Earth Hour 2011 and how you can be a part of 60+

Saturday 26 March at 8:30pm is the day and time we all give a little back to Mother Earth. Its Earth Hour 2011 and by switching off the lights for one hour in the evening you will be joining in the worldwide symbolic gesture to pledge your commitment to combating climate change (last year the ‘hour’ became the planet’s largest voluntary action ever witnessed as it reached 1.3 billion people in at least 128 different countries).

Imagine what we can achieve indeed! This year there is a movement to go beyond the hour (60+) with each person making a commitment to a positive action for the planet, a commitment that can be celebrated by turning off your lights on March 26th. The challenge is to find one way you can be an inspiration and make a difference by taking your pledge beyond the hour! Healthmakers would love to help you make this commitment to Earth Hour 60+ by suggesting a number of simple yet effective ways that can help you help the planet.

We believe the Eco-Charger is a break through in Green Energy Technology. It recharges ordinary bog standard AA and AAA Alkaline disposable batteries and also the rechargeable batteries (Ni-MH batteries are cadmium-free and therefore less toxic than the cheaper Ni-Cd alternatives). Becides the financial upside though money saved, by recharging all your batteries you will be helping to alleviate the environmental problems regarding disposing of batteries as the number used can very quickly multiply.

Remember that ordinary batteries should not be thrown away with ordinary household waste as they contain toxic chemicals that can leach into the soil and groundwater. You can safely dispose of all depleted batteries through the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC) and Uniross, a company which has joined forces with all Pick n Pay stores and selected Makro, Builders Warehouse and Stax stores to put collection boxes for all battery types in the stores. The batteries are collected and the non-recyclable ones are “concretised” and disposed of safely, the recyclable ones are put in a container to be sent to a facility in France where they can be recycled as there are no facilities in South Africa that can recycle batteries. By using the Eco-Charger you are reusing every battery upto 20 times and then by recycling you are not only ensuring the safety of our ground water and food (through healthy soil) but you are also ensuring that the finite source of metals used in making the battery is reused.

A second way to take up the 60+ pledge is to get an ECO Kettle. If you are not using this kind of kettle you are currently on average boiling twice the amount of water needed because measuring the amount of water to be boiled is nearly impossible.  This means twice as much energy used, in fact if you are using a 3kw kettle and it takes 60 seconds to boil you could power a single lightbulb for 50mins using the same amount of energy. The ECO-Kettle with two reservoirs works differently. You have a 7 cup reservoir of water that feeds through to the boiling chamber (when you hold the selection quantity button down, where you can select to boil from a single cup to 5 cups of water at a time). This means that you save energy every time you boil by boiling only the exact amount of water that you need. (The Energy Saving Trust in the UK did a consumer trial on the ECO-Kettle and found that 31% less energy was used than by normal kettles).

There are those that care about the environment and there are those that care about their back pocket. If you are either of these people then this kettle is for you. Often when we make a change to benefit the environment we often have to compromise our own convenience. With the Eco Kettle it is win win all the way. Enjoy the benefits of a fast boiling 2200 watt element, save the cost of electricity by not boiling unnecessary water and honour your pledge to Earth Hour 60+ and our planet by playing a part in taking care of the environment. It will certainly pay for itself time and again.

Did you know that empty plastic water bottles have become a major contributor to worldwide pollution and that for every 2 plastic bottles produced you have added 1kg of carbon dioxide to your personal carbon footprint?  Did you know that 40% of bottled water is actually TAP WATER? With or without added filtration – you’re paying through the nose for it. Worse, an independent test found arsenic, DPBs and 36 other harmful pollutants including industrial chemicals hiding in bottled water which could also contain the potentially hazardous chemical BPA.

Buying your water in a plastic bottle means:

• that in the time it takes you to read just this one short sentence, over 8,000 empty water bottles are being thrown away worldwide.
• means that 5500 rubbish trucks will be filled each day solely with plastic bottles.
• that the U.S. alone used 4110 barrels of oil to produce the 67 million plastic water bottles discarded EVERY day!

The production of plastic bottles doesn’t just deplete the planet of oil reserves but we ask that you please consider the harm that the processing of plastic water bottles does as it releases toxic compounds such as nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide, and benzene into the environment.

