EcoWalktheTalk » LIVING TIPS Asia's Environmental Community featuring Eco News, Insights, People and Living Tips Sat, 04 Jan 2014 03:59:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Soda blues: What you’re really sipping Sat, 18 Aug 2012 03:08:37 +0000  


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Harmful Soda
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The why and how of your own urban garden Thu, 02 Aug 2012 04:19:30 +0000 By Preethi Sukumaran

Just like there’s a billion dollar business idea and a New York Times bestseller in each of us, so too lurks a farmer in each of us – with the urge to grow beautiful living things.

Scientists with clever sounding PhD thesis topics have tried to explain this urge to grow new life in different ways: they use displacement theory to explain our emotional need to stay grounded as we keep moving from our roots as a reason to nurture new life and connect with the soil.

Our prehistoric ancestors did forest gardening where they tried to improve their jungle environment by cultivating useful vines and trees, while eliminating gradually undesirable trees.

As civilisations grew, gardens were created purely for aesthetic reasons. Egyptian tomb paintings around 1500 BC depict ornamental horticulture and landscape design. Our school history books talk about the Hanging gardens of Babylon, considered so beautiful that they were called a wonder of the world.

I went to a different kind of gardening workshop recently. The practitioners of these kinds of gardens have very limited space, use extreme ingenuity, and apart from providing spots of greenery for everyone to enjoy, practice sustainability of a very immediate nature – they bring down their food miles to zero, eating what they grow.

Welcome to urban city farms!

If this is your introduction to city farms, 2 important concepts need to be understood before we proceed further: food miles and food security.

What are food miles and why I should care about how long my food travels before it reaches me?

Food miles is a term coined in the early 90s by Professor Tim Lang at the Sustainable Agriculture Food and Environment Alliance (SAFE). Food Miles is a factor used to assess the environmental impact of food, that measures the distance food is transported from the place of production until it reaches you.

So simply put, the Food miles measures how far your apple has travelled to reach you. For example:

  1. Since 1970, 60% of U.K’s apple orchards have been lost, and U.K now imports half a million tonnes of apples every year, half from outside the E.U, even though the climate in U.K is ideally suited to growing apples

I must confess Food Miles is a simplistic concept that should be used directionally. For example, there is a lot of debate on the quality of food miles vs. looking at just the number of miles a food has travelled to reach you. For example, Britain consumes tomatoes from both Spain and Mexico. If you look at just the number of miles each tomato travels, it may seem better to adopt the Spanish tomato.

However the Spanish tomato is grown in heated glass houses that consume electricity. So if you consider both miles travelled and production conditions, the Mexican tomato is a better bet for the U.K.

Having said that, food miles is an interesting indicator to look at how far our sourcing net is growing and its unintended consequences.

When I was growing up, I never tasted or even saw a blueberry. I wondered how it would taste, as I was regaled with descriptions of blueberries in the books I read. Today imported blueberries and Chinese apples are available in supermarkets throughout the year in Chennai. They travel insane distances, are plucked un-ripe, stored in a blast chiller and ripened quickly with chemicals to reach me living thousands of miles away in Chennai.

High food miles, directionally have 3 important implications on us:

  1. Potentially harmful access to out of season foods
  2. Higher environment costs (as these foods need to be processed, stored and prepared for our consumption)
  3. Loss of local farmland as we come to depend on a more central system of obtaining produce(which we will discuss next) and other foods leading to large monoculture farms which have a direct effect on the soil and its fertility

What is Food Security?

Food security refers to the availability of food and our access to food. A household is considered food secure when no member lives in fear of hunger and starvation.

Although the global per capita food production has been increasing steadily from the 1960s, 2007 – 2008 saw a food crisis triggered by high food prices around the world. Studies show that the gradual change of diet among newly developed nations like India and China is one of the important factors leading to the food price crisis. The high demand for processed and value added foods ( think burgers, fries, meat) has led to a huge amount of grain being used for feed lots. 

For example a kilogram of beef requires seven kilograms of feed grain!

The diversion of food grain into bio fuels like ethanol is another large cause of the food price crisis. The single largest use of ethanol is as a motor fuel and fuel additive. Brazil has the largest national fuel ethanol industry; gasoline sold in Brazil contains 25% ethanol.The U.S which is the next largest ethanol fuel industry makes its ethanol from corn.

Therefore usage in industrial, feed and input intensive value-added foods have contributed to price increases.

This in turn leads to less food being available for human consumption especially among developing and poor people where a family’s budget available to buy food per day is limited.

How does all of this affect me?

Globalisation and centralisation of produce means that you experience the following:

  1. There is less food available for the people who need it the most
  2. You eat tired fruits and vegetables that travel far before they reach you
  3. They are stored or artificially processed taking away their nutrition
  4. They support a centralised agriculture system which means large monoculture farms -> which means a higher amount of pesticides and fertilizers -> more toxic food + less fertile soil
  5. You eat fruits and vegetables out of season as they are increasingly grown in areas unsuitable to their natural cycle, and out of season.
  6. Your fruits and vegetables become more expensive as they travel long distances, need energy intensive resources to store them and need to be processed and cleansed so that they can look better when they reach you.

But I buy vegetables from my local vegetable cart / supermarket / organic food store- isn’t that local?

You would be surprised. Curry leaves (used extensively in Chennai) comes from our neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh– no vegetable vendor sells curry leaves that are grown in and around Chennai where I live. This is despite the fact the karuveppilai (curry leaf) trees abound and are seen in many homes. The aroma of the Andhra curry leaf, and perhaps the lack of attention paid to home grown curry leaves has pushed the local curry leaf out of the window.

Hing (again another staple of south Indian food) comes all the way from Afghanistan.

This is in a large part influenced by availability of farm land and our ever expanding palette.

In Chennai, as would be the case in most large cities, as the city expands, agricultural land has been swallowed by residential high rises, offices and factories. As industrialisation grows, the distance between us and our food increases.

Despite the best efforts of many good organic food stores to source produce locally, a complete range of fruits and vegetables that we take for granted, is simply not available around the places we live. Most of it has to travel atleast overnight before it reaches us.

So do I have to grow everything I eat? Isn’t that difficult / impractical to do? And where’s the space?

No you don’t have to grow everything you eat; atleast not right now. But what I am suggesting is that you start growing some of what you eat.

The advantages to growing some part of your food are numerous. You have access to fresh, organically grown greens, herbs or spices pretty much from your balcony – no need to make a trip and waste fuel, or eat wilted veggies which have travelled in a bus.

You get to re-connect with the soil – a therapy recommended to urban dwellers – a patch of green, is said to lighten the blackest mood!

You get to re-connect with your food in a very special way. Not long ago, most food (for me) came out of a packet. Then as I made several life changes, I looked forward to vegetable bazaar days when I would marvel over beautiful red tomatoes and earthy potatoes and carrots with their leaves intact. Fresh produce straight from the soil, is full of nutritional goodness and is emotionally satisfying to eat, in a way processed food can never be.

OK, I’m in. How do I start?

Here is our downloadable guide which takes you through some baby steps to get you started on your own urban garden. A lot of the information here comes from the urban gardening workshop I attended courtesy my favourite organic store, reStore.

