen Fuel Cells on demand to be the long term answer. (Peruse the Link to learn more of a complete picture)

As for the good people of Italy, after twenty plus years of doing everything they were ordered to do for the environment and being made to believe they were the bad guys, they now want the truth. They want their identity back, their culture, their own economy based on their own currency. These were the unanimous words spoken to me from homeowner to business owner, from religious leader to scholar.

They want to know why research such as a study done on the frozen lake bed at the top of Mount Kenya isn’t included in the media’s climate change narratives. Quoting the original ScienceDaily article, “A sudden warming of climate lasting several centuries took place in equatorial Africa some 2,000 years ago, according to a new study reported by a Weizmann Institute of Science-led team in the August 14 issue of Science.”

Research scientists performed isotopic analysis of the sediments from Hausberg Tarn, a small lake at an altitude of 4,350 meters on a slope of Mt. Kenya. The top of Mt. Kenya is at 4,600-4,700 meters and is covered by permanent glaciers. Scientists found that a rapid and significant warming of lake water, around 4 degrees Celsius, took place between the years 350 BC and 450 AD, reflecting a warming of climate that probably allowed the Roman Empire to conquer as far north as Scotland.

To have all the facts is always critical and code red to know the complete picture. From the Weizmann Institute report and others, we know for the time period stated above, temperatures were 4 degrees celsius above our pre-industrial era temperatures. Currently, we are 1.5 degrees celsius above.

Homeowners in Italy also want answers to why solar panels became “out of stock” or “unavailable” after the government implemented a program to make solar energy available to every homeowner. Then when the program ended, solar panels were once again available, but had a 50% price increase and were unaffordable to average homeowners. This sounds like the same thing when I changed my heating system to a 95% efficient unit paid for by my state’s new energy program:

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I received a low interest loan from my state and had ten years to pay it back. The contractor who installed my new heating system had to join the program for a fee, do all the paperwork to be paid by the state and I just paid the low interest loan. However, when I spoke with the representative from the contractor company seven months later, about installing the same heating system under the state’s program for a friend, he told me that they dropped out of the program, along with everyone else. Reason being, they had yet to be paid by the state for my job and were told all payments under the program can take up to one year. They had to incur the costs to join the program and be approved by the state, incur the costs for filling out all paperwork for each customer, pay for all the equipment to install, pay salaries, pay taxes and then wait a year to be paid by the state. This is a formula for bankruptcy. My state’s energy saving program was a failure.

Most governments of the world they are only about public relations and making money. The Italian companies installing solar panels didn’t want anything to do with the Government’s program, thus the panels were unavailable. Then they raised prices to recoup the money not made during the time the government’s program was in place.

So sad to be so cynical, but greed makes the world go around, not love, support, and certainly not a truthful concern for our environment.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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This Easter Read Upper Room, The Way

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Clear the Air with House Plants

1/30/2023

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air, air quality, indoor air pollution, indoor air, air filters, plants, boston ferns, hepa filters, NASA, air contamination, formaldehyde, oxygen, trichloroethylene, toxins, fertilizer, toluene, xylene, sunlight, green leaves, benzene, peat moss, goingtruegreen, going green, sustainable living

Electrical Air Filter

VS

Boston Fern

I have purchased many different types of air filters since the 1980s. I stopped buying them just after the turn into this century. Perhaps I was just buying a "bill of goods" just like Bottled Water is today, but some of the HEPA filters did help with my Hay-fever days. Then there was the cost to operate them... the electric bill, batteries, replacement filters. When winter enters the equation, we have the heat on and air circulation is cut dramatically due to closed doors and windows. Unlike AC units in the summertime that have filters, heating systems raise dust and do not filter. Yet, there is always another way, a better way.

About twenty plus years ago, at least three investigators with NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America found that specific house plants were very good at expunging elements expelled by items such as: new rugs, building materials, furnishings, cleaning agents, paints, varnishes, cigarettes, fabrics, preserved foods and other airborne pollutants.

