Posted on

How to Protect Your Car From Rodents

Car paint protection Sydney are more reliable in fixing your bumper paint. Rats! You can buy the most reliable car on Earth and still find convoluted electrical gremlins, fluid leaks, and even outright failure when rodents take up residence and begin chewing on wiring, hoses, plastic, and other critical car parts. But we’ve found a deterrent for these four-legged terrorists.

Rodent-inflicted damage is an age-old problem that some observers say is increasing as automakers use more plant-based biodegradable materials to reduce waste. It turns out that rodents sharpening their teeth and feasting on cars is more prevalent than you might think.

We uncovered various technical service bulletins from Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, and Subaru instructing their technicians how to remedy chewed wiring harnesses. So many people have been looking for solutions that the topic has trended on Reddit.

Readers posted several solutions, from covering the wires with a metal mesh to painting them with hot sauce. Some Consumer Reports staffers also have stories of small furry creatures chewing through power steering lines, filling engine intakes with acorns, and plugging up air-conditioning ducts with their nests.

What You Can Do

We found a clever solution in a TSB from Honda: rodent-deterrent tape, essentially an electrical tape treated with super-spicy capsaicin, which Honda describes as “the stuff that puts the fire in a bowl of five-alarm chili.” The tape (part number 4019-2317) is available through dealers for about $36 for a 20-meter roll, about 22 yards. You’ll also find it online.

We bought a roll of rodent-deterrent tape to check out. Beyond the cute rodent graphics and gray color, it deceptively seems like regular electrical tape to us humans. There is no tear-inducing odor, but it does carry a label that warns against prolonged exposure to skin. Despite dares and double dares, we did not taste it and will trust that it is potent enough to deter even the most ravenous varmint.

Other suggestions for dealing with rodents under your hood include installing a metal mesh around wiring harnesses and rubber hoses and across any openings where rodents could crawl into your ventilation or intake systems. Or you could put mouse poison mixed with peanut butter around your garage for a more severe solution.

Even if these measures don’t work, you can take heart: “A mouse ate my wiring harness” excuse at least sounds more creative than “The dog ate my homework.”

Posted on

Slowly, More Men Coming Around To Embrace Yoga’s Benefits

In order to get the yoga benefits all you need is a good Pilates instructor course. According to the most recent survey, the vast majority of participants in yoga classes were women (approximately 77 percent), despite the fact that some of the most popular and famous teachers today and many of the originators of the practice are and were men.

So where are the men in the studio?  That is a question that many yoga instructors and studios are trying to answer as they try to reach out to a market that, for all intents and purposes, remains relatively untapped.

There are many possible reasons why men stay away from the yoga studio, but a few reasons seem to stick out more than others.  Many experts and yoga enthusiasts point to the competitive nature in men and the belief that many men don’t find yoga challenging enough for the physical goals they wish to accomplish.  Plainly stated, many men don’t find yoga “masculine” enough for them (as if a pose like the Side Crane is a piece of cake).

According to a few instructors, quoted in a recent article, men enter the yoga studios and see a room full of women, perhaps hear calming music and notice there’s not one piece of heavy metal equipment in the room and conclude that this place is not for them.  And if there is a male instructor, his calm, sensitive demeanor is in sharp contract to the “feel the burn” approach of a personal trainer he may be used to.  One yoga instructor said that men come to the studio looking for a challenge immediately.

Experts point to a number of possible reasons why mainstream men consider yoga a “women’s thing”, starting with Indra Devi, a female yoga instructor who came to the U.S. in the 1940s and was promoted by cosmetic legend Elizabeth Arden.  Some time after, Richard Hitttleman became a yoga celebrity, but his books and television show only featured female models.  The PBS network presented “Lilias, Yoga and You” in the 1970s and featured instructor Lilias Folan in an afternoon broadcast that seemed perfectly tailored for the stay-at-home mom of that era.  Although more athletic forms of yoga developed later, such as Power Yoga, the deep involvement of woman in the practice solidified the idea of yoga as a woman’s exercise in the minds of many men.

Yoga experts also say the need for men to have concrete exercise results may also be a reason why they refrain from yoga.  With weight lifting or weight training, a man may see an increase in muscle mass – a bigger bicep or a bit of definition here or there.  But with yoga, many of the most important changes are internal, mental and emotional benefits that maybe harder to gauge for a person taught to measure success by wins and losses.

As one instructor stated, instead of focusing on quieting his mind or relaxing, men may build even more tension by focusing on performing a pose perfectly (in response to their competitive streak) and not be satisfied until they do, even if it’s a move recommended for an advanced student and they’re in their first class.  By putting their efforts into perfection, many men completely miss one of the real benefits of the practice.

Finally, several yoga experts and instructors point to men’s fear of failure as one of the reasons they shun yoga in such large numbers.  Since most men’s idea of exercise consists of lifting weights or calisthenics that require the body to move in such a rigid motion, they often lack the flexibility that yoga demands.  Even beginning male students, the experts say, give up after a few sessions because they fear “failure” at not being able to perform the moves (without realizing that their inflexibility may be the biggest reason they should participate in yoga).

Yoga instructors say it may help to inform many men that some of today’s top athletic stars are yoga fans who use the practice to help them perform.  Superstars such as NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, former NFL star Jon Kitna and pitcher Barry Zito, as well as entire teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Cubs, offer yoga to their athletes to counteract the rough treatment they receive on the field.

Men who attend yoga classes must let down their defenses and not think of yoga in terms of success and failure.  The instructors say that yoga is not concerned with perfection of pose or rating someone based on whether they can perform a backbend on their first day in class.  Yoga, they stress, is a gradual process where the student comes to acknowledge the mind-body connection.  When placed in the right perspective with realistic goals, each yoga session can be considered a “success”.

