Carrotmob

via Good Magazine.

I love this. Carrotmob works on the premise that rewarding businesses for going green may be more motivating than boycotting them. Hilarious and inspiring video. I'm hoping it's not something that could only happen in San Francisco.... Read more!

Happy Earth Day! Number Crunching Edition

Creative take on consumption and environmentalism? You have got to check out Running the Numbers by Chris Jordan. His huge photographs depict topics like plastic cups (the closeup at left is a tiny piece of a montage he did of 1 million of them - the amount used up on airlines every six hours). I can't remember where I found this, but it's probably from BB-blog, my source for all things visually interesting.

I figure it's a fine time to do a little assembling of resources for number crunching (ie analyzing my personal consumption and resource use). So much of what's interesting to me right now is just about raising my own awareness level, and learning to make my lifestyle and economic choices more carefully.

On the home front, I've been wondering just how to calculate our basic carbon footprint. There are basic web tools out there for figuring out your water, electricity, and carbon usage.

• The EPA's got a climate change emissions calculator. Plus, they have a catalog of links to a wide range of non-EPA climate change driven calculators tracking emissions and energy usage here.
• A quick (and dirty?) carbon footprint calculator from Zerofootprint
• Zerofootprint's also got a One-Minute Water Calculator to estimate water usage for varying lifestyles
• CSPI's Eating Green Calculator and Score Your Diet will help you analyze the impact of the food you eat.
• Airhead's emissions calculator will help you decide which travel destination is the greenest choice. (via Suite101)
• Low Impact Living will calculate an environmental impact score for your household.
• Check out this article about the surprisingly lowest-impact diet of eating a little bit of meat. via Treehugger
• A paper calculator from the Environmental Defense Fund which looks like it would be great if used for a corporate enviro effort (my sister in law's been doing lots of green sourcing at her job and having a tremendous impact).

But my favorite calculator is over at Riot For Austerity. You may have to join the group to see their files, but I've been hearing about the group for awhile from lunatics luminaries like Burbanmom and I think it sounds like a great place to listen and learn. Basically, the group members are going to try to reduce their impact to spur government action and for the larger sense of living simply so that others may simply live. To join the group go to the 90% Reduction Yahoogroup. Here's part of their welcome message:

"Welcome to the Riot for Austerity 90% Emissions Reduction Project. The goal that participants have set for themselves is to cut their emissions by 90% of what the average person in the US consumes - the approximate amount people in the rich world need to reduce by in order to avoid the worst effects of global warming.... We’re doing this for several reasons. First, because it is necessary - if we want to bestow a decent world on our children, we have to cut our emissions, and much harder and faster than any government has proposed. The reason governments do not propose it is because they believe it is politically infeasible. So we want to present our leaders with as many people as possible who will stand up and say “I did it. Our nation can too.”

I don't know about you, but my personal goal? Just to live more simply. I am hoping to use the tools above to help myself learn about my consumption patterns and to make conscious choices about what I'd like to do rather then living blindly and greedily off of resources I don't really even need or notice. I figure any improvement is better than nothing, huh? Slow, steady, continual improvement.

Read more!

Eco Friendly Shoes Shopping

Dear MamaBird,

You always give your devoted readers hearty (and healthy) food for thought. Yesterday, J and I spent half an hour ruminating on this post. My private agony at the moment, however, is about a virtually incurable addiction to TJMaxx and Marshalls shoes, the one accessory I depend on to add a touch of pizzazz to my limited black-on-black or tan-on-tan wardrobe. Feel free to weigh in on the topic of environmentally responsible footwear for an aging resident of variable New England climes, but my guess is that you'd probably come up with significantly fewer than 50+ (gulp, that's pairs, not individual shoes).

Love, N (P.S. Is it sandals weather yet in DC?)

Oh, Dearest N (cough...Imelda),

Not only has 5 year old EGirl broken out her sandals here in DC, it is time for the sparkly sleeveless leotard! But I digress. I love your question and dug around a bit online to scope out eco-friendly footwear options for you and all of our green fashionista friends. Even though I should be fleeter of foot by virtue of my calendar age, I personally have custom orthotics for my (cough again! bunions) so I have completely given up on shoes as a positive accessory in my life (so jealous of your effortless chromatic wardrobe!). Honestly, I think that the most enviro option is probably to a)buy fewer shoes (sorry!!) or b)go to the secondhand store (possibly an icky idea where shoes are concerned). My daughter will one day join you, though, perhaps literally, on a shoe shopping trip, and I'd bet that we're all going to get at least one or two pairs of kicks in the near future so here are a few ideas:

Natalie Portman came out with a very spendy vegan shoe line recently that's fun eye candy but won't hit your "I can't pay a lot for that muffler" buttons.

MooShoes is a cruelty-free NYC boutique (love these basic boots!).

These vegan wedge sandals are awfully cute (not like I can ever wear heels again, sob)!

Mink's black sparkly spike heels would make you a stylin' dancing fool at the annual Old Neighborhood New Year's bash.

Could these red Ultragirl glittery flats be more adorable? Holy Dorothy shoes, Batgirl.

Vegan and sweatshop-free Chuck-T knockoffs...

For your own perusal, I got many of the above tips (if not the exact shoes, lists of eco and vegan-friendly sites) from The Daily Green, MSNBC, and the Vegan Girl Next Door (best title! You Don't Have to Wear Ugly Shoes). As with any other purchase, you have to decide what's important to you (recycled materials, sourcing, manufacturing byproducts, not to mention comfort, style and price, not all of which are self-evident in promo materials). One of the vegan sites recommended Payless. If you care about fair trade issues, sadly, I am guessing that the buy one get one 1/2 off shoes are not for you. And to get a bargain-basement deal, I fear, you'd need to get awfully lucky at the sales rack.

All that said, I also consulted with our family shoe expert, someone who's worked in outdoor and retail product development (including shoe sourcing and design) for decades... I'll call him PDawg. Anyways, PDawg said, practically speaking, that you should check into Teva (hey! whimsical side-button flats!), Patagonia, (huh, more whimsical casual flats), Simple (hmm...stylish espadrilley kicks), Nau (no shoes yet), and possibly Timberland (hey! cute sandals), but had a fine caveat. Even if you get a 100% recycled shoe, he noted, the upcycling process itself will have undesirable manufacturing byproducts. There's no shoes currently made that then get recycled back into other shoes (a closed loop, so to speak). And even if there were, the recycling process itself isn't usually perfect. In his experience, even though a material like polyester is highly recyclable, the moment it's got nylon thread in it, or a screen printed logo, it ends up with inconsistencies in the finished product. The melting process itself may degrade the polyester or at the very least change it so that it can't be used for precisely the same purpose again. As he said, "It's hard to make something perfectly recyclable." He suggested that we all read Cradle to Cradle.

