Vegthreads

For the next week I’m letting any registered user of Vegthreads post directly to my site.  Don’t worry if your not already a registered user you can become one here.   The goal of this experiment is to showcase creative, and unique green ideas.  Do you know of a way to cut your water consumption in half?  Let’s hear about it.  Got some celeb green related gossip?  Do tell.  Just need to rant about your neighbor who dives that giant SUV?  We here for ya.  No matter whats on your mind I’m giving you the oppurtunity to take over my blog!  So let your voice be heard, become a registered user if your not one already, then simply login into your account and get started blogging!

How to Write a Great Post

Your post should be anywhere between 500-1500 words, and be environmentally related.  The post of course should be ORIGINAL, free of grammatical errors, and concise.  From there its really up to you what to write about!  Oh yah feel free to make a video post as well.  If you have any trouble utilizing my back-end interface (the interface is Wordpress try googling your problem + wordpress if you do have any problems) just let me know, and I’ll be glad to help ya out.  One more thing, any spam will be deleted so don’t try it.

A Prize!

Oh yah I almost forgot to mention this, if anyone writes a post that receives over 25,000 hits I’ll glady supply them $25 in their paypal account (I could also send ya a money order if you prefer).  Alright so get out there, take over my site, please don’t break anything while your at it, and good luck!

P.S. You can login into your account right from the home page.  Just click on log-in at the bottom of the right hand side.

The following post was submitted by my close friend Jillian Black.

And no, I’m not going to get all Cheech and Chong on you. Unfortunately, hemp has a certain stigma attached to it because of its connotation with marijuana. So I’m here to set things straight. First off Hemp has more environmentally friendly, and practical uses than you’re probably not aware of that have absolutely nothing to do with getting high (sorry to disappoint those of you looking for new pot recipes to add to your collection!). Second, hemp is completely organic, meaning it comes from a plant from the earth, and isn’t manufactured with harsh chemicals that could potentially harm you or our planet. Besides being a kick ass ingredient in pancakes, check out the rest of the unique uses for hemp.

Make Hemp Pancakes

Here’s a recipe for hemp pancakes via: nutiva.com that’s sure to impress even anti-hempsters.

Gather the Following Ingredients:

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill 10 Grain Stone ground or Arrowhead Pancake and Waffle Mix

1/2 cup toasted shelled hempseeds

1 egg (or 1/2 cup yogurt)

1 tablespoon hemp oil

1 cup water (or soy milk)

Mix As Follows:

Grind seeds, blend with the mix, add egg or yogurt and oil, add water or milk for desired consistency, and cook. Top with your favorite topping or fill with your favorite filling.

(You can find dozens more here )

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Each day you inhale 14,000 liters of air, that’s 150 bathtubs full of air.  In the 26,000 breathes you’ll take over the course of your day you’ll inhale a wide variety of suspended particles, and hazardous air pollutants that can adversely affect your health leading to such things as skin and throat irritation, organ damage, and even an increased risk of cancer.  Besides being our lifeline here are 5 incredible things about air you probably didn’t know.

1. The air inside your home can be anywhere from 2 to 5 times more polluted then the air outside.  Common indoor air pollutants such as mold and pet dander can combine with radeon (the stuff your air conditioner pumps into the air in your home) to form a nasty concoction that can lead to adverse health effects.
2. Ozone is a very reactive gas that protects us from harmful UV radiation.  Ozone gas is mostly found in the stratosphere high above the earths surface however ozone gas can also form on the earths surface by the mixing of primary pollutants such as nitrogen oxide with volatile organic compounds leading such things as coughing, headaches, and asthma irritation.
3. The United States has the lowest air standards among developed nations.  Canada actually has the toughest standards.
4. The high level of carbon dioxide in our air is leading to what is termed acidification of the earth’s oceans.  Literally weakening the ph of the earths ocean, and turning them into an acid baths resulting in the death of marine, and plant life.
5. Studies done at Harvard University report a strong link between the quality of air our children breathe, and their IQ.  Doctors suggest the effects on our young people of breathing polluted air are just as bleak as a child who is forced to live with a mother who smokes.

The Dangers of Plastic In Your food

When you store food in plastic, buy food in plastic containers, or drink beverages housed in plastic bottles the plastic ultimately ends up inside the food you eat, and the beverages you consume. The migration or movement of these toxic substances is considered OK by FDA standards so long as the migration is within a “acceptable range”, the thing is these substances can be extremely toxic even at very low levels. These toxic substances upon entering your body create free radicals which can destroy cells in your body, ultimately interfering with the endocrine system. These Endocrine disruptor’s or ED’s offset natural hormonal balance within the body leading to an array of adverse health effects.

One of the more well known endocrine disruptor’s is Bisphenol-A or BPA a monomer used in the popular Nalgene water bottles, Lexan brand products, and many baby bottles. The list of negative health effects associated with BPA is quite vast including serving as the leading known cause of miscarriages. Known to produce aneuploidy a chromosomal abnormality which ultimately leads to death of the fetus, BPA is also strongly linked to Alzheimer’s. With only 5% of Alzheimer’s cases demonstrating a genetic link BPA serves as the leading organic cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

The FDA’s Misconceptions

The FDA standards hold that as long as migration of toxins is held to an “acceptable level” the product is deemed safe for us in food and drug administration. Unfortunately migration of plastics into the food we consume can be toxic at even extremely low levels. In many cases an extremely low dose is far more dangerous then an extremely high dose. In fact the belief that a higher dose is more dangerous then a lower dose is simply not the case with many chemicals at all. This belief stems from the 15th century alchemist Paracelsus who stated “The dose makes the poison” this misinterpretation is at the root of FDA policy on the topic, and undoubtedly has done us more harm then good.

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This afternoon my long time friend Bobby an I sat down an had a few drinks at our local pub.  After chatting about the usual turn of events the direction of our conversation quickly steered towards my blog.  Bobby had a plethora of questions about my blog, and me being the uber environmental geek I’m was more then eager to share my blogging life story with him.

Now in my third month blogging, I’ve had my share of ups and downs.  At times I feel like no one is even reading my blog (but hey I guess your probably reading this right now).  But I’ve also had some blogging success stories.  My post How to Make Fertilizer With Beer was incredibly successful, and has now been viewed by over 3,000 people.  Just the other day I received my 10,000th unique visitors which was almost as exciting as the time I figured out how porn could save the rain forest.

Blogging has also come at a price to me.  The obvious costs associated with buying a domain name, hosting the blog.  But also the cost of my time, my girlfriend hates my blog because it takes time away from our relationship.  She refers to it as my child, and most likely plans to destroy it by any means possible.  Likewise I’ve only received $8 so far in revenue, if you consider the fact that I’ve probably put an average of 20 hours per week into my blog for the last three months that means I’m literally making pennies an hour.  At that rate those poor people in China make far more then I do.  But…

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