Do you drink tap water? Think twice.

That Tap Water Is Legal but May Be Unhealthy

Irfan Khan/The Los Angeles Times, via Associated Press

This Los Angeles reservoir contained chemicals that sunlight converted to compounds associated with cancer. The city used plastic balls to block the sun, but nearby homeowners asked why, if the water didn’t violate the law.

The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal.

Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.

But not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000. read more

Where to donate your yoga mat

I recently inherited a brand new manduka eko lite mat…Never tried one before.  Anyway, I don’t really need more than one mat, so the extra has got to go somewhere, but where?

• Recycle your mat either upcycles your mat or donates it to a community organization to use as is.
• With The Art of Yoga Project, your mat goes to a yoga + art initiative for at risk teenage girls.
• The Mind Body Awareness Project is all about giving at risk and incarcerated youth mindfulness training as a tool to transform their everyday lives.  They need yoga mats!
• Bent on Learning will transform your mat from a yoga mat, to a tent, to a blanket, to a magic carpet, to who knows what else in its many yoga and meditation classes for NYC public school children and youth centers.

Let’s get this list growing!  Where else can one donate one’s mat?

NY Times: How Green Is My Bottle?

How Green Is My Bottle?
April 19, 2009 By DANIEL GOLEMAN and GREGORY NORRIS

Earth Day is this Wednesday, and all things “green” will be celebrated. But it’s worth asking: how environmentally friendly are “green” products, really? Consider, for example, this paragon of eco-virtue: the stainless steel water bottle that lets us hydrate without discarding endless plastic bottles. Using a method called life cycle assessment, we have evaluated the environmental and health impact of a stainless steel thermos — from the extraction and processing of its ingredients, to its manufacture, distribution, use and final disposal. There were some surprises. What we think of as “green” turns out to be less so (and, yes, sometimes more so) than we assume. read more

Viva La Revolution (the dopest mat ever): On yoga mats p2

Buying one might make you feel like you’re part of a super hip and ethical club.  It might make you feel like you’re not rubbing your lymph nodes against pvc.  Before you go out and buy one, consider what you will do with your old mat.  The most eco-friendly choice?  Buy sustainable the first time.  Reduce. Recycle. Reuse.

PrAna Revolution Mat: the Smell!

prAna Revolution Mat: The Size!

PrAna Revolution Mat: the Construction

PrAna Revolution Mat: Joy!

Guilt-free shoe shopping

posted by eb

Think of eco-shoes.
Images of hemp and cork and ergonomic clogs.
Check out New York’s Sustainable NYC, where going granola is not only in and affordable, it’s crazy adorable… (they have way more in-store than online.)

Campaign for a greener weiner

posted by ebean

Ways you should go green but aren’t (and how to do it)

Sex

• Nicole Hughes of The Huffington Post lists the Top 10 Ways to Green Up Your Sex Life
• Babeland offers an Eco Delight Kit featuring products that range from the non-toxic and organic, to the non profit made, vegan, and recycled.

Airplanes

• Learn about Virgin Blue’s Carbon Offset Program or take a look at TerraPass
• Bring your own food and snacks in reusable containers.
• Bring your own headphones and reading material from your local library or used book store.
• Bring your own beverage container.  They might not refill it for you from the service carts because you are a freak with a metal water bottle so be prepared to fill it yourself at water fountains after security.  You should only drink water anyway.

Takeout

• Invest is some reusable food containers and ask the restaurant to use them instead
• Spend your money consciously and visit restaurants that are trying to green up their ways.  You can find listings (although sparse) at dinegreen.com, the greatgreenlist, and eatwellguide.  It ain’t easy being green…

How are you going green?

POM is Wonderful/Alternative Uses for Pomegranate Juice

posted by ebean

Dear Good People of POM Wonderful,

I’d like to take this moment to thank you for sending the promo case of pomegranate juice to all us ElephantBeans.  Being as we are all tree hugging hippie types that are trying to change the world while we drink fresh juices and eat healthy, local, and organic food, we appreciated that your 100% Pomegranate Juice is in fact 100% pomegranate juice.  And it tastes good too.

Although we enjoyed reading and learning about the many health benefits and recipes listed on your website, we would like to add some of our own adventures with Pom…

• Juicybean used her bottle of POM Wonderful as an all-natural hair dye.  Sexy!
• Alcmaeonid prefers to use his for mouthwash.
  

