It's Not Easy Bein' Green

How to Safely Dispose of Medications

Organic Food: What You Need to Know

Revisiting Earth Day

Earth: Our Shared Home Sweet Home

It's Not Easy Bein' Green
Anastasia Korbitz, Editor

Or is it? Perhaps Kermit the Frog felt some frustration with being green, but certainly the Irish find it quite easy, and something worth celebrating, in the month of March!

With Earth Day right around the corner, we are reminded that perhaps living with some shade of green isn't so hard and it's actually a good thing.

In this edition of the newsletter, several WDI staff members have contributed articles that focus of bein' green as something good for us and good for our Earth too.

From eating organic foods to recycling your medications and other household goods to connecting with your world, each article has some advice, resources or some thoughtful insights to consider. There is also a list of things that WDI has done to save resources and focus on bein' better at bein' green.

While there is certainly much debate on human's role in the change in our world's climate, resources and future, there is no doubt that our Earth is indeed changing. Perhaps we can agree that, in each of our lives, we can do something to help protect our little pocket of the world, and together, we help all of us and our Earth in the long run. We can also perhaps agree that we want to leave our Earth, as happy and healthy as possible for future generations to enjoy.

You've no doubt heard that change begins with each one of us and often small changes can add up to big ones, if we all work together.

What can you do to be green at WDI? You can start by turning off your car when you are picking up your loved one. The fumes from your car tend to seep into the clinic. Inhaling such fumes is not pleasant and it burns fuel wastefully. Also, bring your own mug for coffee or re-useable cup for ice. Bringing a snack? Use a re-usable lunch bag. Be sure to throw your magazines, newspapers and pop cans in the blue container in the waiting-room. WDI will take any suggestions you have to make our facility greener. Feel free to leave any ideas in the suggestion box in the waiting-room.

And what about this newsletter, is it bein' green? Well, I found out that 100% recycled paper is quite costly. But Chris at Sprint Print tells me that they use vegetable based oil for the ink, which means no petroleum, and digital toners are carbon based which means they can be put in a landfill where they break down easily. Also, the paper used for this edition is 10% post consumer waste and the rest is known as FSC certified which means it meets the standards for proper forestry management. I guess this is what is meant by "every little bit helps."

As Kermit the frog laments in his song, "It's not easy bein' green:  It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things." He finally finds that "I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful! And I think it's what I want to be."

Lets remember what we can do to be green, whether at WDI or in our homes. Bein' green is a fine thing to do and, by the way, bein' green IS beautiful and it's what we should all want to be!

How to Safely Dispose of Medications
Kim Holdener, PharmD

Do you ever wonder what to do with old medications you are no longer taking or that have expired? Maybe you have heard it is not safe to put them in the trash. Instead you may have heard that you should flush them down the toilet. But both of these methods are potentially unsafe and harmful to the environment.

Medications in the trash can be scavenged and sold illegally. They can also accumulate in landfills and seep into groundwater. Medications flushed down the toilet or poured into drains can enter surface waters (lakes, rivers, streams, etc) or wastewater systems. Most wastewater treatment plants and septic systems are not designed to remove medications from water.

According to an article in the Wisconsin State Journal entitled "Flushed Drugs Polluting Water" published in December, 2006, there have been several studies that found medications to be present in the environment:

• "An extensive nationwide study by the U.S. Geologic Survey has found evidence of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics and hormonal drugs, such as birth control pills, in surface waters throughout the nation."
• "In Dane County, the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, found acetaminophen and two hormones in water coming from septic systems at a new Sun Prairie subdivision."
• "The state Laboratory of Hygiene discovered accumulations of endocrine disrupting chemicals, found in drugs such as birth control pills that mimic natural hormones, in water entering and leaving Madison's sewage treatment plant."
• "Research has shown that drugs containing hormones such as estrogen are causing changes and deformities in fish and other aquatic creatures."

There is also concern that antibiotics in water supplies are contributing to antiobiotic resistance and making infections harder to treat. So, how do you dispose of medications in a safe and environmentally friendly way?