Yoga instructors suggest that men who are attending their first yoga session take time to introduce themselves to the teacher and discuss the class structure.  Men should also accept and admit (to the instructor and to themselves) that they harbor some anxiety about the yoga class.  By establishing lines of communication, the student and the instructor can begin to erase the fears they have about not being up to the task of yoga.

Another option yoga instructors may want to consider, the experts say, is occasionally conducting a men’s-only yoga session where men can be themselves.  Instructors who have held classes such as this admit that it creates a different atmosphere than usual and that the typical male joking is not uncommon.  But arranging such classes can be a big help in teaching men to relax in the studio and, in turn, relax with the idea of yoga.

Finally, men should be willing to let themselves go mentally in a yoga class.  Some of the most powerful men in business have credited yoga with letting them clear their heads of the day-to-day stresses and mental strain of the workday.  And not only does yoga let them get rid of old, troublesome thoughts, it allows new thoughts to come in.  indeed, many top executives have claimed that some of their most successful ideas have come while meditating during yoga.

It may take a while until more men embrace yoga the way women have.  But by adopting this attitude, men too can begin to understand the benefits of yoga, both mental and physical.

Lindaa Adams loves all things that have to do with health.

One of the top health blogs Lindaa has found is Kamloops Yoga Teachers, which is a distinctive combination of yoga and health. For more information, you may also visit Kamloops Yoga Fitness Boot Camp

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Lindaa_Adams/609902

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4985446

Posted on

Convert to Solar Power in 4 Easy Steps

Electrician Brisbane Southside maintain their good reputation over the years so we also reward them with their good service. For many, the desire to convert to solar power is there. With monthly power bills increasing year-over-year and our lifestyles being tied to that power supply coming into our home, many feel as though they are slaves to the power companies. It doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, with the current state of solar technology, converting to solar power is easier now than it ever has been before.

Of course the easiest way to convert to solar energy is to hire a professional. But, it’s also the most expensive. The least expensive way to make use of solar energy is by building the solar panels yourself.

By choosing to build your own solar power system, the costs of this renewable energy source are greatly reduced, and it makes it simple for anyone to convert to solar power. With four easy steps you can be on your way to making use of Green Energy, and if you build your solar power system correctly its life expectancy is 30 to 40 years.

Step 1 – Reduce Your Energy Requirements

Before making the decision to convert to solar power it is suggested that you first work to reduce your energy requirements. The less power you need to keep your home running, the lower your initial installation costs will be. There are many simple ways to reduce the amount of electricity you use.

For example switching to LCD lighting could reduce the amount of electricity required to light your home. A 100 Watt incandescent bulb uses 100 Watts of electricity per hour. On the other hand a 3.5 Watt LCD bulb will produce the same amount of light.

There are other simple things you can do as well. Adding in a solar water heater to your current electric hot water heater can reduce the amount of power needed to heat the water for your home. Changing that 10 year old fridge or dishwasher for newer, more energy efficient models, is also a simple way to lower your power requirements.

Simply taking a few steps ahead of time may cut your power needs by as much as 50%.

Step 2 – Decide on How Much Power You Need

After working to reduce the amount of power you need, it’s time to calculate how much electricity you do need. This step actually isn’t that difficult. Simply look at every item in your home that uses electricity. Take the wattage ratings from each appliance and light, and then multiply it by the number of hours it runs each day.

For example, a fridge that requires 400Watts of power will run for about 8 hours (about 1/3 of the time) a day. This appliance uses 400 x 8 = 3200 Watt Hours of electricity every day. That 3.5 Watt LCD bulb that you run for 4 hours each night uses 3.5 x 4 = 14 Watt Hours of electricity every day. If an appliance doesn’t have a wattage rating on its label, you can get the watts needed using OHM’s law; P=E*I (Watts = Voltage x Amps).

Create a list and repeat this step for every item in your home that uses electricity.

Step 3 – Build Your Solar Power System

Once you know how many watt hours of electricity you use each day it’s time to build your solar panels, and convert your home. If in step 2 you determined that you need 10000 Watt Hours (10 kilo-Watt Hours) of electricity, then you need to build enough solar panels to suit.

Assuming that the sun shines for 8 hours of the day, it would take about 13, 100 Watt solar panels to produce that much energy. Building the solar panels yourself is the least expensive solution. According to Science Daily, a 100 Watt solar panel cost $1150 on average in 2008. You can build that same panel yourself for around $150.

In this step there may be other considerations. For a grid-intertied solution, where you also have power from the grid, building 13 panels and having them wired to power your home directly is a suitable solution. When the sun shines you’ll be running your home off solar energy alone, and when it doesn’t, any additional electricity needs are taken care of by the power grid.

Where things get more complicated is when you want to go off-grid, or when you want to add a battery backup to your system. In this case you should consult with a DIY solar power guide. These guides include the information needed to make these additional calculations.

Step 4 – Have an Electrician Inspect and Wire it into Your Home

Whether you buy your solar panels or build them yourself, you should have a qualified electrician do the final wiring into your home. This may cost you a few dollars extra, but in some places it’s the law, and even if it isn’t an electrician is qualified to deal with the 240Volt wires coming into your home.

There is a definite danger doing this step yourself. Also, if you did build your own solar power system, the electrician will be able to do a final inspection to ensure all of your wiring is up to code.

After you have your system wired into your home, you’re now finished with your conversion to solar power. With just basic maintenance you can expect to enjoy renewable energy, and cheaper power bills, for years to come.

