And it’s come. It’s here.

Yet still, somehow, sometimes, we are weighted down. Sadness or worry crawls through the tubes of the Interweb, or through our telephone lines, or from our own communities. And despite outrageously warm spring days (we hit 90 in MAINE this week), we feel as though we can’t fully awaken from our hibernation.

But we must. We have to push through and find ways to move ahead. Even little ways.

We’re pushing here in the land of the Punks, by way of our first real garden: a container garden. We’re planting and watering and looking for more small sprouts we can tend and nurture. We look every morning and every evening for signs of growth, for tiny green herbs and vegetables. We’re composting and swapping seedlings with family and friends.

It feels good.

Tell me… is there something your family does to “wake up” from your long winter’s nap?

by Megin Hatch

Photo graciously provided by Megin Hatch

Today – I am considering removing them all.

On the heels of British consumer health warnings, Health Canada has now embarked on testing these light bulbs to measure their radiation output. Yes. Radiation. Those harmful UV rays that we protect our children from with copious amounts of sunblock. The United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency has come to the conclusion that exposure at one foot or closer to the bulb for a prolonged amount of time is comparative to exposing bare skin to direct sunlight. Health Canada is now testing for themselves.

This is a great concern. In a world so technologically advanced, I have to wonder how this problem didn’t come to light before. I’m concerned about companies that do substandard testing before shipping these products into family homes, exposing children to the harmful things that we try so hard to protect them from. Testing agencies claim that they in fact DID test these bulbs and found no adverse effects, however now we are hearing different. It worries me, forcing me to think of other things designed to “better our environment”, green products that may be more harmful than helpful. I think of DDT, Agent Orange and hormones used in farming and the horrible side effects of them. How many things in our homes are potentially making us sick?

The British warning explicitly addressed consumers suffering from Lupus, eczema and other light sensitive disorders to avoid exposure to these bulbs. As a sufferer from eczema and a skin-cancer survivor, I worry on a different level. I worry that my children already have a predisposition for skin cancer, and how many unseen things are affecting those chances? How much can we trust testing agencies, government campaigns to keep our children’s safety in mind, their health and well-being. Further – how can we retain an awareness of what obviously remains swept under the proverbial rug?

It is the fear of the unknown, the unseen that is the most unsettling thing. Radiation and UV rays cannot be detected with the naked eyes, we as parents cannot protect our children and families from exposure from a potentially silent killer. Health Canada is testing these products for safety and in the meantime, I’m rethinking using them at all.

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by Double Agent Girl

Photo graciously provided by Paul Keller, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Should plastic toys have crept into your home from well-meaning relatives, many of them can be cleaned in the top row of the dishwasher. This is the suggested method in a preschool curriculum I used to follow. This is a simple manner of cleaning them, but it may not lighten your impact on the earth. Washing them by hand in a sink full of soapy water may be a better option.

For wooden toys, I usually just wipe them with a damp rag to remove the dust. If other children have been over, and I am concerned about germs, I will wash them in a sink full of warm water and dish soap. I use Ecover Dishwashing Liquid, which I assume if it is safe enough for my children’s dishes, it is safe enough for their toys. Wooden toys should never be soaked in water for long and should be dried immediately, otherwise the wood can swell and the grain may rise to the surface.

For plush toys, I use the hand washing gentle cycle on my washing machine. We have a Maytag Neptune, which is a front-loading machine that uses very little energy and water. Even when our hydro is down, I am able to run the washing machine off of two solar panels. Front-loading machines are more gentle on items, and I have yet to have a plush toy fall apart when washed in cold water.

Just like every other aspect of cleaning your home, toys can be cleaned naturally. The best part about using natural cleaning products is you don’t have to worry about your child being harmed while they help you. Have you seen those horrible images of a boy with terrible rash from a Mr. Clean Eraser Sponge?

[tags]a little greener, ecology, environmental, caring, kids, children, home, toys, cleaning, cleansers, Ecover, gentle[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Erik B, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

“Each person in an office on average uses 2.5 pounds of paper each week. In the U.S., a ton = 2000 pounds, so that means every 2 years and 70 days, each person in an office on average uses a ton of paper.

(since) It takes 17 pulpwood market-sized trees and 390 gallons of oil to make a ton of paper….”

In other words: Each office worker is responsible for the loss of 8 or 9 trees per year. The NPR story focused on changing your margins from the standard 1.25 setting to .75 on every document you print. Since I already do this, more to save on expensive ink than for more altruistic reasons, I was happy to see I could save trees too!

But wait, there’s more.

