Green Files

The Green Home Show Coming to Kortright

The Green Home Show is back for its 4th year and it’s taking place on Saturday, September 27th and Sunday, September 28th, from 10 am to 4pm at the Kortright Centre for Conservation. 

Come out and be a part of the most specialized event for home and business owners interested in sustainable energy and green building solutions. Enjoy two days of workshops, tours, demonstrations, guest speakers and, of course, indoor and outdoor green vendor exhibits.

Also, attendees can experience the revolutionary event that will lead the community into a greener environment by enjoying onsite tours of the Archetype Sustainable House Development that was constructed during a 12 day blitz build commencing on July 8, 2008.

Location: 9550 Pine Valley Drive, Woodbridge, ON

Directions: South of Major Mackenzie Drive, west of Highway 400. Contact Telephone: 905-832-2289

www.kortright.org

 

Preserving Pet Health – an Alternative to Chemical Cleaning Agents    

by Robert Hart

It is very important that the areas your pet roams in are clean and disinfected. Commercial cleaners are potentially toxic, especially at floor level where your pets breathe and walk. Toxic chemicals can cause their pads to burn. In response, they lick their pads, thereby ingesting the toxins. This is often an unknown cause for diarrhea and vomiting.

You can make your pet areas a cleaner safer place, and fight bacteria without exposing yourself and your family to toxic chemicals that also damage the environment. Use a simple and safe disinfecting spray that is more effective than any of the commercial cleaners in killing bacteria. As a bonus, it is inexpensive!

Susan Sumner, a food scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, worked out the recipe for just such a sanitizing combo. All you need is 3% hydrogen peroxide (the same strength available at the drug store for gargling or disinfecting wounds), and plain white vinegar. You will also need a pair of brand new spray bottles, like the kind you use to dampen laundry before ironing.

This combination is also good for cleaning their food and water bowls, litter box, and to replace floor cleaners. It also works on countertops and other food preparation surfaces ­– including wood cutting boards, sink areas, vegetables or fruit.

In the case of fruit, spritz well with both the vinegar and the hydrogen peroxide, leave it on for 1-2 minutes, and then rinse under running water. You can spray either the vinegar or the hydrogen peroxide first. You won't get any lingering taste of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, and neither is toxic if a small amount remains on the produce.

In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach or any commercially available kitchen cleaner.

The best results came from using one mist right after the other - this is 10 times more effective than using either spray by itself and more effective than mixing the vinegar and hydrogen peroxide in one sprayer.

For more information go to: www.vitalityscience.com

 

Asthma Fair - September 29

Find answers to your questions, talk to certified asthma educators, listen to a lecture on state-of-the-art management, get handouts from key organizations, and perhaps win a prize!

The Fair, sponsored by the Consumer Health Information Service, will take place September 29, from 12-4 p.m., at the Toronto Reference Library (Atrium - first floor), 789 Yonge St., Toronto

 

Places of Power Fact sheet Now Available

What do universities, hospitals and civic centres all have in common? They are all excellent candidates for small scale combined heat and power (CHP) plants. The Ontario Clean Air Alliance’s latest fact sheet, Places of Power, looks at the benefits of CHP systems for reducing costs and environmental impacts in the institutional and municipal sector.

The fact sheet includes four case studies: the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus, Ottawa’s Queensway-Carleton Hospital, Hamilton’s Woodward Avenue waste water treatment plant and Markham’s district energy system.  These four profiles demonstrate the wide range of applications – and the many benefits – of CHP systems.

These four institutions are really pointing toward the future of energy – high efficiency, appropriate scale, low environmental impact – while illustrating the many advantages of moving away from the mega-project mentality that all too often still drives our energy thinking in Ontario.

The fact sheet is available on www.cleanairalliance.org/chp_institutions. You may also order copies of it, along with some of our other materials, at www.cleanairalliance.org/get_involved_order_pamphlets.

 

September Workshop – Protect Yourself from Electromagnetic Fields at Home and Work

At this workshop on September 26 - 28, learn  how to properly detect problem sources of electromagnetic fields in your area, and identify effective solutions. Hosted by Dr. Andrew Michrowski, this workshop is for health practitioners, architects, engineers, electricians, and laypersons wanting to improve the health of their home and office environment.

Topics covered will include:

• symptoms for types of exposure;
• transmission and propagation of electromagnetic signals; harmonics, transients, damping; exposure situations; emission magnification and reduction;
• guidelines – their development; emerging regulations;
• exposure hygiene: who should be protected – at what age, where (school, bedroom, long-term usage sites, medical device usage);
• wiring - types, code, grounding, typical problems / inexpensive solutions;
• critical exposures: workstation and therapy area environment; rural environments;
• measuring equipment: electrical, electrostatics/ion discrimination, magnetic (dosimeters, gaussmeters, single axis and multi-pole probes), static magnetic fields;
• geopathics and health – situations and health effects;
• hypersensitivity – allergen link with electromagnetics; subtle energy interface; interface of medication; subtle energy therapeutics; personal protection devices – what to expect, their rationale.

Friday evening is introductory and for the general public; Saturday, Sunday sessions are directed at professional training. Your professional society may grant education credits for the workshop. Certificate issued, at request, upon successful exam.

The workshop will be held in Toronto on Friday evening, plus all day Saturday and Sunday.

Instructor Credentials: Dr. Andrew Michrowski, PhD, studied at the faculties of Architecture and Urbanism at the Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, where he received his Dott. Arch. degree with honours. He has served with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs as Chief Planner, followed by senior positions with the Secretary of State of Canada as forecaster, analyst and program evaluator.

He has authored such papers as: Solutions to the global environmental crisis (Address at the United Nations); The electromagnetic dimension of indoor environments (5th International conference on Indoor Air); Nuclear fuel waste management and disposal concept; and Practical EMF pointers. He has edited, co-edited such books as: New energy technology, Basis of electromagnetic hygiene, Studying problems associated with video display systems.

He was scientific advisor of a national prime-time TV special, Nikola Tesla - the forgotten genius, special advisor to the producer of the film, The secret of Nikola Tesla (with Orson Welles), scientific advisor for the award-winning (best United Kingdom documentary of the year) BBC Horizon /NOVA series production, The mysterious Mr. Tesla; and, producer of the investigative TV documentary, The question of video display terminals.

Dr. Michrowski lectures before scientific and engineering societies and makes presentations on current scientific issues before concerned groups. 

Since 1991, he has been providing extended workshops, some of which lead to certificates, on EMF with a view of enabling participants to identify and to mitigate EMF problems in the built environment.

Since 1993 he is head of the study team analyzing electromagnetic fields in Canadian houses for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

For more information, call: (613) 238-4437 / fax: (613) 235-5876, send email to: essentia@essentia.ca, or write: Essentia, 100 Bronson Avenue, # 1001, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6G8. www.essentia.ca

Dr. Michrowski will also be a guest speaker at the upcoming Whole Life Expo in Toronto in November.