Days of Change Are Calling Us Home
	Mislabeled Products Misstate Safety by Missing Toxic Ingredients
	It's a Real Dust-up: Household Dust Holds Harmful Chemicals
	Boys Will be Boys...Unless Chemicals Get in the Way
	Best of the Web: We've Got Our Minds on Setting Our “Sites” Elsewhere
	Required Reading: Preventing a World of Consumers from Consuming the World

Days of Change Are Calling Us Home

A Few Thoughts from Jeffrey Hollender, President The messengers return each August like clockwork. As summer stretches, yawns, and unfolds its lingering days in a sweetly humid reverie of slow heat and passing rains, signs rise in the fields. Sounds arrive on the wind. And though we can't see it from one moment to the next, from this day to that, the change that these things herald is close and getting ever closer. I'm never ready for it, and yet I'm always glad to see it come, for it's the time of coming home. It begins, for me, with goldenrod. Among the billowy grasses that fill the pastures and the thickets of perennials that line the back roads near home, it appears almost overnight. Tall stalks of green capped by feathery sprigs of the brightest yellow. And suddenly everything is different. Summer's veneer of permanence shows its first crack. Goldenrod has returned, delivering, as it always does, a single, simple message: It will soon be time to turn the page. The change is coming. Get ready. With the goldenrod come other signs as well. The corn is tall and tasseled now. Fat with ears that bulge with grain, you can almost hear it call out for harvest. In the distance, the mountains' vivid shades of summer have dissolved into a darker mantle- -a deeper green that's less electric and somehow slower, as if the trees perhaps are tiring of providing such a show and have begun to dream of sleep. At night, the woods and fields renew their symphony. Strangely silent for much of June and all of July, evenings suddenly burst with choruses of unknown insects and unseen frogs. In mornings rinsed clean of heat, river valleys find themselves filled with fog formed in newly cooler nights that only nature notices. Yet when dawn finally floods the garden with light, we find it full and can feel the air once again drawing supple warmth from a sun still loathe to leave the sky each day. This is summer at its peak - - its essence distilled into life's sweetest sap and poured in endless quantity over every moment. But the signs that summer is burning at its brightest are bittersweet, for they're the very same ones that tell us that its end is near. Soon will pass September, the month of grand transition; and with it arrives the annual return to normalcy. I say normalcy because, to me, summer marks a glad suspension of many things. Life shifts to a slower, more suitable speed, moves itself outside, and, in my case, to a new spot altogether, as my family takes up its annual residence at the beach. Everything about the season differs from those things that bind the other three. In my family, we do different things in different places and at different paces than we do the rest of the year. We cast off many, if not most of the responsibilities we otherwise assume, and trade them for late suppers, lazy afternoons, long books, and longer naps. I surf before breakfast and spend whole days in swim trunks and a worn tee shirt. My laptop computer becomes my office and I work amidst sand and sun when I must, and not at all whenever I can. I make time for sunsets. I give myself room to breathe. I've got my batteries set on recharge and my mind set on nothing at all but the moment at hand. Then the goldenrod appears. And suddenly everything is different. I know the once infinite days of summer are drawing to their end. School beckons. Work calls. Home awaits. It's almost time to return to life as I know it and get back to the business at hand. And so I do the hardest thing I have to do all year. I drag myself off the beach. It takes everything I have to make it happen, and from my last trip to the beach with my surfboard to the last time I shake the sand out of sneakers, to my packed suitcase and then the locking of the bungalow door, I often feel the victim of a terrible cruelty. Because how can summer end? How can it not last forever? Who is ever ready to say goodbye to such golden light? Who can let go of a heart that beats this strongly? Especially a heart we have waited for so long to arrive. When I'm sitting in the middle of summer, the only thing I can picture is me sitting there forever. I can't imagine life any other way. I can't see myself in anything more than a beach chair. I can't fathom doors not left open or breezes locked out by shuttered windows. I'm not able to fully recall all there was before it, and I can't get my head around the idea that this isn't all there is. But then that's the point. That's the thing that gets me off that beach. There is more, and that's as worth knowing as summer ever was. As hard as it is for me to realize at the time, the fact is it's good to get home. It's good to burst summer's bubble and get back to normal. How else to find all the things that summer cannot hold? Though it's sometimes hard to see during the awkward transition from summer's leisurely gambol to fall and winter's more purposeful stride, there's a lot to look forward to waiting amidst autumn's change; not the least of which is the comfort of the familiar. Familiar routines, familiar faces and favorite places. It's nice to live with them again. It's good to renew their acquaintance after a time spent elsewhere and among the usually changing and the often unknown. There are also the particular joys of autumn itself, sensations not found in other seasons and pleasures just as profound. Once I get back (and get over it!), I find I'm more than ready for fresh apple cider and bonfire smoke, for the sound of fallen leaves crunching underfoot, and the crisp snap of a fresh Canadian cold front. For the feel of sweaters and smooth pumpkins. I find that as much as I may miss my surfboard, I've missed these and other hallmarks of Vermont's shortest season as well, and there's a sense of magnificent contentment that they're soon to arrive. Knowing that the goldenrod marks not the beginning of an end but rather the start of something new, makes it easier to heed its call. Every departure, after all, is really an arrival in clever disguise, and so the heart can be at peace when the summer's signs of change arrive. The tinge of regret that invariably ushers in September needn't tug. I can say farewell when it's time and will go when I must. But not now. Not yet. For it's still the thick of August as I write this. Still summer, and I can still hear the sea in the shells I've brought back with me. There remain waves yet to ride, and time enough yet to play. And as long as summer's door is open even just a crack, you can bet I'll find a way to slip through into whatever's left.

