My husband just sent me this link to a short article on Current about how there is no “local vs. organic.” I was glad to read it because when I hear people say that buying local is better than organic and vice versa, it made no sense to me. They’re two completely separate things. Buy organic AND local, if you can, or choose the one that’s most important to you but don’t feel like you’re choosing between two equal options. One is specifically better for Read the rest of this entry »

While I don’t really fish anymore, I used to go fishing ALL the time as a kid. I’d frequently fish in the lake by my house with my friends and my family fished down in the Florida Keys at least once a month for years and years. So now that I’ve proven that I know a thing or two about fishing, let me show you how ignorant I am by admitting that since I no longer fish, I’ve never once thought about the possibility of earth-friendly fishing gear. Well, as it happens, green fishing gear DOES exist and it’s a good thing because a lot of fishing tackle still contains toxic lead or is made from non-biodegradable materials such as plastic. Obviously, lead is a danger because, well, it’s LEAD and all the non-biodegradeable junk being left behind in the oceans and waterways is not just pollution—it’s also deadly to wildlife. Fortunately, companies like Green Tackle are tackling the problem—they carry, among other things, lead free weights, all sorts of biodegradable bait and lures and most awesomely awesome, fishing line that will biodegrade instead of hanging around for the next eleventeen hundred years further damaging our fragile ecosystem. Pssst…keep Green Tackle in mind at Christmas time when shopping for your favorite fishing fanatic.

Find It Here: Green Tackle

Of course you do. We all do—and if you’re like me, you don’t have a clue how so much of it got into your life but you know it has to go. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could exchange some of that stuff for stuff you actually want and never have to set foot in a store? That’s not wishful thinking, my friend. You can actually DO THAT on Swaptree! How it works is Swaptree creates trades by matching items that you have (books, music, movies and video games) with other people who want those items and vice-versa. Best of all? It’s FREE. And because there are a frillion people on Swaptree, there’s a ton of stuff available for trade which means there’s a very good chance you’ll score exactly what you want and that someone wants your stuff, too. Short of just not ever buying another book, video game, DVD or CD, SwapTree is one of the greenest options around so get busy and start writing up your wish list!

Find It Here: Swaptree

Pennies for the Planet is a very cool site from the National Audubon Society that helps kids to make a difference by either participating in local conservation efforts or by saving and collecting pennies (through their schools, for example) for national and worldwide conservation projects. If we want our kids to care about the earth, we have to empower them by giving them a way to help. Pennies for the Planet is one such way!

Find it Here: Pennies for the Planet

When it comes to buying books, I’m all about the cheap and easy. I could be talking about something else here, but, well, nevermind that… Today, I’m talking about Better World Books, which are cheap, easy, and green.  Sure, other people sell used books and that’s cool, but do they offer FREE shipping within the U.S. and only charge $3.95 to ship worldwide?  Maybe some do, but what about that pesky minimum purchase requirement? BWB’s free shipping offer isn’t just a promotional gimmick. It’s for real ALL of the time.  Plus, BWB books are up to 80% cheaper than new ones AND shopping at BWB means you don’t have to use any gas (and I’m sure the coffee is much cheaper at your place—BONUS!) Simply put, I’m all for anything that can be done right in front of this here screen. In regards to being green and socially responsible, BWB has  saved over 6,000 books from landfills and offsets their shipping environmental costs with carbon offsets from CarbonFund.org. They also share revenues with literacy organizations like Books for Africa. Personally, with options like Better World Books, I can’t think of any reason I would ever buy a new book at a store unless I needed it right away or it was newly released. But?  I’m cheap and lazy, so I could probably wait.  Oh, and did mention BWB sells new books, too? Yep. So…if you’re not at all like me (read: cheap, lazy, willing to wait) you can also buy your NEW books from Better World and feel not-so-bad about it. When you’re done with them? Sell or donate them back to BWB!

Find It Here: Better World Books

It is an unfortunate fact of modern life that we, humans, have highly polluted bodies. This pollution in people is the direct result of a statute that does not require chemicals to be proven safe to get on the market, or stay on the market. Under federal law 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.

What’s even more shocking than the above is the sad fact that babies bodies are polluted with dangerous toxic, cancer-causing and hormone-altering chemicals before they’re even born. How does this happen? Watch the video below. What can we do? Sign this declaration and tell your elected officials that this is morally wrong and it needs to stop NOW.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have little reminders around the house to help everyone remember to be green? Not for you, of course, but you know, for the kids or maybe your spouse? I can’t even begin to count how many times a week I have to remind my kids to turn off their bedroom lights when they leave the room and well, it does get a bit tiresome which is why I’m really digging Ecominders. They’re these cool little stickers that you can put all over your home and office to remind everyone to “stick” to being green. Reusable and removable, they help you remember to do things like turn off lights, keep the thermostat at a certain level, turn off electronics when you’re not using them, turn off the water when brushing, use less toilet paper etc. They come in Kids & Schools versions, too. My kids think they’re really neato and are already turning the lights off more often than they used to so I’m giving Ecominders two green thumbs up—one for saving electricity and one for cutting down on my nagging!

