Green Options

I spent the first weekend away from my sons ever at BlogHer ’09 in Chicago. And my favorite session—hands down—was the Green Bloggers session. (Why yes, it was nice to meet the writers I adore!)

There, while we discussed good resources for product ingredient lists and standards, an audience member dropped what sounded like a bomb to all of us in the natural parenting, green cleaning and organic living world:

On January 1, 2010, all household products will have full ingredient lists on their labeling.

How did this amazing change in chem-laden products come about? Blame Thank Canada.

Here are the deets on these requirements.

A new report claims that the increasing number of ‘all-natural’ and ‘organic’ products on the market may be guilty of “the seven sins of greenwashing”.

TerraChoice Environmental Marketing released its report The Seven Sins of Greenwashing today. The report defines greenwashing as “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

Cleaning products and air fresheners can produce formaldehyde. UC Berkeley researchers found that chemicals in pine oils and citrus oils react with ozone in the air, producing formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a strong eye, nose, throat, and lung irritant. Formaldehyde is also an asthma trigger and a carcinogen, according to the EPA.

You care about the environment and also your family’s health. So it’s time to embrace eco-friendly child care!

Many daycare and child-care centers around the U.S. are embracing eco-friendly ways, and it’s not a day too soon. That’s why we’re building a huge directory of eco-friendly child care centers around the country. We have over 120 listed so far and we’re adding more every day. Check them out! And if you know of one you’d like to add, please send us an email to feedback@lowimpactliving.com.

The State of Oregon’s Environmental Council has taken a pioneering role in certifying child-care centers with their Eco-Healthy Child Care program.  Child care facilities qualify as “Eco-Healthy” by completing a 25-element checklist that highlights 25 steps facilities can take to ensure a safe place for children. Eco-healthy child care centers commit to reducing a child’s exposure to toxins and other environmental health hazards.

Many women discover the green lifestyle when they are expecting, or become moms. Wanting to do the best you can for your child includes considerations that you make before your baby is even born – after all, that’s why you’ve given up wine, right? Everyone knows that eating right and getting enough rest will help both mother and baby be healthy, but the green movement has opened our eyes to the effects that the world around us can have as well.

Back in 2005, a frightening study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found chemicals in the blood of the umbilical cords from 10 newborn babies. These chemicals were linked to cancer, birth defects, and hormone disruptions, and included lead, mercury and PCBs. Since then, moms-to-be have demanded more information about reducing the impact of the chemical soup that we all live in.

We Are What We Eat

According to most studies, it’s not clear whether organic food has higher nutritional value than its non-organic counterparts. Regardless, one thing is for sure: organic food contains fewer chemicals. Organic food is grown without artificial fertilizers, conventional pesticides, or sewage sludge, and processed without ionizing radiation and food additives. That stuff is gross, whether you’re pregnant or not. To label a food product organic, it must be certified by the National Organic Program, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A USDA Organic seal indicates that the product contains at least 95% organic ingredients, so look for this label.

Before you can open your doors for business, you need an office. Stocking your office with needed supplies is a great opportunity to show your green side and make sustainable choices. From furnishings to paper clips, there are eco-friendly options out there for every office need.

Whether you’re working from home or from a downtown high-rise, you can conserve paper, reduce energy use, and produce less waste by keeping the environment in mind for all your office purchases. In this article, I’ll share ideas for stocking your green office and sources of green office products.

Like many of you, I’m very aware that what goes on my skin, in my hair and on my floors and countertops, also goes down the drain and into the world! I distinctly remember a moment, while congratulating myself for using a great, organic body care product, that I looked at the label and realized that bottle had traveled about 3000 miles!  Then I squinted and saw that Unilever was distributing the product and I was no longer giving my money to the small, eco-friendly company that I thought I was!

This New York Times article has me again pondering the crossroads of eco-friendly products and economies of scale. 

While I’m a big fan of the cleaning power of baking soda, vinegar, Borax and lemons …a decent homemade shampoo is still beyond me!  It took me a while, but I found a skin care line that I like; not only because the ingrediants are simple and organic, but because the packaging is recycleble.

The road to going green is, in my mind, quite mixed with the road to going healthier.  Getting rid of our aluminum cookware is divided into the same category of my thoughts as using cloth napkins or recycled-paper towels.  So what are we doing to get green & healthy now?