In a paper linked to the site I found the following comparison

Check my math here… by making these changes, theoretically, rather than using 2000 pounds of paper or 500,000 sheets every 800 days ( 2 years 70 days), one would only use 75,000 sheets or 375 pounds of paper or about 1/6th as much paper in that time.

In simpler terms, you’d use 75,000 sheets of paper rather than 500,000 sheets, using 2.6 trees every two years or so versus 17 trees. Not too bad a savings! I think I’ll start now!

[tags]a little greener, ecology, environmental, caring, trees, paper, petroleum, increase print margins [/tags]
Photo graciously provided by josef.stuefer, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

I had been watching the progress of gas/electric hybrid technology from the sidelines for awhile. Hybrid engines were initially introduced into smaller, light-weight, vehicles, and I was not sure that a heavy SUV hybrid would have good acceleration and handling. After a test drive at the dealer, I was reassured. The handling was excellent, and the acceleration swift. Edmunds.com timed the 2007 Highlander Hybrid’s 0-60 run at 7.2 seconds (I have not tried this at home). After checking with my cousin (who has owned a Prius for many years) about his experience with long term reliability of Toyota’s hybrid technology, and some web searches for hybrid owner’s experiences, we bought a 2007 Highlander Hybrid last February.

To say that I am pleased with the hybrid would be an understatement. It certainly helped us weather this spring’s “surge” (not the Iraq war’s surge, but the gas price surge, which may be related to the war but I won’t go there). The EPA gas mileage for the model we purchased is 31 mpg city and 27 mpg highway. After six months (and 5000 miles) we are averaging 29 mpg.

The reason that city gas mileage is rated higher than highway is that at lower speeds, the hybrid’s electric engine provides sole power for the vehicle (the gas engine is completely shut off; no polluting emissions). As speed increases, the vehicle receives its power from a combination of the electric and gas engines. Finally at higher speeds (highway driving) the gas engine provides sole power.

The Highlander uses regenerative braking to charge the electric engine’s batteries. I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say that the Highlander’s batteries do not need to (and cannot) be plugged in to be charged. They are charged each time one brakes (the longer one brakes when approaching a stop, the more the batteries are charged).

The dashboard has a graphic display that shows the state of the hybrid system and which engine(s) are currently powering the vehicle. This has resulted in a positive change in my driving habits. Using the display, I quickly took up the challenge to adjust my driving technique to maximize “greenness” (i.e., keeping the vehicle solely powered by the electric engine for as long as possible, reducing my carbon footprint). I accelerate slower, keep my speed well within the speed limit, and brake easier.

One of the biggest adjustments I had to make was in starting the vehicle. After inserting and turning the key, there is ….. nothing. No engine sounds, no vibrations, nothing. When starting a conventional gas engine, no sound usually means trouble. But with a hybrid, turning the key starts the electric engine (the gas engine remains off), and the electric engine is silent and free of vibrations. For the first week or so, I had to consciously train myself to not react with alarm when presented with silence. After starting the vehicle, a quick glance at the dashboard’s “Ready” indicator reassured me that all was well and the vehicle was set to go. The hybrid’s silence (when running on the electric engine) also requires more care when driving slowly near pedestrians. They often do not hear me approaching.

The only disadvantage I’ve experienced with my hybrid is price. Typically, the price of a hybrid model is $4000 to $7000 more than the price of an identically configured non-hybrid model (depending on make, model, and one’s ability to negotiate with the dealer). I can understand that the auto manufacturers’ need to recover their research and development costs for putting hybrid technology on the road, and thus I was willing to pay the premium. The improved gas mileage of the hybrid does provide a savings in ones recurring gasoline bills. However, I’ve done the math, and with gas between $2.50 and $3.00 per gallon, the hybrid has to be driven approximately 100,000 miles before its improved gas mileage results in recovery of the premium paid at purchase. If (or perhaps when) gas jumps to $4.00 to $5.00 per gallon, the hybrid would still need to be driven 55,000 to 70,000 miles to recover the premium paid at purchase. So, I have no illusions that driving a hybrid is actually cheaper than a non-hybrid. However, it certainly does conserve gasoline and reduces polluting emissions (thus reducing my carbon footprint and making it a greener vehicle).

I am very pleased with my Highlander Hybrid. I bought it to obtain good gas mileage with an SUV, and it has certainly met my expectations. I have not experienced any disadvantages with having a hybrid. However, the first part of this article was not meant to be a review of the Highlander. I just wanted to present a testimonial to the current maturity of gas/electric hybrid technology. I believe that hybrid technology can be used as part of a plan to help our nation quickly break free from its dependence on gasoline powered vehicles. In the second part of this article, I’ll discuss the plan.

