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Get Toxic Chemicals Out of Your Child’s Life

Jennifer — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:53:49 +0000

Actually, getting toxic chemicals out of your child’s life entirely is going to take some doing. You’ve got car emissions, non-organic foods, plastic toys and more to contend with. You shouldn’t also have to worry about your home cleaning and bath and body care products. However, a smart green parent should worry – A LOT.

Although most parents in the U.S. consider home cleaners pretty safe, most are anything but safe. In fact more the American Association of Poison Control Centers notes that 1.25 million kids younger than six years of age are unintentionally poisoned in the home each year by things you’d expect (pain relievers and cough and cold medicines) but also lots of stuff you’d not suspect such as cosmetics, personal bath care products, and basic home cleaners. Furthermore, Studies by the Environmental Working Group conducted research that shows that nearly 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants can be found in the umbilical cord blood of newborns. That is insane.

Million Baby Crawl, a new campaign launched and sponsored by Seventh Generation hopes to get some of these toxic chemicals out of your child’s life for good though. It’s about time too. Congress passed that nation’s chemical regulatory law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TCSA) 33 YEARS AGO and as of right now, the EPA has managed to test only 200 of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds developed for products used in the home. Way to go congress.

Additionally, the EPA has zero authority to gather information to evaluate a chemical’s risk because product manufacturers are not required by law to give that info to the EPA or to even prove a chemical’s safety as a condition of use. We aren’t doing very well at all when it comes to protecting our children – at least not from a whole country standpoint.

Join the campaign!

Seventh Generation and supporters of the Million Baby Crawl think that chemical manufacturers should be required by law to conduct safety testing before a chemical is used in products. As a parent, I’m sure you agree. You can help support the effort by doing the following…

Visit Million Baby Crawl and create a crawler that represents why you want chemical reform. The Million Baby Crawl will help to present the Kids Safe Chemical Act to Washington by collecting signatures from Americans who support toxic chemical reform.
Post about the Million Baby Crawl at your own blog.
Follow the Million Baby Crawl discussion on Twitter #mbcrawl.

Until chemical laws are passed you still have a choice though. DON’T clean with conventional toxic cleaners. Make homemade green cleaners or buy safe green cleaners.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Around the Web with Jennifer & Peggy

Peggy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:00:54 +0000

We haven’t done one of these posts since May! Yet, we’ll be good and try not to overwhelm you, too much.

Jennifer and I chose these links to other posts we’ve written because we thought you’d find them interesting and some shade of green.

Misc. Fun

Reuse / Craft

Green Home & Living

Green Baby

Green Art

Luscious Green

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in September 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

One Small Step: Hang That Towel

Jennifer — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:06:01 +0000

Can you believe that some people still only use their towel once and then re-wash it! How crazy is that? Sadly, I’ve met quite a few people addicted to re-washing towels.

Assuming you’re clean after a bath or shower (let’s hope) then there’s no good reason not to hang that towel up, let it dry, and use it again. At my house we go about a week, sometimes more, with the same three towels – one for Cedar and two for me (my hair is long I gotta wrap it). This small step saves time, energy, detergent, and water.

If you have a good argument against this practice go ahead and let me know why. I’m interested.

[shoddy, fuzzy towel photo via Jennifer's personal "I'm practicing with the camera" collection]

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Free Green Home Poster

Jennifer — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:58:14 +0000

This poster from the Seattle Times is super slick – and free in pdf form. According to 100 Things (among other places), “The average two-person household unleashes about 20 tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases every year.” So the real question is how can you live without this poster? It’s modish, attractive, and has dozens of helpful reminders about the things you can do to keep your home green and your family and planet healthy.

Download the poster.

Via 100 Things.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family