March 2013 - Our Daily Green

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Eggs-tra Care for Spring Celebrations (reprint from: Fight BAC!)

Fight Bac! Food Safety
It's spring -- the season to enjoy the great outdoors and celebrate special occasions, like Easter, Passover, and graduation! While eggs are used all year ’round, they are especially important for many spring and summertime activities. They are used for cooking festive delights and for decorating and hiding just before the big Easter egg hunt.


Like meat, poultry, seafood and produce, eggs are perishable and need to be handled properly to prevent foodborne illness. Occasionally, eggs with clean, uncracked shells can be contaminated with bacteria, specifically Salmonella Enteritidis. Here's what YOU can do to have a safe and egg-cellent spring!
Clean Up, Clean Up...
  • Clean hands are key! Always wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after food handling.
  • Beware of cross-contamination. Foodborne illness can occur when kitchen equipment is not thoroughly washed between uses. Always wash food contact surfaces and cooking equipment, including blenders, in hot water and soap.
Cook and Keep Cool...
  • Bacteria love to grow in moist, protein-rich foods.  Refrigeration slows bacterial growth, so it's important to refrigerate eggs and egg-containing foods. Your refrigerator should be at 40 °F or below. Use a thermometer to monitor.
  • Remember the 2-Hour Rule: Don't leave perishables out at room temperature for more than two hours.
  • Whether you like your breakfast eggs scrambled or fried, always cook eggs until the yolks and whites are firm.
  • Tasting is tempting, but licking a spoon or tasting raw cookie dough from a mixing bowl can be risky. Bacteria could be lurking in the raw eggs.
  • Cook cheesecakes, lasagna, baked pasta and egg dishes to an internal temperature of 160 ºF. Use a food thermometer.
Easter Egg Hunt Know-How
  • Only use eggs that have been refrigerated, and discard eggs that are cracked or dirty.
  • When cooking, place a single layer of eggs in a saucepan. Add water to at least one inch above the eggs. Cover the pan, bring the water to a boil, and carefully remove the pan from the heat. Let the eggs stand (18 minutes for extra large eggs, 15 minutes for large, 12 minutes for medium). Immediately run cold water over the eggs. When the eggs are cool enough to handle, place them in an uncovered container in the refrigerator where they can air-dry.
  • When decorating, be sure to use food-grade dyes. It is safe to use commercial egg dyes, liquid food coloring, and fruit-drink powders. When handling eggs, be careful not to crack them. Otherwise, bacteria could enter the egg through the cracks in the shell.
  • Keep hard-cooked Easter eggs chilled on a shelf inside the refrigerator, not in the refrigerator door.
  • Hide the eggs in places that are protected from dirt, pets and other potential sources of bacteria.
  • Remember the two hour rule, and make sure the “found” eggs are back in the refrigerator or consumed within two hours.
  • Remember that hard-boiled eggs are only safe to eat for one week after cooking.

If you have more questions or concerns about food safety, contact:
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854). TTY 1-800-256-7072.
  • The Fight BAC!® Web site at www.fightbac.org.
  • Gateway to Government Food Safety Information at www.foodsafety.gov
The Partnership for Food Safety Education is a non-profit organization and creator and steward of the Fight BAC!® consumer education program. The Partnership is dedicated to providing the public with science-based, actionable recommendations for the prevention of foodborne illness.

PFSE LogoCopyright © 2010 Partnership for Food Safety Education.
The Partnership for Food Safety Education (PFSE), saves lives & improves public health through research-based, actionable consumer food safety initiatives that reduce foodborne illness.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

More than Honey - Markus Imhoof (Official Trailer)

More Than Honey: How Dwindling Bee Populations Impact Global Food Supply


More Than Honey FilmCleveland International Film Festival Screenings
Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 6:50 PM

from CIBER Science 

Searching for answers for the global bee declines director Markus Imhoof takes us on a trip around the world to meet people living with and off honeybees: almond growers in California, a Swiss mountain beekeeper, a German neuroscientist investigating bee brains, a pollen dealer in China, and bee researchers in Australia. We enter the fascinating world of a bee hive, encounter fighting queens and dancing workers face to face and experience their highly sophisticated swarm intelligence, where the individual constantly serves the requirements of the community. The film will have its world premiere on the 11th of August 2012, concluding the biggest film festival in Switzerland. It will be officially released in Europe end of October 2012 and will be distributed internationally in early 2013.

