There are six different types of phthalates found in plastics; DEHP, DBP, BBP, DINP, DIDP, and DnOP. These chemicals are used to make plastics flexible and soft. Studies have found that phthalate exposure affects male fetuses in utero, causing reproductive problems. In women, phthalates are associated with increase risk of endometriosis. Phthalates are also an air quality factor for asthma and allergies. Avoiding phthalates is difficult because the chemicals are so pervasive, but there are some ways to minimize exposure.

1. Check product labels for the phrase ‘phthalate free’.

2. Discard plastic toys manufactured in 1999 or earlier. After 1999 most toy manufacturers stopped using phthalates in their toys. It’s also a good practice to purchase toys made of natural materials such as wood and cloth whenever possible as a) this is a more sustainable, earth friendly practice that keeps plastic out of landfills and b) is the only way to be sure toys don’t contain phthalates.

3. Use fragrance free detergents, household cleaners, shampoos etc… whenever possible as phthalates are often used in perfume agents. Scent products such as household detergents with organic essential oils instead.

4. Buy foods packaged in glass instead of plastic or cans.Canned food and plastic water bottles are heavily contaminated with phthalates as well as other chemicals. This is almost impossible to do consistently, but if there are alternatives packaged in glass, buy them.

5. Eliminate Tupperware and other plastic food storage containers. Microwaving food in plastic allows chemicals to leach into food. Replace plastic containers with glass food storage containers. There are glass containers on the market that can be used in the freezer, oven and microwave.

Because phthalates are so prevalent throughout the food chain and in the day-to-day products used in every household, elimination is difficult, if not impossible. However, reducing exposure is a step in the right direction and will have positive effects on family health.

The Deer, or the Boy

A deer in the headlights…

Or the boy that cried wolf…

How do you begin to make sense of the rhetoric surrounding the issue of global warming?

There are no simple answers. It’s natural for non-scientists to become overwhelmed by the shouting and contradictions. It’s easy to bury your head in the sand with thoughts of, “I like warm weather anyway”.

Being a non-scientist does not necessarily mean being uninformed – or misinformed. Between these simplistic opposing views is a more realistic and constructive outlook toward global climate change.

Controversy does exist; this is natural for such a complex science. Science evolves; it is, and should be, open to debate. The debate in climatology is leading to a consensus that tells a tale of a world already experiencing the first signals of global warming.

This is a primer for fellow lay people. Presented here is a picture of our climate. How it was, how it is, and how it may be in the near future.

This picture is grounded in the basics of climatology.

Now is the time to abandon the paralyzing rhetoric based in misinformation and incrimination – on both sides of the issue.

Wouldn’t it be grand if we could leave to future generations a thriving economy, and a healthy and stable environment? The two do not need to be mutually exclusive.

The Greenhouse Effect

The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring phenomenon of Earth’s environment, and is essential to the climate on Earth as we know it. With the natural greenhouse effect the average temperature on Earth is 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). Without it, the average temperature would be about minus 18 degrees Celsius (or 0 degrees Fahrenheit).

Given the current economy, home renovation takes on a whole new meaning for me personally. I am looking to things that will help me be self-sufficient and independent. I know I am not alone in this feeling. Many people are interested in alternative power sources: wind energy, solar power, and efficiency in general. Another thing that is very popular in some rural areas are outdoor wood furnaces. With a good source of wood you have virtually free heat.

All these things, combined with a well insulated house and high efficiency appliances, can make for not only greatly reduced power and/or heating bills, but a feeling of independence. Start a garden in your back yard and you are good to go. When renovating my current house I am going to consider all of my options. I have already insulated and am now looking to the next step.

Solar power is the least obtrusive method for generating power. There are no towers or moving parts and it’s easy to set up. The biggest problem is the cost. It’s not hard to spend thirty thousand dollars to fully power a house. One option is to install a smaller system or far fewer storage cells. This will supplement your current power and save money on your monthly bill. On a sunny day while everyone is at work you may end up selling power back to the power company. Another option is to build the entire system yourself. There are several guides available online, usually for around fifty dollars. They will show you everything from building the panels to installation and storage.

