GREENWASH ALERT!
Marcal Small Steps motto is “Paper from paper, not from trees”.
For over five decades, Marcal has been saving trees and reducing landfill by making its paper products from recycled paper. Marcal uses paper collected from curbs in residential neighborhoods in cities and towns across America; from the small blue baskets in office buildings, unwanted junk mail, and waste from printers; all in an effort to do something good.
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by Jennifer Lance on December 4, 2009 · 6 comments
This year many people are trying to be more earth conscious but one major problem that many come up against during the holidays is how to wrap gifts in an eco-friendly manner. [read the full article...]
I think it’s happened to us all- the kid gets a hold of a pen or marker or even some paint…and it refuses to come off the skin even when scrubbing so hard you practically take the skin off. And we know that is neither is fun for the parent nor the child.
Finally someone, parents of course, invented a safe, natural product that “gets stuff off your skin”, Removeez. [read the full article...]
Here’s a fun book you may enjoy. It could inspire you with new ways to teach your child about living green. Or it may make a great gift for another parent that you know who could use some help in the eco-department.
Grow Your Own Tree Hugger: 101 activities to teach your child how to live green
by Wendy Rosenoff is full of activities, crafts and recipes that can easily teach children about the environment and about being green without being preachy.
Some of the activities sound like so much fun your kids won’t even know they’re learning. [read the full article...]
by Jennifer Lance on November 11, 2009 · 4 comments
by Jennifer Lance on November 7, 2009 · 5 comments
Editor’s note: The following piece is guest post by Dalit Holzman from Natural Pod, one of our favorite eco-friendly toy companies. Dalit is part of the Natural Pod team (www.naturalpod.com) and raises her two daughters as open-endedly as possible…with the help of some boxes.
We’ve all heard it. In fact we’ve all said it: “the best toy in the house is the cardboard box!” As parents we are constantly reminded that the active imaginations of children really don’t need much stimulation to get going…and going, and going, and going!
Just the other day my very own living room was transformed from, well, a living room into a series of caves and burrows, an enclave for ambushing mini- pirates!
Kids constantly mimic and replay the world around them, and though I am no pirate (lol), my daughters do seem to have many of my mannerisms and modes of communication down to a science (arrr me hearties!) They listen to learn to repeat. [read the full article...]
by Jennifer Lance on November 1, 2009 · 1 comment
Any parent knows that children love cardboard boxes. Often, the box a present comes in encourages more creative play than the toy it once contained. Imagination Box Co. was born out of this cardboard creativity.
After raising three kids and seeing how much waste there was in the toy industry, we said, “NO MORE,” and began making many of our children’s toys. An old box became a way to stimulate their creativity and recycle at the same time. They loved them and so did the neighborhood kids. It took about 17 years, but…voila…Imagination Box Co was born!
Made in the USA, Imagination Box Co. toys are completely recyclable and made from 45% post consumer materials. Each set comes with watercolors, so that your child may decorate and assemble their own toy. For my eight-year-old daughter, it has provided hours of entertainment and excitement. [read the full article...]
We’ve been getting a lot of wonderful feed back from the comments on our 
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: 