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of good answers to this question. Current regulations do not allow people to discard medications themselves in a way that is safe for the environment. To address this need, there is a relatively new program in Madison called MedDrop.

MedDrop is a free program that allows people to bring in unwanted medications in order to get rid of them. It is a drive-through drop-off open to all Wisconsin residents. Medications collected at MedDrop are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way according to the State and Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulations. The next MedDrop is on June 6, 2009 from 9 am to 1 pm.

For more information, you can go to their website at   www.meddropdane.org.

Other counties may have programs. Check out www.uwm.edu/shwec/pharmaceuticalCollection/viewRecords.cfm.

These programs may all have differing rules and procedures, so call for more information prior to the event.

These medication collection events are the best way to dispose of medications; however, the DNR recommends that medications be disposed of in the trash if there is a significant safety risk such as accidental poisoning, overdose, or diversion if they are kept in the house until a medication collection event is available.

If disposed of in the trash, medications should have all identifying labels removed and be made unusable by dissolving them in a small amount of water or alcohol or by grinding them up and mixing with coffee grounds or kitty litter. Medications should never be burned as this can cause pollution.

Disposing of sharps such as used or unused needles can be another difficult task. There are four steps that should be followed for safe disposal of sharps at home:

• Clip needles with needle clippers or recap or re-sheathe discarded sharps to help prevent “needle sticks”
• Place the sharps in rigid puncture-resistant containers with secure lids or caps.  Acceptable containers include commercially-available sharps containers (often available for purchase through pharmacies), heavy plastic detergent bottles, or bleach bottles with screw caps. Unacceptable containers include coffee cans, plastic milk jugs, pop cans, or soda bottles.
• Visibly label the sharps container with the words “sharps,”  “infectious waste,” or “biohazard.”
• When the container is full, sealed, and labeled, dispose of it properly.

Sharps containers must be taken to a registered sharps collection station. There are many places that collect sharps including several pharmacies. There is a list of registered collection stations in Wisconsin on the DNR website at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/faclists/SharpsCollection.pdf. It is always a good idea to call prior to dropping off a sharps container to double-check the facilities’ procedures.

Help us all stay “green” and safe with the disposal of your unwanted medications and household sharps by using these available resources.

Organic Food: What You Need to Know
Fran Kittel, RD

Have you noticed, when in the produce section of your grocery store, the price of organic foods? Organic foods are not only found in the produce section. They are invading all areas of your grocery store. While shopping the other day, I found a multi-grain oatmeal. Every ingredient was organic on the ingredient list of this product. WOW! But, is it worth paying a higher price? And what does organic really mean, anyway?

In the beginning, the organic movement in the United States was started by a group of farmers wanting to grow healthier food using methods better for the land. Over the years, the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, developed organic regulations.

On the USDA website, organic food is defined as, “produced using sustainable agricultural production practices. Not permitted are most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients, or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Organic meat, poultry eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.” Only foods identified with the USDA seal are certified organic.

In spite of these good intentions, such as more specifically, organic food containing greater antioxidants, it has not been determined if these foods are more nutritious than conventional foods. The idea that organic foods have improved taste is a matter of personal taste. Oftentimes it has been said organic is safer in terms of pathogens, but organic does not necessarily mean safer for consumption.

It’s important to remember that the concept of safety and organic do not go hand in hand. One good example is the lettuce scare of 1995. E. coli was found in organically grown lettuce. In spite of growing this lettuce organically, there are six different points of processing in which E. coli can be introduced into products:

• GROWING. The manure used during the growing season or introduced by wandering cattle or deer could potentially contaminate the growing food.
• PROCESSING. The processing area could become contaminated by a worker coming into the processing area with manure on his shoes.
• BOXES AND COOLERS. Enormous vats of recycled water are used to wash the lettuce. This water can be used for weeks at a time, during which time a single contaminated head of lettuce could infect thousands of other heads.
• TRANSPORT. Trucks can be contaminated.
• LOCAL DISTRIBUTORS. Unsanitary conditions or infected workers may not carefully wash their hands.
• THE CONSUMER. Unwashed hands and handling the lettuce on an unscrubbed cutting surface can readily contaminate lettuce at home.

