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Almost a month ago, we received a press release for Barbie™ BCause, an attempt by Mattel to fool consumers into believing made in China, plastic, out-of-proportion dolls were green. I sent it out to our Eco Child’s Play writers stating, “Anyone want to take this on. I can’t do it. I’d be struck by lightening or something. ” Beth Bader responded that there had been too many lies, too much deception to believe such sustainability claims. So I thought green Barbie was dead to our blog, until Skye Kilaen of Crafting a Green World sent me an interesting article from Mother Jones. MJ writes:
When I first saw the press release about a “green” Mattel collection of accessories called Barbie BCause, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke. Apparently not. Mattel’s new “playful and on-trend” collection of hats and bags for young girls will be released “just in time to celebrate Earth Day in style.” Which is pretty ironic, really, given that Barbie dolls themselves are made out of plastic and are packaged in even more plastic. And not the kind of plastic you can throw in the recycling bin, either.
By Paul Smith •
April 22, 2008
How do you get your kids to care more about and take action on improving the environment, when the world they’re focused on is on their iPod, their Wii, their phone, and online? If you’re SustainLane, you meet them where they are, and create a web based animation series and also show it on TV, on Earth Day Television.
Gorilla in the Greenhouse, an episodic show premiering today, doesn’t preach at kids, but instead engages them on their terms and empowers them to take action. 
Animated by the people behind such web classics as The Meatrix, it features four smart kids and a wise green gorilla, facing the big green challenges of our day, with inventiveness, action, and most importantly, a rockin’ song.
Not many people could pull off making a catchy tune about a garbage island in the Pacific Ocean, but in the first episode, “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” they show otherwise. With people such as Ralph Guggenheim, one of Pixar’s founders producing, this moves beyond merely being entertainment to being a bridge to further conversation with your children about things happening in the real world, and what can be done about them.
By MC Milker •
April 2, 2008
A Yale University School of Medicine study has revealed interesting clues that may help us to understand why synthetic estrogens, including Bisphenol-A (BPA), found in many widely-used plastics, have a detrimental effect on a developing fetus and can cause fertility problems, as well as vaginal and breast cancers.
By Lucille Chi •
March 28, 2008
I simply love this new recycled and reversible swimsuit out now by Victoria’s Secret. I’m really impressed with how the company is shaping up and evolving from their troubled past.
A fresh start for them was making their catalog green a couple years ago (thanks to the amazing activists and the will inside the organization) thank goodness. The guest designer for this adorable green suit is Aaron Chang. Chang is a well known surf photographer turned swim wear designer. Aaron is creating sexy swimsuit lines from 100% recycled plastic soda bottles. He started off with organic cotton.
Swimsuit themes are inspired by the natural world with sunsets, oceanscapes, botanicals, and animals, all of them brilliant and colorful.. They are also reversible so it is like getting two suits for the price of one. Such a smart, sweet and simple concept.
This post is by Ramon Cruz, Senior Policy Analyst for Living Cities at Environmental Defense Fund.
It’s ironic. In many parts of the world, there is no clean drinking water. Here in the U.S., pure, drinkable water flows out of every tap, and yet Americans buy a staggering amount of bottled water. We pay big bucks for it, too - over $15 billion a year.
Worst of all, the bottles are overflowing our landfills, and contribute to global warming.
Take a look at this video from Doug James, and then check out these surprising facts.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/OZbTXDkrD1o" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
By Juliet Ames •
March 24, 2008
Lark Books is a fantastic publishing company that brought us all kinds of art and craft books including the addictive “500 Series.” Every year they publish 60-70 new titles and invite artists to submit work to be included in future books.
They now have a wonderful opportunity for artists that work with recycled plastics! I hope to see some submissions from our readers! To read the call for submissions…
By Pem Charnley •
March 24, 2008
Today, UK news described plastic flower pots as “the gardeners’ equivalent of the plastic bag.”
And with this born in mind, a UK garden center has launched ‘Plan Apple.’
It is now offering its customers a recycling facility for the millions of plastic plant pots which are discarded by gardeners throughout the year.
Image courtesy of Flickr
“The plastic polymers commonly used in consumer products, even as single molecules of plastic, are indigestible by any known organism.”
-CHARLES MOORE / Natural History v.112, n.9, Nov03
Dwell on that quote for a minute. Dwell on it because we, as a society, are hopelessly, recklessly addicted to plastics. According to Charles Moore, every year, about 250 billion pounds of plastic pellets are produced for use in the manufacture of plastic products. After taking a tour around my house, […]
By Jennifer Lance •
March 10, 2008
Newspaper house in London
Plastic bags apparently do not kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds and other animals, according to the Times in the U.K. The paper traces the bag’s deadly reputation to a misquoted study that blamed discarded fishing nets for killing numerous animals.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
By Pem Charnley •
February 26, 2008
As we skate dangerously close to cut-off time, and this writer gets the distinct impression that he’s beginning to mix metaphors - the big question then: how does the UK feel it views environmentally pressing questions?
Looking to members of the website generous.org.uk I asked them what they felt. Commenting on my earlier blog concerning biofuels, Andrew Fleming gives a full and well-informed account of his personal views. Over to Andrew then:
“Biofuels are not a simple answer - until all the starving are fed, I would prefer that we feed the poor, rather than fuel the rich. It is not a simple question. If we do not alleviate climate change which is happening, then we will lose more land from active crop production due to global warming.
