New Parents Eco Tips

New parents want what’s best for their baby; parenting is a full time job without sick days or paid vacation, which leaves little room for your other concerns - like being mindful of the environment. Life is overwhelming enough, so while you’re managing your home and budget and raising your family, keep it simple when it comes to living eco friendly. By taking small steps everyday and making green a part of your every day, you are creating a profound positive impact on the planet: a gift for your child’s future. 

Each of these simple suggestions below will bring you and your family one step closer to living an eco-friendly life, and it’s well worth the effort. 

The most important eco-friendly thing a new parent can do is to accept that they are one person and they can only do so much. It’s o.k. to take easy small steps towards living a greener life because in the long run, the small steps really add up to big benefits. By keeping the Three R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in mind every day, parents can ensure that they are maintaining a green household. 

When you recycle or repurpose household items such as paper, you give back to the planet in a big way. Then, by using earth-friendly recycled tissue paper products, such as Marcal Small Steps, you save countless trees because companies like Marcal use only 100% recycled paper for their products not trees. (http://www.marcalsmallsteps.com). Marcal has been using paper instead of trees to make their products for over 50 years, showing a long-term commitment and integrity to the planet-to save 1 million trees. Marcal’s personal pledge is the perfect for new parents to consider when going green, http://www.marcalsmallsteps.com/pledge.html, now at this milestone in their lives. 

One of the most exciting things for new parents to do is to prepare the nursery for their baby. The main thing to keep in mind is that you want your baby’s room to be healthy and clean. A great way to start is by using non-toxic paint for the beautifully painted nursery walls. Indoor air can be three times more polluted than outdoor air, and according to the EPA, is considered one of the top 5 hazards to human health. Paints and finishes are among the leading causes. Mythic non-toxic paint is a clean, low odor paint alternative that provides the durability and coverage you expect from a premium paint without the off-gassing VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) and toxins that emit years after drying with most paints.  

Once you’ve gotten the room painted, install a high quality air filter to clean and purify the air from airborne cleaning products, and product off-gassing to dust. Because there is such a wide range of options available, a great resource for parents is Consumer Reports online (http://www.consumersearch.com/air-purifiers/review), where they rate and explain about the variety of filters on the market. 

The room is decorated and ready to fill with lots of goodies, including some eco-friendly toys made from natural, safe materials, preserving the environment. Keeping in mind that babies put everything in their mouth, you want to be aware of VOC’s and other harmful chemicals that may come in contact with your baby. Plant Happy Toys, whose mission is to connect people and planet through play, offers a wide variety of “playful” options. 

Your baby will be crawling, toddling and grabbing on to many surfaces in the nursery and beyond before you know it, so take some time to think about the cleaning products you use in your home and on your baby. Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (study: http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/sls-JACT-report.html)is just one of several commonly used toiletry chemicals associated with a variety of diseases. Water is adequate for washing babies, and if lather is irresistible, use eco-friendly, organic toiletries occasionally and sparingly. If eco-friendly cleaning products are too expensive, use distilled white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, Epsom salts, or lemon juice. Unless your favorite cleaner is eco-friendly, you're sending VOCs, petrochemicals, pesticides, and chlorides into the air, and that isn't good. These airborne pollutants used in a number of conventional cleaning agents to, among other things, help speed the drying process. They can irritate mucus membranes and cause other short- and long-term physical damage. 

* Use gentle Castile soap and water - these have been shown to keep surfaces as free of bacteria as antibacterial soaps do.

* Look for safer ingredients - products labeled nontoxic, bio-based, chlorine free, organic, phosphate-free, natural fragrance, and/or biodegradable.

* Avoid using products that say POISON, DANGER, WARNING, or CAUTION.

* Reduce the need for anti-bacterial soaps by frequently requiring hand washing.

 

 

 

 

Green Body

Nowadays, people everywhere are "going green", but what does that mean and how can it make a difference? By definition, going green simply means being aware of the immediate and residual impact our products and practices have on the planet. If we are causing harm at either of these two levels, whatever we are doing is not a green practice. We all want to make the planet a better place and the best place to start is by thinking “sustainable”. Are the products and services that you’re using being depleted or can they be sustained naturally? What’s consumed should not have a negative impact on the body or the world in general. When that isn't possible, make choices that have the least negative impact; for example, buy local and organic food and chemical-free cleaning and body products whenever possible.

Our skin is our largest organ, so remember what goes on the skin, goes inside the body! With this in mind, be watchful of the ingredients list and what those ingredients are!

* A cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval by the FDA.
* Evidence shows that cumulative use of these products may be contributing to asthma, the onset of puberty in girls and the feminization of baby boys.
* The majority of personal care products will be washed down the drain.
* Waste-water treatment centers are unable to remove many of the chemicals shampoos, lotions, soaps, deodorant and make-up, leaving the residue in our water supply.

What You Can Do: GIVE YOUR BODY A BREAK

* Cut back on the sheer number of products you use
*Pick one weekend a month to “go au naturel”
*Prioritize your regimen and buy green (clean) products that stay on your skin like deodorant, lotions and cosmetics
* Buy products with the fewest ingredients
* Beware the misuse of words like “organic”,“natural” and “hypo-allergenic”
* Avoid antibacterials (triclosan), parabens, phthalates, and fragrances
* Send companies a message
*

Choose products with less packaging; some cosmetics are simply sealed rather than packaged.

From the food we eat to the products we use on our bodies, becoming mindful of our choices to live a sustainable lifestyle is within your grasp. Today, take a minute to read the ingredients label, recycle and consume less—your body and planet will thank you for it.

