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This Is the Way the World Ends – Jeff Nesbit

by Myrna Posted on September 25, 2018

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This Is the Way the World Ends

How Droughts and Die-offs, Heat Waves and Hurricanes Are Converging on America

Jeff Nesbit

Genre: Science & Nature

Price: $14.99

Publish Date: September 25, 2018

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Seller: Macmillan


Bustle's "17 Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out In September 2018" "With This is the Way the World Ends Jeff Nesbit has delivered an enlightening – and alarming – explanation of the climate challenge as it exists today. Climate change is no far-off threat. It's impacting communities all over the world at this very moment, and we ignore the scientific reality at our own peril. The good news? As Nesbit underscores, disaster is not preordained. The global community can meet this moment — and we must." —Senator John Kerry A unique view of climate change glimpsed through the world's resources that are disappearing. The world itself won’t end, of course. Only ours will: our livelihoods, our homes, our cultures. And we’re squarely at the tipping point. Longer droughts in the Middle East. Growing desertification in China and Africa. The monsoon season shrinking in India. Amped-up heat waves in Australia. More intense hurricanes reaching America. Water wars in the Horn of Africa. Rebellions, refugees and starving children across the globe. These are not disconnected events. These are the pieces of a larger puzzle that environmental expert Jeff Nesbit puts together Unless we start addressing the causes of climate change and stop simply navigating its effects, we will be facing a series of unstoppable catastrophes by the time our preschoolers graduate from college. Our world is in trouble – right now. This Is the Way the World Ends tells the real stories of the substantial impacts to Earth’s systems unfolding across each continent. The bad news? Within two decades or so, our carbon budget will reach a point of no return. But there’s good news. Like every significant challenge we’ve faced—from creating civilization in the shadow of the last ice age to the Industrial Revolution—we can get out of this box canyon by understanding the realities and changing the worn-out climate conversation to one that’s relevant to every person. Nesbit provides a clear blueprint for real-time, workable solutions we can tackle together.

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This Is the Way the World Ends – Jeff Nesbit

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8 Ways to Green Your Water

by TerrenceJefferie Posted on August 16, 2018

Leave this field empty if you’re human:

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8 Ways to Green Your Water

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President Trump, these are the real reasons California is on fire

by JanelleWeldon2 Posted on August 6, 2018

President Trump has finally weighed in on the California wildfires that began last month. But it wasn’t to express condolences for the victims or to praise the incredible bravery of firefighters — it was to try to score political points.

And he did so by badly twisting the science of how wildfires work. In a now-deleted tweet from Sunday, Trump blamed “bad environmental laws” for “diverting” water into the Pacific Ocean. On Monday evening, Trump reposted essentially the same tweet:

And he doubled down on this flawed argument.

According to the Los Angeles Times’ Michael Hiltzik, Trump’s tweets on wildfires and water “deserve some sort of award for most glaring misstatements about those two issues in the smallest number of words.” I’d have to agree.

In Trump’s muddled mind, there’d be “plenty of water” if California rivers were exploited to the point they were completely dry at the end of the line — like the Colorado River now is.

The conservative agriculture community in the state’s Central Valley yields a substantial clue to where this weird idea came from. In the minds of some farmers there, allowing even a drop for endangered fish habitat means the government is stealing their water.

Beyond cutting down forests as a fire management strategy (you can’t have fires if you don’t have trees!), Trump seems to argue for airdropping huge quantities of water from reservoirs onto fires.

Given that Trump drinks bottled water with both hands, he should know this fundamental fact better than most: Water is heavy. And it takes a lot of effort to lift it into the sky and drop it on wildfires.

California’s reservoirs are actually near long-term average levels right now. The state’s firefighting resources are vastly overmatched, and help is pouring in from across the country and around the world. There’s even a newly converted Boeing 747 that’s been airdropping flame suppressant.

And still, a tiny bit of rain would do incredibly more good than any amount of water that could be diverted from the state’s lakes and reservoirs by firefighters. A barely measurable sprinkle over the amount of territory that’s currently on fire in California is about 6,000,000 gallons of water — about what the 747 fire bomber could carry in 300 loads, a month’s worth of round-the-clock operations. It’s not water availability in reservoirs that limits the ability to fight these fires — it’s logistics.

