Filed under: eco-friendly, organic, parenting | Tags: blue bin, california, carbon footprint, children, eco, eco-friendly, environment, environmental, global warming, green, greener, infants, kids, landfill, los angeles, mommy, organic, parenting, parents, plastic, recycled, recycling, sustainable, trash, waste
Baby Ava substitutes, courtesy of American Girl.
Yes, I admit it. I killed Baby Ava.
Now of course we’re not talking homicide–I’m a mother of three myself. No, this was far more insidious.
Baby Ava was a doll. A Christmas doll that my two-year-old Barnacle (read: baby) grabbed from under the tree and didn’t let go. A doll that she promptly named after her beloved “best friend,” a little girl who visited us six months ago and still inspires a nap-time recitation of her name. (“Avavavavavava…” Snore.)
The Barnacle adored Baby Ava with a love bordering on obsession. Wanted to hold her in her arms during the day and sleep with her at night. Never let the doll out of her sight.
But here’s the thing about this innocent little blue-eyed plastic wonder. She was a gift from her grandpa who has, in my husband’s words, “a direct line to Chinese crap.” My dad doesn’t think about potentially lethal lead poisoning or organic cotton options; like most grandfathers he just wants to make my daughter happy. And for her, happy comes in a big pink box shipped straight from Beijing.
But my husband and I thought about it, raising eyebrows over the gigantic box as we struggled with the wire cutters to set Ava free. And I thought about it a few nights ago as the Barnacle, fighting five days of flu, ended up in our bed clutching the doll in her arms. All night I smelled Baby Ava as she emitted a powdery chemical scent so powerful it made me gag.
Baby Ava was off-gassing.
What’s off-gassing, you ask? Think about that new-car smell, or the way a new carpet smells right after it’s installed. The smell of new paint on the walls. Like those emitted by our heavily-scented baby doll, these are all the smells of gaseous chemicals that are being released into the environment, according to Wikipedia. Chemicals that my baby and I were inhaling.
During a midnight panic attack later that night, I started thinking about the fact that 20 percent of toys tested by the Michigan-based Ecology Center contained traces of lead, according to an article on Earth911.com. And that last year, President Bush signed into law the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, designed to get lead out of kids’ toys, but those destined for shelves this Christmas escaped the ban, according to The Smart Mama. Despite the fact that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to issue recalls for any toys that test positive for this brain-damage inducing toxin, I’m guessing that bargain-basement Baby Ava will not be one of those flying over our bureaucratic radar.
There’s no proof that Baby Ava is dangerous. But I risked the wrath of my two-year-old to err on the side of caution (and ignore my landfill guilt). The morning after Baby Ava spent the night in our bed, I “accidentally” pushed the doll under the crib skirt, then when my daughter wasn’t looking I smuggled her downstairs in my robe and tipped her into the trash.
According to Earth911, you can’t recycle dolls, even if they are plastic, because recycling is meant for “individual materials” like aluminum or paper, rather than items that are a mixture of plastic and paint, like Baby Ava. And I didn’t want to send her to Goodwill, for fear of poisoning someone else’s Barnacle. If she had tested positive for lead, I’d be able to take her to a household hazardous waste drop. But as I was acting strictly on mother’s intuition, into the trash she went.
While the Barnacle searched the house feverishly for her beloved, I pressed other dolls into her hands. American Girl Bitty Twin Baby Cody, a blond-haired beauty that she adored until Ava came along, was no consolation. But we found a worthy substitute in Baby Codette, his ingeniously-named twin sister, who appeared under my in-law’s tree this year. (I grabbed a pic of them above. Cute, no?)
Thank god for toddler-sized memories: It took just a few hours for the Barnacle to forget Baby Ava. And I breathed a big sigh of relief.
Yes, Baby Codette is also made of plastic. But she’s been sitting in my mother-in-law’s closet for nearly two years–if there are any toxic chemicals left to off-gas I can’t smell them. And yes, it would be healthier if the Barnacle played only with organic cotton dolls. But like my dad, I just want to make my daughter happy. Just not quite as happy as she was with off-gassing Ava, may she rest in peace.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bump, california, carbon footprint, children, eco, eco-friendly, environment, global warming, green, greener, infants, kids, los angeles, mommy, organic, parenting, parents, pregnancy, pregnant, sustainable
Yup, that's me, organically pregnant with number three!
I remember the first time I was pregnant. I read “What to Expect” cover to cover by the end of my first trimester, followed their diet to the letter—and gained 50 pounds. But while I was strategically eating two eggs a day when the book said my son’s brain was developing, I wasn’t thinking about what I was ingesting along with all that extra food: chemicals.
Here’s a scary fact: In 2005, the Environmental Working Group found that the average infant is born with 200 chemicals and pollutants in his or her blood. Some chemicals are things that are difficult to avoid, such as the flame-retardants and preservatives on wood, carpet and furniture. But many are pesticides and insecticides that are sprayed on foods as they’re grown or processed.
