Big Green Purse

Want to save energy? Cuddle up under eco-friendly bedding & blankets.

Outside, the temperatures are dropping. Inside, what do you do? Turn up the heat -- or  stock up on cozy blankets and bedding, especially if they're made from natural fibers like organic cotton, wool, and hemp? 

What makes these materials more environmentally friendly?

Natural fibers breathe more easily than synthetic fabrics, wicking away moisture if you sweat, and creating a layer of insulation when you generate your own body heat. Plus, organic and natural comforters and quilts do not contain 'finishing' chemicals like formaldehyde, a toxin that can irritate the skin, nose, eyes, and respiratory system (babies are especially sensitive). Plus, more environmentally-friendly covers will usually be colored with plant-based or low-impact dyes.

Some options:

Coyuchi environmental bedding is Fair Trade and made from 100 percent organic cotton, minus any solvents or resins.

Loop Organic provides a variety of hypoallergenic blankets and bedding that are also made with high quality organic cotton fibers free of toxic chemicals.

Sleep & Beyond makes classic organic comforters hand-filled with a USDA and WOOLMARK certified organic merino wool fiber called WoolGanique. The natural fiber allows the comforter to regulate and maintain stable body temperatures while keeping moisture away from your skin.

Dreamsacks/Bamboo Dreams blankets and bedding woven from organic bamboo fibers also adjust to your body temperature so they can be used year-round.

I've also found organic cotton and bamboo sheets at various J.C. Penney's and Target stores. If you don't see them while you're shopping, ask the store manager to stock up.

Note: Bedding made from organic fibers is more expensive. You can afford it by saving money on energy when you turn down your thermostat.  According to the Midwest Alliance, for every degree you lower your heat in the 60-degree to 70-degree range, you'll save up to 5 percent on heating costs!

Check out more home energy-saving tips and resources here.

She shifted $1,000 of her budget to eco-friendly goods...and chickens!

If you’re looking for ways to live a greener life, take some pointers from Fran Martin.

Fran is the newest member of the One in a Million campaign, a feat she achieved by switching more than $1,000 of her household budget to products and services that offer the greatest environmental benefit. The campaign doesn’t ask people to spend MORE money. Instead, it encourages consumers to throw their marketplace clout behind non-toxic, eco-friendly alternatives that often end up saving people more money in the long run.

Who is Fran?

Fran, who is married, 67, and the mother of grown children, has lived in Butler, PA for the past 43 years. Her husband trains and breeds Labrador retrievers; “We have two,” she says. Fran is retired, but works part-time conducting food demonstrations where “I really push the organic products whether it is my demo of the day or not.”

"At home I am an avid cook - everything from scratch,” says the One in a Million devotee.  “After the Women for a Healthy Environment conference last year, and after reading Omnivore's Dilemma, I extended my organic garden and got two hens so I could have organic eggs.  I erected a hoop house in October to have a winter garden which proved to be quite successful.  The only red meat we eat is venison, and I can and freeze everything possible.”

“I also made homemade mouthwash and fabric softner,” she said.

How did she shift $1,000?

Here are the actual eco budget shifts Fran made between October 2008 and December 2009:

Organic Grains, Beans - $40
Organic Coffee - $208
Organic Dairy - $155
Organic Nuts –  $52
Organic Pasta - $21
Household Products (like eco-safe laundry detergent, dish soap, and cleaning soap) - $115
Nontoxic Health/Beauty Products - $66
Organic Chicken Feed - $26
Beverages - $23
Soymilk (2 cases) - $25
Meats/Fish - $123
Snacks - $8
Veg/Fruit - $90
Organic garden fertilizer and soil amendments: $75
Stopped using clothes dryer almost completely: undetermined energy savings

Total: at least $1,025

Why?

When I asked Fran why she made the shifts, here's what she said:  
 
* What inspired you to join the One in a Million campaign? I attended the Women’s Health and the Environment Conference in Pittsburg and heard you describe the difference we can make based on how we spend our money. I thought, “I can do that.”
 
* What change was unexpectedly easy to make? Keeping track of my purchases!
 
* What proved to be most challenging? Finding the best prices (ed. Note: This is true for many people, but a little bargain shopping can make organic food and recycled products very affordable)’
 
* What's your next step? Continue to purchase present organic products and add new ones as I find them.

Great job, Fran! Thanks for sharing your success with us.

Join Us!

And for all of you who are inspired to make your own spending shifts, get started here.

How "Organic" Is Organic Dry Cleaning?

 Are "organic" dry cleaners popping up in your neighborhood?

Are they legit, or another greenwashing scam? Here's the low-down:

What Makes A Dry Cleaner Green?

It's not PERC.

Just because a dry cleaner claims to be "organic" doesn't mean it's free of toxic chemicals. That's because, scientifically speaking, any chemical is considered to be organic if it contains carbon. So even cleaners that use a solvent like perchloroethylene (PERC), which has been classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a probable human carcinogen, can claim to be organic. An ad for "green" dry cleaners doesn't necessarily mean much, either, since there is no standard definition for what makes cleaning green.

