What Can You Do to Make Your Business More Environmentally Sound?

August 21, 2018 by Leave a Comment

These days there are so many different things that business owners need to be aware of. It takes a lot of work in 2018 to develop a successful brand, but it is also important to think about sustainability. Always keep in mind the fact that you have to think about the future and consider how the business will be impacted over the years. This needs to be something you have a plan to help your brand grow effectively over the years.

There are a lot of things in the world of business that can have a bearing on the future. One of the key concerns in 2018 should be looking at how the company can be greener and more sustainable. Working toward an eco-friendly business is really important because this is something that is going to have positive impacts for the future, and for the world in general too. Here are some things you can do to work toward a more eco-friendly company.

Lean Manufacturing

One of the best ways of working toward being more conscious of the environment is to embrace lean manufacturing. The principal goal of lean manufacturing is the practice of reducing the amount of waste that your business creates, without reducing productivity. You can take courses to help make you an expert in this, an apply it to your business as well as possible. This is so important for the future because it helps the business be more eco-friendly.

Energy Efficient

There are a few things you can do that will help you make your company more environmentally sound, and one of the big ones is to become more energy-efficient. There are plenty of ways of achieving this, and it is important to look at the amount of energy you’re using in the company. Make sure you turn off the power as much as possible, switch to eco-friendly lighting, and make changes that are going to improve this throughout the company.

Electric Cars

If you are in a position to be providing company cars, it is really important to look at getting a fleet of electric cars. These may not be ubiquitous quite yet, but they are an excellent way of making sure you reduce your company’s carbon footprint. Electric cars don’t use fuel, so they cause much less damage to the environment as a result.

Upcycle

Another excellent way of improving the brand and taking things forward is to make sure you upcycle. This is something you need to make sure you are doing within the offices as it will really help you get a good handle on this. Think hard about the furniture you’re going to be using in the business, and consider how you can upcycle and make the most of what you have at your disposal.

Setting your business apart from the competition is so important, and these are some of the best ways of helping you achieve that. By running a company that is more environmentally sound you will be very well placed to ensure you can be a success. What’s more, you are going to make the company much more appealing to customers and investors in the future as well.

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bblüv Püre – 3 in 1 HEPA Air Purifier Review

August 9, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Clean Air is a Top Priority

Our most important and a immediate need is to breath and providing clean air free of allergens and other impurities is something we all want in our homes. No matter what our age this is important, but for a baby’s new lungs definitely consider bblüv Püre – 3 in 1 HEPA Air Purifier.

image of Püre – 3 in 1 HEPA Air PurifierThe ionizer in the Püre and HEPA+ filter work with activated carbon. The filter removes up to 99.7% of allergens and pollutants like bacteria, mites, mold, viruses, (hopefully not in the air but…) smoke. Even odors, pollen, and pet dander can be taken out of the air. My dog may be a non shedding breed but that doesn’t mean he is dander free or doesn’t carry in allergens from rubbing up against all kinds of nature on our walks. 

On a technical level the bblüv Püre 3 in 1 HEPA Air Purifier removes particles larger than 0.3 microns, which sounds really, really tiny. Go science! Even indoor allergens can trigger asthma year round not just tied to growing season. Mine are so much worse when the citrus trees go into bloom, but that doesn’t mean I am every fully allergy free. Reducing exposure is the first step, but not always possible if you want to step outside your door. You can however control the air in your home.

image of bbl. air filter on white backdropThe small size makes it easy to find a place for in your baby’s room or anywhere else in the house. The unit comes with one long lasting filter, the cord and the main unit. You will need your own wall plug. It just has the cord which ends in a USB so if you have an extra plug from a cell phone or other device laying around you can use that. If you don’t have an extra that you can dedicate to the filter you may need to buy one. Plugging and unplugging it can be a major pain. Also when it is plugged in the light on the power button can be pretty bright.

bblüv Püre 3 in 1 HEPA Air Purifier is a great option for a healthier environment for your family. The air we breath fuels our entire body and we can’t do much to improve what we are exposed to out in the world. Make your home a safer environment to breath in and know you are taking steps to protect and nurture your little one.

