What are all those chemicals in your shampoo? Your lipstick? your aftershave? And what do they have to do with asthma, breast cancer and learning disabilities?

Learn, share and help change this toxic mess: Watch The Story of Cosmetics, a 8-minute film exposing the ugly truth about personal care products - brought to you by Clean Water Action, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff Project and Free Range Studios, and take action to help pass the Safe Cosmetics Act.

Location: Hartford, CT
Closing Date: Open until filled.

Clean Water Fund's Hartford, Connecticut office is hiring a full-time community clean energy lead organizer to help lead a team of organizers and volunteers seeking to create fundamental change in how we use energy starting at the grassroots level.

Clean Water Fund is a national non-profit research and education organization that promotes the public interest on issues relating to energy, water, waste, toxics and natural resources. CWF's top goals include building support for environmental health issues, and empowering citizens to create grassroots power and make democracy work.

Diesel Pollution Makes Us Sick

guest posting by Jonathan A. Scott, for Clean Water Action

Will Industry's New Phosphate "Ban" Usher in a New Era of Pollution Prevention?

In 2010, should any company be allowed to produce a consumer product that is expressly designed to pollute?

Since the 1940s, the largest corporate purveyors of laundry detergents (and more recently automatic dishwasher detergents) have done just that by including phosphates as an integral part of their products. When used as directed, those products and that phosphate pollution go straight where intended: into appliances, down the drain and into our water.

The problem of phosphate pollution was already so bad in the early 1970s when Clean Water Action was getting its start that phosphates captured an entire chapter in organizational founder Dave Zwick's bestselling expose, Water Wasteland. The chapter was titled, Pollution for Sale: Detergents.

That is one reason why the news that the American Cleaning Council (a manufacturer's trade group representing most detergent companies, formerly known as the Soap and Detergent Association) will announce a voluntary ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergents effective July 1, 2010 is such a big deal.

More than four decades have passed since early Clean Water Action leaders and others first called for phosphates to be removed from laundry and dishwashing detergents. The fact that it took so long is a testament to the political power and insider lobbying prowess of the "big three" companies which dominated the industry for much of that time (Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers), fighting tooth and nail against phosphate bans at every level. That's a depressing thought.

But it is also a testament to the staying power and persistence of grassroots environmental organizing by Clean Water Action and others. This victory, even coming four decades later than hoped, shows promising new synergies evolving between environmental activism, newer companies and their leaders embracing a new environmental business ethic, and an increasingly enlightened consumer public willing to demand and purchase environmentally safer alternatives.

In the 1970 or 1980's it would have been unthinkable for almost any manufacturer of cleaning products for the consumer market to go on the record saying what Seventh Generation's Martin Wolf (aka Scienceman) has to offer in his company's June 29 news release on the ban: "If a negative environmental impact can be lessened or avoided, both industry and consumers have a responsibility to do so," said Martin Wolf, a leading authority on the environmental impact of household cleaning products. "This is a landmark moment, and as a company that's worked for years to make this desperately needed change a reality, we're celebrating a well-earned victory in the effort to build a healthier, cleaner world."

A mandatory federal ban passed decades ago would have done much to improve water quality over the years, but this new voluntary ban is still good news at a time when good news about the nation's water is all too scarce. For one thing, the ban means that more attention can now be paid to some of the bigger remaining problems, starting with phosphates and other nutrient pollution from industrial-intensive agriculture, over-fertilization of lawns and gardens, and outdated water systems that flush the pollution from farms and communities into our waterways.

The concept itself - the idea of going "upstream" to eliminate pollutants at the source, in this case, the phosphates in dishwasher detergents - is a commonsense approach whose time has surely come. In the face of today's most intractable water problems, "upstream" solutions that keep pollution out of the water in the first place, rather than waiting to act until after the contamination has already occurred may offer the most promising path forward.

Our situation today may be a bit more complicated and challenging than it was in the 1960s and 1970s, but the fundamental truth revealed in this exchange during a 1969 Congressional hearing on phosphates, as documented in Water Wasteland, endures. Here, U.S. Rep. Henry Reuss (D-WI) grills Assistant Secretary of the Interior Carl Klein on the issue:

Mr. Reuss: [Is it not a fact that] by and large the phosphate which shows up at sewage disposal plants comes from two main sources - household detergents and human waste?

