Just in Case You Forget

Just in Case You Forget

I get busy, like most moms, and sometimes forget little things; but going local or organic whenever possible is something you should always keep in mind!

Here's something I printed out and keep handy, just as a little reminder.

TOP 10 Reasons to EAT ORGANIC

Organic Products Meet Stringent Standards
Organic Food Tastes Great!
Organic Production Reduces Health Risks
Organic Farms Respect Our Water Resources
Organic Farmers Build Healthy Soil
Organic Farmers Work In Harmony With Nature
Organic Producers are Leaders In Innovative Research
Organic Producers Strive To Preserve Diversity
Organic Farming Helps Keep Rural Communities Healthy
Organic Abundance – Foods and Non-Foods Alike!

Green Piece?

I was frustrated by what I read in Jennifer Grayson's Huffington Post article, Is Your Ass Worth One Million Trees a Year, article.

Being a green mom I know that, trees help stop global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and that by using recycled paper products we all do our small part to save the existing (mature) trees we do have, period. Grayson reports that,

"Greenpeace's five-year-long battle against tissue-product mogul Kimberly-Clark (K-C) came to a victorious end last week, with the Kleenex/Scott/Cottonelle manufacturer agreeing to source 40 percent of its North American tissue fiber from recycled or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified pulp by 2011.

My question, as an ordinary mom--who happens to love trees, is why is Greenpeace settling for just 40%? I'm not sure why they wouldn't expect 100%? Why not support what Marcal Small Steps brand of recycled home paper products is doing--using only 100% recycled paper for their products? I see the Kimberly-Clark move as more of a marketing ploy than an actual "act of green-ness".

The facts are just staggering; and when you really start to take a long, hard look at it, it's unavoidable, is your Bum worth 1 million trees? Or, can you tough it up and save some trees...and do your small part to preserve what's left and protect our planet? It kind of makes you think what brands are YOU supporting?

It's truly up to you, because women are the primary household spenders in this country, we do have the power!

-The US has one of the lowest recycled paper rates in the world, 77% Netherlands, 67% Germany, 52% Japan 45% USA
-1/2 the world's forests have already been clear cut or burned.
-We cut down 83 million acres of trees every year (the size of New York State) to make paper products
-When paper product manufacturers use the term, "virgin fiber" it literally means, trees!
-It takes decades for newly planted trees to recover the amount of carbon released from old growth trees that have been cut down
-Each American consumes 700 pounds of paper products each year. That is seven times more paper than the worldwide average of 100 pounds per person
-About 40 millions tons of paper that could be recycled are thrown away each year in the U.S.

Eating Out Green Style!

Whenever I go out to dinner with my family, I'm always so excited when I notice an organic or "local" entree on the menu; so you can imagine my glee when I discovered, Eatwellguide.com. On this site, you can search for local organic farmer's markets, restaurants, groups, and more!

As a green mom, you have to be clever and up on the latest organic-y green trends and this website offers you just that!

If you have any other nifty green ideas like this, email me at, bethaldrich16@gmail.com and I'll include it in a future post!

Bon Appetit!

Earth Talk Question of the Week

My partnership with E/The Environmental Magazine, offers me the opportunity to share some interesting content about what's going on in the world. This week they shed some light on the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill from 1989.
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Dear EarthTalk: I haven’t heard much of late about big oil spills like the infamous Exxon Valdez. Has the industry cleaned up its act, or do the media just not report them? -- Olivia G., via e-mail

In the wake of 1989’s massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, when 11 million gallons of oil befouled some 1,300 miles of formerly pristine and wildlife-rich coastline, much has been done to prevent future spills of such magnitude.

For starters, Congress quickly passed the 1990 Oil Pollution Act which overhauled shipping regulations, imposed new liability on the industry, required detailed response plans and added extra safeguards for shipping in Prince William Sound itself. Under the terms of the law, companies cannot ship oil in any U.S. waters unless they prove they have response and clean-up plans in place and have the manpower and equipment on hand to respond quickly and effectively in the case of another disaster.

