Really. As if getting it out of our water bottles and toys wasn’t bad enough, now we need to worry about receipts?! Something we all encounter daily and it’s pretty much beyond our control.
Environmental Working Group did a study on paper receipts from various places and found BPA on 40 percent of them. Sometimes in amounts over 1000 times that found in the lining of cans. One thousand times?! How can that be allowed?
What can I say? Annie Leonard rocks! She has a great way of illustrating her point and getting the message across. Her latest messages pertains to cosmetics in The Story of Cosmetics. Not just make up for us moms, but all of your bathroom items, right down to baby shampoo. You really need to see this film! As with all of her films, the message is clear.
I use Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetics Safety Database (also known as Skin Deep) to find safer products for my family. If you’ve been following me, you know I spend a lot of time moving the chemicals out and the safe stuff in. Take some time and check the products you use often, you’ll be surprised at how many are linked to cancer. As Annie says, don’t let the words “natural” or “organic” fool you. Currently, there is no law regulating cosmetics and that needs to change.
I love these bags! I only have one Wet Happened? bag at the moment, but I use it constantly. I can’t wait to buy another. It’s current use is to hold a change of clothes for my youngest just in case of a potty accident while we’re out and about. Dry clothes come out, wet clothes go in and I don’t have to worry about leaky plastic bags.
These bags come in two sizes and can be used for many things – dirty clothes, wet clothes, dirty diapers, gym clothes, bathing suits, etc. They come in 2 sizes: 11×14 and 14×17. Orginal retail price is $17.95 and $21.95, but select styles are being cleared out at $8-$12. And, as an added bonus, they are Made in the USA. That’s always a big plus for me!
We spent Saturday afternoon doing something I really enjoy, a soccer tournament. I love watching my son play and get so emotional in the game. After the medals were distributed, I witnessed something that made me think “oh no” and reminded me of a blog post I had done in the past. A coach from a lower age group was lifting his players up on top of the soccer goal to take a picture of them.
At first thought, it looks perfectly fine and innocent. What a great picture, right? What a lot of us don’t realize is that those goals are actually quite dangerous. If not anchored properly, they can tip over and do at times result in death.
Way to go CA!
Finally some good news for our environment! California State Assembly voted 41 to 27 to pass a bill to ban single-use plastic bags. Plastic bags will still be available, but not for free. Shoppers will need to pay a minimum of 5-cents for a recycled bag if they forget their own reusable bags. The bill still needs to pass the Senate, which is it expected to do, then Governor Schwarzenegger will sign it into law.
I don’t think I need to point out the negative effects of plastic bag use. Areas that have enacted similar laws have seen drastic drops in plastic bag use. Washington, DC began charging a 5-cent tax on plastic bags in January and saw a reduction in use from 22 million to 3 million in one month.
Children exposed to high levels of pesticide are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD. In an interesting study, researchers measured the amount of pesticide byproducts in the urine of children. Those children with high levels were more likely to have ADHD symptoms and diagnoses.
This is not a reason to stop consuming fruits and veggies, but this is a reason to go organic when you can. Organic produce contains less, if any, pesticides. Regardless, you should always wash your produce before consuming. We prefer to use Veggie Wash, but even washing with plain water is better than nothing at all.
