CustomEarthPromos - Eco Blog US

No matter where you live in the world, or how rich or poor your country is, you're bound to experience some level of pollution. However, there's a chance you might not be aware of just how toxic the area you live in really is. To find out, The Eco Experts, one of the largest solar comparison groups in the UK, analyzed data from 135 countries and ranked the world by toxicity. They then mapped out of the results – many of which may surprise you. To determine their rankings and create these maps, The Eco Experts looked at the following data for each country: carbon emissions, air pollution levels, energy consumption, and renewable energy. They also took into consideration how many people had died from poor air equality, ultimately assessing which countries are damaging the environment most and risking public health. With the highest recorded air pollution levels, Saudi Arabia took the top spot as the world's most toxic country, followed by Kuwait in second and Bahrain in third. Here's a look at the top ten most toxic countries. The top five least toxic countries, on the other hand, are all located in Africa with Kenya taking the number one spot for being the world's least toxic country. The United States ranked number 66, doing better than China and Russia and surprisingly, Canada but worse than India and the United Kingdom. One outcome we couldn't have predicted was Nordic countries like Iceland and Norway ranking higher than others for their energy use. In a press release, Jon Whiting of The Eco Experts said, “This research is a way of naming and shaming the worst offenders around the world. Their lack of action against emissions not only puts their populations at risk of deadly pollution-related diseases but also threatens the future of our planet. These threats are not distant concerns for future generations; their effects are being felt now and lives are already being lost. This research highlights the need for every country to act fast and put more investment into renewable energy alternatives.” It's safe to say that a lot of countries including the U.S. have a lot of work to do in terms of detoxifying. What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!

By now, you should be taking reusable grocery bags with you every time you go to the grocery store but your uses for reusable bags can and should go beyond the grocery store. Here's a look at some of the other ways you can use those reusable bags. Shopping Sprees  Whether you're heading to the mall, Home Goods, or your local farmers market to shop, don't forget your reusable bags. They are sturdier and will save you from double bagging those cheap plastic bags. And of course, the environment will benefit from this small change, too. Reusable Gift Bags Give the gift of reusing. Reusable bags make excellent gift bags and are gifts that will keep on giving back to not only the receiver but the planet, too. Think of it as two gifts in one. You could even fill the gift bags with sustainable or reusable goodies. Pool or Beach Bags If your kids spend the majority of their time at the beach or pool in the summer, load a reusable bag up (or two) with sunscreen, towels, snacks, and water. Just make sure the bags you use can be thrown in with the laundry at the end of the day, so they can be reused next time. Going to the Gym If you go to several different classes each week and have more than one gym bag, try using reusable bags to keep your gym needs sorted by activity. For instance, if you're a swimmer, you can have one bag filled with a towel and goggles. If you also do yoga, you can fill another bag with your mat and blocks or whatever special workout equipment you might need. This will also save you time sorting each bag, especially when you're in a rush. Going to a Library, Bookstore, or Cafe If you're someone who studies at the library or heads to your local bookstore or cafe to use the wifi for work, chances are you'll be bringing along your laptop, mouse, headphones, etc. This is another great opportunity to make use of those reusable bags. Just make sure you use a sturdy one if you're carrying heavy electronics.

Green living simply means making daily sustainable lifestyle choices that reduce your carbon footprint on the planet. Some green living behaviors include recycling, buying local, reducing the amount of energy you use, and driving fuel-efficient or electric cars (or not driving at all, of course). Other green habits people might adopt entail making their own cleaning products, buying cruelty-free beauty products, and going waste-free. We've carefully curated the following list of green living blogs that account for many of these green living factors – blogs that are actively working to spread awareness and educate those who are interested in learning more about their well-being and the environment. We hope these blogs will inspire you just as much as they did us. 1. Homegrown and Foraged - a green lifestyle blog Follow @BusyGreenMum Homegrown and Foraged is "a space for sharing stories on eco-friendly living & living with nature." If you're on the hunt for green living ideas, eco-friendly travel tips, or guides on earth-loving brands, then this will be your go-to blog to live by. Of course, you'll find some great tips on 'foraging,' too. 2. Wellness Mama  Follow @WellnessMama Katie, better known as "Wellness Mama," has one main goal: "to help families live more naturally through practical tips, real food recipes, natural beauty and cleaning tutorials, natural remedies, and more." From sweet potato-frosted cupcakes to DIY homemade honey facemasks, Katie's blog will have you spoilt for choice when it comes to green living tutorials. If you don't have a lot of time on your hands, not to worry! There's also The Healthy Moms Podcast you can listen to which covers an array of topics including health, food, stress, sleep, fitness, toxins, natural living, and more tips on how to improve your family's well being. 3. Going Zero Waste Follow @goingzerowaste After a health scare in college, Kathryn started Going Zero Waste for people to follow along on her journey of living a zero-waste and plastic-free life. This blog will have you living greener than ever before with tips on things like how to store your leftovers plastic free or how to compost when you live in an apartment.

