Cloudy with a chance of meatballs?

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs?  Or is it snowballs?  But I digress on the recent weather around here...

In today's dinner-cast, I don't expect that we'll have any problems with meatballs, they'll be yummy, and then the plates will go in the dishwasher.  However, we should expect to see clouds...cloudy glassware, silverware, and plastics, that is.

In 16 states, including MA.......the new "greener" non-phosphate dishwasher detergents have resulted in cloudy, milky looking glassware.  Why is this happening you might wonder?  In the states adopting The Household Detergent and Nutrient Runoff Law, July 2010, the law stipulates restrictions on the amount of phosphates allowed in dish detergents, as well lawn fertilizers.  As a result, dish detergent manufactures have reworked their formulas to drastically reduce phosphates added to make your glasses and dishes sparkly.  

But, how does phosphate impact habitats in lakes, rivers, and other freshwater systems?  Phosphates cause the over-growth of algae, and this leads to oxygen-starved areas, and without oxygen in the water, fish, frogs, and other aquatic animals can not survive.

Why do the glasses and other things coming out of a clean dishwasher look cloudy or milky anyway?   The problem begins if you have "hard" water, which is caused by  high levels of minerals dissolved in your water, specifically calcium and magnesium. According to Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., "Soap is less effective in hard water because its reacts to form the calcium or magnesium salt of the organic acid of the soap. These salts are insoluble and form grayish soap scum, but no cleansing lather." In other words, unattractive, cloudy, milky glassware.
 
So how can you tell if hard water is the issue, or if your glassware is suffering from etching, which is varying degrees of scratching or pitting of the glass surface?  Try soaking a cloudy glass in vinegar for 5 minutes, and if the milky deposits diminish, then hard water is your problem.  I just did this experiment, and sure enough, the glass is clearer in just 5 minutes (don't worry I'll reuse the vinegar to clean something else, I mean the glass wasn't "dirty", it just had some hard water buildup on it) http://alacartegreen.blogspot.com/2010/10/n-is-for-non-toxic.html

The dilemma...
Is the aquatic habitat of frogs and fish more important than sparkly dishes?  Or do sparkly dishes trump wildlife?  Can we be environmentally friendly and have sparkly dishes?

Since I'm elbow deep in soap suds washing these cloudy, milky glasses, I figured it's time to get the dish on sparkly solutions, because I definitely prefer letting the dishwasher do the dirty work.

I learned about a product called Lemi Shine, by Envirocon Technologies, Inc.  It's an additive for dishwashers touted to bring back the shine and sparkle to your dishes and glassware.  I checked out many reviews of their product as well as their website, which states that Lemi Shine is "Made with real fruit acids, natural citrus oils, and fragrance. Phosphate free."  Hmm, seems like this is one possible solution to the cloudy glassware...

So I wondered how Lemi Shine works?  Does it add back in some other nasty chemical?  I decided to get a little wetter, I mean better information on the "fruit acids" ingredient.  Ah ha!  A timely show on cable about staging your home for sales gave me a clue to work with!  They used a packet of lemonade mix to clean the dishwasher, because a sparkly dishwasher makes buyers smile.   And then a lightbulb went off (don't worry not a CFL, just brain energy was expended)!  In the past, I'd cleaned the inside of my dishwasher with Tang when it got a yucky film on the tub.

I checked the labels of these two, and the common ingredient?  Citric acid!   Although Lemi Shine doesn't list citric acid specifically, I'd be willing to bet that the secret ingredient, aka "fruit acid" is in fact citric acid.    Delving deeper into the kitchen, I learned that citric acid was originally extracted from lemons, limes, grapefruits...CITRUS fruits (citric...citrus).  Now citric acid is produced commercially by a fermentation process; the mold Aspergillus niger ferments a carbohydrate to make citric acid.  Get out your magnifying glass, put on your lab coat, or your apron and check the labels on your foods.  You'll be surprised when you read the fine print and see how citric acid is a common additive to prevent foods from browning, add tang to drinks and sweets, to preserve, and stabilize foods. 

Who knew how handy chemistry would be?  I mean I like sparkly things just as much as the next girl...(diamonds are a girl's best friend...but again I digress).  Seriously,  I do like my glassware to be sparkly clean, but not at the expense of the aquatic critters.  Now, thanks to science, and chemistry, I think I've found a compromise!  Add some citric acid in the form of lemonade mix, Tang, or Lemi Shine, to the main wash section, and your regular dishwasher detergent to the pre-wash, and smile with me when your glassware is shiny once again :)

Sources: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/06/16-states-ban-phosphate-laden-dishwasher-soap/1
http://www.appliance.net/2010/states-ban-phosphate-laden-dishwasher-soap-1988
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/blogs/when-green-isnt-good-enough-the-phosphate-issue
http://www.helium.com/items/2046686-dishes-are-not-clean-how-to-make-your-dishwasher-work-phosphate-free-dishwashing-detergent 
http://www.envirocontech.com/products/Learn-More-about-Lemi-Shine.html
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa082403a.htm
http://www.understandingfoodadditives.org/pages/Ch2p9-1.htm

How much water does the average person use?

