Discover eco friendly paints....

Healthy, Durable and Cost effective alternative to conventional paints and painting products.

Green Life Store is proud to introduce the new Eco friendly range of paints, Selfcoat, to our retailing product line, to the South African market.

SELFCOAT ZERO VOC EMT eco paints were developed over a period of more than 20 years. This most revolutionary research resulted in maintaining products for the lasting protection of literally any surface, especially at a time of environmental concern. Selfcoat Eco Paint's most revolutionary characteristics and ability to meet industrial performance demands whilst posing no threat to the environment have positioned the company at the forefront of the Eco Friendly paint industry.

What are VOCs in paint?

VOCs are solvents that get released into the air as the paint dries. (Other products emit solvents, including adhesives, cleaning supplies, and even some home furnishings.) VOCs can cause acute symptoms, including headaches and dizziness. The long-term effects are less certain, but according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, some VOCs are suspected carcinogens.

A handful of paints whose manufacturers claim they contain zero VOCs are now on the market. Selfcoat is one of these products.

Indoor air is three times more polluted than outdoor air

according to the EPA, is considered one of the top 5 hazards to human health. Paints and finishes are among the leading causes.

Paints and finishes release low level toxic emissions into the air for years after application. The source of these toxins is a variey of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which, until recently, were essential to the performance of the paint.

New environmental regulations, and consumer demand, have led to the development of low-VOC and zero-VOC paints and finishes. Most paint manufacturers now produce one or more non-VOC variety of paint. These new paints are durable, cost-effective and less harmful to human and environmental health.

Green Life Store - New line of environmental friendly dual ovenable food packaging containers

With growing concern for the environment, people in the world are more than ever searching for socially responsible products to use in their daily lives. Sustainability is a particular hot topic within the food service industry. Every year, billions of food service containers manufactured from petroleum-based foams end up in already overstuffed landfills. Slow to decompose, they become yet another burden for Earth. Easily washed into waterways and ingested by wildlife, plastics, especially polystyrene (Styrofoam), are a large environmental hazard.

Green Life Store is proud to introduce the new line of environmental friendly dual ovenable food packaging containers. BioPap – is suitable from freezer to oven and a welcome alternative to petroleum based food containers rivaling in both durability and cost.

The use of BioPap food containers allows the following advantages:
Hygiene. These food containers and dishes are disposable and are used only one time;
Awareness of using food containers and dishes that take care of the environment;
Versatility and convenience of these containers. They are dual ovenable containers and can be used form freezer to the oven (both microwave and traditional)

Food and ready made dishes baked or re-heated in these containers keep their warmth longer as they would be in normal dishes. You can directly extract the containers from the oven through the edges without burning yourself.

You can directly eat in our containers using them as dish with forks and knives without the danger of perforating them.

They are easy to dispose of:
with the compostable kitchen waste,
with the recyclable papers and packaging,and in the normal trash bean.

Once used these containers can be easily crashed or folded minimizing the volume used in the trash bean. Their use reduces the consumption of fresh water and detergents needed to wash the traditional non disposable dishes or trays in dry areas.

The wide range of shapes and sizes make it easy to find the right size for any occasion and need.

WHY GO GREEN?

Unsurprisingly, the sheer amount of waste produced is very harmful to our environment, degrading very slowly in our landfills and releasing chemical pollutants into the atmosphere.

Workers purchasing or eating lunch out every weekday, catering businesses such as delis, cafes and restaurants, are starting to recognize the power they have in reducing the amount of harmful waste produced and replacing it with biodegradable and compostable waste.

By switching to our products, businesses are empowering general consumers to make a proactve choice to go green. The infiltration of these products into the mainstream market ensures that using eco-friendly products is easier now than it has ever been.

Green Life Store offers a superior range of cost effective, eco-friendly alternatives to substitute harmful packaging products. Many of our products can be commercially composted to naturally break down in a matters of months. The functionality, quality and style of our products are truly unparalleled and are a viable alternative to harmful packaging options.

In the era of re-usability and sustainability, Green Life Store biodegradable containers are a guilt-free disposable solution for ready-to-eat meals and to-go applications.

Written by
Green Life Store
Natashia Fox
Janury 2011

Sedated Shrimp in British Waters by Sara Novak, Columbia, SC

Photo: IllinoisHorseSoldier

A study done at Portsmouth University shows prawns found in contaminated English waters were under the influence of antidepressants which altered their marine behavior. Scientists are becoming more aware of how an overabundance of pharmaceuticals are seriously polluting our bodies of water.

