Environment, Organics, Fair Trade & Recycling at Big Green Purse

Natural Mosquito Repellent to Ward Off Summer Bugs & More

My Ecocentric Mom Box has arrived just in the nick of time. Summer is in full swing, which means so are the mosquitos. There are lots of ways to reduce mosquitos around your home, but most of us still need to use some kind of repellent when we're in the garden, at a picnic, or taking a walk. This month's Mom Box included Herbal Insect Repellent from Turtle Moon that's worth giving a try. Made from essential oils like lavender, eucalyptus and wild geranium, it smells great to me (though not to bugs), sprays on so you can rub it in, but is not greasy.

I was a bit skeptical of another product in the box until I tried it. It's a lip scrub, believe it or not. This is a terrific solution if you have chapped lips that you just can't seem to keep moist.  Essence of Antiquity Pomegranate Lip Scrub works like hand or body scrubs you might have tried. Organic sugar provides the grit that gently wipes off rough skin cells, leaving lips feeling surprisingly moist.

Afterwards, I tried the Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques Lip Colour, a lip stick made with shea butter, coconut oil, jojoba oil and pomegranate oil (NOT lead, which is found is a surprising number of lip sticks). All those oils left my lips feeling soft and healthy. NOTE: this lipstick is pretty shimmery, so if that's not for you, you can use it as a base and put something more subdued on top.

Another healing product in this month's box was the Brigit True Organics Magic Healing Skin Balm Stick. This balm claims to help heal skin irritation, bug bites, and dry skin. I wasn't able to verify those claims independently, but given the ingredients - extra virgin olive oil, beeswax, calendula - I can imagine that it does a pretty good job moisturizing and soothing.

Do Your Kids Think Saving Energy Is Important? Enter Contest by May 31.

Team ENERGY STAR, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's program to help kids and families understand why saving energy is important, has launched a contest to encourage kids to tell us in their own worlds why energy efficiency makes a difference.

To enter, all kids need to do is share their stories on the Team ENERGY STAR web page. The "story" can be told in words, pictures, video, slides, animation, drawings...the sky's (almost) the limit! The deadline for entering is May 31.

EPA and ENERGY STAR will recognize those who tell the best, most inspiring stories with a variety of energy-efficient electronic prizes from LG, including:

·      Smart phones

·      Feature phones

·      27 inch LED televisions

·      Computer monitors

·      MP3 Docking Stations

 PLUS: YOUR CHILD'S NAME IN LIGHTS

Winners’ names and photos will be broadcast on LG’s billboard in New York's Times Square in conjunction with a Twitter Party on June 7, #TeamENERGYSTAR.

Go to the Team ENERGY STAR website now to get more details and encourage your kids to share their story! (http://www.energystar.gov/team)

Looking for New, Non-toxic Lotions, Cremes & Cleansers? Try the January EcoCentric Mom Box.

 This month's EcoCentric Mom box is chock full of exactly what I need in dry winter months: soothing organic skin lotions and cremes to moisturize my hands and face, gentle soaps, and cleansers and laundry "berry drops" that put the "clean" back in cleaning.

But first, the food.

I've said before that, as much as I enjoy the new non-toxic products from EcoCentric Mom that I get to try every month, I particularly like sampling the different taste treats that come in each box. This month, those treats included:

Simply 7 Snacks Lentil Chips - These flavorful snacks are made with gluten-free, non-GMO ingredients, have no preservatives, and contain nothing artificial.

Pure Matters Pea Protein Powder, in Chocolate and Vanilla - The vegan, non-GMO, plant based protein powder can be mixed with water or milk for a shake, or added to yogurt or fruit to make a smoothie.

PROBAR Meal Bar - A lot of energy bars disappoint - they seem too sweet, too airy, and way too full of processed ingredients. The PROBAR Meal Bar was surprisingly the opposite: very dense and chewy, tasty without being cloying, and so "natural" you could see some of the raw ingredients with every bite. I've got to say, I really liked it.

For my dry skin...

Green Consumer Clout Motivates Tide to Clean Up Its Act

Think you can't tell a Fortune 500 company what to do?

Think again.

When Women's Voices for the Earth released a report noting that Tide detergent contained chemicals that could actually be harmful to kids, millions of consumers were outraged. They were buying the Procter & Gamble (P&G) product to keep their children clean and safe. Yet according to the report, Tide actually contained the cancer-causing chemicals 1,4- dioxane at levels safety experts considered threatening.

Mom blogger and consumer activist Lori Alper sprang into action by launching a petition drive on Change.org.  urging the company to ditch the dangerous compounds. 