Find out more about this product on the bblüv website – bbluvgroup.com

Or find them on Social Media – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram

Read our review of other bblüv products HERE

 

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EPA Announces New Funding for Water Infrastructure Projects in New Jersey

April 6, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Funding will leverage public and private investments to keep lead and other contaminants out

of drinking water and upgrade aging water infrastructure

(New York, N.Y. – April 5, 2018) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of funding that could provide as much as $5.5 billion in loans, which could leverage over $11 billion in water infrastructure projects through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. Prospective borrowers seeking WIFIA credit assistance must submit a letter of interest (LOI) by July 6, 2018.

“Thanks to the President’s leadership, this WIFIA funding will spark new investments to repair our nation’s crumbling water infrastructure,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “EPA will play a key role in the President’s infrastructure efforts by incentivizing states, municipalities, and public-private partnerships to protect public health, fix local infrastructure problems, create jobs, and provide clean water to communities.”

The WIFIA program received $63 million in funding in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 23, 2018. This more than doubles the program’s funding from 2017. Leveraging private capital and other funding sources, these projects could support $11 billion in water infrastructure investment and create more than 170,000 jobs. This year’s Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) highlights the importance of protecting public health including reducing exposure to lead and other contaminants in drinking water systems and updating the nation’s aging infrastructure.

“New Jersey knows all too well the costs of storm damaged water and wastewater systems. All of us have witnessed just how vulnerable our infrastructure is,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “Funding critical repairs and improving resiliency in our wastewater treatment and drinking water distribution systems remains a critical priority. We need investment to protect and promote our communities, our local economies, and public health.”

The WIFIA program will play an important part in making vital improvements to the nation’s water infrastructure and implementing the President’s Infrastructure Plan, which calls for increasing the program’s funding authorization and expanding project eligibility.

Background

Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan and guarantee program at EPA that aims to accelerate investment in the nation’s water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental loans for regionally and nationally significant projects.
WIFIA credit assistance can be used for a wide range of projects, including:

  • drinking water treatment and distribution projects
  • wastewater conveyance and treatment projects
  • enhanced energy efficiency projects at drinking water and wastewater facilities
  • desalination, aquifer recharge, alternative water supply, and water recycling project
  • drought prevention, reduction, or mitigation projects

EPA will evaluate proposed projects described in the LOIs using WIFIA’s statutory and regulatory criteria as described in the NOFA. Through this competitive process, EPA will select projects that it intends to fund and invite them to continue to the application process.

In 2017, for WIFIA’s inaugural round, EPA invited 12 projects in 9 states to apply for more than $2 billion in WIFIA loans.

For more information about WIFIA and this funding announcement, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wifia

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.

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Protect Local Water- Heads Up, NJ

July 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment
On Sunday July 9th movements across NJ will unite to protect water and life from the Pilgrim Pipelines proposal, and call for an end to all forms of unsafe Bakken oil transport through our water sources and our communities.
 
A large coalition of organizations will unite on July 9th to say: 
Water Is Life!                                                             
No Pilgrim Pipelines, No Oil “bomb” Trains, and No Oil Barges through our communities and water sources! 
Just Transition to 100% Renewable Energy!
 
Sign up to join us at either the opening or closing ceremony (along the Ramapo River in Mahwah or at Saint Peter’s University in Englewood Cliffs) or come for the entire Water Is Life Caravan. 
 
Details and register for the Water Is Life Caravan at: http://bit.ly/WaterisLifeCaravan
 
Details and register for the closing ceremony at: http://bit.ly/WaterisLifeClosingCeremony. 
 
