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Pre post tip: Make sure you read all the way to the end of this post to learn about the giveaway we’ve got coming up!
Barley & Birch is a newer green line of clothing for tots, and when I say green, I mean GREEN. Everything this company does they appear to do in an eco-conscious manner. Plus, the clothes themselves are 100% adorable.
Barley & Birch was created with a double goal – one, hipper green garments for kiddos, and two making sure this clothing didn’t leave a negative impact on the planet.
Every single facet of the Barley & Birch line is carbon neutral. Eco-perks of this company include:
- All clothing is made in the U.S. with 100% certified organic cotton.
- Water based inks are used in all clothing.
- They offset emissions created by production and shipping.
- They’re a mostly paper-free company and any paper involved with the line is 100% post-consumer recycled and recycled again after use.
- 10% of company profits are donated to a variety of organizations working all over the world to improve the lives of others.
And check out the cute pieces!… Read more
Well, to be fair, Consumer Reports didn’t use the words “slings and co-sleeping suck” but they might as well had. Also to be fair, I’m usually a huge fan of CR. I use them all the time, when I bought my car they were crazy helpful. When I needed a car seat, yup, they were good there too. However, in a recent post at the Consumer Reports safety blog, they tell readers that slings and co-sleeping products are no nos.
This post comes as a huge blow to attachment parenting advocates, which yes, includes yours truly. Attachment parenting is closely related to green parenting – many of the actions attachment parenting supports also supports green living, i.e. a more natural lifestyle, breastfeeding, and so on.
In any case, if you’re an attachment parenting advocate, you can get the entire scoop here: Consumer Reports Bashes Co-Sleeping & Slings.
I recently got the heads up about a newer company, Sparklehearts. Sparklehearts has a line of fun, eco-friendly, and good-for-you body products for kids (little girls in particular will enjoy the line).
Some eco-perks of Sparklehearts:
- 99.6% natural and organic ingredients used in all products.
- No harmful toxins ingredients used. Sparklehearts uses essential oils, violet extract, coconut, Shea butter, and green tea extract in their products.
- No artificial colors.
- Never tested on animals.
- 100% post-consumer recycled packaging.
Obviously eco-body care for little girls is a good idea. Petroleum, sulfates, and other icky junk don’t belong on your daughter’s skin. In fact, recent laboratory tests by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) revealed that adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products. Detected in the labs were 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families – phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks – in blood and urine samples from teen girls.
According to Skin Deep, “Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption. These tests feature first-ever exposure data for parabens in teens, and indicate that young women are widely exposed to this common class of cosmetic preservatives, with 2 parabens, methylparaben and propylparaben, detected in every single girl tested.”
Currently Sparklehearts offers five yummy-girl happy products; Shine Shampoo, Rainbow Soft Conditioner, Peace Out No Knots Hair Detangler, Bubbling Blooms Body Wash, and Sweet Hearts Sparkly Body Lotion.
Sparklehearts website is super fun too. Kids can log on to Sparklehearts, learn about green beauty issues and even create their own Sparkleheart designs. The free design program allows little ones to save it to their computer to use as wallpaper, or print it onto an iron-on transfer for a one-of-a-kind T-shirt.
BONUS: SAVE MONEY & WIN SOME SPARKLEHEARTS!
Sparklehearts sent me a great sale code for Tree Hugging Family girls to use. Head to Sparklehearts, choose your fave products, and when checking out, enter the code, Blog20, which is good for 20% off any purchase. Coming up, I’ll also be reviewing one of the Sparklehearts products here (with help from two teen girls I happen to know) so stay tuned because you don’t want to miss that.
AND the best news: Sparklehearts is offering a cool prize for one lucky Tree Hugger Reader. Giveaway details coming soon!
Learn more at Sparklehearts.
[images via Sparklehearts]
I was recently tagged by Beth over at the greenalicious blog Petite Planet for the Filter for Good meme. Now, I normally don’t do memes (not a fan) but since this is a meme of earthy goodness, I suppose I can give it a whirl.
The point – 5 ways I will Filter for Good for Earth Month (and ongoing)…
- Keep celebrating the earth by not buying loads and loads of stuff – and trying to buy green when I do purchase an item. I.e. be a nice green consumer.
- Try my hardest to recycle those damn toilet paper tubes I keep talking about.
- Keep on spreading the green tips and news around to my friends, family, readers, and most importantly my son, Cedar.