[tags]a little greener, ecology, environmental, caring, society, buying a new car, suv, emissions, hybrid, disadvantages, price, carbon footprint [/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Lawrence Whittemore, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Like many young urban dwellers, I had practiced a form of car sharing i.e. “car renting” while living in Chicago in the 80s. Able to afford a car but unable to afford to park it, I chose to take public transportation most of the time and rent a car for longer trips. This of course involved reserving a car, taking a bus/train/etc. to the rental car office, standing in line and filling out paperwork and then rushing to return the car within the 1 hour grace time allowed on the contract.

Car sharing is a bit different these days.

The new car sharing concept, offered by several companies, including Flexcar and Zip Car among others is simple. Join one of these services and have access to a variety of cars sprinkled around your area. These companies leave a variety of cars around town in specific locations (public parking garages, train stations generally), when you want to borrow one you simply reserve it online, pick it up at the designated location drive it around and return it to the same spot. You are charged by the hour, generally less than you’d pay for a rental car and a lot less if you only need the car for a few hours, since rental companies usually offer only a daily rate.

This is a great program for those who have a regular daily commute, especially a reverse commute. If you can take public transportation the, say, 15 miles to a spot near work, but then face a 2 mile trudge, in heels, to your office, this would be a great program for you. For suburbanites like me, trip to the city for a museum, the zoo, or a night out can be done by train with a car pick up at the station. If you live in the city, this is of course an awesome alternative to owning, or even renting, a car, as a car is more or less always at your disposal.

Right now this is limited to urban centers, but as these companies grow, more opportunities will arise for suburbanites to completely eschew cars too, or at least increase our use of public transportation.

[tags]a little greener, ecology, environmental, caring, society, car sharing, commute, ride sharing[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by ieatstars, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Out of the mouths of babes astute observations occur. On a recent shopping trip where we purchased 100% organically-grown bed sheets from a major retailer, my daughter said, “Target is really going green.” When we noticed they sold California Baby products, she exclaimed, “That’s fabulous!” In another local store, I purchased a pair of organically grown pants that came with a certificate that they were manufactured using wind power. Once again, my daughter exclaimed, “Mom, the world is really going green.” As her awareness of what it means to be green grows, she comments and asks questions.

The constant questioning typical of toddlers (”Why?”, “Why?”, “Why?”) does not go away as children grow. As children reach school age, this questioning becomes more sophisticated as the child tries to understand the world around. For my daughter, her recent questions have been targeted towards environmental issues.

The other day, my daughter asked me, “Is it eco-friendly to watch tv?”, as we were watching the Sundance channel’s It’s Not Easy Being Green. I responded with an answer that was not clear cut but honest. The television itself is not a green product and contains many toxic materials (just try to dispose of one!); however, since we live off the grid, we are not creating additional carbon while watching it.

Another recent question had to with the air conditioning in the car. Tired of the wind blowing her hair everywhere, she asked me to roll up the windows and turn on the AC. When I refused, she asked why, and I had to explain how running the air conditioner uses more fuel, which in turn creates more carbon, which in turns causes our planet to heat up. This is a hard concept for a six-year-old to grasp. How could something that makes the air feel cooler actually make the planet warmer? The Black Balloons ad can help children understand this concept, by graphically showing children how carbon is released from our energy usage at home.

My daughter’s current preoccupation with all things green comes from the modeling we provide as parents. Every purchase we make is carefully analyzed for its impact, with exceptions being made occasionally, and these decisions are discussed. Now my daughter makes the same careful green analysis when she asks for a new toy. She knows that Mom will not buy her any plastic toys that are “bad for the earth.” When she wants something, she now makes the argument based upon the item’s eco-friendliness. So my dear daughter, yes the world is becoming greener, and you are helping to make it that way!

[tags]kids, parents, a little greener, children, awareness, education, shopping, Target, eco-friendly, tv, air-conditioning, ac, environmental, questions[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by drukaman *andré*, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

The Basura Bag – This grocery bag is a favorite. Basura bags are handmade using colorful recycled juice containers to form cool, one-of-a-kind styles. While the pictures on our site will give you the general look and feel, the bags produced vary in color – they are all great looking and the variety is one of the things we love about them! These totes are made in the Philippines by a women’s cooperative, utilizing used juice containers. These containers are purchased through a network of local school children. Indestructible and non-biodegradable by nature, foil juice packs clog landfills, fields and streets throughout the Philippines. Using clever designs that combine the material’s strength & brilliant colors, the co-op helps keep the environment clean via this very cool method of recycling.