Happy Gardening! – Please download, try and share.

The Krya Sustainable Urban Living guide: Baby steps to growing your own food


About the Guest Writer:

Preethi Sukumaran

Preethi is the CEO and Co-Founder of Krya Consumer Products. Preethi is most happy working at new product development and loves diving into her library, scouting out high quality ingredients, reading up on the latest research, and spending hours at her lab creating newer sustainable goodies.

Krya, is an India based sustainable consumer products, e-commerce company.  Krya creates environment friendly plant-based alternatives to everyday consumer products. Krya is a vegan organisation as are its founders. Find Krya on Facebook. Preethi & her husband Srinivas write a blog on sustainable urban living here.


Further links you may be interested in: 

1.  EWTT: Soapberries: The Eco-friendly cleaning solution



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Winged Bean: The single species supermarket Tue, 01 May 2012 15:16:11 +0000 By Bhavani Prakash

Many plant species can lay claim to being a ‘single species supermarket’ where several if not all parts of the plant can be used productively for food, fibre and/or fuel. Three that I have grown up with in tropical Asia are the coconut palm, the moringa (drumstick tree), and banana plant which are understandably interwoven into our food culture and tradition.

Winged Bean

As an organic food gardener, it has been a pleasure to discover another ‘single species supermarket’ that delights with its generosity, and demands so little in terms of maintenance by fixing its nitrogen requirements from the atmosphere, and by surviving clayey soils and the alternating tropical heat and torrential downpours. The vegetable I’m referring to is the winged bean or Psophocarpus tetragonolobus.

Winged Bean growing on a fence

It’s amenable to growing in an apartment balcony, as long as there is a railing for support, and a deep and wide pot.  A planter or bed alongside a fence would be ideal. More widely used in Malay cuisine, you may occasionally stumble upon it in the wet markets of Singapore, and more rarely in air-conditioned supermarkets. This article hopefully makes a strong case for reviving this wonder veggie back into urban food gardens of tropical Asia.

A vintage article on the internet (considering the age of the internet, 1982 can be considered as such) by the New York Times claims, “Winged Bean hailed as a potent weapon against malnutrition”  It says:

Winged Bean root sold in Myanmar market Source: Wikipedia

Among those who study it, the winged bean is known as ”a supermarket on a stalk” because it combines the desirable characteristics of the green bean, garden pea, spinach, mushroom, soybean, bean sprout and potato. Save for the stalk, virtually the entire plant is fit for human consumption – from flowers and leaves to tuberous roots and seeds.

Theodore Hymowitz, an agronomist at the University of Illinois who is a member of the Academy’s panel on the winged bean, said, ”it’s like an ice cream cone – you eat the whole thing.”


Wikipedia traces the origin of the winged bean. “Also known as the Goa bean and Asparagus pea, Four-angled bean and Winged pea, is a tropical legume plant native to New Guinea. It grows abundantly in hot, humid equatorial countries, from the Philippines and Indonesia to India,Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka.”

Nutritive value: 

According to Appropedia,

The leaves have a relatively low Iysine content but an uncommonly high content of tryptophan, a nutritionally essential amino acid. Even a small amount of winged bean leaves can thus greatly improve tryptophan-deficient diets- for example, those based on corn.

Winged Bean leaves

Adding cooked winged bean leaves to the diets of weaned infants and preschool children should be beneficial because of the favorable content of minerals, and especially of the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene. The amount of vitamin A equivalent in winged bean leaves (up to 20,000 international units per 100 g of edible portion) ranks among the highest ever recorded in green leaves of tropical plants.” This is important; in some developing nations many children go blind because of vitamin A deficiency.

Winged Bean Flower

A variety of greens including winged beans should provide malnourished children with Vitamin A, rather than exotic solutions such as the genetically modified Golden Rice which has Vitamin A injected into the DNA of the rice. As famed pro-organic farming activist Vandana Shiva points out, “Golden rice genetically engineered to increase Vitamin A produces 70 times less Vitamin A than available alternatives such as coriander leaves and curry leaves.”

Recipe Ideas:

Here are some dishes I’ve tried out with organically grown winged bean, straight out of my balcony garden. I cook out of intuition mostly, so would be hard-pressed to give exact proportions for the ingredients. Let the list give some cues at least as to what have been used.

1. Winged Bean Curry

Winged Bean Curry

Toss into cooking oil some sliced red chilli and garlic, and then once they are sauted, add chopped winged bean, some salt, and a dash of soy sauce. Stir fry very quickly. Optional: turmeric while frying and a touch of lime juice at the end.


2. Curry with tender Winged Bean leaves

Curry with tender leaves of Winged Bean

Steam tender winged bean leaves for a few minutes, then add sauted cumin seeds, onions, chopped ginger, garlic, green chillis, salt and pepper to taste. Use coconut shavings as dressing. Optional: turmeric on the greens to retain colour.


3. Salad with Winged Bean flower 

Salad with Winged Bean flower

You can use winged bean flower in any salad of your choice. Here I’ve used purple cabbage, cucumber, red peppers, cherry tomatoes and alfafa sprouts, with winged bean flower as a pretty contrast to the array of colours. The flower is gently sweet to taste. My favourite salad dressing: olive oil, salt, pepper, flax seed powder and nutritional yeast, with a capful of organic apple cider vinegar for the tanginess.

4. Paratha/flat bread with tender leaves

Winged Bean tender leaves in Paratha/Flat Bread

Make a dough for paratha/flat bread with a bit of sesame oil and water, and knead in chopped winged bean leaves, and any flavourings of your choice. I normally use cumin and coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric, carrom seeds (Ajwain), and salt to taste. Then roll out the paratha or flat bread and cook on a pan over the fire with or without a little oil.


Do let us know if you have grown or cooked winged bean, and if there’s an insight or recipe that you can share with us. We’d love to hear from you!






Further links you may be interested in:

YouTube: Forgotten Foods: Cooking with Amaranth

EWTT: Reading Food Labels: Food Additives 


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Flavourings: Tweaking tastes and creating cravings Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:50:30 +0000 By Bhavani Prakash

Don’t most processed foods such as chocolates, crisps and beverages taste so addictively good? One of the reasons is because there’s a plethora of chemicals that is diligently researched and added to various products, so much so that we the customers are often fooled into believing that they taste even better than the real thing. And what’s more, we’re left craving for more and more.

The flavouring industry is a multi-billion dollar one, and is often shrouded in secrecy given that each chemical formulation representing a specific nuance of flavour is an intellectual property right.  More worrisome is the fact that our taste buds are being manipulated for the pure purpose of generating more and more sales for food processing companies.

Here is a must see video which goes behind the scenes to uncover the true role of  a flavorist.  Be shocked. Be disgusted. But do consider doing yourself and your family a favour after watching this. Read your food labels more carefully, and reduce the amount of processed foods that you consume. Instead try fresh, local, and preferably home-made dishes, as you can be reasonably sure what goes into them.

