Katy Farber is teacher, freelance writer, and mama from the mountains of Vermont. She writes about the environment, parenting, and education, and can be found running the dirt roads of her town, or playing in the yard with her two spirited little girls. She is the founder and editor of Non-Toxic Kids, an environmental health and issue blog for families, and is usually writing about toxins, green parenting and environmental issues until way too late at night.
Breastfeeding can be hard enough for any new mama. Some of us produce too much milk, some too little, some of us get infections, or struggle to have our new little baby latch on well. Breastfeeding has been known to lessen obesity, allergies, and quoted from a guest poster on Non-Toxic Kids,
“Research shows that breast milk is best for a babys health and is perfectly suited to protect the baby from illnesses. Babies who are breast-fed are healthier and develop a stronger immune system, making them less prone to hospital admissions and problems such as diarrhea, allergies, and infections, which are more prone in babies who are bottle-fed.”
The benefits go beyond this, we know. Constant bonding and closeness with your baby promotes close relationships and connections. Of course this is possible for bottle fed babies too.
A few weeks ago, I wrote on Non-Toxic Kids about the roll out of a swine flu vaccine for this fall. I realized then I needed to learn a great deal more about this virus and the vaccine. As a teacher, I will be in direct contact with hundreds of kids and could bring this virus into my home. But I am also a minimalist when it comes to medicating my children.
I’ve been concerned as to what chemicals are in vaccines, especially mercury containing thimerosal. I do know this ingredient has been phased out of the flu vaccines in my area of Vermont.
Apparently, this vaccine will be similar to other flu vaccines in content. I have not heard anything about thimerosal in these new vaccines, but I will be asking my doctor about it.
A few months ago, I wrote on Non-Toxic Kids about how some of our favorite shoe companies: Nike, Timberlane, Clarks, Rebok and Adias, were using leather from enormous factory farms in Brazil, causing massive deforestation of the Amazon, and emiting tons of ozone depleting carbon into the atmosphere in the process. Greenpeace mounted an informational email and action campaign about this issue, generating over 30,000 emails to Nike. And they listened.
A new study showed a link between exposure to smog before birth and low IQ in children, as reported by the Washington Post, and published in the August issue of Pediatrics. There is growing evidence suggesting that low levels of air pollution are much more harmful than once thought.
We all know factory farming is dangerous for the environment, and more and more now, for our health. MSNBC just did a piece about the superbugs in meat, causing dangerous and sometimes lethal viruses in the people who work in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, and in surrounding areas. Read the article for the full story.
I was shocked to read that anyone can buy antibiotics without a prescription and add them to feed for farm animals. Often, these are the same ones we take when we are sick. Is it any wonder viruses are becoming resistant to these very same, overused antibiotics?
With Swine flu, E-coli outbreaks, and the discussion of school wide closings and massive vaccinations this fall, I’ve been thinking about the new food safety bill, HR 2749.
I found this interesting article about the Organic Consumer’s Association. While the OCA recognized that there are significant protections for organic farmers in the bill, they contend that the underlying causes of many food born illnesses are from factory farming, and the multiple environmental problems associated with it. Unfortunately, according to the OCA, this is not addressed in the new food safety bill.
According to the OCA, HR 2749 needs to be expanded to include these components:
I am about to embark on an east coast odyssey, of sorts. I am taking my 2 and 4 year old girls from northern New England to the greater Washington D.C. area. By myself.
Yep, 10-12 hours on the road with two energetic, vocal, independent minded and sometimes surly (and whiny) little people strapped in. Wish me luck.
It really can’t be worse than the time my youngest decided to go on a 20 hour nursing strike while on this very same drive (any nursing mother can imagine the suffering–), can it?
In any case, I am packing today and thinking about how to green up road trips. Here are some of the ideas I came up with that might be helpful if you too are taking a road trip this summer, and want to be a little more green than in your younger (and more wasteful) days.
I just read that San Francisco, in another moment of environmental health leadership (brilliance, I would call it), just launched the most ambitious recycling program in the nation. For a city that already diverts 72 percent of its trash from landfills, San Francisco didn’t sit on its laurels. Mayor Gavin Newsom promoted the law that adds mandatory composting to the program and forwards the goal of achieving 75 percent diversion and zero waste by 2020.
At Non-Toxic Kids, we’ve been all about activism this week. There is a lot of action that needs to happen, and the world needs to hear from you green parents out there. Here is a quick summary (because I know you are sleep deprived and have lots to do) of some current environmental actions that could use your support.
Perhaps as a backlash to the micromanaged, overscheduled children of the past 10 years, many writers are sharing a new trend in parenting– with many names, all entertaining, such as “idle”; “free-range” or “slow” parenting. Oh, yeah, do I like the sound of that.
According to this article Let the Kid Be from the New York Times, more and more parents are refusing to overschedule, hover, and worry about every move their child makes. You’ve probably read their blogs, late at night, when you are worrying about something, and they made you feel better. It’s a bit like watching the Nanny show when you think your kids are poorly behaved, because by god, they are never that bad.
The truth of it is we all like to read about moms who admit moments of unglory and tedium in parenting. It makes us all feel normal, in the widely emotional journey of parenting, where extremes are the norm.
