Happy Belated Earth Day!

So, Earth Day was last week and I'm way late but I guess late is better than never, right? I've been pleasantly surprised to have quite a few people ask me when I'm going to update my green blog. Although very few comment here, many are reading and that's great! So, after much pressure (just kidding) I've decided to update.

Once again, thanks to my DVR, I was able to watch Oprah's show in honor of Earth Day. What a wonderful show! I was so excited to see that our family is doing all but one thing she recommended. That is huge and has shown me that we have come such a long way. This time last year I would have felt very overwhelmed since very few of these things were normal practices for us. Remember those baby steps I talked about? Those have brought us a long way. So, I'll give you a little recap in case you missed the show and also throw some other thing we do in here as well.

1. I know I've mentioned replacing our household cleaners with safe ones. I'm currently using Melaleuca products. I know that many people are making their own. This does seem to be the cheapest way to do it but I have not played around with it. Once I made the decision to switch, I wanted to purchase the kit that would allow me to throw out everything in my house. It was fast and easy and I've enjoyed all the products. More than anything, I'm feeling great that our home is safer now because there are less toxins from the cleaners.

2. Eating organic. We use the Town and Country meat service which we love! I also purchase organic fruits and vegetables for the most part (when I can find it or it's in season) I also only get organic dairy. Like they mentioned on Oprah, if this is hard for you or hitting hard on the wallet then start with the things your kids eat the most of.

3. Using reusable grocery bags, the wrap-n-mat, and any other safe/reusable product that will allow us to cut down on the amount of plastic sacks and baggies. We also no longer have harmful plastic containers in our kitchen and have since replaced them with glass, Pyrex, and stainless steel. I am also very careful to not use a ton of napkins or paper towels. I try to use rags more often and at dinner we are starting to use cloth napkins instead of paper ones. Did you know that if everyone used one less napkin a day, a billion pounds of napkins would be saved from entering our landfills. I know that I used to grab a ton of napkins at a restaurant and not think twice about it. Now, I'm very aware of what I take and I take only what we need. I also return any unused ketchup packets too.

4. Washing our clothes in cold water. This not only saves money (because it costs more to heat the water) but it's better for our environment.

5. Our personal care products are safe and don't contain any parabens, phthalates, or SLS. We are enjoying products like Alba, J/A/S/O/N, Giovanni's, California Baby, and Avalon Organics. We also use deodorant that is aluminum free. I like the Tom's of Maine brand for deodorant and toothpaste.

6. The sippy cups and water bottles in our house are BPA free and don't leach harmful chemicals into our drinks. We don't buy bottled water either. They are wasteful and are destroying our Earth.

7. During the day, I rarely turn the lights on because we have a ton of windows and I like to let the natural light in. We try to turn lights off in the evening when we walk out of a room. We also unplug our appliances when not in use. Did you know that when things are plugged in, they are still pulling watts from your home? I also just purchased some CFL lighbulbs since two just burned out in our bathroom. They do cost more but they will save you money over time (use less electricity) and they last 5 times longer than the standard bulb. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

8. Recycle. Every city does it differently but ours has local pick-up on Fridays. I plan to go and get a few more bins because I've recently educated myself on what they will accept. I was so surprised to see what I can recycle and unfortunately I have not been doing as good as I thought. So, with the list of things we can recycle I know that I'll need way more than just one bin. Plus, this will cut down on our actual garbage collection that goes into the landfill.

9. The one thing we have not started doing is composting. I thought about this in the very beginning but just could not wrap my head around it. I felt very "Little House on the Prairie" and viewed this as inconvenient. I recently came across a very cool little compost that fits right into your kitchen. Now that I can do! I still need to read up on it and see what all is involved but it seems like a great way to reduce waste and make our yard healthy. I loved that Julia Roberts has one and the fact that she hates to waste food. You don't realize how much food you do throw away and this would allow me to be guilt free.

I'm hoping that over time, as more big names and high profile celebrities talk about going green, that more people will get on board. It's my hope that things will be easier to get and more cost effective. It's so expensive to be green but the rewards far outweigh the monetary costs!!

