Bluehouse Bamboo Skis

Bluehouse Skis with Bamboo Core


Today’s skis are a blend of high-tech construction and art. So to hear that Bluehouse Skis had implemented a ski core based on bamboo seemed a bit “old-fashioned” to say the least.

Adam Hepworth and Jared Richards determined their dream job would be to build and run a ski company. So the former college roomates designed the new skis and incorporated bamboo inside. This is is all by design since bamboo used in our cores not only gives extra pop but allows the skis to take on many of the same stiffness and durability qualities of carbon fiber at a fraction of the cost. Additionally, the bamboo was lighter weight and gives backcountry skiers a wide ski for extreme powder but shaves off a pound and a half off their load. Bluehouse Skis are ideal for the A/T skier, a park crew taking it to the backcountry, or a novice skier who is looking for an exclusive ski to flaunt on the mountain.

Marketing and sales are online through the Bluehouse Web site. The team is active with their blog and has already incorporated community feedback in their latest skis.

What Soft Drinks are Doing to Your Body

This isn't exactly a "green" article, but more of a health issue!


What Soft Drinks are Doing to Your Body
Ask Dr. Mao
By Dr. Maoshing Ni - Posted on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 12:29 pm PDT

Soda, pop, cola, soft drink — whatever you call it, it is one of the worst beverages that you could be drinking for your health. As the debate for whether to put a tax on the sale of soft drinks continues, you should know how they affect your body so that you can make an informed choice on your own.

Soft drinks are hard on your health
Soft drinks contain little to no vitamins or other essential nutrients. However, it is what they do contain that is the problem: caffeine, carbonation, simple sugars — or worse, sugar substitutes — and often food additives such as artificial coloring, flavoring, and preservatives.

A lot of research has found that consumption of soft drinks in high quantity, especially by children, is responsible for many health problems that include tooth decay, nutritional depletion, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Why the sugar in soft drinks isn’t so sweet
Most soft drinks contain a high amount of simple sugars. The USDA recommendation of sugar consumption for a 2,000-calorie diet is a daily allotment of 10 teaspoons of added sugars. Many soft drinks contain more than this amount!

Just why is too much sugar so unhealthy? Well, to start, let's talk about what happens to you as sugar enters your body. When you drink sodas that are packed with simple sugars, the pancreas is called upon to produce and release insulin, a hormone that empties the sugar in your blood stream into all the tissues and cells for usage. The result of overindulging in simple sugar is raised insulin levels. Raised blood insulin levels beyond the norm can lead to depression of the immune system, which in turn weakens your ability to fight disease.

Something else to consider is that most of the excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain and elevates risk for heart disease and cancer. One study found that when subjects were given refined sugar, their white blood cell count decreased significantly for several hours afterwards. Another study discovered that rats fed a high-sugar diet had a substantially elevated rate of breast cancer when compared to rats on a regular diet.

The health effects of diet soda
You may come to the conclusion that diet or sugar-free soda is a better choice. However, one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day — and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular — led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly.

Diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These artificial sweeteners pose a threat to your health. Saccharin, for instance, has been found to be carcinogenic, and studies have found that it produced bladder cancer in rats.

Aspartame, commonly known as Nutrasweet, is a chemical that stimulates the brain to think the food is sweet. It breaks down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol at a temperature of 86 degrees. (Remember, your stomach is somewhere around 98 degrees.) An article put out by the University of Texas found that aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading.

Carbonation depletes calcium
Beverages with bubbles contain phosphoric acid, which can severely deplete the blood calcium levels; calcium is a key component of the bone matrix. With less concentration of calcium over a long time, it can lower deposition rates so that bone mass and density suffer. This means that drinking sodas and carbonated water increases your risk of osteoporosis.

Add in the caffeine usually present in soft drinks, and you are in for even more trouble. Caffeine can deplete the body’s calcium, in addition to stimulating your central nervous system and contributing to stress, a racing mind, and insomnia.

Skip the soda and go for:

• Fresh water
Water is a vital beverage for good health. Each and every cell needs water to perform its essential functions. Since studies show that tap water is filled with contaminants, antibiotics, and a number of other unhealthy substances, consider investing in a quality carbon-based filter for your tap water. To find out more about a high-performance filtration system, click here.

