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.

Barbie™ BCause is a line of accessories for girls made from excess fabric and trimmings from other Barbie products:

which would otherwise be discarded, offering eco-conscious girls a way to make an environmentally-friendly fashion statement with cool, patchwork-style accessories.

The eco-conscious young girls I know of steer clear of Barbie. My daughter just gave away her Barbie that her grandmother had bought her (without my approval, of course) while wearing her “Free Tibet” t-shirt. Truly green families will not be fooled by Mattel’s greenwashing. If a green girl wants a patchwork bag, she will make it from her own clothing she has outgrown and not Barbie’s.

“Barbie is always a reflection of current cultural trends and issues, and girls are increasingly aware of making a green statement,” said Richard Dickson, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Media and Entertainment, Worldwide, Mattel Brands. That’s right, Barbie is reflecting the trend of going green. Mattel realizes it wants a piece of the eco-friendly toy pie, but this ploy screams of greenwashing, especially considering the line will only be sold at Toys R Us. MJ sums it up well:

If Mattel really wants to be green, why not reduce the ridiculous amount of packaging they use for displaying their dolls? Why not only sell the collection at eco-conscious retailers instead of exclusively at Toys “R” Us? Oh right, because it’s Barbie.

And what’s with the stupid name BCause? I’m so tired of products targeted to children not using proper English. Haven’t toy makers ever heard of environmental print and the role it plays in young children’s literacy development?

Image: marketing.blogs

Related posts on Barbie and Toys R Us:

• Barbie Doll Art: 32,000 Boob Jobs a Month

• Toys R Us New Toys - Eco Friendly; Still Made in China

• Toys R Us Goes Green, But Questions Remain

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.

As Eli Noyes, director of the show puts it, “It is by nature interactive, because kids can do in the real world what they see our virtual kids doing. Every imaginary character and action in the show has an analogous real life counterpart.”

For example, in the first episode, the kids overcome a plot by Dr. Morlon Huffelbot to create a trash bag island (sound familiar?) They go undercover at the plastic bag factory, get out their positive green message to counteract Huffelbot’s actions through their social networks, rally cities to ban plastic bags and then create their own eco friendly alternative.  And, in a nod to how times have changed since we watched Schoolhouse Rock, this time it’s the kids making the music, in their band The Greenhouse Gang.

Giving structure and resources to build on your child’s enthusiasm, they’ve created a curriculum to go along with each episode with actions to take, and additional videos to deepen their knowledge. Beyond the garbage island, future episodes will cover sustainable food production, deforestation, global warming, and energy efficiency.

Readers: What other ways do you know of to creatively and actively engage your kids in greening the world?

More Resources:

From Inspiration to Action: 18+

Plastic: Your Worst Nightmare

Children’s Music Parents Can Enjoy

Science Daily reports that, the study, which injected mice with diethylstilbestrol (DES)  found that synthetic estrogen alters the expression of HOXA10, a gene necessary for uterine development, and increases the risk of cancer and pregnancy complications in female offspring.

They found changes in certain regions of the HOXA10 gene. These alterations continued beyond the time of development and persisted into adulthood, indicating that exposure to DES and similar substances results in lasting genetic memory, known as “imprinting.”

“We found that HOXA 10 protein expression was shifted to the bottom portion of the uterus in the female offspring,” said Taylor. “We also found increased amounts of the enzyme responsible for changes in the DNA. Rather than just changing how much of the protein is there, DES is actually changing the structure of the HOXA 10 gene.

“These findings bring us closer to understanding the way in which DES interacts with the developing reproductive system.”

While DES is no longer available on the market the authors chose to study its effects to gain insight into how similar synthetic estrogens might work. Pregnant women are frequently exposed to synthetic estrogens, some of which have already been linked to fertility problems. The results of this study may lead to a better understanding of the risks involved.

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. 

What a difference a day at the beach makes when you have a bathing suit made of good karma. Styles like these inspire smiles and attention! As bikini season approaches and we get in shape for that hot itty bitty bikini, remember to shape up your swimsuit shopping too.

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" /]

More than a quarter of bottled water is just processed tap water, including Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani. Despite this, bottled water consumption is growing at 10 percent a year, faster than any other beverage. We drink 15 times more bottled water today than we did in 1976.

