There’s even more reason to eat fresh vegetables whenever possible. Consumer Reports just released the results of their Bisphenol A (BPA) tests of canned foods. Items tested include: soups, juice, tuna and green beans.

Sadly for consumers, almost all of the 19 name-brand foods tested contain measurable levels of BPA. The highest levels of BPA were found in canned green beans and canned soup. Even worse, some of the canned foods labeled “organic” or “BPA-free” were in the bad group! Vital Choice tuna in “BPA-free” cans contained an average 20 ppb (parts per billion) of BPA, while eco-favorite Eden had detectable …read more

Project Green Search is an interesting theory I suppose. The campaign was created by Greenloop, and the goal is to find the next green “it girl” which according to Project Green Search means…
The woman who wants to take a stand, get noticed, and align her career endeavors with her personal beliefs, to be an advocate for the environment, animal welfare, fair trade, and human rights. She’s a model, spokesperson, host, brand ambassador and all around green model citizen, for progressive, sustainable, ethical companies, from fashion & beauty to cars & computers.
Voting on contestants started today, and the winner is …read more

I’ve talked a little before about how I review green products, but it’s been a while so I thought I’d revisit the topic; especially since I review a lot of green products. Also, it’s good to know about how to review green products on your own because you and your family are going to be the ones using the product. No matter how many reviews you read, people have varying opinions and not everyone’s green criteria is the same.
My green criteria is as follows and is mainly useful to you if you want to read the green product reviews I’ve …read more

In a previous post this week, why don’t people live green?, I asked if anyone had a clue about why so many people don’t live green, or greener. What’s stopping people from going green? After putting that question out as a general ponder and as a question to readers I also asked my best friend, my sister, my guy Dave, Cedar my son, and put it out as a question on Facebook as well.

Tomorrow we’ll look at what everyone else had to say (I got some excellent answers) but first we’re going to take a look back at what I’ve …read more

Last night I watched an advanced screening of No Impact Man, which I really liked for the most part (review soon) however, my boyfriend felt it lacked any sort of compelling content. He felt it was a movie mainly for people who are already living green not the general public. He noted that while No Impact Man was dull and not worth seeing (note: I didn’t agree) some documentaries like Super Size Me DO offer shocking facts and compelling content and therefore make people sit up and take notice and are very much worth viewing.

Obviously this conversation spun out of …read more

It’s Wednesday, a typical day. As you go about your daily routines however, it might be good to stop and consider some important eco-numbers.

365 – Number of days we all have to make a difference each year, and yet…
137 – The amount of plants, animals and insects species we lose each day to rainforest deforestation.
147,000,000 – The gallons of gas per year that vaporize into the earth’s atmosphere due to shoddy or lost gas caps.
7 – How many trees the average American uses up in one year. Also, the number of greenwashing sins BTW.
4.6 – How many pounds of …read more

Oh all the SIGG drama. It’s just ongoing right? In any case. Long story short (in case you’ve been on a space trip, trapped in a cave, etc)…

SIGG has spent years touting themselves as eco-friendly company who carries products that are free from potential toxins.
Consumers LOVED them.
Come to find out that SIGG bottles had BPA all along. Maybe BPA is toxic, maybe BPA is not all that bad. Maybe the bottles leech these toxins, maybe not. These are much longer questions that need a ton more research. Maybe questions aside, consumers deserve to know what exactly they’re buying.
SIGG wrote a …read more

By now I’m sure you’ve been following the SIGG has BPA in their old liners story; especially if you had a SIGG Water Bottle. BUT just in case you missed anything…

Way to go with the BPA SIGG!
Giving up on SIGG – which bottle to choose

Now I thought I’d update.

I didn’t email them because I never owned a SIGG. However as noted previously, my ex Tree Hugging Family co-blogger Peggy did have a SIGG and was pretty mad when this SIGG story broke. She did email them and got a lovely form letter back which places the blame not on SIGG …read more

We’ve seen a lot of greenwashing efforts in our days here at Tree Hugging Family, (anyone remember the great eco Palmolive debate of 2008?) but the greenwashing campaigns that irk me the most are the ones aimed at green parents specifically.

The newer Huggies Pure & Natural diapers from maker Kimberly Clark, are a perfect example of greenwashing – maybe one of the better examples I’ve seen in a good long while. First of all these diapers appeared on the scene right around Earth Day this year – which is a great time to lure in unsuspecting parents because everyone has …read more

In a previous review here at Tree Hugging Family, Peggy, former Tree Hugging Family writer advocated for the use of SIGG bottles over plastic water bottles and gave a nice (and favorable) review of SIGG’s bottle. I liked her review as did other readers. While there were some arguments in the comments, overall I think most people agree that SIGG is a responsible choice over plastic disposable water bottles.

Peggy’s SIGG Bottle Above – not so BPA free
That said there have been some developments over the past couple of days regarding SIGG and the safety of their bottles. Since we did …read more