At Custom Earth Promos, we're all in favor of EPA's Reduce, Reuse, Recycle campaign, but this time, we thought we'd add upcycling to the list. Here are three ways you can reuse home items and save them from ending up in landfills: Clothes, Towels, and Bedding The next time you clean out your closet, don't throw anything away because there's a very good chance that it can all be either upcycled or donated to charity. If some of the clothing, towels, or bedding won't make a suitable donation, cut them up into reusable washing rags. You can also check out Pinterest or your favorite DIY site to discover other ways to upcycle old clothes and linens. Glass Jars and Containers Sure, glass jars, coffee canisters, and food cans, for the most part, can easily be recycled, but why not reuse them to cut down on excess packaging and waste? Glass jars, for instance, make great containers for dried foods like cereals. Canisters and tin cans can be used as desk organizers or even plant pots. With just a little imagination, you'll be surprised at the uses you can find for items that might usually be thrown away if not recycled. Reusable Grocery Totes If you haven't already, invest in some reusable grocery bags that can be used for any type of shopping, not just grocery shopping. But if you haven't quite made the move from plastic bags to reusable ones just yet, and you have a bunch of plastic bags laying around the house, try to utilize them as best as you can as either pet waste bags or trash bags, or you can even reuse them at the grocery store. You can also visit PlasticFilmRecycling.org and search using your zip code to find drop off locations nearby that accept plastic bags and film packaging.

It's no secret that companies can be pretty wasteful and not very eco-friendly when it comes to certain things in the office like not monitoring gas, water, and electric use or not having a recycling system. But with just a few simple changes, businesses have the power to turn things around for not only the environment but their budgets, too. Here are three ways your company can become more eco-friendly and efficient. 1. Invest in a Thermostat Lock Box Workplaces are often over-air conditioned, especially in the summer months, which has a negative impact on the environment and your electric bill. On top of that, some employees might be tempted to adjust the thermostat to their liking without taking into consideration either of these things. By investing in a thermostat lock box, you'll have complete control over the temperature of your workspace, your electric bill, and the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the environment. 2. Go Paperless "The greenest paper is no paper at all," said Vince Digneo, sustainability strategist at Adobe. "It's as easy as keeping digital files on on your computers and mobile devices, not file cabinets. Also, get in the habit of reviewing digital documents on-screen, rather than printing them out." With all of the existing technology out there, there really is no need for companies to be printing that much anymore. Yet still, the average U.S. office worker prints 10,000 pages per year. If offices could cut their paper use by just 10 percent, greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by 1.45 million metric tons – according to a 2014 Catalog Spree and PaperKarma study. By moving to digital, companies can easily go paperless saving lots of money and trees. 3. Celebrate Green Days at the Office  Whether it's once a month or an annual occurrence, get your employees involved in green initiatives at the office. Allow them to contribute to a running ideas board of sustainable changes that can be made to the office or suggestions for eco-friendly group activities. You could even start a green awareness team that can educate staff through lunch-and-learn sessions. Creating green days at the office and arranging events like community volunteering that your employees can get involved in, is a great way to bring the office together, encourage teamwork, and ultimately help the environment.