Healthmakers therefore recommends that you give up your plastic water bottle habit and save the planet by offering a wide range of BPA Free water bottles which are reusable and refillable making them extremely Eco-Friendly. They can be filled with water (or other liquids) you can trust to keep you healthy (see our Water Purification range on our website for healthy water options)

BPA Free Water Bottles:

Cheeki Water Bottles are manufactured from Premium 304 Food Grade Stainless Steel and are healthy for you and the environment, and are available in a wide range of stylish and fun designs that keep your water fresh and cold. Cheeki bottles are perfect for kids’ lunchboxes; sports; exercise and everyday use.

The FLOW Water Bottles we offer are made from 100% food-grade Stainless Steel making them toxin and BPA Free, because all these bottles are stainless steel they do not need a liner like an aluminum bottle would, this means that the these bottles will not hold flavors or make the water taste strange. The caps of the FLOW Water Bottles are made from recyclable BPA-free polypropylene.

We believe that by adding your positive actions towards making our world a better place by using even one of these environment ideas, you can become a part of Earth Hours 60+ global symbol of hope and movement for change. “Together our actions add up. So take action, and save the date for this year’s Earth Hour.

Choose BPA-Free Drinking Bottles

Take note of the dangers of BPA

What is BPA?

It is a chemical known as Bisphenol A (BPA)

Because I do not drink carbonated drinks, and I’m not that fond of bottled and canned fruit juices, because they are high in sugar and have been cooked and pasteurised, I always carry water with me. As I am reasonably fussy about the water I drink, preferring not to drink tap water, I carry purified water with me from home.
Some years back we became conscious of the fact that storing water, in any old plastic container, did not appear to be a healthy practice as chemical substances could leach from plastic into the water. We really went out of our way to find ‘safe’  containers which, at that time we were informed should be made of polycarbonate. One only has to look at the collection bottles, and processing jugs that were used by most manufacturing companies, to confirm that this was the right route to take. It came as quite a shock to find out that the polycarbonate bottles that we had been carrying our water around in, all contained Bisphenol A, which, is an endocrine disruptor that can actually mimic the body’s own hormones, interfering with oestrogen and other reproductive hormones.

Listen to what Mike Shelby, PhD. of The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (US Govt) has to say about Bisphenol A

 

So, not only was the Bisphenyl A leeching from the polycarbonate water bottles that I had chosen to save my water in, but also from carbonated drink tin cans, making the high sugar, caffeine laden, acidic, carbonated drinks much more dangerous to human health than I had imagined.

I proceeded to research Bisphenol further and was surprised to find out that babies bottles and drinking cups were commonly made of this type of plastic.
See http://www.plasteurope.com/news/PLASTICS_AND_HEALTH_t218796

Next, I was lead to how you can identify the type of plastic that a plastic bottle is made from by the number in the Recycle Symbol, that is usually moulded into the bottle.  Initially it appeared quite simple to be able to judge the safety of the plastic bottle by the numbers but I soon realised that the interpretation of these numbers was more complicated.  Polycarbonate that leeches BPA would be marked number seven, and that seemed clear enough, until I found out that the replacement for polycarbonate, that was BPA-free, and known as co-polyester is also labelled with recycle number seven. However, you will find that plastic bottles that do not contain Bisphenyl A are now marked BPA-free.

So, what are the safe options in choosing a drinking water bottle? My research shows that a good quality aluminium bottle that is well lined with a non-leaching substance would be a good choice, as would a stainless steel bottle ,which, would be a bit heavier, and finally a standard old-fashioned choice is a glass bottle but this is not always practical, especially for children as it is subject to being broken if dropped.

The common attitude,  that I’ve been doing this for years and hasn’t killed me, prevails, and I would agree with you, however, it is not the single contaminants that is the problem, but the multiplicity of contaminants that ,when added up, produce life-threatening diseases. When this happens, we find it difficult to pinpoint the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I  invite you to take this seriously, and to try to avoid consuming Bisphenyl A  by drinking out of polycarbonate bottles and containers, tin cans, cold drink tins and checking that babies bottles and cups are BPA-free.

Below is a list of health issues related to the absorption of Bisphenyl A taken from http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/bpa/bpa_side_effects.php

“More than 200 lab animal tests to date strongly suggest that BPA exposure, even at very low doses, creates risks of dangerous developmental, neural and reproductive health effects in infants and children. Exposure to BPA, even at low and short-term doses, is linked to a staggering number of health problems, including:

Life threatening illnesses are created, often not through the one toxin, but the combination of one and one and one and one.

Suggestion: Eliminate this One from your life and that of your children.

Alternative safe drinking bottles are available at: http://healthmakers.co.za/store/water-bottles/

 

Why Coke makes you smile?

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

In The First 10 minutes:
10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

20 minutes:
Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver Read more

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