Green News & Reviews

Green Should Come After Honest

2009-01-16T11:41:00.000-08:00

As someone who is living in the green space daily it has become quite apparent that phrases like "sustainable manufacturing" and "carbon-footprint" have become so over-used and their definitions re-written, tweaked, or otherwise changed so many times that a person trying to "Be Green" can easily become overwhelmed. My question to you is: Does it really matter? In this day and age of corporate bailouts, financial thieves and political scandals, how can we trust what any organization says or claims? Maybe we should stop worrying about how green a company is and check to see if they are lying, cheating, or stealing first? Perhaps an "Honesty Footprint" or "Moral Manufacturing Rating"? After they get one of these, we can move on to 'how green they are'. If they are willing to steal our money it does not seem like much of a stretch that they would lie about how sustainable their manufacturing process is.

As an individual "Green" to me means "Doing the Right Thing" either for the environment or preserving our resources for our children at a level that is relative to our station in life. If you are the CEO of a giant polluting corporation, doing the right thing means a lot more than if you are a tribe member in an African village. Responsibility. What a concept.

All of us have a personal choice to make about how "Green" we want to be. For that, you don't need a rating, you just need be honest with yourself.

~Brian K. Giovannucci
CEO Buy Green Now

BuyGreenNow is changing the definition of sustainable business by streamlining the green validation process for stylish eco-friendly products and services. BuyGreenNow leverages cutting edge technologies, consumers, and subject matter experts, to evaluate products that fall into one of the following categories: green products, sustainable products, and green and sustainable products. BuyGreenNow publishes evaluation reports on products that it markets and sells, as well as news and information on related topics.

Visit us at buygreennow.com to learn more...

The Dead Sea mud is no place for bacteria. Why Not?

2008-12-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

After reviewing several investigators scientific approach to answering the question, I will attempt to summarize their extensive efforts and encourage you to read the full articles for further information.

Dead Sea Mud has the consistency of clay you might use to make pottery. It is very fine and dense in nature¹. The samples of clay averaged ~35% water but, the water was masked in the clay because of it's fine nature. It might appear dry until squeezed and then express a large amount of water.

The highest counts of bacteria were found to survive best in mud samples that had lowest salinity but salinity doesn't seem to be the most significant factor with regards to the antimicrobial properties of Dead Sea mud. However, the salinity in this mud does reach concentrations upwards of 150 grams/liter. These ion salts predominantly consist of NaCl and MgCl2¹.

Interestingly, there is a significant source of carbon-based matter². Therefore, a lack of food for these prokaryotic creatures (bacteria) is also not a major contributing factor to the antimicrobial power of Dead Sea mud.

So what makes the mud so magically microbe free? It appears that the amount of sulfides in the mud is the number one contributing factor preventing common pathological bacteria (the ones that make us ill, give us acne and infections). These sulfides are believed to be produced by sulfate producing bacteria living or lived in the mud at some point in geological time.

These sulfate-reducing bacteria have not been isolated and we still do not know of any bacterium that is capable of reducing sulfate at the rate required to maintain the concentration of sulfide in the mud³.

In closing, the literature states that the antimicrobial capacity of Dead Sea mud does have an impact on the survival of pathogens as they relate to dermatologic assessment including acne and other superficial lesions and psoriasis². These studies also provide evidence to support the fact that Dead Sea mud has the ability to kill common bacteria that impose upon peoples skin; however, the reasons why Dead Sea mud exhibits this capability are still ambiguous as well as mysterious.

References

1. Report
DMeaa'do rS eta aml.ud antibacterial properties Antimicrobial properties of Dead Sea black mineral mud
Zeev Ma'or1,2, Yigal Henis3,4, Yaacov Alon4, Elina Orlov4, Ketil B. Sorensen5, and Aharon Oren6

2. Oren A. The microbial ecology of the Dead Sea. In: Marshall
KC, ed. Advances in Microbial Ecology, Vol. 10. New York:
Plenum Publishing Co., 1988: 193–229.

3. Fossing H, Jorgensen BB. Measurement of bacterial sulfate
reduction in sediments. Evaluation of a single-step chromium
reduction method. Biogeochemistry 1989; 8: 205–222.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments by contacting:
trent norris or gary baldwin

Special thanks to Trent Norris & Shelia Rao for researching the Dead Sea Mud literature.

BuyGreenNow is changing the definition of sustainable business by streamlining the green validation process for stylish eco-friendly products and services. BuyGreenNow leverages cutting edge technologies, consumers, and subject matter experts, to evaluate products that fall into one of the following categories: green products, sustainable products, and green and sustainable products. BuyGreenNow publishes evaluation reports on products that it markets and sells, as well as news and information on related topics.

Visit us at buygreennow.com to learn more...

The Antibacterial Power of Dead Sea Mud

2008-11-30T18:08:00.000-08:00

Do common bacteria that cause many human dermatologic maladies survive in Dead Sea Mud?

BACKGROUND: The black mud recovered from the Dead Sea shores is extensively used in mudpacks and masks (such as the Deluvia Dead Sea Mud Mask) as well as in body and facial treatments in spas around the world. "It is also used extensively in cosmetic preparations marketed worldwide, but little is known about its anti-microbiological properties."1

BuyGreenNow dives in (so to speak), to find out more...