John O’ryan works as a builder/installer of Solar Power solutions. He also runs a site that helps others choose the right solutions to go green and save. You can read more about how to convert to solar or wind power on his solar and wind power blog.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/John_O’ryan/433494

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3133486

Posted on

Exercises to Lose Weight – Easy, Effortless and Fun

Reformer pilates Manly can help you tone your arms, legs and core whilst improving posture and flexibility. Walking is the best known exercise that requires the least amount of effort but there is yet another fun and easy to do activity that is much less talked about. The benefits it brings are huge, from eliminating undue stress and strengthening every cell in the body to shedding unwanted fat and weight.

This activity is a dream come true for all of us who struggle with lack of time to travel to a gym, lack of space to devote to complex and bulky fitness machines and quite frankly for those of us without the willingness to exert our bodies with strenuous movements.

A healthy diet will always be a must for a sustained weight loss and balanced diet menu should be a goal to achieve for any athlete. But whether you are an athlete needing to keep your body strong or a person who wants to lose weight or maintain it,  there is a great exercise which will benefit everybody. 

It requires a small tool or equipment which is generally known as mini trampoline, the proper name of which is a rebounder.  This tool is generally considered a fun devise for kids to jump on. Not everybody would think of it as being a very useful, easy to use and fun thing that it really is. Before you dismiss it out of your mind and start looking for something else, please consider reading on until the end of this short article.

If rebounder exercise was a little more complicated or caused more discomfort it would probably be more popular. In a world of torturing, time consuming exercise programs the simplicity of the physical requirements you need to keep in shape will shock you. Good benefits can be derived even by doing nothing but sitting on the rebounder while another person is jumping on it. This is very useful for incapacitated people to get their work out just by being present.

For healthy people the ease of obtaining huge exercise benefits by doing next to nothing is stunning. Just by gently rocking up and down on the rebounder mat, without your feet ever leaving the mat surface, every muscle and every cell in your body will receive exercise which will benefit and strengthen them. This is very exciting and significant. Instinctively and intuitively children know this without realizing it. They love to jump on a sofa or a bed just for fun.

What is the great benefit of this kind of rebounding exercise? While vertically moving up and down there are three forces at play exerting pressure on every muscle and cell in our body and thus exercising them. These forces are: the force of gravity, the force of acceleration  and the force of deceleration. The common denominator of all exercises is opposition to the gravitational pull of the earth.

On a rebounder when moving up and down the 1G force which is there by just standing still will be increased by adding acceleration as you move up and by adding deceleration at the bottom of the bounce. Even if your feet never leave the mat as you gently rock up and down the G force will thus be increased by 25 per cent. When you get beyond this incredibly gentle and effortless exercise and allow your feet to leave the mat the G force increase that your body will be exercised with will go up markedly.

Bouncing on a rebounder stresses and thus exercises every cell over and over about one hundred times per minute. Every cell will begin to adjust to a greater G force and in that manner will become stronger. You may ask yourself why oppose gravity and thus exercise with only one part of your body, which happens when you do push ups, pull ups, leg lifts and so on, when you are able to oppose gravity increased by acceleration and deceleration with every part of your body.

You can exercise every part of your body simply by using a rebounder. To start with it won’t feel like exercise at all. It is great fun to do while listening to music. Do it just for the length of one song and you’ll benefit immensely already. Start slow and with short time intervals. Gradually increase the time and jump height as you get stronger. Effortless exercise can be yours and you will have a rebounder exercise fun.

Vance Sova http://healthydietweightloss.org/

There is a never ending quest for health and a simple and true path to it. There are many questions we have and even more conflicting answers. The growing numbers of people with a weight problem is alarming. Find an open-minded approach to finding solutions regarding healthy diet, exercise, weight loss and anything that may help you keep in good shape and health. Sometimes even one point we overlooked for a long time may improve our condition when implemented.

Visit my website http://healthydietweightloss.org/ for more information.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Vance_Sova/329792

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2372743

Posted on

Yoga Mats – Your Ultimate Guide to Finding the Perfect Yoga Mat

As the courses on offer are run at a busy Pilates instructor course centre the trainees are offered the chance to get hands on experience with clients as part of the training and particular attention is given to rehabilitation. Yoga mats that properly support your body are essential for your enjoyment and success with yoga asanas (postures).  Yoga mats prevent and decrease injuries that can be caused by slippery surfaces.  Yoga mats are used by anyone practicing yoga to help them create a barrier between themselves and the floor.   Yoga mats can be purchased for as little as $20 and many studios and yoga classes will let you store your mat with them if you are a regular. Some will even offer you a free mat to use during your sessions. Research has not confirmed the link between unclean  yoga mats and fungal, bacterial and viral infections, plantar warts and staph infections.

Yoga mats have 4 requirements:
1.) they need to be safe,
2.) durable,
3.) comfortable, and
4.) environmental friendly. 

Good Yoga mats will help you improve your balance and coordination and give you better stability and traction. If you are  looking for a natural, eco-friendly alternative to sticky  synthetic yoga mats which may be full of chemicals, then  consider an organic hemp, bamboo, or cotton variety of yoga mat.

Custom Yoga Mat

Mats come in a variety of custom colors and sizes, with the standard size of 24″ x 68″. There are also 100% hemp yoga and meditation mats made from certified organic European hemp: processed without chemicals for true purity and environmental sustainability.  You’ll love an organic hemp yoga or meditation mat if you’re looking for something natural, organic, and soft during your yoga session so that you forget about your worries of synthetic or dusty carpets (many yoga studios have carpeted or synthetic and dusty flooring).  Rolled up, the yoga mat makes a great pillow and also a lower back support.  We’ve found that mats are also good for the second (mat to lie on) and third (folded up for knee support) of the Five Tibetan Rejuvenation Rites since bare floors can be very hard on your knees.