- Cook more meals from scratch. It’s busy all the time and meals are the first thing I usually try to speed up, which can result in more packaging waste. It’s more eco-friendly to cook from scratch.
- Make more of my own beauty products – something I used to do all the time. Lately, I haven’t been, and I feel super guilty about all the package waste.
BONUS!: At the end of Earth Month, Filter For Good is picking out a few bloggers who posted their five things to win some Brita gift packs. Nice – sooooo much better than bottled water folks. If I tagged you, be sure to link back to the original meme post to be entered in the giveaway. P.S. That means you’ve got to get your meme up in a couple of days!
I’m going to be tagging:
My girl Peggy at Light Green Stairs (of course)
Then, some readers who commented on the Earth contest post…
It’s actually always fun (and smart) to be a green nature kid; but there are some extra cool times that all kids and parents should know about. This time line of best green times can help you keep your kids green and out and about in nature.
Twilight is the best time for… A night picnic. Plan an green evening picnic during the warm months (or bundle up if it’s chilly) then wait around to stargaze. Right after dusk is the best time to stargaze and the best location is as far from city lights as possible. Post-dusk is a cool time too because it’s not too late for super little ones either which means the whole family can stargaze together. Read more
Filed under
Eco Youth
Tags: eco camp, eco summer camps, green nature kid, Green Summer Camps, green youth, green-kids, grow a kid garden, how to star gaze, plan a family hike, planting sunflowers, solfest, stargazing, summer camps for kids, tree-hugging-kids
Recently we’ve been looking at greening your music experience here at Tree Hugging Family. If you need to catch up, so far we’ve looked at how digital music is more eco-friendly then non-digital music and how to buy greener music.
Today we’re going to learn about some general ways to green your music.
Buy the smallest music system you need. For example, an iPod, used via cord, in your car, is super small. A record player with smaller speakers is semi-small. A mega stereo system in your living room (I’m talking huge speakers, multi-disc functions, etc) is not so small. Get good, but smaller speakers, and a smaller overall system if possible. Electronics can be recycled to a point but not all the parts, and they take a lot of resources and energy to manufacturer.
Support musicians who support green. I know, you’re picky about your music, but when possible give your cash to musicians who actually care about the issues you care about. It can be hard to find musicians who are green though. Keep an eye on the news for eco-bands. Check out band websites. Maybe take a peek at the following resources:
That last resource above brings up a good point – choose music concerts and festivals that at least try to be green. I.e. biodegradable disposables (at major events), solar power, events that give to green organizations, and so on.
Choose music that’s packaged responsibly. You can package music in recycled content. If you happen to be in a band, and want to package your own music green, check out this green music guide.
Hook up with Rock the Earth, a non-profit, “Dedicated to bringing about positive and beneficial environmental consequences on behalf of members of the music industry through the means of active litigation and negotiation.” Their site is a great eco-music resource, and many bands and artists are aligned with them.
Charge your music with solar power – even on the go!
When actually listening to or charging your music equipment, sure plug it in. BUT when you’re done, unplug your gear. Each second an item is plugged in, it’s using electricity resources and costing you money.
Can you think of any other ways to green your music?
[image via stock.xchng]
Filed under
Music
Tags: are mp3s green, eco music, find eco concerts, green bands, green concerts, green music, green music packaging, green musicians, green record, green your music, how to recycle music, how to take care of lps, music recycling, take care of vinyl, Vinyl
It’s funny, Arbor Day has been around since 1872, which totally gives Earth Day a huge run for the money, yet now, every April, Earth Day gets a lot more press. In any case, today is the official U.S. Arbor Day. Many states also celebrate their own version and day of Arbor Day though. See when Arbor Day is in your town. If you’re international you can also check your Arbor Day celebration date.
If you’re planning on getting out there and celebrating Arbor Day today, or any day for that matter, you can always just get out there and plant a tree, but also, there are lots of other cool activities you may want to consider:
ARBOR DAY BASIC ACTIVITIES:
Trees and Their Uses – good primer for kiddos.
The Arbor Day Foundation offers tons of great ideas on how to celebrate:
ARBOR DAY CRAFTS:
EXTRA ARBOR DAY FUN:
[image via stock.xchng]
We recently had a fun giveaway here at Tree Hugging Family – Disneynature’s Earth Giveaway, where I asked readers to share their Earth Day plans. Some of the answers were really nice, so I wanted to share.