Although organic doesn’t mean safety in foods, organic farming is still environmentally beneficial. Organic farming keeps the soil nutrient rich and  reduces disease that can occur with decreased chemical use, crop rotation and properly composted natural fertilizers.

But to achieve all of this, more manual labor is necessary. People are more expensive than petrochemicals, hence the 50% increase in price for organic food. In addition, the basic principle of economics is at work here. When demand is greater than supply, prices increase. This may explain for some increase in the price of organic foods.

As an aside, the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit group based in Washington D.C. has a list of foods ranked with the most pesticides. This list is referred to as the Dirty Dozen. Foods included in the dirty dozen include:

1. peaches
2. apples
3. sweet bell peppers
4. celery
5. nectarines
6. strawberries
7. cherries
8. lettuce
9. grapes (imported)
10. pears
11. spinach
12. potatoes

The last two are known high-potassium containing foods. Check with your dietitian to see whether these foods can be in your daily food intake.  Of course, peeling, quartering and boiling potatoes can help decrease their potassium content. Whether the food is organic or conventionally grown ALWAYS, wash your hands before handling the food. Washing and scrubbing your produce in running water helps reduce its pesticide and pathogen content. In addition cooking can assist in killing pathogens.

So the next time you find yourself in the grocery store and notice the two foods displayed side-by-side, one organic, the other conventionally grown, the choice is up to you. Has the choice become easier to make? Depending upon the food you purchase, a compromise may be able to be made. Consider limiting your organic foods to only those on the dirty dozen food list to cut down on pesticide exposure. With today’s economy “stretching” those dollars is certainly the goal. Another way to save is by purchasing foods when in season.

Buying local is recommended whenever possible. This supports local farming, and you know where the food has come from! Consider visiting your local farmer’s market or co-op to get fresh and in season produce. Also, when you join a co-op you get an automatic discount on everything you buy. Lastly, consider growing the food yourself. If you are limited in space, you could use a box roughly two feet square on a patio. This could provide you with enough mixed salad greens for months. Even more limited in space? Consider growing your own easy-growing herbs in pots on a window sill.

Web Resources

• www.usda.gov
• www.aakp.org
• www.goodkarmafoods.com
• www.macsac.org/farmlist.html
• www.cityofmadison.com/residentsfarmersMarket.ctm
  

Revisiting Earth Day
By Ann Mader, RD

If you remember the first Earth Day, you might be aging yourself. It was 39 years ago on Wednesday, April 22, 1970. How did it start? What was the purpose? 

U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin tried for years to put the environment into the spotlight and have it recognized by the government as an urgent issue that needed to be addressed. At a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969, Senator Nelson announced that there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment in the spring of 1970. This resulted in one of the most powerful ideas of his time – Earth Day. An estimated 20 million concerned Americans participated in this first Earth Day event.

Today, we are constantly hearing about “global warming” and “climate change.” The earth is ever changing and there are numerous reasons for the changes. Are we at fault? Some might argue this point but let’s focus on some ways we can help. For instance, the trash we produce. Everything we throw in the trash can end up in our landfills and it sits there for years. So why not consider recycling? Recycling allows us to keep some things out of the landfills to be used over, and sometimes, over again.

Recycling varies from city to city and so it is important to know what can and cannot be recycled in the area you live. Here are the basic items that can be recycled in most Wisconsin cities:

• Plastic: laundry detergent, soda and water bottles, milk jugs
• Newspaper (including inserts)
• Glass bottles and jars
• Magazines
• Corrugated cardboard
• Aluminum cans
• Steel (tin) cans

Here are some other ways you can reduce the amount of trash:

• Buy in bulk to avoid the extra packaging
• Reuse bags or purchase reusable bags to place your groceries and any other purchase you make. Keep these bags in your car for easy access when you are shopping.
• Stop buying bottled water. Use reusable bottles that can be filled with water instead. If you must buy bottled water, be sure to recycle the plastic bottle!
• Stop receiving unwanted catalogs. Visit www.Catalogchoice.org.
• Give up using paper towels. Use reusable cotton or microfiber towels that can be washed and used over and over again.
• Forgo using plastic cups, plates and utensils and instead use your washable glassware, dishes and utensils.