 Video link here 

Further links you may be interested in: 

EWTT:  Reading Food Labels: Food Additives

EWTT: How to find Hidden Palm Oil in Supermarkets 

Tribe Magazine: Natural Flavours That Just A’int Natural 


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How can I convince my friend to use the stairs? Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:37:54 +0000 by James H. Wandersee and Renee M. Clary

As someone who is interested in green living, you are no doubt aware of the benefits of indoor and outdoor walking–both for people and for the Earth. So it is likely that, whenever you find yourself inside a multistory building, you consciously choose to use the stairs, rather than the elevator or escalator…(wink). But, let’s imagine you have a friend who never takes the stairs whenever he can ride to the floor of his destination. How can you convince him to walk between floors? In this article, we will share some scientific research findings that you could use in your attempts to persuade him. Peer-to-peer informal education can be a powerful tool for changing behavior.

Talking Point 1:  Choosing to use stairs is a personal health investment decision

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Missouri conducted two different studies in Copenhagen, Denmark. These were published in the well-respected Journal of the American Medical Association. In the first study, participants were asked to reduce the number of footsteps they took each day from 6,000 to 1,400 for a time-span of three weeks. Instead of walking or taking the stairs, participants were instructed to use motorized transportation (such as a car, bus, escalator, or elevator) in every situation possible. The second study asked participants who were initially more active, averaging 10,000 steps per day, to reduce their activity to 1,400 steps per day for two weeks.

A Chinese wrought iron stairway Image credit:

To establish a basis of comparison for our readers, the number of steps the average American adult takes per day is about 7,500, although Americans who are inactive typically take about 2,100 steps each day. Blood tests after each intervention of reduced stepping revealed that subjects experienced accumulation of dangerous abdominal fat, while also developing elevated blood-lipids–a warning sign of pre-diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The studies’ implications are that if you choose passive modes of transport and abstain from routine exercise, then your risk of chronic diseases is likely to increase dramatically. The researchers also found that their subjects’ total skeletal and muscle mass in the body decreased when activity decreased. Thus, stair walking has the potential to improve health, longevity, and physical fitness.

Talking Point 2.  “Step away” from being labeled sedentary

A study published In the journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise tracked the steps of 1,136 adults around the United States who wore pedometers for two days. The results were compared to similar pedometer studies in Switzerland, Australia, and Japan. The data collected showed that Americans, on average, took 5,117 steps a day– far short of the averages in western Australia (9,695 steps), Switzerland(9,650 steps) and Japan (7,168 steps). The US fitness gap detected by the pedometer studies is equal to about 30 to 40 minutes of brisk walking per day. One mile of walking encompasses about 2,000 steps, those researchers say. The health community typically urges people to take at least 10,000 steps a day to maintain good health–which is equal to about five miles of walking.

Example of a step counter made in China - Image:

Interestingly, being single was correlated with taking more steps. Single people in the study averaged 6,076 daily steps, compared with 4,793 steps for married people. Widowed participants moved the least, averaging 3,394 daily steps. The step-deficit problem isn’t just an issue in the United States. Big city living, especially in a hot climate tends to lower the inhabitants’ average steps per day.

Singaporean sports conditioning specialist, Jonathan Wong, has noted that “currently, the average sedentary person living in an urban setting takes 900 to 3,000 steps a day.” If your non-stair-walking friend wishes to avoid the precarious health status label of sedentary, he needs to know that persons are considered sedentary if they move less than 5,000 steps per day. Notably, the countries that reported high average daily steps also have lower obesity rates. In early 2011, Singapore’s  Health Promotion Board (HPB) revealed that the obesity rate in Singapore has increased to 10.8 per cent, up from 6.9 per cent in 2004.

Talking Point 3.  Previous generations walked more than we do  

In bygone days, taking an elevator was considered a luxury, because major stairways between floors of tall buildings were the norm and the wait-time for elevators in a multistory building was substantial. Nobody who was just going up or down one or two floors used an elevator. In that time period, everyone in society walked—a lot. In the US, Amish rural communities are known for their simple living, plain clothing, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. Their anachronistic lifestyle can serve as a proxy for that of past, less technological, more muscle-powered generations.

Amish barn raising that uses only hand tools - Image Credit:

A 2004 study used pedometers to study movement among adults in Amish farming communities. That study found that Amish men took on average, more than 18,000 steps a day, and Amish women averaged more than 14,000 steps a day—at least three times more steps than is typical today!  If we use these Amish as a proxy for members of a mid-19th-century farming society, it suggests that there has been a tremendous decline in the last century-and-a-half in the amount of walking people do. We know that a 150-pound person can burn 274 calories simply by walking 30 minutes—this has not changed. In view of walking’s historical decline, consider this: Has caloric intake declined by 66% in parallel with today’s less active lifestyle’s energy requirements?  If not, the mismatch is sure to have health consequences.

Image Credit:

Mahatma Gandhi walked—240 miles, in one instance. His famous 1930 salt march helped free India from British control. Johnny Appleseed walked—planting apple tree nurseries as he journeyed across the Midwest, and he is admired for it by countless US school children to this very day. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. walked—his 250,000-person “March on Washington” for jobs and civil rights will never be forgotten.  America’s most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist, John Muir, walked 1,000 mile—from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, choosing the “wildest, leafiest, and least trodden way I could find.” Marco Polo traveled through the Middle East, India, Asia, and China—it took him four years to walk across mountains and deserts to reach China!

“We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk!” said Professor and Kenyan Nobel laureate, Wangari Maathai. How many trees did Wangari Maathai and her followers plant in Africa? More than 40 million. That took lots of walking to accomplish. In view of such inspiring examples, can any able-bodied person today legitimately say that he or she cannot “endure the hardship” of walking the stairs?  


Talking Point 4.  Don’t “go with the flow”

Human are “creatures of habit.” Olander and Eves studied elevator availability and its impact on stair use in a workplace. Their study investigated the impact of elevator availability, pedestrian traffic (number of persons using the elevator and stairs per minute), building occupancy (total individuals in the building) and time of day on stair ascent and descent within a multistory workplace. Stair and elevator choices were monitored by automatic counters on every day of the week. In a natural experiment, days with four available elevators were compared with days when three elevators were available. Stair use increased for three elevators compared to four. Increasing building occupancy was associated with increased stair use, while increasing pedestrian traffic and time of day were associated with reduced stair use. Increased stair use also reflected increased elevator waiting times. Being aware of such natural human tendencies allows one to compensate for them.

Talking Point 5.  Stair walking can help save the planet  

In an article entitled: What’s the greenest way to get to the second floor?, Rastogi (2010) compared energy usage of escalators and elevators. She noted that “a continuously running escalator of the kind you’d find in airports or subway stations—35 feet high with a 40 horsepower motor—would use around 60,000 kilowatt hours annually [which would require about 243 tons of coal to be burned]. For comparison’s sake, the average American home consumes 11,040 kilowatt hours in a year.” Escalators that are designed to stop running when nobody is riding on them save only a modest amount of electricity in many locations, due to the frequent start-up power required. These are, however,  not very common–due to liability issues because their motion is less predictable by the rider which can cause falls, and because people who see a stopped escalator tend to assume it’s broken.

