Mom Goes Green

Sooo many green rules… and (for me, especially!)… only so much “brain space”!  Honestly.  Remembering and retaining all of the rules can be mind boggling.

Sometimes we may even waiver on a choice simply because it seems like it can’t possibly make that much of a difference.

Fabric choice is one of those, but think about this the next time you have a choice of clothing and fabrics:

• Conventionally grown cotton involves fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, genetically modified seeds and approximately 25%(!) of the insecticides used on ALL crops WORLDWIDE! (yes… you heard it right… 25%!).  This should be especially disturbing when you consider that (because of the vastness of these crops) most of these chemicals are applied aerially (so no… don’t take any deep breaths if you’re in the vicinity either.)

• Bamboo and hemp fabrics are a great alternative too.  They are sustainable and grow rapidly.

• Organic wool means that the sheep have been raised by organic standards…. a plus for animal lovers too!

• Dyes contain harsh chemicals so look for fabrics that have been colored with non-toxic vegetable dyes instead of those chemically tinted.

Maybe your “color chart” says that green “isn’t for you”, but when it comes to fabric choices, green is for everyone!

Ahh… the holiday of romance!

Valentine’s Day is the day to share your feelings and express your love to the special ones in your life, but if you want to share some love with the environment and add a little bit of “green” to the occasion too, consider these wisest of choices:

• Cards – did you know that the purchase of Valentine’s Day cards ranks #2 just behind Christmas?!?  One BILLION cards per year, in fact!  So consider buying only cards printed on recycled paper or paper alternatives (hint: the backs of cards reveal their content).

• Chocolates – always a favorite, make sure those you purchase are organic and fair-trade so you’re assured that there hasn’t been destruction and risky/unfair practices used in order to give your beloved a sweet treat.

• Flowers – buy locally-grown flowers and those you know haven’t been doused with harsh pesticides and chemicals that are harmful to the environment and growers, or have been flown in from some other region of the globe. When the recipient takes a whiff, you want to be sure the scent is pure sweetness and it isn’t covered in chemicals and preservatives from its long, long trip to your florist.  Also consider live, locally-grown plants as another option.

• Body products – pick products that are made with organic & natural ingredients and minerals (like Kiss My Face), instead of those containing harsh additives, colorings and chemicals.

• Jewelry – forget the mass-produced jewelry found in commercial jewelry stores and instead opt for something that is locally-made or a choice that helps others through your purchase (see Hands Up Not Hand Outs to see exactly what I mean!)

• Soy and beeswax candles – avoid pollutants and toxins expelled by many candle products and choose only soy or beeswax options.

• Create something – no one ever said you needed to buy a thing to express your love, so make a card, write a poem, create something special and it will often mean more than anything you could buy, and you often need look no further than your own home!

• Wine – choose organic and/or locally-produced wines.  They do exist, and all you need to do it ask!

• Restaurants – make sure your romantic dinner “out” supports a restaurant that is environmentally conscious, eco-friendly or even certified organic.  For my fellow Clevelanders, visit The Greenhouse Tavern:  Ohio’s first certified green restaurant.

• Organic dinner – dine in and make a completely organic dinner.  When you select the ingredients, you know that there is only “goodness” contained in your meal.

Ahh, yes… Valentine’s Day. The holiday of love… just make sure your expression of “red-hot love” has a little bit of “green” intertwined too… what you do after that, well… you’re all on your own!

Today I’m going to keep it nice and simple…

If you want to “buy” greener, just “concentrate”… buy concentrated formulas of anything and everything, that is.  It helps to eliminate a lot of packaging waste, even if it happens to be recyclable.  As much as I hate math… it’s simple math.  Less volume = less packaging.

Another tip is to buy in bulk.  Sure, you’re buying a bigger package, but it’s still less packaging than what is needed for multiple smaller sized packages versus the one larger size!

Final tip… avoid excess packaging.  Over-wrapping and over-packaging results in excess waste, recyclable or not.