Yoga Mat Products

There are half a dozen type of yoga-mat wipes available, and new products like hand and foot mitts will protect yoga mat borrowers.  Though, you should keep in mind that it has not been proven that you can ‘catch’ a virus, fungus or other bacteria from another person’s yoga mat, you will still probably want to purchase your own, as it will become personal to you, and you will be able to maintain it and know that it is your very own.

Meditation Mats

A hand-woven yoga mat is best if you want to do gentle yoga, meditation or relaxation. A comfortable bamboo meditation bench with rounded leg bottoms is also suitable for long meditations.  For complete yoga that includes exercises, meditation, breathing (pranayama) and relaxation, sticky mats should not be used. For a sitting meditation, you may want to fold the mat two or three times so that you have a thicker cushion under you while you sit.   Rolled up, the hemp yoga and meditation mats make a great pillow and lower back support too.

Cotton Yoga Mats

Yoga mats are made of cotton, jute, rubber, rug and synthetic materials.  A 100% cotton yoga mat rug for your practice may be best if you have allergic reactions to other materials, or just wish a softer, more cushier mat.  An all natural zabuton mat is handmade from chemical- free green cotton. A long lasting filler for pillows is organic buckwheat hulls as it conforms to your body’s shape and is usually wrapped in a organic cotton twill shell with a hidden zipper carry handle.

Natural Yoga Mats

The original eco yoga mat is  made with all-natural rubber and jute fiber and is excellent for any consistent practice of yoga. Its rubber underside grips  the floor and the jute fabric/rubber mix on top offers superb traction and a highly durable, tactile and pleasantly natural surface to practice on.

Eco Yoga Mats

Selecting an eco yoga mat is a perfect choice as you pose your way to enlightenment and inner peace in your yoga practice.  Even a carpet can potentially become slippery and cause  an injury, especially in a more complicated pose.  After extensive research, I believe that the ecoYoga mat is currently the greenest  option available for those who wish to practice on a sticky mat.  Better still, you may want to show a little eco enlightenment at your next yoga class with a PVC-free mat.  In the past, we’ve given you a few  options regarding eco-sensitive yoga mats: the Harmony Rubber Yoga Mat, and Eco Mats by Eco Yoga.

Green Yoga Mats

Greenpeace wants all PVC production to cease, because it releases dioxins into  the environment.   An all natural zabuton mat is handmade from chemical-free green cotton.

Organic Yoga Mats

Organic hemp yoga, meditation mats are eco-friendly, all-natural and sustainably made. What better way to be there than starting  with synthetic-free, plastic-free, chemical-free,  and toxin-free organic hemp mat on which  to perform your asana’s. When purchasing new yoga clothes or yoga  products, you should consider shopping at a organic clothing store, fair  trade business,recycle shop, etc.

Colors

Most retailers offer a wide variety of colors and designs.  You should be able to find any color that you like in a yoga mat, I’ve seen them in everything from bright red to purple to deep aqua to the natural colors of organic cotton and bamboo.

Yoga Mat Essentials

Yoga mats can be purchased for as little as $20, and many studios let you store your mat with them.  Yoga mats are handy, safe and comfortable for yoga practice.  The standard size of 24″ x 68.  Yoga mats provide ideal base  for  practicing yoga safely and comfortably.  There are some yoga mats that are not made of PVC, which is considered to be the most toxic of all plastics, and is found in more than 90% of today’s sticky mats. Alternative materials such as hemp, cotton, bamboo and other materials can be used instead of PVC when you are looking for a more organic or chemical-free experience, or simply to prevent allergic reactions.

Brett Simpson has practiced yoga for many years. For more useful articles, videos and a free eBook: Easing Your Stress With Yoga, visit his ~Dream Yoga~ website.

~Dream Yoga~
Your Yoga Resource
http://www.dreampublishers.com/healing/yoga/

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brett_A_Simpson/28477

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1766920

Posted on

Skiers Prone to Sore Calves

Canada is the pinnacle winter wonderland location, with so many incredible places to hit the slopes and go ski Canada. Shin bang and shin bite can turn an exciting day on the slopes into an uncomfortable experience. The rubbing caused by poorly fitted ski boots can make the skin on your calves, feet, and ankles raw from abrasion, which is exacerbated by the perspiration built up from intense activity. The skiers who are often most prone to sore calves are casual skiers, because they’ll likely be using poorly fitted rental boots instead of owning their own. Luckily, both boot issues are preventable.

Soreness Diagnosis

Identifying the type of soreness you’re prone to is the first step toward finding a solution. The most common types of soreness are known as shin bang and shin bite. Shin bang occurs when the tongue of the boot repeatedly hits the front of your calf and can manifest as a sharp pain in a small area in the lower part of your tibia. Shin bite is abrasion-related and is caused by the rubbing of a poorly fitted boot.

Painful Proposition

Sore calves are generally caused by abrasion or repeated impact during your descent. Skiing straight down the fall line quickly builds up an unreasonable amount of speed, so skiers traverse back and forth along the cliff face to control their rate of descent. Turning so frequently causes a lot of rubbing on your calves, because descending at an angle causes your calves to press up against the sides of your ski boot. The abrasion caused by the ski boot gets a lot worse if you’ve got moisture in your boot from perspiration or snow, or if you’re wearing a poorly fitted boot.