If you're unsure about what to study in college or are perhaps seeking a career change, you've come to the right place. According to the National Geographic, these five green jobs are guaranteed to be around in the future and to ensure our planet is, too. 1. Urban Growers  Farms, roof gardens, and greenhouses are rapidly popping up in cities and urban areas across America and around the world, making it one of the fastest growing green jobs in 2017. Urban growers are supplying locally grown organic food to not only farmer's markets and grocery stores but to top city chefs, too. What's more is that these green areas can also improve the air quality and insulate buildings found in urban environments. 2. Water Quality Technicians This important green job provides creative solutions to water quality control problems. Water quality technicians are ultimately responsible for testing and monitoring water supplies and making sure that the water we drink is safe. With increased toxins and pollutants being found in our water and air, this role is highly vital to not only our health but the health of wildlife and the oceans, too. 3. Clean Car Engineers  Fewer gas emissions. Less pollution. Cleaner air. These are the hopes and dreams of clean car engineers across the U.S. and around the world. According to the National Geographic, "transportation currently burns about two-thirds of America's oil and produces about one-third of its greenhouse gas emissions." So it's up to clean car engineers to provide consumers with quality and affordable electric alternatives to the dirty, gas-guzzling cars you'll find on the roads today. 4. Recyclers  Thanks to recyclers, two-thirds of all the paper consumed in 2011, in the U.S., was recovered before ending up in landfills, according to the American Forest & Paper Association. With increased recycling, more green jobs are being created which makes for a bigger, more positive impact on the environment. After all, recycling saves energy, water, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. 5. Natural Scientists  The Earth's oceans are "dying," according to some and thanks to the demand for products like palm oil, forests are also shrinking – hence the growing need for natural scientists. As the world moves toward a more sustainable future, it's essential that we have scientists who are specialized to monitor our impact on the world around us.

You might consider yourself to be an "eco-friendly worker," but if your work day consists of a long commute to work and endless paper printing tasks, your carbon footprint might be worse than you think or perhaps it has something to do with where you live? According to a new study, eco-friendly workers differ greatly by state. So, to find out which states have more environmentally friendly workers than others, Zippia, a career expert team, analyzed an index of data based on a variety of factors including commuting habits, state laws encouraging fuel-efficient vehicles, state energy efficiency scorecards, energy efficiency job reports, and laws and regulations on emissions and pollution. States were then scored for "energy job rank," "energy efficiency rank," "green commute rank," and "clean energy laws." Here's a quick list of the top 10 states with the most eco-friendly workers. Did yours make the list? Source: Zippia Given California's reputation for being an environmental leader, we weren't surprised to see them at the top of the list. Similarly, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado have also put several laws in place to encourage people to live more sustainably. Other states that made the list, however, may surprise you.  Let's take a look at the remaining states that ranked 11-50. 11. Hawaii 31. North Carolina 12. Maryland 32. Oklahoma 13. Arizona 33. Indiana 14. New York 34. New Hampshire 15. Connecticut 35. Idaho 16. Virginia 36. Ohio 17. Maine 37. Missouri 18. New Jersey 38. Kansas 19. Alaska 39. North Dakota 20. Michigan 40. Nebraska 21. Iowa 41. West Virginia 22. Florida  42. Delaware 23. Wyoming  43. South Dakota 24. Pennsylvania  44. Kentucky 25. Wisconsin  45. Louisiana 26. Montana 46. South Carolina 27. Nevada 47. Tennessee 28. Texas 48. Arkansas 29. New Mexico 49. Mississippi 30. Georgia 50. Alabama When it came to states with the greenest forms of commuting, Hawaii dominated with 189 out of 200 points, followed by Alaska in second place making it in the top five for biking, walking, and carpooling. This state also has the lowest vehicle-miles traveled compared to any other U.S. state. The Southwest and the South, however, didn't fare too well when it came to rankings for green transportation. Walking might be out of the question in the humid months of the year, but what about biking or carpooling? Considering Americans spend 40 hours per week on average at work, it's hugely important that companies, as well as state legislation, continue to put time and effort into implementing and improving eco-friendly initiatives that will benefit workers and the environment.

Dogs and cats are the most common of pets. After all, "a dog is a man's best friend" and "life is better with cats," but believe it or not, our furry friends are not the most eco-friendly pets we can choose to live with. Why? For starters, their meat-eating diet requires a high amount of land and energy to produce their food. American cats and dogs also excrete 10 million tons of waste per year with most of it ending up in landfills or plastic poop bags that won't biodegrade for hundreds of years to come. Then there are single-use puppy training pads and non-biodegradable kitty litter which also have a negative effect on the environment. Of course, none of that will stop us from choosing these animals as our companions but it's important to know this information so you can choose to make alternative and greener choices for your pets and the planet. The Most Eco-Friendly Pets Rabbits, goats, chickens, and ducks are undoubtedly some of the most eco-friendly pets. These animals are hardly a substitute for cats and dogs, but from an environmental standpoint, they are less ecologically harmful. The waste that all four of these animals produce can be used as valuable fertilizer. On top of that, their diet, for the most part, is plant-based. Rabbits can eat grass, goats are often fed grain but can eat all different types of foliage, and chickens and ducks will happily eat grass and bugs. By sharing your space with pets like these – ones that can produce eggs, milk, and cheese – you'll be one step closer to living a more sustainable, farm-to-table life (without all of the meat). The Least Eco-Friendly Pets Think pythons, parrots, and monkeys. Basically, anything exotic. If you haven't heard of the python problem in the Florida Everglades by now, I'd be surprised, but in a nutshell, after enough people decided to abandon their "pet pythons" there, the overpopulation problem quickly escalated with the Everglade's eco-system struggling to keep up with the demand of these reptiles. Owning exotic animals can also risk their species survival; something we've recently experienced with the African Grey Parrot, for example. Thousands of these beautiful birds are stolen each month for illegal trade. As a result, countries like Guana now have populations that have fallen to as low as 1 percent of their historic levels. So, while it might be tempting to own an exotic animal, the consequences can be detrimental to a species and the environment. Ultimately though, since we all have a footprint or "pawprint" on this earth, it's not really fair to label our pets, but there are ways we can make choices and work together to minimize these negative environmental impacts.

