The Home and the Earth !

For years, advocacy groups have been raising concerns about bottled water: Not only do bottles end up littering the landscape, and not only are those plastic bottles derived from fossil fuels, but they also may leach chemicals into water and the quality of the water is not stringently monitored.

But many Americans have a healthy distrust of advocacy groups. If you're one of them, then consider this. The Government Accountability Office, the well-respected and nonpartisan research organization that serves Congress, has concluded a yearlong investigation, and come up with basically the same conclusions.

Here's a summary:

Water quality
Surveys have shown that perceived health benefits are behind the staggering increase in the consumption of bottled water -- from 13.4 gallons per person in 1997 to 29.3 gallons per person in 2007.

While on paper, the Food and Drug Administration limits on contaminants in bottled water mirror the Environmental Protection Agency's strict limits on contaminants in tap water supplied by community water systems, that doesn't mean bottled water is as closely watched or as safe as tap water. Here's why:

Phthalates
Unlike the EPA, which has set limits on phthalates in water, the FDA has stalled for more than 15 years in publishing a limit on the phthalate DEHP in bottled water. DEHP is an ingredient in plastic, and (the GAO report does not detail the chemical's potential health effects as we do here) laboratory studies have linked some phthalates to problems with male fertility -- including decreased sperm counts and penis and testes sizes -- with obesity, and with other health problems related to hormonal imbalances. Several phthalates have been banned in children's products for this same reason: They inhibit the normal function of testosterone, the male hormone.

Testing
While the EPA requires drinking water suppliers to use certified labs to test their water, the FDA does not have this authority. Further, test results don't have to be reported to the FDA -- even if the test results show violations of drinking water quality standards. Even those states that have rules that exceed FDA requirements typically don't match EPA requirements.

Labeling
While the EPA requires public drinking water systems to annually publish the results of water quality testing, along with information about the drinking water source and known threats, the FDA does not require this of bottled water companies. The GAO reports: "In 2000, the FDA concluded that it was feasible for the bottled water industry to provide the same types of information to consumers that public water systems must provide. However, the agency was not required to conduct a rule-making requiring that manufacturers provide such information to consumers, and has yet to do so."

"High risk" regulation
The GAO has repeatedly warned that the FDA is not up to the task -- lacking staff, funding, and regulatory authority (while seeing staffing drop 19%, the facilities it was charged with inspecting increased 28% between about 2001 and 2007) -- to adequately police the nation's food supply. In January 2007, the GAO noted that the nation's food safety is a "high risk" area, in great part because it is policed by 15 separate agencies. Drinking water is only one more example.

Environmental impact
Waste
While recycling of carbonated beverages, like soda and beer, is encouraged in many states with deposit laws, these bottle bills are much less common for bottled water. As a result, about 75% of plastic water bottles are thrown in the trash, rather than recycled.

Energy
"Regarding the impact on U.S. energy demands, a recent peer-reviewed article noted that while the production and consumption of bottled water comprises a small share of total U.S. energy demand, it is much more energy-intensive than the production of public drinking water."

There are reasons to keep bottled water around: It's handy in case of an emergency, for instance. In most everyday cases, however, it's better for you and the environment to use a reusable water bottle and tap water (filtered if you think it improves the taste).

Many of the issues with bottled water that the GAO identified can be solved with changes in regulation: Water quality could be assured if it matches EPA standards; labeling could provide full disclosure of source and testing contaminants detected; the nation's food safety regulatory structure could be totally overhauled; and recycling rates could be improved with new bottled deposit laws.

However, bottled water will remain an item that lacks commonsense as long as U.S. tap water remains among the safest and most rigorously tested in the world.

The Daily Green previously summarized the problems with the bottled water industry like this:

The seven sins of bottled water
Plastic bottles are made from petroleum.

The bottles often go into the trash, rather than the recycle bin (in part because many states don't offer five-cent deposits to encourage recycling, as they do on soda and beer cans and bottles).

The water is pumped far from where it is sold, creating needless pollution as trucks and barges transport it across the country or around the world.

Some local communities have objected to the sale of their water, arguing that the water underground or flowing from natural springs is publicly owned and should not be exploited for profit.

Bottled water is rarely as closely monitored as tap water.

Tap water in the United States, when provided by a municipal system, is the most highly monitored and safe supply in the world.

Some of the water sold in little plastic bottles is tap water, but it costs an awful lot more per gallon.




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­In 2001, archaeologists digging in Peru revealed a shocking discovery: massive man-made structures, hundreds of feet in diameter, built with stone and dirt. They fo­und dozens of these mounds in the arid valleys of Peru's Norte Chico region, running from the Andes Mountains to the west coast.

These certainly aren't the first mounds discovered in Peru, but there's something special about them. They may represent a shift in the most basic understanding of the origins of civilization in the Americas.