And here’s the good news: According to Healthy Child, Healthy World, a national non-profit devoted to children’s environmental health, you can lower your pesticide exposure by 90 percent simply by avoiding the top 12 most contaminated vegetables. (Drum roll, please.) Here are the worst offenders, in ABC order: Apples, Bell Peppers, Celery, Cherries, Grapes, Lettuce, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Potatoes, Spinach and Strawberries.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll drink more milk during your pregnancy than you did when you were in kindergarten. But remember that non-organic milk comes from cows that typically have been injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to boost their milk output. As this hormone has also been linked to cancer, you might want to think about going organic with your milk and milk products.
Crave protein? (I was a burger addict.) Conventional meat production includes giving the animals hormones to bulk them up, antibiotics to fight infection and pesticides in their feed. Try to buy organic, or better yet, think about organic vegetarian options: According to The Global Warming Handbook, one pound of meat requires eight times as much energy to produce as one pound of veggie protein like tofu.
Think the “Big O” is more expensive? Think again. I broke down the average kids’ lunchbox for for “Hollywood Green” and found that the organic version was actually less expensive than the conventional! (By pennies, but still.) Save even more by planting an organic garden or window box for those veggies that you eat most. This makes so much sense considering organic tomatoes can be five dollar a bag–the same price as enough seeds to grow organic tomatoes for an entire season.
If you can’t afford to go all-out, choose wisely by buying organic milk, meat and the fruits and veggies on the “dirty dozen” list. Happy bumping!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blue bin, california, carbon footprint, children, eco, eco-friendly, environment, environmental, glass, global warming, green, greener, infants, kids, landfill, los angeles, metal, mommy, organic, paper, parenting, parents, plastic, recycled, recycling, sustainable, trash, waste
Do you want these hanging around for the next 700 years?
Despite the fact that we’ve successfully brought our recyling-to-trash ratio down two-to-one, with my husband proudly lugging the bulging blue bin down to the street on Tuesdays while I tag behind with the veritably anorexic black trash can, I have the sinking suspicion that not everything I’m throwing in the recycling can is, in fact, recyclable.
My view towards separating trash has up until now been pretty black or white. Is it plastic, metal, glass or paper? Toss it in the blue bin. Is it vegetable or plant? Compost it. Everything else gets trashed.
The foil yogurt top? Recycling. The empty shampoo container? Crumpled up wax paper sandwich bags, plastic shopping bags, empty soy milk Tetrapaks, water bottles (with tops), the plastic wrap on my mother-in-law’s famous cranberry relish? Blue bin, baby.
And despite the fact that the recycling market tanked in tandem with the economy, with cardboard that sold for $135 a ton in September now going for $35 a ton, plastic bottles from $.25 to $.2 a pound, and aluminum cans from $.80 to $40 a pound, according to the Associated Press, until Los Angeles County suspends our recycling program because they’ve got no where to sell this stuff, I’m still at it.
A few weeks ago, I lugged home the empty plastic water bottles from my son’s soccer games to recycle them. I see empty soda bottles in public trash cans and wish that I had a bag. I fear I’m becoming a wee bit obsessed.
But I have issues: What if those items I’m so painstakingly rinsing out and saving for the bin don’t actually qualify as recyclables? What if I’m just delaying their final journey to the landfill? And what if by sending non-recyclables to the recycling plant, I’m actually costing the workers there time (and, by extension, money in the form of my tax dollars) by making them weed the stuff out?
So I checked in with Earth911.com, which provided the lovely crumpled plastic bottle photo pictured above, and is my go-to source for facts like:
- Eight out of 10 plastic water bottles end up in the landfill, where they don’t even start breaking down for 700 years.
- Nail polish is considered hazardous waste, and should never be thrown in the trash.
- Cell phones, computers and televisions can be recycled.
- As of last month, the city of San Diego recycles surfboards. Dude!
I was determined to search Earth911 to determine exactly what goes where.
Right off the bat, they made it easy. I typed in “aluminum foil” and my zip code and found that, yes indeed-y, my yogurt top belongs in the blue bin. Same for the empty shampoo bottle, since it’s got a “2″ on the bottom, meaning it’s HDPE clear plastic. And ditto for those wax paper bags and bottles (I need to take the caps off, since they’re different kinds of plastic).
The Tetrapak is another case entirely. Can’t be recycled. End of story. (And of my purchasing.)
But those plastic shopping bags and plastic wrap? Apparently, I should be taking that stuff to the supermarket recycling bin, since they’re light enough to fly around and clog up the curbside recycling equipment. Thank god I’ve always got an Envirosax in my purse.
Are you as obsessed as I am with recycling? Check out this awesome video that breaks down (pun intended) how a recycling facility works and let me know what you think.
Yes I am a trash geek.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: acne, beautiful, beauty, california, carbon footprint, children, eco, eco-friendly, environment, environmental, global warming, green, greener, hair spray, infants, kids, los angeles, lotion, makeup, mascara, mineral, mom, mommy, nail polish, organic, parenting, parents, sustainable, teens
And so it begins. We’d barely taken the sweet potatoes off the table before it was time to head out to the farm to cut down our tree. (We can debate the eco-friendliness of this practice until the end of time: My kids would disown me if I outlawed the Tannenbaum.)