This doesn’t mean we’re healthier, despite the ads. Federal regulations for municipal water are far more stringent. Bottled water rules allow higher levels of many contaminants, with more lenient requirements for filtration, testing and reporting. See NRDC’s bottled water report for details of contaminants by brand.

The Earth isn’t healthier for it, either. According to the Pacific Institute’s fact sheet [PDF], manufacturing the 30+ billion plastic water bottles we bought in 2006:

• Required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil — enough to fuel more than one million vehicles for a year. (Note: This was erroneously reported by The New York Times as 1.5 million, and the error is repeated in many places.)
• Produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
• Used three times the amount of water in the bottle.

And these numbers don’t include transporting the bottles. Nearly 25 percent of bottled water crosses national borders before reaching consumers. Adding in transportation, the energy used comes to over 50 million barrels of oil equivalent - enough to run 3 million cars for a year.

Case Study: Fiji Water

Fiji Water produces more than a million bottles of water a day, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have reliable drinking water (see Fast Company article). Adding to the irony, Fiji itself uses almost no bottled water, according to a Pacific Institute report [PDF]. They export it.

Shipping Fiji Water around the world increases its environmental footprint. Manufacturing and shipping a one liter bottle produces over half a pound of greenhouse gas emissions, and uses nearly 7 times the amount of water in the bottle, according to calculations by Pablo Päster on TriplePundit.

The heavy use of water is as serious as the greenhouse gas emissions. Water is fast becoming a scarce resource.

We Could Recycle, But…

Recycling would help, but we don’t usually do it. Less than 20 percent of the 28 billion single-serving water bottles that Americans buy each year are recycled. Some estimates are as low as 12 percent.

According to a Container Recycling Institute report [PDF], the national recycling rate for all beverage containers is 33 percent. In states with deposit systems, the rate jumps to 65-95 percent. But of the eleven states with deposit laws, only three include containers for non-carbonated beverages (like water), though non-carbonated beverages now comprise 27 percent of the market.

Last November, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a national bottle bill to address global warming that includes water bottles and other non-carbonated beverage containers.

The beverage industry, which long resisted deposit laws, has started to cooperate — mainly because it sees bottled water as the answer to the soda sales slump. Following months of bad publicity, manufacturers like Coke, Pepsi, and Nestlé have begun making lighter-weight plastic bottles, and are encouraging consumers to recycle.

Better Yet, Carry Tap Water

If you buy bottled water, recycle the bottle. But the better solution — for you and the environment — is to drink tap water, both at home and at restaurants:

• Tap water is cleaner than most bottled water.
• Tap water is delivered to homes and offices for $0.002 a gallon. Bottled water, which can cost as much per gallon as gasoline, is a thousand times more expensive.

The quality of municipal water in the U.S. is generally excellent. Don’t let the recent reports about pharmaceuticals in tap water deter you — see this TreeHugger post for why.

But if you don’t trust tap water, or you have old plumbing, or you think tap water tastes funny, then try a water filter like those from PUR or Brita. To learn more about water filters, check out the rated list of water filter review sites at Consumer Search.

To carry water with you, use a reusable container filled with tap water. But don’t reuse single-use water bottles. This can expose you to bacterial build-up and carcinogens leached from the plastic.

Quite a few companies make reusable water bottles. There’s an ongoing debate about the safety of the polycarbonate plastic some use, but there are many safe reusable bottles made from other materials.

Use it or Lose it

National Geographic’s Green Guide notes, “…the federal share of funding for water systems has declined from 78 percent in 1973 to 3 percent today.” This places the financial burden almost entirely on local governments.

Food and Water Watch also talks about how important it is to stop this trend and maintain the quality of municipal water. Their Take Back the Tap [PDF] report gives a detailed overview of the issues surrounding tap water versus bottled water.

What do you think? Can you give up bottled water?

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…

FANTASTIC PLASTIC
Authors: David and Robin Edgar
Editor: Terry Taylor
Entry Deadline: July 7, 2008
Lark Books seeks images of original work to feature in the gallery of Fantastic Plastic by David and Robin Edgar. To be released in Fall 2009, Fantastic Plastic will capture the artistry of recycled plastic. From fun and funky to elegant and thought provoking, all sculptural forms will be considered and all types of plastic innovation will be welcomed.
Find an entry form here.