I've written about pharmaceuticals in our drinking water before. We've become a nation dependant upon drugs. For better or worse, we use pharmaceuticals for everything from getting to sleep to waking up. But what happens to these drugs once we're done with them? A recent study discussed their impact on British waters. Pristine Planet talked about these Prawns Getting High on Prozac.

According to researcher Alex Ford:

Drugs are partially broken down in the treatment process but what we are realizing now is that a lot more gets through than we thought. The treatment plants weren't designed to break down medicines so some inevitably get concentrated [and] released into streams or onto beaches. Effluent is concentrated in river estuaries and coastal areas, which is where shrimps and other marine life live - this means that shrimps are taking on the excreted drugs of whole towns.
The research team tested the prawns by exposing them to the same level of prozac found in British waters and found that while prawns normally find sanctuary in dark places, these sedated shrimp were five times more likely to swim towards the light becoming more vulnerable to predators. The effects of other pharmaceuticals like hormones, pain relievers, and heart medicine are still unknown.

Brought to you by
www.greenlifestore.co.za
Natashia Fox

Mushrooms, Rice Husks, and Buckwheat - Replacements for Plastic?

MycoBond materials can act like styrofoam, but they're renewable, compostable, use less energy to produce, and can be made anywhere.

We know how bad plastic is for the environment and for our health, but while there are plenty of ways to reduce our consumption of it, some applications—like shipping and packaging—are just not easily replaced.

Styrofoam is product designer Eben Bayer's particular pet peeve. He calls it "toxic white stuff," and in his TED video says that production of a single cubic foot of styrofoam uses the energy equivalent of 1.5 liters of petrol.

On a global scale, that's a lot of oil going into a material that's often used once before ending up in the trash—which helps explain how it takes up 25 percent of U.S. landfill space.

So Bayer wanted to find a replacement for it—a material that a), can be created anywhere, b), uses significantly less energy to produce (he's not talking just 10-percent reductions here), and c), can fit into what he calls "nature's recycling system."

And he did, when he and his partner, Gavin McIntyre, discovered the magic of mushrooms. Bayer says mycelium is analogous to a mushroom's root structure, and describes it as a self-assembling material: it takes things we would consider waste, like seed husks or woody biomass, and forms it into a polymer that can then be molded just like plastic is.

Nature's recycling center
Essentially, mycelium functions like a recycling center—reusing materials we would otherwise throw out—but also like a glue—holding those materials together in a format we can really use.

The result is a renewable, compostable material that can stand in for many plastics and styrofoam products. Better yet, Bayer said the company's ultimate vision is a network of local manufacturing systems, and they made formulations for all different parts of the world vision is local manufacturing—so rice husks can be used in China, while buckwheat husks or oat hulls can be used in North America or Europe.

It's been reported that MycoBond is already being used in as packing material around the U.S., has potential for use in building construction, and promises to become even more popular as the company continues to make improvements.

Local Food, Motherfu$k*r: Awesome Ad Campaigns Addressing Food's Carbon Footprint

Around the world, the local food movement is gaining momentum, and anyone from celebrity chefs to simply conscious people are trying to stick to the 100 Mile Diet.
Why? Because it is healthier for you, and healthier for the planet. Local food means big advantages: fresher produce, reduced transportation (read: less CO2, less petrol, less packaging), more organically grown items, and knowing who grew your food. In an effort to bring the focus on local food mainstream, organizations around the world have launched truly smart ad campaigns. Find our 10 favourites here:

1. Local Food by Thomas Cheng - Canada
Toronto-based graphic designer Thomas Cheng created three ads to encourage readers of Now Magazine to eat local -- we added the smiley face to this one.

Australian Animal Posters - Denmark

Ok, so this one really shouldn't be on the list, but we kept it because with one minor tweak, it could be revamped for our cause. The work of ad powerhouse Saatchi & Saatchi, it's all about promoting traditional Australian food, served at the restaurant Reef 'n Beef. It says: "If it's not Australian, it's not on the menu".
The only problem is...the restaurant is in Copenhagen, Denmark, where neither crocodiles nor emus can be locally sourced. Ugh.

It's Time for Real - Canada

An engaging infographic animation explains how much food Canada is currently importing and what consequences this has on the local economy, the environment, and neighbourhoods. This message works all over the world, but is specifically addressing Canadians, telling them to start shopping for local produce.
The movie (watch it here) forms part of the campaign Eat Real, Eat Local by the Unilever brand Hellman's.