Mary: “My family and I are extremely energy and resource conscious so for Earth Day – no TV or un-necessary energy/electric consumption! In addition, we plant flowering trees, etc and recycle with a vengeance!”
Brian N: “In a way that makes a real difference – not just turning off a light switch – we are going vegan….for our health, for the earth, and for the slaughtered animals.”
Carol H: “I will be celebrating with my job. I work in public health and we are having a nutrition conference out of town that day. We are giving to each participant an Ecousable water bottle (thanks to the idea from yours truly) and green shirts with frogs on them that say something about going green. My family is planting a vegetable garden for the first time this year!”
Jodi Plume: “We’ve already started actually. Last week we cleaned up a nice stretch of the stream behind our house & our road. We collected a bag full of trash, then sorted the recyclables. We’re planning on going to see Disneynature’s Earth movie with out Earth Scouts group and are also planning some other trash pickup’s with them. Then my kids and I will also be planting a veggie garden this year. 
”
Anne: “My husband and I are planting a herb garden on our balcony and we are taking part in some tree planting in our community! We will also be planting my mom and dads garden for them this year!”
Melissa: “This year I will try to make conscious living contagious. I plan on bringing a bunch of seedlings, herb and vegetable seed packets, etc. as Earth Day gifts for my co-workers. Each will have a small info card about the day and also a request to “pay it forward” and do something nice for someone else. (I believe joy and giving are contagious as well.)”
Dawn: “This year my husband and I are making a more conscious decision to recycle all that we can, walking our recyclables to the recycling center at least once a week. We are trying to use our towns public transportation more, and we have made a definite decision to use only reusable grocery bags. We have also started hand washing most of our clothes and hang drying them. And we are planting our first garden, trying to learn more about edible landscaping and such. We are trying to do our part, to make up for our ignorance in the past.”
Amajean: “Earth day is probably THE biggest holiday for my family all year. I teach a “Green Kids Awareness” class at my children’s school and this year we are having an upcycling contest all month. On earth day the children are going to host an earth day ’swap’. In addition to exchanging the trash to treasures they’ve made they are going to bring old toys that they don’t use anymore, clothes etc. that are in good shape for trading. What doesn’t go home with someone new will go to the Thrifty store. The kids have also been learning about the environmental impact of meat, cheese and grocery products. We have a vegan recipe that we are going to prepare from as much locally acquired materials as possible (my fam grows veggies in containers inside year round)
We plan on going on a field trip to the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden Colorado and checking out the Disney Earth movie after that!
It gets worse…. my kids have made special ‘compost tea’ for all of our plants at home – we have them ALL named. Mordechai the Basil is our favorite….. so we are going to have a tea party with our plants before bed, at which we intend to meditate with several friends meditating with their plants in their homes across the country at the same time for more positive energy for the earth – kind of like the 1111 meditation. (g00gle it if you don’t know bout it – its pretty neat)”
Crystal Jackson: “We are homeschoolers and will be learning and celebrating Earth Day all week long. We plan to tie dye shirts for our family to wear to all the festivities, field trip to our recycling center, building our new compost bin, finishing up our square foot garden, and ending the week at an Earth day festival on Saturday.”
Jessica: “My family and I ( husband and 6 year old daughter ) will be celebrating Earth Day by baking all of our friends organic carrot cake and sharing our knowledge of being an earth friendly family! We are throwing a small get together Earth Day Party and giving out recycled grocery bags for shopping for each family!”
I actually liked many more of the Earth Day comments, but there’s not room for all of them. I picked the ones above as faves because they highlight long-term changes, which is vital, I think to celebrating Earth Day. Hopefully some of these reader comments will inspire you to live greener and to set your own Earth Day goals.
[image via stock.xchng]
If you read here regularly you’ll know that I’m not totally on board with any of the earth-minded holidays. It’s the whole too-little, too-commercialized, too-much-at-once issue. Earth Day, if celebrated correctly would be celebrated each and every day. This Earth Day make it a goal to live green 365 days a year. Following is an easy green calender of ideas for you and your family…
APRIL
Learn: About indoor pollution and how to keep your air fresh and healthy. Double points for researching the benefits of growing your own fresh air.
Plan a goal: On Earth Day, plan your green goals for the year. Make small green goals, make large green goals, but figure out how you’re going to avoid the Earth Day-one day trap and instead focus on how to celebrate green all year long.
Celebrate: A green Easter and a fab Arbor Day.
Just for kids:
MAY Read more
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