The RAnts of RA

As the popularity of green product claims continues to spread, it’s important to understand the claims you can trust and the ones that are fooling you. Since the kitchen is the hub of the household and is said to harbor more bacteria than even the bathroom, it’s seems to be the most obvious place to start to be more conscious about cleanliness and the environment.

There are conscious choices and products you can easily incorporate into your kitchen to make it a healthier, more eco-friendly environment for everyone. Below are some tips and trusted kitchen products for a greener kitchen.

Use cleaning products and dish detergents that are 100% free of chemicals to wash your dishes, countertops and all surfaces exposed to food

Earth Friendly Products

Earth Friendly Products is the leader in the development and production of environmentally friendly cleaning supplies for household use with over 150 products manufactured with only sustainable plant-based ingredients that are safe for people, pets, and the planet.

The company proudly adheres to its strict “Freedom Code”, a list of harmful and toxic ingredients that are not found in any its products.

Think Twice Before Using Traditional Non-Stick Pans

GreenPan

GreenPan’s Thermolon, natural surface does not have the same harmful effects as traditional non-stick pans that are created with PTFE (PolyTetraFluoroEthylene) so no PFOA (PerFluoro0ctanoic Acid) can be released into the environment. PFOA is classified as a “likely human carcinogen.”

GreenPan is trying to educate Americans about the harmful effects of traditional non-stick cookware. Less energy is used in the application of Thermolon coatings onto the GreenPan product itself. This results in a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions during the manufacturing process compared to the application of a normal PTFE based coating.

Eliminate Aluminum, Go for Recycled Parchment and Cook In a Bag

PaperChef

PaperChef, a Toronto-based company founded in 2010, developed a line of products that includes parchment rolls, parchment cooking bags and parchment baking cups.

Sustainability and cleanliness were highly important, resulting in packaging made of 100% biodegradable FSC recycled paper printed with vegetable based inks. Storing and cooking with paper-over foil and plastic-is more natural and better for both humans and the environment.

The French method of cooking “en papillote”-a parchment-style method steams food to perfection and enhances natural flavors, without synthetic sprays and high-fat oils for simple, healthy meals. Entire meals can be cooked in a bag, which can then be re-recycled or composted.

Have Beverages On Hand That Are Produced Without Pesticides

Teatulia

Harvested using natural farming practices, all of Teatulia teas are cultivated without the use of pesticides, machinery and unnatural irrigation. The Teatulia garden was started in 2000 in order to give back to the community in a meaningful way. With 50% of the population below the U.S.poverty line the company sought to establish a business that would both protect our environment and provide a means to a living wage for the surrounding community therefore establishing the garden as a cooperative open to the workers and neighbors in surrounding villages. Each tea has its own unique, health benefit.

Related articles

• Earth Friendly Products Eliminates Over 600,000 Tons of Carbon Dioxide Pollution (greenreview.blogspot.de)
• 10 Fab Eco-Friendly Earth Day Finds (fabsugar.com)
• Celebrate Earth Day – April 22, 2012 (localhs.com)

Let’s face it folks, Obama is going to lose this next election. He’s going to lose to whoever wins the Republican nomination. That’s a given. You’d really have to have your head buried pretty deep to not have accepted this by now.

Easy Cheese, with a Birth Certificate!

Frankly, he would lose to a can of Easy Cheese, assuming that it were able to provide documentation to meet the age requirement. I hear you can accomplish that for under $20 online.

So, assuming you’re intelligent enough to accept that Obama is going to lose, your decision is now which Republican from those that are seeking nomination will actually represent you for the next four years.

• If you’re a progressive, you’re pretty much out of luck.
• If you’re a RINO, you’ve got quite a few options which, I’m sure, the Mainstream Media  will do their absolute best to pick the best one for you. With so many to choose from, it could take months.
• If you’re a conservative, there’s only one choice.
• If you’re a liberal, there’s only one choice. Coincidentally, it’s the same one.

Who? The invisible man, of course!

The Mainstream Media would have you believe that Ron Paul doesn’t exist. That he hasn’t won every straw poll (from Values Voters Summit  to Iowa to Florida). The thing is, he does. Not only does he have a strong following, the highest voting  consistency of any politician in the last hundred years and experience in both his own business and congress, he’s the only potential nominee that could actually gain true bipartisan support – and actually make both sides happy.

Why? Ron Paul supports states rights. He believes government has no business legislating morality, nor imposing upon the rights of human beings. While he is Pro-Life, his position is that government should not be imposing this decision on the states.

Further, Ron Paul is a Christian, but his belief in the separation of church and state is an indivisible principle. Marriage is a religious ceremony, and thus it’s  dependent on the religion to determine what is a compatible relationship. If you take government out of that equation (as it should be), there’s nothing preventing a civil union between members of the same-sex.

Unlike Obama, who has started several wars since receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, Ron Paul would actually  get America  out of the nation building business.  And since there aren’t formal declaration’s of  war for any of them, we’d have most of our men home  within 30 days.  We wouldn’t be invading other nations, either. That’s not to say Dr. Paul is against war. As a former Flight Surgeon in the Air Force, Ron Paul  has served this man’s military and  has  seen first-hand the harm it causes.  Should the USA really police the world? Of course not.

Unlike both Bush and Obama, who increased the invasions into the privacy of ordinary citizens, Ron Paul has consistently voted against any legislation  that violates the premises of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Ron Paul voted against the US PATRIOT Act (that’s a misnomer if ever there was one), and said “Everything we have done in response to the 9-11 attacks, from the Patriot Act to the war in Iraq, has reduced freedom in America.”

Unlike all the other hopefuls,  Bush and Obama –  Ron Paul  acknowledges the issues of the War on Drugs. A war against a large number of the population simply can not be “won”, and should not be waged.

