back to school - part two

packing school lunches. really, the bane of my existence. the whole packing lunch thing is so fraught with non-green choices, it's hard to know what to do. like, plastic bags for example. i use a million of them. and i try to reuse, but it's not always possible. also, things like apple sauce comes in those handy little plastic cups, good for time saving, yay. bad for the environment, boo. so i am happy to hear that some schools are actually requiring that all school lunches have no packaging that can be thrown away. it's forcing me off my plastic baggie addiction and back on the environmentally friendly train. here are some suggestions on bagging a green lunch:

- skip the individual container choices. these seem like a time saver but they really have way too much packaging. the big box, the wrapper, the individual bags. i use the little plastic cups from glad for fruit and crackers etc. and as an added bonus they don't get smooshed in the bag.

- use a wrap-a-mat for sandwiches. have you seen these? they are like washable envelopes for sandwiches. it's a little like origami, but you'll get the hang of it. they are fantastic and only $6.50. you can also make them yourself, check out this awesome diy site, small objects.

- don't buy the insulated lunch bags. these contain lead and phthalates and really are generally another thing that the kids just don't need. when we were growing up we had a turkey sandwiches that we threw in our lockers at 7 am and ate and 11:35. and it was fine. totally fine. if you really need to have the lunches cold, throw an ice pack in with it. toby + rei sells an awesome robot lunch sack that's made from 100% organically grown cotton.

- remember when you were a kid with your holly hobbie lunchbox and thermos and then your mom would send soup in the thermos? how weird is that to think about now? anyways, thermoses have come a long way baby. i love the foogo insulated straw cups. bpa free and they keep drinks cold for up to 12 hours. $14.99 at diapers.com.

if anyone has any other great green lunch ideas, please feel free to post a comment.

back to school - part one

well, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting a little cooler. that can only mean one thing. back to school. and unless you are between the ages of 6 and 22, you are pretty psyched right about now. bye bye buddies, have fun , we'll miss ya, now get on the bus. but, before you can really relax there are many items you need to buy. kate browning told me she got her list of items to purchase for rei to go back to school and horror of horrors, on the list was...yes, it's true, antibacterial hand gel.

really? really?

i'm sure anyone who has met me for more than 5 minutes has totally heard my anti-anti bacterial hand gel rant. putting the scary super bug argument aside (please don't get me started) these gels have a very high alcohol content and can be extremely harmful if licked or swallowed. there have been several cases of children being whisked to the ER with alcohol poisoning from this stuff. see info here on snopes. purell's hand sanitizer is 62% alcohol. 62%. um, no thank you.

thankfully for those of you who must have your anti bacterial gel (i really am trying hard not to go into my super bug rant....must ... resist...temptation...), cleanwell makes an absolutely alcohol free and chemical free version. i love this brand, they make a triclosan free anti bacterial hand soap as well. and here is a hint, it's way cheaper at target than at whole foods. 

poloppo

i found this awesome website, poloppo, through my blog savvy friend dana several months ago and loved it, so i was so excited that they were showing at bubble with us in new york this past weekend.

poloppo is a website that collects kid's artwork from all over the world. they then select pieces of artwork and license them and then incorporate them into the designs of their products. the children receive royalties that goes towards their education and poloppo dontates 5% of their revenue to fund arts programs to underprivileged kids. the picture above was drawn by annabelle age4. it's a spaceship. it's awesome right? if you know any little artistes, have them upload their artwork. you never know, it could get selected and then other cool kids could be wearing their art. what's better than that? click here to shop their online gallery.

bio-degradable diapers, yes way

i know what you're thinking, that i made that up. but, it's like a miracle really. they are diapers. that are biodegradable. yes way. the company is called nature babycare and they are european (of course) and they are here. the diapers are almost 100% bio-degradable, the and tabs and elastic waist + leg bands are won't break down, but everything else will. they also sell 100% compostable wipes.

as far as pricing, diapers.com does a great job breaking down the per diaper cost (ie. so you don't have to try to do division in your head or remember how to use your cell phone calculator). if you buy a case of the nature babycare diapers, they run you $0.26 per diaper for size 1 to all the way up to $0.51 per diaper for size 5. for comparison sake, pampers are $0.17 for a size 1 to $0.34 for a size 5. g-diapers will run you $0.33 for a size small and $0.41 for size med/large.