Today - 78,000 signatures later - Tide capitulated. In response to consumer demand and a lawsuit filed in California by As You Sow, P&G agreed to phase out the carcinogens by September 2013.

 “When I started my petition on Change.org, I knew that Procter & Gamble listened to consumer feedback, and I was hopeful we could get this dangerous chemical out of our laundry,” said Alper. “I can’t wait to see what we can do next.”

Related articles

Women's Voices for the Earth Champions Healthy, Safer, Non-Toxic Cleansers for Moms and Kids

Protect Us and Our Kids from Toxic Chemicals Now!

Tell Tide to Clean Up Its Cleaning Products

September's EcoCentric Mom Box Review

This month's "Mom Box" from EcoCentric Mom contained a great assortment of cleaning products, personal care products, and even a few snacks.  

  On the laundry front, the box included two sample pouches of Ecover Natural Laundry Powder ZERO, as in fragrance-free.  I'm partial to laundy powder as opposed to liquid in a plastic bottle, so I particularly like this sample. I should get four loads of laundry out of the pouches, given how little detergent my efficient, "high e" washing machine uses.

The personal care products featured:

Lotus Wei Joy Juice Mist, a combination of blood orange, Davana (strawberry-like) and Marigold essences, plus pink daisy. It comes in a glass bottle, with just a minimum plastic spray pump attached, which I appreciate, as I'm trying to keep my bathroom plastic-free.

Beauty Without Cruelty Facial Cleanser. This is a lightly-foaming, soap-free cleanser, that is paraben free and has never been tested on animals. I like the slightly fruity scent. 

"Baby" Box Helps New Moms Find Safer, Greener Lotions, Jammies & Food

  Whether you're a new mom or your kids are a little older, you're probably always on the look-out for non-toxic and healthy products that will help keep your child happy and safe. EcoCentric Mom makes your job a lot easier every month by sending out sample boxes of new products you should at least know about when you go shopping.

I have the enviable job of reviewing EcoCentric Mom's samples each month. My August "baby box" arrived recently, full of products I wish had been around when my own two children were younger. Thanks to EcoCentric Mom, I now know about some terrific options that are worth switching to if you use more conventional brands:

Ecover Natural Dishwashing Liquid - I've used Ecover clothes washing detergent and dish washer powder for a while now, but I hadn't given their dishwashing liquid a try until now. It foams nicely, does a great
job cutting grease, and given my sensitivity to synthetic fragrances, I appreciate that the scent is naturally derived from grapefruit and green tea. This month's box came with a nice sized sample, plus a coupon for $1.00 off any Ecover dishwashing products.

Lunch Skins - Just in time for day care, pre-school, or full-day school lunch boxes, these reusable sandwich bags can be used a thousand times. They're BPA, lead, and phthalate free, and handsewn in the USA by a local family business. If they get dirty, just toss them in the dishwasher.

Molly's Suds - This laundry powder does the job minus fragrances, dyes, formaldehyde, 1,4-dioxane and phosphate. It has not been tested on animals, and is ultra concentrated so a little goes a long way. Though formulated for kids, you can wash your laundry in it, too.  

Tell Tide to Come Clean and Ditch the 1,4-Dioxane

  Would you knowingly wash your clothes in detergent that contained cancer-causing chemicals?
I sure wouldn’t, and I bet you wouldn't either. No wonder many cleaning product companies don’t tell you that they use ingredients that are known to cause not just cancer, but various reproductive problems and allergies, too.

Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), a terrific non-profit organization whose scientists keep an eye on the consumer products you buy, has just issued a report that identifies toxic chemicals used by five top companies: Clorox, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, SC Johnson and Son, and Sunshine Makers (Simple Green). WVE looked at 20 different cleaning products – and found toxic substances in all of them. If not for this study, titled "Dirty Secrets: What's Hiding in Your Cleaning Products?" you’d never be the wiser, because none of the noxious chemicals were listed on the product label.

WVE believes consumers deserve to know what chemicals they are being exposed to so they can easily avoid products that may make them or their kids sick. I agree. That’s why I wholeheartedly support WVE’s call for Congress to pass new federal legislation called the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act requiring cleaning product manufacturers to disclose all the ingredients they use in their products directly on the product label.

I’ve also signed WVE’s petition urging one of the offending companies, Tide, to remove the cancer-causing chemical 1,4-dioxane from its Tide Free & Gentle® detergent. 1,4-dioxane is a known cancer-causing chemical, and has been linked in animal studies to increased risk of breast cancer. Nevertheless, Tide Free & Gentle® is being marketed to moms as a healthier choice for their kids’ laundry, even though infants and children are particularly vulnerable to chemical exposures because their immune, neurological, and hormone systems are still developing.