A big thanks to PDawg for taking time away from his adoring family to answer my 17,000 questions. Anyone else have any green, fair trade shopping tips for fashion-and-bargain-loving N?

xoxo Read more!

Toxic Animal Feedlot Emissions Need To Be Reported -- Tell the EPA

There's big money lobbying the government on behalf of big meat operations. Time to speak up!

If you're short on time, save the articles referenced below, and cut and paste the following email asap (the deadline is Thursday, March 27, 2008) to express your disapproval of the EPA's plan to loosen already-lax reporting requirements for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs - those giant farms packed with animals raised for our dinner tables). You may remember the story about the entire family killed in a manure pit in 1989 after succumbing to methane fumes? Well, the toxic gases escaping from giant animal feedlots are contributing to global warming and pollution, as well as endangering farm workers.

Tell the EPA you want clear reporting of hazardous air emissions by CAFOs by emailing superfund.docket@epa.gov - make sure that you reference the docket ID in both your email subject line *and* the body of your email. The talking points below are from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

re: EPA Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-2007-0469

1. CAFOs emit significant amount of hazardous air emissions, including ammonia, methane and other volatile organic compounds. These emissions can threaten the health of rural residents and neighboring communities. EPA does not have the authority to deny rural residents and communities the protections of CERCLA and the Community-Right-to Know law.

2. CAFOs can take steps to reduce and control ammonia and other hazardous air emissions from animal waste. The CERCLA-EPCRA reporting requirements provide an incentive for CAFOs to improve their management of hazardous substances and include the cost of that control in their business plans. EPA should not ignore its legal duty to protect the public from hazardous air emissions for the special benefit of CAFOs.

3. EPA is well aware of the dangers posed by other on-farm sources of hazardous air emissions. EPA does not propose to change the reporting requirements for releases of hazardous substances to the air from any other source other than animal waste at farms. For example, releases of ammonia from ammonia tanks most still be reported. Ammonia releases from animal waste pose the same hazard to public health and the environment as releases from ammonia tanks. There is no legal, scientific, or rational basis for EPA’s decision to favor the CAFO industry with this exemption.

For helpful action alerts and summaries of other agricultural issues, check out the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. Read more!

Letting Go and Just Saying No: Eco-Thrift via Organization

Discardia is happening right now -- let's join in! To celebrate Spring, clear out old clutter and ideas and make room for the new: new ideas, new life, new (truer to one's) self.

Discardia is the time to get rid of things that no longer add value to your life, shed bad habits, let go of emotional baggage and generally lighten your load.... One thing you might like to consider is the idea of culminating the Discardian season with a particular act of letting go. For example, on the Discardian new moon you might decide that you won't buy anything or bring anything into your home and that you will instead just enjoy the fact that you have enough. (metagrrl via LifeHacker)

Definitely my kinda holiday. I love how the stars align sometimes to reinforce mutual objectives. In my case, organizing, thrift, and ecological awareness all dance together like elusive plums almost within my grasp. But no guilt here, just excitement at the baby (feotal?) steps I've taken and those I plan to tackle. If you know me IRL, you know that I am about as messy as a person really can be in this universe. I love the creativity that spontaneity can bring, and I won't give it up. I love sacking laundry in favor of a walk in the woods. Yet I also want to honor the side of me that loves structure and order. I truly believe that organization can free you up to be creative. I want, therefore, to fine tune my balance between the two.

Here are some resources I've gathered to help me build structure into my life:

• Getting my mind around valuing what we already have is a key part of my strategy; I find that whenever I organize and purge -- be it toys or clothes or kitchenware -- that I rediscover old favorites. I use what I keep more effectively because I can access it, I remember where it is, and I've consciously chosen to have it. Rotating our toys -- both within our house and among friends and family -- also increases their entertainment value.
  
• No Impact Man recently interviewed BC Professor Juliet Schor, author of Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture and co-founder of the Center for a New American Dream. As they discussed America's planned obsolescence-based materialistic culture, Schor mused, "If we treated the material as sacred, we might become more spiritual about the way we consume and that might help us solve some of our problems." I like this image. Valuing, even revering the items we choose to keep in our homes. As we've chosen to live in a small space, this resonates with me. With a couple kids, we are at the point that we have to consider our physical surroundings.
  
• This post links basic principles of leading an organized life (acquiring less, purchasing items of high quality so you can use them for longer, trying to use virtual storage/bill-paying, simplifying, saying no to things you don't need, and downsizing by giving away or selling your unused stuff) with a basis for respecting the environment. Reminded me of the great quote by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who, when asked if he wanted a goody bag for his keynote speech at an enviro conference, said, "Thank you, but I have everything I need." (via Treehugger)
• A Parent Hacks post on the Top 20 Tips for Organization, Kid Optimization, and Happiness included the following promising tips: attitude-wise, remembering to be on your kid's "side" when defining a problem with entropy (ie the child is never the problem); creating toy libraries so the next toy to be played with has to be checked out; using timers to easily carve out manageable chunks of time for children (we do this for toy cleanup/tooth brushing with intermittent success and I'd like to build on this); and creating calendars so that even small children can visualize the flow of their days.

In general, I'm finding that to really change our habits, instead of reacting to the chaos, I have to step outside of what I think a house ought to look like. A small example? I work in our living room since our baby sleeps in our former office. But I hadn't adapted to that reality. Now that I've cleared out an entire bookshelf of parenting books (smile) to allow for filing and office organization, every horizontal surface in our living room isn't covered with papers. Another example? Slapping up 5 hooks at my kid's height so that she can hang up her own backpack and coat when she comes in the door. As it turns out, the hooks don't punch holes in the wall by the back door. They don't look strange. What they do is empower my child to take control of her own environment. Today, after hanging up her own coat (and her brother's!), she walked around the house "picking up and organizing" without my asking!

What do you have in mind for this season of lightening your load?


Read more!