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

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, I was dismayed to discover that I could not even count the number of items in my house that are made, at least in part, of plastic, because there were just so many. Just sitting here at my laptop, I can touch a dozen plastic items in close range: Laptop keyboard parts, plate for my toast, rims for a wagon wheel, spoon handle, air conditioner exterior, backing of rug, cordless phone, bin in which I keep my mail, power strip, shredder, vacuum cleaner, slippers, fake apples in centerpiece…. need I go on?

I think we’ve all been hearing it for years: plastics are not biodegradable. In fact, they only photodegrade, which means that the sun breaks them down into smaller and smaller bits, until they are only one molecule large… but then there is no voracious bacteria, no known organism, that can then act on that molecule. We have created, in essence, an ecological invasive “species” that no organism native to our planet can deal with.

I can remember growing up in school in the 80s and learning about the problems with plastics. That was over 20 years ago, and our plastic consumption is only increasing. The use of disposable plastic water bottles has significantly increased the vast extent of our plastic waste.

I just came across an article that scared me. It was published a few years ago, and so does not even contain the most recent statistics, which have probably worsened significantly, and it is still terrifying. Charles Moore was on a research vessel in the North Pacific Gyre, between California and Japan, when they came across a vast wasteland of ocean covered as far as the eye can see in floating plastic debris. Because a gyre is an area that has little wind and current action, once garbage floats there, it tends to stick around. I had trouble comprehending the sheer enormity of the possibility of an area the size of Texas covered in plastic garbage. It made me stop and think: I HAVE to stop using so much plastic, and we HAVE to come up with a more ecologically sound alternative to PET plastic.

Please read Charles Moore article Trashed. I think you will find it eye-opening. Then try to come up with one way you can reduce your consumption of plastic. Here are some possibilities:

* Don’t take a to-go lid or a straw when you buy a drink somewhere. If you are going to a Starbucks or similar coffee shop, they will most likely allow you to bring your own resusable coffee mug and fill that (when my husband does this at Starbucks, he even gets more coffee than he would for the same price in a to-go cup, they knock off 10 cents from the total cost, and they steam-wash your cup for you before they fill it!)
* If you or your child often take sandwiches to work or school, look into a reusable sandwich bag like the Wrap-n-Mat from Resusablebags.com.
* Buy glass (Pyrex work great!) containers for left-overs instead of plastic. I hear a lot of complaints that it’s hard to take glass in a packed lunch, but as long as you buy a sturdy lunchbox/bag, and are mindful of the fact you have glass, it is totally possible, and you eliminate the possibility of toxins leaching into your food from microwaved plastics!
* Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles! Stop buying plastic disposable water bottles!
* Instead of plastic disposable water bottles, check out the newcorn-resin PLA refillable water bottles with filters from TheGreaterGreen.com. And while you’re at it, check out my blog post on PLA plastics, which reveals both the positives and the negatives of this new plastic.
* When you can’t avoid plastics, be sure to recycle them. The most easily-recycled plastics are those with a 1 or a 2 inside the recycling triangle on the bottom of the container.
* Look for alternatives to plastic bottles and packaging for common food items like ketchup. It might not be easy!! The only mustard that came in a glass jar at my local grocery store was Grey Poupon…. so guess what we are spreading on our sandwiches these days!

The most important thing is that we simply start becoming more aware of our plastic consumption. When I started looking around my surroundings and in my cupboards, I realized we were using a lot more plastic than we needed to. It’s not realistic to stop using plastics altogether- they are very useful for many purposes! But cutting down on plastic consumption significantly will help us solve our impending plastic crisis, as will creating recycling systems that recycle a larger percentage of plastics than are currently being recycled.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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.

“I strongly suspect that the amount of land which would be needed to produce enough biofuel to prevent further global warming would mean that there would not be enough land to produce food - unless more rain forest was cleared - which would mean an even greater proportion of the crops would be needed for biofuel, since there would be less land given over to forests which reclaim the CO2 from the atmosphere.”

Gordon Brown has recently gone ahead with nuclear again. Andrew, your thoughts?