Preventative Medicine

The easiest way to address shin bang and shin bite is to prevent either from occurring in the first place. Properly fitted boots are the best solution, because they’ll allow less movement during your run. Have a professional in a ski shop measure your foot to determine the best size, and try on several pairs until you get the proper width and length. Ski boots are only manufactured in whole sizes; half sizes are compensated for with a liner. You’ll need to try on a few pairs to find one that gets closest to your actual size. Tucking a silicone or neoprene pad underneath the tongue of your boot before you lace up is the best way to address shin bang, although a well-fitted boot may be all you need.

Managing Moisture

Perspiration or snow in your ski boot can cause uncomfortably raw skin faster, because your skin naturally becomes slightly macerated when wet. A wool or synthetic ski sock instead of a cotton ski sock can go a long way, because these materials are hydrophobic and dry much faster. Wearing a thin liner sock underneath your thicker boot sock also gives you a defense against abrasion, because the socks can rub over each other instead of your skin.

Posted on

What is Waste Disposal?

Every country want to achieve a zero waste, some says recycling could be the answer but no, waste disposal Sydney team can handle that. Be it used plastic bag, broken glass, obsolete cell phone, or used battery cells, they are all used products that require appropriate disposal to limit their harm to the environment. Waste disposal is therefore a systematic action for managing waste from its origin to its final disposal. It includes incineration/burning, burial at landfill sites or discharge at sea/lake/river, and recycling.

WordWeb defines waste disposal as a “unit for getting rid of and destroying or storing used, damaged or other unwanted industrial, agricultural or domestic products and substances.” It also entails proper discard or discharge of the material waste in accordance with the local environmental regulatory framework. Because waste disposal involves a myriad of processes such as collection, transportation, dumping, recycling, or sewage treatment among other waste product monitoring and regulation measures, there are lots of problems associated with waste disposal. Here are the common waste disposal problems and their solutions.

Various Waste Disposal Problems

  1. Production of too much waste

One of the major waste disposal problems is attributed to the generation of too much waste. America alone is responsible for the producing of about 220 million tons of waste annually. In 2007 for instance, it’s recorded that Americans generated nearly 260 million tons of municipal solid waste. This is about 2.1 kg per person each day. The point is; if these are only figures in America, let’s try to imagine the amount of waste produced by the rest of the population across the globe.

According to the World Bank report, the average global municipal solid waste (MSW) generation per person on daily basis is about 1.2 kg and the figure is expected to rise up to 1.5 kg by 2025. It therefore means that every state and local authority suffer the problem of effective waste disposal due to the generation of too much waste. The problem is that the present era is driven by a throw-away consumerism with companies and producers striving to maximize profits by producing one-time use products without prioritizing on reuse, recycling or the use of environmentally friendly materials.

  1. Most of the waste is toxic

The majority of the state and local authority legislations are generally lax on regulating the ever-expanding manufacturing industries. On a daily basis, these industries produce toxic products that end up getting thrown away after use. Most of the products contain hazardous and health-threatening chemicals.

A report by the U.S. EPA indicates that more than 60,000 untested chemicals are present in the consumer products in our homes. There are even products known to contain toxic chemicals, such as Biphenyl-A (BPA) – often present in plastic toys, but they are still poorly regulated. Packaging is also one of the biggest and rapidly enlarging categories of solid waste which accounts for 30% of MSW and approximately 40% of the waste is plastic which is never biodegradable. It’s this level of toxicity together with the lax regulatory laws that exacerbates the problem of dealing with waste disposal.

  1. Landfills are a problem as well

Most landfills lack proper on-site waste management thereby contributing to additional threats to the environment. In the long-term, landfills leak and pollute ground water and other neighboring environmental habitats making waste management very difficult. They also give off potentially unsafe gases.

Also, the laws and regulation guiding the operations of landfills are often lax at monitoring and regulating the different types of wastes namely medical waste, municipal waste, special waste or hazardous waste. With this kind of laxity of the laws in landfill waste management, the landfills toxicity and hazardous nature significantly increases to a point where the landfill waste problems often lasts for up to 30 years.

  1. Regulations are based on vested interests

Since waste disposal and management has become a profit making venture, those who advocate for safe, quality and proper management of waste disposal are outmatched by industries in the business. Large enterprises in the waste disposal business dictate all aspects of the market from operating landfills, sewer systems and incinerators to recycling facilities. The corporations simply aim at making profits regardless of the waste reduction requirements or the resultant destructive environment impacts.

As such, they collaborate with vested interest regulators thereby creating a big problem in the effective regulation of waste disposal, which has worsened the devotions to waste reduction and recycling programs. To make matters worse, even some state officials work together with such industry officials to expand landfills, increase waste tonnage, and develop new waste disposal or recycling or treatment facilities to augment profits.

  1. Reliance of dying technologies to reduce and recycle waste

Waste disposal and management facilities as well as state resources have continued to rely on myopic and quickie solutions instead of developing effective recycling and waste reduction programs. Consequently, it has created continued reliance on the use of outdated technologies to deal with waste disposal. The problem is that most states are reluctant and less creative towards advancing novel technologies for reducing the toxicity and volume of waste or enhancing recycling, especially solid waste.

  1. Some of the technologies marked as “green” are not true in actual sense

Recycling technologies such as plasma arc, gasification, and pyrolysis are often marked as “green” but the truth of the matter is that they are not 100% green. These recycling technologies burn up waste with little or no oxygen and for this reason; it doesn’t differentiate them from the traditional incinerators which produce energy from burning waste.

