Mommy Goes Green

Free to the public, the Energy Trust Better Living Show, the Northwest’s largest sustainable lifestyle show, takes place Friday, March 26 from noon – 9 p.m.; Saturday, March 27 from 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.; and Sunday, March 28 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Portland Expo Center. The Better Living Show is designed to empower attendees to become more thoughtful consumers and lessen their impact on the environment by learning about sustainable, healthy and practical lifestyle products and services.

• eco fashion shows
• beauty demonstrations
• performance by ‘The Green Children’
• OSU seminar series
• Portland’s top chefs at the NW Natural Kitchen Stage
• PGE Planet Kids corner

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As part of the Cotton From Blue to Green program, Gap is giving you a 30% discount off any new denim purchase.  Starting TODAY, March 5 through March 15, when you take ANY piece of denim to a Gap, babyGap or GapKids store, you’ll receive the discount.  Old denim will be converted into insulation and then donated to communities in need.  Over the past 5 years of the program, enough insulation has been donated for over 540 homes.

I’ve been cleaning out my closet this week and this is the perfect opportunity to trade in some old jeans for a sorely needed new pair!

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I’m having a great time up at the Olympics this week and have noticed that Canada has taken several steps to ‘green’ the 2010 Winter Olympics.   There are recycling bins on every corner and in all the venues.  Not only are they recycling bottles, cans and paper but they have compost bins as well.  The concession areas have 100% recycled napkins and ecotainers for drinks – they are totally compostable.

Coke is a huge sponsor of the Olympics and has committed to being carbon neutral and recycling 100% of the plastic containers. The coolers and vending machines has new efficient refrigerant technology that has never been used in North America that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 5,600 metric tons – equivalent to taking about 29,000 cars off the road for two weeks during the games or about 1,200 cars off the road for a year.

Even the clothing has gone green.  We picked up rain ponchos for a super rainy evening ski event and surprisingly, they weren’t plastic – they were polyester and great for years of use.  The Coke employee clothing is made of recycled bottles and several of the products in the Olympic clothing line are made from bamboo or recycled polyester.

While sometimes inconvenient, you can’t park personal vehicles at the facilities so we are taking public transportation and walking a lot.  All of the Olympic communications and guides are online – they even have it in an iPhone app and I’ve noticed there isn’t much swag to be found which, in the end, is probably good since that is the kind of stuff that gets tossed once you get home.  The only swag I’ll be taking home are the reusable bags we’ve received when purchasing something at the Olympic venues or at local stores – I’ve hardly seen a plastic bag since I’ve been here.

Even the winning athletes are taking home eco-friendly gold, silver and bronze medals – they contain recycled metal recovered from end-of-life electronics.

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If you have any baby gear sitting around that you aren’t using, now is the time to get rid of it.  Babies “R” Us and Toys “R” Us are having a trade-in event allowing you to bring in car seats, strollers, travel systems, play yards, cribs, high chairs, bassinets or toddler beds for 25% OFF a new one.  

This is a great opportunity to properly get rid of unused baby gear and get new items that you need. The offer lasts from January 29 – February 20.

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Seventh Generation is hosting the Million Baby Crawl, an initiative to educate parents about stronger standards on toxic chemicals – ones that we are coming into contact with every day!  There are over 80,000 chemical compounds developed for products used in our homes but only 200 of them have been tested by the EPA.   Under the current law, the EPA does not have the authority to demand the information it needs to evaluate a chemical’s risk, and neither manufacturers nor the EPA are required to prove a chemical’s safety as a condition of use.

The Million Baby Crawl will help present the Kid Safe Chemical Act to Washington.  If the Act passes, it will require chemical manufacturers to conduct safety tests before using these chemicals in products.

To show your support , you can create a baby crawler representing your kids on their “march to Washington”.   You can also further educate yourself on chemical reform and the Kid Safe Chemical Act.   Attend an event, they are many in the large metro areas during November.  Finally, start to eliminate known toxic chemicals from the products in your house.  The easiest place to start is your cleaning supplies.  After that, look at the products your kids are using such as bubble bath and shampoo and then move onto the products you are putting on your body.  Going green doesn’t happen overnight, it’s gradual and eventually becomes habit.

 FREE STUFF: To get you started, Seventh Generation is generously giving away 1 of their Starter Kits to get your green cleaning started!  The Starter Kit includes: Glass Cleaner, All-Purpose Cleaner, Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Shower Cleaner, Tub & Tile Cleaner, Kitchen Cleaner, Natural Paper Towels, and Reusable Tote.

You can enter to win in any of the following ways:

• Visit the Million Baby Crawl website and tell us one thing that you learned
• Follow us on twitter @mommygoesgreenand retweet this contest

Leave your comment by Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 11:59PM PST.  Contest open to all U.S. residents, ages 18+.  We will choose 1 winner, by random, and contact them via email.  Privacy Policy.

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.