LiveGreen Blog

Anti-bacterial Debate

By Noelle Morris, EPIC Cleaning Products

Today about 75% of liquid soaps are antibacterials. But there is an ongoing controversy over the active ingredients found in these hand soaps, triclosan and quarternary ammonium compounds. Extensive studies have shown that triclosan causes skin irritations, kills human mesoderm tissues, and causes extensive damage to our environment. Surprisingly, recent research has shown that antimicrobial soaps are ineffective, outside a sterile hospital setting and are actually causing more harm to our society than good! Because they kill most bacteria in their paths, they leave only the toughest behind, potentially helping drug-resistant bacteria thrive. Also, in water sources, triclosan combined with chlorine and sunlight can produce chloroform, a suspected carcinogen. While the debate continues, it may be best to lean towards the safe side and use nontoxic cleaning products. If you'd like to learn more about the harmful effects of anti-bacterial soap, please follow this link to download a pdf file: http://www.products4causes.com/pdf/Triclosan.pdf

Blog Action Day

I just found this at Earth 911. The Blog Action Day is a MASS blog writing day focused on the environment. It's definitely something we support. Stay tuned...I hope it goes well.

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

We at LiveGreen will be donating any earning we make on October 15th to the San Diego Riverpark Foundation and the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy.

The Linkery: Great Food with a Conscience

If you are looking for a place to eat in San Diego and want to eat at a place with excellent food and a friendly staff, try The Linkery. Owner Jay Porter is progressive when it comes to the quality of your meal as well as its ecological footprint. Known to spend many weeks away from his hometown to visit with the independent farmers that raise food for the restaurant, Jay also works very hard to bring you a meal without causing harm to the environment.

When we took some friends for dinner the other night, we were seriously impressed with the entire dinner. Instead of bottled water we were offered a carafe of cold, sage-infused water. Our silverware was wrapped in hemp, reusable napkins and what we thought was candlelight was actually a fuel-cell light. There were a variety of organic and vegetarian meals as well as local brews and wines. I really think the reusable To-Go boxes is really innovative. (food in plastic or styrofoam containers makes me cringe)

New Takeaway Containers, Greenstyle
Posted by Jay on Saturday, 18 August 2007

We’re continuing to try to reduce our environmental footprint, particularly with consumables waste — paper, tinfoil, plastic, etc. To-go containers have been a bugaboo for us, the tin foil pie-pan containers we’ve been using are not reusable and I understand they are very resource-intensive to make.

Starting this weekend, we’re going to pack all our to-go orders in heavier, dishwasher-safe, reusable plastic boxes. These containers cost us about a buck each, and for each container in a takeout order we’ll charge a buck.

If you like the container and want to use it at home, great. But if you don’t want it, just bring it back to us at any time and we’ll give you your buck back. As Chef Tell would say, “very simple, very easy.”

Also, if you prefer, you can bring your own container in and we’ll put your food in that, and then the dollar doesn’t even make the circuit.

In any event, we’re pleased to be trying this new system, which will allow us all to reduce waste without costing anything. Which we think is cool.

If you like a good local brew and some good food to go with it, join us at The Linkery Aug 28th for the Green Flash Brewmaster's Dinner.

Labels: beer, food, good food, green, linkery