Quoted: Given that triclosan can also form the probable human carcinogen chloroform when exposed to chlorinated water, you may take pause lathering up with that antibacterial soap next time you shower. (Never mind the fact that triclosan has been found in rivers or that it can concentrate in fish tissues to be eaten by us later.) So what should you choose? Avoid soaps, body washes and other bathroom products (including towels!) that advertise themselves as "antibacterial" or "antimicrobial." The majority of products so labeled include triclosan or the similarly problematic compound triclocarban.

Cameron Sinclair will be @ Town Hall tomorrow night (Wednesday 10/03) @ 7:30pm

Quoted: The greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is that of providing shelter. Currently one in seven people lives in a slum or refugee camp, and more than three billion people—nearly half the world's population—do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. The physical design of our homes, neighborhoods, and communities shapes every aspect of our lives. Yet too often architects are desperately needed in the places where they can least be afforded.

Edited by Architecture for Humanity, Design Like You Give a Damn is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrate the power of design to improve lives.

Quoted: High Tech Trash is a wake-up call to the importance of the e-waste issue and the health hazards involved. Americans alone own more than two billion pieces of high tech electronics and discard five to seven million tons each year. As a result, electronic waste already makes up more than two-thirds of the heavy metals and 40 percent of the lead found in our landfills. But the problem goes far beyond American shores, most tragically to the cities in China and India where shiploads of discarded electronics arrive daily. There, they are "recycled": picked apart by hand, exposing thousands of workers and community residents to toxics.

The answers lie in changing how we design, manufacture, and dispose of high tech electronics. Europe has led the way in regulating materials used in electronic devices and in e-waste recycling. But in the United States many have yet to recognize the persistent human health and environmental effects of the toxics in high tech devices. If Silent Spring brought national attention to the dangers of DDT and other pesticides, High Tech Trash could do the same for a new generation of technology's products.

Quoted: Tip: Adding ½ cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle of a medium load of whites will lightly bleach the clothing. This technique is ...

Quoted: A major loophole in federal law allows fragrance manufacturers to hide potentially hazardous chemicals in product scents, including substances linked to allergies, birth defects, and even cancer. Because they won't tell you what's in the scents they sell you, we combed through thousands of Valentine's Day gift ideas to bring you products that not only smell great, but that are also free of hidden, potentially hazardous fragrances.

Quoted: Coming Clean is a network of groups and individuals whose common goal is to work together on chemical policies and campaigns to protect public health and the environmental from exposures to harmful and unstudied chemicals. Coming Clean serves as an incubator for these campaigns and strategies. Coming Clean was formed in early January 2001 to take advantage of the tremendous public education opportunity provided by the PBS broadcast of Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report. Bill Moyers' groundbreaking 90 minute documentary reported on how the chemical industry has produced thousands of man-made chemicals that have not been tested for their effect on the public's health and safety.

Only in France?

Quoted: PARIS - The French already enjoy a 35-hour work week and generous vacation. Now the health minister wants to look into whether workers should be allowed to sleep on the job.

Quoted: France launched plans this week to spend $9 million this year to improve public awareness about sleeping troubles. About one in three French people suffer from them, the ministry says.

These are all good trends, unless they're greenwashed.

Quoted: More organics, fair-trade products and other foods that appeal to a growing consumer desire to know how food was raised, how workers were treated and how far foods have traveled.

Quoted: Dec. 5, 2006 -- New York is the first city in the nation to ban trans fats from all restaurants.

Quoted: The New York City Board of Health voted unanimously to rid the city's restaurants of trans fats. Trans fats must disappear from frying oils by July 2007 and from all foods by July 2008.