Everyday items found in every home and office contribute to indoor air contamination. So to improve air quality and add oxygen into your living and working spaces, adding certain types of plants will make a difference for the better.

We already know that plants take in carbon dioxide and substances from the surrounding air through openings in each leaf. These elements are pollutants to us, but are broken down by plants to become food through translocation to the roots of the plant. Below is a list of plants that work the best for cleaning indoor air. They are in alphabetical order:

Aloe Vera
Known For:    Treatment for cuts, scraps and minor burns
Accomplish:   Removes benzene and formaldehyde
Care: Sun, well drainage and don’t over water

Areca Palm:
Known For:    Seven foot height, grow 7 inches per year
Accomplish:   Absorbs formaldehyde, toluene, and xylene
Care: Indirect Sunlight, water and fertilizer

Bamboo Palm:
Known For:    Loves the tropical amount of sunlight
Accomplish:   Removes trichloroethylene toxins
Care: Water only when the soil is dry and never overwater
Boston Ferns:
Known For:    Needs space to spread and grow its fronds
Accomplish:   Removes formaldehyde and improves oxygen levels
Care: Water frequently, mist twice per week and add peat moss

Gerber Daisies:
Known For:    A variety of bright colors and broad green leaves
Accomplish:   Absorbs benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene
Care: Direct sunlight and moist soil

Peace Lilies:
Known For:    Inability to tolerate cold, love warm and humid climates
Accomplish:   Absorbs benzene and trichloroethylene
Care: Direct sunlight and moist soil that drains well

Snake Plant
Known For:    Available in yellow, dark and light greens
Accomplish:   Removes formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, xylene, and trichloroethylene
Care: Indirect sunlight and keep the soil dry

There are a few more plants that can help, nevertheless, using house plants in your home or office saves money while being Eco-friendly with cleaning out indoor air toxins.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Are We Getting Energy & Enviro Solutions?

12/27/2022

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Lawrence Livermore Lab

The United States of America celebrated at the end of 2022 a major breakthrough with nuclear fusion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Early December, 2022, a team of Scientists, for the first time in the history of the world, had a safe and controlled fusion reaction that produced more energy than consumed.

Toyota's Hydrogen Fuel Cell Pickup

In Japan, Toyota is reaching for a clean future with Hydrogen fuel as an alternative to battery power. Zero emissions is the goal. The other goal they have is to sell us the hydrogen at retrofitted gasoline stations. No making hydrogen ON DEMAND with our onboard Membrane System to separate the Hydrogen from water... See below for more on this being a good thing or us being milked like with so many other products we buy.

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Notpla Products From Seaweed

Also co-founders Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier, who met while studying Innovation Design Engineering at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, started a company called NOTPLA (Not Plastic). The all-natural packaging solutions made from seaweed and plants are naturally biodegradable and home-compostable. Everything they make is an answer to a specific plastic issue. Such as: electronics, fashion, cosmetics, food, paper and toilet paper.

Impressive, but are we Jedis yet?

A closer look at all the facts for a complete picture with nuclear fusion we have a potentially source of endless non-polluting energy. Can this be the solution to all our energy needs?

In a word, no, because you cannot pour fusion energy into a fuel tank. Unless we can have safe and small enough fusion reactions on every vehicle, then we still have issues. Additionally, the breakthrough we had in December 2022, is said to be one or two decades away from commercial use. How many times have we heard ten years away and twenty years later we still are hearing, "Ten years away." I don't want to be cynical, but only a few major programs in the world were successful in less than ten years. Our American Apollo space program was one of them. The reason is because the Apollo program was never done for making MONEY. Bring in commercial use and profits, then greed will sink its ugly teeth in very deep. That is why we still don't have Hydrogen Fuel Cells on our cars making hydrogen ON DEMAND to operate our vehicles carbon free. Once you buy your own system, everything else you need is FREE.