NYC Building signage encouraging people to choose to use the stairs - Image Credit

Although concise data are hard to obtain from industry sources, escalators seem to be the bigger electricity users—particularly as buildings get taller—using about 30% more energy thn elevators. Plus, in multistory buildings, each floor needs both an “up” and a “down” escalator, which increases installation cost, compared to an elevator. The bigger an escalator is—the higher it rises and the wider its steps—the more energy it uses. Choices–stairs and escalators at the newest subway station in Singapore

Escalator in Singapore subway(MRT) station - Image Credit

There’s a simple way for your friend to reduce his energy footprint on the way to becoming a full-time stairs user: Use the stairs on the way up, and ride the escalator on the way down. On an “up” escalator, each added passenger makes the motor work a little harder to pull the steps upward. But on a “down” escalator—whose motor is also located at the top of the unit—each additional passenger helps the motor do its job, thanks to the action of gravity. Escalators work best when moving  big throngs of people. That’s why they’re so common in subway stations, where you often have waves of people, all needing to exit at the same time. For multilevel locations with lighter pedestrian traffic, elevators come out ahead, because they can speedily move small groups of passengers in either direction using the same conveyance, yet use very little electricity when idle and have no increased resumed-start-up costs.

Elevators at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Singapore - Image Credit: Image credit:

Although riding an elevator may be slightly better for the biosphere than taking an escalator, the bottom line is this—neither compares well with walking the stairs. The marginal cost of stair walking is near zero, and, arguably, negative–because of the significant health benefits typically gained—with almost no impact on natural resources, no increase in pollution, and almost no health risks.

Talking Point 6.  We can make stair walking more attractive to people

In their journal article: The Use of Prompts, Increased Accessibility, Visibility, and Aesthetics of the Stairwell to Promote Stair Use in a University Building,  researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands conducted a study to see whether increasing the attractiveness and accessibility of a stairway had an impact on stair use among students and employees of that university. A total of 21,786 observations were made. Findings revealed that total stair use increased significantly, by 8.2%, and that these effects remain stable over the 4-week post-intervention period. Stair use was found to be positively and continuously influenced by improving the stairway environment.

An interesting Singapore art museum stairway - Image Credit:

Some of the main reasons people give for not taking the stairs is that they are unattractive, unpleasant, or unsafe. Making stairways more attractive is one of the easiest ways to encourage stair use. Recommended strategies with some evidence of success include:

  • Put up point-of-decision signage (e.g. “Consider Taking the Stairs” signs beside the elevator buttons) and post directional signage that points people to where the stairs are located.
  • Decorate and paint stairway walls; mount informative posters along stairways and use bright colors of wall paint.
  • Stairways with windows at intervals en route enable stair walkers to experience new and varying vistas.
  • Install a background music system in stairways to make walking a restorative interlude.
  • Increase and improve lighting along stairways–for both attractiveness and safety.
  • Ensure that stair surfaces are made of non-slip material. Provide edge-markers to allow people to see where stairs start and end (essential for the visually impaired).
  • Keep stairway doors to the floors unlocked—so no one can become trapped inside.
  • Add cameras/mirrors to stairways to increase personal safety.
  • Improve air circulation  along stairways to eliminate stagnant or musty odors.
  • Maintain stairways daily to ensure that any hazards on steps are promptly removed (e.g., litter, water, food residue).
  • Make stairways more accessible to all age groups and abilities by retrofitting them with easy-to-use door handles; easy-to-grip, secure handrails; and easy-swing/easy-shut doors to help ensure everyone will be comfortable taking the stairs

Talking Point 7. Research shows that stair walking pays big dividends

What are some other research-documented health benefits of stair walking?

  • Stair climbing is possible in many workplaces and requires no special equipment in order to participate (Canada’s Physical Activity Guide).
  • A significantly lower risk of mortality was indicated in studies where participants climbed more than 55 flights per week. (Paffenbarger &  associates. 1993).
  • Stair climbing increased leg power in the elderly and may help in reducing the risk of injury from any future walking falls (Allied Dunbar Survey, 1992).
  • Stair climbing was found to burn about 8-11 calories of energy per minute, which is quite high compared to other physical activities (Edwards, 1983).
  • Stair climbers tended to be more fit and have a higher aerobic capacity (Ilmarinen & associates, 1978).
  • Even two flights of stairs climbed per day were shown to lead to 6 pound  weight loss over one year (Brownell, Stunkard, & Albaum, 1980).
  • There was a strong association between stair climbing and increased bone density in post-menopausal women (Coupland & associates, 1999).
  • Stair climbing programs was shown to improve the amount of “good cholesterol” in the blood – raising HDL concentrations (Wallace & Neill, 2000).
  •  A research-based online stair-walking calorie counter can be accessed at this website here which allows your friend to input his weight, minutes spent stair climbing, and minutes descending stairs  to determine the total calories he burned. A person who burns 500 calories will lose 1 pound of body weight.
  • Researchers in Singapore found that more calories are burned while walking up a flight of stairs than going down. They compared the intensity of stair-climbing to that of jogging, and going down the stairs to walking at a brisk pace.

Talking Point 8.  Excuses can be overcome through friendly encouragement 

A study at the University of South Carolina found that it might be laziness, and not desire for efficiency that keeps people riding the elevator. After determining that “saving time” was the most popular reason for avoiding the stairs, researchers timed their own daily actions, both using the elevator and taking the stairs, several times a day for several days. They found that, when taking the stairs, they actually arrived at their destination more quickly than riding the elevator. The reason? The waiting time for the elevator exceeded its speed-of-transit advantage. America Walks is a coalition of North American advocacy groups dedicated to increasing and promoting the benefits of walking. Their oft-cited and carefully designed 2011 online study of more than 7,000 avid walkers found that the profile of frequent walkers is somewhat surprising. They tended to be found equally often among the youngest (18-24 year olds) and the oldest (65 and over) age categories. With respect to race and ethnicity, frequent walkers were disproportionately found among Asians (83%) and non-Hispanic whites (77.1%), rather than among either African-Americans or Hispanics. A higher-than-average number of walkers in urban areas were young and single. More  than half of the respondents who walk frequently (55.4%) said they walk by themselves. Both frequent and infrequent walkers were asked the extent to which they received encouragement to walk by family members and friends. Encouraging signs on the steps of a UK shopping mall stairway increased stair use.

Image Credit:

Here’s a popular video which shows how ‘fun‘ can be incorporated to make stair climbing a more pleasurable activity:

Video link here

The top reason America Walks survey participants cited for doing walking was “to maintain good health.” The second most important reason was that walking “helps me to feel calm and less stressed.” The third-ranked reason was “walking gives me more physical energy.” Significantly, there was a strong negative relationship between the frequency of walking and the number of illnesses. The more an individual walked, the fewer the number medical conditions he/she reported being afflicted with. This finding held true even when controlling for the age, sex, educational background of the individual and the economic status. A higher percentage of frequent walkers than infrequent walkers said they received “a great deal” of support for their walking habit. To us, this suggests that your efforts to convince your friend to begin taking the stairs stand a good chance of succeeding.  Good luck!