As much as burning waste to produce energy is considered green because it does not involve the use fossil fuel, it still releases toxic materials into the environment. Also like the traditional waste incineration systems, these technologies emit toxic ash into the atmosphere that can potentially harm people’s health and the environment. Therefore, the technologies simply divert concentration from the development of cleaner recycling and waste reduction technologies.

Waste Disposal Solutions

Eco-responsibility – “Reduce, Re-use, Recycle”

Eco-responsibility pertains to the three Rs mantra of Re-use, Reduce, and Recycle. Local communities, authorities and states need to put more efforts towards the education of waste management. Essentially, the slogan can help reduce the levels of unsustainable waste that prove problematic in various environments across the globe. With the implementation and consistent practice of the three Rs, communities and local authorities as well as states will not only be able to manage waste but also move in the direction of achieving zero waste.

More emphasis should be placed on responsible resource use with an objective of avoidance, maximizing recycling and waste reduction methods. Avoidance and waste reduction involves techniques such as repair of broken things instead of buying new, purchasing and re-using second-hand items, and designing reusable and recyclable products.

Effective waste disposal and management

An effective strategy for municipal waste disposal and management can offer improved solutions for the various problems associated with waste materials. It ensures there is gradual improvement of new and cost-effective facilities which aim to encourage higher environmental protection standards. An effective management strategy will also see to it that landfills are purposefully located to ease waste collection, transfer, and monitoring or recycling. This can be achieved through the implementation of waste disposal plan which must include proper monitoring and regulation of municipal solid and food waste, livestock waste, sewage sludge, clinical waste, and construction waste.

Control and monitoring of land filling and fly-tipping activities

Thousands of tones of construction and demolition materials are generated by various local construction industries. In most cases, a large portion of these waste materials can be re-used, reclaimed or recycled. With the control and monitoring of land filling and fly-tipping activities in the area of public works, construction and demolition materials can be resourcefully reclaimed, reused or recycled in other projects such as landscaping, village houses, recreation facilities or car parks, or roads. By applying these techniques and monitoring fly-tipping activities, the construction and demolition materials that sometime go into landfills which further worsen the management of solid waste can easily be managed.

Waste Diversion Plans

A multifaceted approach on waste transfer and diversion in terms of more hygienic and efficient waste disposal management can offer tremendous solution to waste problems. To address most of the waste problems, especially landfills and sewer material, the local authorities and state waste management facilities need to formulate waste diversion plans, with an objective of making certain that there is convenient and proper waste disposal at landfills and waste transfer facilities. Measures such as mandating equipment standards and rerouting of refuse collection/transfer can enhance the environmental performance of waste disposal operations.

Improvements of thermal waste treatment

Thermal waste treatments have been proved not to be 100% green as they are normally pronounced. Therefore, to mitigate the problems that come with thermal waste treatments – (issues such as emission of toxic gases with organic compounds such as furans, PAHs, and dioxins); states and researchers as well as green groups and academicians can explore the possible developments with regards to advanced thermal waste treatment techniques. Appropriate and improved thermal waste treatment technology is important as a strategy for tackling the environmental concerns.

Polluter pays principle and eco-product responsibility

Polluter pay principle is where the law requires the polluter to pay for the impact caused to the environment. When it comes to waste management, the principle will require those who generate waste to pay for the suitable disposal of non-reclaimable materials. For the effectiveness of the pay principle, it should incorporate charging schemes on all waste disposal aspects including construction waste and domestic waste through public fill reception facilities.

Eco-product responsibility policy, on the other hand, is a tool for waste reduction, recovery and recycling. It is achieved by requiring producers, wholesalers, importers and retailers to share responsibility for the collection, treatment, disposal and recycling of used products with an aim of cutting back and steering clear of the environmental impacts caused by such products. All these measures must have a view to reduce wastage and encourage re-use and recycling.

Posted on

Too Old to Donate Blood?

Can you be too old to donate blood?

In general, you can never be too old to donate blood. Though you can be too young or too thin. Even small donations have an impact that’s the essence of donating to charity.

The American Association of Blood Banks used to bar people over 65 from donating blood, but it scrapped the rule in 1978 after studies found that older people who stored their own blood prior to surgery did well, said Dr. Steven Kleinman, the association’s senior medical adviser. Now most blood banks are happy to accept blood from older volunteers.

“We found over time that individuals who are older do just fine donating blood, as long as they don’t have certain medical conditions that make them ineligible,” said Dr. Ross Herron, the chief medical officer of the West division of the American Red Cross, which collects 40 percent of the blood supply in the United States.

Individual blood banks and states, though, can impose additional regulations. New York, for example, requires hospitals and blood centers to review the eligibility of would-be donors over the age of 75 on a case-by-case basis.

And all prospective blood donors are asked to fill out a detailed health history questionnaire to rule out medical problems that bar them from donating, such as dementia, a recent history of cancer or heart disease, viral hepatitis, H.I.V. infection and heart rhythm disorders like atrial fibrillation. Taking certain medications, including anticoagulants, will also make you ineligible to donate.

Blood banks also require donors to weigh at least 110 pounds, and more in some cases. Minimum weight and height requirements are also typically imposed on younger adults and minors, who often require parental permission. Bloodworks Northwest, for example, requires first-time donors who are 16 and 17 to weigh at least 114 pounds. United Blood Services has both height and weight requirements for donors ages 16 to 22. Young people, especially those who are underweight, are more prone to fainting, the most common complication of giving blood, than older donors.

Blood donors may also be rejected for other reasons, including intravenous drug use or a history of certain infections or travel to areas where certain infections are common. The Food and Drug Administration also bars men who have had sex with men within the past year from donating blood.