So “concentrate”, “go big” and “keep it as skimpy as possible”… wow, this post has gone someplace else entirely…

The holidays are fast approaching… (as if any of us needed a reminder!).  With only two weeks to go, I thought it was long overdue to write my list of favorite green gifts… the tangible stuff, when you want to give something that won’t make you feel too guilty and stay true to being green…

So, without further ado, here is what I love to give:

• Live plants – they add life to any home and help cleanse the air by consuming CO2 and giving off some nice oxygen.
• Starter Kit for Change – it’s packed full of green goodies (including a fabulous one-of-a-kind reusable fabric tote) to get someone set on the road to thinking green.
• Threadless Tees – they have great nature- and eco-themed tees for absolutely everyone, so you can help someone spread an earth-friendly message (and they are having an amazing sale right now too!).
• Reusable bottles, bags & lunch kits – they all keep trash from landfills and the bottles also assure that we avoid harmful BPA.
• Green movies – consider movies like An Inconvenient Truth, Wall-e, Planet Earth or The 11th Hour… they all send an impactful message.
• Bamboo & organic cotton – so many things to choose, including cutting boards, cutlery, bowls, wine racks, towels, clothing… bamboo and organic cotton is amazingly sustainable and a lot less harsh on the environment.
• CFLs & rechargeable batteries – they save energy and keep battery trash from landfills (and they save the recipient some money too!).
• Electronics solar charger – free energy from the sun… what could be simpler?
• Homemade gifts – whether it’s a batch of homemade cookies, or something creative made from materials you have at home, you and your kids can create perfect gifts (think candle holders made from jars, pencil holders made from cans, or a framed work of art from your children).
• Organic treats – everything from organic fruits to chocolates, to beers and wines or coffees and teas, organic is always a fabulous choice…  and it supports the choice for organics.
• Natural, biodegradable bath products – something that’s not harsh on our skin and bodies, plus something that doesn’t harm the environment is a great choice.
• Upcycled products – “all that is old can be new again”… you can find totes, baskets, jewelry, clothing, rugs and even furniture.
• Local gifts – (again) those beers and wines, produce, art or just any locally-made products simply supports those local merchants and artists and avoids the emissions created from transporting products from remote regions of the world.
• Think of others – if you can find it in your heart, give to a charity.  Whether it’s a new gift for a child or family in need, or the donation of things you no longer want (clothing, toys, books, household items, etc.), there is always someone less fortunate than we are and reusing anything that still has usefulness is both environmental and a true gift for those that need our help.  Find the time and make a difference for someone who needs our love and assistance.  It doesn’t need to cost a dime and I assure you… it will help your heart feel full!

This list could truly go on and on, but the main objective should be to give something that YOU can feel good about, but also something you know can (and will) be used too.  A needless, useless gift will only become house-clutter and then eventually cast off to a landfill.

The clock is ticking but hopefully you found a new idea to help… Happy Green Shopping!

(This giveaway is now closed for entries.  See “comments” for winner announcement.)

Black Friday… I NEVER shop Black Friday!  Instead, I celebrate “Buy Nothing Day”.  Every year.  Period.

I know, I know… the sales, the excitement, the tradition.  I simply choose to spend the day NOT spending. It’s a great reminder that we DON’T need to spend obscene amounts of money, rise in the wee hours of the morning and push and shove our way to luxury items that aren’t even needed, if we really think about it.

So, if you would like to get a step-up on a great green gift, I will help you… no purchase necessary… (starting today and in the coming weeks).  I’m starting with an EcoUsable stainless steel filtered water bottle that will make a fabulous gift for someone on your list… as fabulous as the last one I gave away, only blue!!!

You want one, don’t you?  Well, if you must, you can even keep it for yourself and use it to stay hydrated while you prepare for the holidays!  It’s a great one too!:  stainless steel, BPA-free, reusable and stylin’, AND it filters everything from tap water, to water from a lake or stream, to pool water, if that’s your option! … what else could you ask for?!

So leave a comment here saying you’d like to win and tell me who you’d like to “gift” it to (there is no penalty for saying you want it for yourself!), or send a Twitter message that includes a reply to @momgoesgreen and a link to this blog. The winner will be selected one week from today’s post. (US entries only… sorry!)

Skip Black Friday!  Join me in celebrating “Buy Nothing Day”!… and take a chance to win something absolutely FREE!

Vinegar is always on my grocery list… and I buy it by the gallon.  Today, in fact, I will be using it to help clear our extremely slow-draining bathroom sink.  I’ve also talked about ways to put vinegar to work in household cleaning and laundry, but there are even more ways to substitute vinegar for other remedies and, in some cases, it helps you stay green and avoid chemicals.