Also, the law mandates that, by 2015, all tankers in U.S. waters must be equipped with double hulls. The Exxon Valdez had only one hull when it ran aground on Bligh Reef and poured its oil into Prince William Sound, the southern end of the oil pipeline that originates 800 miles to the north at Prudhoe Bay. By comparison, a 900-foot double-hulled tanker carrying nearly 40 million gallons of crude oil did not leak when it crashed into submerged debris near Galveston, Texas in March 2009.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, average annual oil spill totals have dropped dramatically since new regulations took effect in 1990. Between 1973 and 1990, an average of 11.8 million gallons of oil spilled each year in American waters. Since then, the average has dropped to just 1.5 million gallons, with the biggest spill (not including those resulting from Hurricane Katrina in 2005) less than 600,000 gallons

Despite these improvements, critics say the industry still has more work to do. While protections have been beefed up in Prince William Sound, other major American ports still lack extra precautions such as escort tugboats and double engines and rudders on big ships to help steer them to safety when in trouble.

Another area that the 1990 law doesn’t cover is container ships that don’t transport oil as their cargo but which carry a large amount, anyway, for their own fuel for the considerable distances they travel. Such ships could also cause a major spill (anything more than 100,000 gallons, by Coast Guard standards). Yet another concern is the great number of smaller oil spills that occur every day at industrial locations (including but not limited to oil refining and storage facilities) and even in our own driveways. These will continue to add up to a heavy toll on our environment, even if another oil tanker never spills at sea again.

And while the total number and volume of oil spills is down dramatically from bygone days, the trend of late warrants concern. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Office of Response and Restoration reports that oil spills in U.S. waters have risen again over the past decade, with 134 incidents in 2008 alone. Green leaders worry that if Bush administration plans to expand offshore oil drilling are not overturned by President Obama, oil spills in U.S. waters could remain a sad fact of life.

CONTACTS: NOAA Office of Response and Restoration, www.response.restoration.noaa.gov; U.S. EPA Oil Pollution Act Overview, www.epa.gov/OEM/content/lawsregs/opaover.htm.

SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO:

EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.

Make A Shoe Donation-Make a Difference

Lands’ End and Soles4Souls™ Invite Customers To Donate Shoes At Chicago-area Inlet Stores
Help Change The World – One Pair At A Time

Lands’ End and Soles4Souls™ have paired up to invite customers to donate new or gently used footwear for people in need – around the corner and around the world. It is estimated that Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unused shoes lying in their closets. Anyone who donates a pair will receive a voucher good for 10 percent off the purchase of Lands’ End footwear at a Lands’ End Inlet location or the Lands’ End Warehouse Clearance event.

Make a Donation – Make a Difference
Lands’ End Inlet stores will collect footwear donations from August 1 – 30. Look for the Soles4Souls collection box at each participating location. From August 5 – 10, customers can also make a donation at the Lands’ End Warehouse Clearance event being held near the company’s headquarters at the Harris Park Ley Pavilion in Dodgeville, Wis.

“If you have shoes that you don’t wear anymore and they are just taking up space in your closet, please bring them in and donate them to this worthy cause,” said Marla Ryan, vice president, retail for Lands’ End. “As families continue to tighten their budgets, every measure counts – especially as kids are heading back to school. Many will be faced with the reality of needing new and dependable footwear that is suitable for fall and winter. Through the amazing work of Soles4Souls, with the help of Lands’ End hosting this footwear donation drive, more children and adults in communities across the United States will benefit.”

Lands’ End will accept all types of new or gently worn shoes including athletic, dress, snow boots and sandals for men, women and kids. Gently worn shoes should still be wearable, have solid soles with no holes, laces (if applicable) and be clean and free of mud. All sizes, from toddler to adult, will be accepted.

Recycling Soles to Change Lives
“We can use the shoes taking up space in your closet to change the world one pair at a time,” said Wayne Elsey, founder and CEO of Soles4Souls. “It’s one of the most simple, yet profound, gifts you can make, because it will greatly improve someone’s life in the most difficult of times.”

The idea behind Soles4Souls is a simple concept; collect shoes and give them away. In the aftermath of national and international disasters such as the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Soles4Souls has provided more than five million pairs of shoes to people who desperately needed footwear.