 About our Guest Writers:




Further links you may be interested in:

EWTT: Why Laughter Is Good For You


1. Have You Thrown Something Away Today?

2. Plant Blindness: What research says

3. The Bridge Between Ecological Knowledge and Green Living

4. Teach Me About Soil

5. A Green Lesson from Mumbai about Food Packaging 







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Natural ways to satisfy your sweet cravings Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:30:01 +0000 by Shaan Lalwani 

Most of us may know that processed sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup or glucose are bad for us and that sugar in general, no matter what the source, is something we should limit. But when we have that craving, what’s the best natural sweetener to satisfy that sweet tooth?

There’s much confusion over sweeteners on the market today. As a horticulturist I have seen sugar processing first hand, which is a highly pollutive process.

A 2004 report by WWF, titled “Sugar and the Environment,” highlighted that sugar may be responsible for more biodiversity loss than any other crop, because it contributes to habitat destruction to create large scale plantations. It also makes intensive use of water for irrigation, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, whose runoffs lead to polluted water. Wastewater is also discharged by sugar production factories.

Overconsumption of white sugar has a lot of detrimental effects on your health. Dr Mercola outlines 76 ways sugar can harm your health including suppressing one’s immune system, obesity, and premature aging.

An even worse enemy of the environment than sugar is now emerging to be corn, which is grown in large scale industrial farms, often using genetically modified seeds in the US and Canada. Corn is the hidden ingredient in many artificial and chemically synthesised sugars that are used in processed foods throughout the world, and comes under various names such as High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS), glucose, malt syrup and the like.  Researchers at Princeton University have found that HFCS prompts considerably greater weight gain.

What I look for in a sweetener is not only how many calories it has which I would seek to lessen, but also whether it has nutrients. If I’m going to eat something sweet, I want to make sure that it’s minimally refined and that I’m getting some sort of nutritional benefit.

Table sugar provides you almost nil nutritional value and adds empty calories to the plate. Recognizing this fact, more and more people are turning away from table sugar and going towards other sweeteners.

At the same time, many artificial sweeteners have been found to have a number of disadvantages including having ingredients which are suspected carcinogens. These artificial sweeteners are used in abundance in almost every “diet” drink, “lite” yogurts, puddings, and ice creams, most “low-carb” products, and almost all “reduced-sugar” products.  Most protein powders are loaded with artificial sweeteners too.

Splenda is probably one of the worst offenders of claiming to be “healthy” as they say that it’s made from real sugar. Don’t be fooled! It’s still an artificial substance. What they don’t tell you is that Splenda is actually a chemically modified substance where chlorine is added to the chemical structure, making it more similar to a chlorinated pesticide than something we should be eating or drinking.

Of late, the rise in popularity of Stevia got me thinking, about other plants that can be used as natural sweeteners. I am listing some freely available plants which are as sweet as they come healthy, non fattening and absolutely safe for diabetic patients.

Plants that can be used as sweeteners:

1. Perilla frutescens:

Family :Lamiaceae

Origin: Himalayas, India

Other local names:  Chinese basil , Banjara perrilia mint.

Uses:  The oil is used in perfume industry and sometimes as a spice in cooking.
Its flowers are used as a coloring and pickling of fruits.

Medicinal value: Diaphoretic, sedative, anti inflammatory, used for treating cough.

The plant Perilla frutescens is 350 times sweeter than sucrose and originated in the Himalayas, India. Today it’s widely grown in East Asia and USA. It is used as a condiment and seasoning in Chinese and Japanese cuisine. In Japan it is called Red Shiso and used to sweeten tobacco. The essential oil of this plant is used as a food flavoring in candies and sauces in the United States. The bitter after taste and low water solubility are some of the plants drawbacks.

2. Lippia dulcis:  

Family: Verbenaceae.

Origin: Central america

Other local names: Sweet lippa, Mexican lippa

Uses: A good natural cure for cough,cold bronchitis and asthma




Lippia dulcis is a fast growing plant and spreads like a weed. This plant is a potential natural substitute for sugar since it is 1000 times sweeter than sucrose.  However the only issue of this plant is its bitter aftertaste due to the presence of camphor. This bitter component has prevented scientists from developing this plant as a possible sugar substitute on a large scale.

3. Stevia rebaudiana:

Family: Asteraceae

Origin:South america

Other local names:  Stevia, Honey herb, Yerba Dulce, Sweet herb.

Uses:  Used in treating among other conditions obesity,dermatitis, mouth sores, low blood pressure. It is a natural low calorie sweetener.

Stevia rebaudiana is a slender erect plant that grows to a height of about a feet and a half. It is indigenous to the northern regions of South America. The indigenous peoples in Brazil and Paraguay used the leaves of Stevia as a sweetener as well as for medicinal purposes. The leaf has anti bacterial properties and is used to treat digestive problems, mouth sores, hypertension, fatigue, depression, sweet cravings, and infections.

Use fresh whole stevia leaves which are safe to use. If they’re not available, try growing the plant, or you may want to source whole leaft stevia powder or whole dried leaves. White stevia powder or liquid stevia drops are highly processed.

4. Glycyrrhiza Glabra:


Family: fabaceae

Origin: Mediterranean region

Other local names: Licorice





The plant Glycyrrhiza Glabra is used as a natural sweetener in food and the pharmaceutical industry. It is diuretic, laxative and a stomachic agent. It is almost 100 times sweeter than sucrose. It has a very slow onset of taste and a long lingering after taste

5. Hydrangea macrophylla:

Family: saxifragaceae

Origin: Japan

Other local names: amacha

Uses: Decreases high blood pressure. Has anti allergic properties.

The leaves of the plant




Hydrangea macrophylla is traditionally made into a tea and consumed once a year by the Japanese during Buddha’s birthday. Hence it’s also called ‘Buddha tea. The leaves of this plant are extremely sweet. The tea from this leaves can be drunk on its own or can be used to sweeten other teas and drinks.

6. Agave:

Family: Liliaceae

Origin: Mexico(Spanish and Portuguese explorers probably brought agave plants back to Europe with them)

Uses:  making of tequila, making of agave nectar.



Agave is native to Mexico. Agave nectar has a low glycemic level and is one of the alternatives to table sugar. Agave has a high content of fructose and because fructose is sweeter than table sugar, less is needed in your recipes.

A Note of Caution about Agave Syrup: Remember that Agave Syrup is highly processed and does not bear much resemblance chemically to the plant.

“Agave Syrup is advertised as “low glycemic” and marketed towards diabetics.  It is true, that agave itself is low glycemic. We have to consider why agave syrup is “low glycemic.”  It is due to the unusually high concentration of fructose (90%) compared to the small amount of glucose (10%).


Fructose appears to interfere with copper metabolism.   This causes collagen and elastin being unable to form.  Collagen and elastin are connective tissue which essentially hold the body together. A deficiency in copper can also lead to bone fragility, anemia, infertility, heart attacks, and ironically an inability to control blood sugar levels.” [From


Other Alternative Sweeteners:

For those who are not diabetic, here are some natural alternatives, though overall limits should be observed in one’s diet.