The massive Mendocino Complex, which could soon be the largest wildfire incident in California history, is burning right next to Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in the state. Firefighters are using water from the lake as fast as they can to help fight the fire. The fire is just 33 percent contained. So no, Mr. President, the fact that water exists in the state does not mean that it’s very useful to combat a fire like this.

Letting rivers run their natural course is not what causes massive wildfires. It’s year after year of hot and dry weather that causes wildfires. And, it just so happens, there’s something we’re doing that’s making weather hotter and drier.

Decades of misguided fire suppression policy and booming urban development in forested areas have contributed to this boom, but the main reason for the surge is climate change. (Even California’s chief firefighter agrees.) For the president to deny the central role of climate change in what’s happening is not only foolish, it’s dangerous.

July was the hottest month in history for many parts of California, and burnable vegetation is off the charts. Longer, hotter dry seasons, combined with timber die-offs due to drought and temperature-related insect infestation, have turned the state into a tinderbox ready to explode.

After the state’s worst drought in millennia, the very wet winter of 2016-17 created loads of grasses and shrub growth — perfect kindling for wildfire now that the drought has returned. Temperatures this week have surged, particularly at nighttime, fanning the flames further and giving firefighters little time to recover. Smoke from the wildfires is detectable across half the United States, creating a public health nightmare that’s trapping people indoors.

This is already one of the worst years for wildfires in U.S. history, in a decades-long streak of increasingly really bad wildfire seasons. Four of the 10 most destructive fires in California history have occurred in the past 10 months. Together, these four megafires have burned nearly 10,000 structures. That’s a mid-sized American city’s worth of homes, gone.

So far this year, about three times more land area has burned than normal. The deserted Yosemite National Park is indefinitely closed due to the Ferguson Fire, the largest wildfire ever recorded in the Sierra National Forest.

And wildfires are going to get much, much worse in the years to come if we don’t radically reduce fossil fuel emissions. Instead, Trump’s anti-environmental policy moves, like stopping California from having stricter standards on automobiles, will worsen climate change. Trump’s proposed 2019 budget eliminates federal funding for wildfire research.

When Trump was elected, I said that the effects of his climate denial would linger for hundreds of years. That fear now seems to be coming true.

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Hot weather strains the grid. Here’s how we could fix that.

by CorrineBallentin Posted on July 30, 2018

Electricity crackled and arced between wires as Los Angeles residents watched, filming with their phones. And then the power died.

As temperatures have soared this summer, Angelenos have cranked up their air conditioners, straining power lines. On July 6, overloaded lines gave out and left 46,000 people sweltering in the dark.

Extreme temperatures lead to extreme electricity demand, so when sweltering weather settled over Texas in mid-July, the electric system that serves most of the state set three all-time records for power demand, one hour after another.

“This summer has been seen as a make-or-break test,” for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, wrote Joshua Rhodes, who researches energy at the University of Texas, Austin.

Tougher tests are sure to come. Summer temperatures usually peak in August or September for the most densely populated areas of Texas and California. Every year, Los Angeles seems to set a new electricity demand record, said Martin Adams, Chief Operating Officer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

“Until the last few years we haven’t had many hot days downtown,” Adams said. “People are starting to put in air conditioning where they’ve never had it before.”

As the planet warms, higher temperatures and extreme weather are becoming more common, and that puts more stress on electric systems. The heat is already severe enough that farm workers in Georgia and Nebraska, as well as a postal worker in California, have died during this summer’s heatwaves. Rising temperatures trigger a dangerous chain reaction: More people run air conditioners to keep themselves cool, which strains electrical systems causing blackouts, which exposes people to hazardous heat.

How do we snap that chain? Experts have a few suggestions:

Replace old wires

When electricity demand surged in Los Angeles, pieces of the electrical system started to blow up. “Every weak link in the system shows up in a case like that,” Adams said. “A lot of times the failures are kind of explosive in nature.”