I love my DVR

I think I was the last person in the world to get DVR. Now that I've got it, I can't imagine my life without it. I'm spoiled!! Luckily for me, I was able to catch up on a few shows that I missed when I was out of town a couple of weeks ago. One of those shows was the Oprah "Going Green" show. If you missed it then let me tell you- you missed a lot of great information! I was excited to see that many of the ideas and topics are ones that I've already put into place. I did get some good ideas from the show and I want to share a few with you today.

The first topic was about plastic bags. It's so easy to go about our lives and not really think about where our waste is going. One of the guests on the show made a comment that was fabulous. She said that our waste doesn't just "go away....." but that it really does "go somewhere." She said that she used to take her students on a field trip to a land fill so that the students could see where things end up. They don't just disappear into thin air when you toss them into your garbage can. They do have a home. One simple way for you to make a difference is to use reusable shopping bags. They are very inexpensive and can be used over and over again. You can wash them from time to time. You will save so many plastic bags if you will just make this a weekly habit for yourself. I purchased my bags at Sprouts for $1.00 each.

Also, if you take sandwiches to work or if your children take sandwiches to school, you can use the Wrap-N-Mat in place of plastic baggies. Think about how many baggies you and your family use on a daily basis and remember that they don't just disappear.........they do end up somewhere!!

Matt Damon was briefly on Oprah and he gave some great information about a website where you can pay to have your name taken off distributor lists. You will stop receiving a ton of junk mail and in it's place, this company will plant trees for you. Go to www.greendimes.com to learn more. I don't know about you but anything I can do to stop receiving all this annoying junk mail is worth a shot! More from the show.........coming soon!

Are all Toothpastes Created the Same?

The answer is no. In fact, you are more than likely using a toothpaste that contains harmful ingredients that have been linked to cancer, blindness, and even death. You may be wondering how something as simple as toothpaste can be harmful to your body.........well, it's because these harmful ingredients can penetrate through the tissue in your mouth, enter into your bloodstream, and build up in your kidneys, liver, and other major organs.

Do you wonder why the major brands contain a warning that sounds something like this: "Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age. If more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away."

Poison Control? Are we still talking about toothpaste? Yes.

Once you start reading the labels, you will see that many brands contain harmful ingredients such as sodium fluoride, triclosan, FD&C Blue Dye #1 and 2, sodium lauryl sulfate, and hydrated silica. I grabbed a box of Colgate that's been in my linen closet and sure enough it has many of these ingredients listed. You can do your own search on this topic but let me identify the danger with a few of these that I found in my name brand toothpaste.

Sodium Fluoride- read this lovely article http://www.infowars.com/articles/science/flouride_neurotoxicity_of_flouride_in_water.htm and notice the line that says "Sodium Fluoride is also registered with the EPA as a rat poison, although advocates say its use in low levels in water poses no adverse health concerns." I don't know about you but ANY level is dangerous in my mind!! There are also many misconceptions of fluoride. It's never been approved by the FDA and is not as beneficial as most of you think.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate- SLS is added to toothpaste because it has a foaming agent. However, it's also used in car wash soaps, engine degreasers, and garage floor cleaners. It is also used in labs as a skin irritant when they are testing healing agents. Overall, this product is the most harmful of them all. You also need to make sure you use personal body products that are SLS-free.

Hydrated Silica- damages the enamel of the teeth- very abrasive.

There are a few alternative and safe choices out there. We have made the switch to Tom's of Maine. It's natural and safe and doesn't contain the ingredients listed above. They have adult and children versions in a variety of flavors. So, check the box and read the labels to see what exactly is hidden in your toothpaste. I think you may be surprised!

Product Reviews

It's been a while since I've posted but it's certainly not because these topics have been far from my mind. No, no, no......it's because I've been working away, making necessary changes at our house. I wanted to share with you some of the products I've found over the last couple of months.