1) Honey:

Sweet syrupy fluid made by bees from the nectar collected from flowers and stored in nests or hives as food. Even though it is high in fructose (about 50%) and glucose, it is naturally occurring.

Honey tends to be low-glycemic. You can comfortably use this to sweeten your beverages.

However, It has high-calorific value and is high in carbohydrates, so use sparingly. It is not a vegan option.

2)Barley Malt:

Barley Malt syrup is a sweetener made from sprouted barley. It is made up mostly (about 65%) maltose, the rest being complex carbohydrate (30%) and protein (3%). It has about half the sweetness of sugar, somewhere between dark molasses and honey. Barley malt works well in baking and making smoothies. The bonus in this natural sweetener is that it has several vitamins and minerals.

3) Coconut Sugar:

Traditionally coconut sugar is used in East Asia for cooking and medicinal purposes. It is made from coconut sap. Though it very much resembles cane sugar, coconut sugar is very low on the glycemic index . Coconut sugar is considered to be a very healthy alternative as it contains sulfur, healthy micronutrients, potassium and magnesium.

4) Palm sugar

It is extracted from the sap of the sugar palm tree, which is usually found in tropical countries. The sap is boiled and then cooled down to crystallise into a solid.  It’s commonly used in South-east Asian deserts such as black rice or tapioca pudding.  Read the labels, and make sure it doesn’t have added ingredients.

Palm sugar, like agave syrup, has  low glycemic index (around 35),  except that its better in the sense that it does not contain high amounts of fructose. In India, palm sugar (in the rock-sugar jaggery form) is actually used in traditional medicine, since it contains many minerals and has been found to heal throat and lung infections.

5) Maple syrup

Maple trees are mostly found in countries with a temperate climate. It was first collected and used by the indigenous people of North America, a practice which spread to Europe.  Maple syrup is made from the sap of  the sugar maple, red maple or black maple trees and is high in ‘sucrose’ content. It has several beneficial compounds which contain anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties including manganese and zinc.

It’s most commonly used in pancakes, cakes, waffles, toasts and oatmeal porridge.

6) Raw Sugar cane juice                                                                                                                                                                               

Raw sugar cane juice is nutritious and alkalizing to drink, and can be quite refreshing on a hot day. It has a low Glycemic Index, and is a good source of chlorophyll, minerals and proteins, and anti-oxidants. It’s freshly made, and needs very little processing except being crushed in a sugar cane press by the juice vendor.

It can’t do away with the environmental issues related to sugar cane production, but does the solve the ones with factory processing. To be consumed in moderation.

7) Dried Fruits

A great way to sweeten up your smoothies, juices, porridge and cereals is to add dried fruits such as raisins, dates, figs, apricots and the like. These are rich iron, vitamins and minerals.

Disclaimer: Always use sweeteners in moderation. Consult a doctor if in doubt. Nothing mentioned in this article substitutes for medical advice.

Artificial sweeteners to avoid

1)Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel)
3)Sucralose (Splenda, Altern)
4)Acesulfame-K (Sunette, Sweet & Safe, Sweet One)
5)Refined Sugar


 About our Guest Writer:

SHAAN LALWANI is the 25 year old owner of the rapidly expanding  Vriksha Nursery, which is based in Mumbai, India . This nursery was passed down to him by his parents who fully supported him in getting his B.Sc degree in Horticulture and in attending one of the best landscape schools in the world for an M.A. in landscape management at University of Sheffield,U.K.



Further links you may be interested in:

EWTT: Six Beautiful Balcony Plants to Control Mosquitoes

EWTT: How to Grow Fresh Air Using Houseplants

EWTT: How to Compost at home using Container Pots


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Soapberries: The eco-friendly cleaning solution Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:58:25 +0000 By Preethi Sukumaran and Srinivas Krishnaswamy

If you think that detergents are found only on supermarket shelves, then be prepared for a clean, green surprise. It grows on trees and has been cleaning clothes (and people) since the time of the Buddha! In fact, some sources also add the Buddha to its list of satisfied consumers.

Say hello to the Sapindus – a group of around 10 species of trees whose fruits can be used as foaming cleaners or surfactants to use a more technical term. The unique surfactant property of the Sapindus fruit makes it an all purpose cleaner – for skin, hair, laundry, dishes and pretty much anything else that requires cleaning.

The name Sapindus is derived from the Latin words Saponis, meaning soap and Indicus, meaning from India. The part of the Sapindus tree used as a surfactant is the fruit and it is commonly known as soapnut. Since it is a fruit We prefer to call it the soapberry which is more accurate.

The Soapberry tree

India is home to several species of Sapindus. The two most well known of these are the South Indian Sapindus trifoliatus and the Himalayan Sapindus Mukorossi. In India, soapberries have a long recorded history of usage. Ayurvedic texts prescribe it as a gentle cleansing agent in shampoos and body cleansers and also as a treatment in dermatitis, and eczema.

In China the soapberry pericarp is called wu-huan-zi or the non illness fruit. In Japan, the soapberry pericarp is called the enmei-hi or the life prolonging pericarp.

The Soapberry

Fresh soapberry fruits look like grapes or gooseberry fruits and grow in clusters on the trees.

A well cared for soapberry tree can produce 250 kg of soapberry fruits every year, after attaining maturity which takes about ten years.

What makes the soapberry a soap?

The magic ingredient which gives the soapberry its halo is saponin, found in the fleshy outer part of the fruit.

The pericarp of the soapberries (the outer fleshy part of the fruit) contains saponins, which are the plants “immune system”. Saponins are a class of compounds, found in abundance in the plant world, and produce foaming solutions in water which can used for cleaning.

How can I use the soapberry in my home?

The soapberry is an excellent natural cleanser that can be used to substitute most synthetic cleansers in your home.

You can use the soapberry shells , soapberry powder, or extract soapberry liquid by making a concentrated tea with water and use this as a substitute for almost all your cleaning needs.

It can be used in the following ways:

1.    As a mild shampoo substitute

2.    As safe and effective detergent

3.    As a hypoallergenic baby fabric detergent

4.    As a food safe dish wash product

5.    As an excellent antibacterial / anti-fungal floor and surface cleanser

What are other uses of the Soapberry ?

Plants are wonderfully complex systems that are beyond complete human understanding. All along we have only talked about the surfactant property but the soapberry does so much more than just clean.

1. Pesticide removal action: fruits and vegetables

Soapberry powder works wonders on removing surface level pesticides in fruits and vegetables as well. Research done on tomatoes, aubergines, cabbage and grapes, which have a thin membrane and are prone to absorbing a large quantity of pesticides, indicates a 76% reduction in deadly pesticides like Monocrotophos, when these fruits and vegetables are soaked for 20 minutes in a solution of water and soapberry powder.

2.    Pesticide removal action: on cotton

Cotton is one of the most sprayed crops in the world. In India, cotton crop is sprayed with a deadly cocktail of chemicals including Lindane, Heptachlor, and DDT.

A simple test measuring the surface level pesticides on cotton yarn before and after treatment with soapberry, showed nearly a 70% reduction in the surface levels of Lindane.

3. Anti-bacterial and anti-fungal action

Soapberries have strong anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. They have been prescribed in small quantities in oral medications in traditional Chinese medicine.