On the Lookout for Tree Loving Artists

As an advocate for the trees that keep the earth healthy, Marcal Paper Products, LLC , one of the nation’s oldest earth-friendly paper goods producer of household recycled tissue paper products, today announces its Marcal® Small Steps™ “Save the Trees” Paper Towel Design Contest. This contest is one element in Marcal’s ongoing campaign to save one million trees and provides consumers an opportunity to get involved by submitting original artwork that showcases their appreciation for trees.

Since 1950, Marcal has been making its paper from recycled paper, not from trees. By purchasing Small Steps™ products by Marcal® brand, consumers are taking a small, easy step to a greener earth.™

The grand prize winner of Marcal® Small Steps™ “Save the Trees” Paper Towel Design Contest will win a trip to ‘hug a giant tree’ at California’s Sequoia National Park, a year’s supply of Marcal® Small Steps™ 100% recycled paper products, and the winning artwork may be used as inspiration for future Marcal® brand product packaging.

So grab a pencil and get started on your sketches now!!

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Thank you to all who participated in our Chicken Soup for the Soul:Power Moms, book giveaway contest! Jennifer from Phoenix, Arizona is our winner; congratulations Jennifer, we will be mailing your autographed copy of the book to you soon!

GREEN COUPON-ING

Did you know that according to Simmons Market Research Bureau, currently more than 40 million people nationwide are printing online coupons. While coupons are a great way to save money in this recession, paper coupons equate to a staggering amount of wasted paper. Instead of printing and clipping, go green this Earth Day by visiting free online coupon code and deal site Coupon Craze (couponcraze.com) before you shop. Check out Coupon Craze’s top 5 reasons why you should stop clipping and start clicking instead:

BE A SAVVY SHOPPER: If each of the 40 million people printing online coupons replaced one paper coupon with an online coupon code, 80,000 reams of paper would be saved!

SAVE TREES: 500,000 trees must be cut down to produce each week's Sunday newspapers, including the massive coupon section. Why do we even need all of those coupons, when only 0.5% of those coupons inserted in Sunday newspapers were redeemed in 2008.

BE GREEN: The average household throws away 13,000 pieces of paper each year, most of which is junk mail consisting of printed coupons and promotions. Reducing paper use reduces greenhouse gases and using 40 million pieces of paper translates into 3,000 acres of pine forest absorbing carbon for a year.

CONSERVE WATER: Who knew? It takes more than 1½ cups of water to make one sheet of paper4 – meaning that the 40 million people who have printed coupons have wasted 3.75 million gallons of water.

STOP WASTING: The United States alone, which has less than 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper. As if that were bad enough, approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper is thrown away every year in the U.S.

In honor of Earth Day (which is every day to me), visit Coupon Craze to find online deals and coupon codes that can easily replace those paper-wasting printed coupons. While you're there, check out their new green category!

World's Largest Roll of Toilet Paper

Yesterday, I was thrilled to be a part of an event, honoring trees--one of my favorite things! A urban jungle was built in the middle of Times Square, complete with trees, recycle bins and the world's largest roll of toilet paper, all to bring awareness about the importance to RECYCLE and to USE RECYCLED products! The event was sponsored by Small Steps by Marcal, a recycled kitchen and bath paper products company. Thousands of passersby were treated to free samples and coupons, all in an effort to reach Marcal's goal of the Million Tree March. If everyone in America switched to just one roll of recycled paper towel or toilet tissue, together we could save ONE MILLION TREES; and trees, as you know, oxygenate the planet, filter our air, house countless species, cool the planet and are just plain beautiful to look at.

So, do your part, take a small step, use some tissue and save a tree--I am!

I never thought I'd see the day

I never thought I'd see the day when the average 700 pounds of paper used by each American every year would be used to create household items such as napkins, paper towels, and bath tissue. Well, it's true! The new brand, Small Steps by Marcal has officially launched in super markets nationwide. What I love about the product is that it's made by the folks at Marcal who've been doing this recycled paper thing for over 50 years, so you know they've got it down right! They're no flash-in-the-pan-jump-on-the bandwagon-kind-of-company-they're just now touting their work. Well, good for us green moms who really care about the environment, but just don't have all the time in the world to save the rainforest--today! Now, it's as simple as switching over to a brand that chooses to be made of used paper rather than trees! Now, that's something, isn't it?

Green Your Planet

As a Healthy Green Living Expert, I am often asked, "What can I do to help green the planet?". My answer is to make simple small steps every day that add up to one big impact.

The easiest way to get started is to: JUST RECYCLE. If everyone JUST recycled and used recycled products, we'd be way ahead of the curve. Once recycling becomes a part of your daily "routine", then add in REDUCE and REUSE. Again, simple small steps!!

In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means that each adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 lbs. of trash for his or her children. Recycling all of your home’s waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 850 pounds a year. Americans generate on average 4.4 pounds of waste per day per person. In this decade, it is projected that Americans will throw away over 1 million tons of aluminum cans and foil, more than 11 million tons of glass bottles and jars, over 4 and a half million tons of office paper and nearly 10 million tons of newspaper. Almost all of this material could be recycled. Almost 1/3 of the waste generated in America is packaging.

Tip for Today: Just RECYCLE!

Why use a valuable material or product once, and then place it in your trash to be buried in a landfill? Instead, divert that material for recycling, and capture the energy and resources already used to make that product. Since recycled materials have been refined and processed once, manufacturing the second time around is much cleaner and less energy-intensive than the first. By using recycled materials instead of trees, metal ores, minerals, oil, and other raw materials harvested from the earth, recycling-based manufacturing conserves the world’s scarce natural resources. This conservation reduces pressure to expand forests cutting and mining operations.

Then, when you're done, try hugging a tree! ;)