For example…

Trees have economic benefits:

Research shows that shoppers in well-landscaped business districts are willing to pay more for parking and up to 12% more for goods and services which as you might guess is a huge perk for businesses.

Landscaping with trees, can significantly increase property values.

Trees benefit your health:

Desk workers with and without views of nature were surveyed. Those without views of nature, when asked about 11 different ailments, claimed 23% more incidence of illness in the prior 6 months.

Hospital patients recovering from surgery who had a view of a grove of trees through their windows required fewer pain relievers, experienced fewer complications, and left the hospital sooner than similar patients who had a view of a brick wall.

Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children are relieved after contact with nature. Specifically, ADHD kids are better able to concentrate, complete tasks, and follow directions after playing in natural settings. The greener the setting, the more relief.

Trees reduce road rage – studies show that drivers who are exposed to roadside nature scenes have a greater ability to cope with driving stresses.

Trees conserve energy:

The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

Fifty million shade trees planted in strategic, energy-saving locations could eliminate the need for seven 100-megawatt power plants.


Trees themselves save the planet:

Modest increases of 10% canopy cover in the New York City Area were shown to reduce peak ozone levels by up to 4 parts per billion or by nearly 3% of the maximum and 37% of the amount by which the area exceeded its air quality standard. Similar results were found in Los Angeles and along the East Coast from Baltimore to Boston.

Trees halt runoff and erosion; in fact, research shows that 100 mature leafy tree crowns intercept about 100,000 gallons of rainfall per year, reducing runoff and providing cleaner water.

Trees improve your world:

Trees reduce noise pollution – a belt of trees 98 feet wide and 49 feet tall can reduce highway noise by 6 to 10 decibels.

Trees in Davis, California, parking lots reduced asphalt temperatures by as much as 36 degrees Fahrenheit, and car interior temperatures by over 47 degrees Fahrenheit.

Views of trees can reduce the stress response of both body and mind when stressors of urban conditions are present.

Trees reduce crime! Apartment buildings with high levels of greenery had 52% fewer crimes than those without any trees. Buildings with medium amounts of greenery had 42% fewer crimes.

Trees help girls succeed. On average, the greener a girl’s view from home, the better she concentrates and the better her self-discipline, enabling her to make more thoughtful choices and do better in school.

* * *

Wow right. For more ways that trees benefit your family and world visit THE BENEFITS OF TREES at the The Morton Arboretum, see some amazing trees in my favorite tree book of all time, or learn more about how you can plant more trees where you live.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Because of this, Seventh Generation has teamed up with the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) to dedicate one day as “Let’s Talk… Period” Day which aims to place more focus on this important issue and to educate women about ovarian cancer. Another goal of this event is to raise the donations needed to help educate women on the signs of ovarian cancer.

If you go to the “Let’s Talk… Period” Day website on September 1st (yes tomorrow) and register your email address, Seventh Generation will make a $1 donation to the OCRF, with an overall donation of $22,000 representing the women that will be diagnosed this year. The website has information on ovarian cancer signs, symptoms, risk factors and prevention, because the best way of prevention is through education.

As a thank you for logging in and participating, Seventh Generation will be giving each registrant a coupon for their organic cotton tampons that are not bleached with chlorine, free of rayon and don’t contain added perfumes or dyes. See the video below to find out what’s in most tampons…

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

What is the Green Sprouts Festival: This is a fun, festive, eco-friendly, and educational one-day event for the whole family that celebrates and promotes the nurturing of life through nature. Topics are all earth-friendly in nature and range from pregnancy to childhood allowing parents to learn about eco-friendly, community-involved, natural, and healthy options for raising their families.

