Enviro Health

When hi-tech gets junked
We love shiny new gadgets, but when we discard our old tech toys they become gigatonnes of e-waste.

Hot, or scalding?
If you need to add cold water to your bath or shower, your geyser thermostat temperature is set too high and it's wasting energy.

Go toxin and cruelty free
Many cosmetics are tested on animals and contain toxins, in tiny doses. But we give ourselves, and the environment when we wash cosmetics off, millions of doses over a lifetime.

One third wasted
Do you throw food away? A staggering one third of food produced for human consumption is wasted each year.

Turn off, tune in
Is Earth Hour – switching off non-essential lights, 8.30 - 9.30 pm, Saturday 31 March 2012 – pointless? Yes, if that's all you plan to do about the environment this year.

Grow your own
Eating food farmed locally reduces environmental impacts, and it doesn't get more local or fresher than home-grown. Anyone with a pot in a sunny spot can grow herbs and vegetables.

Not so fresh
Many synthetic air “fresheners” release toxic substances, including carcinogens and chemicals that can affect our respiratory, neurological and reproductive systems.

Used machine oil is toxic glop
Just 1 litre of used machine oil can contaminate 1 million litres of water. When used oil is dumped or washed into storm-water drains, it ends up in ground and surface waters.

Let it mellow…
You may have seen this immortal poem pasted above an environmentally aware toilet, or had it chanted at you by persons of school-going age

CO: swift, silent, deadly
Carbon monoxide (CO) gas has caused more accidental deaths than any other poison – not just because it’s so fast-acting, but because you can’t see, smell or taste it.

Reclaiming the sponge bath
A shower beats a bath energy-wise and water-wise, but a sponge bath beats both, using only a fraction the hot water.

Snakebite: stay calm, act fast
The two most important actions to take for snakebite: 1.) stay calm and 2.) get to a medical facility as soon as possible.

Wildfire: don't wait
Would you know what to do if you were out hiking in the bush and saw smoke and flames headed your way?

But is it safe to drink?
Bottled water takes resources to produce and generates waste, and isn't necessarily healthier. In South Africa, we have good-quality tap water that's generally fine to drink.

Open the window
Air pollution makes us think of factory smoke stacks, but indoor air quality can be even worse than outside air. Open the windows to bring in fresh air and dilute pollutants.

The great green clean
Reduce the chemical load in your home by swopping synthetic disinfectants - at least occasionally - for natural non-toxic ones like vinegar, which kills about 90% of microbes.

Idle cars are poor performers
Idling a car’s engine is polluting and inefficient. Running a car in place = zero km per litre of petrol.

Grow your own toxin-filter
Indoor potplants bring literal life to a sterile room and they're natural air pollution filters. Studies by Nasa show that plants improve air quality by helping remove toxins.

Glass recycling: crystal clear
Glass is one of the easiest substances to get out of the waste stream: all glass bottles and jars are 100% recycleable.

Cash for cans
Collect-a-Can, SA's top non-profit metal can recycler, makes recycling easy and they even pay you for it.

Tame your inner roadhog
Aggressive driving wastes fuel, risks lives and ups everybody's stress levels. Calm, sane, smooth driving improves your mileage.

Beware of benzene
Benzene is a powerful chemical that is sometimes used to remove grease and dirt from glass and metal.

Green tips and shoots 1
The first in our new EnviroHealth series of fresh tips and trends, plucked from the latest research.

Safe camping a gas?
You have a few days of pure bliss at your favourite camping destination to look forward to. Just make sure you treat gas lamps with care – these could be lethal.

Is your home a roach motel?
Even the cleanest houses can sometimes have cockroaches. Check through these tips to see what you should do to get rid of these crawling and unwanted home invaders.

Murder those mozzies
Check whether your holiday destination is in an area where malaria is prevalent. Without taking the right precautions, your annual family holiday could end in tragedy.

When paint fumes are a knockout
Exposure to paint fumes should always be avoided, because they’re often toxic and associated with a wide variety of negative health effects.

Scorpion alert
South Africa has quite a few scorpion species, but luckily for those of us who like the bundu and can’t resist turning over rocks, not many of our scorpions are highly venomous.

Make your own compost heap
You can easily make your own compost heap in your backyard. Use a large, aerated refuse bin, or a wooden or wire crate.

Spring clean yourself
Spring is a season of new life and new beginnings. This is the best time to start new projects and explore the world as it changes.

Beat those bugs
Do you really hate insects that much? OK, maybe you do, but keep in mind that the toxins in pesticides are likely to be far more of a health threat than the average household bug.

Green tips and shoots 2
Wind instruments harbour germs, so clean them well and don't share - and avoid the business end of a vuvuzela!

Tap water terror
Many South Africans remember hysterical reports of cholera and rat-tailed maggots, and hesitate to draw themselves a glass of tap water. How can you make sure it's safe?

