Non Toxic Vision

"Everyday" with Rachel goes Green

Starting November Rachel Ray's magazine "Everyday with Rachel" goes green.

Here a few changes to reduce the impact on the environment:

Recycled Paper: the magazine is now being printed on 85 % recycled paper and is Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) - recycled content is whitened withour chlorine.

Carbon Footprint: Emissions are reduced with a 900 mile savings as a result of the location change of the Mill to be closer to the Printer.

The Mill: Myllykoski, the new EDWRR paper supplier, will have a fully functional EMS (Environmental Management System) in place be end of 2007.

The Content: The November issue of the magazine features everyday themes, such as: eco-friendly clothing, Greenie Award, Earth-friendly tips etc.

GlobalWarming Survival Handbook

David de Rothschild's book The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook (Rodale, U$ 15) attempts to be guide to things we can do about climate change - from giving up meat (18 % of greenhouse-gas emissions are produced by the livestock industry) to "adopting a glacier".  Some readers call the the book anything from pretty and colorful, but shallow; to cute; to an easy read to transform non-believers. I guess it is a good gift for people still in doubt of any global warming happening.

The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time

• Here is an inside glimpse on what to find inside The Green Book:
  Don't ask for ATM receipts. If everyone in the United States refused their receipts, it would save a roll of paper more than two billion feet long, or enough to circle the equator fifteen times!
• Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth. You'll conserve up to five gallons of water per day. Throughout the entire United States, the daily savings could add up to more water than is consumed every day in all of New York City.
• Get a voice-mail service for your home phone. If all answering machines in U.S. homes were replaced by voice-mail services, the annual energy savings would total nearly two billion kilowatt hours. The resulting reduction in air pollution would be equivalent to removing 250,000 cars from the road for a year!

With wit and authority, authors Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen provide hundreds of solutions for all areas of your life, pinpointing the smallest changes that have the biggest impact on the health of our precious planet.

The Ecology of Commerce

by Paul Hawken. An amazingly interesting book on the correlation of commerce and ecology. In this book Paul Hawken compares the impact of commerce on ecology and vice versa. I have to admit not it is not the easiest read but it is very fascinating once you get into it. He criticizes the attempt of big-businesses to be more ecological (e.g. recycling programs or printing on recycled paper) without looking at the big picture: not printing at all. He makes you think about consumerism. How much do we really have to buy? What do we really need? This made my household start a project: We are all trying not to buy any consumer products (with the exception of groceries) for the next 2 months.

Plenty

a book by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon

Deciding to minimize their environmental impact Alisa and J.B. decided to only eat food produced within 100 miles of their home and discovered a whole other terrain beyond supermarket doors.

body + soul

Martha Steward's green minded magazine. Another magazine - to me it means just more trees having to die. In my mind being green starts with NOT printing more magazines, but putting information online. Hello - we are in the digital age. And honestly I don't care if you even use recycled paper - it is a waste. My inner believe is: she cares about the ad-revenue she is generating more than anything else. I am not entirely convinced that she really cares about the environment.

natural Home Magazine

Natural Home offers today's health-conscious, environmentally concerned homeowners the information they need to practice earth-inspired living. Created for readers that are educated, eco-savvy homeowners whose values and purchasing patterns mirror the Cultural Creatives, a growing market of 50 million individuals who care deeply about healthy living, natural products, and a sustainable economy. With streaming video about great remodeling projects the website is very informative and handy. www.naturalhomemagazine.com

GOOD Magazine

Ben Goldhirsh founded GOOD Magazine and Reason Pictures in 2004. Starting from the back of a small office in Los Angeles, momentum has been building steadily as a growing team works to craft their vision of GOOD. Both companies seek to create entertaining media that attracts broad audiences to content that matters. Subscribe to GOOD Magazine and 100 % of your money will be contributed to any one of 12 organizations. The goal is to get 50,000 subscribers and $1 million dollars to give to one of the organizations. As of today there are 13,799 subscribers and USD 275,980 reached. Help realize their goal at www.goodmagazine.com

A Men Without a Country

Kurt Vonnegut has in his last book "A Man Without a Country," a beautiful poem and at the same time critical statement to our planet. It concludes with these closing lines:

When the last living thing has died on account of us, how poetical it would be if Earth could say, in a voice floating up perhaps from the floor of the Grand Canyon, "It is done." People did not like it here.

Cradle to Cradle

"Remaking the Way We Make Things" by William McDonough & Michael Braungart is certainly one of the books available that made a BIG impact on my everyday life and realizing how much can be done. The book itself is printed on "synthetic paper" - a new and very innovative way to print. This book can also be broken down and circulated infinitely. Check out your local bookstore.