Think about this list:

1. Acne remedy and skin conditioner – dilute 50/50 with water to use as a toner or dab, full strength, on the problem areas.
2. Clean lime deposits and calcium – we’ve all had build-up in our coffee makers and washing machines.  Fill the coffee maker with vinegar and brew it, or add a cup to your washing machine and run a cycle without clothes to give it a good cleaning.
3. Condition dry hair – shampoo your hair then rinse it with a mix of one cup of apple cider vinegar and two cups of water. (Feel free to wash the vinegar out after that initial rinse!)
4. Deodorize a smelly lunchbox – soak a cloth in vinegar and close it up in the lunchbox overnight to eliminate nasty odors.
5. Get rid of unwanted weeds – pour in the cracks or crevices or spray directly on the culprits!
6. Heal a bruise – apply white vinegar for an hour and it will reduce the discoloration and aid healing (time consuming, but it works!).
7. Prevent cracked hard boiled eggs – add two tablespoons per quart of water before boiling the eggs.
8. Remove skunk smells – (let’s hope this has happened to your pet and not YOU!) but apply, full strength to your pet’s fur, rinse with cold water, and it will reduce the smell dramatically.
9. Repel pesky ants – mix equal parts vinegar and water and spray in the problem areas.
10. Stop bug bite itching – dab on the area of the bite and it will relieve the itch.

Undoubtedly vinegar isn’t always the most aromatic and pleasant smell on the planet but given the choice of vinegar over harsh chemicals, I’ll pick the vinegar any time!

Do you have more uses?  Share them!

We all have our standards for grocery shopping… that list of do’s and don’ts for what we choose.   Maybe it’s a choice of organic produce and/or ingredients.  Maybe it’s a matter of avoiding certain contents, like artificial ingredients.  Maybe it’s just looking for the overall healthiest choices.

But above and beyond the food we select, there are many ways we can make our grocery store trip “greener”.  Consider these 10 simple ways:

1. Buy the most minimal packaging. Consider things like fresh breads.  They often come in paper bags that can be recycled – a far better choice than plastic wrappers (sometimes double-wrappers!) of mass-produced bread.  This holds true for many products.  Select those with minimal or the most recyclable packaging.
2. Buy a chunk or a brick of sliced cheese over the individually-wrapped version.  A package of 24-slices will include 24 sheets of plastic otherwise.
3. Buy the big can instead of multiple smaller cans – less packaging and less to recycle.  If it’s more than you need, put a reusable container to work and store it in your freezer until you do need it!
4. Buy local, every time you can!  Did you know that produce in the US travels between 1,500 to 2,500 miles before it even reaches your grocery store? … lots of emissions are created to make that happen!
5. Choose fresh over frozen or canned.  They use a lot less energy… from the energy used to process and manufacture them, to the energy needed for storage… choose fresh!
6. Choose sustainable wild fish over farm-raised – they actually contain less metals and create less contaminates since the concentration of farm-raised fish creates high levels of contaminating waste that will eventually reach our water sources.
7. Buy a gallon of milk or juices versus multiple 2-quarts, and buy in boxes versus individual packages.  This often means one recyclable container versus two non-recyclable cartons, and one recyclable box over a dozen plastic wrappers.  It’s obvious and fairly easy to break down single-servings into reusable containers.
8. Embrace the soybean! They’re a fabulous source of protein and cost a lot less than cattle farming!  If you replaced one beef meal per month with a soybean product, it would save TWENTY THOUSAND GALLONS of water per year!
9. Shop the counter.  Buy meats at a counter where you can select the exact amount you need.  Prepackaging ends up in excessive waste and often the needless disposal of foods when you “have too much”.
10. No paper, no plastic, no arguments!  Reusable bags are the only option.

It’s Friday.  Now get to shopping… but just remember to think “green-ER” before you buy!

…so this is what the latest review is telling consumers.  My first reaction sounded something like this: “AUGGGHHHHH!!!!!”  My second reaction was: “Well, what about the rest of the story?”

In summary, this conclusion was the result of a British review of studies held over the past 50 years.  It states that organic and non-organic foods possess the same nutritional content and therefore there is no superiority in organically grow produce.