The Laptop Lunch Box – The Laptop Lunch Bento Box w/book is a lead-free tested lunch kit that enables parents to pack wholesome, low-waste meals for their kids. It uses a very cool bento box inspired setup that includes a snap shut tray housing 5 colorful FDA-approved microwave safe food containers and stainless steel utensils. It also includes an educational and comprehensive “User’s Guide,” with healthy lunch recipes and tips for reducing waste. Read my review of the Laptop Lunchbox for the real scoop.

The Klean Kanteen Water Bottle – Klean Kanteen is a reusable, risk-free stainless steel container that does not leach toxins into its contents. Recent studies link toxins such as Bisphenol A (BPA) to breast cancers and reproductive mutations. Plastics leach carcinogens including BPA during regular use, exposure to heat and especially after cleaning. From manufacturing to use and disposal, plastics pollute our health and environment. If you want a stainless tell cup for your little one you might try a stainless steel sippy cup from Thermos called Foogo.

The Wrap-N-Mat - Simply fold around sandwiches, veggie sticks, cookies and other goodies, fold the cotton wrapper closed, secure with the Velcro closure, and they’re ready to go. To top it off, these smart reusable sandwich wrappers unfold into placemats! The FDA approved food grade PEVA lining easily wipes clean after every use and is certified by the manufacturer to be totally lead-free. They’re durable and will give you hundreds and hundreds of reuses. Read my review of the Wrap-N-Mat.

All products mentioned above can be purchased at Reusable Bags.

Reusing items and giving them another life is a great way to avoid landfill waste and the fact that so many stylish reusables are on the market today makes it even easier for the green mom to make a commitment to environmentally conscious living.

[tags]parents, parenting, recycling, reusing, teaching environmentalism, ecology, waste, landfill[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by maol, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Since we ‘after-school”, that is, while my DS attends a more or less traditional school, we also supplement his education at home, we do a lot of projects. For many of these projects, we need shoeboxes (dioramas) glass jars, (science experiments) and miscellaneous paper, boxes, bags and wrapping.

In general, when we start one of these projects, I scrounge around the house looking for the appropriate materials and end up dumping out a ½ empty jar of tomato sauce to use the glass bottle. So, to be a bit more proactive and at the same time limit the sheer amount of packaging I discard, I’ve started saving everything that could possibly be used in an upcoming project.

Whoa! My designated project material area has rapidly expanded beyond its original space. Glass jars overflow my pantry, miscellaneous boxes line the playroom and Styrofoam filler litters the storage room. While this has caused some consternation regarding the storage issue, I struggle more with the dawning realization that I actually throw away THAT MUCH STUFF. And that in itself has helped me to behave differently.

Newly aware of the volume I contribute to landfills, I carefully consider, if not always what I buy, how I take it home from the store. At the farmer’s market, I bring my own bags. Two or three items purchased at the drugstore – I’ll drop them in my purse or bag. T-shirts and shorts bought at Target, I’ll carry them in my arms.

My new found vision drives me not only to recycle more but also to search out products with eco-friendly packaging. In this case, less is more.

[tags]kids, parents, a little greener, ecology, environmental, packaging, Styrofoam[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Greg McElhatton, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved

Now, as Wal-Mart starts to respond to the many criticisms it has garnered over the years, I feel a little better actively participating in these discussions as critics begrudgingly accord Wal-Mart some kudos. While I’m sure there is a profit motive behind their drive toward reduced packaging , i.e. reducing packaging reduces total product cost, that doesn’t make it any less good for the environment.

Sustainable packaging, which includes fewer packaging elements, as well as biodegradable and recyclable packaging is a hot trend in packaging circles these days. Now that Wal-Mart is taking the lead with its drive to reduce packaging on its private label, Kid’s Connection line, I imagine it will get even hotter.

Besides bemoaning eco-disaster, Styrofoam “peanuts”, I admit I don’t often consider the amount of packaging that encases my toy purchases. Logically, I know that if one plans to ship a flimsy, plastic toy halfway across the world and low labor costs make it more cost-effective to over package than design and use efficient packaging, then big manufacturers will do it. I know, when I attempt to pack something to ship overseas, I too over-package… since it’s cheaper for me to use mountains of newspaper than to pay for professional packaging at Mail Boxes, Etc.

Now that the toy industry is on the green bandwagon, I’m sure I’ll hear a lot more about it and be more aware of toys with earth friendly packaging. In this very competitive industry, toy manufacturers will make sure I do!

[tags]kids, parents, a little greener, packaging, containers, shipping, newspaper, peanuts, environmental[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by scmtngirl, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved