Eco Child’s Play

Spiders Spin Webs was given to us one birthday, along with many other books from an older child’s collection. The regifting of books children have outgrown is a very eco-friendly idea, and I have always been delighted to discover new books through such gifts. Spiders Spin Webs was a pleasant surprise amongst the books we received.

Spiders Spin Webs is written by Yvonne Winer and illustrated by Karen Lloyd-Jones. Each page begins with the line, “Spiders spin webs….” and features rhyming words and amazing, detailed illustrations. For example,

Spiders Spin Webs is full of rare words, like filigreed, that expand children’s growing vocabulary. Reading this book gives children (and adults) appreciation of these little eight legged creatures that invade our homes and Halloween hearts.

Today’s tip is a safety tip cautioning readers to be aware of the “dangers” of hybrid and electric vehicles to pedestrians. Last week, my children and I were almost hit by a Prius in a health food store parking lot. I can imagine the headline: “Environmentalist run over by a hybrid vehicle.” Ironic, eh?

My near-encounter with the Prius occurred because the car was running on its electric motor, thus making the car virtually silent. As the Prius backed out of its parking space, I was caught by surprise and realized how much I rely on my ears to warn me of traffic. We tell children to “look both ways and listen” for cars when crossing streets, but as our fleet moves toward hybrid vehicles (and hopefully electric ones, too), we will need to adjust which senses we rely on to keep us safe in parking lots and crossing roads.

I am not the only one to be startled by a low noise car. In particular, hybrid vehicles running on their electric motors especially affect blind people, who rely on their sense of hearing in traffic. According to the Wall Street Journal,

“Michael Osborn, a blind marketing consultant from Laguna Beach, Calif., and his guide dog, Hastings, were in the middle of an intersection one morning last April when the yellow Lab stopped short. Mr. Osborn took the cue and halted — just in time to feel the breeze from a car passing right in front of them. ‘Half an inch and it would have hit us … it wasn’t making any noise,’ says Mr. Osborn, 50, who has been blind for 12 years. Witnesses say the car was a Toyota Prius, a hybrid vehicle.”

The National Federation of the Blind is advocating hybrid and electric vehicles emit a sound when turned on, and many guide dog schools are now including hybrid vehicles in their training course. The proposed sound device would alert a sensor carried by the vision impaired to alert them of a hybrid in the vicinity. In response to the concern, Denise Morrissey, a spokeswoman for Toyota Motor Sales USA stated, “The [industry] trend is toward quiet powertrains in all sorts of vehicles. That trend has raised the need for other drivers and pedestrians to increase caution and to be more aware of the surroundings.”

I don’t know what the solution is, and I certainly like less noise pollution. The sound of an electric powered car is beautiful in its quietude, and I can only imagine how our city streets would sound if the electric vehicle had not been “killed.” As pedestrians, we must be more aware and mindful of our surroundings as more and more hybrid vehicles are on the road. For drivers of hybrid or electric vehicles, pay special attention around pedestrians, especially the blind, who may not be aware of your presence. As our streets become quieter and our awareness grows, perhaps we will once again be able to hear the birds’ songs in the bustling city.

This cute toy from Under the Nile is one you can feel good about giving a child. The adorable organic hippo is not only made from cotton grown without pesticides, but natural dyes were used in its construction. Furthermore, the organic hippo is a fair trade product! Fair trade and organic, what else could you want in a natural, eco-friendly toy? The organic hippo is also available in blue, if you are stuck on gender colors for babes. At the current price of $11.80, the organic hippo is an affordable eco-friendly toy.

We recently gave my niece-to-be the organic hippo along with an Under the Nile organic dress. The fabric in the hippo’s scarf matches the dress, so Tessa and her hippo will be in eco-fashion together. It is so fun shopping for baby on the way!

A new website is offering consumers an easy way to get rid of unwanted catalogues. With the holiday season approaching, my mailbox has become inundated with catalogues for every product under the sun. Previously, I have sent individual letters to each company, as well as signed up for services that were supposed to stop the catalogues from coming; however, the effects of all these efforts has worn off, and new ones are arriving daily. Now, Catalog Choice offers a convenient way to decline catalogues from your computer.

