I Love "Gorgeously Green"

Have you ever watched someone share their passion about something and have been completely inspired? I had that happen recently! I was perusing one of my favorite sites. Oprah.com and came across a video of a woman named Sophie Uliano. After watching the video of her appearance on Oprah, I looked up her book “Gorgeously Green” and stumbled upon the “Gorgeously Green” site. The adorable pin up sitting on the planet earth immediately confirmed that this was SO me! Within the site I found tons of information about green products and many easy things that everyone can do to make their life just a little greener. The tips and video tutorials are all excellent and delivered with contagious enthusiasm! I hope many of you enjoy the book and site as much as I have. I suggest for everyone to check it out, sign up to receive email updates and participate in July’s contest. Note: Contests are created especially for “Gorgeously Green” members. So, join the “Gorgeously Green” site it’s FREE!

I was so inspired I decided to donate a sweet prize for the July contest runner up.
http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com/


Enjoy,

Hilda

Guest Post on The Playpen - 10 Eco-Friendly Nursery Tips

Recently, we were honored to guest post on one of our favorite blogs, The Playpen, on the subject of 10 Ways to Create an Eco-Friendly Baby Nursery. We thought we'd share that with you!

From The Playpen

Hello there, Playpen Readers! First I’d like to thank you for having me guest post on this wonderful blog! I’m sure many of you are thoroughly enjoying many of The Playpen posts and surely loving the wonderful baby items Aline and Matt have selected for your precious little ones. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hilda and I am a 29-year-old happily married mother of two precious little girls. My husband KC and I have recently been quite busy with our girls Lily Jade (20 months) and Bella Rose (4 months).

Before our first daughter Lily was born, my husband KC and I decided we wanted to make some drastic changes in our lives. One of those changes included leading the way to teaching our children to live with gratitude, humility and with respect for our amazing planet. The lesson began with us making choices that would benefit our health, the Earth and our children’s future. One of our first steps was creating Earth and baby friendly nurseries. Below is my list of ways you can make your nursery Earth and baby friendly.

- Buy baby furniture that has already been gently loved by another family. This is a powerful way to recycle and have furniture that has had the opportunity to release the toxic fumes (from lacquers, stains and paint) before making its way into your baby’s room. If your furniture is covered in anything that releases fumes such as wood sealer, stain, paint or any other finish, place it outside or in a well ventilated garage for at least a month. This will allow for some of the fumes to diffuse from the furniture. Another alternative is to purchase natural wood furniture. This furniture is made of natural wood and coated with natural wood finishes. Check out: natures crib

- Buy a set of non-toxic all natural cleaning products. You will need them all around the house and especially for the baby’s room. A couple of popular brands are Method and Seventh Generation. This will also be especially helpful when baby proofing! Although you don’t want baby to swallow any of these products, if it was to occur you could flush the cleaner out of their system, simply by having the baby drink plenty of water.

- You can also save some cash and make your own cleaning products. Use baking soda to deodorize carpets. Lemon juice for cleaning glass, porcelain and removing stains. If you would like to learn more about making your own cleaning solutions, check out Green Stuff Connection’s May 12th blog post! Link to Green Stuff Connection’s Blog

- Use all energy efficient light bulbs for baby’s lamps and light fixtures. Energy efficient light bulbs reduce your energy usage daily and last a lot longer. They can be found everywhere these days.

- Although it may seem like the best thing to do for baby, stay away from energy draining appliances. Wipe warmers and bedroom heaters are a couple of great examples. It is possible to keep baby comfortable without having appliances that never turn off. Keep your wipes at room temperature in baby’s room and dress baby warm for bed time if you feel it may be a little colder at night. Wipe warmers have been identified as one of the least useful baby products and some moms even claim the heated wipes cause baby yeast infections and more severe diaper rashes. Space heaters safety features have improved in recent years; they still run a risk of sparking up a fire. If you must have one, check out this consumer reports review

- There are many new diapering supplies that can make your nursery much more earth and baby friendly, including chlorine free diapers and wipes. A popular brand is Seventh Generation. Even more earth friendly would be to use washable cloth diapers and wipes. A little more work but quite a money saver.