“I do not think that nuclear fission is the answer either - at least until we have found a fissionable isotope which results in something with at least a very short half-life - or better still which is atomically stable. Nuclear fusion on the other hand - if it could be tamed - would (or at least at the moment seems likely to) be a good solution.”

But the broader picture. The UK’s general views to the environment. Do we even care? I stated that the national press, certainly The Guardian and The Independent, had environmental sections, which in turn suggested a strong reader demand. Rosalyn from Birmingham perhaps put me right here:

“I wonder if the national press has embraced the environment [though] - have The Sun or Mirror recently had any articles [regarding the environment]?

“I think it has got to the point where recycling is seen as normal and not excessively green. Amongst the chattering classes it has got to the point where people will pretend to be more green than they actually are.

“Supermarkets now have their own green ranges. Yet this has happened before and they stopped when demand decreased again. I’ve noticed a lot of 4×4 drivers use Ecover washing up liquid.”

Certainly, this suggests hypocrisy amongst some so-called environmentally aware UK folk.

And Huw? What are your thoughts?

“I must say I feel a lot less positive than most.

“We have just been away for a week with two other families - both very educated, informed, responsible, middle-class and evangelical Christian.

“As ever, I pointed out that the foil lids on our yoghurts and the foil dishes our takeaways came in were (unless I am mistaken) pure aluminium and should be recycled. They looked at me in surprise. Really?

“Recycling aluminium must be one of the easier and most obvious ways to avoid absurd energy waste, and I would guess that it is 30 years or more since the green movement started urging people to do it. If the message hasn’t got through yet, it doesn’t inspire much hope.”

Huw, I mentioned that an environmental section in The Guardian must at least offer what is now fast becoming a dwindling hope? Positive feedback please …

“My other big bugbear is plastic. Since I read recently that there is something like 100 million tons of plastic floating in the Pacific, and that this vast soup is expected to double in size in the next decade, I have had a horror of unnecessary plastic packaging, bags and (especially) bottles.

“But I can’t bring myself to say anything to my family, let alone my educated, informed friends, because I think they’ll just think I’m bonkers. My impression really is that green consciousness has made few inroads into even the leftie broadsheet-reading population of this country.

“I rent an office in the house of a Guardian-reading social anthropologist, who leaves his TV on standby 24 hours a day and has not a single low-energy lightbulb in the house (except the one I’ve put in my room!).

“Again, I don’t feel able to say anything because I don’t want to be labelled an eco-fanatic. These things are so far from being second nature even to the small minority in this country who read the greener newspapers.”

My sincere thanks go to Andrew, Rosalyn and Huw for their feedback. The UK then: a nation with a long way to go?

Picture source:

Courtesy of flickr

Photo courtesy of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation

If she were alive, Barbie would be a woman standing 7 feet tall with a waistline of 18 inches and a bustling of 38-40. In fact, she would need to walk on all fours just to support her peculiar proportions. Yet media advertising, television and Hollywood would reinforce her message, influencing what would become the American ideal of beauty.

And what’s up with Ken being an eunuch?  Leave it to artists to find a creative use for Barbie and comment on this cultural icon.

Chris Jordan is famous for using photography to explore American consumerism.  In one of his latest pieces, Chris uses Barbie dolls to demonstrate how this doll has affected American women’s body images.  Empowered Parents further explains:

Barbie holds the distinction of being the first doll to become an adult figure in the child’s life…She would ultimately become a representative of our own culture. Mothers, as well as their daughters took in Barbie’s messages about how shape and size matters at the very brink of our society’s revolution for women who were becoming liberated, entering the professions in greater numbers, becoming divorced, participating in the sexual revolution, blending families, and abandoning mealtimes and family rituals in favor of work force and the work out.

Chris’ “Barbie” (2008) is a 60″ x 80″ piece depicting 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006. Did I say 32,000 boob jobs a month? This is reason enough not to allow my daughter to play with Barbie.  Whether her breasts turn out large or small, I want her to be happy with her body and even happier with her soul!

Margaux Lange is making jewelry from Barbie doll parts.  Margaux explains,

Whether you love her or hate her, there are few who feel neutral about the plastic princess. I am fascinated with who she is as a cultural icon, her distinguished celebrity status, and the enormous impact she has had on our society. Specifically, I’m intrigued with her influence in defining gender roles of women in contemporary American culture.