Eco Easter Excitement

Hey, peeps! Are you bristling with excitement about Sunday's highly-anticipated diorama unveilings? Did you make the mistake of eating some of your supplies? Need to recover from the dye-and-preservative overload?! Check out the following ideas for natural Easter egg dyes and decorations:

I so totally want to do this next year (note to self -- must start at least one week ahead of time if not two): wheatgrass for the Easter basket. (via Ecobites)

To eat: hard-boiled "ruby eggs" -- they're dyed with beet juice and look lovely. You need to let them soak overnight and you only need the juice, so I'm thinking I will make beets tomorrow with extra water and then have simple beet salad around (olive oil, sea salt, and lemon) with the purply eggs. Mmmmm. (ruby eggs via A Veggie Venture)

To go in the basket: fresh spring vegetables. Gotta hit the Saturday farmer's market 'cause the big bunny comes early on Sunday. We've done this from the get-go, so my daughter associates Easter with both chocolate (from her grandparents) and fresh spring nibblings. Such a time of renewal, with fertility eggs and tender shoots.

And, I have to say I haven't tried the natural food dye ideas out yet but found a great post just this morning warning me that beet juice (my old standby!) doesn't dye the egg shells. Whoa, nelly, serendipitous timing! (via Slow Life France)

Here are other links I have collected on enviro Easter -- hope they help you play around with nontoxic color and green rabbiting this weekend:

• Care2 homemade natural Easter egg dyes
• Green Guide Easter eggs
• Mother Earth's Garden - dye eggs the natural way with things you can grow in your garden
• Curbly video podcast on naturally dyed Easter eggs
• Martha Stewart natural Easter egg dyes
• Nature Moms eco-friendly Easter: more natural dye ideas, knitted Easter egg instructions, fair trade basket sources, plus great tips for non-candy items to put in the Easter basket
• OrganicMania 5 Ways to Go Retro for an Eco-Friendly Easter: great hint to check out thrift stores for decorations (and even gifts -- that's where the big bunny got some pretty spring clothes for our muffin!)
• Gray Matters (Because Life is Neither Black Nor White) A Tisket A Tasket A Greener Easter Basket: great links, to natural wool reusable Easter grass and natural dye kits you can purchase if you're not up for the materials assembly on your own (or the food waste)

Read more!

Goods for Girls

I've been meaning to explain the Goods for Girls button on my sidebar for ages. And fortuitously, while I have been dilly-dallying, they've gotten an easy cash donation process up for those of us who don't sew!

This is one of those no-brainer situations where a)it's a great cause, b)the person involved is skimming approximately zero off the top, and c)it's easy to give. If you're looking for a worthwhile place to give your green (or your hand-sewn organic flannel sanitary items) look no further.

Crunchy Chicken, an environmentalist mom (which is an understatement - she's amazing) who blogs from Seattle, got motivated when she heard about a huge Proctor & Gamble campaign to give out free, plastic-wrapped tampons in Africa. Great idea, she thought, poor execution (and holy ulterior motive). Most women in these areas are currently using rags, and cultural practices may or may not support tampon usage. Even more importantly, as Crunchy points out, most of the villages in the regions affected still burn their trash.

In many areas of the world, access to adequate menstrual supplies is difficult to come by. Many women and girls rely on rags, newspaper, camel skin or nothing at all for their menstrual needs. A lack of sanitary pads can be a big barrier to a girl's education.

It may seem difficult to comprehend for many women who have easy access to a varied source of supplies, but we can all appreciate how difficult life would be without them. Imagine trying to go to school or work without protection. For many, it brings life to a halt.

Providing disposable supplies creates an additional burden on some communities where solid waste disposal consists of burning the garbage. Since many disposable feminine hygiene products contain plastic, incineration potentially creates an environmental and health hazard.

Thanks for reading!

Read more!

Children Are Greener than Green

Don’t you just love your little leprechauns? All zero-population-growth qualms aside, I have to say that the little people I know are awfully green. Why, may you ask?

Well, most kids I know are water conservationists: they passionately hate showers and baths. Because of their heightened awareness of the shortage of potable water worldwide, of course. Most kids I know go even further and help their parents to conserve water. By shrieking in horror when you disappear behind the non-vinyl hemp shower curtain, toddlers keep your shower time to a mere 17 seconds -- one or two times a week.

The little green ones are also food politicos who’ve been keeping tabs on the news: they want to eat PB&Js 24-7 as a vegan, lower-their-food miles statement (I swear I heard my 4 year old asking if that was local jam…).

The baby enviros also want to wear the same clothes every day and they don't care if they are dirty. Reuse, baby! They can run around in 20 below wind chill in a t shirt (so don't blame them if your thermostat's high) and they would really rather walk than barf in that car while you burn fossil fuels, mom. They really can't get their mouths around those disposable plastic water bottles anyways so you'd better bring a refillable metal sippy for your Baby Greens. They fuel the hand me down chain (everything once worn by an older cousin has indisputable cachet) and finally, our little leprechauns would be happy playing in the recycling (toilet paper trumpet, anyone?) if we'd just let them.

If you’re not ready to just sit and bask in the reflected green glory of your offspring, here are some resources for environmentally friendly St. Patrick’s Day celebrations:

Lucky fruit salad and other natural green food ideas (homemade spinach pasta, anyone?)...

Not-fake-chemical green dye (for the cupcake frosting!)...

Slow food alternatives to corned beef and cabbage (like Shepherd’s Pie, mmm)... and a

Wiki for "Organic local solar powered booze"!

Happy St. Patty's Day! I’d love to know the ways in which your kids kick your enviro arse!


*Photo courtesy of Michal Zacharzewski, SXC

Original DC Metro Moms post.
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Three Is the Magic Number

Easy, peasy. Help out mothers who walk miles every day just to make sure their kids have clean water. Turn your lights off for just an hour to mark your awareness of global warming this month. Here are three upcoming events that make it easy to show you care.

1. World water day is on March 22nd. As our press whirs with news of pharmaceutical traces in municipal water supplies, it makes sense to channel our angst towards global water safety. As GoodyBlog 'splains,

World Water Day was started by the UN with the hope to cut in half the number of people who live without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation by 2015. It's inspired by the example of women in water stressed countries who often walk 6 miles each day just to get water for their family. And even though it's hard to image anyone living without the basic need of clean water, more than 1 billion people around the world lack safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation services.

You don't need to live in a city with a participating march (NYC, LA, Seattle) to be involved. You don't even have to give money -- you just need to sign up online.

2. Another World Water Day action campaign called the Tap Project aims to fund UNICEF programs that will make sure kids have clean water to drink (via A Mighty Appetite). Did you know that more than 5,000 kids a day are dying from water-borne diseases?