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Mislabeled Products Misstate Safety by Missing Toxic Ingredients

When it comes to the labels on potentially hazardous household products, finding a complete disclosure of all the ingredients they contain has always been a hit or miss proposition. Now a new study says it's really mostly miss. How much so? Researchers tested 40 products from lipstick to all-purpose cleaners and found that 34 of them contained highly dangerous toxins that were not listed on their labels. For years, consumer and environmental health advocates have pointed out that regulatory loopholes permit manufacturers of many household products to avoid having to put a clear and complete listing of the ingredients their products contain on product labels. For their part, companies have successfully lobbied to maintain this status quo, citing the importance of protecting trade secrets and other proprietary information concerning their products' formulas. The end result of the stalemate is that consumers often have little or no idea what hazards are hiding inside the products they use. Now a new study from the National Environmental Trust has found that those dangers are often greater than many may think. To conduct its research, the organization contracted an independent lab and used federally approved testing methods to find out what was really inside 40 different household products. The items tested for the study included various kinds of make-up, hair styling gels, soaps, furniture finishing products, and cleaning products, including disinfecting sprays and cleaners, and kitchen, toilet, and all-purpose cleaners. To the organization's surprise, laboratory results showed that 34 of the products, a stunning 85%, contained ether glycols, organic solvents, or phthalates even though no mention of any of these poisons was made on any of the products' labels. The toxins found can affect human health in a variety of ways. Glycol ethers, for example, can cause liver and kidney damage, as well as nervous disorders. Many organic solvents are severe eye, skin, and mucous membrane irritants, and can damage the neurological system, liver, blood, lungs, and kidneys. For their part, phthalates have been linked to everything from reproductive and developmental disorders to cancer. All three kinds of chemicals can produce negative health effects at low levels, especially if exposure to them is chronic, meaning it occurs repeatedly over time. As part of the study, researchers also examined government data from the states of New Jersey and Massachusetts (two states that mandate the tracking of toxic chemicals) and found that a wide variety of household products contain carcinogenic substances, reproductive and developmental poisons, and neurotoxins. Further, for every one pound of these compounds that is released into the air, water, or soil as manufacturing pollution, 42 pounds are put into consumer products and released at home during the use of those products. The study paints a disquieting picture of household product safety and manufacturer disclosure, and its authors end by calling for comprehensive tracking initiatives and increased reporting, as well as a dramatic revision of regulations and a program to put non-toxic alternatives on a fast track. For more information about the report, including a downloadable copy, visit http://www.net.org/health/cabcon_report.vtml.