The sun was cooking the system from the outside, and the electricity surging through the wires was cooking it from the inside. When workers went to fix fried wires in one underground vault, a wall of 160 degree heat turned them back. They had to wait until the vault cooled to 120 degrees to check out the problem, Adams said.

It’s better for both utility workers and customers if utilities can replace aging parts ahead of time. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is spending about a billion dollars a year upgrading equipment, Adams said. And they’ve focused efforts on areas that get the hottest, like the San Fernando Valley.

As people around the country draw more electricity to cope with extreme weather, utilities will have to install thicker wires and quickly replace old transformers.

Let the market work

As demand for electricity soared in Texas, so did prices: A megawatt hour of power — which goes for $40 to $80 in normal conditions — went for more than $4,000. The maps charting prices in California and the Southwest turned from mellow green to high-alert red, indicating unusually high rates. That alert triggered power plant operators across the region to fire up generators that had been sitting idle until electricity prices went high enough.

“There are some power plants that operate basically only on the very hottest day of the year,” said Michael Wara, director of the climate and energy policy program at Stanford University. “These are basically aircraft engines on cement pads that can be turned on within five minutes. And they might need to earn their entire revenue in a few hours of a hot July afternoon.”

High prices also send a signal to solar companies to build more panels, especially in Texas, where the peak demand for electricity comes roughly at the same time as the sun is highest in the sky.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of solar built in Texas in the next few years,” Rhodes said. “By 2020, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had double the solar we have now.”

Although prices influence production of power, they don’t do much to change how people use electricity. “When there’s a shortage of electricity, the prices go up, but customers are mostly still paying the same price they would at any other time,” explained James Bushnell, an energy economist and the University of California, Davis.

Even if people were more exposed to electricity prices, it might not be enough to get them to run around the house unplugging appliances, Wara said. If we could get people to use less energy for non-essentials during peak hours, it could prevent blackouts before they happen. But how?

Manage demand

A while back, Rhodes’s electricity provider made him an interesting offer: Austin Energy wanted permission to control his thermostat for 15 minutes at a time, four to six times a year, when electricity demand was peaking. (Rhodes has one of those smart thermostats, so the company could adjust it remotely.) In return, Austin Energy, would pay him $85 a year. Rhodes took them up on the offer and has no regrets. He doesn’t even notice when they take over. But by making tiny adjustments to thousands of thermostats like his, the power company is able to ramp down its power demand.

In most places however, utilities haven’t gotten this sophisticated. In Los Angeles, the utility asks customers to raise their thermostats a few degrees, and to avoid doing laundry during peak times. The utility can also make a dent in demand by turning down its own machines. When things started heating up in mid-July, the utility turned off some of the massive pumps it uses to suck water hundreds of miles over mountains and hills. That alone accounted for drop of 60 megawatts, Adams said.

In the future, utilities will likely get better at strategically curbing consumption, said Mary Anne Piette, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Utilities might even be able to make surgical tweaks like preventing a neighborhood blackout by moderating its electric demand as its wires start to overload, she said. For instance, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power might see the temperatures rising toward 160 degrees in that underground vault, and react by turning down the air conditioners of the customers downstream, allowing the equipment to cool before it blows up and leaves them with no air-conditioning at all.

The more the climate changes, the more people need electricity to cool them down. Unless we upgrade our electrical systems to prepare, there will be a lot more people sweating in the dark.

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Hot weather strains the grid. Here’s how we could fix that.

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Supreme Court Justice Kennedy is retiring. Here’s what that means for the environment.

by MichaelMahony Posted on June 27, 2018

Anthony Kennedy is retiring, and progressives around the country are trying not to freak out. The 81-year-old justice, who has served on the Supreme Court since 1988, has been a crucial swing vote on many issues from abortion to gay marriage to campaign finance. And — for better or worse — he has also been the deciding vote on environmental issues for the past three decades.