The little known truth is that lack of clean and accessible drinking water is the second largest worldwide killer of children under five. To address this situation, a nationwide effort is launching during World Water Week called the Tap Project, a campaign that celebrates the clean and accessible tap water available as an every day privilege to millions, while helping UNICEF provide safe drinking water to children around the world.

Beginning Sunday, March 16 through Saturday, March 22, restaurants will invite their customers to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water they would normally get for free. For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days.

3. Earth hour is on March 29th (hat tip to Grist). More than 100,000 people have signed up to turn off their lights and electrical equipment for one hour.

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming. This simple act has captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world. As a result, at 8pm March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities, including Copenhagen, Toronto, Chicago, Melbourne, Brisbane and Tel Aviv will unite and switch off for Earth Hour.

*Photo courtesy of xymonau at sxc. Read more!

Baby Steps, and Baby Yourself

Occasionally I hear groans when I bring up my 47,000th environmental, human rights, sustainability or health concern -- groans of Ah, Live Your Life! Be Happy! To this I say: I am happy. I am happiest when devouring information.

I'm with Wendell Berry: "Be joyful though you've considered all the facts."

I may not dwell on the many quandaries of modern life (pollution, finances, chemical contamination, nutritional demands vs. taste vs. time etc. etc.), but I'm surely going to consider them. Closely (smile).

Hey, everybody's fascinated by something. Everyone's trying to grow. I may not be simpatico to your goals. But I am taking my own little baby steps. Laughing at myself, recognizing my limits, and staying open to new information.

The best thing you've ever done for me
Is to help me take my life less seriously
It's only life after all
(Love those Indigo Girls!)

I hope we can up the kindness level when it comes to self-assessment on whatever front matters to us. Because that's usually what's going on, right? Every single person I know is trying extremely hard to be a conscientious steward of our world's resources and to do the best for themselves and their loved ones. And every single person I know is too busy trying to figure out how to balance the 47,000 things they value to judge someone else for their choices. (Yes, I do live in a kind of Lake Wobegon of spectacular adults, as a fatter of mact.)

So when one of my nearest and dearest emailed me in a panic about what to do about flowers because she was having a house guest and couldn't find pesticide-free, fair trade flowers that wouldn't deplete her retirement account, I realized I had to toss some love in her direction (I know you're reading!) and address effort. Effort is important. And so is being kind to yourself and recognizing that many different things have value. For the wonderful woman in question, being one of the kindest hostesses on the planet is a pretty important factor to consider. Human relationships matter.

I've been thinking about this for awhile in terms of my own self-improvement efforts, and as usual, found lots of inspiration from others. Here is some commentary on seeking perfection while working for change that really spoke to me. Turning to some of my daily blog-reads:

1. In response to a reader question about which type of cooking source was the most environmental choice, Greenpa at Little Blog in the Big Woods responded: What kind of cooking do you do? What kinds do you LIKE to do? Are you allergic to woodsmoke? Do you enjoy cutting, splitting, handling firewood, or are you really too busy? How much "extra" time do you have- either to wrangle wood, or propane containers?- Etc. Hopefully you get the idea. Who you are- what you need- and even what makes you happy- all these considerations are genuinely IMPORTANT to the answer. You are important. We need to remember that. "Sustainable" practices WON'T be- if they make people miserable, and they won't stick to them. Which seems obvious, but quite a few enthusiasts will, in the excitement of the moment, adopt practices that they can't/won't - uh, sustain. Because in their enthusiasm for the greater good, and the benefit to the planet, they forgot- WE are part of the planet we're trying to save here- and we matter, too.
2. Then there's the interviews Tiny Choices does with regular folk like you and me. One interviewee named Frank Gibson had this to say when asked, "What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you would like every single person to adopt?" Honestly, I would like everybody to simply start thinking! Thinking about their purchases, their employment, their transport, their food, their government, and the Big Picture. We can’t all be experts on climate change, or agribusiness, or civic engineering, but we can all do the things that we know for sure will help, starting on a household scale.
   
3. It's like ZenHabits author Leo noted in this post about trying to eat more healthily: How did I get from Point A (junk food junkie) to Point B (much healthier diet)? I’ll let you in on my secret (and it’s not a secret if you’re one of the many people who discovered this already): I didn’t go from Point A to Point B. It’s more like Point A to Point Z, with lots of points in between.

I love the concept of kaizen or continual improvement. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps. Baby yourself...and let's baby each other.

Read more!

It's Getting Easier Being Green

In case I lose you before you read this all -- my latest favorite time/money saver and enviro move (for us! it's all relative, folks) is using Amazon's Subscribe and Save program. I kid you not. We had been shopping at Costco for bulk and savings for things like toilet paper but I have been hankering for the recycled paper products and eco-friendly laundry soap we used to use. Conundrum: I don't go to Trader Joe's all that often, we don't have loads of storage space, and I'm trying to limit my Whole Foods purchases to items that cannot be purchased anywhere else on earth. (I am a sucker for toddler foods like the $8 million/pound Just Organic Strawberries line). Thanks to Green Mom Finds for the tip -- during January, you can get an extra 20% off Seventh Generation products. That's on top of the 15% off you get for signing up to get routine delivery via the Subscribe and Save Amazon program. Sure, I could be more enviro (I figure it's got to get to me somehow, but the shipping/packaging does give me pause) than I am but really, I am going to buy some stuff. I am not, in fact, ready for cloth bathroom wipes or stringing up a clothesline. So this moves us in the right direction.

Ahem. Away from the schill and back to musing...

A few changes we've made in the New Year:

• using cloth rags instead of paper towels about half the time
• (back to) using recycled paper products (tp, paper towels)
• using cloth napkins, ok, rags that are handy
  
• (back to) using chlorine-free wipes and diapers
• walking as much as possible, which involves being more organized and leaving time as well as being less lazy
  
• cutting back water consumption (fewer baths for kids, turning off water while soaping up, shorter showers)
• wearing clothes more before washing them
  
• rechargeable batteries (just swapped out my first round to recharge again -- awesome feeling!)
• bringing our own bags to the grocery store
• trying not to use plastic bags for produce
• buying products packaged in as little plastic as possible (ie buying bulk)
  
• installing exactly one compact fluorescent bulb
• switching back to filtered tap water for the adults in the house (go Brita!) now that I am not nursing anymore -- we still get glass-bottled spring water delivery for the kids in absence of any response from any public DC agency re: hormones in our water

The biggest psychological barrier for me was going for the cloth rags. I had a mental block against adding any more laundry to our lives. And storage of both clean and dry rags is still a work in progress. But I had about 75,000 rags already since I am such a huge packrat.