All area Lands’ End Inlets are accepting donations through August 30:

Lands’ End Inlet
7205 W. Dempster
Niles, IL 60714
847-470-0320

Lands’ End Inlet
1522 E. Golf Rd
Schaumburg, IL 60173
847-413-0100

Lands’ End Inlet
20 Convenience Center
Corner of Butterfield & Highland
Lombard, IL 60148
630-953-8855

For more Lands’ End Inlet locations, visit www.landsend.com/shops.

About Lands’ End
Lands’ End® is one of the world’s largest retailers of clothing for the family. In addition, Lands’ End offers an innovative collection of fine quality goods for the home. Lands’ End merchandise can be purchased online at www.landsend.com, by calling 1-800-800-5800, and by visiting the Lands’ End shop at Sears. Lands’ End is a proud member of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD). And, all high-quality Lands’ End merchandise is Guaranteed. Period.®

About Soles4Souls
Nashville-based Soles4Souls™ facilitates the donations of both new and used shoes, which are used to aid the hurting worldwide. Soles4Souls has distributed more than 5 million pairs (currently donating one pair every 13 seconds) to people in over 125 countries, including Honduras, Uganda, Romania, and the United States. The charity has been featured in Runner's World and the Green Guide by National Geographic. It has also appeared on CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, BBC and hundreds of regional outlets around North America. Soles4Souls is a 501(c)(3) recognized by the IRS; donating parties are eligible for tax advantages. Visit www.giveshoes.org for more information.

Guest Post by Robyn O'Brien

This special blog post is from my dear friend, author and healthy food advocate, Robyn O'Brien. 

when finished reading this insightful article, please log on to www.Robynobrien.com to find out more about Robyn's amazing story and what she's doing to protect all of our children!

Enjoy, 

Beth

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As headlines swirl, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the nation's food safety laws have an eerie similarity to the federal approach to safe guarding our citizens from exposure to toxic chemicals and toxic financial assets.  If our federal aviation system were to adhere to the same loose, deregulated standards that we are now seeing in the chemical industry, the financial industry and the food industry, we'd be allowed to board airliners without first being checked for bombs, guns, knives, or any other objects designed to harm passengers and the crew.

That said, legislation will soon be introduced in the House and Senate that if it becomes law will protect every single American, including babies not yet born from a life of daily contamination to a host of toxic chemicals, some of which are extremely potent at even low doses.

New Jersey's senior Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D), a kind hearted senior Senator with ten grandchildren who I had the honor of meeting last month in Washington, DC,  and Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush (D) are poised to offer a landmark reform plan - The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act -  to fix the failed federal toxics law that instead of protecting humans and the environment from the dangers of chemical exposures, has in fact allowed an entire population of people to become polluted, beginning in the womb.

The Kids Safe Chemical Act addresses the fact that back in 1976, with the passage of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), legislation was approved that allowed over 60,000 chemicals in existence at that time to be deemed 'safe' for use without a single thorough test to prove that to be true. And in the three-plus decades since the law was passed, and additional 20,000 chemicals have been rushed into the marketplace with little or no safety tests.

Today, 1 in 3 American children has allergies, ADHD, autism or asthma, with the Centers and Disease Control recently reporting stunning increases in the number of children expected to be insulin dependent by the time they reach adulthood.  With 17.6% of our GDP being consumed by health costs, there is an urgent need to address the health of our children and the impact that this generation of children is having on our country, our families and our health care system. 

The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, or Kid-Safe, would help protect the health of the American children by placing the burden of proof on the chemical industry, requiring manufacturers to first prove a chemical is actually safe before it's allowed into a consumer product. Currently, all of these chemicals are allowed into the marketplace until they are proven dangerous. 

As I highlighted in a recent presentation in Atlanta, the American Cancer Society reports that the United States has the highest rates of cancer of any country in the world and that migration studies show that if someone is to move here from a country like Japan, their likelihood of developing cancer increases fourfold, which chemicals should they test first? Why not start with those founding people, particularly babies.

