The good folks at Enviro Products sent over a stainless steel food container. I was a bit skeptical at first, because my son is the only one who packs a lunch and sometimes these things are too difficult to unlatch. It turns out I had no reason to worry, the latches are firm but easy enough for an elementary school boy to maneuver and there’s no metallic taste. It’s a large container, and I’d love to see one that’s sandwich sized, because that would keep the sandwiches from flailing around and falling apart. It’s perfect for pastas grains and fruits. My kids seldom want soft skin fruits like peaches or nectarines in their lunch boxes because they’re ruined (smashed) by lunchtime.

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One of the great blessings of my adult life was a summer vacation spent with my husband and children at Catalina Island Camps. We spent the better part of the week learning about the ocean, our food supply and our ability to affect change.

Jean Michele Cousteau (son of Jacques Cousteau) would call himself an ambassador of the environment. I would call him a hero to us all.

Most recently Cousteau has discovered many populations of killer whales are contaminated with toxic, synthetic chemicals known as PBDEs, or flame retardants. I understand the wisdom of not wanting your children’s pajamas to catch fire, but how many of us are living in gaslight districts? At what point do we ask for change, and at what point do we demand it?

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Yipee!

Finally, there’s a book for moms who are looking to go green that doesn’t make them feel like a failure. I’ve always been pretty green. It was recent that I realized that a lot of my peers don’t think about sustainable living. I’d just assumed that everyone went through the same processes that I did.

What I didn’t realize is that a lot of women (especially parents) felt like they had to do everything. By “everything” I mean everything from green cleaning products to the diva cup to growing their own food, and by being made to feel like a perennial failure, many parents are unwilling to attempt any part of a sustainable life, for fear of being mocked.

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The idea for this story actually came to me from our writer, Jennifer Kaplan, but since I’ve written on this topic before, she asked if I might want to tackle it – Sure.  A few months back, Darren Rowse challenged his readers to create a top ten to follow list to Twitip. As you can see, 192 of us responded with out top ten list folks who Twitter on a wide variety of topics. My list was green.

But, I’ve had a chance to think about it some more.

Trying to determine how to best build your list of followers can be a challenge and a raging argument is going on right now with the Twitterati on quality versus quantity. Is it better to follow lots of people and have lots of followers or does the quality of the follower matter?

As a marketing guru, I lean toward quality. I tweet almost everyday and I’ve set up Twitter accounts for several clients and have carefully managed which people we follow; at what rate we gain followers and how closely they match the target market we are attempting to reach.

Why?

The reason quality matters is your ability to reach out to your target audience is limited by how many of their tweets you see. If you follow random people, those tweets to which you might want to respond get lost in the masses of tweets you receive. (In some ways the 2000 followers limit on Twitter is a good thing.)

So, if you’re looking for green folks to follow on Twitter, take a minute and consider, what sort of green people should I be following?

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Editor’s note: The following post was originally published on Green and Clean Mom. “Green & Clean Mom can inspire you to try a little harder, be a catalyst for change and to offer you some new tips and news on how to be the green, sexy and sassy mom…I know you are!”

New Years Resolutions usually revolve around saving money or losing weight, not going green or doing good things for the environment. Most resolutions aren’t kept for more than a month or two with the resolution falling to the way side verses being maintained and achieved. This is usually do to the goals being set to high and not being obtainable.

This New Year, feel good about yourself, maybe lose some weight, save some money but best of all be some sparkling shade of green this New Year with these 9 easy and very manageable and obtainable tips:

1.  Make a list. Write down exactly what your family can do to help the environment this New Year and pick one of these to start with. When you’ve mastered eating only veggies, limiting your meat intake or buying organic beef…move on to the next item but the list is what applies to YOU and YOUR family.

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I woke up to this email

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Simply put, you take that hideous gift Aunt Sally sent an item that you no longer want/need and put it up for trade. Then you search for another item that you actually need or want.

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There are no video games at my house, yet. My husband is dying for a Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray. Since he’s the primary earner in the household, if we do end up with a gaming console, it’s the most likely option. The kids want a Wii and I’ve already succumbed and bought one for my mother’s house, but I’ve been comfortable with my decision to keep the house free of video game systems.

I took the kids to an EA/Nintendo party last week where the kids played a bunch of the new Nintendo releases. There’s a pop star sing along that’s cute and appropriate for most. (If you’re very conservative in your dress, skip it.) And there are a whole bunch of Sim Games.

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1997: We are given a 1984 Oldsmobile, it has less than 20,000 miles on it, it was his Grandparents car. It has fuzzy blue fabric and bench seats. We are still madly in love.

1999: I’m going need acupuncture if I have to duck into that f**king car one more time to get the baby out of the back seat. Mom! Don’t sell that Explorer just yet, we want it. We need it, my aching back needs it.

Another child is added to the equation.

2001: “Honey”, I want one of these. “I begged”

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Traces of the industrial chemical melamine have been detected in samples of top-selling U.S. infant formula, but federal regulators insist the products are safe. The Food and Drug Administration said last month it was unable to identify any melamine exposure level as safe for infants, but a top official said it would be a “dangerous overreaction” for parents to stop feeding infant formula to babies who depend on it.