On the go? Try using a stainless steel thermos or glass bottle, filled with filtered water. Enhance the flavor of your water with a refreshing infusion of basil, mint leaves, and a drop of honey.

• Fruit Juice
If you are a juice drinker, try watering down your juice to cut back on the sugar content. Buy a jar of organic 100% juice, especially cranberry, acai, pomegranate, and then dilute three parts filtered water to one part juice. You will get a subtle sweet taste and the benefit of antioxidants. After a couple of weeks, you will no longer miss the sweetness of sugary concentrated juices.

• Tea
Tea gently lifts your energy and has numerous health benefits. Black, green, white, and oolong teas all contain antioxidant polyphenols. In fact, tea ranks as high or higher than many fruits and vegetables on the ORAC scale, the score that measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods.

Herbal tea does not have the same antioxidant properties, though it is still a great beverage choice with other health benefits, such as inducing calming and relaxing effects.

If tea doesn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, try adding cinnamon or a little honey, which has important health benefits that refined sugar lacks. For a selection of healthy teas that promote total body wellness, click here. Drink up!

I hope you find the ways and means to avoid soft drinks. I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

--Dr. Mao

Green Halloween Tips You May Not Have Thought Of

Each year Americans spend billions of dollars on Halloween candy, costumes and other Halloween related décor-type items (over $3 billion was spent in 2006 alone). They're shelling out $20-50 a piece on costumes and $10 and up on bags of candy.

But, this year more-so than in years past, people have enhanced awareness of health issues like cancer, obesity, and diabetes rates, of environmental health, and this year less people have the luxury of spending their hard earned dollars on store-bought costumes so they're being forced to look elsewhere for their ghost and goblin attire.

All of that brings us to my five tips for throwing a greener Halloween...in ways you may not have thought of.

(1) Think outside the store-bought box.

Forget the costly, typical, polyester costumes that you find at those pop-up Halloween superstores. This year, recycle what's already in your house for a more eco and original approach.

Here are four ideas that I shared recently on CNN.com/LIVE
# Skunk: Wear a black turtleneck & tights and paste a white strip down your back

# Spider: Wear black leotard & tights, and attach 4 extra sets of "legs" - tights stuffed with paper.

# Ragdoll: Wear a sleeper with patches, a stocking cap, rosy cheeks and freckles

# Jack in the Box: Wear bright tights and shirt. Attach a brightly painted box with a crank.

(2) Aluminum foil makes a costume and makes any costume better.
# Good old aluminum foil like Reynolds Wrap from 100% recycled aluminum is the obvious choice. It can become the star on your daughter's fairy godmother wand or the sword in your young Jedi hand. Simply cut a star or sword from cardboard and cover both sides with aluminum foil. For the star, attach it to the top of a short dowel rod, tie on some ribbon, and voila!

# It can become the face of your child's futuristic face mask. Cut out the mask from cardboard. Cut holes for eyes and the mouth, then cover the mask with foil and use paint, or glue on feathers or glitter to decorate.

# Cover 3 boxes in cascading sizes with foil to make a robot costume

# Cover cardboard fins for a Nemo-like shiny fish

(3) Carry two bags: one for treats and a bag for trash

Your treat bag doesn't need to be some synthetic polyester pumpkin. Instead use a reusable grocery bag or a decorated old pillowcase.

In addition to your treat bag, carry a second bag for litter. Each November 1st, people wake to streets and sidewalks littered with candy wrappers and discarded costumes. This Halloween, walk with a trash bag in hand and help keep our streets clean.

(4) Choose a walking neighborhood

Forget about stop-and-go trick-or-treat driving, walking is the more carbon-neutral, eco-friendly choice. If you don't live in a "walking" neighborhood, try carpooling, picking a different neighborhood where you can walk, or trick-or-treating at the mall.

(5) When it's all over, donate!

Take this year's costume and host a swap party with neighbors or school friends so you'll all have something new to wear next year.

