Articles tagged “Green Glossary”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Know Your Green Acronyms! By Mat McDermott IN Work & Connect Nov 19 2009 A quick guide to some of the more commonly used acronyms and abbreviations used on Planet Green and TreeHugger + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Global Warming Potential By Cara Smusiak, NaturallySavvy.com IN Tech & Transport Sep 16 2009 The term Global Warming Potential refers to the heat trapped by a gas compared to the same amount by weight of carbon dioxide. GWP measures the impact of greenhouse gases on global warming and climate change. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Hope By Mickey Z. IN Work & Connect Jul 8 2009 In March 2009, John Vucetich, assistant professor of animal ecology at Michigan Technological University, and Michael Nelson, associate professor of environmental ethics at Michigan State University, penned an essay titled "Abandon Hope." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Nature Deficit Disorder By Mickey Z. IN Work & Connect Jul 7 2009 "Pediatricians nowadays see fewer kids with broken bones from climbing trees and more children with longer-lasting repetitive-stress injuries, which are related to playing video games and typing at keyboards," writes Sally Deneen + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Marmoleum By Mickey Z. IN Home & Garden Jul 7 2009 Marmoleum is a floor covering, available in sheets or tiles, are made from natural flax, rosins, wood flour, and are backed with jute. According to TreeHugger, such floor coverings are "warm and comfortable, 100% biodegradeable. Healthy to produce and install, they'll remain so during their useful life, and even in disposal. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Phthalates By Mickey Z. IN Food & Health Jul 7 2009 Phthalates, also called "plasticizers," are a group of industrial chemicals used to make plastics like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) more flexible or resilient and also as solvents. Phthalates, according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) are "nearly ubiquitous in modern society, found in, among other things, toys, food packaging, hoses, raincoats, shower curtains, vinyl flooring, wall coverings, lubricants, adhesives, detergents, nail polish, hair spray and shampoo." I'll bet you can guess what's coming next. Yep, once again, man-made = problems. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Lyocell By Mickey Z. IN Fashion & Beauty Jul 1 2009 Wise Geek provides the details: "Lyocell is a fabric most know better by its brand name Tencel. It has a soft finish, packs light and is made from cellulose (vegetable matter), or wood pulp, typically a mix of hardwood trees like oak and birch. This makes it a natural fabric, and it is noted for its durability and strength, in addition to its eco-friendly manufacturing techniques." They explain that lyocell is made "by chipping wood, breaking down the wood fibers with the non-toxic chemical amine oxide, and then placing the material in a spinneret. The spinneret produces long fibers, which are then dried and woven into cloth. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Planned Obsolescence By Mickey Z. IN Tech & Transport Jul 1 2009 Planned obsolescence is the "art of making a product break/fail after a certain amount of time. Not so soon that you will blame the manufacturer, but soon enough for you to buy another one and make more profit for them." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Planet Bike By Mickey Z. IN Tech & Transport Jul 1 2009 Planet Bike, they say, began as "a social experiment that dedicated itself to doing business in a different way. Instead of being just another company that develops and sells products with profit as its end goal, Planet Bike wanted to help bring about positive change for people, their communities, and the environment." They also make useful, quality bike gear. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Ingeo By Mickey Z. IN Fashion & Beauty Jul 1 2009 Let's begin with (a quick definition of bioplastics ): "A form of plastics derived from renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable oil, corn starch, pea starch, or microbiota, rather than fossil fuel plastics which are derived from petroleum." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Bagasse By Mickey Z. IN Food & Health Jun 30 2009 Sugarcane, according to HowStuffWorks is "the source of a number of other products in addition to sugar. Among these products are molasses, which is made by boiling sugarcane juice; and rum, which is distilled from fermented molasses or fermented sugarcane juice. Other products are made from bagasse, the woody residue left after the juice is extracted from the cane." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Meltwater By Mickey Z. IN Travel & Outdoors Jun 29 2009 Meltwater is "the water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice and ice shelfs over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Rooster Rehab By Mickey Z. IN Work & Connect Jun 29 2009 For many, living a greener life not only means avoiding the standard meat-based diet but it also means tending to our furry, scaly, and feathered friends. Pattrice Jones is an ecofeminist educator, activist, and writer. She is the author of Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World: A Guide for Activists and Their Allies. Pattrice is also co-founder of the Eastern Shore Sanctuary and Education Center, the first sanctuary to develop a method of rehabilitating roosters used in cockfighting. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Benthic Trawling By Mickey Z. IN Tech & Transport Jun 26 2009 Benthic trawling is "a fishing method that involves dragging trawl nets along the sea floor. The fishing method is a highly non-selective one and comes with a large amount of bycatch and destruction in the trawled path." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) By Mickey Z. IN Work & Connect Jun 24 2009 OSHA (pronounced 0-shuh) is shorthand for the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.The shift toward greener jobs is a start, of course, but as the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) explains, it's not that simple: "The infusion of significant federal resources into projects + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Aromatherapy By Mickey Z. IN Food & Health Jun 22 2009 Close your eyes and imagine catching a whiff of something agreeable?coffee brewing, a fragrant flower or perhaps a delectable spice. Recall the pleasure this scent created and you have essentially begun to understand aromatherapy, which is used to treat a wide range of physical and emotional problems. This basic foundation of aromatherapy dates back thousands of years but the word itself comes courtesy of French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Naturopathy By Mickey Z. IN Food & Health Jun 19 2009 Naturopathy is a "system of treatment of disease that avoids drugs and surgery and emphasizes the use of natural agents (as air, water, and sunshine) and physical means (as manipulation and electrical treatment)." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Carbon Sink By Mickey Z. IN Tech & Transport Jun 19 2009 A carbon sink is a "reservoir that absorbs or takes up released carbon from another part of the carbon cycle." Carbon behaves in such a systematic manner in four regions of the Earth: the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere (usually including freshwater systems), oceans, and sediments (including fossil fuels)." This all becomes relevant in an ecological sense when we discover that by absorbing carbon, carbon sinks offset carbon dioxide emissions. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Silent Spring By Mickey Z. IN Home & Garden Jun 18 2009 The National Resources Defense Council explains it well: "Thomas Paine's Common Sense galvanized radical sentiment in the early days of the American revolution; Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe roused Northern antipathy to slavery in the decade leading up to the Civil War; and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which in 1962 exposed the hazards of the pesticide DDT, eloquently questioned humanity's faith in technological progress and helped set the stage for the environmental movement." + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Green Super Model By Mickey Z. IN Work & Connect Jun 18 2009 We all know what a supermodel is. But what makes a model green? Too often we forget modeling is a form of salesmanship. Models are hired to sell product. Companies associate their product with a particular look to grow their brand. That's how models who achieve recognition in the marketplace warrant higher fees. + READ MORE