Mommy Goes Green

The Environmental Working Group just released a study on cleaning supplies used in schools and the news is not good.  Tests of 21 cleaners from 13 large California school districts found that when used (as directed),  the products released six chemicals known to cause asthma and 11 contaminants that are known, probable, or possible cancer-causing substances in humans.

Not only are use of these products harmful to the janitors cleaning the school, these chemicals hang out in our schools and exposure over many years may be harmful to our babies’ health.

Not only are some of these products used in schools – we use them in our homes everyday.  Comet, Simple Green, Febreeze ring a bell?  Yep, they are all included:

•Comet Disinfectant Powder Cleanser, which emitted 143 contaminants when used as directed, including formaldehyde, benzene, chloroform and four other chemicals identified by the state of California as causing cancer or reproductive harm.

•Simple Green, a general purpose cleaner that released 92 chemicals into the air, including two linked to cancer (2-butoxyethanol and acetaldehyde) and one linked to cancer and asthma (formaldehyde).

•Febreze Air Effects, an air freshener that gave off 88 airborne contaminants including acetaldehyde, a chemical linked to cancer.

The good news is all of these products have greener alternatives that work!  I use Bon Ami in place of Comet and EcoBreeze works in place of Febreze.  There are tons of eco-friendly all purpose cleaners on the market often, good old fashioned ingredients like baking powder and vinegar can work as well. 

First step – get these yucky cleaners out of your house and replace them with green cleaners.  You can start quickly by replacing everything with Seventh Generation products – I’m a huge fan.  Once you get comfortable with those, you can work in other products that you find or make some of your own.  I make our glass cleaner and use a variety of household ingredients for certain cleaning projects like cleaning grout or the oven.

Second step – find out what your children’s schools are using to clean.  The EWG even has a handy guide to talking to your school, a customizable letter to send to the administration to start the conversation,  and a fact sheet to educate about green cleaning.

I’ve briefly approached my daughter’s preschool in the past but didn’t get much of a response.  I’m going to try, try again!

For all you moms that ARE college students or HAVE a college student – check out Chegg.  You can rent textbooks and return them at semester’s end.  Save up to 85% on the cost of buying a textbook new and they ship quickly, even guaranteeing a delivery date.  You can return the books via UPS for FREE and Chegg will plant a tree for every book rented.

Chegg would have been a godsend in my college days.

The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) has put together a great Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies to help you make healthy shopping choices that are safer for your kids, your community and the environment. Many children’s school supplies, such as lunchboxes, backpacks and binders, are often made out of PVC—a toxic plastic that is dangerous to our health and the environment. This guide lists the most common back-to-school supplies made out of toxic PVC and suggests safer PVC-free products in over 20 product categories like art supplies, backpacks, lunchboxes and three ring binders.

You can download the complete 13 page guide or a handy wallet size version.

This post is for the Green Moms Carnival on Green Schools, which will run on August 10th at OrganicMania.

School may seem like it just got out but it won’t be long before you are planning for the 1st day of school again.  This year, consider working with your child’s school to implement some healthy and eco-friendly programs.  If you are an educator, approach the administration about their interest in a greener school.

My Healthy School is an online resource designed for educators to help teach their students about a healthy lifestyle.  Seven sections provide action plans for creating greener and more socially responsible schools and children.

School Food outlines what healthy food is including organic, locally grown and allergy policies.  Action plans include nutrition goals and sample menus.

School Supplies has green cleaning guidelines, recommendations for building, classroom and art supplies and an ‘approved supply list’ to pass onto parents.

School Grounds has lots of info to pass onto administrators and facility management with recommendations from recycling programs and energy use to pest management and playground maintenance.

School Gardens has several action plans to get a garden started from choosing a site to planting the garden.  They include curriculum integration and a great list of resources, many from other school districts implementing the program.

Eco Education provides teaching tools including books, DVDs, websites and products to teach about alternative energy sources, carbon footprint, waste reduction, nature and more.  There are activity pages, lesson plans, classroom project and field trip ideas to download as well.

Wellness incorporates fitness, sports and classroom wellness into a ‘healthy school’ with suggestions for locker room rules, hydration, first aid, nutrition, oral hygiene and PE class.

Social Responsibility advises educators on the importance of social responsibility education sharing success stories from other schools and application for the classroom.

There are also two special sections for Parents and Administrators.  The Parents section has great ideas for packing a healthy lunch, home projects, PTA and room parents.  The Administrator section has nutrition policy, assembly programs and fundraising advice.

Parent, Educator or Administrator, there is a lot of information to create your child’s healthy school at My Healthy School!

One man’s definition of “safe” is another man’s definition of “toxic”. 

I recently saw an ad for ‘Safe Play Sand’ and decided to check into what makes sand ’safe’.   I wouldn’t have considered that sand could be unsafe ( unless our neighborhood dog was playing litter box in our sandbox ). 