Be clean on the cutting edge
We use wooden cutting boards to cut meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, cheese and a million and one other things, and they are potential breeding grounds for bacteria. `

Clear your head
Lighten the chemical load on your head – and on our waterways – with this safe, simple shampoo recipe.

The hot box: an ancient art
Hot box cooking is an ancient, simple and amazingly effective way to save energy. A hot box is essentially a slow cooker that requires no electricity.

Lighten your load to save fuel
Keeping your vehicle as light and streamlined as possible helps reduce fuel consumption.

Off yer duff!
Cut sitting time and fuel by taking the first available parking place instead of circling endlessly round the block. Or park deliberately further from your destination.

Green washing
Most commercial laundry detergents contain harmful chemicals. You can still get a clean wash by using less detergent, choosing low-toxicity brands, or making your own.

Lose the shoes
Your feet do a lot of hard time on dirty city streets, so slip off your shoes when you come home to avoid tracking urban pollutants indoors.

King of the Road
The bicycle is the king of the short-distance commute energy-wise - yet each year after the Argus those 35 000 bikes seem to vaporise off our streets.

How to survive a swarm of bees
What do you do when a swarm of bees heads your way? Memorise these tips for summer.

Pass on the polony
High consumption of processed meats is linked to raised risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer, and production of these foodstuffs also weighs on the planet.

Paper: keep it clean
Recycling paper saves hugely on landfill space, energy, trees and pollution, but don't hinder the process by including unsuitable items.

My green Valentine
This Valentine's Day, give a pretty, living, lasting potplant instead of a boring bunch of mass-produced cut flowers.

Don't be a drip
A dripping tap can waste 30-60 litres per day or even more, and according to several bylaws it's illegal not to fix obvious leaks.

Running a pollution risk
If you exercise outdoors, you’re vulnerable to toxins in the air. Learn how to gauge your city’s ‘pollution mood’ and keep your exposure to a minimum.

Harness the sun
Summer means loads of free solar energy. Even if you don’t have photovoltaic cells in your roof, you can still make good use of the sun's bounty.

Don't be thunderstruck
South Africa has one of the highest lightning ground strike densities in the world, and every year in summer rainfall areas lives are lost to this underrated natural hazard.

Help your fridge keep its cool
Save energy on refrigeration by keeping the fridge at least half full: food retains cold better than air does. Add containers of water if you’re low on groceries.

Turn down that MP3 player
Modern life is noisy and can damage hearing. Prolonged exposure to loud noise can hurt your ears and may cause hearing loss even by middle age.

Pump it up
Low tyre pressure increases vehicle drag and fuel consumption. Correctly inflated tyres improve mileage by up to 3.3%, and are safer and last longer.

Your tree in Africa
Air travel is the fastest growing cause of global warming. But you can soften the blow by calculating and offsetting your flight emissions with the My Tree in Africa project.

Avoid polystyrene containers
Polystyrene foam food and drink containers are possibly carcinogenic, and don't decompose easily. Rather use glass, ceramic, tin or paper.

Trillions of butts
World's No.1 litter item: the cigarette butt. Trillions of these little fire and toxin bombs are discarded every year, and we can't just let them lie.

Toxic ammonia in your home?
The toxic gas ammonia is in fact present in most households.

Do the stingray shuffle
Australian environmentalist and TV personality Steve Irwin famously died as the result of a stingray barb piercing his heart. Make sure a similar fate never befalls you.

Green tips and shoots 3
Meat farming and blood cancer, 'smartphone eye', and how environmental tobacco smoke could be attacking teenagers' ears.

Beware lurking sea monsters
Before you set foot in the sea this summer, make sure you know how to avoid venomous marine animals.

Heading for the bundu?
When you're planning to give your Land Rover more of a workout than mounting the pavement at the shopping centre, there are a few things you have to remember to take with you.

Ink can harm you
Long-term exposure to the solvents used in ink for the printer has been linked to various health problems, according to Health24's Envirohealth Expert.

War on Pollution
Urban dwellers breathe in a fug of hundreds of pollutants every day, including 'big name' pollutants in terms of respiratory health, like ozone and nitrogen oxides.

Dealing with a stranded seal
If the seal shows no sign of injury or distress, then it's best to leave it alone.

Mould in your home?
If wet weather has become synonymous with mould in your home, it’s time to act. Apart from being an eyesore, mould could pose a health risk.

Reduce your pollution output
We know our relationship with the automobile isn't a healthy one, neither for us nor the planet, but we don't want to end it. These driving tips are for those still deeply in love.

Safety at sea
Bluebottles, jellyfish and sea anemones can sting; sea urchins, starfish and sea cucumbers should rather be avoided; and sea snakes can kill.

Fight that fire
If you live on the urban edge, or anywhere else where nearby vegetation poses a fire risk, take these measures to protect your family and property.

Careful with candles
Romantic dinners, holiday decorations and power cuts all demand the use of candles. But candles can be dangerous, and are sometimes disregarded as fire hazards.