Interactive activities & seminars: A wide variety of informative seminars and interactive activities are planned that will help you learn more about how you can raise your family in a healthy and sustainable environment. Topics include…

• Baby Shower Alternatives
• Natural Childbirth Options
• Lead Poisoning Prevention
• To Vaccinate or Not
• Baby Sling Alternatives
• Connecting Community & Co-Ops
• Child Care Alternatives
• Saving Green while Staying Green
• Introduction to Education forums
• Natural Pediatrics Health
• and more…

An insane amount of exhibitors are attending and there will be booths related to tons of cool gear, services, and educational experiences. Some highlights I pulled out from the HUGE list of exhibitors include:

• Acupuncture
• Aromatherapy
• Art Therapy
• Birthing Services
• Breastfeeding
• Doula Services
• Energy Work & Healing
• Herbs and herbalists
• Holistic Practitioners
• Mercury free dentistry
• Natural birthing options
• Spas – Beauty & Day
• Outdoor Recreation
• Arts and Crafts
• Kids Activities
• Ecotravel Activities & Education
• Baby Carriers & Slings
• Baby Clothes
• Babywearing
• Bamboo Clothing
• Children’s Apparel
• Diapers: Cloth & Alternatives
• Eco Baby Gear
• Organic Clothing
• Recycled Clothing and Products
• Toys: Handmade, Plastic-Free
• Grocers – Organic & Natural
• Organic and Natural Food Delivery
• Vegan & Vegetarian Goods & Services
• Alternative Energy
• Bamboo Home accessories
• Carbon Offsets
• Energy Conservation & Green Power
• Fair trade products
• Native & Organic Gardening
• Pesticide Free yard care
• Solar Products & Services
• Weatherization
• Wind Power
• Alternative Transportation
• Car pooling
• Co-ops
• Daycares
• Early Education
• Environmental Education
• Green Parenting
• Socially Responsible Investing

Awesome right! Above is just the tip of the iceberg too. There’s also going to be live music and sing alongs, lady bug nature walks, baby sling fashion show, children’s clothing, book & toy swap, arts & crafts, and more.

An eco-friendly event: Green Sprouts is a zero-waste event. Receptacles will be available for recycling objects such as aluminum, plastic bottles, glass, and paper. Composting receptacles will also be available for food items. A diaper changing area will be available on-site. Green Sprouts is asking folks to limit bringing disposable items and that you practice a pack-in/pack-out approach for any items that can’t be recycled or composted. They also encourage public transportation for getting to the event.

Dates & Time: Saturday, September 26, 2009 – 10 AM to 5 PM

Where: Peninsula Park, Portland, OR

Admission: $3.00 suggested donation that will benefit Sustainable Oregon Schools Initiative

I’m for sure going. I’ll be that girl with the long hair running around taking pictures and notes about all the new cool green gear I see (for future posts of course). I know we have some NW readers here so let me know in the comments if you’ll be attending – it’d be awesome to see some Tree Hugging Family Readers there!

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Santa Cruz Organic Fruit Juices

The 411:

• Unpasteurized juice is not normally considered safe for kids because of their developing immune systems.
• You should not serve unpasteurized juice to your baby or child unless it’s juice you make at home; i.e. you blend up some apples in the morning.
• Unpasteurized juice has been associated with food borne disease caused by E. coli – which is more dangerous for kids than adults; although not great for adults either.
• Cloudy organic juice DOES NOT equal unpasteurized juice.
• You can buy unpasteurized organic juice if you want but in actuality it’s harder to find. Most of the organic cloudy juice you see at the store is pasteurized and safe for your child. It will say on the bottle “Pasteurized”.

I’m not sure where this whole scare about cloudy juice comes from, but so long as you get pasteurized juice you’re not only safe, but healthier. A recent study by polish scientists found that cloudy apple juice has nearly double the level of antioxidants as clear juice. This rocks because antioxidants help protect against heart disease and cancer. The juice manufacturing clarification process, while it does lead to clearer juice also leads to fewer antioxidants according to the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

The final say – Cloudy juice is safe. It’s unpasteurized juice you need to watch out for. Some kids won’t drink cloudy juice, but it’s only, from what I’ve seen, because they’re not used to it. Most kids are raised on clear, non-organic, sugar added juices. They see this sort of juice at daycare, on TV, and in most folks’ fridges. However, if you give your kids organic cloudy juice from the start, they won’t even notice that it’s not clear, and if you’re going to serve juice why not serve the healthiest juice you can?