I've also been freecycling, giving away, and selling unused stuff so we can better utilize our space. I totally think that organization is a green move -- if you know where things are, you can use them more efficiently, negating the need to consume more. In the case of our kids' toys, when I rotate them, they seem new again. In the case of art supplies, when I delve into the giant pile of packratted materials in our closet, wala! we have fun new projects. In the case of my clothes, once I gave away all of my pregnancy and nursing clothes, I could actually see through the mess of my closet to my favorite soft t-shirts and hoodie sweatshirts I was going to wear every day anyways....

Things I want to do but haven't acted on for a variety of reasons (help me!):

• composting our wet scraps/getting our recycling tumbler assembled and working/setting up a system
• bringing containers to restaurants when we go so we don't get disposable or even (gasp!) styrofoam packaging for our takeout
• meal planning at least a week out -- reducing food waste, saving $$
• getting or making cloth bags to avoid using plastic produce bags
  

I'm sharing all this stuff on the off chance it helps someone else with an easy aha! for how to go a little greener, while saving a little time or money. I've already shared some of these links, but here again are a smattering of blogs I read that give me inspiration when trying to green our lives:

Green as a Thistle, Going Green, Fake Plastic Fish, Crunchy Chicken, Little Blog in the Big Woods, No Impact Man, Living Plastic Free, Organicmania, Save Your Trash, Tiny Choices Read more!

Beckham Bends Brain

Cockroaches the world over are cheering the carbon creation of LA fuckwit footballer David Beckham and wife Victoria, who have won the dubious honor of the world's most enormous carbon footprint. For the second time.

What's a jet-setting celeb couple to do? Carbon offsets are trendy and lucrative these days, but the Federal Trade Commission's set to study the industry to see if the companies involved are legit (story via NPR). For example, were the companies already going to reduce their carbon emissions anyways to, say, save money, before they double dipped by selling that puppy? Are they selling offsets to multiple bidders? Should the Beckhams consider paring down their fleet of their fifteen cars in addition to turning to professional greenwashers?

Treehugger's got comprehensive advice for carefully offsetting carbon use -- and notes that offsets are not a Get Out of Jail Free card for a planet needing to slam on the brakes of consumption and warming -- plus a wealth of background info, from the climate-neutrality of Syriana to a comparative look at carbon offset entities, non-profit and for-profit alike (via Ecobusinesslinks.

In case you're curious where the presidential candidates stand on Posh's flight plans enviro issues, here, here, and here, are green election guides. Read more!

Reading Up for A Green New Year

Poster child for Carol Gilligan here. Tell me your life story and I am yours. My librarian at my elementary school used to set aside biographies in stacks for me. Didn't matter the person involved. Nowadays with time being short I tend to try to read about folks I want to emulate.

I have *really* been enjoying reading about people who are trying to live green and chronicling their lives day by day (ie taking on some new enviro lifestyle change every day). It's certainly changed my paradigm (one woman in Canada has unplugged her fridge and given up toilet paper! Me? SO light green. Her? Darker than forest.) You might be into some of them, too, so here's my faves:

• Green as A Thistle...in which aforementioned young Canadian explores life without tp among other moves
• Going Green...in which a suburban mother makes enviro choices in the DC area
• Fake Plastic Fish...in which one woman systematically tries to rid herself of plastic

Got any daily-change-type blogs you'd like to share? I'm so into learning by imitation -- I'd rather watch someone program my remote than read the manual.... Read more!

BS and V (Green Clean Duo)

Lucky for me, the nesting frenzy I had right before procreating five years ago has carried me a ways down the parenting road. In a prescient moment while swollen like a tick with my darling daughter, I realized if I didn't act immediately to start a green cleaning routine pre-kids it would never happen.

Said cleaning routine's been pretty much undisturbed for about 5 years now. I must say that I need this routine to be automatic so I basically clean everything with baking soda and vinegar.

Many people have asked me what recipes I use to clean and I would like to say that Annie Berthold-Bond's book is my favorite on this topic; I consult it whenever I, say, have an ant infestation and can't remember what repels them safely (cinnamon).

My faux spray cleaner is just water, vinegar, and eco-friendly detergent. I mix them in a bottle with roughly 2/3 warm water and 1/3 vinegar with a squirt of dish soap (in my inaugural and never-repeated use of my label-maker, I printed out the recipe and stuck it onto the spray bottle, which was a key move in those early days post-partum when I was a complete germ fanatic but also suffering from total nursing brain death). I no longer measure out ingredients, I just make sure I have more than enough vinegar and soap in the bottle. This works for bathrooms, counter tops, floors, you name it.

To clean baked on pans I put baking soda on with enough water to make a paste and leave it overnight. This also works for cleaning your oven but it's very messy. And you all probably remember from scouting that if you're out of toothpaste you can use baking soda mixed with salt.

To clean my toilets, I mix vinegar and baking soda right in the bowl (those of you who have made play-dough volcanoes will be able to imagine the fizzing). Baking soda's a great scourer for things like bathtubs and the vinegar gets rid of soap scum.

I abandoned essential oils a while back when I learned that lavender oil and tea tree oil may cause hormone disruption in boys (holy man-boobs Batman!) but should you desire a kitchen-y smell, rosemary is also a natural antiseptic about which I've heard nary a bad word. So's lemon juice but you'd have to refrigerate that mix...which means, of course, that it's too high maintenance for me to use. Worth keeping in mind as one's trying to disinfect a cutting board tho. And speaking of lovely smells, don't fret, the vinegar scent while you're cleaning dissipates rapidly. Vinegar itself can be used in open bowls to remove bad smells (smoke, vomit) from the air.

For dishwasher detergent, I tried making my own (boric acid, baking soda, etc.) but was beyond dissatisfied with the results. I now use Trader Joe's liquid with vinegar as my rinse agent (which does interesting things to aluminum, I realized belatedly) to get rid of any chemical taste (I had to stop using commercial dishwasher detergent while pregnant with Kid 2 as the residue was making me gag).

Since the things I do clean with are pretty simple, a lot of cleaning green for me has meant stopping the use of more toxic products. One of the biggest offenders for the environment is bleach, and I was reminded recently why via a Grist Q&A-- producing bleach creates dioxins, and using bleach may produce carcinogens that harm you and marine life. So although my whites may be a little dingy (no tomato stains, though -- leave them out in the sun! no kidding, a little vinegar and sunshine and they disappear) we are pretty confident that our kids and dog aren't being harmed while we clean. Read more!