For more information: More than Honey: the movie blog
Creative Commons License:
 
by
 
sa


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Ohio Flame Fire Pit Giveaway!

Ohio Flame Fire PitOur Daily Green's celebration of supporting local businesses continues today, on the first day of Spring, with our biggest giveaway ever.

A few years ago, we attended a local art show and had a conversation with one of the vendors. He made incredible steel fire pits, from heavy gauge local steel. According to Ohio Flame's website:
Ohio Flame believes strongly in “American Made” and supporting the local economy.  As much as they possibly can, they only purchase materials that are made in the USA.  They only use American steel, mostly from domestic mills that are in Ohio... They also choose to work with local vendors whenever possible to help the local economy.  Our customers support “American Made” and Ohio Flame continues to do their best to ensure that their company supports products that are Made in the USA.
Ohio FlameOur Daily Green was so impressed with the product they made, that in 2010, we purchased an Ohio Flame fire pit for our patio. It has greeted our friends and family and been a source of socializing since then. We've used our fire pit on Halloween to warm chilly parents, on summer evenings for teenage gatherings, and in the winter to greet holiday guests. We recently purchased the DeckProtect Mat to save us from a terminal case of tackiness by propping our fire pit on logs. The DeckProtect Mat is a great product composed of lava rock fibers, to disperse the heat and protect the ground under the fire pit.

We have stayed in touch with Ohio Flame since our purchase and the impetus for this blog was how impressed we are with their commitment to the community. We noticed their donations for local charities repeatedly. Ohio Flame gives back in unbelievable ways. Locally, they have supported our community art programs, and religious and civic organizations including The Alzheimer's Network, Making Kids Count, and The Junior League of Youngstown fundraising events.

When asking founder Matt Skillman about his company, he explained,
I started Ohio Flame three years ago as a way of survival. I had just been laid off from my position as a steel sales person for a company that I had been employed by for eight years. At the very bottom of the recession, I knew that I would have to leverage my knowledge and skills in order to survive. I took my knowledge of steel and learned how to weld. I decided to attempt making American Made fire pits...The recession had actually helped business, as people have opted to stay home and entertain rather than go out and spend a lot of money. Last April, I was presented with an amazing opportunity from a steel processing company to make Ohio Flame a full time job.
It is our distinct honor to offer one of Ohio Flame's most popular fire pits as a giveaway to our readers, both near and far. We are proud to offer a 24" Patriot Fire Pit (retail value $249) to one lucky reader.

Our giveaway ends on Thursday, April 11, at midnight EST. We will choose a winner from the comments and notify you over the following weekend. Our winner has until April 15th to respond with shipping information or we will choose another winner.

One entry per person.


To enter, follow these steps. We will check each entry to ensure that each step has been followed, any step that is not completed will void your entry.
  •  Like Ohio Flame on Facebook and post that Our Daily Green sent you. 
  •  Like Our Daily Green and post that you're entering the giveaway. 
  •  Follow Ohio Flame on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway.
  •  Follow FreshGreenKim (owner of Our Daily Green) on Twitter and mention the giveaway. 
  •  Leave a comment telling us that you entered on this blog post. (and if you did all of the other steps, we'll know how to reach you when you win!)

Ideas for sample posts:
"Thanks to Ohio Flame and Our Daily Green for the fire pit giveaway!""Summer is coming, I hope I win the fire pit from Ohio Flame and Our Daily Green!""I am so excited about the promotion from Ohio Flame and Our Daily Green. Check it out!"

Be as creative as you want. But please let the world know that you share our enthusiasm for the fantastic local company.

Don't worry, we're not making you do all this work for nothing. Ohio Flame has generously agreed to give all Our Daily Green readers a 10% discount on anything you purchase from their website. Just enter the coupon code GREEN10 when you check out.

Good luck to everyone!
Sweepstakes










(as a disclosure, Our Daily Green received nothing for this endorsement. We are an Ohio Flame customer because we love their business philosophy. Ohio Flame did support one of the charities listed and I am involved with them. Nonetheless, our offer to write a review had nothing to do with the donation nor did our opinion that they are one of the coolest local businesses around. In fact, they offered the giveaway AFTER confirming the donation.)

