200 dairy cows have been fitted with microphones to measure how much they belch and "pass gas" (methane) while chewing, and this is in fact, quite a contribution to gas emissions. Did you know this?

Tesco Dairy Centre in the UK has done this with one herd of Holsteins to measure the carbon footprint produced during the milk production process.

Collars have also been fitted to keep track of burps and stomach digestion, and to see if specific feeds have any effect on these emissions.

Digestion is monitored; this data is tracked hourly through the farm computers. Customers want to know what kind of carbon footprint is produced as well as nutrition facts when it comes to producing certain products.

Tesco says they will reveal this data for 500 supermarket items at the end of the year.

I think this would be very interesting and revealing information.


First the bad news. 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases will be produced during the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi India in October 2010.

The good news is, "Nature First" has been hired to plan procedures to offset this amount, and to make these games carbon-neutral if possible.

The Organizing Committee is deeply concerned about travel, energy consumption and paper waste during the games. They are looking at ways to handle all of these issues along with Nature First, and rightly so.


Active Living Fair focuses on Green Living

St. Paul's L'Amoreaux Centre will host its "Active Living Fair" to raise awareness about programs and services that are available to seniors, and increase knowledge of healthy aging and active lifestyles. This year, the focus will be on green living and environmentally friendly practices.

There will be 15 exhibitors covering transportation, healthy eating, art, wildlife and environmental protection, energy conservation, and recreation. Some of the exhibitors are the Toronto Vegetarian Association, Toronto Public Library, Toronto Master Gardeners, Toronto Wildlife Centre, TTC/WheelTrans, Greensaver, Toronto Chinese for Ecological Living, and L.E.A.F

Larry Burke, Executive Director of St. Paul's L'Amoreaux Centre, said events like this can provide vital information to seniors to let them continue living independently.

(I think it's great that more and more help is being made available to seniors on green living daily, because many of them really want to know how.)

The fair will be held on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 3333 Finch Ave. at Warden Avenue in Toronto.

If you live in the area, it should be well worth the time checking out for anyone of any age.


Have you heard about "No Impact Man?" This is certainly something I would like to see.

It is a documentary about a New York family who decided,...well, the husband, Colin Beavan decided that his family would try to reduce their carbon footprint for an entire year.

His wife Michelle thought he was crazy, as it would mean going without their car, their appliances, and most other modern conveniences. Did I mention they have a toddler? Live in a high-rise?

The family was determined to be as green as possible, which meant shopping almost daily for food, washing clothes by hand, not using the elevator, not watching television, and basically having to re-think every move they made.

I haven't seen this, but I take it Michelle found this extremely difficult at times, while her husband remained all the more determined to see it through.

At any rate, I leave you with a clip of the movie trailer. If you get the chance, see the movie. Apparently it will really make all of us think about just what our best really is, when it comes to reducing our own carbon footprints. At any rate, we should all be able to come away with some lessons. It's all about getting back to basics, and speaking of that, be sure to "green up" your Thanksgiving celebrations as much as possible. Tips are on the site.

Movie Trailer for Low Impact Man

As others strive to do their part towards green-living-improvements, let's continue to do ours!

Until next time,

Jane