Mr. Klein: Yes, sir.

Mr. Reuss: And household detergents are made by three major manufacturers?

Mr. Klein: That is correct.

Mr. Reuss: And human wastes are made by a couple hundred million manufacturers; is that correct?

Mr. Klein: Yes, sir.

Mr. Reuss: Well, doesn't it occur to you that it is easier to do something about three than about a couple hundred million?

In fact, competition from companies offering greener alternatives to the biggest players' phosphate laden products was an important factor in the eventual phosphate ban victory. But even though there are now many more than just the "three major manufacturers" the focus for solutions - whether regulatory, legislative or voluntary - can and should remain on the much smaller number of corporate manufacturing players on the "upstream" end of the spectrum.

Pollution from phosphates, an essential nutrient in minute quantities, can easily overwhelm waterways, causing algae blooms that decay and leave the water without oxygen and unable to sustain life. Clean Water Action has supported phosphate detergent bans starting before Congressional debates and hearings which led to the 1972 Clean Water Act. Clean Water Action played key roles in bans later adopted around the Chesapeake Bay, in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

As additional states passed mandatory bans and facing mounting pressure from environmental groups and consumers, the industry finally relented by phasing phosphates out of laundry detergents in the 1990's, while continuing to insist that the polluting ingredient remained essential for automatic dishwashing. Meanwhile emerging industry leaders, including Seventh Generation and others, advanced phosphate-free formulas and joined environmentalists in pressing for further action by states and other manufacturers. States that previously banned or improved regulation of phosphates in dishwasher detergent include Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont and Washington.

Clean Water Action Statement on Phosphate Detergents and Water

Washington, DC - On July 1, 2010 a voluntary ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergents will be implemented by many members of the American Cleaning Council (formerly the Soap and Detergent Association), a manufacturer's trade group representing most detergent companies.

"Industry's announcement on phosphates in dishwasher detergents is welcome news, indeed, if somewhat overdue," said Jonathan Scott, a spokesman for Clean Water Action, founded in the early 1970's to fight for clean, safe water. "Even small amounts of phosphates can wreak havoc when they get into our water," Scott says, "so it's the last thing you want as an ingredient in detergents, which are specifically designed to end up in the water by way of household appliances and drain pipes."

"Good news is all too scarce these days, when it comes to our water. Between the BP Gulf oil disaster, and a host of other problems, it is clear that the nation's commitment to clean and safe water has faltered.

Find an event in Florida, New Jersey, or where you live.

It's clear from the disaster in the Gulf that oil is risky, dirty, and dangerous.

Join Clean Water Action members and supporters in Florida on Saturday, June 26th for a national day of action to help clean up America's energy and to call on President Obama to move us off oil.

Find a Hand Across the Sand event in Florida, New Jersey, or in other parts of the U.S. or around the world.

For local organizing or attendance information in Florida, please contact Kathy Aterno.

With the worst environmental disaster in years in the Gulf of Mexico as a backdrop, Governor Rell recently vetoed legislation to reduce Connecticut's reliance on fossil fuels. Senate Bill 493 would have expanded Connecticut's programs to support solar installations, helped consumers with the upfront cost of clean energy upgrades and improved coordination of state agencies working on energy. Without this law we will see more Connecticut's solar companies lay off workers and move their businesses to our neighboring states.

Clean Water Fund and Clean Water Action will be hiring a full-time campaign and coalition coordinator to help lead a team of organizers and advocates seeking to create fundamental change in government policies on toxic chemicals. This staff person will coordinate the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut, a growing alliance of citizens, health professionals, workers, environmental justice leaders, educators, scientists and faith communities working to replace toxic chemicals in everyday products and industry with safer solutions. CSHC is a national leader in the environmental health movement with a proven track record of passing cutting-edge chemical policy reforms including the most aggressive restrictions on BPA (bisphenol A) in food and beverage containers like baby bottles and infant formula cans.

Thanks to your support, Clean Water Action has helped to make Connecticut a national leader on protecting residents from toxic chemicals.

The legislature's Environment Committee recently approved new legislation to move us beyond these one-chemical-at-a-time battles and help protect the public from the most dangerous substances. Please send an e-mail to your state legislators today in support of these bills. We need your help to turn these proposals into law!