Find It Here: Ecominders

Win It: We’re giving away a 5 pack of the Home & Office and Kids & Schools Ecominders along with a reusable tote and an Ecominders organic cotton T-shirt. Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter EM4 as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: Ecominders donates 1% of their profits to what organization? Enter by 4/15/09. $70 value. Contest closed. Congrats to Stefanie!

Tonight (Saturday, March 28, 8:30pm your time) Earth Hour 2009 takes  place. My lights will be off for an hour while I read a few books by flashlight to my kids and then send them off to the Land of Nod. Why will my lights be off for an hour? Because all the cool kids are doing it! Oh, and to show that I support action against global warming. A symbolic gesture that started two years ago with the World Wildlife Foundation in Australia, Earth Hour has grown into a worldwide event with more than 100 US cities and towns agreeing to darken some of the nation’s most famous skylines in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Around the world cities like Beijing, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Moscow, Nairobi, Paris, Rome, Toronto and Sydney will also be participating in this popular once-a-year event. There are also Youtube, Flickr and Twitter activities going on so that you can show your green spirit in other fun ways. Will you be participating? I hope so :)

Here at The Green Mom Review, we like green deals that help save you money and we love moms so we thought you might like to know about True Cuddles. Each week, True Cuddles releases a new baby or toddler product, in limited quantity, at a discounted price, and sells it until it’s gone. For the month of March, True Cuddles has partnered with over 20 eco-conscious companies to feature nine green “cuddle of the week” products (categories ranging from toys, clothing, skin care, stationary and more) at fabulous discount prices. In addition, throughout March, the cuddle crew of moms will also blog about some of their favorite green ideas, green products, green giveaways, green blogs, and more. True Cuddles is highlighting ways for moms to make more sustainable and affordable choices and to shine some light on organizations that are already doing this by keeping our earth in mind.

Find it Here: True Cuddles

Telecommuting. It’s a big buzzword these days but what does it actually mean? Well, in a nutshell, it means using the wonders of technology to work from home instead of getting in your car and driving to a workplace. It’s a bit of a departure from our usual fare but given the current job market, the cost of gas, and our love of all things eco-friendly we thought it would make for an interesting feature because telecommuting IS green.

Allow me to dazzle you with some factoids—according to the Consumer Electronics Association, a person telecommuting one day per week can reduce carbon emissions by 37-50 pounds per day. If that person telecommuted five days per week, the savings would be equivalent to the electricity consumed by an average household in 4 to 6 months. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, telecommuting can improve work/life balance, reduce stress (goodbye traffic!) and save you money on things like gas, wardrobe, dry cleaning, and buying lunch.

One excellent resource for finding telecommuting work is FlexJobs, an ethically-run service started by a green-centric mom who was frustrated with how difficult it was to locate real telecommuting opportunities among all the scams. FlexJobs finds and presents the best legitimate telecommuting opportunities (150-200 researched new job listings posted each week) in a well-designed, searchable web interface. Jobseekers pay a small monthly or yearly fee for access to the FlexJobs site but The Green Mom Review thinks telecommuting is so awesome that we’re giving way a one year subscription!

Find It Here: FlexJobs

Win It: We’re giving away a one year subscription to FlexJobs. Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter FJ3 as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: What is FlexJobs’ mission? Enter by 3/23/09. $49.95 value. Contest closed. Congrats Kathy!

Please join The Green Mom Review and The Motherhood for a live, online conversation on healthy, green living with an expert from Whole Foods at noon ET on Tuesday.

We’ll be talking about how we can eat better, save money and make healthier, greener choices for our families.

Live Chat Details

Guest Expert:  Mara Fleishman of Whole Foods Market.

Your Host: Janet, editor and co-founder of The Green Mom Review

The Time:  Tuesday, March 10th at noon ET

The Place: The Motherhood in the Healthy Moms, Healthy Families circle.

The Fab Giveaway:  Two lucky chat participants will each receive a “Whole Baby Bag” full of great products.

Put Tuesday, March 10th at noon ET on your calendar. See you there!!!

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Edited to add: With nearly 500 guests sitting in on our chat with Mara Fleishman of Whole Foods, it was a big success. Thanks to everyone who dropped by to join us!

Did you know that nearly nine million tons of clothing is dumped into America’s landfills every year? NINE. MILLION. TONS. That’s kind of mindblowing, no? Here’s another handy statistic for you… Each pound of recycled clothing saves 1.7 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and we all know eliminating carbon emissions is something that needs to be done wherever and whenever possible. Fortunately, our friends at Ideal Bite have provided us with some excellent resources for  recycling something that you’ve probably never even thought about—your underwear!

• Project Underwear is a program that collects new and gently used underwear to be distributed personally to poor children in third world countries like India, Ethiopia and Romania. For more details, please visit the Project Underwear website.
• Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores and donation centers accept donations of clean underwear in good, wearable condition. Visit their websites for more detailed information on donations.
• Patagonia Common Threads Garment Recycling would like you to send in or drop off your worn-out thermal underwear and other thermal clothing and Patagonia will turn them into NEW apparel. For details, visit the Patagonia website.