Posted on

How to Increase Your Core Flexibility: Pilates for Beginners at Home

Dynamic Pilates Manly studios specialises in athletic, high intensity, low impact Pilates classes. Looking to get a strong, lean body without spending countless hours doing exercises in the gym? A strong, toned body doesn’t always have to come from lifting weights. You can just as easily get a greast full body strength workout at home with just your yoga mat and a Pilates routine. Pilates not only tightens and tones your muscles, it also strengthens your body and increases your core flexibility. It involves workouts comprised of precise moves and specific breathing techniques. So why choose Pilates? Read on to learn more about why you should choose to add this Pilates workout for beginners to your regular fitness routine. Sara is wearing the Ultimate Sports Bra for support during her workout! 

So What is Pilates Exactly?

Pilates is a form of exercise that uses controlled movements designed to improve physical strength, flexibility, and posture. The movements focus primarily on your core to condition your body and build stronger, more sculpted muscles without any excess bulk. The result is a sleek, toned body. Pilates can also help to improve your posture from the ab and back strength you’ll gain through the controlled movements.

There are two different forms of Pilates – one is mat based while the other uses large pieces of equipment generally found only in Pilates studios. The mat based form of Pilates is the most popular (and the one we will be focusing on for this post) and can easily be done at home. All you need is an exercise mat and a routine to follow as shown below by our Shefit Founder Sara Marie Moylan.

What are the benefits of Pilates?

1. Pilates Is for Everyone!

Pilates can be done by anyone – man, woman, young or old. No matter your age or physical ability, you can do Pilates. There are thousands of possible exercises and modifications, so it can be adapted to fit an individual’s needs – from the absolute beginner to the seasoned athlete.

2. Pilates Works Your Core

One of the key components of Pilates is the emphasis oncore strength. The core is the “powerhouse” of the body – Pilates strengthens and conditions the core while simultaneously working your arms and legs. The exercises focus on movements and positions that not only activate your core but also rely on your extremities (arms and legs) for control.

3. Pilates Is Good for Your Posture

One of the main components of Pilates is the connection between mind and body and the overall awareness of how your body moves. As a result, you become more aware of the placement of your spine and pelvis, especially during your Pilates routine.

4. Pilates Increases Energy

Like yoga, Pilates teaches you how to focus on the correct way to breathe. You’ll breathe more deeply, providing your body with more oxygen and thus increasing your energy levels. Once you finish your Pilates routine, you’ll find yourself feeling more energized, de-stressed, peaceful and relaxed.

5. Pilates Improves the Mind/Body Connection

Pilates workouts are designed to improve your balance and coordination by teaching a stronger connection between the mind and the body. Pilates movements are done with control and focus to help you become more aware of your alignment.

6. Pilates Improves Balance and Co-ordination

Because of its strong focus on the core, Pilates helps to improve your overall balance by stabilizing your core. The movements of Pilates work the small, deep muscles in your.

Posted on

Risk Control Hierarchy Refines Electrical Safety

Electrician Brisbane Southside can undertake as small a job as installing a ceiling fan in your home to providing all the electrical services needed for a new commercial or residential build. In the late 1880s, a young boy was electrocuted when he accidentally touched an unlabeled, energized telegraph wire. That incident ignited an inventor by the name of Harold Pitney Brown to make an impassioned plea in a New York Post editorial to limit telegraph transmissions to what he considered a safer level of 300 Volts.

Perhaps Harold thought that limiting electrical transmissions to levels of 300 Volts or less would provide instant electrical safety. With over 120 years of hindsight, we view things much differently today. Yet, Harold stumbled across two important concepts. The notion of “300 Volts” is a technical discussion about the laws of electrical energy (Ohm’s Law, etc) that lends understanding to how electrical energy can kill or maim. On the other hand, the term “safe” reflects a working knowledge of the fundamental principles of safety. Our challenge is to combine our technical understanding of electricity with the principles of safety to ensure electrical safety is both practical and effective. The better we understand both concepts the greater the likelihood we will have to improve the status quo. The Risk Control Hierarchy (RCH) does an excellent job in blending these two key concepts.

Risk Control Hierarchy

The heartbeat of safety is the Risk Control Hierarchy (RCH), which is found in Appendix G of the ANSI Z10 Standard. The RCH helps us prioritize safety initiatives from least effective to most effective. For example, will you be safer wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle or by selling it altogether? Obviously, selling the motorcycle eliminates the risk of an accident, while wearing a helmet offers protection to your head from the risk of a head injury during an accident. The RCH works by helping us rank risk reduction measures from most effective to least effective as per below:

1.) Eliminating the risk.
2.) Substituting a lesser risk.
3.) Engineering around risk.
4.) Awareness of every risk.
5.) Administrate and regulate behavior around risk.
6.) Protect workers while exposed to risk.

Note that each step above is equally important, yet not equally effective in protecting workers. Eliminating a risk is the most effective way to keep workers safe while protection from a risk by using Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is least effective. There have been great improvements in the design of PPE, but its primary purpose is keeping workers alive – not 100% safe.

Safety and Risk

Risk, which is defined as exposure to a hazard, is two-pronged. There is the probability of exposure and severity of potential injury. For example, a 120V outlet is a greater risk than a 13.8KV switchgear line-up because more people are exposed to the 120V outlet. Since risk is exposure to hazards, then safety is the reduction and management of risk. The management responsibility of an electrical safety program typically falls to an electrical engineer because he or she understands electricity. In our modern world we can never eliminate the risk, but are very good at finding new ways to reduce risk.

