The Changers are spending the weekend at our local music festival and since Spring has sprung here it has triggered a discussion on sunscreen safety. In other words, should we subject our skin to sunscreen chemicals or risk sun exposure/burn? Fortunately, there’s a third choice - non-chemical sunscreen. This is an important information for all of us, whether you like to hit the beach or just scoot around town by bike or bus. In fact, please don’t even consider waiting for your current tube of sunscreen to run out before making the switch. Read on. It’s big.

Studies show that popular chemical sunscreens may actually increase cancers by virtue of their free-radical generating properties. Commonly used sunscreen chemicals also have strong estrogenic actions that may cause serious hormone disruption in men and women, and may further increase cancer risks. Benzophenone is one of the most powerful free-radical generators known and when it interacts with UV light, it becomes even more powerful. Other common chemicals in sunscreens are estrogen mimickers and can cause feminization of tissues. Frighteningly, studies show that melanoma (and cancers like breast, uterine and prostate) has increased in areas where physicians have heavily promoted the use of sunscreen, such as parts of Australia.

Chemical-free sunscreens hit the market last year, the active ingredient going back to lifeguard basics - titanium dioxide, a naturally-occuring mineral that is an “opacifier” (white pigment) that reflects light and creates a barrier on the skin. Yes, the mineral does leave the skin with a white “glow”, to varying degrees, depending on the spf. I’ve found Dr. Hauschka’s and Aubrey’s brands to be effective without looking mask-like. Burt’s Bees and California Baby have also introduced similar products, the latter said to contain a “micronized” titanium dioxide which is non-whitening.

At least 35% of sunscreens (or anything?) applied to skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. The rest is rinsed off directly into lakes, oceans and our shower drains. Grist reports that up to 6,000 tons of sunscreen wash off in the oceans every year, threatening coral reefs and aquatic plant life and could encourage dormant algae viruses to proliferate.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

There is hope for the future of commerce. The workforce is beginning to take matters into their own hands - working on terms that fulfill not just a livelihood, but a “right livelihood” that nourishes the soul, the planet and communities. At yesterday’s event (see below) for sustainable entrepreneurs and businesses, it became obvious that we are willing to take risks, to revisit expectations, to shift the idea of “work” to a place that is more healthy and satisfying and hopeful.

There is Green Planet Catering green catering company, Green , who serves only local and organic food, provides biodegradable utensils, composts all job waste and even delivers in a vehicle powered by vegetable diesel - that he makes with his own waste oil. He says his long days don’t feel like work.

Scott Blackwell started the Immaculate Baking Company in his garage with big dreams and a few simple goals: To create top-quality baked goods with fun and unique combinations, to celebrate the creativity of folk art, and to somehow give back. So, he created “Cookies With a Cause”.

Filling an important niche is Southern Energy Management, a husband and wife team, who help businesses and home owners plan energy systems that will minimize energy costs and footprint. They become “team” leaders who provide solutions to commercial and residential energy use.

Trinity Design/Build specializes in historic preservation, renovation and green retrofitting of existing buildings. They work with homeowners, contractors, and architects and their services include everything from conceptual sketches to turn-key design/build.

There’s more of course, and I’ll be highlighting and sharing what I’m learning from these inspired and committed people. For now, remember, we’re shifting, tipping, pushing the iceberg - don’t give up. Change is a’foot.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Today we Changers will be participating in an event with UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Jerry will be moderating a discussion panel of motivated businesses, including the director of U.S. marketing from Burt’s Bees. We will conclude with a workshop on branding for good, where Jerry will explain, “Branding is not rocket science. It’s a cocktail party.”

BASE and The Change present:
Branding for Good
A Panel Discussion on Successful Branding Strategies for Sustainable Entrepreneurs

The Center for Sustainable Enterprise (CSE) at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School was established to help executives and future business leaders understand how social and environmental considerations are changing the competitive landscape of business.

The CSE provides education, research, and outreach to business students, executives, and organizations to help them benefit from the opportunities inherent in sustainable enterprise. Kenan-Flagler Business School is ranked one of the top business schools in the world for education in this arena.

We are looking forward to meeting many inspiring people!

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

If you’re here, you know the many ways that you can save resources, create less trash and use less energy. You will also know that I am a fan of No Impact Man - and last week he offered a list of changes he made over the last year to green his life and the planet. Although he went back to using a refrigerator and washing machine, he found at least 42 green habits that are just too simple to ever give up. I can say I’ve joined him in all of them and yep, they are darn easy. And, as NIM has been reminding us, the best news is that all of it has made me happier and healthier in the process.

Below are a few more resource-saving ideas that I’ve discovered along the way. The best part is that it’s been a kind of thrill to figure out these things and realized how much of it is common- sense-simple. See what you think below

** You can now recycle your cds, dvds, jewel cases, cell phones, electronics, printer cartridges, and videos through Greendisk.com. I just sent in a whole box of dvds and videos for only the cost of a mailing label. They also provide recycling services to businesses with high volume.

** If you use a vacuum cleaner, try reusing the full bag by simply emptying the dust bunnies out the top (put your fingers in and pull). It works fine, is not as icky as it sounds, saves money and resources. Those bags are thick and durable and will go through many uses if you are willing to take this extra step.

** If you use cotton balls, remember to save the stuff that sometimes comes in the top of the vitamin supplement jars.

** When the ink runs out, don’t throw the entire pen away - save the cartridges. You can take them to most office supply stores and purchase or order refills. I collected about 25 in one year and was able to get replacements for most. Same thing for scotch tape! If your local store doesn’t carry refills - encourage them to do so.

** If you have a hole in your sock, try your hand at darning - I’ve rescued a few of my wool pairs. If that doesn’t work, cut off the foot part, make a few stitches to create a thumb space and you have half-gloves.