More Better Bunk

A couple people wrote to tell me they liked yesterday's post about stuff so I thought I would share some particularly compelling writing (not mine, these guys'):

Check out this article as it lays out the anti-consumerism message so eloquently: "Our happiness does not depend on the consumption of conventional economic goods and services, but instead is enhanced when we have more time and space for socializing, for nature, for learning, and for really living instead of just consuming." Yup. When above a certain threshold, of course, which nearly everyone we know is.

Then there's this MoJo article from back in the spring written by Bill McKibben which has an amazing take on our desire to consume from a historical and anthropological standpoint. It hit upon all the nagging questions I had -- doesn't money equate with happiness if you're living in a shack? (yes, but only up to about $10K a year) and don't we need huge industrial farms to feed all the people on the planet? (no, they are actually less productive than small farms using mutually sustainable systems instead of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and he backs it up with large scale research done in developing countries). He also notes that our American psyche developed in the roots of some serious poverty and that the Founders were right to focus on economic growth when our ancestors only had one dress to wear (if they were lucky gals) and no shoes.

McKibben cites research on happiness pointing to more sustainable ways of living (note to self, gotta read this book by a 2003 Nobel Prize-winning economist) -- like the fact that having social networks makes you physically stronger as well as happier (a researcher injected flu viruses in college students' noses to prove this, which is amusing considering, well, the kids who got sick might actually have a word or two to say about how much happier that participant fee made them!), bringing us full circle to the idea that acting in environmentally sound ways being better for us as well as the planet. Going to a farmer's market involves 10x the human interaction aka connections than going to a grocery store.

Even better if you can swing actually going as a family instead of depleting all of your marriage capital for the weekend by leaving the children with your spouse for hours while you fetch said sustainably-produced farm products. Convenience did emerge for a reason, so we could spend more time with our families instead of churning butter.... If we're really hanging out with our peeps (which I guarantee this unit is as much as humanly possible) instead of jumping on the hamster wheel to churn out more duckets, it makes the sustainable food endeavor somewhat like being a Luddite as I tap my computer keys. My Polyface beef bones are in day one of a three-day long simmer into delightful stock as I write, and that whole process, beneficial as it is to the environment (local farmer!) and to our health (grass-fed!) is not without its cost (procuring the food, preparing it=time not focused on those I love). But that's a whole 'nother struggle: enviro-friendly, slow-food savoring vs efficiency and convenience, which doesn't have to instantly translate into the Golden Arches, just less prep more family time). Whew! I'll stop hair-splitting here.

(Couple quick shares: When Santa Turned Green looks so cute and perfect, you should snap it up to put in your kid's Christmas stocking wait until it comes to your local library and borrow it!

For those of you who are following the presidential election lead-up, I've found my fave new source of campaign news: Political Nanny.) Read more!

Stuff It

Like all of us, well, more than many, I've been struggling with organization lately. Trying to keep the flow in our house efficient and pleasant...trying to keep our newly walking child from braining himself on the 18,000 items that are lying on the floor, trying to effectively store stuff from kid one for kid two, trying to keep the hand-me-down cycle well-oiled but not poised to fall on my head when I open the linen closet, and trying to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas (um, more stuff?!).

In that vein, thought you'd enjoy the following:

There's this perfect Gift Guide -- for the 3 and under set. You'll get a chuckle out of it, I promise.

This is an interesting look at how environmentally responsive (paper-wise) the companies inundating us with holiday catalogues are... Victoria's Secret gets a thumbs up and Sears gets a hilarious scolding for being naughty....

The Story of Stuff is a 30 minute (ok, kinda long, and mostly a reminder of what you already know about consumerism, but I liked it) short about trying to change the paradigm of the rape-the-earth, pollute, purchase, chuck out/pollute the earth more, buy more stuff trajectory. It's a simple line-drawing cartoon backing up a woman who's spent 20 years tracking trash. She ends up with exhorting us to try to close the loop, to re-value thrift and conservation, stewardship, to make a sustainable cycle. Did you know that 99% of the stuff people buy in this country ends up thrown out within 6 months? Wowza.

Annie Leonard, the narrator of The Story of Stuff, notes that there was a concerted effort by post-WW2 government officials and companies to spur consumer spending by weaving spending into our personal rituals and rhythms. (Remember Bush telling everyone to spend more after 9/11? It's our response to crisis, our response to celebrating....)

I think this is a fascinating dilemma. Of course it's silly that saying you love your family has come to mean buying them stuff that pollutes the planet that we have no space for. And we all do have lots of stuff, more than any other people on earth (we all know that an American's carbon footprint is gargantuan). So in the absolute, yes, we all have too much.

And yet there are still a few things on your secret wish list, aren't there? They might be expensive or frivolous or silly. But we all know that giving -- or getting -- compact fluorescent bulbs, while utilitarian, ain't gonna win any all-time gift awards. My mom laughed uproariously when I suggested she could get us rechargeable batteries, sigh. And I know more than one person who's been offended when told what to want (ie when they've been given a gift to a charity they didn't choose, or told that they wouldn't be invited to exchange gifts at all anymore for whatever valid reasons).

I think part of this gift-giving dilemma is rooted in the age-old divide between the list-makers and the "surprise me" folks. You know the deal, some people really like gift certificates! You can pick out what you want. They are practical, utilitarian. List makers don't end up with bric a brac that's going to take up prime real estate in already too-small houses. Then there are the creative givers, who often despise the exchange of wampum as defeating the spirit of the endeavor. You know, if you really knew me and loved me you would take notes all year long and I wouldn't have to tell you my secret desire...you would fulfill it. While the list-makers can rightfully point to the efficiency of their method, and the enviro folks can validly point to the insanity of our level of consumption, there's an emotional component to gift-giving and nurturing that we'll all have to wrestle with on our own in order to get this beast under control.

I think for me, gifting aka consuming may be a little like eating at the top of the food chain: something I want to do consciously, with awareness of the costs and drawbacks involved. Buying secondhand, reusing and regifting are all great options, as is buying exactly what someone wants -- even if it's at a premium -- so that they won't be replacing that item anytime soon. I think the long-standing tradition of going with what the receiver would most want is my right choice.