WVE is targeting Procter & Gamble (makers of Tide®) because P&G has taken 1,4 dioxane out of some of its other products, like its Herbal Essences® shampoo. More than 75,000 people have signed the petition asking the company to do the same for Tide and the rest of its products. Ironically, the Tide website says: Safety: The Most Important Ingredient in Tide®. If that’s true, then 1,4-dioxane should never have been in the product in the first place.

Here’s one more important way you can make a difference: use your big green purse. Shift your spending to safer laundry detergents that are free of toxic chemicals. Here are some we sell in the Big Green Purse store; you can also find them in many grocery stores.

Seventh Generation

Ecover

Method

Here are more ways you can take action.

Related Posts:

Your Big Green Muscle is Getting J&J To Make Its Baby Shampoo Safer

Clean and Green Dry Cleaning Methods Reduce Your Exposure to Toxic Chemicals

"Dry" cleaning is one of those things that sounds like a much better idea than it is. You might have an inkling of that when you step into a dry cleaners to drop off or pick up your laundry and get an overpowering whiff of ...yeah, what IS that smell?

It's actually a toxic solvent called perchloroethylene, or PERC. I get an instant headache if I'm exposed to it after as little as ten minutes; I don't know how the cleaners themselves can tolerate it.  It's also known to cause nausea and dizziness, has been linked to reproductive problems, including miscarriage and male infertility, and been blamed for disorders of the central nervous system. Bringing clothes that exude PERC into homes and cars can leave behind a residue that can rise above levels that are considered safe to breathe. How "clean" is that?

PERC poses an environmental threat, too. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the chemical generates toxic air pollution and hazardous waste in many of the communities where it's used. In fact, says NRDC, three-quarters of PERC-using dry cleaners in the U.S. are estimated to have contaminated soil and groundwater where they're located. 

CLEANER, GREENER DRY CLEANING ALTERNATIVES

If you'd prefer not to bring PERC into your home, beware of cleaners that claim to be "organic" or green but aren't. "GreenEarth" is the brand name for siloxane D5, a silicone-based chemical the manufacturer says degrades into sand, water and carbon dioxide. However, the EPA is still assessing whether siloxane could cause cancer. A 2003 study showed an increase in uterine tumors among female rats that were exposed to very high levels of these chemicals.

Also avoid petroleum-based solvents, sometimes marketed as Stoddard, DF-2000, PureDry, EcoSolve, and Shell Solution 140 HT. Yes, they contain organic chemicals, but they're the "volatile organic chemicals" or VOCs that cause some of the same problems attributed to PERC.

The good alternatives?

"Wet" cleaning: This method uses water and specially formulated, nontoxic, biodegradable detergents to clean sensitive fabrics such as wool, silk, linen, and rayon. It is one of two processes considered environmentally preferable by the Environmental Protection Agency. It does not create toxic air or water pollution, nor does it appear to have negative health effects.  Just be sure that, before you turn your special fabrics over to shops that offer wet cleaning, you discuss the fabric with them to make sure wet cleaning is appropriate.

* Liquid carbon dioxide (CO2): EPA also considers this method preferable to dry cleaning, but it's more difficult to find because the equipment it uses is expensive. Some CO2 cleaners also use a Solvair machine, which adds the toxic solvent glycol ether to the process; ask the cleaning company to explain their entire process before you do business with them.

* Find safer cleaning companies. Go to www.nodryclean.com to find the safest dry cleaners near you.

* Do it yourself? The Laundress has developed non-toxic and biodegradable cleaning agents you can use at home to launder your own fine and sensitive fabrics.

 

What else can you do to avoid PERC?

* Buy "wash and wear" clothes you can launder at home. Before you buy new clothes, check the label on the inside seam for laundry directions. If it says "dry clean only," you might want to reconsider.

* Treat stains and dirt when they occur. For most fabrics other than silk, you can treat stains with soda water and a little gentle liquid soap, saving you the trouble of having to wash the entire garment.

* Wear cotton camisoles and t-shirts under hard-to-launder fashions. The underwear will absorb sweat and body odor and help extend the life of your more delicate sweaters and blouses.

* If you do need to go to a traditional dry cleaners, expose your clothes to the fresh air. Put the windows down if you're driving home with the clothes in the car. Once home, take the clothes out of the plastic bag they came in and hang them outside.

 

Related Posts:

Dry Your Clothes for Free

 

For more great ideas on how to keep toxins out of your house, don't miss this month's Green Moms Carnival, hosted by Lori Popkewitz Alper at Groovy Green Livin.