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It's a Real Dust-up: Household Dust Holds Harmful Chemicals

If you were to stop reading this newsletter for a moment (which, of course, we would never, ever recommend) and look closely at your computer monitor and all the other hardware hanging around your real-world desktop, you'd probably see a lot of dust. That's not a slight on your housekeeping skills. It's just to point out that statically charged computer gear gets real dusty, real fast. And according to new research, the dust accumulated there and elsewhere is laden with toxic chemical flame-retardants. In her 1920 poem "Dust," Dorothy Anderson asked: What is dust? Ashes of love, charred letters, faded heliotrope, Rose petals fallen from a dead hand, Spiders, bats, deserted houses, crumbling citadels, And wheel ruts where vanished armies have passed. While scientists have yet to verify the presence of ashes of love in household dust, they have found that it contains more stuff than we might imagine. The inescapable dust that surrounds us is made of many things. Minute particles of human skin, hair, pollen, mold, fungi, lichen, wood, paint, fabric fibers, plant and vegetable matter, insect parts, paper fibers, and more are typically found in the average sample. To this extensive list researchers have now added a new component: flame-retardant chemicals called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). According to two new analyses of household dust, the dust found near computers and throughout the typical house is laced with these substances. There are 209 different kinds of PBDEs being used in consumer products today. Commercial flame-retardants consist of mixtures of several of these types together. The three primary kinds of these flame-retardant combinations are called as Deca-, Penta-, and Octapolybrominated diphenyl ethers. PBDEs suppress fire because they break down when exposed to high temperatures, such as those found in open flames. As this breakdown occurs, bromine atoms are released from the PBDE molecules. Bromine slows and often even stops fires by interfering with the basic chemistry that creates it. Like a built-in sprinkler system, PBDEs begin working to prevent a fire from spreading as soon as they're exposed to it. PBDEs were introduced in the late 1970s after a related class of brominated fire retardants called polybrominated biphenyls were banned. In the decades since, their use has increased each year. Today, roughly 50,000 metric tons of these materials are manufactured around the world annually, and 40% of this global total ends up in North America. PBDEs are largely used in foams and plastics. As the polymers used to create these products are being combined, manufacturers add PBDEs to the formula. Unfortunately, these PBDEs do not chemically adhere to the compounds they're used in. Instead, like noodles in soup, they remain unattached to or absorbed by the materials they're added to. As a result, these "loose" PBDEs are able to easily leach out of anything that contain them and make their way to the environment where they collect in household dust. PBDEs are found in so many consumer products that it can be difficult to put together a list of all the categories of goods that contain them, yet alone list the individual products themselves. However, we can say with some confidence that the kinds of household products very likely to include the lion's share of a home's PDBEs include computers and peripherals, circuit boards, televisions and other home electronics, coffee makers and other consumer appliances, household wiring, smoke detectors, carpets, car seating, polyurethane foams like those found in furniture and mattresses, and imitation wood products. The ever growing prevalence of PBDEs in the home is of great concern because PBDEs are chemically related to dioxin and PCBs. Although they are not yet officially classified as persistent organic pollutants, they nonetheless bear all the hallmarks of these chemically-related poisons: They are highly resistant to biodegradation; they are able to persist in the environment for extended periods of time; they are also highly efficient travelers in the air, water and soil; and they accumulate in bodily tissues in ever higher amounts as they move up the food chain. Recent studies have verified the increasing presence of these flame-retardants in the bodily tissues of human beings and animals throughout the world. Since Swedish scientists discovered in 1999 that a 60-fold increase in the presence of these chemicals in breast milk had occurred between 1972 and 1997, researchers have been scrutinizing PBDEs. Studies have found that the breast milk and blood of American women hold the highest levels of PBDEs found so far. These levels are 10 to 100 times higher than those found in European women. More frightening still, the amounts appear to be doubling every two to five years. The most worrisome aspect of this pollution is the ability of minute amounts of PBDEs to depress levels of key thyroidal hormones. This hormonal imbalance can have serious health consequences for adults that include fatigue, depression, anxiety, unexplained weight gain, hair loss and low libido. Children born to women experiencing such reduced hormonal levels are more likely to have low IQs. And studies have also linked PBDEs to permanent learning and memory impairment, behavioral changes, hearing deficits, delayed puberty onset, decreased sperm count, and developmental disorders. For some time, scientists have suspected that PBDEs are becoming increasingly commonplace in the environment, and