I published a post a while back about the dangers of plastic and especially the dangers of using plastic sippy cups. (I've since had to remove that post because although I cited the author of most of that content, I had to remove it because Google frowns upon multiple sites with the same material) Anyways, I began my search for stainless steel sippy cups so that we could throw out our plastic ones. I had a hard time finding them locally so I ended up having to order them online. I bought some Klean Kanteens from Reusable Bags (along with lots of other fun stuff!) and here is my take on them. You can order these cups with different tops. I ordered some in the sports bottle style for Hudson. I love these. I've yet to have them leak and Hudson enjoys them too. I also have the other sippy spout style for Cooper. It's made from a hard, safe plastic material and the plastic will not leach compounds into the drink. I've had a bit of leaking issues with this one. Now granted, it doesn't help when your child chunks it across the room but regardless I do have to watch it and make sure it's not sitting upside down on my couch. The only other thing I'd like to see added is some kind of a protective cap. When we go places it would be nice to put a cap/lid over the spout to keep it clean and shielded. Overall though, I love them and we no longer own plastic sippy cups. These are pricey so you won't have as many of them but it's so worth it to me! Now I can feel good about putting that organic milk inside and I know it's not contaminated by the plastic.

Another huge change has been to remove all of the plastic bowls and storage containers in our kitchen. This was a huge undertaking. I didn't realize just how many plastics we had in there. I have found these at various places such as Wal-Mart, Linens and Things, Bed Bath & Beyond, Pyrex outlet stores......... Again we are removing the plastic from basically anything that touches our food. Most of them come with plastic lids so just make sure your food does not come into contact with it and remove before heating.

We made this change a few years ago and while it's not safety/health related, I still feel it's important to mention. Rechargeable batteries are a MUST for families, especially those with small kids. These are more expensive on the front end but you will save a ton of money over the life of the battery and toy it's used for. I love the fact that we can recharge these at home instead of having to go and buy new ones every time they run down.

I'm so excited about my Melaleuca Home Conversion kit. By purchasing this kit you can toss any and all cleaners that are currently in your home. These are earth friendly and don't contain the harmful chemicals that the other cleaners have. (there are more products that come in this kit, I just took a picture of a few) I wanted to mention the laundry detergent because I really love this pump feature. I don't have to measure or even take off the cap. I turn the water on, squirt one pump inside and toss my clothes in. Because all these products are concentrated they will last much longer than those I used to use. If you recently watched Oprah's Favorite Things show, you saw that she gave away kits similar to this. Even Oprah is getting on the green bandwagon. However, those kits from the other company are back ordered 1-2 months so if you are wanting to start now, contact Holly at http://www.allnatural4life.com/ and she can get you one of these kits. You don't have to live locally. They are shipped right from the company so even if you don't live near her, she can still help you out!

A couple of weeks ago, we got our next Town and Country Food order. We picked our choices from their huge menu and then someone came and delivered our food to us. We now have 8 months worth of organic meats and vegetables stocked in our freezer. We love all of it but we especially love the fact that our food is free from antibiotics, hormones and pesticides. Contact me at townie75@yahoo.com if you want more information or I can tell you who helped us with our order. It is not available in all areas so you will have to check on that.

We've also made the huge organic leap. Basically anything that is available in organic, we are buying it. I've also made a mental note to stay away from foods with fructose corn syrup and nitrates. I'm trying hard to cut down on the amount of processed foods that we eat. This will be a slow transistion for us though.

The Truth About Milk

All animals have naturally occurring growth hormones (including chickens, cows, and even us!). Unfortunately, in this profit-driven corporate world, many dairies choose to inject their cows with artificial growth hormones to make the cows produce more milk. This synthetic hormone is known as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) or recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormones are shot into conventional dairy cows, sometimes as often as every couple weeks, to increase milk supply. This causes them to fill up more and more quickly. Any mother who has ever nursed can empathize with the discomfort this must cause the dairy cows. This discomfort can clearly lead to mastitis and puss from the mastitis getting into the milk. Mastitis normally is treated with antibiotics. These hormones can also cause reproductive problems including giving birth to deformed calves, digestive problems, and persistent sores on the cows.