- Think Simple… Although it may be tempting to deck out the nursery with tons of décor, simple is just so much better for baby and the environment. A simple natural wood crib, wool area rug, organic cotton bedding and natural lighting are all wonderful alternatives to over the top décor, fresh paint fumes and energy sucking appliances. If you want to save money and go simple eco-friendly, give up the over-the-top and focus your funds on earth and baby friendly choices. Try some of the large retailers now stocking eco-friendly alternatives. (Target and Wal-Mart. Not my top choice, but a pocket friendly option.) The best option is to look for small local businesses stocking these products and companies who always follow earth friendly practices.

- Buy only what you need. When registering for baby, take time to research every product and be sure you NEED it! There are so many useless products out there being sold by the truck loads. Such over the top buying of useless items is not only depleting our natural resources but also your ever shrinking baby budget. All of these products have genius packaging and are backed by millions of dollars in marketing spent to tug at a parent’s soul. Don’t fall for this mastery of advertising! Buy only what your baby really needs! Have friends and family buy your baby savings bond certificates or plant a tree in the honor of their birth. The earth and your child will thank you in the future. Your baby only truly NEEDS your love and a safe, secure environment to live in and grow!

- Unplug all electrical items in baby’s room when not in use.

- Open up baby’s windows when the temperature permits! This will air out baby’s room of all paint and furniture fumes as well as all common household air pollutants.

- Decorate the nursery with some of your precious baby items. If your parents have saved any of your adorable keepsakes, there is no better way to decorate than with meaningful re-used precious memories!

- Make your own earth inspired decorations. Go outside and see what your environment offers you. Create your very own earth-friendly piece of nursery art. If you are lacking in the creativity department, ask a creative family member to make something earth-inspired and earth friendly as a baby gift.

Whether you’re just getting started or you are an eco-friendly pro, always keep in mind that every little bit of change is better than no change at all! Check out our “It’s easy being green book.” $12.95 By: Crissy Trask It’s a great little guide to making earth friendly changes that benefit our planet, your home and can even save you some cash!

The End is Coming!

After reading an article about the increase in so called "survivalists", it got me thinking - are we headed towards the end of civilization as we know it??

Check out this chunk of fear-laden text taken from a recent article on Yahoo Green's microsite about one such "survivalist"...

Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove.

"I was panic-stricken," the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking. "Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible."

Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn't prepare.

Jeeze.....that sucks! Right?

Is this really where we're headed? Do we need to stock up on guns to protect our stock of canned beans? I don't really even like canned beans that much.

It's clear that changes need to take place to protect the beautiful world we live in. The question is, do we go find a remote spot somewhere and wait for the end or do we get off our backsides and do something about it?

It's not too late to make a difference. Make changes in your lifestyle. Work closer to home, carpool, ride your bike whenever possible, buy locally organic made produce, learn how to grow your own vegetables, buy organic clothing.....make a change!

I will say this - if I had to live like a survivalist, I'd like to join the castaways Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Locke on the island Lost! :) Otherwise, count me out!

The Green Giants

If you are easily offended, do not read this post!

Target, Wal-Mart, Pottery Barn, Nordstrom and everyone’s mother sells earth friendly products?

I must admit I am no green angel and I too love so many of these stores and the cool things they sell. But man oh man did it just tick me off when I found out they were selling earth friendly products!

These companies are the epitome of OVERCONSUMPTION! In the midst of all of their waste, greed and marketing power, they decided to jump on the eco-friendly bandwagon? Excuse me if I’m a little skeptical!

Here’s how I think it all went down… Somewhere during a brainstorming session a smart ass marketing guy/girl pitched the green idea…

“Well green is hot!”, “Di-Caprio and Cameron are doin it!”, “Green is the trend!”, “Green is good!”, “I think if we mix it in with all of our child labor, pesticide ridden, wastefully packaged products we can make some money off it, you know?”

What the *$#@???!!!!!!!!!!