Free electricity from the sun with a solar panel to separate the two hydrogen molecules from the oxygen (H2O) aka, water in our onboard Membrane system. That hydrogen then runs the fuel cell for free to make electricity to run the car for free. All made on demand, no storage or delivery of hydrogen. We are not beholden to some conglomerate company selling us Hydrogen fuel at old retrofitted gasoline stations! All on-board a vehicle or in-house for power production. NASA has used this type of system on the space shuttles since 1981, but no research dollars are available to commercialize something that is only purchased once and maintained. This self operating and owned system, without monthly fuel bills, will set us free.

So keep in mind that even if all goes well with nuclear fusion over the next ten years with commercial development, we are still beholden to pay a monthly fee to whatever conglomerate is supplying the nuclear fusion energy.

Compare that to collecting FREE rain water off your roof, FREE electricity from a solar panel to operate the Membrane system separating the hydrogen from oxygen and the fuel cell making Free electrical power to run your car, your home, (heat, lights, and cooling) with electricity you made.

Now you will hear that nuclear fusion is needed to make clean electricity to separate hydrogen from oxygen for hydrogen fuel cells. What is wrong with solar panels making that electricity? Along with some backup batteries that the Fuel Cell's freely made electricity is always recharging we are good to go. Alas, an affordable and compact working system isn't available yet... Because there are no research dollars due to making an energy producing system that doesn't have a monthly bill attached to it!

You shall also hear that nuclear fusion will make clean energy to charge the batteries that run cars, trucks, homes, etc. Well, the complete picture shows much damage being done to our environment to dig up all the natural resources necessary to make batteries, then calculate the manufacturing damage to our environment and we realize we do not have enough natural resources to meet a world wide complete demand for batteries.

Yes, we can use safe and carbon free nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion will power the street lights and all the entities that use our tax dollars to pay the energy bill. However, we the people still want our own hydrogen fuel cells so we can be our own energy supplier! In the meantime all the people around the world need ALL the current fuels to give us the ability to transition into a better tomorrow. Realize: If we are lost in the woods, we will need to make a fire to cook whatever food we obtain, so tomorrow we can have the strength and ability to find our way home. If someone throws a bucket of sand onto that fire and we starve to death, there will be no tomorrow.

So yes, Happy New Year! Don't worry, the earth and humankind, with intelligence, will prevail. We will get there with endless energy for all. We will eliminate all issues with plastic with new products like the ones Notpla makes from seaweed.

However, we first need peace in the world. We need pretentious scientists to realize that William Godwin and Marquis de Condorcet are correct and Thomas Robert Malthus has been proven wrong again. All this will happen when we all have the courage to learn the truth with all the facts, through free speech for all. God Bless us all.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Harvest 2022

12/5/2022

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This previous weekend, I joined the Three Village Historical Society, to take a candle light tour of historical homes near the area of the original small hamlet called Setauket on Long Island. This area is well known for operations conducted by George Washington’s spies, also know as the Secret Six.

One of the homes on the tour focussed on their barn, garden and a room built for home canning of fruits and veggies grown. What caught my eye was the chart published by Macy’s department store on growing a Victory Garden at home in order to help with World War One's food supplies.

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Enlage Image to Read Interesting Details

My garden doesn’t come close to any property that could support what is presented on the chart, I only have about 10 feet by 25 feet of space to grow food. Nevertheless, I do what I am capable of within my own budget of time, money and knowledge. This available space that I use is almost half my back yard property. I am thankful for that amount of ground and I have chosen to grow food because of the following reasons:

I can eat fresh amazing tasting food
I can share the same with family and friends
I can appreciate what is "needed" for a happy life, not what is “wanted"
I can enjoy the wonder shown on the faces of those who taste a carrot just harvested from the earth for the first time
I can watch the smile grow on a child after they enjoy the grape jam just made or the astonished look on my father when he says: "This is the most delicious tomato I ever had, and I have eaten many tomatoes over my 90 years of life!”
And the last reason is to be more humus, the Latin humus definition

I am sharing all this because I am not only thankful to God for what I harvest, but I want to also offer support to everyone else with a yard, windowsill, rooftop or empty field to do the same. Just imagine if we all used the space available to us to grow food how that would change the world. More organic food means less chemicals, more food for those in need and delicious amazing fresh meals made for those that come over to share a table and give thanks with us.