Readers can learn more about the Kid-Safe legislation, its amazing efforts to improve the health of our children and even join in the discussion as scientists, researchers, lawmakers, policy analysts and journalists interested chemicals policy reform engage in an online back-in-forth at this new site hosted by my friend and heroes at the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

As has been repeatedly demonstrated over the last several months, our system has some pretty significant shortcomings so a strong grassroots contingent of committed individuals will be key in order to deliver legislation to President Obama.

The chemical industry's lobbyists, a group worthy of a John Grisham novel, as I highlight in my book The Unhealthy Truth have and will continue to spend millions to defeat any real reform efforts, and are gearing up for battle at the very moment.

As a matter of fact, The Washington Post recently revealed that the chemical industry lobbyists recently joined forces with the food and beverage industry at a secret meeting to develop a plot based on "fear tactics" to put the breaks on plans to mildly restrict the use of just a single chemical, BPA. At this point, they may be enlisting the help of one of the most infamous players in the lobbying game, a man who has earned the nickname of "Dr. Evil."  

But these industry funded folks may not realize what they are up against.  We are mothers, fathers, creators and nurturers. We are teachers, lawyers, accountants and writers. And our children's futures rest in our resiliently remarkable hands. We are soundly educated, compassionately connected and have been given the tools through this remarkable legislation to affect change.

As a mother of four, with a background in finance, I am profoundly grateful for the Kids Safe Chemical Act and invite you to learn more about this important legislation and to participate in affecting this extraordinary change for our children. 

The opportunity is tremendous. The adventure is ours for the taking.

If we each take action, together we can begin to restore the integrity that is now lacking in our system.  We can create a ripple of hope whose force is more powerful than any one of us could achieve individually, and Dr. Evil and his gang of lobbyists won't stand a chance!

 To learn more, I invite you to visit http://www.ewg.org ; www.ewg.org and www.robynobrien.com.

Cherries, Basil and More!

Summertime means fresh basil, cherries and more! With farmer’s markets brimming full of fresh fruits and vegetables, I thought it might be nice to focus on three of my favorites.

 

Cherries, so delicious right now, you could eat them by the bagful (just avoid the pits). Cherry season is short so hit your local farmer's market and try the fantastic selection of summer cherries available right now!

 

A growing body of science reveals tart cherries, enjoyed as either fresh, dried, frozen cherries or cherry juice, have among the highest levels of disease-fighting antioxidants, when compared to other fruits. They also contain other important nutrients such as beta carotene (19 times more than blueberries or strawberries) vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate. 

Emerging evidence links cherries to many important health benefits – from helping to ease the pain of arthritis and gout, to reducing risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Cherries also contain melatonin, which has been found to help regulate the body’s natural sleep patterns, aid with jet lag, prevent memory loss and delay the aging process. Cherries also contain an ibuprofen-like substance that works as an anti-inflammatory. This substance helps reduce arthritis pain. Besides helping promote sleep, cherries also have many anti-cancer properties, and a substance in cherry juice may help prevent tooth decay!

 

For a quick snack pack a small container full of fresh or dried cherries for a nutrient-rich sweet treat.

 

This month on my FHI Online magazine read Kath Ibbetson’s article, Basil, King of Italian Herbs, to find out some interesting information and cooking tips/recipe on this fragrant edible herb.

 

The herb that’s most popularly associated with Italian cuisine is basil (Basilico). There are several varieties, but you’re most likely to find sweet basil in the shops—it has large, aromatic leaves. Cooking with basil, especially if you grew it yourself, is wonderfully satisfying (continue reading). 

 

The benefits of certain healthy “skin” foods can be read in Cher Murphy’s article, Dining Tips for Healthy Skins. According to the CDC, there are around 25 million visits to dermatologist offices in the country. The largest organ of the body, skin weighs in between 6-9 pounds and covers two square yards. It plays an essential role in the body, providing everything from protection from viruses to sensing hot and cold, and even regulating our body temperature. Our skin is also the most noticeable thing on our bodies, and our diet can have an impact on whether it looks dull or glowing (continue reading).

 

Whether you’re going to the beach or heading to the office, be sure to pack your bag full of healthy fresh grown local fruits and vegetable this summer—your body will love you for it.

For more useful tips and ideas about healthy living visit my website, ForHerInformation.com