Extracts of Sapindus mukorossi were shown to inhibit the bacterium Helicobacter pylori which causes GERD, peptic ulcers, cancers of the oesophagus and stomach

Preliminary studies on Sapindus mukorossi and Sapindus saponaria show active action against many disease causing fungi like Candida albicans, and bacteria like Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Staphylococcus Aureus

How do I start using the soapberry?

Fresh soapberry fruits need to be dried well to be used. Once dried, they become a rich dark brown colour, depending on the species and look like this:

Once dried, they need to be de-seeded before they are ready for use.

Soapberries are extremely hygroscopic in nature, meaning that they absorb moisture from the atmosphere, so they need to be stored in a dry place.

1.Use whole soapberries

It  is  really easy to use soapberries for washing. If you’re using a washing machine, you may place 5– 6  shells in an old, clean sock or muslin bag firmly tied on top, so that the soapberries don’t escape. Toss this into the washing machine and let it work through both the wash and rinse cycles, but do remove before you use the dryer.

You can use the soapberries for upto 4 wash cycles, but remember to let them dry before the next wash.  You can use the soapberries until they turn grey in colour (indicating that there are no more saponins left). Best of all, as soapberries are completely natural and biodegradable, they can be composted.

2. Making soapberry powder from dried soapberries

For even better results and greater convenience, soapberry powder can be made by grinding dried, de-seeded soapberries.  They can be ground in a coffee grinder, and should be ground into large sized particles when used as a detergent or a dish wash product. The finer soapberries are ground, the faster they absorb moistures, so grinding them into large sized particles helps you store them for longer.

Soapberry powder can be used as a substitute to detergents and dish wash applications. Keep in mind that they do not dissolve completely like synthetic surfactants, so when using them in a washing machine or a dish washer, put the powder into a sock or muslin bag, to keep the residue from sticking onto laundry or dishes.

The residue after use as a detergent or dish wash makes for great plant food so do remember to compost the residue  after use.

3. Extracting Soapberry liquid

You can also extract soapberry liquid for use as a detergent or a floor cleanser. Soapberry liquid needs to be refrigerated and does not keep for more than a month.

It is prepared by soaking soapberries overnight in cold water or soaking them in hot water for 15 minutes to an hour and squeezing out the saponins mechanically until the berries turn grey in colour.

Let the soapberry liquid cool slightly before filtering out the soapberry residue. The residue can be dried and re-used again to make more floor cleanser (the cleanser made with this residue will be more dilute, so reduce the water the second time around) or to do the laundry. The soapberry powder / residue can be re-used until the residue turns grey, indicating the absence of saponins.

Do I have to work very hard to use the soapberry?

The soapberry is making a strong comeback into popular use especially in countries like USA, Australia, Singapore, India and other places.  A lot of the work done on the soapberry in recent times has been directed to making it readily usable so that you do not have to go through the process of buying the fruit and making a powder or extract.

Our company, Krya Consumer Products has just launched a washing machine ready soapberry detergent powder for the Indian market. Do search for options in your market in case you want a ready to use product and you will be rewarded with a unique experience in tasks like laundry which are getting done on autopilot mode now.

Why are we talking about the soapberry now?

We do many daily tasks like the laundry on autopilot now and understandably so. However several drastic concerns for the environment and human health are lurking behind many of these “autopilot” routines.

For example the synthetic detergent industry is red flagged for pollution by many governments. The red flags arise out of pollution concerns during manufacture and severe harm to water bodies and marine ecosystems by detergent residue post consumer use.

Apart from detergents many personal care products like shampoo, body wash, toothpaste use a synthetic surfactant as a foaming agent. Look for either sodium lauryl sulphate or sodium laureth sulphate (referred shortly as SLS) in the ingredient list the next time you are in the supermarket and you will be surprised by the number of times these two surfactants appear. There are many studies that point to these synthetic surfactants as carcinogens so much so that “SLS free “is an important new category of products.

Moving from autopilot to manual mode can throw up interesting natural alternatives to most of the products we use on ourselves and in the home. Every time you choose a natural alternative like the soapberry, you choose better health for your family and a cleaner planet.

About the Guest Writers:

Preethi and Srinivas run Krya, an India based sustainable consumer products, e-commerce company.  Krya creates environment friendly plant-based alternatives to everyday consumer products. Krya is a vegan organisation as are its founders.

Their personal quest to become more sustainable led them on the path to starting Krya.  Preethi & Srinivas are most happy thinking about newer ways to make Krya more sustainable and world class.

To know more about soapberries or other natural alternatives you could use around your home, write to Preethi –

You may find Krya on Facebook

Preethi & Srinivas also write a blog on sustainable urban living here.

They have recently released a Sustainable Urban Living Guide which can be downloaded here


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Soil : Well drained soil
Sunlight: Partial to full sunlight (3-4 hours)





Sunlight : Partial to full sunlight (2-3 hours)



Soil :   All types of soil.
Water: 50-80ml (6 inch pot)



Soil : Heavy loamy soils



Soil :   Well drained soil
Sunlight :  Full outdoor sunlight (At least 6 hours)



Soil :  Light, well drained soils
Water :  30-80ml (6 inch pot)

How do I use these plants to repel mosquitoes?


What are other plant based solutions to repel mosquitoes






Shaan Lalwani




Further links you may be interested in:

EWTT: How to Grow Fresh Air Using Houseplants

EWTT: How to Compost at home using Container Pots


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Styrofoam: The Silent Killer Sat, 21 May 2011 11:37:14 +0000 By Cheryl Leo

They say ‘no news is good news’  but is it always the case? For Styrofoam – which is actually a (successful) brand name of one manufacturer of the material, polystyrene (PS)- it is definitely not so. Most people are not fully aware of the implications of Styrofoam use because we hardly hear any news in the media relating to its harms.

However, studies have been done worldwide and countless studies have been published on the negative impact of this material, both on the environment and health.

Polyestyrene is denoted by a #6 or PS in the triangle on the bottom of food packaging. The single-molecule form of polystyrene is known as styrene. PS foam, the type used in food packaging for products like take-away containers, supermarket meat trays, etc., is created by injecting the plastic polymer, polystyrene, with a gas-such as HCFC 22, CFC 11, or CFC 12 (all ozone destroying chlorofluorocarbons), or pentane-to expand it into that puffy material.

Toxic and hazardous chemicals, including styrene, benzene and ethylene, are used to make PS foam and are a byproduct of PS foam production.

Styrene gets into our body

In 1986, the Environment Protection Agency National Human Adipose Tissue Survey has identified styrene residues in 100% of all samples of human fat tissue taken in 1982 in the US. In fact, the knowledge that styrene from food packaging can migrate into the human body was first documented way back in 1973 and 1976.


Factors that affect Styrene migration:

Fats content: Styrene is soluble in oil and fat. The higher the fats content of the food, the higher the migration of styrene into the food. Entrees, soups, or beverages that are higher in fat (like coffee with milk and fried noodles) will suck more of the styrene out of the polystyrene container.