Why do we care how much water the average person in the United States uses? Isn’t there plenty of water for everyone? 

Well, depending on where you live, there may or may not be plenty of water.  In the United States we take running water for granted, but if you live in a third world country, you might spend a good part of your day retrieving water and boiling water to survive.  Since the water we use today is the same water that the dinosaurs, Christopher Columbus, and Abe Lincoln drank and used for daily living we need to be sure that water resources are conserved, used wisely, and shared equitably.   

Although 75% of the Earth’s surface is comprised of water, 97% of that water is saltwater, 2% is frozen, and only 1% is usable freshwater.   Kids in elementary school learn at an early age about the three phases of water and the water cycle, how water from the dinosaurs is recycled, and how water is vital to life on Earth.  They learn how we all live the Water Cycle on a daily basis, and why water is such a precious resource.  

Most Americans are very familiar with one part of the Water Cycle, precipitation, and tune in daily for the weather, specifically rain, sleet, hail, or snow.  American students learn about other parts of the Water Cycle as well.  They learn that the sun evaporates water from lakes and oceans (liquid water turns into water vapor), and about condensation of water vapor into tiny water droplets within the clouds.  Students learn that water is stored in glaciers, snow, ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans.  Later they may learn the importance of natural filtration and storage of water in wetlands and marshes, and how it percolates into underground storage called aquifers that are pumped for drinking water and other uses. 

Luckily, the water cycle never stops; it keeps on going making life on Earth possible.  Unfortunately, some countries such as the United States use more of the limited freshwater resources, and have a water footprint that is double the global average water footprint.  According to TreeHugger.com,

“A country's water footprint, as opposed to simple water use, is the total amount of H2O needed for the production of goods and services. Figuring out a country's water footprint means adding all the water used plus the water inherent in products imported, then minus the water in exports. Using this top-down method, the average water footprint in the world is 1,243 cubic meters a year. As you already might have guessed, in the U.S. we are water hogs - we use more than twice the world average, or 2,500 cubic meters. That's equivalent to an Olympic-sized swimming pool for each and every one of us, or 2.5 million liters each. The Chinese, to compare, use 700 cubic meters annually.

The top five biggest average daily users of water are the U.S., Australia, Italy, Japan, and Mexico - all five of these use well over 300 liters daily (about 79.25 US gallons). The countries where water poverty is the worst and water usage is the lowest are Mozambique, Rwanda, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Uganda - these five use 15 liters (3.96 gallons) or less daily.”

So in answer to the question, "How much water does the average American use?", the answer ranges from about 80-100 gallons per day!  Surprisingly, the largest amount of water used daily is flushed down the toilet, with most toilets using about 5 gallons of water per flush!  Luckily you can reduce the water you use for flushing with simple devices such as the Dual Flusher (read more at http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/08/h-is-for-home-improvements.html and http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/08/dual-flusher-wins-approval.html.)  Showering, uses between 25-35 gallons (depending on length of shower, and whether you have a new low flow shower-head or not), the dishwasher about 9-15 gallons, and washing clothes in a washing machine accounts for about 15 gallons.  In addition, we use water throughout the day to wash hands, brush teeth, and for other miscellaneous uses (not including outdoor water uses).  

So Americans need to think about how important the Water Cycle is to life on Earth, and be sure to conserve water resources whenever possible.   Keep reminding yourself and your  teens to take shorter showers, teach your children to turn off the faucet while brushing teeth, switch to low flow shower-heads and toilet flushing systems, and when replacing old appliances, buy Energy Star dishwashers and washing machines which are more water and energy efficient than older models.  Lastly, think before wasting precious water, life on Earth isn't possible without it..    

 

Sources:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_gallons_of_water_per_minute_does_the_average_shower_use#ixzz16dgZY100, 11/28/2010

http://education.jlab.org/reading/index.html, 11/28/2010

Water Footprint, http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/WaterFootprintsNations, 11/28/2010

We Use How Much Water? Scary Water Footprints, Country by Country, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/we-use-how-much-water.php, 11/28/2010

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/qahome.html, 11/28/2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle, 11/28/2010

http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/water_trivia_facts.cfm, 11/28/2010

http://www.tampagov.net/dept_water/information_resources/saving_water/Water_use_calculator.asp, 11/28/2010