I checked out what kind of sandbox sand the local home improvement store was selling and found “Play Sand” – “a specially graded washed sand that has been dried and screened, for children’s sand boxes”.  Unfortunately, with a little research I found that this so called ‘play sand’ has a substance called crystalline silica that is classified as a substance known to the State of California to be a carcinogen.  The MSDS sheet for the sand also listed the following potential side effects due to inhalation:

a. Silicosis – Respirable crystalline silica (quartz) can cause silicosis, a fibrosis (scarring) of the lungs. Silicosis may be progressive; it may lead to disability and death.
b. Lung Cancer- Crystalline silica (quartz) inhaled from occupational sources is classified as carcinogenic to humans.
c. Tuberculosis – Silicosis increases the risk of tuberculosis.
d. Autoimmune and Chronic Kidney Diseases – Some studies show excess numbers of cases of scleroderma, connective tissue disorders, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney diseases and end-stage kidney disease in workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica.
e. Non-Malignant Respiratory Diseases (other than silicosis) – Some studies show an increased incidence in chronic bronchitis and emphysema in workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica.

I don’t know about you but I don’t consider those kind of side effects conducive to sand that is safe to play in!  I understand that these types of effects are due to chronic exposure but at what level is that measured?  Is chronic exposure for an adult the same as daily exposure to a child playing with their dump trucks in their sand box?

The Safe Sand Company was founded to provide an alternative to unsafe children’s playsand.  Safe Sand is a fine white playsand, but unlike crushed quartz, it is a feldspathic sand. The finely gradated and clean play sand is ideal for use in children’s sand boxes. The beautiful white sand is the perfect texture for creating sand castles and sand sculptures. At $60 per bag ( 50 lbs, includes shipping costs ), it’s more expensive than the cheap toxic sand you can pick up locally but if you are only replacing your sand every 2 years ( as recommended ), I think it’s a wise investment in the lungs of your family   You might also consider asking your child’s school to look into Safe Sand.

Ten finalists have been selected out of nearly 2,000 essay submissions as part of a search for the most environmentally-friendly school in the United States. Read the essays ( get some great green ideas! ) and vote at www.AmericasGreenestSchool.com for your pick to win the title of America’s Greenest School.

Alexander C., Irvington High School, Fremont, Calif.
Dominik D., Riviera Beach Maritime Academy, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Kara D., Asheboro High School Zoo School, Asheboro, N.C.
Brianna F., Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Amelie H., Sidwell Friends School, Washington, D.C.
Bria K., Walden III Middle and High School, Racine, Wisc.
Katherine K., Academy of the Holy Angels, Demarest, N.J.
Carolyn L., WACO Elementary School, Crawfordsville, Iowa
Hilary P., Redmond High School, Redmond, Wash.
John T., Morningside Elementary School, Salt Lake Valley, Utah

The winning school will receive a plug-in hybrid school bus from IC Bus, which can increase the fuel efficiency of standard school buses by up to 65 percent and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 40 percent. The hybrid bus has an estimated retail value of $200,000. The student who submitted the winning essay will win a $5,000 scholarship.

Those who cast a vote are eligible to receive a $200 gift card to www.greenandmore.com, a Web site for eco friendly products. Three gift cards will be given away each day of voting from May 11-17. Votes are limited to one per e-mail address per day.

Anyone tired of selling tubs of cookie dough or magazine subscriptions?  Take the road less traveled and pick a green fundraising project this year.  It’s also a great opportunity to teach students about their impact on the environment.

The Funding Factory rewards educational and non profit organizations for collecting laser or inkjet print cartridges and cell phones.  Organizations can then redeem fundraising earnings by choosing items in a Rewards Catalog or by requesting a check.  They provide free promotional materials such as flyers, posters, online blog, prepaid shipping labels and corresponding curriculum.

TerraCycle Brigades take product wrappers and upcycles them into tote bags, pencil cases, notebooks and more.  They provide free shipping boxes for your collections and pay .02 to .05 per piece. They currently accept the following packaging:

• Capri Sun and Honest Kids drink pouches
• Chips AHoy and Oreo cookie wrappers
• Frito Lay chip bags
• Kashi product packaging
• Stonyfield Farms yogurt containers
• Balance Bar and Clif Bar snack bar wrappers
• Bear Naked bags
• Ritz and Wheat Thins Toasted Chips bags

Kids Konserve makes packing waste free lunches easy by providing reusable food and drink containers and cloth napkins.  Their Waste Free Lunch Challenge and Custom Bottle Drive helps raise money and reduce trash on campus by donating 25% of their product sales back to the school. The Custom Bottle Drive allows you to have your school or team logo printed on their food grade stainless steel bottles and all proceeds go to the school! Their website lists 10 great activities to get the whole school involved and excited about the program including ‘Trash Free Tuesdays’, Green Kid of the Month, and a poster or essay contest.

