Jack Johnson's makes green music

Under his company's tutelage,Jack Johnson and Brushfire records makes a green difference! A recent article explores how the Hawaiian based musician has evolved the nature and business of creating music, and influencing music minds to make green oriented decisions in producing music.

"Entertainment industry giant Universal Music Group -- the largest family of record labels in the recording industry -- has taken notice. Under Brushfire's direction, UMG uses recycled stock on all of the packaging for its releases, including movies, ensuring that the paper is as environmentally friendly as possible. Some is even made using wind power."

Read more of the article here.

It's great to know that people can use their influence and creativity for the better good--- in this case, helping out in our fight to save planet Earth! Kudos to you, Jack Johnson! NOt only is your music pure and catchy, your green ideas are too!

It Ain't Easy being Green

Greenwash : the ignoble art of misleading consumers about a product's true green worth.

CNN's article on Greenwashing is a bit alarming, considering that it's now "more prevalent when public interest in environmental issues is greater, and that there's been a gradual increase in claims over time".

As hard as one might think to be an eco warrior or a green girl/boy, it's hard to determine what's truly eco-friendly as companies now resort to (at their worst) outright lying so that their products may be perceived as "eco-friendly".

Watch out for the Six Sins Of Greenwashing, your products may be doing this! I was definitely a victim when it came to this but thank goodness there are people on the watch! Let's do our share and read labels carefully, check out what's in them and if possible, confirm how truly eco-friendly they are.

Mukha kang Plastic! (Plastic Face!)

Plastic is everywhere, but even my plastic-annoyed self didn't see it coming in an exfoliant. The Product Fiend blogger on Shine pointed out that some facial scrubs use teeny beads of polyethylene plastic to help clean out your pores.

By Trystan L. Bass

She cites a Slate article with further details. One Australian researcher found that plastic fragments smaller than 1 millimeter are increasingly common in our oceans. In one British estuary, 85 percent of the plastic garbage was this "microplastic" debris. Sewage treatment systems can't filter it out, so this tiny plastic junk pollutes the watershed and can be ingested by marine life.

Those little beads may feel nice on your skin, but in the long run, they're not doing the planet any good. Besides, you can find plenty of cleansers that use natural stuff to scrub the dirt off your face.

Some of the eco-friendly brands have been around for ages, they don't cost any more than the plasticized versions, yet they won't clog up poor little fishy bodies when we're done with them.

Here are a few exfoliating products I found that contain plastic -- you should avoid:

* Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Scrub
* Clean & Clear's line of scrubs
* Dove Gentle Exfoliating Foaming Facial Cleanser
* Neutrogena's line of scrubs
* Noxzema's line of scrubs
* Olay's line of scrubs
* Phisoderm Nurturing Facial Polish

Look for "polyethylene" in the label's ingredient list. You can double-check on a site like drugstore.com, where it's often easier to read the full ingredient list. You might also question terms like "microbeads" or "microcrystals" that aren't explained.

natural options: loofah, st.ives apricot scrub, etc

rest of the article:
http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/188/beady-little-plastic-doesn-t-make-your-skin-smooth.html

Thank You Donors!

Thank You Donors!
Thank you to the following who gave their generous donations for a good cause! We filled out not 5, but 11 boxes!!! :-D

GCG courrier
Unit 2B Don Diego Bldg., 14 Judge Jimenez St. Cubao Q.C
Affordable Courier Service with free Pcikup at your home.
Tel: 4140409 / 4162593
Atty. Boyet Gonong
Mrs. Marina Cristi Gonong

Jc Pineda
Macarius Jason Quema
Mary Jane Quema
Emilia Quema
Nick Stevens and Syna
Juan Paolo Santos
Vida Morales
Paul Gadi
Dexter Belvis
Ajo and Raymund Bermudez
Ana and Chelu Marquez
Stephen Matti
Johanna Clavecilla
Nino Urbi
Helmi Urbi
JR Urbi
Sasha Garcia
Fernando Aracama
Sonic Webstudio



* We will have another shipment come end of the month for those who still want to give, so please msg me. Thanks!

Engineer: We can use food waste to generate electricity

..while our leaders wrangle over quotas for greenhouse emissions over banquets at lavish summits, there are remarkable individuals who are doing their small bit to prevent our planet from peril.