Or, better yet, donate your costumes to a local children's hospital. They're always so grateful for any donated books, toys, and costumes for dress up days.

From Playgrounder.com:

"Green Toys Tea Set

Host your next teddy bear picnic with this Green Toys Tea Set ($16). This adorable set is made entirely of recycled milk jugs and contains no phthalates or BPA. It comes packaged in a recycled cardboard box, and best of all, it’s made in the USA. But let’s not forget why you’re buying a tea set in the first place. Your kids will love this colorful service for four, with cups, saucers, and spoons for everyone at the tea party, which are even safe to actually drink from and can go in the dishwasher for quick cleanup" -jL

Greenhound Meeting This Sunday

Hey Greenbriar Greenhounds!

Just another reminder...

The meeting this Sunday will be at my house, at 1951 Redwood Lane, between Meadow and Keystone.

The time will be 2:00 for new members and 2:30 for returning members.
Here is the tentative agenda:


2:00-2:30 Discussion of Greenhounds 2009-2010 Action Plan & Sign ups

2:30-2:45 Introductions

2:45-3:00 Discussion of Statement of Purpose/Goal

3:00-3:15 Trashless Lunches Plans and discussion- Gayle

3:15-3:30 Projects Updates and discussion- Jennifer

3:30-3:45 Earth Day- preliminary discussion- Emily

3:45-4:00 Web site, Education Coordination, Job Assignments and future meeting plans- Rachel

Peeing in Public Saves Water - But is it Gross?

Is Peeing in Public Green?
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA


Peeing in Public Saves Water - But is it Gross?
I seem to be in the habit of sharing my bathroom habits with the world - whether it's the Selective Flush or the Navy Shower. (Perhaps worryingly) people seem to enjoy reading about what I get up to in the privacy of my own home - or at least it usually stirs up a vigorous debate. So here's another one I've been musing about lately - peeing in public is an environmentally responsible thing to do.

OK - so maybe I'm not really talking about peeing in public, but rather peeing outdoors. I mean, the folks that dirty our underpasses and stink out our phone booths are hardly paragons of treehugging virtue. But it seems to me that a discreet pee behind a bush is in many ways more sensible than spoiling perfectly good drinking water and then whisking it away for expensive, energy and water intensive 'treatment'.

So what can we do to remedy the situation? For those of us in the country, the at-home solution is easy enough. I regularly pee in my yard. Not only does this save water - but it has other uses too. A quick sprinkle of the compost heap helps start the decomposition process, and let's not forget that urine is an important source of phosphate. I also pee around the flower beds and chicken coop to keep deer and raccoons away. And if you want to do more, check out how to use urine as a fertilizer.

But what about townies? I actually know plenty of town folk who occasionally use a secluded corner of their yard as a temporary toilet. And I see nothing wrong with using our parks for relief when you are caught short - though you probably want to find some dense undergrowth to spare the social outrage (and any possible legal issues!). And in large crowds, it's probably best to stick to the toilets - eutrophication of waterways is a real problem at major events like music festivals etc.

Back in my home town of Bristol in the UK, and many other cities in Europe, where Friday night revelers are not always the best behaved bunch, they often set up temporary public urinals in the street, saving shopkeepers the unpleasant task of cleaning up after anti-social drunks. (I'll save readers the unpleasant sight - head over to LIFE if you really want to see what temporary urinals look like). But what if those urinals were not just glorified (and wall-less) chemical toilets, but rather a method for collecting a valuable resource that could be distributed to phosphate hungry farms in the region? After all, the New York Times has already identified "yellow as the new green" - arguing for urine separation in all of our toilets.

It looks like Umbra has been exploring some similar philosophical issues over at Grist - pondering whether it's polite to let it mellow when not at home, and putting her support behind peeing in public. It must be OK then...

Decoding plastics recycling

Figuring out which types of plastic you can recycle is not easy. Just because a plastic bottle or tub has a "recycling symbol" on it doesn't necessarily mean you can throw it into your curbside bin.

The container's shape, color, and your location are also key factors in indicating whether that bottle or tub is destined for a recycling plant or the dump.

To read more: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/62/decoding-plastics-recycling.html