Ron Paul has also made clear his plans to abolish the Fed, the  Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration and bring our troops home.

Ron Paul opposes the subsidization of businesses here and abroad, and the government sponsored crony capitalism that it encourages. Cronyism, for example, is why two and a half cents worth of medication can be sold for a profit of 500,000% here in the USA.

Ron Paul supports homeschooling, a balanced budget and developing energy sources here at home, and true fiscal sanity that will encourage business growth and jobs in every community in America, possibly even saving some of those businesses left in the wake of a visit by Obama!

Assuming you haven’t completely thrown in the towel, and you’re not stupid enough to actually want a President Perry, you need to vote for Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries. For that to happen, you have to be registered Republican. Depending on the state you’re in, you need to change parties up to three months in advance.

Change now. Vote Paul. Save America.

Related articles

• Ron Paul wins Values Voter Summit straw poll (hotair.com)
• Ron Paul Wins Values Voter Summit Straw Poll; Bachman Near Top of VP List (cnsnews.com)
• GOP Strategist: Ron Paul Could Win Republican Nomination (destructionist.wordpress.com)

If you ask me, going “Green” is all about saving money — the good old green-back dollar, while living as frugally as possible. Yes, I love the earth God created but, I worship the Almighty God, our Savior and Creator.  We are charged with  being good stewards in all we do.

When we moved in January we found a larger house, which would seem to most people to be anti-green but just like in the real world there are trade-offs. Prior to our move we had discovered Dr. Heaters, which have help us to save money on our electric bill. They are very efficient and they do not create static in the air, nor do they absorb moisture from the air — a problem with most types of heat, such as that from a wood-burning fireplace.

We were concerned that a larger house would mean it would consume significantly more energy and that would result in paying more to heat it and with the rising  cost of propane and electric… We kept this in the back of our mind as we made changes in our lifestyle.    The additional space allowed us to clean out our storage unit at Mr. Stor All, in Sonora.   (At a savings  of $107.00 per month.)  They really treated us well and we appreciate the great service and smiling faces.

It’s wonderful having all of our belongings under one roof again. I’ve been trying to organize everything and toss out the excess. It’s a slow process but groups like Freecycle help make it easy to dispose of unwanted items as painlessly as possible. It can be very time-consuming dealing with the accumulation of stuff. The move really gave me renewed determination to deal with it. Now I’m simply waiting for better weather.

The first thing we did before we moved into the new place, was to investigate and purchase a new energy efficient refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher. We had not planned to buy a new washer and dryer for a few months but when we found a high-efficiency set marked half-off, we charged them to our card, hoping the savings would help us pay for them. The gamble paid off. Not only is our new house larger, our utility bills are actually a little lower than they were at our old house.

This new place also provides excellent access to nature and all the wildlife that call Twain Harte, CA home. The new place has a wrap-around deck and a couple of nice spots, which will enable us to grow vegetables, spices, flowers and we provide comforts to the local wildlife, especially in bad weather. I plan to grow some flowers to help attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and the deer of course. I’ll enjoy them as I can and allow the animals to make full use of them. I’d love to plant some blackberry bushes and a strawberry patch.

I don’t really agree with feeding wild animals and having close contact with them. It just makes me cringe when I see photos and video’s online of people hand-feeding hummingbirds and petting the deer. I justify feeding the deer because they need to survive and they are competing with people for food and we humans have the upper-hand. I try to provide fresh foods that they would eat in the wild and in the winter I buy molasses oats to help them put on some weight and survive a rough winter.

These are wild animals and need to remain that way. Making friends with the deer will inevitably cause them to get shot by some hunter providing food for his family. While I don’t begrudge the hunter his right to take a deer, providing for his families needs, I think the deer deserve a sporting chance.

I am sure if we each look around, we could implement changes to our lifestyles that would not only be energy efficient but save  the family time and money. Our new dishwasher uses just 3.9 gallons of water and costs just $25.00 to use for an entire year. The new washer and dryer are amazing. My clothes have never been so clean and the drying time has been cut  to 1/3 or less. My clothes dry faster than the washer can wash them.

If you can scrape together the money for a  high efficiency washer and dryer, do so, as soon as you can. The savings are incredible and as far as I can tell they are “earth friendly” as well. We can’t always tell because the process used to recycle many of the  things we are recycling is actually worse for the environment than just dumping them. The problem is the landfills can’t hold all of the garbage we create. So, it ends up to be to our advantage to recycle, instead of tossing stuff, even if it’s not an environmentally sound practice.

I recommend trading for services and bartering for the things you need as often as possible. With the rising inflation, it can preserve the value of tangible items.

We can sit on our thumbs and do nothing, or we can be pro-active. Consumers have learned all too well that rising gas prices (for whatever the reason) means higher prices for everything. Our food supply is being deliberately sabotaged, we need to bring things closer to home. Grow as much of your own food at home, eat out less, have guests over more. Know where your food is coming from and stock up on whatever you can afford to. We love to barter whenever we can. The more you can prepare now, the less of a hardship you will suffer when a natural or man-made disaster cripples our governments ability to provide services.

I’ve even been toying with the idea of buying foreign currency. Since the dollar is so weak, I’m just not certain how easy it will be to convert foreign currency back into dollars but at our current rate of inflation, it’s the only way I can see to protect your equity, unless you invest in gold or silver, as both continue to increase in value. If you have close neighbors, now is the time to get to know them. Talk with the neighbors you feel you can trust and plan for possible power outages, earthquakes, or other disasters. Many hands make light work and your investment will go further if you can combine your efforts.

If you can start your own garden, do so — even if you have to grow tomato plants in a planter. If you like tomatoes, it will provide needed food in case of catastrophe.