As a moderate on an increasingly divided court, Kennedy has been in the majority in an outstanding number of environmental cases. As Lewis and Clark environmental law professor Michael Blumm writes, “Advocates in environmental cases must tailor their arguments to win his vote or risk losing their appeals.”

Over his 30-year tenure, Kennedy — who was once called by the New York Times an “equal opportunity disappointer” — has been a mixed bag for environmentalists.

In Massachusetts v. EPA, the most consequential ruling on climate change in the past two decades, Kennedy was the swing vote. The state of Massachusetts had challenged the EPA’s refusal to regulate greenhouse gases, despite profound and convincing evidence that they are harmful to human health and well-being.

Kennedy joined the four liberal justices, arguing that the EPA would have to treat CO2 like any other pollutant, unless the Bush-era agency provided “scientific basis” for its reasoning. Although he didn’t write the majority opinion, without him — or with a more staunchly conservative justice in his place — we might still be fighting to have CO2 recognized as a pollutant at all.

On the other side of spectrum, Kennedy, again as the swing vote, tempered his support for the EPA by aligning with conservatives in the 2014 decision on Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, joining the late Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion. The majority argued that while the EPA could continue to place limits on CO2 emissions from large stationary pollution sources like power plants, the administration could not regulate smaller sources like schools, apartment buildings, or businesses.

In 2006, a Michigan property owner, John Rapanos, faced criminal charges from the EPA for draining and filling in potentially protected wetlands with earth. Conservative justices wanted to dramatically restrict the definition for wetlands — which would have decimated protected areas across the country.

Kennedy’s decisive opinion in the case, Rapanos v. United States, established a new standard which protected all wetlands that are part of a “significant nexus” of navigable waters. It was a win for environmentalists — but one that still significantly restricted wetland protection under the Clean Water Act.

Despite his mixed record, any replacement for Kennedy will likely have a much, much worse record on environmental issues. Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court appointment — and the son of a former EPA administrator to whom current chief Scott Pruitt has garnered frequent comparisons —  has been an opponent of many Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act protections throughout his career. Some of the other members on Trump’s initial shortlist carried even more alarming disregard both for issues of civil liberties and for the environment. And Kennedy has, at times, provided the much-needed fifth vote to reject restrictions on abortion rights, with significant impacts for both women’s health and our environmental future.

It remains to be seen exactly what the new justice will think of the EPA, clean air protections, and climate change, but the conservative-liberal split on the court will significantly change for the first time in decades. Environmentalists may have gotten lucky with Kennedy’s moderate support of CO2 regulation and protecting wetlands — and chances are their luck has run out.

“I’m fearful,” Blumm, the law professor, told Grist. “And I think all people who watch the court and care about the environment should be fearful.”

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Supreme Court Justice Kennedy is retiring. Here’s what that means for the environment.

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Here’s how many people Pruitt’s environmental policies could kill

by DOTHarriet Posted on June 15, 2018

If the Trump administration is good at anything, it’s proposing rollbacks to environmental protections. “Proposing” is the key word here — though EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has tried to weaken or get rid of more than 40 rules, he hasn’t been very successful. Many of his attempted rollbacks have faced challenges in court.

If all these deregulations actually came to pass, we’d see astounding effects on public health: an additional 80,000 deaths and well over a million cases of respiratory illness over the next decade. And that’s an “extremely conservative” estimate, according to Harvard professors who tabulated the numbers in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week.

We’ve seen estimates of the health impact of environment rollbacks before, but here, the numbers have been collected in one place. The researchers lifted most of the estimates from reports published back when these life-saving regulations were originally proposed or implemented.

Air pollution could introduce some of the most threatening health problems. Back in October, Pruitt pledged to repeal the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era rule that aimed to cut the power industry’s emissions 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Without that plan, the researchers foresee a rise in exposure to particulate matter, resulting in 36,000 deaths and 630,000 childhood respiratory illness cases over the next 10 years.

Another major contributor to breathing issues: Pruitt’s plan to revive a loophole that would allow diesel trucks to use engines that create 450 times more soot than their newer counterparts. If implemented, that could lead to an estimated 900,000 cases of respiratory illness over the next decade, as well as 41,000 premature deaths.