here is the 411 from the cooler choices website:
-chlorine-free absorbent materials – does not contribute to dioxin pollution
-100 % compostable/natural back sheet – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse affect
-100 % compostable/natural distribution layer – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse affect
-100 % compostable/natural consumer packaging – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse affect
-No latex, fragrance, or TBT (tributyl tin)

did you hear them? NO plastic. NO WIRE HANGERS!!!! anyways, digressing.

i chased down a dad at my day care who was toting a package of these wonder diapers and asked for a real life opinion. he said he loved them, but they didn't use them for overnight. he was a man of few words. but then again, i'm not sure he loved being grilled at 8am trying to drop his kid off. i think he needed some coffee.

you can buy these fab diapers on diapers.com or if you buy them on coolerchoices.com, they will plant one tree for every package of diapers that you purchase. cool. i like trees.

i have to give a big shout out to cristina at green mom finds for pointing this mom in the right direction. she's always got the good scoop. i can't wait to give these a try.

dude, sweet bike

it seems like lately there have been articles ad nauseum in the boston globe and the new york times about riding your bike as a great way to combat high gas prices. these articles seem to focus on how to do so safely, but i'm here to tell you how to do so in style. ohhhhh yeah.

now you know i love just about anything european. and that's why i loved these bikes...the jolly bikes (pictured above) are imported from holland by 2 local ladies tecla and monet. literally this is the smoothest ride ever. and they come in so many fun colors. they are $700.00, but man, they are the coolest. monet will paint anything you want on the wheel cover. which secretly is a guard so your skirt doesn't get caught in the spokes. oh jolly bike - you had me at 'hallo'.also super spectacular is the electra cruiser. it's a bit more affordable at $300.00+. these really are a sweet ride, very very smooth. i love all the vintage styling like the white wall tires. if i didn't already have a retro schwinn from the '70's i would totally buy one. we did buy toby one of their kid bikes, it's so bad ass with flames. he loves it. check it out...who wouldn't?
the last fun bike option is a fold a bike. have you seen these? they are for the hard core train commuters, but they are totally rad. citizen bike makes a great one for under $300.00. that's like 70 gallons of gas these days. imagine you are so cool that you walk into work with this under your arm and sneer at all the car commuters. i love it.


oh and yeah, don't forget a helmet, use your hand signals and blahbeddy blah blah safety blah.

under the nile cute-ness

my girl jasper is teething. poor thing. she has been busily chewing her way through her entire box of toys, but thankfully she has really settled on gnawing on this one. we got this bundle of organic chew toy goodness as a hand me down from baby reese. it's 100% organic cotton from egypt from the geniuses at under the nile. they have all kinds of other fruits and vegetables too. kate browning got jasper the banana as well, which is also super cute and easier to hold but for some reason she is really partial to this little guy. i think it's the adorable little face.

the best part is, you can run part of the toy under water (we put the head, hat and leaves of the grapes) and pop him in the freezer and voila! frozen teether that you don't have to wonder if it's covered in lead or if the plastic contains anything icky.

there is even a little crate of 4 vegetables that you can give as a gift. so cute. individual veggies are $6.00 and the crate is $26.00. available at under the nile, or locally at crunchy granola baby in salem.

sugar spiked formula

i have actually had to sit with this for a week before i felt like i could write this post and not rant like a lunatic. the new york times recently reported that similac's organic formula actually has significantly more sugar in it than all other formulas on the market. wait. what? i don't even let my 3 year old drink juice that isn't watered down. i have been giving jasper this formula since she was 8 weeks old thinking that i was doing the 'right' thing by giving her formula that was created with organic milk. but apparently all i was giving her a sweet tooth and a propensity for obesity. awesome. similac is the only organic formula that uses cane sugar (parent's choice and earths best, two other organic formulas, use organic lactose which is less sweet) but similac maintains that is 'wasn't optimizing for taste'. yeah, whatever.

here is the scariest part of the entire article, which caused me to round up all unopened formula canisters and return them immediately to target:

"The sweeter taste of Similac Organic was observed by a professional sensory-tasting panel, commissioned by The New York Times to do a blind tasting of eight nationally available formulas, soy and dairy, organic and not. Seven of the formulas were as sweet as unsweetened apple juice, said Gail Civille, the director of Sensory Spectrum, which performed the tests. Ms. Civille said Similac Organic was the sweetest, with “the sweetness of grape juice or Country Time lemonade."

COUNTRY TIME LEMONADE? oh no. oh no no no.

you should have seen the poor guy at target when i dumped 4 canisters and 3 liquid containers and he said 'is anything wrong with it?'

aren't you glad you don't work at the target returns counter?

i am happy to report that jasper is loving her new formula.