News
Museum of Science Planet Earth Celebration
For scientists Earth Day is second only to Darwin’s birthday.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: They’re Baaaaaack
Fire ants and fleas and ticks, oh my! The bugs are back. Drats. Be prepared!
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Farmers Markets Galore
Hello springtime! Downtown’s Moore Square Farmers Market re-opens April 15th, with toxic-free veggies galore. Plus, the skinny on other farmers’ markets in Raleigh.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: National Pesticide Forum in NC
The 27th National Pesticide Forum - Bridge to an Organic Future! - is in Carrboro this year. It will feature such pesticide fighting rockstars as Jim Hightower, Baldemar Velásquez, and giant bug puppets from Paperhand Puppet Intervention’s awesome insect show last year. Carpool, anyone?
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Toxic-Free Toiletries
The average person encounters multiple cancer-causing chemicals before breakfast every day from their toiletries. Nar nar! Here are some tips for ingredients to avoid in your toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, make-up, etc, as well as a couple recommendations on local companies making least-toxic products.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Drain Cleaner
Got gunk in your drain? Before you run for the toxic (and expensive) chemical products, give this a shot.
Toxic Free Tip of the Week: Cost of Tomatoes?
Three children with birth defects; four years of investigations; three thousand dollars. The Ag-Mart case closed with a whimper last week - what a frustrating anti-climax. Get the skinny on what happened, and on the various brand names Ag-Mart’s tomatoes come under so you can avoid them if you wanna.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Triclosan
Ditch the antibacterial hand soap, please. It’s got secret pesticides in it, and isn’t actually making your hands any cleaner than old fashioned “anti-dirt” soap. Read more about the tons of consumer products that contain triclosan, and get tips for avoiding it.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Toxic Junk Food
Turns out, it’s more like high MERCURY corn syrup. Yikes!
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Join a CSA Farm
Raleigh is so lucky to have CSA farms, where you can get your weekly veggies while helping to keep a local sustainable farmer in business. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it means that you can buy a share in a farm’s output for the year directly from the farmer. They all work a little differently, but the basic idea is that you pay a lump sum early in the year, then you get food every week through the growing season. It’s about time to sign up for 2009. For more about CSAs, and how and why to join one, below the fold.
Overturned Garbage Truck Sets Fire To Forest on 40
Reader Dimitri G. sent us some blurry but right-at-the-action pictures from his iPhone, capturing up close the fire started by garbage from an overturned garbage truck on I-40
Growing Green in the Triangle this Thursday
Thursday the Triangle chapter of the Emerging Green Builders will host an all day series of workshops to educate the public and further the dialog on green building in the Triangle.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Protect your Brain
Rates of autism nationwide have skyrocketed over the past 15 years, and a study just came out of CA confirming that chemicals in our environment could be responsible for most of the rise. Which common chemicals are high on scientists’ list of suspected culprits? Some are things you might guess, and others maybe not.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Toxic-Free Fish
Don’t ignore warnings of mercury, PCBs and other toxic junk in fish - get informed! Here’s a little help finding toxic-free (and also, ahem, delicious) fish safe for women of child bearing age and everybody else too.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Organic NC Christmas Trees & Wreaths
What’s in your Christmas tree or wreath?
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Non-Toxic Carpet Cleaning
Thanks are due to Lisa for requesting this week’s topic: Cheap & Toxic-Free Carpet Cleaning (for homes with dogs and other dirty creatures great and small).
Big Changes for the LEED Rating System
On Tuesday, the U.S. Green Building council approved significant changes to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines for 2009.
City Issues Call For Nominations For Environmental Awards
From the City of Raleigh: The City of Raleigh is accepting nominations for the 2009 Environmental Awards. The deadline to submit nominations is Dec. 15.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Mold & Mildew Killer
I dedicate this week’s tip to everyone who, like me, has been so busy these past few weeks with election madness that they haven’t cleaned their bathrooms. Eeeewww.
Toxic Free NC Tip of the Week: Roaches
had my crawlspace insulated and sealed a couple months ago. The good news is that I’ll have much lower energy bills this winter, and my crawlspace is now pretty inhospitable to pests like rodents, termites and other insects. The bad news is that some cockroaches migrated north from my now-inhospitable crawlspace into my kitchen…