Other rollbacks that pose major health threats include watering down rules for coal-fired power plant waste and adding a two-year delay to the implementation of the Obama-era Clean Water Rule.

So, about that hope we mentioned. The courts have the chance to keep many of these rules — and these lives — intact. While Pruitt is seen as a master deregulator, he’s been faulted for crafting sloppy rules, some of which have gotten struck down. For example, when Pruitt tried to keep methane regulations from going into effect, a federal appeals court struck it down, calling the move “unreasonable” and “arbitrary.”

And more of his attempts are headed to court. Just this week, for instance, a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the suspension of water regulations.

The Harvard authors note that this kind of policymaking takes a lot of time to come to fruition. “Fortunately for those interested in public health,” they write, “the regulatory process will take many years. Whoever is sworn in as President in January 2021 will have a large effect on whether the Trump administration’s full environmental agenda goes into effect.”

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Here’s how many people Pruitt’s environmental policies could kill

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Look! A federal agency is pushing for urgent climate action.

by greenenergy4 Posted on May 10, 2018

It’s well-understood at this point that the Trump Administration is no friend to science-based governance. But there’s one federal agency bucking that trend.

The Bureau of Reclamation, a division of the Department of Interior, raised fresh alarm in a press release this week about the dire drought in the Southwest.

“We need action and we need it now,” said Trump appointee Brenda Burman, who runs the bureau, in the release. “We can’t afford to wait for a crisis before we implement drought contingency plans.”

Looking at the data that Burman’s agency supplied, though, it’s clear that the crisis is already here. Runoff from the Rocky Mountains into the Colorado River is expected to be just 42 percent of normal this year, which would continue a 19-year dry spell that ranks as the driest on record for the region. Such clear-eyed focus on the urgency of climate action has been almost unheard of for a Trump-era official.

“Dating back to 2000, this current period is one of the worst drought cycles over the past 1,200 plus years,” the bureau’s statement said.

It’s worth emphasizing that last point: There’s a megadrought happening right now in the United States. Over the past decade, according to the bureau’s latest numbers, the risk of reservoirs falling below critical levels has approximately tripled. And there’s “no indication the current low runoff and drought conditions will end anytime soon,” according to the agency. With this winter’s dry weather, the chances of the first official shortage on the Colorado River in U.S. history have risen to 52 percent in 2020.

The Bureau of Reclamation has responsibility for managing much of the water of the western United States, and, so far, it looks like it’s taking that responsibility seriously — using weather and climate forecasts as a primary guide.

As Grist recently reported, tensions are rising along the Colorado River as water levels plummet. The river supplies 40 million people with drinking water, and also nurtures millions of acres of some of the most productive farmland in the country. With booming populations and climate change already strangling water supply, the outlook is increasingly dire.

The way the laws governing the Colorado River are structured, Arizona is first in line for significant cuts should conservation efforts fall short. The state’s water allotment from the Colorado River would be cut by 20 percent starting in 2020, jeopardizing its economic growth. Understandably, folks there are watching what Burman has to say very closely.

The need for quickly coming to consensus on conservation is “vitally important to Arizonans,” said Thomas Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, in the bureau’s statement.

While Burman didn’t actually utter the words climate change in her comments this week, her insistence on the urgent need to ramp up conservation is in line with the overwhelming scientific consensus of how climate change is expected to worsen droughts in the Southwest in coming decades.

In her confirmation hearings last year, she said, “I believe that climate change is not a hoax,” which is about as good as can be expected from anyone tied to the Trump administration these days.

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Look! A federal agency is pushing for urgent climate action.

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Happy birthday, Scott Pruitt! These songs go out to you

by Ferne31O069154 Posted on May 9, 2018

Fifty years ago, on this here day, a young Scotty Pruitt came into a world where oil spills stained beaches, rivers caught on fire, and the EPA didn’t exist. Today, the EPA exists, Pruitt is Chief, and, oh, it’s not looking so hot for the beaches and the rivers seem a little flammable, too.