Do you serve cloudy juice? Why or why not?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Kids with ALL more often had elevated levels of common household pesticides then the mama-child pairs without ALL. Obviously the research can’t prove that pesticides cause the cancer, but the findings are evident that we should take a careful look at what we’re exposing our kids to both in food products and household items like cleaners.

Almost worse was that during the course of the study pesticides were found in the urine of more than half of the study’s participants BUT the levels were simply higher in kids with cancer. Along with the clinical tests, surveys were taken and 33% parents of kids with cancer noted that they used pesticides at home, while just 14% of mamas whose children were healthy used pesticides in the home.

This study is not the first of its kind. Past studies, have also found links between a link pesticides and cancer in children. This study though is the first to study typical household pesticides and cancer. Hopefully this research will pave the way for further research and maybe one day a ban on all these toxic products companies sell to families. Until then you can keep pesticides and toxins out of your home by…

• Cleaning green.
• Choosing organic foods.
• Picking body care products that don’t pollute.
• Keeping your indoor air quality clean.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Today’s question comes from River who says, “I found your blog when I searched Popsicle recipes today. Great ideas! I have an allergy to cane sugar. Can the recipes that require a sweetener be made with maple syrup, honey, or agave? Will these interfere with freezing?

Do you know anything about homemade throat lozenges? I have seen a recipe but cannot find it. It takes a large amount of slippery elm, some honey, and other herbs, but I don’t know the proportions or remember the other herbs.”

Ah a two parter. As for the ice pops question, I’ve made ice pops with honey before, for example, mixing honey in with organic yogurt and strawberries, and never had any issues with it messing with the freezing. I’ve never made pops with maple syrup or agave, and while I doubt maple syrup will have any issues other than forming crystals, I’m not sure about agave so I looked it up. One site all about maple syrup says you can freeze it fine to extend its life, so I’m sure you could use it in ice pops. I always make homemade syrup that I keep in the fridge and it forms tiny crystals but it doesn’t affect flavor. As for agave, I found a site that says if your substitute agave syrup for white sugar in a recipe, use about 25 percent less than the amount called for AND you can use it to make ice cream, so I’m guessing it’ll freeze up a-ok.

Now on to the homemade throat lozenges…

I’ve never made homemade throat lozenges. It seems like it would be complicated; a little like making candy maybe, but really, I have no clue. So again I headed to the web.

Care2 has one recipe and Turks.us has another (plus tips for natural sore throat relief).Everything else I found seems like a rehash of the Care2 recipe or seems unnatural and funky. Maybe readers here have some tips though. If you ever made homemade lozenges, let us know in the comments.

Thanks for your questions River and hopefully this helps. If you have a green question feel free to ask away…

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

This is a really cool challenge, and something I suggest you try. I personally use Skin Deep all the time to make sure products are safe and green. If you haven’t tried Skin Deep before, now is a good time to start.

The Earth Mama Angel Baby What’s Your Score? Challenge

1. Gather some of the most common personal care products you use regularly on yourself or on your baby. Personal care products include shampoo, lotions, soaps, diaper cream, stretch mark oil, etc.

2. Go to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ Skin Deep database and enter a product name in the search field. Add up the Skin Deep toxicity rating for all the personal care products that you use on a daily basis to find out what your score is.

3. When you have your score, consider the following questions…

• What was your Skin Deep toxicity rating score?
• How did you feel about your score and/or ingredients?
• Were you surprised at how high the toxin score is for any products labeled “natural” or “organic” ?

I think you’ll be surprised at how high (higher = more toxic at Skin Deep) most bath and beauty products score, even those labeled “green, natural, or safe” On the flip side, Earth Mama Angel Baby products all score 1 or less (that’s an excellent rating on Skin Deep). All the more reason to try some of their products.

Read more about Earth Mama Angel Baby:

• About the company – eco-perks and more.
• Green Product Review: I Love My Mama Gift Set
• Green Product Review: Angel Baby Kit

ENTER the Earth Mama Angel Baby Giveaway!

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Product: I Love My Mama Gift Set from Earth Mama Angel Baby.