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

How to Help Children Love Recycling

With constant focus on our planet and its future, every little bit helps when it comes to doing our part as humans on planet Earth. Why ask only the adults to do their part, when children can do just as well and can even enjoy it too! Here are ways to teach children how to be responsible for their global footprint while actually enjoying and learning knowledge for the future.

Children are subjected to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” from as young as kindergarten years. There are ways other than their education in school to show that recycling is important. Taking steps beyond showing them what can and cannot be recycled is important. Teaching children about composting shows them, in an understandable way, that we can do things to keep the planet healthy and constantly growing. Building compost is as easy as grabbing vegetable scraps and leaves and finding a place in the yard or a bin to mix them all together. You then add soil or compost on top of it all, making sure you add water onto each layer. Giving children something they can look forward to each day keeps them excited and intrigued.

electronic asset recovery in PhoenixWhile clothes donations are not a direct form of recycling, helping them understand how their charity can benefit others and bring a smile and warmth to another child is something they will forever cherish. Being that children grow out of clothes so fast, donating their old clothing to places like Goodwill and clothes donations cans is the easiest and most compassionate solution. If you explain the children that their clothes are going to another little girl or boy because they need them more will stick in a child’s mind. They also will find a sense of helping and happiness.

Children can be a great help when it comes to recycling household items that will be transformed from trash to brand new. Tell your children to collect soda or juice cans from around the house and explain they can get money back for their donation. This can easily be turned into a game of “what do you think can be recycled?” They earn cash for their contribution, which we all know children love to have. They then learn a sense of responsibility and if it continues, they take those lessons into adulthood. Doing these activities as a family is even more beneficial.

Article Bio:
If you’re looking to move your office to a new location and scrapping all of your computers and hard drives, be sure to recycle these at an electronic recycling plant. E-Waste Harvesters provides electronic recycling as well as electronic asset recovery for your convenience. 

Disclosure: This article has been brought to us by a sponsor, but we agree wholeheartedly that teaching children green at a young age is a good habit to start. 

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Drawing the Line on Big Beer (from OtherWords.org)

The beer market, like the food supply, is dominated by a handful of companies.



Wenonah Hauter
Millions of Americans will enjoy a beer tonight. The vast majority of them probably won’t realize that the wide variety of brands they see in the stores, bars, and restaurants come from just two foreign-based multinational companies that control 80 percent of the U.S. market.
Many of the most popular beer brands appear unchanged over the years, and there’s been a recent explosion in the variety of beers available. But behind the label, the industry has become a global and increasingly monopolized affair, just like the rest of our food system.
Now, one of the largest beer corporations, Belgium-based AB InBev — which owns Budweiser — wants to buy Mexico’s Grupo Modelo, which owns the Pacifica, Tsingtao, and Corona brands. The Justice Department, after allowing foreign companies to acquire nearly all U.S. breweries in the past decade, finally took some action in January when it sued to block the Budweiser-Corona marriage.
hauter-bigbeer-lintmachine
lintmachine/Flickr
But AB InBev seems intent on forging ahead with the deal. It’s rearranging the proposed takeover to address Washington’s concerns by promising to sell a factory and the Corona and Modelo brand rights in the United States to another company. Even these changes would leave AB InBev in control of nearly everyone’s beer cooler. The already-vast brewer would have yet more power to raise prices unilaterally.
AB InBev is truly a beverage behemoth. It owns over 200 brands worldwide including Budweiser, Becks, Stella Artios, Boddingtons, Löwenbräu, Michelob, and St. Pauli Girl. After this merger, its main competition would be UK-based brewer SABMiller, which owns 367 global brands, including Coors Light, Fosters, Miller Light, and Milwaukee’s Best.
The beer industry’s concentration has grown alongside an explosion in locally brewed craft beers, but the nearly 2,000 independent craft breweries comprise less than 6 percent of the U.S. market.
Why does it matter who owns our beer? According to a recent report by the New America Foundation, the industry’s consolidation has raised prices and narrowed consumer choice. After InBev purchased Anheuser-Busch in 2008, a long-running price war between Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller ended, and both began to raise their prices simultaneously.
What’s worse, this consolidation problem spans the whole food system. When a few large companies own and control our meat, milk, and processed foods, it’s bad for consumers and the farmers who bring us the food. The big players get to make all the decisions, from pricing to distribution, and consumers and producers have no choice but to go along for the ride.
Consolidated markets cease being fair. The high concentration of companies that control a majority of our food has become a foodopoly — an alliance of agribusiness and big food companies that controls everything we eat, every step of the way, from seed to table.
Just how highly concentrated is our marketplace for food? Two out of three pork chops are sold by just four companies. It’s even worse for beef, with four companies processing 80 percent of all U.S. cattle. When markets are this concentrated, the big players make all the rules in the marketplace to the detriment of farmers and consumers. That’s why a chicken farmer receives about 25 cents on every 12-piece KFC chicken bucket.
When you look behind the multitude of brands in the supermarket and find just a handful of companies, it’s easy to see why small farms have disappeared. Over decades of policy shaped by the largest food and agriculture corporations, these companies have managed to squeeze more and more from the livelihoods of farmers. The meatpackers and other food manufacturers pay farmers lower prices, and farmers are forced to turn their livestock operations into factory farms so that they can make ends meet. Consumers aren’t the ones benefiting off of the low, low prices farmers get for their products — the middlemen are.
Who controls your beer might seem a frivolous question. But who controls our food supply is no laughing matter. The Justice Department must challenge the growing food monopolies to protect consumers. Blocking this merger would mark a first step in that direction.
Wenonah Hauter is Executive Director of Food & Water Watch and author of Foodopoly: The Future of Food and Farming in America.  FoodandWaterwatch.org Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)