Take Nigerian civil engineer, Dr Joseph Adelegan for instance.

He firmly believes that the world's future fuel demands can be met through renewable energy.

And he is using increasingly innovative methods to achieve these results.

Three years ago Adelegan won plaudits for his "Cows to Kilowatts" project, which used effluents and waste products from abattoirs to produce cooking gas.

Read more here>>

like we need another mall in this country.

"Our government officials are not focusing on agriculture; they are more interested in projects where they can make money with which to buy votes during elections. They know that the majority of Filipino voters can be bought and pick their candidates not because of their qualifications but because of their money. So we now have the government we deserve.

For as long as we don’t change our attitude toward agriculture, we will be hungry ants on a covered sugar bowl."
-LUIS J. ALMACEN, municipal garden coordinator, Medellin, Cebu

I rant, so please, bear with me.


A recent talk with a friend gave me a weird feeling about today's Philippines --- increasing hunger and poverty apparently isn't slowing down the construction of malls everywhere. Even in the provinces, where retail isn't much of a demand, the malls are proliferating everywhere.

Should we just succumb and become a nation of consumers?

With increasing prices of oil, food and other goods are sure to follow. While i applaud those who brave the streets and fight the government (or whoever that is they claim to be responsible for all this), i cannot help but ask: Can't WE, as individuals, do something about it, aside from just blaming other people?

We are a people of development, yet in our vain effort to be "developed" we focus on what is least needed --- consumer items which we ourselves do not produce. No wonder nobody stays here anymore. What we need are jobs, work that is structured on what our country has best, and that is land and natural resources. Instead, we burn and pillage these resources to put up malls which only serve (mostly imported) retails items most of us can only afford on paydays. How strange is that? We don't even grow our own supplies anymore---everything is imported in from everywhere else. How sad indeed.

Doesn't that make you think?

A Simpler Lifestyle

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:56:00 07/08/2008

THE SHARP increase in the prices of oil, food and other basic commodities and services is placing millions of Filipinos near, if not below, the poverty level. That is the bad effect of high prices. But in a stroke of serendipity, high prices are also producing something good: they are forcing people to be thrifty; to lead simple, frugal lives; to recycle and reuse things; and to save and conserve natural resources and reduce pollution.

Read more here.

+ + +

E-jeepneys take over 2 Makati villages’ routes

July 05, 2008 22:07:00
DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer

SLEEK, COLORFUL and environment-friendly, the electric powered or “e-jeepney” finally made its commercial debut at the Makati central business district early this month, drawing plaudits from Earth lovers everywhere.

A year after the pilot test of the project on Ayala Avenue, environmentalists and city officials rolled out the first batch of 14-seater e-jeepneys that were assigned separate routes around Legaspi and Salcedo Villages in the financial district.

Read more here.

Snapshots of Iloilo

In lieu of 3 snapshots, i bring you a collection i took of my home province, Iloilo. I went home over the weekend to assess our home's damage as well as attend my lola's funeral (my brother and dad saved her from drowning during the flood, but sadly she died a day later --- it was not because of the flood, perhaps, it was just time for her to finally rest. She was 89.) 
We thank the people who helped us and supported us throughout lola's proceedings, as well as those who have generously helped us in the wake of the typhoon.

We brought my grandmother's remains to my dad's hometown, an hour's ride from Carles, where we also have a home. Along the way we saw the damage typhoon Frank dealt on the Ilonggos and it was heart breaking. Many wait along the road, hoping that rice, canned goods and other relief items will come their way.

Though many have already helped , there are still many who take advantage of the situation, either by becoming lazy victims who do not help themselves, or greedy people who either raise prices and/or hoard the goods freely donated to the community--- SHAME on YOU!!!!

Much kudos goes out to the NGOS, the AFP, volunteers and selfless politicians who took it upon themselves to be responsible in times like these!

Many still need help. In the wake of Pacquiao's fantastic win, we revel in the shared joy & kinship every filipino felt. I hope that in helping others, we will also have the same unified spirit. It has been an overwhelming experience for everybody, but the humanitarian spirit prevails, shown in the generosity of people, sometimes even strangers to help someone in need.