• Wherehaveyoubean discovered that pouring a bottle of POM on the ice-covered sidewalk was a dog-friendly alternative to rock salt.  Good thinking Wherehaveyoubean!

• Unsinkablemoo was short on cash and out of liquid laundy detergent.  To her amazement, POM was colorsafe and even removed the ring-around-the-collar!

• Upon reading this article, Freebean was thoughtful enough to send a bottle to Bob Dole.  No more Viagra!

• Lalabean’s special effects pal confessed that POM is the secret ingredient in the industry’s best horror film gore…

• …Which, of course, inspired Danbean to try it out as a bullfighter-style diversion for hungry vampires.  Turns out it also works on bulls and snakes for some odd reason.  Go figure.

• Somehow, Seabean discovered that POM is an excellent stain remover and now is the proud owner of a squeaky clean toilet bowl.

• Beanism is currently driving across the fine state of Rhode Island in a POM powered car.

Yeah.

I’m not sure how much of this really happened because as I write this, I am really fucking high on POM.

Blog of the day: Eco Yogini

posted by ebeans

“Because off the mat, into the world” also includes what yoga mat you’re on, where it’s from and where it’s going…

“Water Bottles; Eco and Ethics” from Eco Yogini

Ugh, drinking water has been SO difficult! I gotta say that unlike some fantastical water-drinkers out there, I have to almost have a water-drinking schedule in order to get that stuff into my system.  But I do it, as water is essential. 98.73% of the molecules in our bodies are made of water. In order to survive human beings need water, it is the basis for life itself.

As yogi/ni’s and individuals who are mostly physically active (ok, so really yoga is IT for me!) we drink a LOT of water and increasingly water is becoming a commodity to buy and sell in our global community. In 2005 in Canada bottled water consumption was an estimated 60 litres per person with sales worth 652.7 million! That’s a LOT of plastic. The US is the top consumer at 33.4 BILLION litres a year- in Toronto alone an estimated 100 million bottles are thrown out a year with only 65% being captured by recycling programs (cbc). From my previous post here we know that plastic lasts a loooong time. This plastic can leach harmful chemicals and additives into the water that you drink while working out or practicing yoga to be healthy (hmmm).

So that’s the environmental perspective, but what about the human essential right to water? read more

Green Rewards = Forest Natural = Juice Heaven

posted by eb

The cute barista isn’t the only reason to trek to Greenpoint’s Forest Natural.  No, you’ve got to hit them up for their juice!  Bring your own container, and they’ll fill it up — get this — for a discounted price.  Get rewarded for being green…

Forest Natural
120 Norman Ave @ Eckford
(718) 383 – 7417
M-f 7am – 10pm, Sa & Su 9am – 10pm

G Norman Ave
61 Bus Manhattan/Norman

Dear Lil’ Devas Offers $500 for Dear Lil’ You

posted by freebean

Not into donning the tiny bikram shorts?
Looking for a little more coverage?

*Enter Dear Lil’ Devas.*

The makers of Toronto’s locally created, customizable, uber comfy bamboo and organic cotton yoga garb offer just that. Among their most unique pieces is the multi-tasking blanket/wrap – yes that is right, a blanket (amazing for svasana or snuggling) and a long wrap skirt (for the yogi, kilt-like apparel to guard your loins after sweatin’ it out yoga style; for yoginis, I don’t really have to say anything else, do I?).

Debuting in April are their SNUG, lady capris (sorry, no links yet – patience my dears) – wonder if these will be the Bikram shorts competitor(?), but I have a feeling that they will have a lil’ more length and of course are a bamboo/cotton interlocking blend.

And you gotta love their ‘good vibes policy,’ which may help you feel better about accumulating more yoga stuff, it certainly beats those sweat-shop bi-products with synthetic (yes, poly and ester are cousins of plastic) fibers that don’t allow your skin to breathe and fill up landfills without the hope of ever decomposing after they go out of fashion.

*freebean now steps down from the soap box.*

In a nutshell, DLD takes less from the earth and makes beautiful things with it, and then gives back to the community. And if that wasn’t enough to make you a fan, now Dear Lil’ Devas is hosting a drawing for $500 (a credit for their yoga gear for your cash-strapped, conscious lifestyle), simply become their FB fan and you’ll be entered! (The odds are pretty good, since they have a rather intimate FB fanbase at the moment, although I have a feeling that may change soon…)

Be sure to become a fan before March 13th, 2009 (think of it as your kharmic litmus test)!!!