the new studies confirm this belief. The first study was sponsored by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, the Computer TakeBack Campaign, and Clean Production Action. It tested 16 dust samples wiped off a variety of computers in eight states, including university computer labs, government offices, and a children's museum. The computers tested included equipment from different makers, and both old and new models. An analysis of these samples showed that every single one was contaminated by PBDEs. Researchers conducted three tests on each sample, one for each of three different varieties of PBDE and found that all three types of flame-retardant were present in each location. Contamination levels across this spectrum ranged from 0.38 picograms per square centimeter (pg/cm2) to 104 pg/cm2. This means that for every square centimeter of surface examined, between 38/100 and 104/100 of a trillionth of a gram of PBDEs were found, an amount that may not seem like much until we remember that only miniscule quantities of these materials need to be ingested to cause adverse health effects. In the second study, the Environmental Working Group tested household dust samples from 10 typical homes around the country and found high levels of PBDEs in every household. Researchers had the ten study participants answer a questionnaire and then vacuum their homes normally and send in the dust collected for analysis. The average level of PBDEs in the samples from nine of the homes was 4,629 parts per billion (this means that in a sample of 1 billion dust particles, 4,629 of these particles will consist of PBDEs), a level researchers described as "unexpectedly high." In the tenth home, levels were a staggering 41,203 parts per billion. The sample from this last home was reported separately from the others because of the extraordinarily high levels of PBDEs found. The study participant in this case reported using her vacuum cleaner to clean up residue and debris left behind when carpet padding, two mattress pads, and an uncovered foam cushion were removed from her home. The good news is that safer substitutes for these toxic materials exist and many manufacturers have responded early to a variety of state, federal and European Union PBDE phase out initiatives. As a result of all this regulatory activity, the penta and octa varieties will be removed from the market by the end of this year. The deca type of PBDE will remain in use, but environmentalists are strongly urging that this type be banned as well. In lieu of federal action, states are seizing the initiative. Maine recently banned deca-PBDEs, and similar bills are being developed in New York, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. The state of Washington has issued an Executive Order to develop a phase-out plan for all PBDEs. The vast majority of PBDEs are used in computer and electronic products and household foams. Until these substances are removed from the market, consumers will have to take matters into their own hands and take their own precautions. Here are some tips you can use to keep PBDEs out of your home and body. Around the Computer: When you buy a new computer, make sure it's PBDE-free. Apple, Toshiba, Dell, NEC, and Hewlett Packard are among the companies now offering equipment made without PBDEs. If you're unsure about whether or not a particular piece of gear is safe, call the manufacturer before you buy it. Employ a similar strategy for any electronic device. Don't open the case of your computer for cleaning or upgrades. Instead, take your machine to an outside location for professional servicing. Internal computer components become extremely dusty over time and this dust is easily and often contaminated with PBDEs that are then released into the air when disturbed by cleaning or maintenance. Clean the outside of your computer with a vacuum that has a HEPA filter. These filters catch dust and trap it for safe removal from the home. Many vacuums blow the smaller particles they catch back out into a home's air. HEPA filtration prevents this recirculation and isolates all PBDE-contaminated dust you capture. Around the Home: Use the same HEPA vacuum on floors and surfaces. When dusting, don't use a feather duster or other similar tool. These simply stir settled dust back into the air where it can be more easily inhaled. Instead, use a damp cloth and rinse it frequently in a bucket. This will help you actually remove accumulated dust from the home rather than simply redistribute it. Replace furniture and car seats that have torn upholstery and exposed foam. Exercise caution when removing or replacing foam padding beneath carpets. Take care to disturb the dust collected there as little as possible. Quickly isolate the old padding and remove it from the home. Before buying new furniture, make sure the manufacturer isn't using PBDEs. Ikea¨ is one chain that has removed these chemicals from its products. When possible, avoid furniture that contains foam. Opt instead for natural fiber stuffings like cotton and wool. Consider wearing a dust mask when cleaning, especially if your home is particularly dusty. Don't use traditional commercial spray cleaners or furniture waxes when dusting (or at any other time for that matter). These contain harmful synthetic chemicals, too. They may clean up toxic PBDEs, but they'll leave other hazards behind. For more information about the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition report, visit http://www.computertakeback.com. For more information about the Environmental Working Group report, visit http://www.ewg.org/reports/inthedust/.