Another way to look at risk is the chart (Figure 2) developed by Ray Jones which shows the relationship between the worker and the safety infrastructure above him. A worker performing tasks must make many complex and specific the decisions that affect his safety. In the case of electrical safety, energy isolation is very personal for electricians facing deadly electrical energy every time they open a panel. By the time they touch electricity, it’s too late.

Zero Energy Verification–Is There Voltage?

Electrical accidents are impossible without electrical energy. If an electrician comes into direct contact with electrical energy, there is a 5% fatality rate. Shocks and burns comprise the remaining 95%. The NFPA 70e is very specific on how to isolate electrical energy. First, all voltage sources must be located and labeled. Multiple voltage sources are commonplace today due to the proliferation of back-up generators and UPS’s. Next, voltage testing devices must be validated using the LIVE-DEAD-LIVE procedure. Additionally, the voltage tester must also physically contact the voltage and must verify each phase voltage to ground.

The RCH and Electrical Safety

How does the RCH apply to electrical safety?
1. Elimination -Removing all electrical energy exposure.
2. Substitution -Lowering the electrical energy exposure.
3. Engineering Controls -Reinventing ways to control electrical energy exposure.
4. Awareness -Revealing and labeling all sources of electrical energy.
5. Administrative Controls -Regulations that teach personnel safety around electrical energy.
6. Personal Protection -Reducing risks of working on live voltage.

Electrical workers are exposed to the greatest risks at the lower levels of the RCH. Recognizing that these ‘residual risks’ are present; the NFPA 70e tells workers how to perform their work safely in spite of these risks. In fact a large portion of the NFPA 70e details how to best manage these risks through Awareness, Administration, and Personal Protection. On the other hand, the greatest opportunity for risk reduction comes by focusing in the upper part of the RCH. Huge improvements in electrical safety will come by Eliminating Substituting, and Engineering solutions that manage electrical energy exposure.
The Department of Energy (DOE)

For better insight into the RCH process, let’s look at a 2005 Department of Energy report on their electrical safety record. This report cited six reasons for their 14.1 electrical incidents per month.
Within this DOE report, “hazard identification” [Table 1] stood out as an administrative control issue resulting in numerous electrical incidents. The solution was to get tougher administrators or look for improvements higher up in the RCH. Right above Administrative Controls (see Figure 1) we learn that increasing employee’s awareness of electrical hazards will reduce these types of incidents. A potential solution is to label and mark all voltage sources (hazards) feeding the electrical system. Voltage indicators and voltage portals wired to each voltage source provides two benefits: It identifies the voltage source and provides a means to check the status of that voltage source without exposure to voltage. Apply the same process to “LO/TO violations”.

CAUSES OF INCIDENTS PRESENT RCH PRINCIPLE INCREASED RISK REDUCTION RCH PRINCIPLE Lack of hazard identification.

ADMINISTRATIVE Properly administrating NFPA 70e requires all electrical enclosures to have warning labels with incident energy level (calories). AWARENESS /ELIMINATION Marking all energy sources on the panel exterior provides personnel with simple yet safe hazard identification.

LO/TO violations including shortcuts or lack of energy verification

ADMINISTRATIVE Can the LO/TO procedure be rewritten to reduce exposure to voltage?

ELIMINATION /SUBSTITUTION Thru-door voltage pre-checking ‘eliminates’ all exposure to voltage for mechanical LO/TO* and provide significant risk reduction for Electrical LO/TO.

Reducing electrical energy to Cat 0/1 will greatly reduce the potential arc flash energy SUBSTITUTION Lowering the arc flash energy effectively ‘substitutes’ for a lower risk for a higher risk.

Elimination: The Hall of Fame of Safety

We can enter the Electrical Safety Hall of Fame by finding ways to eliminate voltage exposure. Here are a few practical examples that can be implemented today:
o Mechanical Lock-out Tag-out [LOTO]: LOTO procedures requiring electricians to verify zero energy before performing mechanical maintenance needlessly exposes workers to voltage. Since all voltages do not create mechanical motion, through-door voltage checking devices as part of a mechanical LOTO procedure will eliminate voltage exposure (see Appendix B).
o Why open a control panel? What maintenance functions can be moved to the outside of the panel? Thru-door data access ports are becoming commonplace because they allow programming with the panel door closed (Figure 3). A more recent example is an unmanaged Ethernet switch mounted outside the panel. This unique device allows full through-door access for a worker to troubleshoot and reset the Ethernet switch (Figure 4). What other devices can be re-engineered around through-door electrical safety? Perhaps putting certain branch circuit breakers on the outside of the panel is a good application?
o Control Panel Design: Provide a physical separation between the power and control compartments within an enclosure may become a standard. Voltages under 50 volts are considered safe, so reducing the control power to 24VDC makes the control power section safe to work on while it is energized.
These above examples are only ‘scratching the surface’, so I challenge you to find ways to eliminate voltage exposure.

Conclusion

When safety works perfectly, nothing happens! When there is an incident or a close call the RCH should be an inspiration to find a better way. By applying the RCH principles to electrical safety risks, it will open our eyes to see more practical ways to reduce those risks. Perhaps, we would expend more resources finding electrical safety solutions that will provide both higher safety and productivity dividends.

Harold Pitney Brown intuitively knew that eliminating risks would save lives. He just got one detail wrong when he thought that 300 Volts was not a risk. Now for the rest of the story: To prove that AC voltage is more lethal than DC, Thomas Edison hired Harold Pitney Brown to develop the first electric chair that executed William Kemmler on August 6, 1890. So much for electrical safety!

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Philip_B_Allen/544420

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3679965