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[B274]Become More Environmentally Friendly

by Derek Rogers, Der

We're all a lot more concerned about the state of the environment and our effect on it than we used to be. Construction is one of the areas that has a huge impact on the world around us. By choosing more environmentally friendly, sustainable products and installation methods, we can decrease the damage we do to the environment.

Here are a few environmentally friendly flooring options you might choose over more conventional products:

Bamboo

This rapidly growing woody grass can be harvested every three to five years and requires minimal fertilizers and pesticides. That means that correctly grown, bamboo flooring is extremely good for the environment. However, it's worth noting that some producers are not using the best methods - know where your bamboo is coming from and how it's grown before you buy.

Installing bamboo floors gives you a flooring material that's extremely durable and very easy to maintain. Bamboo's unique look and feel complement many different decorating schemes are are extremely attractive. Heat treated bamboo is available in darker colours, but be aware that the darker the bamboo is, the less strength remains.

Marmoleum

This product is made from wood flour (usually from waste wood), linseed oil, jute, limestone and pine rosin. It's easy to produce, anti-static, very clean and Once this material has lived out its life, it biodegrades easily. This floor is an excellent type for those with allergies, as it offers no place for dust mites to hide. There are many colours and designs available and this material wears well.

Sustainably Produced Carpet Tiles

Carpet is usually thought of as a very environmentally unfriendly flooring material, since the vast majority of it is produced from petroleum and is not biodegradable or recyclable. Carpet tiles produced with an eye towards the health of the environment are an exception. The tile format allows only damaged areas to need replacing, rather than the whole carpet and manufacturers like Heuga which attempt to reduce waste, eliminate toxins and use renewable energy can produce more environmentally friendly carpet products.

Sustainable Wood Flooring

Hardwood and laminate floorings are another area where you might not think environmentally friendly practices are possible. However, hardwood floors are long lasting and products produced using responsible practices, including replanting and careful harvesting, can be quite environmentally friendly. Look for floors that use non-toxic finishes and adhesives if they're a Loc-type floor and sustainably produced and harvested wood.

Another less common ecologically friendly type of wood flooring is reclaimed wood. This comes from buildings and other areas that would have been torn down and the materials wasted. Some reclaimed wood even comes from the bottom of lakes, much of this wood is of very high quality, but it often requires significant processing before use, making reclaimed wood flooring expensive in many cases.

Natural Plant Fiber Flooring

Mats and carpeting made from fibers like sisal, coir (coconut fiber) and jute are also much more environmentally friendly than ordinary carpeting or petroleum derived fiber mats. They provide a rustic look to your home, are easy to care for and their durable surface means a long life too.

The digital camera can reduce the destructive impact on the environment compared to film cameras. How is it possible? You may think that your film camera does not do any harm to the environment. It was not your traditional film camera that harmed the environment. Your film processing did indeed do the harm because film photo processing centers uses chemicals.

Any time you take your pictures to a photo processing center, the film is run through batches of chemicals. These chemicals are environmentally hazardous. Once they have been used to process film, the chemicals must be immediately discarded. These chemicals are the developer solutions and the fixer solutions.

When the chemicals are used, they have to be discarded in an environmentally sound way according to the environmental protection law of the country. Because it is expensive to do so, many film processing companies just pour the chemicals down the drain.

While many bigger and better known companies probably adhere to the environmental laws, many of the smaller companies probably do not follow the law. And this means these chemicals enter the water supply and go downstream. And we consume the water ultimately.

In international waters, cruise ships do not have to adhere to the environmental protection laws. Cruise ships dump raw sewage into the open ocean on a regular basis and that includes the film developing chemicals into the open ocean. This is done routinely and it is happening all over the world.

They develop your film for all the pictures you took while on holiday and then dump the polluting chemicals to the ocean water. And we are still wondering why our oceans are dying and our coral reefs are dying at a fast rate.

With digital photography, we do not need to use all of those chemical solutions for developing photographs. Most digital cameras nowadays use rechargeable batteries. These batteries do not end up being thrown away at our landfills everyday. This is good as we do not want too much alkaline batteries pollution.

The rising digital camera popularity perhaps has a net positive effect for the environment. With the advances in our technology, the manufacturing process of digital cameras may become more environmentally friendly too. Lets hope our engineers may devise ways to do so. Until then, enjoy your photo shooting and ply a part in reducing environmental waste.

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About Author

Both Derek Rogers & Joshua Poyoh are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Derek Rogers has sinced written about articles on various topics from Leadership, Food and Drink and Computers and The Internet. Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who represents a number of UK businesses. For a wide range of flooring products, he recommends Completely Flooring, one of the UK's leading suppliers of. Derek Rogers's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.

Joshua Poyoh has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pregnancy, Pregnancy Week by Week and Credit Cards. To find out more information on the and digital cameras buying guide, visit. Joshua Poyoh's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.