Creative CommonsExcept where otherwise noted, content from OtherWords.org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative 3.0 License.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Colcannon Green for St. Patrick's Day

Kale
photo courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons
As promised, yesterday we urged our readers to forego artificially dyed food. There is nothing healthy or festive about ingesting petroleum based dyes that turn food and beverages green. Instead, there is a plethora of naturally occurring green food, including the current darling of the nutritional world, kale.

According to Nutrition and You, some of the benefits include:
  • Kale is very rich in vitamin A, 100 g leaves provide 512% of RDA. Vitamin A is required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin and is essential for vision. Foods rich in this vitamin are known to offer protection against lung and oral cavity cancers.
  • Kale is one of the excellent vegetable sources for vitamin-K; 100 g provides about 700% of recommended intake. Vitamin K has potential role bone health by promoting osteotrophic (bone formation and strengthening) activity. Adequate vitamin-K levels in the diet help limiting neuronal damage in the brain; thus, has established role in the treatment of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
  • 100 g of fresh leaves contain 120 mg or 200% of daily-recommended levels of vitamin C. Scottish curly leaf variety yet has more of this vitamin, 130 mg/100g. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, which helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals.
We have tried kale a few different ways. If you're not used to cooking it, there is a bit of adjustment. It's not a typical green, it's actually a member of the cabbage and broccoli family. We tried kale chips, but didn't really care for them. But when mixed with mashed potatoes? And green onions? What a great way to incorporate this highly nutritious, green-colored vegetable into your diet without DYING anything.

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish so the timing is perfect for St. Patrick's day. In fact, I'm taking colcannon to a potluck dinner tonight. The key to working with kale is to steam it first. I do that in our microwave, with a minimal amount of water. I chop the kale leaves and then steam it for 6 minutes, until they are tender. Save the stems for other recipes (here is one for Cauliflower and Kale Stem Soup, which is what I'll do with the stems).

Without further ado, Our Daily Green presents:

Colcannon (adapted from Simply Recipes)

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS
6 red potatoes (2 to 2 1/2 pounds), unpeeled and cut into large chunks (we like red potatoes for the color and slighly lower calories)
Salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 lightly packed cups of chopped kale, steamed in microwave with small amt. of water
3 green onions (including the green onion greens), minced (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup buttermilk (we use the buttermilk and cut back on the actual butter, to save on calories)

METHOD

1 Put the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, and bring to a boil. Boil until the potatoes are fork tender (15 to 20 minutes). Drain in a colander.

2 Return the pot to the stove and set over medium-high heat. Melt the butter in the pot and once it's hot, add the pre-steamed kale. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the green onions and cook 1 minute more.

