Take a look at the graphic for this article Why a Big Mac Costs Less Than a Salad. Unbelievable. Why is the government subsidizing food that we’re supposed to eat less of?
Federal food subsidies from 1995-2005 for production of:
Filed under: Food and Nutrition on March 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
My son just received a game from the company Blue Orange. It is a high quality game made of wood pieces and non-toxic paint. The company tries to be sustainable in their game production and plants two trees for every one they use. We like the game we got so much that I’ve ordered a few more from Amazon.
Filed under: Environment on March 8th, 2010 | No Comments »
My Dad was just honored at his job for having been there for 35 years. While that’s impressive, what really makes me proud is that he’s also been walking to that job for 32 of those 35 years. Being the scientist that he is, I asked him to run some numbers for fun and here they are:
Nice job Dad!
Filed under: Environment, Exercise on March 5th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
My son turned 5 this week. We had a birthday party for him and per our family tradition, my husband and I made the cake ourselves. Regular grocery store cakes worry me–what artificial ingredients are in the cake, what hydrogenated oils are used in the frosting, what artificial flavors and colors were used to decorate the cake? So in our house, we make our own cake.
Filed under: Food and Nutrition on March 3rd, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I’m not a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies–I just think they’re boring. These cookies are not boring. They are flavored with so many wonderful ingredients: bananas, rum, coconut, oatmeal, nuts, and cranberries. YUM! I heavily modified a recipe from Cooking Light and they turned out wonderful. This recipe makes easily 36-48 cookies so get ready to freeze some or share with the neighbors.
Filed under: Recipe on March 2nd, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Over the past year or two, I’ve been trying to buy more things used. At first, I started with children’s clothing and shoes and now have moved on to art, rugs, furniture and baby stuff. I have always been weary of buying “someone else’s junk,” but I am over that now. My neighborhood has a chatboard that has made it quick and easy to find what I’m looking for and much of it is in such great quality that I can hardly tell it’s used. Here are some of my favorite things about not buying new:
Filed under: Random on February 25th, 2010 | No Comments »
We have been in need of a new crib mattress. While we are expecting our third baby (and you’d think we already had a crib mattress), we have decided to keep our 2 year old on it in his crib for now. We bought a second hand crib from a neighbor but didn’t want to use the mattress. Conventional crib mattresses are filled with petroleum based polyurethane foam, which is highly flammable. This usually leads to the mattress being covered with flame retardant chemicals (PBDEs) that we are trying to avoid in our home when possible. Traditional mattresses can also have other chemicals in them, and many of these chemicals off-gas (see What’s the Problem with Conventional Mattresses below). This is really not something I want my newborn spending 2/3 of his life on. The crib mattress we used with my older two children is more than a decade old and I figured it had off-gassed most everything already. We wrapped it in an organic wool mattress pad and organic cotton sheets and felt good enough about it. But with this baby, I know more and am less comfortable using a traditional mattress. So I was on the market for a healthier alternative.
Filed under: Chemicals, Children, Organic, PBDEs on February 19th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
The Environmental Working Group wants to collect 75,000 signatures to show that Americans support the Kid Safe Chemical Act. We don’t think that current chemical legislation is adequate (see my letter) and believe that all chemicals should demonstrate safety before they can be sold. The EWG has already gotten 40,000 signatures in one week. Consider signing their petiton!
You can see more about what happened on February 4th’s Environment and Public Works hearing “Current Science on Public Exposures to Toxic Chemicals” here. You can even read the testimony of the president of the EWG, Ken Cook.
Filed under: Chemicals, Children, Environment on February 16th, 2010 | No Comments »
I have found shopping for household items to be more challenging with a health and environmentally conscious mindset, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge and am much happier about the things I’m bringing into my home. This past week, I was shopping for a 5×8 rug for my entry way and a rug pad. I thought I’d share some of my experience and what to look for.
Many carpets and rugs are made out of petroleum, increasing our reliance on oil and bringing more chemicals into our homes. Healthier options include wool, or natural fiber rugs like jute and sisal. The rugs in our house are all made of wool or jute and I have to say I just love the wool ones–they are stain resistant and very durable.
Many rug pads are made with petroleum based products as well and I found they often contain PVC. I accidentally bought a PVC one and it smelled horrible. It was promptly returned and I was pleased to find environmentally friendly pads made from 100% plant oils instead (like these sold at West Elm and Crate and Barrel). I’ve even seen them at discount stores like Home Goods, so you just need to look around to find them. I couldn’t be happier with the price, free shipping, or quality of the ones we bought from West Elm.
Filed under: Environment on February 15th, 2010 | No Comments »
After going through two kids, our cloth diapers are in pretty rough shape. So we are buying a new stash for baby #3. Shopping for cloth diapers in 2010 is so different than in 2005!! I love all the organic cotton options and many diapers are now one-size-fits-most. Unfortunately, prices have gone up too, but I’m still having a blast buying new diapers and can’t wait to try them.
Filed under: Children, Personal Care Products on February 11th, 2010 | 1 Comment »