Going Solar: look before you leap (then leap!)

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Going Solar: look before you leap (then leap!)

According to the “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018” report published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre, 2017 was the 8th year in a row that investment in renewables exceeded $200 billion. Most of this investment has been in solar and wind energy. As a result, the cost of solar energy has become cheaper and easier to implement by businesses and individuals alike.

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The controversy over organic

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The controversy over organic

Last week I shopped at Costco, as I do about twice a month. What was different this time was that upon entering the warehouse and showing my ID, I was handed a brochure advertising Costco’s latest organic offerings. I was curious: there seemed to be a lot more organic goods than I remembered, and some of the items I had been shopping for had disappeared from the store shelves, replaced by these new, supposedly healthier, products. If I sound a little skeptical it is because I am inherently more distrustful of organic products offered by big box stores, especially their own organic brands, than of organic products made by my local organic farmer, or sold by the small, local health-conscious stores where I’ve shopped for organic products for years. (Still, this skepticism hasn’t always prevented me from buying Safeway’s O-organics brand or more recently, Costco’s organic offerings.)

Browsing Costco’s “Save on organic at your local Costco” brochure did make me wonder, though, why some stores seem to be increasing their organic foods inventory.

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Indoor pollution: how to protect yourself this winter

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Indoor pollution: how to protect yourself this winter

In the hard winter months we bundle up and stay indoors more often. We rarely air out our homes, although we should do this even when it is cold outside. These are just a couple of the reasons why we’re more likely to get sick in winter – germs thrive best in closed spaces. There’s another reason why we get sick more in winter that you may not have thought about, and it has to do with the kind of long-term, often subtle illnesses that result from exposure to indoor pollutants. Winter is the time of year when our body burden can increase the most.
 

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