'Cause that is, of course, what the gifting spirit is all about, and perhaps the stuff, as well. Trying to nurture each other, to sustain and build relationships. And we don't all have time and creativity in spades... and some circumstances don't warrant a hand-written copy of a favorite Neruda poem. Or a compact fluorescent bulb for that matter. Some of my relationships would benefit more from hanging out for a weekend and actually spending time remembering what we love about each other. Gifts may just be a substitute for the time we all lack.... Which is why, when grasping for ways to connect, we should open our minds to the full range of options available (some of which don't involve buying stuff at all, some which do) as we try for that smile of surprise, of happiness, that spark of recognition that we get each other. Read more!

Plastic Smile

I swear I feel like we are all trapped in the Batman movie where the deodorant chemicals interact with the shampoo chemicals which interact with the room deodorizer and lock the poor unsuspecting victims into a Joker smile....

You've read all about plastic stabilizers leaching out of baby bottles and sippy cups aka the Bisphenol-A fiasco of the summer. In case you're needing succinct recommendations, my favorite resources are Z Recommends' extensive research on bottles/sippys and the old Green Guide basic guide to plastics. We recently went cold turkey on CBoy's pacifiers (poor guy), in part bz the plastic shield on his preferred binky was made of #7 plastic, um, yes, the shield that he chews on cavalierly to make a clicking sound while he bounces and grooves. That and the fact that his one true pacifier love was discontinued due to The First Years' fears of latex lawsuits (bad allergies in some kids) and therefore I'd only been able to stock up for the past 6 months via EBay auctions filled with sleep-deprived parents. But I digress....

You can check your own plastics to see what you should keep and what you should toss. Altho skipping plastic altogether may be the safest bet, supposedly safer plastics are labeled #1,2,4, and 5. Look on the bottom for the recycling symbol. If something isn't labeled with these numbers, don't use it for eating/drinking. Do not use plastics #3, 6 and 7 for food consumption and don't reuse items for food consumption not intended for reuse (like sport water bottles, takeout containers or yogurt tubs, much as that hurts my Depression-era sensibilities). That doesn't mean you should chuck these items into the landfill, just use them as plant pots and sandbox toys, not as food containers. Or tuck them away until small humans who ram everything in their mouths stop DOING THAT.

Yes to 1, 2, 4, 5
No to 3, 6, 7
Don't use recycled plastic containers (like takeout containers) in the microwave or let acidic/fatty foods sit in them.
Do remove cling wrap from items you buy at the store asap (it's almost all PVC which is bad news) and put it into another storage container.
Make sure the containers and plastic wrap you do use (even glass and ceramic) are microwave safe (should be labeled).
Don't let plastic wrap touch your food while it's being heated (or just use a paper towel).
Skip the Nalgene bottles (they may leach Bisphenol-A too).
Classico jars make awesome storage containers.

On a related note, check out the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep report as it ranks beauty care products (think baby shampoo) in terms of safety (the FDA isn't the strictest regulatory agency so even though you'd think that anything labeled baby shampoo has to be safe, well, read the report). Things to avoid: phthalates, which are commonly found in perfume and nail polish remover as well as plastics and may be linked to male reproductive disorders among other issues -- they're banned in the EU, and inexplicably still here in American products (like the iPhone). You can find phthalate-free nail polish/remover at Whole Foods. It's also worth avoiding parabens, which are a preservative in most shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers, even though the jury's still out on safe levels of these chemicals. They are a potential carcinogen and may mimic estrogen (high paraben levels were found in a breast cancer study). The 365 brand of beauty products is pretty cheap, believe it or not.

Interesting thread on raising an eco-conscious baby at this WashPost online discussion transcript basically urges us just to buy less stuff. Which is certainly not going to be your takeaway from my lunchbox suggestions, which are more along the line of investments you'd make to avoid creating a pile of disposable lunchstuffs like juiceboxes and the like. But then again, I don't just want a green baby, I want a green healthy baby. Heck, I want a green, healthy baby who actually eats her lunch!

In terms of avoiding plastics in your kid's lunchbox (I don't know about you but that's what almost all of our kidgear to date was made of until recently), check out Sigg (aluminum, though, which has raised health concerns in the past) or Klean Kanteen (stainless steel, but make a chirpy noise) bottles, Thermos Foogo storage jars, Reynolds Cut Rite wax paper sandwich bags (looove these! hardly ever available at Whole Foods, grab em when you can -- I'm going to try this online vendor), sandwich wraps, and Built NY lunchbags (go leadfree on the reusable lunch sacks). I really love the efficiency and food variety you can cram into Bento lunchboxes but wish they weren't filled with plastic tubs. And while we are talking kidlunch, do check out the archives of veganlunchbox for awesome ideas. If you want to buy any of this expensive enviro lunch packaging, check out Lunch in a Box and see if their coupon code/link to Reusable Bags -- can get you 20% off your order.

Speaking of bags, the Washington Post ran a phenomenal comparison of the enviro cost of paper vs. plastic bags recently. Bottom line tho: forget paper, forget plastic, we should all bring our own durned bags. In case you don't have 1,001 political/tech conference tchotchke bags already floating around your front hall closet, there are lots of clever reusable grocery bags out there. Makes me smile thinking back to college when roommates L and S and I used to wear our sweatshirts to the grocery store, take them off, and wrap up our food purchases in the zipped hoodies. I bet hoodies don't have crazy chemicals in them.... Read more!

Gifting In the Land Of Plenty

In preparation for Thanksgiving, we've been reflecting each night as a family on how grateful we are to have each other. At this point in our lives, we--even (especially?!) our kids--have enough stuff, and we're hoping to keep that in mind as we plan our holiday season.

Want to skip the transfer of goods? There's Save the Children's Holiday Gift Catalog and the slick Better Present Pledge, put together by Share Our Strength, Heifer International, and Conservation International (they exhort you to "pledge that this year I will give at least one gift to a nonprofit in honor of a friend or family member, instead of giving them a material present. I will choose a gift that reflects my values, that will touch the heart of the person I give it to, and that will help create a better future for the Earth and its people." Pretty sweet message.)

If you do want to give a tangible gift, what about supporting an indy artist by buying something on Etsy? Not only do the artists there have OOAK (one of a kind) stuff (like recycled poppy bobby pins or upcycled wool felted fingerless gloves), you can convo sellers to end up with something truly custom made.

Another option is to give experiential gifts -- gift certificates for restaurants, massages, theater tickets, consumables (food, tea, wine -- my mom wants a coffee gift card so she doesn't have to blow her budget every time she weakens and craves a $5 latte). There's the pragmatic category eg photo sharing (SmugMug has lovely sharing capabilities) or even organic produce delivery.