And then when my anger dissipated… I decided that if these giants can help spread the word, sell one more organic product, save one more child from unfair labor practices, and make our planet just a little greener, so be it! I do however secretly hope that one day when earth friendly is a way of life, the little guy who started off green, is always green and will always be green, wins and puts the wasteful
@#$%@%$* out of business!

Peace,

H-Bomb

Homemade and Earth Friendly Cleaning Products

What a better way to save money and the environment than to make your very own cleaning products! The ingredients you will need are common household items and most of them come straight from nature!

Things You Will Need

Lemons

Baking Soda

Vinegar

Water

Salt

• Remove rust and debris from copper, solid brass or stainless steel pots and pans. Take half a lemon, dip it in salt and rub the rust off of your cookware.

• Clean your kitchen sink. Squeeze the juice out of three lemons and mix with salt until you get at a paste. Drop some of the paste into the sink and gently scrub the sink with it. Rinse your sink after scrubbing.

  Fight stains on kitchen countertops. Pour some lemon juice on top of the stain. Wait a few minutes while the lemon juice's acid works to break down the stain. Sprinkle a bit of baking soda on top of the stain and scrub the stain away.

• Wipe down shower or glass doors using lemon juice in a spray bottle and a sponge.

• Throw a few pieces of lemon rind down your garbage disposal. Turn on the disposal while running hot water to freshen up the disposal and your kitchen.

• Make an all-purpose cleaner by stirring two tablespoons baking soda and 1/4 cup vinegar in 2 quarts of hot water. Pour this into a spray bottle and use it around the house.

• Deodorize your carpet by sprinkling it with baking soda, letting this sit for at least fifteen minutes and then vacuum it up. Repeat if necessary. Or, sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of your garbage can and in the garbage liner as well to get rid of stinky odors. To better absorb odors and catch any drippings, sprinkle the baking soda on crumpled newspaper and place this in the bottom of the garbage liner.

• Another deodorizing tip is to leave an open box of baking soda at places that tend to have odors such as your fridge, under the kitchen sink and your litter box. Replace this every 2 to 3 months.

• Wash the windows and mirrors with a solution of two tablespoons vinegar and two cups water.

• Add 1/4 cup of vinegar to the dishwater to cut grease and add sparkle to your dishes.

There are hundreds of possibilities! The ones listed above are some of our favorites! Please be sure to test out any of these solutions on a less visible spot before applying to an entire surface. See more great tips at: www.ehow.com

Why buy organic cotton clothing?

Organic cotton production is increasing by more than 15% per year for the last few years.  Why?

A few reasons....

1) People are interested in doing what's right for the environment.  One of those things is buying clothing made of environmentally friendly cotton - organic cotton.  Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture.

2) Organic cotton is widely being embraced by holistic practitioners as having a healing or positive energy, which can benefit people - especially those suffering or recovering from illness.  Many with chemical sensitives are finding organic cotton therapeutic.  Just an FYI - cotton is the most heavily pesticide-intensive crop grown in the United States - and we wear it everyday!

3) Buying organic cotton helps support those organic farmers who choose to follow organic practices, such as avoiding the use of toxins, synthetic fertilizer, harsh chemicals, bleaches and dyes.  Instead, organic farmers rely on natural fertilizers, compost and soil amendments.  Those chemicals are taking a toll on the environment.

Think strongly about buying organic cotton in place of regular cotton.  How can you argue against it??

Earth Day - the eco-friendly holiday!

Earth Day is a week away folks.  Do you know why Earth Day is celebrated all over the world?  Some history according to Wikipedia:

"In September 1969, at a conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. Senator Nelson first proposed the nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked." Five months before the first April 22 Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the rising tide of environmental events.

"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...." Senator Nelson also hired Denis Hayes as the coordinator.

There are lots of ways to celebrate Earth Day.  Some very cool earth day activities on the Earth Day Network site.  Of course planting a tree is at the top of the list.  Think about joining others interested in helping our earth.  There are sure to be local events in your area.  Check them out at the Earth Day Network site at http://ww2.earthday.net/node/80

Happy Earth Day to you and your family!

KC, Hilda, Lily, and Bella