Here’s a few ways you can help promote this event.
  • Forward this e-mail and attached flyer to your contacts and to organizations.
  • Share our Facebook even on social media:  http://bit.ly/WaterIsLifeCaravanSocial
  • Make a commitment to arrive at Continental Soldiers Field at the Ramapo River with a vehicle full of people. Let us know how many people will be in your vehicle with you.
  • Make phone calls to help get people to sign up to participate!  Email msm…@fwwatch.org if you need a list of people to call.
  • Hand out and post flyers at libraries, schools, labor unions, farmers markets, meetings, events in your town, at parks, etc.
  • Go door to door to publicize the demonstration and sign people up participate.

All vehicles are welcome in the Caravan. Electric and hybrid cars will lead theway! Help us find people with electric or hybrid vehicles who will join. (If you have a great contact with an electric vehicle company, help us get their participation.) Each vehicle in the Caravan will receive a map of the Caravan route, a Water & Oil Don’t Mix or a No Oil Pipelines, Rails, or Barges window flag for their car, and a caravan brochure. The educational brochure will detail the specific risks of transport of Bakken crude oil and other fossil fuels along the Caravan route, the importance of keeping Bakken crude and other fossil fuels in the ground, and  the urgency of a just and rapid transition to 100% renewable energy.


Water Is Life Caravan Co-sponsors: 350 NJ, Bergen County Green Party, Bronx Climate Justice North, Coalition Against the Pilgrim Pipeline – CAPPCoalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains, Environment NJ, Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, Food and Water Watch, NJ, Franciscan Response to Fracking, GreenFaith, Green Party of Essex County, Hackensack Riverkeeper, Jersey Justice Action Network, Mom’s Clean AirForce, NJ State Industrial Union Council, North Jersey Green Alliance, Occupy Bergen County, People’s Organization for Progress, Puffin Cultural Forum, Resistance Café, Sane Energy Project, Sierra Club, NJ, Sisters of St. Joseph’s of Peace, Waterspirit.
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Indigenous and environmental activists will fight pipeline decisions

January 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Trump administration approved construction of the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica issued the following response:

Donald Trump has made it clear that his America does not include the millions of Americans who fought to protect our land, water, sacred cultural sites and climate from dangerous pipelines. Trump has emphatically pledged his allegiance to the oil companies and Wall Street banks that stand to profit from the destruction of public health and the environment.

The movement to defend Indigenous rights and keep fossil fuels in the ground is stronger than oil companies’ bottom line. Friends of the Earth and our allies will not give up the fight to stop Trump’s agenda and these destructive pipelines.

Background on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines:

Keystone XL would carry 830,000 barrels of dirty tar sands oil daily from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, along with the risk of spills and environmental destruction. The pipeline would traverse across six states and through forests, rivers, and areas that support Indigenous populations, farmers, and ranchers. When rejecting Keystone XL, President Obama said the pipeline would neither improve the economy nor energy security, and that we must transition to a clean energy economy.

The 1,168-mile Dakota Access pipeline would carry up to 450,000 barrels of fracked crude oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois, cutting through communities, farms, sensitive natural areas, and under the Missouri River, threatening the drinking water and ancestral lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. For months, thousands of Water Protectors camped on the banks of the Missouri River in North Dakota in a historic display of resistance to the pipeline’s construction. Prior to leaving office, the Obama administration committed to an environmental review process to explore alternative routes for the pipeline.

This information was provided by and shared with permission via Friends of the Earth.

Friends of the Earth fights to create a more healthy and just world. Our current campaigns focus on promoting clean energy and solutions to climate change, ensuring the food we eat and products we use are safe and sustainable, and protecting marine ecosystems and the people who live and work near them.

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U.S. Environment Body EPA Says Fracking May Be Contaminating Groundwater After All #BluewaterPure

December 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

The following is via the Bluewater Group. It is not an ad, nor is it a paid message.

bluewater

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA today said activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle ‘can impact—and have impacted—drinking water resources’. The EPA’s latest findings are worrying in a world where the planet’s water resources are already under threat of contamination from multiple sources, according to Bluewater, a world leader in residential water purification.

