Despite being sick for three days now, I have been expending all my energy to prepare for my big event this week.
You could say I am hosting an eco-friendly cocktail party and tour of my home to educate friends and family about going green, but my mission focuses just as much on community as it does on conservation.
Once I started seeking out everything eco-friendly in the city, I couldn’t help but talk, talk, talk; you know how it is when you are excited about a new adventure. My energy overshadowed my fear that the green community was so tight that I would be an outsider looking for help.
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Written on
December 12, 2008 by
SusanC
It’s been a busy week around the greenosphere!
Here are some highlights to get you through the blustery* weekend ahead:
- CNN’s award-winning documentary Planet in Peril is back! Watch “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” in HDTV on CNN at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, hosted by Anderson Cooper, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Oprah Winfrey Show correspondent and National Geographic host Lisa Ling. This year the series examines the environmental conflicts between growing populations and natural resources. Don’t forget to tune in for the series’ regular night and time, Thursday nights at 9pm EST on CNN, or subscribe to the video podcasts.
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Written on
December 11, 2008 by
SusanC
The Holidays can be a tricky time of year to navigate while staying green and not going over-budget. Here at 5 Minutes for Going Green we’re here to help you think outside the box this gift-giving season. We want to help keep you and your family green this holiday season, while also keeping more green in your pocketbooks, too. Keep reading for our customized How-To Holiday Guide.
(Keep in mind, too, that nearly all of these How-To tips are not holiday-centric and can themselves be recycled for birthdays, anniversaries, group social events, and just day-to-day green living.)
How To…
Wrap Recycled:
- My new favorite recycled wrapping trend that I’ve seen suggested and modeled everywhere from Etsy to Martha Stewart Living is wrapping with maps and pages from atlases and other travel-related paperie.
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No one ever said that attempting to live an eco friendly lifestyle makes you a better person. It doesn’t give you super powers. (Too bad; I’d love to be able to freeze time!) And it doesn’t make you rich (at least for most of us).
So why do people treat you differently when they find out?
Recently I was invited to go in on a holiday gift; however, when I found out that the suggested gift was an extremely frivolous luxury item created in another country, I could not participate. I politely explained that I try very hard to buy only locally produced environmentally friendly gifts that perform multiple functions.
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If you have been paying attention to the news reports on buying safe toys this holiday season, you’ve probably heard about phthalates.
Pronounced tha-lates (or sometimes thay-lates), this group of chemicals has been shown to disrupt hormones in laboratory animals. Fetal exposure to phthalates has also been linked to reproductive diseases later in life in baby girls. Fetal exposure has also been associated with decreased ano-genital distance in baby boys, leading the lead researcher to charge phthalates with causing the “feminization” of baby boys (this research has been challenged by other scientists).
A recent study found occupational exposure to hairspray by pregnant hairdressers and others doubled their risk of having baby boys born with the genital defect hypospadias (where the opening for the urinary tract is not located at the tip of the penis).
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Written on
December 1, 2008 by
SusanC
I feel like we got into a green groove this spring. The weather got warmer and we started walking everywhere.
By summer the car was getting dusty in the garage and we covered miles and miles on foot every day. Add the fresh fruit from the local market and the long lingering days at the beach for supper, and now I can see why things are changing around this house with the onset of winter.
We use the car way too much. Rather than risk the slippery walk to preschool as the cold rain pours from out of nowhere, we seek the safety, and moreover the comfort, of the car.
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It dawned on me today that since summer ended time seems to be moving in fast forward and the new year is fast approaching. What better time for me to meditate on my New Year’s Resolution!
As cliché as it sounds, the Type A side of me loves to make goals and see them come to fruition. Let’s see, in 2008 I tried to share my true feelings instead of sugar coating. (Some would say I do it really well now!)
After some thought I decided that my resolution for 2009 will be to eat only organic foods, with a focus on locally grown products.
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After my son’s first surgery in January, I stepped back and took a good long look at all facets of my life, which resulted in an epiphany of sorts. Days later I quit my job and started my own eco-friendly business to devote more time to my kids.
Once I walked away from the rat race my creativity soared and I started to invest more time researching how to be more environmentally conscious. I took the next step. And then another, and another, until I was making as many improvements in our daily lives as I was to our home.
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With the turn of the seasons and the cold weather, you might be looking to buy your children new pajamas. Or, if you are like me, new pajamas are given the night we decorate the tree.
But if you are concerned about being green and your child’s exposure to toxic chemicals, you might be wondering whether those new pajamas have been treated with flame retardants? And does it matter?
Whether or not it matters is a decision you’ll have to make yourself.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) considers chemically treated pajamas safe. In the 1970s, it banned brominated Tris and removed chlorinated Tris from being used on children’s pajamas after they were found to mutate DNA and identified as probable human carcinogens.
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For many people, Christmas has become a very commercial holiday. It has shifted from being a season of giving, to being a media circus and it has become a season of excess. This year tailor your shopping to be a bit more responsible and ethical in the items that you buy.
Shopping conscientiously doesn’t stop at being more frugal when making purchase decisions. We also need to think of the global implication. Every purchase we make is essentially a vote for the world we want. We need to look at the people behind the products that we invest our monies with.
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