Catalog Choice is a free service sponsored by the Ecology Center. Their mission “is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices.” The site is simple to use. After creating an account, simply search for catalogue names, enter your customer identification number from the back of the catalogue (if available), then click decline. If the catalogue you wish to decline is not in the database, you can request Catalog Choice to add it, and they will notify you when it is available. I have already declined ten catalogues in a few days; however, it can take up to ten weeks before you stop receiving the declined catalogues. Catalog Choice also offers a “My Choices” page, which allows you to change your mind and start receiving the catalogues again, as well as follow up on catalogues that you are still receiving despite your requests.

Here are some staggering environmental facts from Catalog Choice:

• Over eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of paper catalogs.

• Nearly half of the planet’s original forest cover is gone today. Forests have effectively disappeared in 25 countries, and another 29 have lost more than 90% of their forest cover.

• Deforestation contributes between 20% and 25% of all carbon pollution, causing global climate change.

• More than one billion people living in extreme poverty around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods.

• There are other significant environmental impacts from the catalog cycle. The production and disposal of direct mail alone consumes more energy than three million cars.

• The manufacturing, distribution, collection and disposal of catalogs generates global warming gases as well as air and water pollution. Reducing the number of unwanted catalogs that are mailed will help the environment.
  

Catalog Choice is simple to use, and the impact is far-reaching. I would much rather not receive so many catalogues, then haul them to the recycling center each week. Visit Catalog Choice today, and see how easy it is to make a small change to help the environment.

When my daughter was two, I thought bubble baths would be fun. I read every label in the health food store searching for the safest, natural bubble option. I was alarmed to find that a majority of the labels had warnings about prolonged exposure and girl’s urinary tract systems. I was also concerned, because a friend of mine swore her daughter developed eczema from a commercial character bubble bath. I was lucky to find Clearly Natural Happy Kidz Bath Bubbles.

Clearly Natural Happy Kidz Bath Bubbles is sodium lauryl sulfate free and is very gentle on young skin. It has a pleasant aroma, but you do have be careful not to get it into your child’s eyes. Clearly Natural Happy Kidz Bath Bubblesis scented with pure essential oils only. These essential oils are anise, cedar, clove, orange, peppermint, petitgrain spearmint and tangerine. Unfortunately, Clearly Natural Happy Kidz Bath Bubbles newer bottles come with the same urinary tract warning. I wonder just how long prolonged exposure really is. As I dig a little deeper, I notice that it also contains sodium laureth sulfate, which is related to sodium lauryl sulfate. I feel this is somewhat misleading to promote a product as sodium lauryl sulfate free on the front label, while it contains sodium laureth sulfate. Is this ethical?

Perhaps Clearly Natural Happy Kidz Bath Bubbles isn’t the great product I thought it was, but it does make nice bath bubbles! Other natural bath products I have tried do not suds up they way I want, so I have settled on this product. Maybe my children don’t need bubble baths?

How green is your child’s school? Chances are, if your child attends a public school like my daughter, it is not a very green place, especially if it is an older facility. Kelli has already written about ways to make your individual child a greener student in "Think Green For Back to School" and Chris Baskind offered Green Options readers "Five Ways to Green Your Child’s Classroom." But do you know your child’s school’s carbon footprint? Does the school district’s board of trustees know this information? Do you include your child’s share of the school’s carbon emission when figuring out your family’s impact on climate change?

Recently, I discovered a tool for calculating a school’s carbon footprint that was developed by students at Irvington High School with the help of DriveNeutral. This tool is an Excel worksheet that takes into account many factors, such as the student population and the number of days school is in session. It asks what percentage of the student ride in a car to school, the school’s electricity usage, methane from waste disposal, etc.. The table ends with questions regarding solutions, such as offsetting and recycling.

The questions asked by the SchoolNeutral tool are not easily answered by a parent, child or teacher, but research is required and a manual is available to download. This tool was designed by high schools students for high school students, but it could be modified for usage in earlier grade levels. In addition, it would make a great senior project for a high school student to help an elementary school class figure out their school’s carbon footprint. As World Changing notes, "What makes the SchoolNeutral calculator stand out is that it has been designed to help high school students calculate emissions generated by a large group of people (the first version focuses just on student population) who work together at a large complex (the high school). Most carbon calculators focus on the individual or household carbon footprint, but SchoolNeutral shows how to calculate much larger, collective footprints."