But between cutting out recycled newspaper-comic snowflakes for our windows and explaining to the Barnacle (read: baby) that glass ornaments really aren’t that good to eat, there wasn’t a lot of “me time” in the mix.
By this morning when I got the kids off to school, I was feeling–and looking–pretty haggard. Where was my shine! My sparkle! That come-hither glance that got me into the three-kid business in the first place?
Apparently it’s contained in a few jars and tubes in a bathroom cabinet that I should visit more regularly. So I made a pre-New Year’s resolution. This holiday season, I’m taking “me time” for these beauty essentials.
1. Josie Maran Cosmetics mascara
I chopped onions, watched “Beaches” and just about broke up with my husband trying to get this mascara to run while I cried. It’s super thick and luxurious but really doesn’t budge or flake! Eco-reason to try: paraben, petrochemical and synthetic-fragrance free, no animal testing, formulated with jojoba and argan oil and the packaging is recyclable. Did you know some mascaras still contain mercury, a known bio-hazard? Test it: Wearing clean mascara on one eye and synthetic on the other, chop onions while wearing mascara to see which runs first.
2. Intelligent Nutrients Hair Spray
This hair spray is so safe that you can drink it—and I have. But it works amazingly, totally holding your style without stiffness. Eco-reason to try: paraben, petrochemical and synthetic-fragrance free, no animal testing, vegan, food-grade, organic ingredients like aloe and lavender essential oil. Did you know that some hair sprays state on their labels that the product can be fatal if inhaled? Test it: Curl your hair on one side with regular hair spray and on the other with chemical free, then drink a shot of hair spray and call me in the morning. Kidding!
3. La Bella Donna Compressed Mineral Foundation
I love minerals because they provide even coverage but don’t clog pores, and they offer built-in, natural sunscreen protection. Loose powder makes a mess, but this compact is absolutely perfect! Swirl your brush around to coat it, then brush it all over your face for the most even coverage and no chance of getting powder all over your bathroom. Eco-reason to try: paraben, petrochemical and synthetic-fragrance free, no animal testing, including titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. Did you know that many mainstream companies that claim to produce mineral makeups are, in fact, filling their products with a whole host of other ingredients including chemicals? True minerals adhere to the surface of your skin; they don’t penetrate into the pores. Test it: Sprinkle your loose mineral makeup on the top of a glass of water. If it’s pure minerals, the substance will float on the surface of the water; it there are fillers, they’ll sink. Now put your finger in the water and wait a few minutes. If the substance clings to your finger, it’s pure minerals; if they disappear, they’re not.
4. SpaRitual Nail Polish
Manufactured without formaldehyde, touluene and DBP—three known carcinogens—this polish stays on as long as any other brand. Did you know that DBP is actually banned in Europe because it’s been linked to birth defects? Test it: Polish one hand with “big 3” free and the other with conventional polish, then wash dishes to see which chips first.
5. Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser
It’s like getting a facial twice a day. The cleanser is creamy and the cloth is the perfect texture to get into all the nooks and crannies, plus even without water you can use it to take off makeup. This is the best selling cleanser in Britain, now available stateside. Eco-reason to try: paraben, petrochemical and synthetic-fragrance free, no animal testing, formulated with chamomile and eucalyptus essential oil, in packaging made from post consumer waste plastic that is, in turn, recylable. Did you know parabens, the most common preservatives in beauty products, have been found in breast cancer tissue? Test it: Just try it! You will be amazed!
6. Verabella Kiss Zit Goodbye
Forget otc pimple creams. This little roll-on dispenses the best pimple-fighter that’s invisible both under and over makeup; it fights blemishes, kills bacteria and reduces redness without chemicals.
Eco-reason to try: paraben, petrochemical and synthetic-fragrance free, no animal testing, formulated with camphor, tea tree oil and witch hazel, in recyclable glass. Did you know that the term “fragrance” on product labels is often used to mask the presence of parabens? Test it: Roll it over makeup and watch the product–and your pimple–disappear.
7. Perfect Organics Vegan Lip and Cheek Shimmer
This is every girl’s secret weapon, small enough to stow in a pocket or clutch, but so many applications: On lips, it’s gloss, on eyes, it’s highlighter, on cheeks, it’s blush. I challenge you to find a cosmetic that delivers more! Eco-reason to try: paraben, petrochemical and synthetic-fragrance free, no animal testing, vegan, all organic ingredients including macadamia nut and argan oils. Did you know the average woman swallows four pounds of petroleum in her lifetime just from licking the lipstick on her lips? Test it: Apply on lips, cheeks and eyes for a quick glow fix!
8. The Healing Seed Body Lotion
Made with virgin organic hempseed oil, which is the most nutritious oil known to man, this lotion is incredibly hydrating but non greasy and it has the most amazing smell of warm jasmine. Did you know that despite the fact that our first flag was sewn from it, the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was written on paper made from it, both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it and it was one of America’s founding crops, it’s still illegal to grow hemp in the United States—even though the plant contains no THC? Test it: Rub on hands, then type, like I’m doing right now.
Feeling pretty? Go light a soy candle or something!
