This article originally appeared on EcoStiletto.com, a website dedicated to sustainable, eco-friendly, green and organic fashion and health.
Leilani Munter encapsulates the ecoista’s dilemma: It’s all well and good to want to live sustainably until you work in an industry that doesn’t share your views. What are you supposed to do, quit your job?
Leilani takes this concept to an extreme most of us can’t even imagine. That’s because she is—if you haven’t already guessed from the photos—a racecar driver. Not just any racecar driver, mind you, Leilani has serious on-track cred. She’s the fourth woman in history to race in the Indy Pro Series. She set the record for the highest finish for a female driver in the history of the Texas Motor Speedway when she finished fourth in 2006. Sports Illustrated named her one of the top 10 female racecar drivers in the world.
The girl really can’t drive 55. More like 200.
But all that speed takes a serious environmental toll—and Leilani knows it. When we asked her what her eco-sin was she answered, “That’s easy: My racecar.”
Leilani also sees her profession as an opportunity to inspire positive change in the 100 million fans that make racing the number-one spectator sport in America. “If I was just another vegetarian, tree hugging, biology graduate asking people to give up meat and stop using plastic bags, I don’t know how many people would be listening to me,” Leilani told us. “But because I drive a racecar, I have an ability to reach a new audience of people that most environmentalists are probably not talking to.” (more…)
July 7th, 2010 by Amanda Crater. Posted in Entertainment, Living, Transportation
By Tracy Hepler
The Green Lifestyle Series is supported by Yourdailythread, a modern guide for the eco-curious and social do-gooder. This post was originally featured on YDT’s online magazine which offers a free daily email with entertaining and informative green tips.
It has been over 65 days (at an estimate of 504,000 gallons a day) since the B.P. oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. While we here at YDT have left the reporting of it to major news sources, we can’t help but think about it and all the devastation that has come.
On an individual level I have wondered, what can I actually do? There are obvious things like drive less, donate human and pet hair trimmings to Matter of Trust, but beyond that I wondered…
I took a look around at everything around me and realized, it’s all from oil. Every possession was brought to me through oil and many of the products I owned include oil-by products.
I thought, what if we get the unnecessary oil out of our lives? Things likeplastics, mineral oils, Vaseline and the additional 6000 + products made from crude not used for gasoline production. This is something that we all can do, no matter where we are. To get started here are five recommendations to get oil based products out of your life.
- Mineral Oils: Mineral oils are found in common skin care products like Johnson and Johnson’s baby oil. Bottom line is you don’t need it and it is nowhere near as good for your skin compared to natural and essential oils. Get the 411 on our guide to essentials oils.
- Plastic Containers: Why store food in plastic when you can store it in glass? I recently converted my entire food storage system to glassware and used many left over pasta sauce and jam jars in the process. Glass Tupperware type storage is always an option too. As always, avoid plastic water bottles and take out items are a great idea too.
- Cleaning Products: Most mainstream products (including dish soap) often are made with petroleum by-products. Who wants to eat on a plate cleaned with gas? Seek out cleaners made from certifiable natural products, or even better make your own.
- Plastic Bags: If you BYOB to the grocery store are you using plastic bags for your home trash bins? With options like biodegradable Bio-Bags (in all sizes including doggy bags) there is no need to throw any more plastic away.
July 7th, 2010 by Amanda Crater. Posted in Living
The Green Lifestyle Series is supported by Yourdailythread, a modern guide for the eco-curious and social do-gooder. This post was originally featured on YDT’s online magazine which offers a free daily email with entertaining and informative green tips.
We all want to be better recyclers…even the YDT staff is not perfect! So let’s shake up our philosophy and create new curbside habits. Set a goal to be a rad recycler this summer.
What’s up in your community?
Los Angeles and neighboring communities all have recycling programs. Some cities use public services and others use private. What do they have in common? To make money! That’s right, reduce, reuse, recycle is big business. How do we benefit? Recycling saves your community energy and lowers taxes. Most municipalities pay a flat rate for recycling while they pay a per ton rate for garbage sent to landfills. The more we recycle, the fewer costs are passed on to you, the taxpayer. What great incentive to fill the blue bins!
Challenge yourself to fill your blue bin, and give the landfill bin a break.
Most everything is recyclable nowadays. Unless it’s a food scrap or a hazard, it has a way of being reused or repurposed. What does this mean for us recyclers? Throw it in the blue bin! That’s right, after a wrap, container, or jar is empty and clean, add it to your recycle bin. This will create incentive for your city to find profit in these items.
Keep food scraps to a minimum and out of the garbage.
Food clogs up 20% of our landfills and creates harmful methane gas. Solution: keep food out of your garbage! For small scraps, use your sink disposal; for larger scraps, use your yard waste bins for compost. If you’re throwing out more food than you can eat, save money and buy less. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables to eat the same day or throw them in the freezer. Do even better, pick up a compost bin!
Keep a box in your home for hazardous waste.
Unfortunately, the world’s far from perfect and still creates toxic everyday items such as household chemicals and mercury-filled light bulbs. These toxins need to be disposed of properly and MUST NOT be thrown “away”. When your box is full, several locations, such as Home Depot and Best Buy have safe drop-offs for batteries, light bulbs and electronics. Check with your city for the nearest disposal. Earth 911 can help you properly dispose of pretty much anything.
Other ways to be rad: Encourage recycling at work and school. Ask for blue bins and be pleasantly surprised to see everyone on board. Join YDT’s Going Green Bootcamp for other great ideas!
July 2nd, 2010 by Tracy Hepler. Posted in Living