Knowing a school’s carbon footprint may be the first step in promoting change. Faced with such staggering statistics, school boards are more likely to make decisions that will reduce carbon emissions, and children will be motivated to do what they can in their own classrooms. Parents can easily be involved in the process, and fundraisers could be held to purchase offsets. Furthermore, schools can make the necessary changes to lower their own carbon emissions and students can be involved in offsetting carbon emissions on the school campus by planting trees and switching light bulbs, for example. In fact, you may even be able to get a carbon credit company to take on your child’s school on as a project.

This post was originally published on Green Options.

Magic Cabin offers this delightful version of an old-fashioned folk toy for about $17.00. The Mushroom Maypole moves when wound up, spinning back and forth, while it bounces up and down. I am truly fascinated with the movement, as are both of my children. The Mushroom Maypole is rated for children three years and older, but I have found that babies enjoy staring at it and are likewise fascinated by the motion. The kinetic motion of the toy is a great lesson in physics, as children try to figure out how the motion is sustained. We have a different version of this delightful toy purchased at a local toy store, and I still think it is one of the best wooden toys for its simplicity, design, and pleasure.

Having a happy, green Halloween has been a hot topic on the Internet lately. Some people embrace the idea, and some people think it is ridiculous. My Halloween will be mostly green, with a few exceptions: the costumes and driving my kids for trick-or-treating. I try to balance my children’s eco-childhood by allowing them to sometimes choose aspects of commercial culture. Their grandmother buys their costumes from the Disney Store every year (ahh, I’m an eco-hypocrite), and this has become tradition. Cars are necessary for trick-or-treating in the mountains, as our closest neighbors live a mile away. At least we will be using biodiesel for our Halloween fun. Here are a few eco-Halloween ideas:

1. Create your costume from your own wardrobe, borrow items from friends, and shop thrift stores! If you have children, you probably already have their costumes picked out. If you are an adult, you probably do not have a costume idea yet. Some of my favorite costumes from childhood used my parent’s clothes with make up and wigs or were made out of sheets.
2. Give out organic treats! Hand out organic lollipops or organic chocolate ladybugs. I plan to give these items to my few neighbors to give to my children in advance, as we live in such an isolated place that my children will be the only trick-or-treaters they see all night.
3. Walk! Taking a walking tour of the neighborhood, knocking on everyone’s doors while wearing costumes is great fun. Traveling by car not only adds carbon to the atmosphere, it also wrinkles costumes and takes the exercising out of trick-or-treating. If children are going to eat candy, they need to walk!

Here are a few suggestions from others:

Dr. Sears:
Remember that most treats handed out are Red Light Foods and can lead to stomachaches and bad behaviour. Most Kids won’t eat all their candy so a majority of it gets thrown away once forgotten about.

Here are some non red light treat ideas to get you started thinking:

• Small boxes of cereal
• Cheese and cracker packages
• Sugar-free gum
• 100% Juice box packages
• Small packages of nuts or raisins
• A package of instant cocoa mix
• Non-food treats such as: Stickers, toys, crayons, pencils, colored chalk, erasers, baseball cards, rubber spiders, temporary tattoos, false teeth, little bottles of bubbles and small games, like tiny decks of cards (party-supply stores can be great sources for these)

Out of sight, out of mind - Keep your child’s candy on a top shelf of the kitchen cupboard. This way, your child must ask for it and you can keep better track of how much they eat. But even better is that they will probably forget about it. Kids tend to forget about their easter and halloween candy after a few weeks. We eventually eat some ourselves and throw the rest away after a few months.

Buy it back - Buy your child’s candy back from them, then take a family trip to the toy store and let them pick out a few toys. This is a nice treat, since it’s another long two months until Christmas.

Weed out the real junk - Allow your child to keep chocolate candies, but eliminate the artificially colored stuff. This will keep most of the chemicals to a minimum.

One junk a day rule - In our house we have a “one junk a day rule” that we have taught our kids from an early age. This doesn’t mean they actually eat one every day, it simply means that when they DO eat a candy, they can only have one.