Details: This gift pack is especially designed to pamper new mamas and soon-to-be new mamas. The set includes Happy Feet soothing organic foot soak; Mint Herbal Lip Balm for kissable lips; uplifting, queasy-quelling Happy Mama Spray (1 oz); Earth Mama Body Butter (2 oz); and nurturing Natural Nipple Butter (1 oz), all packaged in a reusable pink organza bag.

Ingredients: Nothing you can’t pronounce. I’m not up for listing the ingredients in all five products, but each is made with up to 100% organic ingredients (the rest natural) and all EMAB products are listed on Skin Deep with a score of 0 or 1, which is awesome.

Cost: $34.95

Eco aspects: This is an extremely eco-friendly company, but I already posted these facts earlier. See all the eco-perks.

What I think:

Being that there were five items, I’ll just go through each separately.

Happy Feet soothing organic foot soak: Soooooo pretty. I love flowery little soaks, and this one is lovely. With 100% organic herbs, flowers, essentials oils, and sea salt for soothing ankles and feet if you’re pregnant or a new parent. This soak smells amazing and my guy tester (soaks are good for daddy feet too) loved how it smelled as well. It’s fresh and natural, and not too girly. It made my whole bathroom smell like a herbal, flower filled tea shop and of course your feet feel fresh after use as well.

Mint Herbal Lip Balm: I thought the lip balm was a nice part of the set. I’m not sure I’d buy it alone, because I’m more of a gloss girl, but this would be perfect during labor. It’s got a touch of minty goodness, but nothing too strong, and gives you a little uplifting perk when you use it. It lasted a while too, so you’re not constantly putting new lip balm on.

Happy Mama Spray: I LOVED the spray and can totally see this used for your labor. The mix of pure lime and ginger essential oils and flower essences smells amazing and really does make you feel more relaxed right away. The ginger makes this a good spray for women with morning sickness, and it’s also made to combate baby blues.

Earth Mama Body Butter: Not so much a butter as a lotion, but still good. This lotion has a subtle lemon orange minded scent and goes on smooth. It’s vegan, cruelty-free and toxin-freewhich makes it one of the purest lotion for pregnancy stretch marks around. Of course, you can’t fight stretch marks entirely but this lotion will make it a pleasure to try.

Natural Nipple Butter: This clinically tested, hospital recommended, organic, all natural, vegan, plant-based nipple balm is made without lanolin, and is totally safe for mamas and babies, so you don’t need to wash it off before breastfeeding. This is a pretty rich, but oddly light butter. If used often, I’m betting it would keep your nipples moisturized and protected from frequent cracks and soreness.

Anything I didn’t love?

Well, I thought the nipple butter smelled a little too oat-like, but my second female tester loved the scent. Even though I didn’t adore the scent entirely, I’d still use it if I was breastfeeding, it wasn’t obnoxious or anything. I also thought that the body butter could be longer lasting. For instance, some lotions leave your skin feeling moisturized all day, and I didn’t think this one did. That said, it still worked for a long time, and the smell is fantastic.

Overall score:

Five out of five little happy trees!

There were only minor things I didn’t love about this gift set; it’s so eco-friendly and non-toxic for mamas and babies, that it’s getting a five anyhow. I also love that this set comes ready to give in a pretty little bag and that it’s not expensive considering all the fun, useful, organic goodies you get. The set would be perfect for a baby shower or as a new mama gift.

Don’t forget to enter the Earth Mama Angel Baby Giveaway today – you could win some of your own EMAB products to try.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

About Activity Dough: This colorful play dough contains organic and all natural ingredients.  It contains zero amouts of lead, heavy metals, bromine, and bisphenol-A. This award winning Activity Dough is also free from all artificial coloring and dyes and is Wheat and Gluten Free. It is Physician Approved, Celiac Sprue Approved, and Feingold Accepted.

About the information site:

Besides selling play activity dough, bluedominoes is set up to be a go-to parent resource for safe and non-toxic home item info. The site was created by Debbie Lindgren and Linda Manaster after Debbie’s youngest son was diagnosed with lead poisoning from their family’s dinner plates. According to co-founder Debbie…

“My husband and I didn’t know that lead is allowed in small quantities in everyday items such as dinnerware and artificial food coloring. Once we realized our son was suffering from lead poisoning, we diligently researched potential sources of exposure and minimized those to aid in his recovery… According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 22 children have high levels of lead in their blood, and we wanted to provide a resource for parents to turn to as well as safe lead-free products.”