But let’s not waste time harping on such dire and pressing matters. What better way to honor our fearful leader than to shower him in gifts. (No, I don’t mean the trove of detailed EPA documents released to the public this week.) I’m talking about this curated Spotify playlist, “Polluting the airwaves for Pruitt” brought to us by the folks over at the EPA employees union. The playlist features hits like “Dirty Water” by the Foo Fighters, “The Greatest Denier” by Doves, and “Man of Oil” by Animal Collective.

So let us look towards the year ahead, one full with promise of deadlier heatwaves and stronger hurricanes. What shall you accomplish in your 50th year around the sun, dear Pruitt? I put together a playlist of songs to get you inspired.

End Of The Road – Boyz II Men
Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
Hit The Road Jack – Ray Charles
Another One Bites The Dust – Queen
Bye Bye Bye – NSYNC
Somebody That I Used To Know — Gotye
Take A Bow — Rihanna
How The Mighty Have Fallen — Margo Price
Leaving On A Jet Plane — John Denver
Finale — Oklahoma

Pour one out for Scotty! Either for his birthday or the impending end to his dirty career.

Wanna gift Pruitt a song? Send us your ideas and we’ll put together a playlist. Look for it in tomorrow’s Beacon newsletter.

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Happy birthday, Scott Pruitt! These songs go out to you

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Is TP Ruining the Health of Your Vagina?

by KathieArriola Posted on April 12, 2018

It?s never fun when something goes wrong in your vaginal area. Skin irritation, puffiness and even infections are fairly common, but figuring out what caused these issues can sometimes be a mystery. Once you?ve spoken to your doctor and ruled out any obvious concerns, you might want to take a look at your toilet paper.

Yes, toilet paper. This seemingly innocent part of our daily lives can actually have a negative impact on your vaginal health. And before you assume this is something you?ll just have to live with, rest assured there are safe and effective alternatives to toilet paper that your vagina will thank you for.

WHAT EXACTLY IS IN TOILET PAPER?

Most toilet paper starts out as trees that are ground up and processed into paper. But, it has to go through some intense chemical processing to make it so white and soft. First, the raw wood gets chipped and mixed with water and various chemicals to extract the fibers and make pulp. And if the toilet paper is being made from recycled paper, the paper is combined with water and processed to remove any staples or other debris as well as the ink.

The wet pulp is then bleached until all color is removed, and eventually dried to make the final toilet paper. Certain brands of toilet paper may also add formaldehyde or other additives for extra softness and absorbency, as well as lotion, wax, perfume, colored dyes or antibacterial chemicals to the final product.

Unfortunately, a lot of these production chemicals are considered trade secrets, and toilet paper manufacturing companies aren?t required to disclose exactly what they use. This makes it difficult to find out exactly what?s in your favorite toilet paper, but it?s going to be a mix of residual processing chemicals, bleaches and final additives.

HOW COULD TOILET PAPER BE AFFECTING YOUR VAGINA?

1. Microcuts

Keep in mind that toilet paper is made from trees. It?s been highly processed, but you?re still essentially wiping yourself with wood. You may have acutely felt this in some brands of TP that have rougher fiber pieces in them compared to others that are softer.

Not only can this be uncomfortable, it can also damage the tissues around your vulva. If you find you?re swollen or puffy, or have an infection, it could be from small abrasions and cuts caused by your toilet paper. Wiping too harshly can also make matters worse.

Try using some of the alternatives discussed below instead of TP for a few days and see if that helps. Also, dabbing with toilet paper when possible is gentler than fully wiping.

2. Vaginal Infections

Your vagina is naturally quite acidic. This is mainly to fight off any potentially harmful bacteria you may encounter. But, some of the additives in toilet paper can disrupt your pH balance and impair your vagina?s natural bacteria-fighting capabilities. That?s often how an infection takes hold, such as yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis.

To reduce your risks, avoid toilet paper that?s scented or has other obvious additives, and consider using ones that are hypoallergenic.