In total, for 2022, I harvested the following with the help of my small greenhouse and my own compost material that I used for nutrients:

I also had blueberries, grapes, and the following herbs growing in cedar wood pots:
Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Oregano and Mint.

Start small like I did so many years ago and slowly "grow" into the most you can grow. Each year is a new experience and the learning curve improves year after year. Changing the world as an individual with God's guidance is the only way our environment, our happiness and our future will be secured.

As for Christmas Trees, peruse my previous GoingTrueGreen blog to learn what is best, real trees or plastic fake trees.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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INVISIBLE PLASTIC

11/20/2022

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A Cast Iron Pot

A good friend and buddy from college was over for dinner one evening several years ago. While cooking some chicken he asked, “How do you keep the chicken from sticking to the pan? I go through three to four non-stick pans a year and you are not even using a non-stick pan!”

I responded with “Do you want the long answer or the quick one?”

He replied, “I can do without the long ‘put me to sleep’ Bill Lauto answer, so the quick one please.”

“Have you heard of PAM?”

“No, who is she?”

I just looked at him and after he saw my face, he then relented, “Okay, give me the long answer.”

So sharing cooking information to keep food from sticking ranged from the type of cooking surface being used and type of oil applied to the surface.

Today I wish to provide an update to my friend and everyone because a new study done by Australian researchers has reported that just scratching or cracking the surface of a Teflon coated non-stick pan could release over 9,000 plastic particles.

By using Raman imaging and algorithmic models they also reported that non-stick pots could release millions of plastic particles when used to cook or even when washing. A micro-plastic piece will measure less than five millimeters and nano-plastic particles measure less than one micrometer. In other words, invisible.

These synthetic chemically composed plastic particles of carbon and fluorine atoms have a low level of friction. They are also known as the Forever Chemicals because they only get smaller and smaller. They are not Biodegradable.

Additionally, like all plastic in the PFA family, they can also persist for unknown amounts of time in our bodies. Long term health issues are a concern and outcomes are mostly unknown to us. For more information please peruse my Going True Green blog dated 12-27-2017.

Flinders University research Professor Youhong Tang, basically said that the study tells people to be careful about what cooking ware they use along with what utensils are used. A metal stirring spoon will do more damage to the surface of a pot than a wooden spoon. Also since “Teflon is a family member of PFAS” more research is recommended.

So what alternatives and solutions do we have? Remember that only 3 things do not put carcinogens into our food and drink:

Glass
Porcelain
Wax paper

As for preventing foods from sticking to cooking surfaces, use olive oil, sunflower oil or canola oil. Sprays such as PAM have no artificial preservatives, flavors or colors added. The same is true with most olive oil sprays.

Bake in porcelain, roast veggies and potatoes on parchment paper and use an iron skillet when feasible. Do not forget to care for any iron cookware by reading care instructions that explain how important maintenance is by rubbing oil on the cookware after washing.

Realize that cooking outdoors on slate, just like Native Americans did and still do, is very healthy. The same is true for the stones on the base of a pizza oven which are great for baking bread and of course cooking pizza.

Information like this is not necessarily reported in the media or shared by politicians. Realize that the media is in the business to entertain, not educate. They create controversies and lie through the process of omission to increase profit margins. Celebrities promote a product that pays them the most and Politicians who gain a Net income greater than the salary we pay them are corrupt. I do not know about you, but I am tired of being lied to.

We have invisible plastic because we have invisible facts and the United States is gaining invisible intelligence. High levels of education does not equate to having intelligence.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Best Western Plus in Intercourse, PA Provides EV Stations

11/4/2022

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Peaceful Amish Country Side

The other week I made a trip to Lancaster PA to complete some sustainability work I was doing with some Amish craftsmen. Making various furniture items from new or reclaimed wood and with hand tools is not easy. Additionally, I have to communicate in person or through liaison with the carpenter craftsman. No cell phones, fax machines or emailing pictures is the rule.