Tidbits and facts:  Consider the following information as you determine whether you want to participate in recycling: 

• For every trash can of waste you put outside for the trash collector, about 70 trash cans of waste are used in order to create that trash.
• Throwing away one aluminum can wastes as much energy as if that can were 1/2 full of gasoline.
• It takes 90% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to make a new one.
• In 1960, each American produced 2.7 pounds of garbage per day. Today each American produces 4.5 pounds per person per day.
• Every month Americans throw out enough recyclable glass bottles and jars to fill up a skyscraper.
• Every Sunday, more than 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled.
• North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
• Every year we dispose of 24 million tons of leaves and grass clippings, which could be composted to conserve landfill space.
• Only about one-tenth of all solid garbage in the United States gets recycled.
• The average American uses 650 pounds of paper a year.
• Every year we fill enough garbage trucks to form a line that would stretch from the earth, halfway to the moon.
• U.S. landfills are closing at the rate of 1 per day.

On Wednesday, April 22, 2009, think about what you can do for the environment!  If we all pitch in and reduce, reuse, and recycle, it will mean a better and more beautiful Earth for generations to come. Think green and enjoy Earth Day!

WDI Turning Green:

• WDI uses an electronic medical record, which greatly reduces the use of paper for documenting treatment information and recording test results
• All recyclable items are separated from the trash in the blue containers and placed into a recycling dumpster for re-use
• Confidential papers being thrown away are first shredded and then used as recycled paper
• The water purification system was modified two years ago to reduce the volume of waste water by half. Waste water is produced as part of the process to create the highly purified water needed for dialysis.
• Back office hallway lights are kept off at all times.
• The rooftop heating and cooling equipment has a night time temperature set-back to reduce the fuel used for heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.
• Launder staff cover gowns rather than using disposables.
• We use energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs.

Earth: Our Shared Home Sweet Home
Penny Andrews, Chaplain

There are so many thoughts to share about our relationship to our Earth.

Several years ago, someone shared a question with me, "Why don’t we capitalize the word Earth?” We capitalize the planets Saturn, Pluto, Neptune and others, and yet we don’t capitalize our own planet’s name. This was thought provoking for me.

Then there are the indigenous cultures that symbolically call Earth, "Mother." Because we eat from it, drink from it, without the elements that Earth is comprised of, we couldn’t live.

In the scientific community, it is known that if only one or two aspects were changed during Earth’s amazing formation, it would have been too hot or too cold for we Humans to inhabit.  Truly our lives are a miracle, just as the very ground we walk on. For the ground is an extension of the miracle of the life on our planet. 

Many great minds have noted what an important moment taking a picture of Earth from space was. We saw for the first time, that despite all our differences around the globe, we saw that it truly is One Earth that we share.

So what is the significance of this? It means that each of has an intimate responsibility for Earth’s care. There is a Native American saying, "We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children."

We experience this intimacy when we walk out on a beautiful spring day as we look on the first green, when we drive by the cornfields, hear autumn leaves under our feet, watch the snowfall.  We are all touched on a profound level by these experiences. Some traditions call these experiences sacred.  As a result, the care of creation, or our Earth, has become a cry from religious traditions around the globe.

It is our place in history to take on the challenge of turning around patterns that are harmful and to choose a different path with our behaviors.  In small steps and large, what we do makes a difference.  When we include "how will this affect the Earth" in our decisions, and then choose accordingly, it is good for our spirit, it is good for Earth’s children, and it is good for this place we call Home.