For many people, recycling mainly consists of food waste and basically anything that can go curbside such as cardboard, assorted plastics, and aluminum cans. Although food packaging represents some of the most common waste, there are many of things that can be recycled – things you might never have considered. Here are three things you should be recycling if you aren't already. 1. Tires We can't get around without them, and we don't typically dispose of them unless we buy new ones, however, more than 300 million tires (approximately one per person), are thrown away each year. Not only do tires take up a lot of airspace in landfills, they can also become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and rodents, and produce toxic fumes if they were to catch on fire. It's no wonder why 36 states have banned them from landfills. Even so, tires are still dumped illegally. But thanks to the work of leading recyclers like Liberty Tire, the process of recycling your tires has gotten much easier. You can also ask a tire retailer if they can recycle your old ones for you. 2. Latex Paint  Did you know that unlike oil-based paint, latex paint can be recycled? Unless you're a painter, for the most part, you don't use paint every day, yet the average house still has somewhere between one and three gallons of paint stockpiled, likely somewhere in the garage. So, the next time your paint expires and you're looking to throw it out, remember that it can be recycled. In fact, many cities offer drop-off sites or household hazardous waste (HHW) collection centers for latex paint. It's also worth checking to see if you live in a PaintCare state, which means the paint can be dropped off and recycled at paint retailers in addition to HHW programs. If there aren't any recycling options where you live, you can still recycle the paint can and lid. 3. Cell Phones Only 11 percent of mobiles in the U.S. are recycled which is a low amount considering that the average person owns two unused cell phones in addition to their current mobile device. On top of that, a staggering 350,000 phones are thrown away each day. Considering cell phones fetch more money than any other material that can be recycled, you'd think more people would be making an effort to do so. From cell phone carriers to electronic stores, and mail-back programs, there are plenty of ways you can recycle your old phones which will benefit not only the planet but your wallet, too.

Getting your kids to do their homework, pick up after themselves around the house, or do their weekly chores can be hard enough, nevermind trying to get them to recycle. And since recycling is something to be encouraged for years to come, it's important to instill this environmental responsibility in kids when they are young. But how can you do this without it becoming an unpleasant task? One of the easiest ways is to turn recycling into a game. If your child loves the outdoors, play a recycling-related game at your local park. If your kid is tech-savvy, find an interactive online game or a fun documentary about the recycling process for them to watch. There are plenty of fun ways to turn recycling into a positive notion without them thinking of it as a "chore." Below are some ideas for you to consider. Treasure Hunt "One man's trash is another man's treasure" and what kid doesn't love treasure? Take your kids to your local park or beach and arrange for a treasure hunt with the aim of the game: to find as many recyclable items as possible. If you want to make it even more exciting, considering renting or buying a child-size metal detector. Either way, a treasure hunt is a perfect way to get your kids excited about cleaning up their environment. Online Recycling Sorting Game  This generation was practically born with iPads in their hands, so when it comes to teaching your tech-savvy children about recycling, online games seems like a great way to go. Turtle Diary is just one example of an online sorting game to consider having your kids play. In this interactive game, players drag and drop items on the conveyor belt sorting them into three containers: compost, recycle, or trash. As well as for your kids, games like this might also teach you a thing or two about sustainability. Recycling-Related Movies and Books Plan a day out to the library and have your kids pick out a movie or book about recycling. Think movies like "Wall-E" that depicts the life of a trash-collecting robot, a film that your kids will actually want to watch or "Happy Feet," which will teach them soft lessons about pollution and the endangered Antarctic animals.