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Boys Will be Boys...Unless Chemicals Get in the Way

It's been known for well over a decade that when certain chemicals escape into the environment, they can cause all kinds of unfortunate effects in wildlife. Chief among these is an ability to alter reproductive and developmental processes. When chemicals contaminate lakes and ponds, for example, all kinds of sexually related problems appear in everything from frogs to alligators. Could the same thing happen to human beings? That's the $64,000 question, and the answer could lie in a strange case of odd sex ratios north of the border. Our story begins in 1993 in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, a Native American enclave near the Canadian city of Sarnia, Ontario. It was in that year that the Aamjiwnaang tribal registry recorded a slight anomaly. There were a few more girls born than there should have been, and a few less boys as a result. No one thought much about it at the time. After all, flukes like this appear once in a while, only to be corrected at a later date by a similar but opposite blip on the statistical radar. But in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, that blip never occurred. Instead, the gap in the birth ratio of girls to boys kept growing. Historically, male and female births run just about even around the world, with a slight numerical advantage given to males. In normal circumstances, there are about 106 boys born for every 100 girls. In the days immediately following conception, this ratio is even higher and runs approximately 120 males to 100 females in the womb. Scientists believe that these pre- and post-birth ratios evolved to compensate for the fact that male fetuses are more fragile than female fetuses, and males typically experience higher mortality rates once born. Among the Aamjiwnaang, however, the situation has been inexplicably reversed. In the last decade, annual female births have outnumbered male births by a ratio of two, and sometimes nearly three to one. Last year, for example, the ratio was 9 boys to 19 girls. In 2002, it was 6 boys to 15 girls. An odd skewing of sex ratios is not the only sign that something is amiss in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. An unusual number of women have experienced multiple miscarriages, and in the local elementary system, an abnormally large number of children have been diagnosed as developmentally delayed. What's causing all this reproductive and developmental mayhem? Many residents and scientists alike point to the glow of refinery towers and chemical plants that march in a line to the very edge of the 14 square kilometer tribal reserve and virtually surround it. On the borders of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation are facilities operated by Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, Dupont, Dow Chemical, and many other companies. In fact, Sarnia is home to 20% of Canada's refineries and the source of 40% of its petrochemicals. From their porches and windows, community members watch as plant employees work in helmeted "moon suits" while they themselves stand unprotected mere yards away. Complaints about noxious fumes are constant, and each section of the reserve seems to have its own peculiar smell ranging from rotten eggs to decaying turnips. The Aamjiwnaang First Nation is also immediately downriver from the site of the infamous Sarnia Blob, a giant mass of heavier-than-water perchloroethylene and sediment found at the bottom of the St. Clair River in 1985. This same river is also a site where scientists have found a variety of male wildlife species with hermaphroditic qualities. It's no wonder, then, that tests of a local creek that passes through the Aamjiwnaang reserve show high levels of a wide variety of chemical toxins, including PCBs and hexachlorobenzene, both of which have been implicated in female birth overages. Earlier this year, the provincial government even sent an emergency environmental response team to Sarnia due to an inordinate number of chemical spills. More troubling still, in December of 1993, the year tribal records indicate that sex ratios began to deviate, the reserve had an emergency evacuation. The cause? A fire and chemical release at the adjacent Suncor plant. So far all the evidence has been classified as circumstantial and calls have gone out for further research. In the meantime, the residents of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and many environmental activists are left to wonder: How specific must the evidence be and how much more of it is needed before the powers that be connect the chemical dots and do what must be done?

