Together Green! Pennies for the Planet

I found this great website from the Audubon Society called Together Green! Act Today, Shape Tomorrow. They encourage kids to save their pennies to help with conservation efforts. On the Downloads for Kids page, you can download a jar label to save pennies for the planet, coloring sheets, a word search, and more. You can learn about saving puffins, protect an ancient swamp forest habitat, or help save a sagebrush habitat. There are even parent and educator pages with special downloads that are great for homeschoolers.

If you check out the toolbar at the top of the site, there are even more resources, including some great downloads and interactive games on the Cool Stuff! page.

Chemicals in plastics linked to childhood obesity

From the Rodale News:
Phthalates, the chemicals used to soften plastic, help cosmetics cling, and make fragrances last that are found in hundreds of personal care and cleaning products, could be making children obese, according to research presented last week to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.

THE DETAILS: In a part of a larger, 5-year, “Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem” study, researchers asked 255 girls and 95 boys to answer questions regarding which personal care products they used in the last week, such as shampoo, hair gel, and moisturizers. Product use was highest among girls. When researchers analyzed urine samples taken from the children, they found levels of phthalates were highest among girls with the highest body mass index and weight compared to thinner girls with less body fat.

While phthalates are plasticizers used in vinyl products to make them soft and flexible, phthalates are also used in many lotions and make-up products to help these products cling to your face. They’re used, too, as fragrance carriers in products ranging from cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, hair sprays, body sprays, and perfumes to detergents, air fresheners, and scented candles.

You can read more about the study Growing Up Healthy in East Harlem here.

Obviously, the bathroom and the playroom are a good place to start purging your home of these plastics. Buy phthalate-free toys for your children and look for "free and clear" formulas in laundry, personal care, and cosmetic items as well. Let your baby smell sweet on her own merit, and not because of artificial fragrances.

Charged up about recycling

Well, I feel foolish.

I had no idea you were supposed to recycle batteries. I don't know how I missed this important fact, but I did.

According to the EHSO Website:

Batteries may produce the following potential problems or hazards:

	Pollute the lakes and streams as the metals vaporize into the air when burned.
	Contribute to heavy metals that potentially may leach from solid waste landfills.
	Expose the environment and water to lead and acid.
	Contain strong corrosive acids.
	May cause burns or danger to eyes and skin.

In landfills, heavy metals have the potential to leach slowly into soil, groundwater or surface water. Dry cell batteries contribute about 88 percent of the total mercury and 50 percent of the cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. In the past, batteries accounted for nearly half of the mercury used in the United States and over half of the mercury and cadmium in the municipal solid waste stream. When burned, some heavy metals such as mercury may vaporize and escape into the air, and cadmium and lead may end up in the ash.

Scary stuff.

So what can we do? We decided to take a three-pronged approach.

Step One. Reduce
Obviously, the best choice is to not buy electronic doodads that use batteries. But when that's not possible or practical, we can choose to purchase better batteries. Reduced-mercury and mercury-free batteries are better choices, both for the environment and for the safety of those in your household.

Step Two. Reuse
Rechargeable batteries, like those found at greenbatteries.com are another green choice you can make. Metaefficient has reviews of the best rechargeable batteries here.

Step Three. Recycle
This morning, Nicholas and Katie Grace searched our pile of boxes to reuse and found a smallish one, the perfect size for holding batteries to be recycled. Nicholas decorated it, and we put it in the basement on the workbench to collect our used-up batteries. Then we'll recycle them. To find a battery recycling drop-off point near you, visit this web site. I found eight drop-off points within 10 miles of my home!

Growing Up Green: Reducing Paper Waste in Homeschooling

I try to live green.

We recycle. We compost. If it's yellow, we let it mellow. But one area we consistently fall short is the incredible amounts of paper waste this family chucks out each week.

I have tried to green our homeschooling efforts. I rarely buy consumable materials. For some workbooks, I've actually put the pages in sheet protectors so they can be used and reused with wipe-off markers. We do a lot of our exercises on dry erase or chalk boards. I have an art box full of things that can be recycled. I recycle their art into notecards, scrap paper, gift wrap. And yet still, we fill a waste bin with paper each week.

My kids love to write. They love to draw. They love to make art. I don't want to stifle their creativity. But I really would like to see a significant reduction in the paper waste.

So tell me, how have you greened your homeschooling?

The Three Gifts Challenge

I read about this over on down-to-earth: Choose three actions you can take in your life to reduce consumption, not harm the earth, etc.

I chose:

~ to make a more concentrated effort to use my cloth bags. Always. Even at thrift stores and other places where I might not think about it

~ to make a more concentrated effort to use our SIGG bottles and to refuse to buy individual water bottles

~ to do better at recycling, and to "reduce" as a first line of defense.

So, what three gifts will you give to help heal the earth?