1. Organic, Fair Trade Green Mountain Coffee

I could not survive motherhood without coffee! In fact today, I treated myself to a rare afternoon cup. Green Mountain Coffee is one of my favorite brewers. We were sent a fair trade sampler that included:

• Organic Coffee Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
• Organic Sumatran Reserve
• Organic French Roast

The Ethiopian is my favorite, as I have grown to appreciate a lighter roast as I age. Purchasing fair trade coffee is really important, especially if you live in the Northern Hemisphere where it cannot be grown. Coffee is something that causes me to break my locavore commitments.

Like oil or cotton, coffee is a commodity… and world prices fluctuate wildly. Coffee farmers never know how much they’ll be paid for their beans. Sometimes they don’t even get enough to pay for the cost of growing them.

Fair Trade certification provides farmers a fair price for their beans with a guaranteed minimum, which means they can invest in their crops, their communities, and their future.

Fair Trade also creates some of the best coffee in the world, because farmers can afford to follow time-honored traditions that produce the finest beans.

Would I buy this product? Yes! Actually, I’ve been meaning to invest in Green Mountain Coffee. The company’s financial data is always highlighted by LOHAS and continues to grow in this recession.

2.  Healthy Baby, Happy Home: Create a Safe Green Home for Your Baby

This handy, dandy little book helps you figure out how to make your home safe on a budget.  Tons of resources are listed, and I especially like the chart explaining the types of baby products that use the different numbered plastics.  I also like how endnotes are provided so that actual research-based studies could be referenced for further clarification.  According to Healthy Baby Happy Home:

Read the Facts

Here are some disturbing facts about the danger a child’s environment can bring to him or her:

• The American Cancer society estimates that 75% of all cancers are caused by environmental sources.
• Asthma is a common chronic disease among children in the United States, which can be caused by environmental compounds.
• 163 infants were tested positive for at least 1 Phalate [sic]; and 81% for 7 or more phalates [sic] (University of Washington study published in pediatrics, Feb 2008)
• In a 2002 to 2003 CDC study, CDC scientists detected BPA Bisphenol A in the urine of nearly 93% of the 2, 517 people tested; children had the highest concentration.
• Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3) is a common ingredient used in sunscreen for children. This compound has major health concerns and should not be used on them. In fact, Sweden recently issued a warning declaring that Oxybenzone is unsafe for young children.
• Triclosan was also detected in the urine of nearly 75% of the people tested in the same CDC study, which is another common ingredient that may pose health concerns and unknown long term risk exposure.

Would I buy this product? No.  I think a lot of this information can be gleamed from reading websites, such as this one, and I think it is a little overpriced at $14.00 for a little paperback book.  Also, it is not written by an author but a LLC, which makes me suspicious, although I don’t know why.  Besides, they can’t even spell phthalates correctly.

Disclosure: The products described above were sent to us as free samples, unless noted differently in the review. Prior assurances as to the nature of the reviews, whether positive or negative, were not given. No financial payments were accepted in exchange for the reviews. The reviews reflect our honest, authentic opinions.