Recent research has been done to interrogate the microbial survival rates and the antibacterial properties in this mysterious mud!

“As expected low numbers of colony-forming microorganisms are thriving in the mud.”1 The highest count of these microbes mostly consisted of endospores. Endospores are organisms that have the capacity to become bacteria; but are not colonizing bacteria that create most of the adverse conditions we experience in life such as infections, acne, psoriasis and others.

Tests were conducted to see if the most common bacteria found to effect human biology such as “Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Propionibacterium acnes, Candida albicans”1 would survive. The testers found that these bacteria rapidly lost their viability when exposed to the mystery mud!

Even after sterilizing the mud with gamma irradiation the majority of aforementioned microbes failed to thrive in the mud. “Therefore, it was concluded that the antibacterial properties of Dead Sea mud are probably owing to chemical and/or physical phenomena that are still unknown to the scientific community!”1 “Possible modes of antimicrobial action are discussed in other literature and will follow this initial survey of how the Dead Sea Mud maintains these antimicrobial properties”1. However, I presume some of these postulates will include discussions around the void of nutrients and high concentration of salts found in the lake. Please stay tuned for further information.

1. Report - in the International Society of Dermatology International Journal of Dermatology (© 2005 The International Society of Dermatology International Journal of Dermatology 2005)
DMeaa’do rS eta aml.ud antibacterial properties Antimicrobial properties of Dead Sea black mineral mud
Zeev Ma’or1,2, Yigal Henis3,4, Yaacov Alon4, Elina Orlov4, Ketil B. Sørensen5, and Aharon Oren6

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments by contacting:
trent norris or gary baldwin

Special thanks to Trent Norris & Shelia Rao for conducting the analysis of the Deluvia Dead Sea Mud Mask, and researching the Dead Sea Mud literature.

BuyGreenNow is changing the definition of sustainable business by streamlining the green validation process for stylish eco-friendly products and services. BuyGreenNow leverages cutting edge technologies, consumers, and subject matter experts, to evaluate products that fall into one of the following categories: green products, sustainable products, and green and sustainable products. BuyGreenNow publishes evaluation reports on products that it markets and sells, as well as news and information on related topics.

Visit us at buygreennow.com to learn more...

Deluvia Mud Mask testing by buygreennow

2008-11-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

The Deluvia Dead Sea Mud Mask is a mineral skin care cosmetic product designed to remove impurities from, and rejuvenate facial skin. The Mud Mask product contains minerals from the Dead Sea. BuyGreenNow conducted tests on the mud mask as part of our evaluation process prior to marketing the Deluvia Dead Sea Mud Mask product.

The first picture shows the product tester prior to application of the Deluvia Dead Sea Mud Mask:

In this next step, the Mud Mask is applied in a thick layer, over the entire face.

Then allowed to dry... (this takes several minutes)

and to complete the treatment, the mask is washed off and the face is dried...

This video describes the overall impressions of the tester after using the Deluvia Dead Sea Mud Mask. In short, the tester was very pleased with the Mud Mask, and recommends it. This recommendation was a primary consideration of BuyGreenNow in deciding to market this product as part of it's green and sustainable product line.
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments by contacting:
gary baldwin
Special thanks to Dr. Shelia Rao for conducting the analysis of the Deluvia Dead Sea Mud Mask.

BuyGreenNow is changing the definition of sustainable business by streamlining the green validation process for stylish eco-friendly products and services. BuyGreenNow leverages cutting edge technologies, consumers, and subject matter experts, to evaluate products that fall into one of the following categories: green products, sustainable products, and green and sustainable products. BuyGreenNow publishes evaluation reports on products that it markets and sells.

Visit us at buygreennow.com to learn more...

BioBag Testing by buygreennow.com

2008-11-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

BioBags are bio-degradable bags for a variety of uses. BuyGreenNow has done an evaluation of the BioBag Dog Waste Bags; this product review was performed to assist in our decision making process: Specifically - should Buy Green Now market and sell BioBags? Our primary motivation is understanding how long, under various conditions, it takes for the BioBags to degrade into the environment. To gain this understanding, we conducted tests that measure the decomposition times. This test is done in two parts, the first part sets the test up, and begins the bio-degrading of the bags; the second part, done as a multi-step process, analyzes the decomposition times, and reports the results.

Part 1: The BioBag Dog Waste Bag test set up at Julie Martin's Pet Care service

Part 2: The results of the BioBag testing...

In summary, BioBags decompose in different lengths of time, dependent on a variety of environmental conditions. Our test cases demonstrated that the BioBags decompose in a time period of 45 to 120 days. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments by contacting:
gary baldwin

Special thanks to Julie Martin, owner of Happy to See Me Pets for supporting the testing of the BioBags Dog Waste Bags.

BuyGreenNow is changing the definition of sustainable business by streamlining the green validation process for stylish eco-friendly products and services. BuyGreenNow leverages cutting edge technologies to evaluate products, reporting on the products that BuyGreenNow markets and sells.

Visit us at buygreennow.com to learn more...