Green Options:
Use reusable candy-collecting bags. Simple, easy, and ensures that your large stash of candy won’t end up all over the street from a less-than-durable plastic bag. Avoid those plastic pumpkins, too. They’re made of petroleum, and you can only use them once a year.
Use trick-or-treating as an opportunity for stewardship. After trick or treating, bring a separate bag for your kids to pick up the inevitable candy wrappers left by less-savvy munchkins.

The Sierra Club:

• Set a spooky mood with soy or beeswax candles, not those made from petroleum-based paraffin. If you like scented candles, look for ones with fragrances derived from essential oils rather than synthetic chemicals.

• Avoid masks made out of vinyl. Latex ones are safer, unless you’re allergic to the material.
• Look up some recipes for pumpkin pie, soup, or curry so your decoration doesn’t go to waste after Halloween. (Not much of a chef? Compost that jack-o-lantern, at least

The Green Guide
Pesticides and fertilizers used in the production of sugar have led to the destruction of aquatic ecosystems. The loss of topsoil to cane fields has destroyed forest habitats. But sugar’s sins start with the slave trade, as Europeans brought captured Africans to work in the cane fields of the Caribbean throughout the 18th century, where slaves died in greater numbers than in the U.S. Sadly, this legacy hasn’t come to an end: The chocolate trade has encouraged forced labor in Africa as cocoa farmers sell their product at prices well below what they can afford…

This Halloween, little ghouls and goblins in the U.S. can do their part by spending the night “reverse trick-or-treating” in partnership with Global Exchange. As kids go door-to-door, they’ll switch roles and hand over fair-trade chocolate and literature to neighbors.

I like this idea of “reverse trick-or-treating” with fair-trade goodies. I may have to revise my ghoulish plans on Halloween night. Perhaps we will participate in “exchange” trick-or-treating with our neighbors, that way everyone gets yummy, organic candy.

Melissa and Doug See and Spell is a wooden puzzle in which children select letters that fit into recessed spots to spell the word that matches the picture on each wooden “card”. When evaluating my preschool learning environment, one thing that was required but missing were puzzles that spell words. Melissa and Doug See and Spell filled this void in my preK environment.

Melissa and Doug See and Spell is very appealing to the children in my program, and a great way to teach letter recognition, letter shape, phonics, etc. Each wooden “card” has two sides, totaling 20 words in all children can spell. The words are all high frequency, three and four letter words. This toy is recommended for children 4-7 years old; however, I have found that younger children really enjoy it too, especially with a little bit of scaffolding. Parents can limit the letter choices for very young children to ensure their success. Of course, young children require close supervision for choking hazards. The letters are large, but they say that anything that can fit though an empty toilet paper roll is a choking hazard. For my six-year-old daughter, the toy is too simplistic to sustain play when no longer novel.

I have noticed that many readers have come to Eco Child’s Play by searching for Melissa and Doug toy recalls. It is true that most Melissa and Doug toys are made in China; however, this company is not involved in any of the recent recalls. Melissa and Doug state that they test each batch of toys twice (once in China and once in USA) before distributing them. The testing is not done by an outsourced company, but by Melissa and Doug employees. For more information, please visit:
Duck Duck Goose Boutique
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
China Free Christmas
If you are boycotting Chinese toys because of safety concerns, then you may feel comfortable with Melissa and Doug. If you are boycotting Chinese toys because of their human rights violations, then you will not feel better knowing Melissa and Doug test their toys twice. I have heard conflicting thoughts on boycotting China because of the situation in Tibet. I have heard that the Dalai Lama has said that it would hurt people to boycott China, and this would not be the compassionate approach. I have also read that many Tibet liberation groups support such boycotts. Personally, I have adopted a modified boycott of Chinese products, weighing in man factors before making purchases. Perhaps this is lame, perhaps it is not. I don’t really know…

After a trip to a local toy store to buy a birthday present for a friend, my daughter was frustrated with the fact that I would not buy plastic toys, yet those are the ones she is most drawn too. On the drive home, she composed a letter to Disney, asking them to become more eco-friendly. The letter was entirely her inspiration, and I was quite proud. Here is the letter she wrote when we got home:

Dear Disney,

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

Love,
M
6 years old