** Athletic shoes too worn to donate? Recycle them through Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program or check in with your local powers that be for shoe collection events. Oh, and be sure to take out the laces - they are most likely still usable. There may be Check here for recycling programs for sports shoes.

** Save water by rinsing lightly, but NOT washing recylables until squeaky-clean. It’s on the record - the process handles a percentage of excess “contaminants” just fine.

** Use yogurt-style plastic tubs as planters for spring seedlings or house plants - just poke holes in the bottom.

** Rainy day? Put on rain gear - or a bikini - and wash your car - use a little bio-degradable soap and a rag and let the rain give it a good rinse.

** Clothing that is too worn for donation make great rags, gift wrap, reusable napkins and dishtowels - just get out the scissors.

** A plastic bag dryer is on of the few “gadgets” that is worth its weight in green - I’ve rinsed and reused plastic bags, that hold my vegetables, dozens and dozens of times because this simple design allows them to dry completely and quickly. It works for used plastic wrap or foil as well. Order one here.

I’m sure I’ve missed some things. Please send me your ideas! Thanks and happy greening.

Although I was introduced to the term in college, it has been since seeing the movie, I Heart Huckabees, that I’ve been intrigued by the ideas of Existentialism. Like most things which intrigue us, it’s difficult to define but rings of truth and resonates in some inner place.

Consider this on Existentialism from Jonathan Caro:

“If, then, there are any moral codes for an Existentialist, they would boil down to three guiding principles not rules to follow, but precepts to live by. Pursue excellence in your life and actions, realizing that what does not attain excellence demonstrates a failure to create the highest value and meaning you can. Identify with your actions, make every action something that you would be proud to always claim, realizing that whenever you act against your better judgments or without being wholehearted, you diminish yourself. And strive to the highest of which humanity is capable, never settling for the merely comfortable or pleasant when humanity is capable of more.”

This hit me as a message that applies to everything and everyone - and readily to the issues we face right now in this culture, on this planet. We have willingly, though not entirely consciously, “diminished” ourselves in how we work, how we eat and live, and how we relate to each other. We have settled for convenience and ease over realism and reason. We are ruled by our basest desires yet find no joy in attaining them.

Changing our habits, our perspective, our awareness, our patterns of living and coping is not easy and that’s exactly why it is important to do so. In this challenge, we will find what we are so desperately searching for - meaning, purpose and joy. It is the things that we struggle for, things that challenge our bodies and our minds to their highest potential that move us, motivates us, fill us with meaning, purpose, commitment and joy.

“As in both yoga and life, the edge is not the point where you quit - it’s where everything happens.” Tao Oliveto

“Salvation is not what you get - it’s what you do.” Jerry Stifelman

by Tao Oliveto

Green - safe and biodegradable - cleaning products have been around for awhile and continue to flood the market. This is good news for our health and the health of our environment but it also feeds the perception that to live the good, “clean” life, we need to buy lots of stuff in bottles and boxes. In actuality, nature provides most of what we need for clean living - inside and out and top on the list is Apple Cider Vinegar.

Apple Cider Vinegar, made from organic apples and ages in wooden barrels, demonstrates the miracles of fermentation. Inside your body, only a few teaspoons daily (mix with juice or water), it cleanses, detoxifies, balances ph, fights arterial plaque, provides vital minerals like potassium as well as living enzymes. It also aides digestion, regularity and assimilation. Pets and other animals benefit in many of the same ways from small amounts of apple cider vinegar added to food or water. It has also been proven to improve their resistance to fleas and biting flies.

On the outside, it conditions hair, helps heal skin irritations and cold sores, controls dandruff and athletes foot, soothes sore muscles and is a great deodorant. You can also use it as a mouth wash.

For household use, Apple Cider vinegar disinfects all surfaces, kills mold, bacteria and germs while being completely safe to use without gloves or ventilation. Mix a small amount with water and use it to clean windows without streaking. It can be combined safely with any other ingredient - adding salt enhances it’s disinfectant power. Use it regularly in drains with baking soda in to prevent build-up and clogs.

Shelves and cupboards full of cleaning products is so 1950’s. Go back to basics and back to nature with clean and green Apple Cider Vinegar. Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar is organic, unpasteurized, unfiltered and raw - tells all here.

by Tao Oliveto

Solar panels already in place on Town Hall, council members in Woodstock, NY, passed a resolution to become the first American community to become carbon nuetral within a decade (as reported by correspondent, William Kemble on DailyFreeman.com). The resolution, approved unanimously by the Town Board in 2007, will allow a task force to pursue this goals by increasing recycling, implementing green building standards, establishing land-use policies to reduce sprawl, tree-planting for shade, promoting renewable energy sources, such as methane and wind and promoting fuel efficiency with an anti-idling message.

Locals of this forwarding-thinking town will be encouraged - through tax and other incentives - to change light bulbs, drive less, recycle more and improve energy efficiency on homes. Community by community, individuals and groups, it’s a familiar movement that is available to us at this kind of grassroots level.

If it all sounds familiar, take a look back to the revolution of the Sixties. After all, the hippies may have temporarily lost the battle to runaway consumerism, but they got plenty of things right. As Mark Morford points out in his San Francisco Chronicle column,

“All this hot enthusiasm for healing the planet and eating whole foods and avoiding chemicals and working with nature and developing the self? Came from the hippies. Alternative health? Hippies. Green cotton? Hippies. Reclaimed wood? Recycling? Humane treatment of animals? Medical pot? Alternative energy? Natural childbirth? Non-GMO seeds? It came from the granola types (who, of course, absorbed much of it from ancient cultures), from the alternative worldviews, from the underground and the sidelines and from far off the grid…”

Peace and Love (repeat when necessary).