Some of the resources offered at the site includes:

• Information on child health, learning and behavior.
• Resources for kids who want to make their school green.
• Lead resources and information.
• Autism resources.
• Homeopathy & natural resources.
• Plus much more.

Bluedominioes Activity Dough is a safe alternative to artificial and chemical art supplies (of the clay sort) and it’s a bonus that the site offers green and healthy parenting info and tips as well. Visit Bluedominoes to learn more.

[image via Bluedominoes]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

On the post, How to choose green cleaners – store bought green cleaners, Caroline says…

“Thank you for taking the time to talk about greener cleaners! Our son who is four has had sever allergies and eczema since he was a baby and EVERYTHING seems to aggravate his little body and skin. We have really tried to eliminate as much of the chemical stuff as possible…especially carpet cleaners! (We just use hot water now). I am glad you are creating this awareness. I can’t use anything with nuts for laundry…any thoughts on what I could use or make? Thanks! “

So, Caroline is looking for homemade laundry soap. I’ve made some before, but I usually use Biokleen All Temperature Laundry Soap.

I had one reader comment on another post, 25 Safe, Non-toxic, Homemade Cleaning Supplies, about her homemade laundry soap, so I asked her if she could email me her recipe. Jammie emailed me back with this info below about a laundry soap and fabric softener recipe she found online and says works really well:

Laundry Detergent Ingredients…

• 1 cup washing soda
• 1/2 cup borax (I used 20 Mule Team)
• 1 bar soap (I used 2 because I like a strong scent and the smell outcome smells like the soap you use) for the first batch I used Dial-White Tea.
• Approximately 3 gallons water
• 5 gallon bucket with lid
• Cheese grater

And how to make it…

1. First thing, put about four cups of water into the pan and put it on the stove on high until it’s at boiling, then lower the heat until it’s simmering.
2. While it’s heating up, take a bar of soap and grate it up into little bits.
3. When the water is boiling, start throwing in the soap a little at a time. Stir it until it’s dissolved. The water will have a soupy soap look with suds and will be the color of the bar of soap you used, so color will vary.
4. Next, get out your bucket and add three gallons of warm tap water to it.
5. To this bucket add a cup of the washing soda, 1/2 cup of borax, and the soap solution you made and stir until it’s all suddy. This will look like a bucket of soapy water.
6. At this point, let the soap sit for 24 hours, with a lid on it.
7. When you take off the lid, you’ll find any number of things, depending on the type of soap you used and the water you used. It might be firm, like Jello; it might be very watery; it might even be like liquid laundry detergent. Just stir it up a bit and it’s ready to be used. Don’t worry about the texture – it’s completely fine. Just use a measuring cup and use one cup of the detergent per load of laundry. If it’s got “globs” in it, get a mix of the water and of the globs – it’ll break up very quickly in the washing machine and wash your clothes well.
8. This recipe is for 1 batch. The 312 loads comes because you still have the borax, and washing soda left to make the rest of the batches. Also I bought the soap that comes in the bundled 12 pack, so I have those left over also. All the ingredients should make 6 batches. Each batch makes enough for 52 full loads at 1 cup a load.

As for the fabric softener…

• 6 cups of water
• 3 cups of vinegar
• 2 cups of any hair conditioner

Mix the ingredients above in a gallon container and stir. Do not shake, this will cause foaming. Pour a small amount into the rinse cycle.

I haven’t tried these specific recipes, although I have tried similar ones that I like, and Jammie says both work well. Additionally I know that some of our readers get cranky when I even utter the words borax, plus soap can irritate some skin types, so I’m thinking I’ll gather up a couple more recipes that don’t use borax and post them later. But for now, thanks to Jammie for this suggestion!

Let me know if you give it a try – OR feel free to post your own homemade laundry soap recipe in the comments.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family