At least Margaux has found a way to reuse this mass produced toy into something unique, preventing a few Barbie dolls from entering our landfills.

For another artist’s use of plastic dolls, please visit our post “Finally, a Use for Plastic Baby Dolls“.

Images courtesy of Margaux Lange and Chris Jordan.

Take, for example, these adorable bird coin purses from Etsy seller Bird Versus Bird which are made from vinyl scraps from a sign shop. Imagine how many vinyl banners from State Fair corndog stands are filling up landfills? Yuck. This seller also uses repurposed and recyclable materials for packaging in order to reduce waste.

This “Beer-merang” necklace earned its name from the boomerang shape and the fact that it was made using the plastic rings from a 6 pack of PBR beer. Saving critters lives, recycling, and looking cool, that is what it is all about! Check out Muse Glass for more styles.

If you have ever visited the record section of a thrift store, you will know that they have more discarded vinyl there then anyone knows what to do with. How many Kenny Rogers records does one store need? Nature Vs. Machine brings us this stunning vinyl record and sterling silver lotus necklace. Kenny Rogers never looked so good!

We all have some records laying around, don’t we? Instead of adding to a landfill or the thrift store collection, why not make some funky chip bowls like this one? Check out these instructions from Instructables to find out just how easy it is. (Just make sure that your record is not valuable collector’s first!) I think I know what to do with my old Alvin and the Chipmunks album!

There are so many ways to use recycled plastics in crafting - I could go on all day! Feel free to share your plastic crafts in a comment!

Wooden blocks are the best toys for children! Children learn so much from block play. Wooden blocks promote open-ended, creative play, and lay the foundation for geometry and mathematical learning. Although Pyramid Building Blocks may not be as open-ended as a Standard Unit Blocks, they present their own unique challenges that fascinate children and adults alike, as these Pyramid Building Blocks are designed for children ages 5-99. The Pyramid Building Blocks consist of 67 pieces, including 18 different shapes. At first, my six-year-old daughter was completely confused by the pyramid blocks. Yet after a few days, she became an independent, expert pyramid builder, although she insists on the calling the Sphinx a “human lion”. These wooden blocks are made by Haba, a high-quality German toy company. I couldn’t find any information on the forestry practices used in harvesting the wood for the blocks, although the company states, “We do however put a premium on materials that can be manufactured on an ecologically beneficial basis. We use primarily indigenous maple and beech wood and water-based paints for our toys. ” Haba is also socially responsible. Part of their corporate philosophy is

Only a company that is profit-oriented can secure its future. We take the word social seriously! Both in terms of social benefits for our employees and in relation to our mutually successful relationship with our partners.

The only unfortunate thing that I could discover about the Haba Pyramid Building Blocks is they are manufactured in China.

The second toy we tested from the Discovery Channel Store was the Tolo Baby Carousel. Honestly, I don’t know why they sent us this toy to review, given my stance on plastic toys. This classic, plastic baby toy is also made in China, which of course raises the red flag of junk toy; however, this plastic does not contain any Bisphenol-A, Phthalates or Formaldehyde. The baby carousel is made by Tolo, “the #1 selling toy line in Europe and the UK and the most earth-friendly non-wood pre-school toy you can buy”. Very young children do find baby carousels fascinating. They love to press the top of the carousel and watch it spin and keep spinning, discovering the properties of physics through their early play! Although this toy does not require batteries (an eco plus!), I am not sure I can classify it as an eco-toy…I just can’t get past the plastic, no matter how “earth-friendly” it is. You decide: Is this a junk toy?

Stay tuned until next week, to find out what happens when a 38-year-old boy plays with a hydrogen fuel rocket…

Images courtesy of Discovery Channel Store.

Four years ago, before America was awash in greenwashing, Mothering Magazine featured a great article title “No More Junk Toys: Rethinking Children’s Gifts” by Judith Rubin. Rubin writes,

Like junk food, junk toys can be fun but are devoid of nutrition. Buying them requires little forethought. They are excessively commercial, and are often linked to cross-marketing schemes. They excite children at first, but that initial flicker doesn’t endure. Also like junk food, junk toys have hidden environmental and social costs for which the consumers pay.