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Best of the Web: We've Got Our Minds on Setting Our "Sites" Elsewhere

As our readers know, environmentalism involves a lot of science. But there's more to caring for the Earth than numbers and statistics, research studies and field tests. Though you might not realize it from the amount of press it receives, there's a great deal of philosophy involved as well. Or at least there should be. This month we've got two web sites that emphasize the point. One is a look at eco-philosophies themselves, and the other is all about adopting a philosophy that leaves more time for better things. Our first destination aims to provide nothing short of an education in environmental philosophy, a rich field of learning with a surprisingly diverse range of offerings. The Green Fuse offers background and debate about deep ecology, social ecology, eco-feminism, Earth-centered spirituality, embodied ecology, and other similar topics that are arguably critical to understand if our efforts to create a better future are to be a success. As part of this mission, the web site provides a series of quick-reference pages that deliver easy-to-digest introductions to these various schools of thought in the form of overviews for each discipline. Complementing this foundation is an extensive glossary that's an education unto itself, and a variety of articles that explore these philosophies further. For those seeking more, the site's extensive list of suggestions for further reading and a generous page of links to other similar sites will keep interested minds occupied for ages. There's even a series of open forums on eco-philosophies where users can participate in online discussions and debate, share ideas, and more. Altogether it's a web site that does an admirable and enlightening job of serving an underserved subject area very well. If you think you'd like to contemplate its contents, aim your mind to http://www.thegreenfuse.org/. Our second site is concerned with a single philosophy: that Americans are overworked and overscheduled, and that the resulting lack of time is harming our families, health, relationships, communities, and environment. It's a movement called Take Back Your Time, and it will culminate this year with Take Back Your Time Day on October 24th. The web site that serves as a central rallying point for this vital cause offers a wealth of information and statistics that illustrate the problem and reinforce the need for all of us to slow down and regain control of our time. Visitors can begin their search for a new and better balance between work and life by downloading the free PDF guide to fighting "time poverty." When you're done, read the latest newsletter, browse the site's extensive book reviews and suggested reading guide, and lend your support to national initiatives. You'll also find a downloadable calendar of events (which we hope will expand from its currently meager state as October 24th approaches) and links to other like-minded web sites that provide further information and ways that you can connect with like-minded individuals in your locale. We think it's an idea worth working for and a web site you should make some time to see. Just unplug your clock and click http://www.simpleliving.net/timeday/.

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Required Reading: Preventing a World of Consumers from Consuming the World

Though it's understandably tempting to place all the blame for the recent wallet wilting leap in oil prices on instability in Iraq, astute observers of the energy scene say much of the problem lies in the new demands being made on the global supply by emerging consumer economies in developing nations. And that's just one symptom of the affluence now spreading around the world. What can be done to make sure the global economy's new consumers don't break the Earth's back? Here's a new book with some answers. The New Consumers, the Influence of Affluence on the Environment by Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent, Island Press, 2004 examines the issue of third world countries striving to be first world consumer nations like the United States. It's long been said that if everyone lived like we do in the U.S., none of us would have very long to live. That's because an entire world consuming natural resources and producing waste at the rate we've unfortunately become accustomed to here at home would quickly decimate the planet's supply of raw materials and dramatically reduce its ability to support life. As the tightening worldwide petroleum supply has shown, the day environmentalists have been prophesizing has at last arrived. Developing countries and those in transition have created one billion increasingly affluent "new consumers" who are placing additional strains on the Earth's resources. As the economies of these nations surge and their populations increase, they are likely to account for exceptional growth in humanity's ecological footprint. So argue authors Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent, who examine the environmental impacts of all this increased global consumption. Focusing on two specific commodities that are likely to have the most far-reaching effects- -cars and meat- -Myers and Kent look at consumption patterns in a number of different countries, placing special emphasis on China and India, two countries whose burgeoning economies and large populations are likely to account for exceptional growth in humanity's ecological footprint. These case studies are supplemented by a larger survey of big-picture issues like the globalization of economies, the proliferation of consumer goods, and resource-intensive lifestyles. From this stew of facts and ideas emerges a single question: What do we do? Denying impoverished nations the right to lift themselves out of that poverty and better their standard of living is not an option. It's not only unfair to those arriving late to the global party, it's inhumane at best. Yet clearly the Earth cannot support a world of Americas. The good news is that there remain a wealth of policy options that can remedy the situation. Even better, these policies make both economic and ecological sense. Ultimately, according to Myers and Kent, it's unrealistic to expect "new" consumers not to aspire to be like the "old" ones. The challenge, instead, is for all nations and societies, ours included, to transition to sustainable styles of consumption. We tend to agree and see in this new book something of a road map to help us get to that much needed destination.

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