3 Pour in the buttermilk, mix well, and add the potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium. Use a fork or potato masher and mash the potatoes, mixing them up with the greens. Add salt to taste and serve hot, with a knob of butter in the center.



Thursday, March 14, 2013

True Colors are to Dye For (from OtherWords.org)

Americans should think twice before adding green food coloring to everything from bagels to beer on St. Patrick's Day.





Jill RichardsonA friend and I once tricked his kids on St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe “tricked” is too strong of a word for what we did: The festive green pasta we served was spinach fettuccine, but we didn’t admit that it contained traces of the vegetable.
The pasta didn’t taste at all of spinach. The kids, no doubt, assumed it contained a much more “acceptable” ingredient: artificial food dye. And the meal was eaten without complaints. Afterward, I ‘fessed up, gleeful to prove to the kids that vegetables can sometimes taste good.
We pulled the same stunt at the little one’s birthday party, using a few drops of beet juice to dye the cake frosting pink. That secret had to be kept under wraps because even some grown-ups at the party would have avoided the cake had they known. They were much happier assuming the frosting was made with a food dye derived from a petroleum product.
St. Patrick’s Day is the day of green food — and I don’t mean salad. Green food dyes are added to everything from bagels to beer. For years now, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has warned us that these dyes pose “a rainbow of risks.” At the top of their list of concerns is cancer. Several commonly used and legal food dyes have been linked to it in tests on lab animals.
richardson-fooddye-tlindenbaum
tlindenbaum/Flickr
Even more commonly cited concerns are hyperactivity and behavioral problems in children. Years ago, one of my friends found that his stepson was extremely sensitive to these food dyes. After removing the dyes from his stepson’s diet, the little boy’s behavior improved. It was like night and day. After that, every now and then, the little one would act up and his parents would find out he’d had a popsicle or other artificially colorful snack at a friend’s house.
Of course, not all kids are so sensitive. But imagine your child attending school with someone else who is. How much attention will your child receive if the teacher is trying to deal with an off-the-wall classmate who ate Froot Loops for breakfast?
Sometimes, the chemicals in our lives are there to serve a purpose. Sometimes, the chemicals we use might be harmful, but there are no safer alternatives. For example, I’m not sure what effects the pharmaceuticals I take every day for my migraines have on my body. But I’m positive that living with daily migraines is worse.
Artificial food dyes serve no purpose (although a 5-year-old who wants a birthday cake with pink frosting might disagree) and we have safe alternatives. A few years ago, the British banned artificial food dyes for these reasons. A McDonald’s strawberry sundae in London is red because it contains strawberries. Imagine that! Over here, it’s dyed red with artificial food coloring.
You know what that means? All of the world’s largest food companies that sell the same products in both the UK and the United States already know how to make their products without food dyes. And, apparently, the cost of making the switch did not put them out of business or tank their profits.
Why must Americans continue to face risks from artificial food dyes while the British play it safe? Let’s follow their lead on this one.
OtherWords columnist Jill Richardson is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It. OtherWords.org

Creative CommonsExcept where otherwise noted, content from OtherWords.org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative 3.0 License.




Monday, March 11, 2013

Meatless Monday: Japanese-influenced Miso Soup

We haven't done one of these in a while, but for the past several weeks, my oldest mini green family member has given up meat for Lent. It's been a great opportunity for me to experiment with new recipes. I am the sort of parent who thinks giving up meat should mean more than eating your pasta without meatballs, or just skipping the main dish and carb loading. While we frequently have meatless meals, we were in a bit of a rut.

I've been wanting to do a bit more vegan cooking. A few months ago, I read a recipe for a "Mock Mac'n'Cheese" that I have just not quite gotten around to trying. Meanwhile the miso that I purchased for that recipe has languished in the pantry, waiting for me to use it.

There was a recipe on the package for a miso soup that included two ingredients I have not been able to find in my local stores. (wakame/seaweed and dashi stock/Japanese soup stock). Granted, I could order them online, but I tend to do that only with tried and true ingredients, as the shipping tends to work in favor of bulk purchasing, not small amounts.

I looked at the ingredients I did have, and turned to my favorite internet trick, putting them in a search engine to see what recipes were available online.