They look like flat-topped pyramids, up to 85 feet (26 meters) tall [source: ScienceDaily]. Compared to the pyramids of the Mayan empire i­n South America or, later, the Incan empire in Peru -- structures that were hundreds of feet tall -- that's not so impressive. Except that these mounds in Norte Chico predate any large structures attributed to either the Incas or the Mayans. (They're even older than the Egyptian pyramids, for that matter.) It seems that these Peruvian mound builders were the first complex civilization in the Americas.

­­The recently discovered mounds, found to be about 5,000 years old, predate the early Mayans by perhaps a thousand years [sources: Joyce, Lovgren]. But perhaps even more surprising is the location of the mounds within Peru. Civilizations tend to develop around resource availability. People are naturally drawn to abundance in water and food sources. But the Norte Chico region of Peru is totally dead. The archaeologists were digging in a place that seems incapable of supporting life. The land is dry as a bone, and there are very few water sources and hardly any green things as far as the eye can see.

Why would an advanced civilization spring up in such a desolate place? How could the mound builders have survived under such circumstances, let alone thrived to the point of introducing a new way of life in the Ameri­cas?

The answer, according to the group of archaeologists who discovered the mounds, could be something very familiar to present day civilizations: climate change.

It starts with the discovery of seashells in a nearly waterless stretch of Peru.

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I think you will be interested in reading this post if you are looking out for some cheap furniture sets for your Residential and Official purposes. Selecting the best furniture sets to suit your requirements and budget is a little bit tedious task. Some sellers sell the best quality modern furniture but their quoted prices are too high. And, I think everyone of us will be interested in buying things which are cheap without having to compensate anything in terms of quality and service. I came to know about a shop of this kind which sells furniture sets for all our needs.

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Power Wastage: Its high time that we start saving the power for the future. With the present rate of burning the coals and lignites, it will last barely for another 100 years or so. So, the energies must be used effectively with the futuristic approach. Not many of us have the habit of saving power and energy. How many of us switch off
the fans and other electrical appliances when we leave the room or when we dont need it? Hardly 1- 10%. How many of us care to inform the Electricity Board if the street lamps are not switched off during the day times? Is it necessary to lit the entire town or city with lights for the arrival of political leaders, when there is power
scarcity for the common people?. Think. Power is being wasted everywhere from the home to office to shop. I have even seen the Electricity Board offices empty with fans and lights working for the benches and tables in the offices. Such power wastages if stopped, I am sure that atleast some power can be saved.

Power Theft: The Government has many laws against the theft of power but they dont enforce it in a proper way to limit the power theft. Power theft is increasing day by day with the help of the local wire men. Strict action must be taken against such people to prevent power thefts. By hooking of the wires from the main lines, power theives can easily take power and its already found that the power theft is worth crores and crores of bucks.

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Saving energy in small and large ways can add up to less expensive utility bills and fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Flipping out the lights when you leave a room, turning off your computer when you're not using it, and other habit changes are definitely part of the solution. But, there are also plenty of devices on the market that can do the work for you.

Here's a round-up of easy-to-find gadgets. They may seem a bit mundane, but some have new twists and others are old standbys that help you save energy without much effort.

* Light dimmer. Dimming your lights saves energy, although how much depends on how much you dim them and what kind of dimmer you have. Older dimmers don't save energy, but newer models do, says Christina Kielich of the U.S. Department of Energy.
* Motion-sensor light. People can use them in places where there's infrequent traffic (like the laundry room) and then they don't have to remember to turn the lights out, says Kielich. They're also great for outside use too because they activate only when motion is detected and don't operate during the daytime. (Another outside lighting idea is solar powered LEDs. Solar power is converted into electrical energy and stored in the rechargeable battery).
* Power Strip. They range from basic to high-tech. Some have the ability to know when your computer goes into sleep mode or is turned off and can then shut down power to peripherals that are plugged into the same strip. You can find one with an occupancy sensor that turns off after a designated time period or even a system with a remote control.
* Programmable thermostat. If you program it properly you can save as much as 15% a year on your heating bill.
* Solar-powered charger. You can power your handheld electronics with power from the sun, rather than, or in addition to the grid. An added benefit: It comes in handy when you're on the go and you run out of juice.

Source:http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/26/gadgets-that-do-the-energy-saving-for-you.html

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The two main sources of pollutants in urban areas are transportation (predominantly automobiles) and fuel combustion in stationary sources, including residential, commercial, and industrial heating and cooling and coal-burning power plants. Motor vehicles produce high levels of carbon monoxides (CO) and a major source of hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Whereas, fuel combustion in stationary sources is the dominant source of sulfur dioxide (SO2).

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Everyone would have heard about Giraffes and most of us would have seen Giraffes. Giraffes are the tallest animals with a long neck and legs. The lifespan of these giraffes are upto 25 years. They mainly feed on leaves, flowers, fruits, twigs as they are herbivorous. They have a pair of short stubby horns. They live in small groups. Okapi is an animal which belongs to the giraffe category but it is much smaller animal than giraffe.


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