After completing my business, I took time to enjoy the peaceful country side during a season with far less tourists. Meals were freshly made and by 8 pm all the horse drawn buggies and most cars were off the road. I enjoyed the modern amenities at the Best Western Plus in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Operated since 1983 by the Thomas family.

On the third day of my stay, I slept in late and by the time I stepped out onto my balcony, I heard some banging against something aluminum. I looked down and saw something being installed that would never be used by anyone in an Amish community. At least I don't think so, but I could be wrong. The young gentleman from Kyler Electric confirmed he was installing the first of several EV stations to charge electric cars at this Best Western Plus location. He didn't have a confirmed time as to when the EV station would be operational, but he estimated a few weeks.

Kurt Thomas, General Manager

I must admit that I was impressed that management would make the investment to provide this type of amenity. Yet I had already met the General Manager, Kurt Thomas, the other day and based on his impeccable service I was not surprised. Kurt and his staff went the extra mile for every guest staying with them. By the end of the day, the job was done.

Now with EV stations for electric cars the Thomas family is going the extra mile to help our environment. From their LED lighting to EV stations this family is part of all the individuals in our country that are real superheroes helping to make a difference.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Earth Breeze Product Review

10/21/2022

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My cousin Emily told me about Earth Breeze's laundry detergent sheets. These solidified soapy sheets Immediately provide benefits to eliminate large plastic containers from our environment. This offers savings on the issues with raw materials, manufacturing and disposal of the large plastic laundry detergent containers.

After using and testing this new product for three months, I am happy to report that my clothes are just as clean. I no longer have to clean up liquid laundry detergent from the occasional spill. They work fine in my energy and water efficient front load washing machine and you can enlarge the above images to read more about the details.

However, these solidified soapy sheets are made in China. We must consider components like price that will always be affected by the supply chain size. Distance between manufacturing and consumer is considered sustainable by most scientists when within 200 to 250 miles. I myself always ask if the carbon emissions created by shipping across half the planet outweigh the carbon emissions saved. Therefore, when consumer choices must be made in the realm of sustainability, all factors must be evaluated. I will be seeking out another manufacturer who makes the same product but with a far shorter Supply Chain, because everything will be made here in the United States of America.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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Sneezing Outside The Box

10/7/2022

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Homemade Tissue Box

We all use them...
Tissues are very useful and because everyone uses tissues one time or many times in their lives, perhaps we should use some good old American ingenuity to improvise the way they are sold.

The image shown is a tissue box I made to cover the cardboard tissue box purchased in a store. I used left over pieces of wood from other projects and made a matching waste pail. Now while these actions avoided the purchase of new wood and a tissue box cover and pail made of plastic, the key word is plastic, I also was trapped in a whirlpool of thought involving redundancy.

The very wooden cover I made in the shape of a box, was covering a cardboard box. A cardboard box that may get recycled, tossed into the garbage or very rarely today, used to build a house for toys by turning the box inside out and drawing windows and doors upon the surface. When I was a kid, I did that all the time. Cereal boxes became castles, cookie boxes became Fire Departments for Matchbox cars and Refrigerator boxes became space ships. Sadly, are those days of creativity over?

Nevertheless, my wooden box and plastic box covers create redundancy. We do not need two boxes, so hopefully the manufacturing companies of tissues in boxes can take this suggestion to the bank. They can save production money while less cardboard is used or wasted. A lower manufacturing cost should mean lower prices for us the consumer! Additionally, all the cardboard being saved will help our environment.

The solution is easy... sell the tissues in a paper, not plastic, a paper bag as a refill in the boxes we already have at home. Perhaps even do an Introductory Offer by selling different sized decorative boxes for the bag of refill tissues. My parents had a nice metal tissue box cover from when they were married. That decorative metal tissue box cover lasted almost 50 years before the edges started to rust. When I saw the rust, I painted the box with a new color.

Tissues sold as refills and packaged in paper instead of cardboard will be more sustainable across-the-board. Reason being, paper gets recycled more than cardboard.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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