Wind energy is another option often considered further north where solar cells are less efficient. It should go without saying, but any area with considerable wind is a great candidate for a wind turbine. While they should never be used as a sole source of power, a wind turbine can put out a lot of power when the wind is up. Another consideration, of course, is your neighbors. Larger units can be quite tall and, well, to say the least, noticeable. Be sure to check your local building codes, neighborhood covenants, and neighbors’ opinions. Commercially available units are usually priced from around five thousand on up. Many of the solar how-to guides. I mentioned above include material on constructing your own windmill at a very low cost. Some are small enough to mount on your roof and would not require the same large tower that many commercial units have. While you may need several of these, as apposed to one large commercial unit, the cost difference may be well worth it.

One other option that I will mention only briefly is hydroelectric power. Very few people, relatively speaking, have access to moving water and even less have a water source that is manageable enough to dam and convert to power. Installing a dam of any sort is very hard to accomplish with today’s regulations. Check with your local agencies and the local EPA to make sure you have all your ducks in a row or you will face a stiff fine at the very least. Drop-in impellers are available; they look similar to a boat motor and have a propeller that is turned like a windmill. While not as efficient, these units do not require excavation permits and are a great alternative for anyone who has access to flowing water.

When renovating a house all of these options are great to look at. Always weigh the pros and cons, especially if the house is to be resold. Never invest more than you expect to get out. Keep in mind that there are great tax incentives offered for efficiency and all things “green”. When you are working on your own house just consider how long you plan on staying and if the initial investment will be repaid within that time period. Don’t forget to factor in maintenance while keeping in mind the “feel good” value that only you can quantify. If you are “handy” consider the do-it-yourself approach. Whatever you decide, the project will be a great learning experience.

The issue of solar power energy is one of great importance, especially in the day and age of today where the environment is in such despair. Solar power energy offers an array of different benefits, and it is free. It needs no fuel, produces no waste or pollution, and is therefore one of the most valuable renewable resources in the world.

How it Works

When it comes to the matter of how solar power energy works, the process is really quite simple. There are three main ways that we use the sun’s energy, one involves solar cells, one with solar water heating, and the last solar furnaces. For the first, solar cells, these cells work by converting light directly into electricity.

Then there is the solar water heating process, in which heat from the sun is used to heat water in glass panels on a roof, and water is pumped through pipes that are located in a panel, and these pipes are painted black so that they get as hot as possible when the sun shines on them. Finally with solar furnaces, these use a huge array of mirrors in order to concentrate the sun’s energy into a small space and result in producing very high temperatures.

Uses

The uses for solar power energy are almost limitless, as there are many different ways in which solar energy can be used effectively and efficiently. These applications can be grouped into three primary categories, which are: heating/cooling, electricity production, and chemical processes.

Advantages

It is important to take all the advantages of solar power energy into consideration, and for one the energy from the sun is virtually free after the initial cost of equipment and other essentials has been recovered, and solar and other renewable energy systems can be stand-alone so therefore they do not require connection to a power or natural gas grid.

There is no other source of energy in the world as beneficial and advantageous as solar power energy, and so it is important to learn as much as you can about it and to take advantage of all the applications of this energy as you can. You can also feel good because you know that you are taking care of the environment as much as you can by using an energy source that does not produce waste or pollutants. For as long as there is sunlight there will be solar power energy that you can use.

To many in the 30-something and beyond generations, YouTube is a strange phenomenon and a somewhat confusing business concept. Older generations do not fully understand what YouTube is about and generally avoid it. ‘Kids’ spending hour after hour on the computer making & sending silly video clips to each other: “What is that all about? In my day…”

Well, YouTube (and other video sharing web sites) are here to stay and that is that. And if they are here to stay, can they be used in the field of education?

Or more accurately

1. Can the skills ‘kids’ are picking up in using video creation and sharing be used in education?

2. Can the making of educational videos by students be used in the classroom and how beneficial might this be in improving student understand a topic?