The environmental and social costs of junk toys are huge! Plastic toys are often made in sweatshops, sometimes by children themselves, and many of them send the wrong kind of messages to children. For example, Bratz Dolls sexualize young girls, as well as have unfair labor practices, and Barbie’s proportions are unrealistic. According to Empoweredparents.com,

If she were alive, Barbie would be a woman standing 7 feet tall with a waistline of 18 inches and a bustling of 38-40. In fact, she would need to walk on all fours just to support her peculiar proportions. Yet media advertising, television and Hollywood would reinforce her message, influencing what would become the American ideal of beauty.

Besides the materials and energy used in the production of junk toys, these plastic toys end up in landfills and oceans. Life Magazine reported that there is a swath of plastic garbage twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. Life reports, “Except for the small amount that has been incinerated — and it’s a very small amount — every bit of plastic made still exists.”

The safety of toys made in China has been in question lately with the recent rave of recalls. Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a ban on toys containing phthalates. The Governator said, “These chemicals threaten the health and safety of our children at critical stages of their development.” Phthalates have been linked to cancer and reproductive problems. This follows a ban last year in San Francisco on toys containing BPA and certain levels of phthalates. Despite such legal actions, junk toys still dominate the toy shelves.

How can you tell a junk toy from a good toy? Field naturalist Alicia Daniel offers the following list of questions to ask when selecting toys:

1. Will this toy eventually turn into dirt-i.e., could I compost it? Stones, snowmen, driftwood, and daisies-they will be gone, and we will be gone, and life goes on.
2. Do I know who made this toy? This question leads us to search for the hidden folk artist in each of us.
3. Is this toy beautiful? Have human hands bestowed an awkward grace, a uniqueness lacking in toys cranked out effortlessly by machine?
4. Will this toy capture a child’s imagination?

Every year, I send my family a reminder that we do not want any plastic toys or clothes made from synthetic fibers. I wish I could say that they always followed our wishes, but somehow, the message flies out the window when they see some “adorable” plastic thing they think my children can’t live without. My husband has changed the motto to “No More Toys” this year, but the grandparents have already scoffed at the idea. Perhaps I should try sending my family Alicia Daniel’s list to help them make appropriate gift selections. If we are going to tell our children to reduce, reuse, recycle, shouldn’t our holiday gift giving and receiving reflect this practice?

This post originally appeared on Green Options.

Four years ago, before America was awash in greenwashing, Mothering Magazine featured a great article title "No More Junk Toys: Rethinking Children's Gifts" by Judith Rubin. Rubin writes,

Like junk food, junk toys can be fun but are devoid of nutrition. Buying them requires little forethought. They are excessively commercial, and are often linked to cross-marketing schemes. They excite children at first, but that initial flicker doesn't endure. Also like junk food, junk toys have hidden environmental and social costs for which the consumers pay.

From Africa to Canada, Australia to Ireland, and in the oceans in between, plastic bag trash has become a pestilence seemingly without end. And everyone has taken a different approach to try and curb it. In Burkina Faso, women who discovered the ubiquitous trash was killing their livestock have developed a cottage industry that spins plastic trash into hand-crocheted dolls. Ireland, on the other hand, has managed to reduce plastic bag use 90 percent by charging a tax on the totes, and some places in Australia ban the bags outright.

Even though I always carry along a reusable string tote, I'm guilty of letting baggers at the grocery pack my purchases in plastic when I'm in a hurry, or I'm buying too much to fit in a single bag. I'm sure others do the same. And the problem is convenience: it's just easier to go with plastic sometimes and say you'll recycle later.

Dear Disney,

Please make your Disney Princess toys without having lead in them, and please don’t make them plastic. If you want to make money, then at least try being eco-friendly. That is how you are going to make more money. The world is getting greener and in the next couple of years, you will not have anyone buying your plastic. Don’t copy what Bratz is doing to their workers. Give them two or three more dollars. The yarn dolls and the wooden jewelry box and the Disney Princess yarn socks and the sleeping bag are pretty much eco-friendly, but you just have to use eco-friendly yarn and paint. All I am asking you is to be eco-friendly. If you don’t listen, I am just going to keep sending you more and more emails.

Love,
M
6 years old