The Green School Project pays schools and non profit organizations to recycle print cartridges, cell phones and PDA devices.   They even provide prepaid shipping supplies and all marketing materials, free of charges. They frequently run contests and bonuses – the Spring bonus is an added 20% bonus if 50 items are sent in by the deadline or 30% bonus if 200 items are donated.  50 items seems doable – heck I probably have 3 or 4 sitting in my office to donate.

If you just love hitting up your co-workers with a catalog of goods, then take the traditional route of fundraising with a green twist.  Greenraising has both a catalog and online shopping mall of goods – all of which your school receives a percentage of – 25% for online sales and 40% for catalog sales.  Products include recycled gift wrap, chocolate bars, coffee, tea, reusable water bottles, lunch bags and totes, cleaning supplies, soaps and lotions and a lot more.

Contact the principal, fundraising or sustainability committee at your school and offer to help out with one of these great, eco-friendly fundraisers.  It may just fund your child’s next classroom trip!

Looking for a great Mother’s Day gift?  Make sure to check out the MGG Mother’s Day Green Goodies Guide later this week!

I’m a bit of a fanatic about recycling – I just love the idea of avoiding the landfill and getting further use out of something – particularly for products that people use all the time AND throw away all the time.

If your kids drink Capri Sun – I’m talking to you!  Capri Sun has partnered with TerraCycle to upcycle Capri Sun pouches into new products like totes, bags, pencil cases and now dresses!  The one-of-a-kind dress ( made entirely with Capri Sun pouches! ) was created by designer, Justina Blakeney of Compai, a company renowned for rehabiliting “used and abused” clothing and it’s being auctioned off to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Not only does Capri Sun want your used drink pouches back – they’ll pay you to get them!  Sign up at TerraCycle to start a “Capri Sun Pouch Brigade” at your school to collect Capri Sun pouches ( Honest Kids and Kool Aid pouches also qualify ) and get 2 cents for each pouch – TerraCycle will even cover the shipping costs.  

Donate a couple garbage cans to your school lunchroom, use the bags provided by TerraCycle, label them clearly and let the parents and students know!  Capri Sun has even provided some educational materials and curriculum to coincide with the program. Sounds like an easy way to earn money for your school – and these days, our schools could use some extra $$ !

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When my daughter started crawling and then walking, she instantly started touching everything she could get her hands on. Most medical recommendations say that washing with good ol’ soap and water is sufficient but sometimes there was no soap and water in sight so hand sanitizer became a ‘must-have’ in my purse.  I couldn’t stand the alcohol smell of most hand sanitizers so with a little research, I found Cleanwell, an alcohol free hand sanitizer, that has a pleasantly light lemon smell.  Little did I know that the smell of alcohol wasn’t the only thing I should have been concerned with.

I didn’t realize the actual amount of alcohol in most hand sanitizers.  I’ve even read that children have been hospitalized for alcohol poisoning from them!   They have a surprisingly heavy amount of ethyl alcohol ( Purell and Germ-X contain 62% ethyl alcohol, a little 2oz bottle = 4 shots of vodka! ).

Triclosan is an anti-bacterial ingredient used not only in hand sanitizers but also in a lot of personal care products.  According to the EWG, it is linked to liver and inhalation toxicity, and low levels of triclosan may disrupt thyroid function. Wastewater treatment does not remove all of the chemical, which means it ends up in our lakes, rivers and water sources.  

The American Medical Association recommends that households do not use anti bacterial products as it contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistant bacterias and the New England Journal of Medicine reports that alcohol based hand sanitizers pose as intoxicants to high-risk populations, like toddlers.

CleanWell, a hand sanitizer made with Ingenium, is a great alternative.  Ingenium is a patented mix mix of plant essential oils, including the active ingredent, thyme oil.  It is 100% biodegradeable and kills 99.99% of germs including MSRA, Salmonella and Staph.  It’s totally safe for kids with no risk of harm from ingestion.   They have a couple products, including a purse version of their hand sanitizer, sanitizer wipes and hand soap.  You can purchase their products in the MGG SHOP, Target, Whole Foods, and Bath & Body Works.  Other alternatives to try: For My Kids or Clean George products.

One last thought : a lot of day care centers, preschools, and schools use hand sanitizers in their classroom.  You might ask them to choose a better product or donate a large bottle to your class. 

FREE STUFF: We have a 6oz bottle ( over 1300 uses! ) of CleanWell Hand Sanitizer to GIVE AWAY to our readers – you can enter to win by signing up for the MGG newsletter by Sunday, March 22 at 11:59PM PST.   The newsletter sign up is located on the right hand, middle section of the MGG homepage.  We will choose one winner at random and notify them by email. Open to 18 year old + residents of the U.S. and Canada.

CONGRATS to Jessica Petlun, the winner of our CleanWell Hand Sanitizer sweepstakes!