For kids, non-cluttery gifts include tickets to concerts (ie Dan Zanes) or to a show (Cirque du Soleil), memberships (Smithsonian/museums, zoo), funding classes (ballet, yoga, art), or magazines (we are huge Click fans for the 3-7 set and Babybug fans for the 1-3-ers). And none of those gifts leach Bisphenol-A! They're not made in China! They're not going to morph into date rape drugs!

Speaking of kid festivities, if you are actually counting down until Christmas, DC Urban Moms had a thread recently about advent calendars.... One idea our family's going to adopt is to make a felt advent calendar with little pieces to move each day (snowmen, trees, etc) in lieu of gifts or chocolate. We're also going to use our current advent box with little wooden drawers to house ornaments we already have for our kids to add to the tree one by one over the month (will a tree last a month if we water it enough?).

In preparation for the holiday onslaught of stuff you might want to purge in a targeted fashion -- local neighborhood listservs are a great place to start, as is freecycle (altho the flakiness factor may make your head explode), and/or your local parenting listserv.

I'm curious about non-traditional gifting ideas you have for the holidays.

Peace to all. MB Read more!

Baby Macbeth

When EGirl was about 2, she would spend what seemed like hours at the sink, scrubbing her hands and futzing around in the water. Out, out, d*mn spot!

Although we've heard that one needs to sing the full alphabet or Twinkle Twinkle in its entirety in order to reap the cleansing benefits of a hand wash, it's never really been an issue for our household. Her primary caregiver is a germ freak of a high yet fairly self-contradictory order (I don't count dog germs in the scheme of things, and I find dirt proper, from the woods or fields or gardens, to be pretty benign -- it's the foodborne and human pathogens that freak me out, plus, I don't want my kid to end up with asthma and allergies bz we created a bubble aka the hygiene hypothesis).

That said, I am a shoe removal fiend (check out this Treehugger article about how kids whose families didn't take their shoes off faced more pesticide exposure than those who ate non-organic produce) . I've long been a fan of the alcohol-based hand sanitizers on the go plus good old soap and water. Lots of soap and water. Thank goodness that we live on a swamp. Anyhoo, Reader Mitch wrote me yesterday to ask about a Washington Post article on antibacterial soaps, suspecting (correctly) that I'd have hand-wringing commentary (I looove Tuesdays! WP Health section!):

Mama Bird, What are we to make of the article in today's Washington Post - "Are Antimicrobial Soaps Making Tougher Bugs?" This is scary stuff to me... though I am planning to show my Mama Bird this article as evidence that showering only once a week is good for me and everybody. Antimicrobial soap? Regular soap? No soap? Mitch

Dear Mitch --

Actually, if you read between the lines in the article it was good news for all of us. I have long avoided anything with triclosan/antimicrobial soap on general principle as I agree with the article's hesitations about them (possibly creating drug resistant bacteria, killing off huge swaths of beneficial bacteria that our kids need, read anti-probiotics -- conbiotics??). Also, I've read that hot water and soap are just as effective as any other cleansers. But yesterday's article pretty clearly states that triclosan-bred superbugs are still a fear, not the reality. So yes, we should stick to regular soap (except for the immuno-suppressed among us), but I was heartened that all the triclosan out there hasn't yet done much damage. Except maybe the dioxin creation which is still a hypothesis.

On a practical note, all the hand soap at Costco has triclosan (I just looked last week for triclosan-free hand soap refills, cause you really never know what on earth will turn up there next -- last time they had organic yogurt, organic milk, organic spaghetti sauce, AND organic raisin bran, but I digress... no plain old soapy hand soap) . Fortunately, you can still be economical *and* green if you get the Method stuff from Target (which come in quasi enviro refill bags/bottles --still plastic borne but big).

Great question, Mitch! xo MB

P.S. Hand sanitizers work well, too, just make sure they contain at least 60% alcohol in their ingredient list.

P.P.S. If you have a tiny baby, we have put some serious mileage on our hot air De-Germer (if you must know, it's actually called a Germ Guardian, a ridonculous misnomer if I've ever heard one). Read more!

Water, Water, Everywhere...and Nary a Drop To Drink

So, while I was pregnant with CBoy, the Post reported that male fish in the Potomac were starting to bear eggs. Sigh. This after the lead scare during EGirl's babyhood, and echoes in 2004 of the ecoli/coliform bacteria warnings in the early 90s that made me start boiling and then buying water in the first place.

I know that the environmentally friendly thing to do is to embrace tap water, as most of it is safe to drink, but I think the movement to skip bottled water (did you know that only 23% of those horrid little plastic bottles are recycled?!) may very well stagnate in our nation's capitol if the Potomac's water quality continues to go downhill. After all, bottled vs. tap in DC happens to be a faceoff between questionable quality and absurdity. Why, just this very morning, the Washington Post noted that female fish are starting to become "intersex," too, because of pollution in the Potomac. We'd used a variety of filters over the years but opted to buy bottled water in response to lead scares and to have water delivered as a response to hormone disruption press.

Another thing that fueled a change in the sourcing of my (for those who know me, prodigious) water consumption? Seltzer is not regulated like other drinking water bz it is considered a food by the FDA! So as I have long thought, Lord knows where the water in that seltzer comes from. (see the substance of a 1999 NRDC letter to the FDA).

The recent plastics press about Bisphenol-A leaching made me finally get off my duff and get rid of the plastic bottles. I had to solve the conundrum of getting clean water delivered in giant, 5-gallon #7 bottles that leach endocrine disruptors into said water. Our family is now getting water delivered from Arkansas, believe it or not (I know, I know, where *would* there be more hormone runoff than in a poultry state?!), extensively tested water sourced from a natural spring inside 600+ acres of protected land and delivered in glass bottles. Glass 5-gallon bottles that are heavy enough to make for some quality hoisting noises and expensive enough to provoke some quality sputtering noises at bill-paying time. I shudder to think about the environmental impact of shipping our water from Arkansas to DC but when I emailed our fabulous new mayor about my concerns (hormone disruption up at the tippy top with some gratuitous comments about the possibility of organic school lunch offerings a la Berkeley's affiliation with Alice Waters) his staff sent me back a chipper little snippet saying he'd be working on making healthy school lunches for *all* kids in the District. Sigh...

Next up on the agenda is to get a whole house water filter. If you own your own home, I say go for it. If you want to start thinking about drinking water issues in general, NRDC did a tap water study in 2003 called What's On Tap? that's a great place to start. Consumer Reports has a 2007 report on water filters that's helpful, too.

But what I really need to do is just drink more wine (organic wine from the Prestons should do nicely!) Read more!