Green Options

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You probably noticed the new look and feel to both Green Options and Eco Child’s Play; it’s a merger we hope is mutually beneficial. For those of you who are daily reader of Eco Child’s Play but new to Green Options, or new to either site, I’m Kelli Best-Oliver. I’ve been writing about sustainability and education for Green Options since its launch in February. I’m a high school teacher in St [...]

Many green parents (and doctors) have long thought that increased exposure to environmental toxins can lead to childhood diseases such as asthma, cancers, birth defects, and developmental disorders. CNN.com even ran a story last week about industrial chemical buildup in children’s bloodstreams. Now, the Shaklee Foundation and HealthyChild.org have teamed up to produce a new DVD that provides information for parents, teachers, school administrators, and child care professionals on

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Makena Brown, grade 8, has a plan to help keep the planet healthy and make money, too. Makena collects all of her family’s recyclables and stores them in the back yard. About once a month, she and her family load up the car with the many bags of bottles and cans and take them to the local recycling center. Because it’s her project, Makena gets to keep the money paid by the recycling center

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Sustainability is making its way into mainstream periodicals. It seems like almost every magazine in the past year has featured a "green" issue, some credible, some not. My friend just gave me the green issue of a magazine targeted at the marketing industry. So it’s no surprise that Edutopia, an education magazine for teachers and administrators published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, used sustainability as a theme for their

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As a species, we must look pretty silly in a number of ways. Here are fifteen weird things we do from a squirrel’s point of view, along with some daily ways that we can be a little more like the other animals.

15. We spend as much effort packaging our food as finding and eating it. So much of our food these days comes pre-packaged that we don’t think twice about it. In order

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When a baby is born, it is so pure and natural, yet will soon be exposed to all of the harsh chemicals of the modern world. It is true that babies are exposed to some toxins in utero and through breastmilk, but this exposure is limited and mostly out of the control of parents. What is in the control of new parents are the kind of products they use on their baby,

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Last weekend, parents in Chicago had the opportunity to gather and learn firsthand about dozens of ways to raise healthy kids while protecting the planet those kids will one day inherit. As just one of hundreds of parents and grandparents who attended the Naturally Healthy Children’s Expo on Saturday, I was happy that I braved the throngs of tourists on Navy Pier on cloudless fall day to attend — and I was

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Getting your little ghosts and goblins ready for Halloween while attempting to minimize your impact might seem scarier than global warming, but it’s so simple: you’re probably already doing at least one of these things.

1. Use reusable candy-collecting bags. Simple, easy, and ensures that your large stash of candy won’t end up all over the street from a less-than-durable plastic bag. Avoid those plastic pumpkins, too. They’re made of petroleum, and

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When I talk to people about thinking sustainably, they inevitably ask for books to read, and although there are several books I love about sustainability, they’re all very specific to one area of sustainability. Want to read about food? Try Michael Pollan, Peter Singer, or the new Barbara Kingsolver book. Climate Change? How about The Weather Makers