Greenpeace

I was. I seriously was born on a bayou. Bayou Teche. My whole family is from three small towns in southern Louisiana. Lafayette, Broussard, and New Iberia. So when Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita through our entire nation into a tailspin of heartbreak and anger, I was particularly emotional. Luck was with my family that August because neither storm did much damage to my family's homes but instead nestled either side of my hometowns.

My little family, who has resided in Southern Florida, (a hurricane mecca in its own right) since 1987 and travel frequently to Acadiana (that's what the Cajun's call southern Louisiana). For Thanksgiving of 2006, we visited a cousin stationed in the National Guard in New Orleans. And I traveled the Ninth Ward with a dear of friend of many Greenpeace staff. Shylia Lewis. In 2004 we helped her build a Habitat for Humanity home for her family that was toxic free. You can read her Greenpeace story here. The Habitat houses on her block had the least amount of damage of all and Shylia said it was because those homes were built with love. I'm no sap even if it is Valentines Day, but I think she's on to something.

The reason I want to talk about the Gulf Coast today is because (1) communities and families are still recovering and they need our help and (2) the toxic contamination from these horrific storms has been outrageous and not widely covered, in fact covered up.

An article came out today from the CDC in Atlanta that discusses the toxic fumes Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims have been living in since 2005. There has been high levels (five times as much as in modern homes) of formaldehyde found in the trailors that FEMA gave to a large amount of Gulf Coast families. CDC announced that FEMA (you know the kids who refused to take any responsibility for the lack of humanity shown from governmental agencies after the hurricane) should move people out of those trailors immediately for fear of respiratory problems.

After complaining of headaches and nosebleeds and asking repeatedly to be moved out of the trailors, families finally talked to some lawyers and demanded that the trailors be checked out to see what could be causing their health concerns. CDC found it. Extremely high levels of toxic fumes.  

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has listed formaldehyde as a carcinogen and the EPA has listed it as a probable carcinogen.  

Read the CNN story.  

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Greenpeace isn't the only group that has worked on building toxic free homes on the Gulf Coast.

Unity Homes is still helping people live toxic free.  

Habitat for Humanity is in dire need of volunteers.  

And don't forget Jazz Festival is approaching!!  

Happy late Mardi Gras!

Renee  

Hello,

I'm very sorry I haven't updated my blog recently. I know how many of you check up on my  blog posting each morning. ha. 

So, I think I mentioned around thanksgiving that my good friend Liz is having a baby. She is due in two weeks!  Kind of exciting, a little scary, and making all my friends more interested in creating a toxic fee world.

Liz brings her own bags to the grocery store and she now uses a sigg bottle for her water. I gave a hard time for drinking out of plastic bottles the last time I was there. At first she just thought I was being an alarmist, but I kept sending her articles on the subject and she realized that I'm not the only one getting rid of them. Hey, I've known her since I was 14, I'm suppose to do stuff like that.

Work Group for Safe Markets recently released a study called Baby's Toxic Bottle. A little scary sounding I have to admit, but its based on the same reason I pushed Liz to get rid of the plastic water bottles. Bisphenol A. 

It's in disposable water bottles and now there is proof that it is in baby bottles. Not good for Liz junior. (actually his name is William, but I'll use Liz jr for now - I mean that's what he is)

With all this evidence that bisphenol A is an endocrine disruptor and biaccumulates in the body, many environmentalists and social justice advocates are calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers. One of the biggest issues with this chemical is that is in hard polycarbonate plastics (nalgeens and baby bottles) and leaches when the bottle is heated up. So, when you leave your water bottle in the car while you go grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon and the sun warms it up or when new parents heat up formula in a heat bath on the stove in the baby bottle whoever drinks out of it gets a dose of Bisphenol A. Not exactly what you want to be feeding your newborn. But it turns out around 95% of baby bottles contain it. Bisphenol A was first designed as synthetic estrogen and then was later polymerized to produce polycarbonate. A synthetic hormone that was chemically treated to make baby bottles? Really?

You can read the report here. It also lists things that you can do to help and background information if you would like to know more.  

alright, i'm finished now. Its freezing in washington dc and I need some soup. minus the bisphenol A, I hope.

All the best,

Renee  

Not even a year ago, Steve Jobs said we were making a big fuss over a whole lot of nothing. Since then, he has posted his environmental commitment on the Apple website and on Tuesday for the first time in Apple history he discussed the environment in Macworld's keynote address.

He did it, not because he is a fan of Greenpeace, but because he was moved by the actions of people who want greener electronics. Greenpeace gave Apple consumers the tools to voice their concerns, to get creative, and to make a statement. And the proof of success was in that speech.

There is only one thing not quite right. He announced a super cool new laptop, but it isn't as green as it could be. Yes, it does have less of the toxins PVC and BFR, but Steve Jobs could have really revolutionized the industry on Tuesday. He could have announced a toxic free super cool new laptop.

Jobs didn't give our dream keynote address, but he did a whole lot better than last year. And this time he promised to keep us posted on what their doing.

Keep going, you're almost there Steve!

-Renee  

Being an activist, as you know well, is not always particularly satisfying. You read about a lot of crappy things that crappy people do. You repeat the same information to the same decision makers hoping that this will be the time they really listen. And sometimes you have a victory. And on very very rare occasions you have two in one month.

I told you about Target. And now I'm really excited to tell you about Sears and Kmart. Sears Holdings, the company that owns Sears and Kmart, has committed to phasing out PVC in their products and packaging. Sears Holdings is the nation's sixth largest retailer with over $50 billion in sales per year and approximaterly 3,800 stores. 

Center for Health, Environment and Justice has been running a super successful PVC campaign getting companies to eliminate PVC. This means that 3 out of the 6 biggest retailer stores are in the process of phasing out PVC. How's that for progress? Maybe these big wigs are finally starting to understand that we all really do care about the chemicals that are in the things we bring into our homes.

You can check out their website and see what the entire policy is, but I'll give you some highlights:

- identify safer, more sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to PVC

- show preference to PVC free materials

- encourage vendors to reduce or eliminate PVC from their products and packaging

Pretty good. Now we need the rest of them to phase out PVC as well as brominated flame retardants. And remember they listen to people who buy their stuff.
 

Have a good week. I'm back on the east coast on Friday. I heard it snowed over there. That does not make me happy even if it is December.

Renee  

 . . .  which is what it should be doing.

Articles galore, supporter feedback. Some good discussions have been coming out of the latest Guide to Greener Electronics. Our international co-worker Tom put up a blog today that I thought was pretty interesting. He talked about a number of the discussions we've seen in the past several days.

Check it out here.  

Renee 

P.S: I only have two weeks left on the west coast. I'm starting to miss California already!