3. Would a ‘hands-on’ approach to make a video essay allow students to better retain what they are learning?

This article will argue that the short answer to each of these questions is ‘yes’. The key is how is it to be done and what resources are out there to help.

Kids today love making videos and sharing them via YouTube (and other video sharing web-sites). Surely these interests and skills could (and should) be harnessed? After all, what is the traditional (boring?) approach to education?

You are given an essay to write/a project to complete. To write the essay, you need to do some research; read a little; take notes; produce a 1000 word essay. Hand it in. Your teacher reads it. You get your mark. You move on and apart from revision, you never see the essay again.

What about if the end product was not a written report but one you produced as a video documentary?

Everything is the same until you get to the ‘writing’ stage. Tell the story you would previously have written down using visuals. Make a commentary using your notes. Tell the story. Find some suitable video clips. Go and make your own video clips. Bring in your own photographs. Make a video essay/documentary. Hand in the finished masterpiece. The teacher can then watch it or share is with the class. Promote discussion. Compare approaches to the project. Finally upload the video to the school/college web site or YouTube. In other words, the video approach opens more opportunities to learn then the written word.

So in a sentence:

Don’t Write An Essay See An Essay

But what is the current state of video use (and the use of YouTube) in education?

Even in 2009, simply using YouTube as a tool for education is seen as quite radical: in a popular web site and forum for history teachers in the UK (http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk), a recent talking point was a short segment on the BBC news channel where this ‘radical’ idea was aired (search ‘Roy Huggins school history’ on YouTube). What is most interesting about this interview and the general comments on the forum afterward is the thought that these videos have to be made by the teacher community. ‘Lets make videos for students and share them’, is the current thinking. No discussion of letting the students make the video.

The BBC introduced an annual ‘School Report’ project whereby school students spend a day making new reports for broadcast on television (although mainly aimed at school web sites). The main point here is that students are encouraged to think about what goes into a news broadcast as well as the technical aspects of making the news report.

Another development is the development of a new degree course based on YouTube: “YouTube for Educators” through the Boise State University Department of Educational Technology.

A short introduction to the course is shown here, ‘This is an academic course for students in an advanced educational technology program. It is my belief that YouTube, and video-sharing in general, cannot be ignored within a field of emergent technologies for learning. YouTube is having an impact on society, politics, and the lives of individuals from all walks of life.’ (Search YouTube for ‘csnelsonbsu ‘).

But this course is still a step behind giving video clips to students to create mini video documentaries.

In summary, the use of video as an educating tool is slowing creeping along the corridors of the educational establishments. But it is still dominated by a teacher-centered approach.

It is the teacher who creates.

It is the teacher who uses his/her imagination.

It is the student that watches.

To turn this around and make better use of the medium of video, students need to be given control. Students should be allowed to use their imagination and create, not teachers.

Clearly there are hurdles to be overcome to give teachers the opportunity to move into video essays. In order for students to create mini video documentaries they need access to computers, the raw video material and teachers need skills to manage it.

Other questions to add to the mix:

1. How would they physically make these videos: in the classroom? At home? Both?

2. How would schools and colleges go about using this approach to education? Group projects? And which subjects? History? Sociology? Geography? Politics? All the above and more?

3. Do schools and colleges have the staff proficient and confident enough with this new communication medium to teach the youth of today? The Future?

This article asks more questions then it answers; It has merely scratched the surface of the video in education topic.

What is important to note and cannot be over stressed, is the importance of taking advantage of the inherent new skills that the young people of today have developed in using YouTube. Putting them to an educational use is a must.

And after all, when as a student of the late 1980’s, this author used the now ancient skill called ‘hand writing’ in submitting essays and reports; A word processor (pre-Windows, Apple, PC’s and the ‘net’), was some sort of alien contraption only found in classrooms belonging to strange long-haired hippie types. Today, primary school students use computers as a matter of course.

Will video use in education become the norm in the next 10 years?