“The levels that we are detecting are extremely low,” said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “They should not be changing the diet. If they’ve been feeding a particular product, they should continue to feed that product. That’s in the best interest of the baby.”

I get that I’m just a housewife (with a graduate degree) and I couldn’t possibly really understand what the scientists know…

Previously undisclosed tests, obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the FDA has detected melamine in a sample of one popular formula and the presence of , in the formula of a second manufacturer.

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Eli Lilly
Astra Zeneca
LifeScan
Insulet
Medtronic
Pfiser
Takeda

And a handful of others. You see, diabetes is big business, insulin costs and insurance will always pay. Diabetes is one of the many preventable diseases that mothers give their children.

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You pick the product. Yes, I want you to look at the chemicals and try to guess what product they come from.

Butyl Acetate: Oxford University recommends the use of safety glasses
Propyl Acetate: OSHA and the CDC recommend breathing support with this chemical
Ethyl Acetate: From OSHA;

* Signs and symptoms of exposure

1. Acute exposure: Ethyl acetate causes irritation, redness, and tearing of the eyes and irritation of the nose and throat. It is a defatting agent and may cause skin dryness after acute exposure. Sensitization of the lining of the nose may occur with symptoms of inflammation (swelling, runny nose, redness of lining).
2. Chronic exposure: Chronic exposure of the skin to ethyl acetate may cause dermatitis; no other systemic effects have been reported from chronic exposure to ethyl acetate.

Nitrocellulose: OSHA gives it a low toxicity rating but with Gun Cotton being it’s synonym it’s no surprise to find it’s rather explosive.
Isopropyl Alcohol: common, perhaps benign
Polyester Resin: Limited information available, but you can laminate your surfboard with it.
Camphor
Steralkonium Hectorite
Benzaphenone 1
Titanium Dioxide
Red #6
Iron Oxide
Ferric Ammonium
Ferrocyanide Red #7

Are you ready to guess? Do you think you know? After the jump is the big reveal.

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For parents committed to green living and environmental concsiousness, the greatest gift we can bestow upon our children — and to the world in which we live — is the spirit, passion and commitment to keeping our planet flourishing. 

We all want to ensure that our children are safe, happy and protected, and what better way to do that than by helping them preserve the earth, freeing the air from harmful contaminents and pollution, decreasing our dependence on — and wastefulness of – fuel and finding eco-friendly alternative energy sources.

Between in-home teaching and associations and resources committed to educating children about environmental protection and conservation, it’s easy get your kids out of diapers and off the grid!

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Johnson and Johnson has issued a recall of their very popular Gas Relief drops. About 12,000 units of Mylicon drops to relieve gas for infants were recalled Monday because some bottles could include pieces of metal. Yes, metal.

As if being a new mother isn’t difficult enough.

The recalled bottles are from lots SMF007 and SMF008. These numbers are printed on the bottom of the box and on the lower-left side of the sticker on each bottle.

If you have a fussy baby and you suspect it’s gas try these old fashioned remedies. All of them might not work for you, but you only need one silver bullet.

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Sure, I want my kids to pick up trash and ride the bus and march on Washington, too, but is this picture book really appropriate reading material for a preschooler and a toddler?

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No. You aren’t at the wrong website, keep reading.

Then I had kids, two to be exact. With the first child I put a pillow on my lap, to keep her up high to breastfeed. When the second child came, I put him in his highchair, across the table from me and flopped my boob out.

Okay, that’s a tiny exaggeration.

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It’s exciting that they have a line of Nursing Camisoles.

It’s delightful that they’re pretty.

It’s thrilling that they’re giving one away to one EcoChildsPlay reader. Just thrilling.

As you probably know, bamboo fabric provides enhanced breathability, natural anti-bacterial properties as well as the ability to quickly absorb moisture. Additionally, many moms appreciate bamboo’s eco-friendly qualities — recognized as one of the fastest growing plants in the world, bamboo is extremely renewable and doesn’t require pesticides.  It also helps replenish fresh air, producing more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees. Additionally, the bamboo used in the Medela Nursing Camisole is Oeko-Tex certified ensuring environmentally-friendly practices.

“A mom who is just learning to breastfeed worries frequently about how she can breastfeed or pump easily and discreetly,” said Anne Ng’ang’a product manager of intimate apparel from Medela  “Nursing camisoles are a great option for these moms.  They make nearly any outfit breastfeeding-friendly and make it easy to express breastmilk without exposing the tummy.” Let me tell you something ladies, my “baby” is 7 years old, keeping my tummy covered is still a priority. This cami is cut long so that there’s no exposure between jeans and shirt.

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Well, not exactly, but really close. My mother, like many others walks out of retail stores that smell like heavy cleansers and would sooner live in filth than in a house with Pine Sol. I’m not as sensitive as my mother, but I’ve tried to keep my house friendly t her and others like her.

Today I cleaned the house from top to bottom with EcoDiscoveries products and guess what my mother smelled? Nothing.

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