Organic dairy cows are not treated with BGH. Organic dairy farmers get twice the money for their milk as the conventional dairy farmer. The organic dairy cow must be fed grain or hay that has not been treated with herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizer or be pasture raised on land that is free of chemicals, fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. The cows are not given hormones or antibiotics and must be treated humanely.

Milk from cows with rBGH is not the same as organic milk. Here are a few differences:

• chemically and nutritionally different
• rBGH milk increases risk of cancer
• rBGH makes cows sick
• rBGH is a GE hormone
• pus and bacteria can be found in the milk from mastitis in the conventional cows
• antibiotics from treating the mastitis can be found in the conventional milk, many of which are illegal
• increased concentration of thyroid hormone enzyme thyorixin-5-monodeiodinase (long chain) and decrease of short chain fatty acids in conventionally treated rBGH dairy
• conventional rBGH dairy products have less protein and more saturated fat
• dairy cows treated with rBGH have milk with high levels of IGF-1

Thanks to Nature Moms, I just ran across this eye opening video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axU9ngbTxKw (Please forgive me- I can't paste the You Tube video on here. Paste this link into your browser to hear the clip. The eye opening video is about 9 minutes long but WELL worth the time!!) It shows how Fox News killed a well researched story about the dangers of Monsanto’s rBST in our milk and the connection of it to cancer. Fox News was threatened by Monsanto with “dire consequences” and it in turn killed the story and fired the reporters who investigated it. This is really shocking but I guess it shouldn't be. Anyone else feel weird about drinking milk infused with chemicals from the same company that makes Roundup…the weed killer? http://www.mercola.com/2001/aug/8/gmo_crops.htm Just another reason to buy organic milk.

So, after hearing this information are you still on the fence? Don't get me wrong- our family consumes several gallons of milk a week so at $6 a gallon, this will obviously hurt our wallet. But now that I know this, can I continue to purchase the other? No way. I encourage you to do your own research since there is a ton out there and it's impossible for me to post it all. My goal here is to get you to think- think about what you are putting in your body. I've had many people call or email me to say thank you for opening their eyes about all of the toxins in our world. You may not agree with everything I post but remember that most of what is on here is fact, not my opinion. So, don't shoot the messenger!!

I've Got a Bright Idea!!

My thinking has been that I will address the safety issues first in this whole "going green" stage. I want to make those changes quickly and then the other Earth friendly practices can come later on. Every change so far will cost us money because we are having to change or replace something........until I discovered an article about energy and money saving light bulbs. My hubby was really on board with this- anything to save us some money, count him in! So, here is some information on eco-friendly light bulbs that are better for the Earth and better for your electric bill:

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

Earning the Government's ENERGY STAR ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs:

• ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer.
• Save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb's lifetime.
• Produce about 75 percent less heat, so they're safer to operate and can cut energy costs associated with home cooling.
• Are available in different sizes and shapes to fit in almost any fixture, for indoors and outdoors.

How to Choose and Where to Use CFLs:
ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs provide the greatest savings in fixtures that are on for a substantial amount of time each day. At a minimum, ENERGY STAR recommends installing qualified CFLs in fixtures that are used at least 15 minutes at a time or several hours per day. The best fixtures to use qualified CFLs in are usually found in the following areas of your home:

• family and living rooms
• kitchen
• dining room
• bedrooms
• outdoors

How to Choose the Right Light:
Matching the right CFL to the right kind of fixture helps ensure that it will perform properly and last a long time.

