Summer is here and this is a holiday weekend in the US, thousands and thousands of grills will be fired up, tons of charcoal and lighter fluid will be used and the number of resources consumed will be staggering.
uGO has a product that can help green your grilling, the FlameDisk. Read the rest of this entry »
I am about to embark on an east coast odyssey, of sorts. I am taking my 2 and 4 year old girls from northern New England to the greater Washington D.C. area. By myself.
Yep, 10-12 hours on the road with two energetic, vocal, independent minded and sometimes surly (and whiny) little people strapped in. Wish me luck.
It really can’t be worse than the time my youngest decided to go on a 20 hour nursing strike while on this very same drive (any nursing mother can imagine the suffering–), can it?
In any case, I am packing today and thinking about how to green up road trips. Here are some of the ideas I came up with that might be helpful if you too are taking a road trip this summer, and want to be a little more green than in your younger (and more wasteful) days.
Read the rest of this entry »
The world is not such a magical place when chemicals, including the carcinogen chromium 6, are being dumped into groundwater.
A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles alleges that Disney has been dumping the waste from their on-site cooling systems since 1998. According to the suit, brought by Environmental Worldwatch, Inc and local residents, the company,
supplied, dumped, released and deposited and continues to supply, dump, release and deposit vast amounts of chromium 6, air cooling water and residues, and other various toxic waste materials.
The Disney corporation has so far declined to comment on the specifics of the case but are denying any wrongdoing.
Read the rest of this entry »
The city of Crestwood, IL is in hot water with the state government. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday claiming that not only did the village serve tainted water for more than 20 years, it knowingly lied to the EPA and residents repeatedly over the years.
One of the more blatant examples came from Crestwood’s own certified water operator. The Illinois EPA ordered the local well tested for toxins, and in a letter, Frank Scaccia said,
‘This sampling would not apply to our facility,’ because the town’s water came from Lake Michigan and not the well.
Officials repeated this lie numerous times over the years, and now Madigan is going after them. Officials face millions of dollars of fines if found guilty in the civil suit.
Crestwood officials violated the public’s trust and the laws designed to protect public health.
You may remember this story. A former Crestwood resident helped uncover the town’s water sins after two of her three children became ill with cancer.
Turns out, the water had been tainted with a highly toxic dry cleaning chemical. But officials fended off further scrutiny, says Madigan, by lying to authorities no fewer than 120 times over the years.
Read the rest of this entry »
Every year the NWF (National Wildlife Federation) sponsors the Great American Backyard Campout, encouraging families to get out in nature…even if it is only in their backyards.
You don’t have to go to a campground to have a good time camping.
This year the official date for the backyard campout is June 27th. I’ve signed my family up and we’re going to have a camp fire and cook out and make s’mores and tell campfire stories. It’s a lot of fun and we try to do it every year. Read the rest of this entry »
School may be out (or almost out for some) but camp outs and sleepovers will soon be abundantly on the agenda and it’s bug time. Fleas, ticks and lice can run rampant in campgrounds and other areas where groups of people hang out. The last thing you want to put a damper on summer fun is a lice infestation.
To at least keep the lice away check out Happy Heads Lice Prevention products. Read the rest of this entry »
Ecozoo backpacks from Ecogear are the perfect eco-friendly bags for short summer trips or for a fun bag to fill with summer boredom busters like books, games, art supplies or a multitude of other kid stuff.
I received the Panda as an awesome review product and my two youngest kids are fighting over who gets it, that’s how cute it is. Read the rest of this entry »
The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) has created Green Paws, a green living initiative, to help people keep their pets and families safe from toxic flea and tick products.
The surprising thing is that it’s not just the regular chemical culprits that may be dangerous to the health of your pets but some of the “all natural” herbal treatments can be just as poisonous.
The cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have risen dramatically over the past 30 years, so much so that there may be 50 percent more cases than previously suspected.
Up to 250,000 children have autism or a related condition on the autistic spectrum, but have not been diagnosed, researchers say. They are in addition to the 500,000 children who are known to be affected.
The study, conducted by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, found that the increase was due to better detection and intervention.
This is disputed by a U.S. study at UC Davis, which said that California’s 7- to 8-fold increase was due only in small part by better detection, and stressed that environmental factors must be studied as a possible cause.
So now the opposite sides of the pond, and coasts for that matter, are in dispute.
What do BPA and pregnant women have to do with each other?
A job if you’re willing!!! It pays well BUT here’s the kicker: you must be willing to consume a toxic substance.
Seem a little strange? Just when you think we’re getting somewhere with the BPA issue, we’ve been slapped by a tactic discussed by major corporations in the packaging industry…
Eco Child’s Play
News, information, and opinions on natural, green parenting to help your family live a more healthy, eco-friendly life
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