3. UTIs

This may be more of a technique issue rather than the fault of toilet paper itself. When you wipe from back to front, bacteria-laden fecal matter can be wiped forward up to your urethral opening. Here, bacteria can travel up your urethra into your bladder and potentially start a urinary tract infection. That?s why doctors always recommend to wipe from front to back, then dispose of your toilet paper and get a fresh piece for a second wipe.

4. Allergic Reactions

Some people may have allergies to one or more of the various dyes, perfumes and other chemicals added to TP. Allergies can show up as itching, dermatitis or other forms of skin irritation around your vulva and possibly anus.

Toilet papers that are softer, more absorbent and thicker often contain more additives to make them this way. Look for brands that are thinner, unscented and off-white. These often have less added chemicals and less potential for allergic reactions.

Related: 20 Things Every Woman Should Know About Her Vagina

WHAT CAN YOU USE INSTEAD?

Toilet paper is not as necessary as we may think. Many countries throughout the world simply do not have or use toilet paper. And there?s also a serious environmental cost of producing TP. Aside from the chemicals and pollution created during processing, it?s estimated that about 27,000 trees are cut down every day just to make toilet paper. Around 50 percent of these trees come from virgin and old growth forests throughout the world.

You can help reduce this ecological impact and safe guard your health by using alternatives to toilet paper. These alternatives will also save you money because they?re more sustainable and you won?t have to continuously buy a disposable product.

1. Rinse with Water

If you?re used to toilet paper, switching to water might feel a bit weird at first. But washing with water is a very common practice in many countries. Also, people often find it actually gets you cleaner and is more hygienic than using TP. It?s also much gentler on your body and is chemical-free.

The easiest way to start is to get a bottle you can keep next to your toilet. You can buy a peri bottle or irrigation bottle at a pharmacy. A squeezable water bottle also works well. After using the toilet, simply spray yourself off instead of using TP. You can also pour a bit of water into your cupped hand and wash with your hand if needed. And, of course, wash your hands afterwards.

With a bit more expense, installing a bidet is also an excellent choice.

2. Reusable Cloths

If you still don?t feel clean enough after washing with water, or you?d simply like to dry off afterwards, consider adding reusable cloths to your routine. Also known as ?family cloths,? these are much softer on your skin than TP and don?t have the chemical residues and additives.

You can buy reusable diaper wipes, wash cloths or search for ?family cloths? online. A free option is to cut up old flannel sheets or pajamas, towels or baby blankets. Simply cut them into appropriate-sized squares with pinking shears, which will prevent fraying on the edges.

Make sure they don?t get flushed down the toilet by keeping a diaper bin or other sealed container next to your toilet to put them in. Then wash them in hot water when you have enough for a load in your washing machine.

Related at Care2

14 Things Compromising the Health of Your Vagina
8 Things Every Woman Should Know About Feminine Hygiene Products
3 Ways to ?Green? Your Period

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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Is TP Ruining the Health of Your Vagina?

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Most Americans think climate change has a place in education.

by FredricBroome Posted on April 12, 2018

In a statement about the decision, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said that the city’s water has tested below the federal action level for lead and copper for the last two years. But Mayor Karen Weaver doesn’t agree that the free bottled water should stop, and many Flint residents aren’t so sure their tap water is OK to use.

“My water stinks. It still burns to take a shower,” Melissa Mays, a Flint activist and plaintiff in a lawsuit that forced the replacement of water lines, told the Associated Press. “There’s no way they can say it’s safe.”

Resident Ariana Hawk doesn’t trust the water, either. “Everything that me and my kids do from cooking to boiling their water for a bath, we’re using bottled water,” she told the local ABC-affiliate news station.

The New York Times reports that about 6,000 of Flint’s lead or galvanized steel pipes have been replaced, but there could be 12,000 more lines to go. According to the World Health Organization, there is no known safe level of lead exposure.

“This is wrong,” tweeted Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint doctor whose research exposed lead poisoning in the city. “Until all lead pipes are replaced, [the] state should make available bottled water and filters to Flint residents.”

But after the remaining free bottles are collected, only water filters and replacement cartridges will be provided.

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Most Americans think climate change has a place in education.

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