For example:

• CFLs perform best in open fixtures that allow airflow, such as table and floor lamps, wall sconces, pendants, and outdoor fixtures.
• For recessed fixtures, it is better to use a reflector CFL than a spiral CFL since the design of the reflector evenly distributes the light down to your task area.
• If a light fixture is connected to a dimmer or three-way switch, you'll need to use a special ENERGY STAR qualified CFL designed to work in these applications. Make sure to look for CFLs that specify use with dimmers or three-way fixtures.
• Choose a qualified CFL that offers a shade of white light that works best for you. For example, while most CFLs provide warm or soft white light for your home, you could choose a cooler color for task lighting.
• To choose the ENERGY STAR qualified CFL with the right amount of light, find a qualified CFL that is labeled as equivalent to the incandescent bulb you are replacing. Light bulb manufacturers include this information right on the product packaging to make it easy for consumers to choose the equivalent bulb. Common terms include "Soft White 60" or "60 Watt Replacement."

**These can be found in stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, and Staples.

Let's face it- it's just NOT convenient

This going green thing is just not convenient. It takes some planning and preparation to do without these simple things in our lives. I found a site the other night that featured reusable shopping bags. Once I began to research this, I was amazed at how many of these bags are thrown out each day. It's been said that single-use plastic bags are one of the most common items found in our landfills. So, what can I do about that? Next time the supermarket cashier asks "Paper or plastic?" wouldn't it be great to respond with "Neither. I have my own thanks!" You can find several versions, such as http://www.shop.greensak.com/main.sc or http://www.reusablebags.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=737

But this brings me back to my original thought- are these convenient? You will have to make a mental note to grab this each time you go to the store. I'm sure once you get into the habit though, it won't be a huge deal. I was thinking about this very thing yesterday as I was trying to get out of the house. We had Nature School and we were walking out the door. Of course right as I'm lifting C over the gate I get a waft from his diaper and I know it needs changing. He's squirming all over the place as I'm breaking out into a full sweat, trying to keep him on the changing table. Wouldn't you know it= the diaper Genie is full. So what do I do? I go into the kitchen and I grab a plastic shopping bag, toss the diaper inside and place it in the garage. This caught my attention and I made a mental note that if I make a change in this area, it will be inconvenient at times. I'm okay with that though. Again, just careful planning and preparation.

Now onto a totally different topic. I came across an article the other day that discussed hot dogs being dangerous for our kids. Not the possible choking dangerous but what they are made of, dangerous. I personally can't stand hot dogs but I just happen to have a little monkey boy that loves them. Therefore, this caught my attention. The article mentioned something about nitrites. Brand new word for me. Here is what I found after doing a little digging:

Hot dogs contain nitrites which are used as preservatives, primarily to combat botulism. During the cooking process, nitrites combine with amines naturally present in meat to form carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds. It is also suspected that nitrites can combine with amines in the human stomach to form N-nitroso compounds. These compounds are known carcinogens and have been associated with cancer of the oral cavity, urinary bladder, esophagus, stomach and brain.

Three different studies have come out in the past year, finding that the consumption of hot dogs can be a risk factor for childhood cancer. Peters et al. studied the relationship between the intake of certain foods and the risk of leukemia in children from birth to age 10 in Los Angeles County between 1980 and 1987. The study found that children eating more than 12 hot dogs per month have nine times the normal risk of developing childhood leukemia. A strong risk for childhood leukemia also existed for those children whose fathers' intake of hot dogs was 12 or more per month.

Researchers Sarusua and Savitz studied childhood cancer cases in Denver and found that children born to mothers who consumed hot dogs one or more times per week during pregnancy has approximately double the risk of developing brain tumors. Children who ate hot dogs one or more times per week were also at higher risk of brain cancer.

Wow, this was certainly new to me. So, today as I made a trip to Wally World I discovered Nitrite-free hot dogs. The package contained half the amount for twice the cost. Nice. But after reading this information, how could I continue to buy the other?

I will admit that the changes with our food will absolutely be the hardest for me. I've already made changes with organic milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, eggs, juice, some produce, and canned veggies. The hardest will be cutting out the processed foods. When I think about what it will take to get our family away from those kinds of foods, my breathing takes on a different rhythm. It overwhelms me completely. I feel this will probably be the last area that gets completed. Baby steps, right? I swear I've said that phrase about 50 times this week!