Acidity: Acids raises the styrene migration rate. Studies showed that tea with lemon produced the most marked change in the weight of the foam cup.

Heat: Studies have found that styrene tends to migrate more quickly when foods or drinks are hot. However, meat or cheese bought from the supermarket on a clear-plastic-wrapped polystyrene tray is also readily picking up styrene from the foam container.

Presence of ethanol: Styrene is soluble in ethanol, commonly found in alcoholic beverages. For instance, red wine will instantly dissolve styrene. A 1985 Cuban study noted migration of styrene from low and high-density polyethylene into milk, yogurt and alcohol solutions. This means that ingestion can take place by using polystyrene cups to drink beer, wine and mixed alcoholic drinks.

Presence of Vitamin A: Most interesting is the degradation of food that contains vitamin A (betacarotene). In packaged foods with the addition of heat (such as microwave temperatures), vitamin A will decompose and produce m-xylene, toluene, and 2,6-dimethylnaphthalene. Toluene will aggressively dissolve polystyrene. This renders polystyrene as an unsuitable package for containing or microwaving products that contain vitamin A.

Styrofoam damages the body

Studies suggest that styrene mimics estrogens in the body and can therefore disrupt normal hormone functions, possibly contributing to thyroid problems, menstrual irregularities, and other hormone-related problems, as well as breast cancer and prostate cancer. The estrogenicity of styrene is thought to be comparable to that of Bisphenol A, another potent estrogen mimic from the world of plastics. Low levels of Bisphenol A have been found to reduce the sperm count in rats.

Styrene is also considered a possible human carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. Evidence already shows that styrene causes cancer in animals.

According to a Foundation for Achievements in Science and Education’s fact sheet, long-term exposure to small quantities of styrene can cause low platelet counts or hemoglobin values, chromosomal and lymphatic abnormalities and neurotoxic effects due to accumulation of styrene in the tissues of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, resulting in fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping, and other acute or chronic health problems associated with the nervous system.

Chronic exposure to high levels of styrene can cause health effects such as liver and nerve tissue damage. Because many of these effects can be more pronounced on developing bodies, extra caution is advisable for women who are pregnant (or considering becoming so) and for prepubescent children. Since alcohol crosses the placental barrier this could be the vehicle of transmission of styrene monomer into the foetus, and could explain why small children have traces of styrene monomer in their tissues even though they have never been exposed to the monomer directly. In a study of 12 breast milk samples from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, 75% were contaminated with styrene amongst other hazardous chemicals.

There have not yet been enough studies to know whether the relatively small amounts of styrene from PS foam cups and food containers are enough to cause health effects. But the fact remains that ingested styrene will build-up in human tissue and we know from studies of other chemicals that long-term, constant exposure to small amounts of foreign substances, especially those that mimic hormones, causes problems. So, it makes sense to avoid polystyrene as much as possible.

Styrofoam damages the environment

Besides health issues, PS foam is also a direct threat to our environment. Plastics are made of petroleum, a non-renewable resource that requires new fossil reserves to be extracted all the time. Because fossil fuels take millions of years to form, they are a finite and, ultimately, an exhaustible energy resource.

The chemicals involved in production of PS foam are among the top 25 toxic air pollutants in terms of the total amount released into the environment each year. In addition, scientists indicate that 5% of the earth’s ozone layer has already been damaged due to ozone destroying compounds like CFCs. Many manufacturers label their PS foam containers as “CFC free,” but read the fine print. Usually these labels say the PS foam is no longer made with “fully halogenated” chlorofluorocarbons, which means that the CFC used previously has likely been replaced with an HCFC, which, though less damaging to the ozone layer, is still a CFC and an ozone destroyer.

Furthermore, plastic polymers never fully biodegrade. Instead they photo degrade into dust, and in bodies of water, that dust can absorb other toxins such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the pesticide DDT, which is still used in developing countries. The toxins are concentrated even more strongly in this toxic dust, which is consumed by the fish that humans eventually eat.

Since PS foam do not breakdown easily, it creates the problem of ‘white pollution’. PS foam boxes and cups which are littered in our environment stays in our environment for a long time. They fragment into small pieces and are both an eyesore and a hazard to wildlife. As reported in The Straits Times (Singapore’s national daily) recently, PS foam littering is a serious problem along our coastlines. In the sea, PS foam leach toxins and some animals, like birds and turtles, mistake them for food causing them to die of malnutrition and suffocation.

Styrofoam begone

Based on the documented findings and analyses done, it is for certain that styrene in Styrofoam poses a definite health risk. Though its ill effects cannot be seen in the short run or in immediate cases liken to that of pesticides, it will and can cause a host of health problems in the later years. Like arsenic, styrene can poison a person on a daily basis. It accumulates in the body and eventually, the person may not even know the real cause of his demise.

Surveys done have shown that hawkers know about the ills of Styrofoam but the appalling truth is that they simply do not bother since they are not the ones eating from these boxes. Futhermore, it is rock bottom cheap as a cost to them. Is this to be condoned when we are the ones supporting their trade?

In my opinion, the relevant authorities had overlooked and underestimated the very nature of Styrofoam which plays such a crucial role in our lives today. Are we suppose to wait for a case of styrene poisoning before we begin to delve deeper into this topic only to realise that we might have consumed a bit too much in our lifetime? There are already so many cancer causing agents present in all aspects of our lives today, from the air we breathe to the food and water we drink. It only makes good common sense to avoid anymore of these once we are in doubt.

We should emulate what the rest of the world has already done. Countries like Japan, Italy, Taiwan, China, the UK and US have all begun this protest against Styrofoam, both for our health and for environment. If the developed nations have already recognised the ills of this product, which they had help create years ago, I don’t see why we are procrastinating still.

By my efforts, I can only make a difference, but together as a bonded community, we can make a change. It is now or never.


About our Guest Writer:

CHERYL LEO is Director at Olive Green, a Singapore based retail outlet distributing eco-friendly products.  She is an environmental enthusiast, and is particularly passionate about issues concerning plastics and petroleum. Visit Olive Green’s website here.

Photo Courtesy: Photo by Halimah Ilavarasi. The appropriately clenched fist belongs to Gangasudhan. Both edit the magazine, VegVibe where this article first appeared.

Further links you may be interested in:

EWTT: Janet Unruh: Recycling Everything: Why We Must, How We Can

EWTT: A Green Lesson From Mumbai About Food Packaging


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Some facts about Indoor Air Quality that are worth pondering over:








1.   Areca Palm Chrysalidodocarpus lutescans (8.5)
2.   Lady Palm Rhapis exelsa (8.5)
3.   Bamboo Palm Chamaedora seifrizii (8.4)
4.   Rubber Plant Ficus robusta (8.0)
6.   English Ivy Hedera helix (7.8)
7.   Dwarf Date Palm Phoenix roebelinii (7.8)
8.   Ficus Alii Ficus macleilandii ‘Alii’ (7.7)
9.   Boston fern Nephrolepis exaltata “Bostoniensis” (7.5)
10. Peace Lily Spathiphyllum sp. (7.5)




Here’s Kamal Meattle’s talk on TED:

Video link here


How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air – TED 2009 Talk



About the writer:



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