Now first of all… I would consider the inclusion of studies that are 30, 40, 50(!) years old fairly irrelevant at this point. But what bothers me more is what this study DOES NOT include.

At no point does it ever address the real reason organic foods are important.  I can honestly say that I have NEVER purchased organic foods because I had some expectation of nutritional superiority. I do not buy these foods for what they contain… I buy them for what they DO NOT contain…

What organic foods DO NOT contain are the herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals that are sprayed on the crop… chemicals that are harmful to both us and the environment.  It’s that simple.  If you have been buying organics for some other reason, then you’ve been buying them for the wrong reason.  I’m buying them to prevent my family from consuming chemicals while they are consuming the foods that have a high nutritional value, regardless of the value (especially if they are equal!).  And our children are the most vulnerable when it comes to consuming these chemicals.  What it also does not mention is that the presence of pesticides can actually block the absorption of nutrients, so then doesn’t this automatically make the amount of nutrients irrelevant if they can’t be properly absorbed?!?

In my opinion, this result is misleading and irresponsible.  It’s only half the story.

You can decide for yourself, but my opinion has not been swayed one inch.  It’s not about non-organic vs. organic, it’s about chemical vs. non-chemical.  Which one would you rather give to your child?

I recently had occasion to purchase a wedding shower gift for our neighbor’s daughter.  Many of us have been there… that occasion where we labor over 12 pages of “wishes” and try to find something that you honestly feel wasn’t a “whim wish” and an item that won’t actually find itself shoved in a corner closet after the bride realizes it wasn’t really something she needed.

While we certainly can’t control what the bride selected, we can certainly choose how to spend our money.  And as I poured over the list, one item caught my eye immediately:  Bamboo Kitchen Cart with Wine Rack.  I was thrilled to know that I could actually buy something useful, as well as something “sustainable”!

I need to remind myself that I do have choices every time I purchase a gift.  A few extra minutes with a list or some special attention and you can be pleased that the gift suits you too!  Look for the bamboo cutting board or cutlery.  Look for the organic cotton towels or sheets.  And whoever said you HAVE TO buy off the list?!  Buy something that you’ll be happy to give.  Just be sure that your gift is useful.  Remember this: An used gift amounts to house clutter that will eventually be cast off.

Other ideas to keep your gift greener:

• Consider a reusable bag instead of wrapping paper.
• Simply wrap things (like towels) in themselves.
• Scraps of fabric lying around after crafty endeavors? Wrap the gift in it!
• A bamboo kitchen towel or two would even do the trick for any gift. For bigger gifts, a table cloth will cover it!
• Use biodegradable raffia instead of ribbon or reuse ribbons you’ve salvaged.
• Use a photo or image from a card you received to make a gift tag.
• Skip the bow and use a pretty flower from your garden instead.  Even twigs, berries or pinecones make great toppers with simple brown craft paper for the wrap.

My big thing has always been that “it’s about choices”.  And even if the bride’s choices leave you rolling your eyes, your gift can keep your eyes sparkling “green”!

As if there wasn’t enough debate (and yes, confusion) about the benefit of organic vs. non-organic milk, now “natural” milk is being introduced on grocery store shelves.

I’ve never wavered in my preference for organic milk.  It is higher quality; contains more nutrients; does NOT contain high residues of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics or hormones; and it comes from cows that have an overall better quality of life and receive organic feed.

Now enter: natural milk. What this essentially means is that the milk cannot contain artificial ingredients and additives like sweeteners, colors, flavors, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup, but it CANNOT make any of the claims of organic milk or the absence of all the harmful residues.

The pricing for natural milk will be somewhere between organic and non-organic. And with organic milk being high priced in comparison, some shoppers may be misled into believing that they’re buying a product that is less expensive than organic but getting all the benefits of organic milk.  This simply isn’t true. The difference is simply in the processing after it comes from the cow, not in the quality of the milk itself.

There is already so much confusion about organic milk and its beneficial qualities, and now natural milk will serve only to create more confusion. But be advised that natural milk is not better than organic milk (despite how it sounds), and giving a product the term “natural” is not regulated like the use of the term “organic”.

Just like non-organic milk, natural milk is like a box of chocolates… “you never know what you’re gonna get!”