I found a delicious one that I adapted from King County Health Services in Seattle, WA. The ingredients are readily found in a mainstream grocery stores and the flavor is outstanding. I doubled the amounts of tofu as well as ginger and garlic to make the soup a bit heartier and more flavorful.

Fresh Ginger
Photo from: Wikimedia Commons
One of my favorite tips for using fresh ginger is to store the root in the freezer, unpeeled. There is no need to peel the ginger when grating it and since it's frozen, it grates easily. Ginger contains essential fatty acids, phytochemicals, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, numerous B-vitamins and zinc, so the more opportunities to use it in cooking, the greater the health benefits.

Without further ado, here is the Miso Soup recipe... it's absolutely delicious!

Miso Soup with Tofu and Green Onions

Miso Soup
Photo taken for: Our Daily Green
Ingredients:

  • 5 cups low sodium vegetable broth 
  • 2 green onions, finely sliced
  • 4 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root 
  • 2 clove garlic, thinly sliced 
  • 3 tablespoons light-colored miso paste (found in the ethnic food section of the grocery store or Asian food market) 
  • 1 package firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Directions:

(this is so simple it's unreal).
Mix all ingredients together and simmer for 20 minutes.
Garnish with fresh sliced green onions.




Tuesday, March 5, 2013

FREE Dual Flush Pro Conversion Kit!


One of the most frustrating, yet private discussions homeowners want to have is when toilets don't flush it all away. Yet a toilet is one of the most necessary and water dependent items in the house.

Our Daily Green recently received this notice about a free toilet conversion kit. The kit is normally $25.00, but from now until March 24th, the total cost of the kit is only shipping, at $10.

If you are looking for an affordable proven method for upgrading and turning your existing toilet into a high efficiency dual flush toilet, you have found the worlds most trusted toilet conversion kit. Dual Flush Pro is used by professional and homeowners around the world.  According to Dual Flush:
Overall savings will vary depending on the age of your toilet. If you currently have older toilets, and most of us do, with a 5 gallon capacity tank-your savings will shock you. For any of the newer model tanks, say 3.5 or 1.6 gallon, savings will be more than substantial.
One study documented dual flush water savings with flush volumes reduced by 68 per cent in single-family dwellings, 56 per cent in office washrooms, and 52 per cent in restaurants. Total water savings varies depending on frequency of use (for example, a coffee shop registered an average of 143 flushes per day). This explains how this revolutionary new product works and how it can start saving you money from the day it's installed.
Installing a dual flush toilet kit is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to save water and lower utility costs. You will ROI in just a few months depending on the up front cost and whether you pay for installation or do it yourself. If you have the basic tools needed or can acquire them and are comfortable following simple step by step instructions, you will see a return on your investment much quicker. If you prefer to have the Dual-Flush Pro kit professionally installed, call on your local plumber to do it for you; which should be no more than a basic service call. 
Save money, save water, help the environment; convert your toilet with a DualFlush Pro conversion kit today. The longer you wait the less you benefit.


In honor of the EPA Fix A Leak Week (March 18-24, 2013) and World Water Day 2013, Dual Flush is offering their toilet conversion kit FREE to U.S. residents.They will ship to any location within the continental United States for a flat rate shipping fee of $10.00 per kit. Additional charges may apply for shipments to Alaska and Hawaii.

It's their way of helping preserve our most precious natural resource, fresh water.
Free Conversion Kit


Offer is available from Feb 18th through March 24, 2013 only. 1 kit per residence. 

Additional charges will apply for shipments to Alaska and Hawaii.


Monday, March 4, 2013

Survey on Green Blogs


Good morning, dear readers!

This weekend Our Daily Green was contacted by a student researcher who is doing a project about “Audience Analysis, Public Opinion and New Media”.   Their research specifically focuses on environmental/green communication in the blogosphere.

green research surveyThe student asked me to share my opinions on various topics related to the blogging experience by filling out an online survey. They also want to learn about folks who read blogs such as this one and asked that I share the survey link.

The survey took me just a few minutes to complete and the questions were just asking about how we receive our information about environmental/green issues.


This survey is anonymous and does not require any identifying information. When the study is complete, they will be sharing the results with us and we will post them here on the blog.