“The EPA has reversed course on fracking since issuing a version of its study a year ago and appears to have backed away from a conclusion that there was no evidence that fracking contaminates water supplies,” said Bluewater spokesperson David Noble. He noted how the latest EPA report says it has found evidence that fracking does indeed cause contamination of drinking water due in part to the use of chemicals during the hydraulic fracturing process.

Dr. Thomas A. Burke, EPA’s Science Advisor and Deputy Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development, described the report as “most complete compilation to date of national scientific data on the relationship of drinking water resources and hydraulic fracturing.”

Dr Burke added: “The value of high quality science has never been more important in helping to guide decisions around our nation’s fragile water resources. EPA’s assessment provides the scientific foundation for local decision makers, industry, and communities that are looking to protect public health and drinking water resources and make more informed decisions about hydraulic fracturing activities,” said Dr. Thomas A. Burke.

The EPA study, called ‘Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States’, identified cases of impacts on drinking water at each stage in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle. Impacts cited in the report generally occurred near hydraulically fractured oil and gas production wells and ranged in severity, from temporary changes in water quality, to contamination that made private drinking water wells unusable.

EPA’s final assessment benefited from extensive stakeholder engagement with states, tribes, industry, non-governmental organizations, the scientific community, and the public. This broad engagement helped to ensure that the final assessment report reflects current practices in hydraulic fracturing and uses all data and information available to the agency.

EPA said its new report advances the science. The understanding of the potential impacts from hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources will continue to improve over time as new information becomes available, according to EPA.

“The EPA study identified certain conditions under which impacts from hydraulic fracturing activities can be more frequent or severe, such as water withdrawals for hydraulic fracturing in areas with limited or declining groundwater resources, and spills of hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals that result in large volumes or high concentrations of chemicals reaching groundwater resources,” said David Noble.

For a copy of the study, visit www.epa.gov/hfstudy.

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Support Fire Prevention Month with Smokey the Bear #FirePreventionMonth

November 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment

The Ad Council, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters ask for your support in raising awareness for Fire Prevention Month. The sad truth is that nearly 9 out of 10 wildfires are still caused by humans.

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  • In 2014 there were 7,933 wildfires caused by lightning, but 55,679 wildfires caused by human error (as reported to the National Interagency Fire Center).
  • In 2014 more than 3.5 million acres burned due to wildfires in the U.S. of those, more than 1.5 million acres burned due to human-caused wildfires.

Although most of us don’t behave this way intentionally, each year we learn of devastating wildfires caused by careless behavior which can impact millions of acres of forest and thousands of homes.

We can also be more responsible in our homes when it comes to fire safety as well. Half of home fire deaths result from fires reported between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most people are asleep. Only one in five home fires was reported during these hours.

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Take the pledge and encourage your readers to do the same –
Pledge to be smart when using fire outdoors so you can do your part to prevent wildfires.


Take care when you are out and about, or even at home. Remember- only you can prevent forest fires!

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How Much Do You Know About Recycling ?

April 24, 2015 by 2 Comments

My family and I are pretty good about recycling and reducing waste.  We try to reuse as much as possible, we fix and repair instead of replacing when possible, compost, recycle, and almost never use disposable items in our lunchboxes and the like. Getting to know just how much you can save to help is a matter of reading up on the topic. The rules are easy to follow, and there are many places where you can learn more about the topic. Whether it’s a quick article, or a step-by-step guide. We only get one planet, right?

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However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t use a refresher course now and again, or learn new and helpful information to assist us in learning to do it better, or show us a new way that might work well.

According to a recent study conducted for the Ad Council, 52% of Americans don’t know which items can be recycled in the bathroom. And only 10% of Americans have a recycling bin in their bathroom, compared to the 45% who have them in the kitchen.

There’s a lot you can do to help increase recycling rates. With Earth Day coming up on 4/22, there’s no better time than now to help spread the word.

Keep America Beautiful, the national nonprofit organization, recently launched the newest phase of the “I Want to Be Recycled” public service advertising campaign. It aims to raise awareness and inspire individuals to recycle more with the latest series of ads focused on recycling in the bathroom.
[Read more…]

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