Hydrocarbon solvents are in the same boat. Hydrocarbon solvents are petroleum-based, says Sierra Club, and contribute to greenhouse gases by emitting volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Solvents to avoid are: DF2000, PureDry, EcoSolve, Shell Solution 140 HT and Stoddard.

And that GreenEarth method you may have seen around? It does not necessarily translate into 'green-for-the-earth.' GreenEarth cleaners replace PERC with a silicone-based solvent called methyl siloxane or D5, which is similar to the base ingredients used in deodorants and shaving creams. The solvent itself is currently considered safe for the environment because it degrades to sand, water, and carbon dioxide, says the Union of Concerned Scientists, but it has caused cancer in lab animals in EPA studies. In addition, it is manufactured using chlorine, which can generate harmful dioxin emissions.

The good news?

Safe, non-toxic alternatives do exist. And they are just as effective as traditional dry cleaning, minus the negative impacts on the environment.

• Wet-cleaning replaces PERC with carefully controlled amounts of water and special non-toxic biodegradable detergents. Computer-operated equipment helps ensure that your delicate fabrics are cleaned without the risks to human health or the environment. You can find more details here.
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) cleaning relies on high pressure to convert carbon dioxide gas into liquid that acts as a carrier for biodegradable soaps. When the washing is complete, the pressure is released, turning the CO2 back into a gas to be used again and again. One drawback: the requisite machinery is expensive, so this method costs more than PERC-based dry cleaning.

If you want to locate the nearest reliably green cleaner, check out this national directory recently published by Occidental College.

The U.S. EPA also offers a nationwide list of CO2 and wet cleaners that was compiled in 2003.

Keep in mind that not all "dry clean only" garments need to be professionally dry-cleaned. Green living expert and Care2.com editor Annie Bond provides safe, eco-friendly instructions on hand-washing silk, wool and rayon clothing, here. My daughter regularly washes her wool sweaters on the cold, delicate cycle in the washing machine, then line dries them. Cheap, effective.

The most obvious solution of all? Transition your wardrobe to wash-and-wear clothing that requires no dry cleaning. You'll save money on cleaning bills and breathe easier knowing you're reducing your exposure to questionable chemicals.

BONUS: Discover easy, simple ways to clean out your closet this season, and how your wardrobe transition can make a world of a difference, here.

"Practically Green" Offers Simple Steps to an Environmental Lifestyle

If you still haven't figured out how to live with the environment in mind, pick up a copy of Micaela Preston's cheerful new book, Practically Green: Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision-Making.

Then keep this handy guide on your desk or in your purse, backpack or briefcase -- anywhere you might find yourself in need of some to-the-point guidance on what to do or buy. 

After a short introduction, the book breaks out into six chapters: Eating, Living, Cleaning, Caring, Wearing and Conserving. Each section brims with "how to" tips, product reviews, and suggestions that will save you money. Keeping you and your family healthy is also top of mind for Micaela, who writes the delightful Mindful Momma blog and has two boys to try her many ideas out on!

You'll particularly like Practically Green if you're the do-it-yourself type. Got any old sweaters lying around? Check out Micaela's "recipe" for felted wool coasters made from recycled sweaters. Want to make your own body care products? Start with Micaela's "luscious lip balm" - a yummy concoction of beeswax, almond oil, shea butter, and your choice of peppermint, lime or grapefruit oil.

Don't miss the book's "copy and clip" pages, either. I particularly like the clippable guide called "Where can I recycle that?"  Ever wonder how you can properly dispose of carpeting, medicine, or drink pouches (let alone compact fluorescent light bulbs and clothes hangers)? See page 196!

Eco-Friendly Greeting Cards

Sending electronic greeting cards is definitely the greenest way to go, but there are times when nothing will do but an "old fashioned" paper card.  Fortunately, you have a nice variety of environmentally-friendly choices. 

Recycled Paper:

When buying paper cards, search out options made from recycled paper printed with soy-based inks. Ideally, the card would be made from 100 percent post-consumer waste. Look for specific recycled content on the back of the card, not just the recycling symbol, which could simply mean the card is recyclable. Also look for cards made from bamboo, elephant dung (no kidding!) and other kinds of paper-free materials.

Tiny Prints cards are made from 30 percent post consumer waste or paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. 

Hallmark's Shoebox line is printed on recycled paper, but only with a minimum of 20 percent recycled fiber - not a standout in the recycled card line, but better than no recycled content if you don't have another choice. Cards from environmental groups like the Sierra Club are also made from recycled paper with soy-based ink.

Some cards are so eco-friendly, you can plant them. Green Field Paper makes cards embedded with seeds so the recipient can plant them. The company also offers cards made from junk mail, garlic paper, and coffee chaff. Peaceful Valley sells a boxed set of eight "plantable" cards.  

Hallmark's Business Expressions Line uses paper made with 50 percent sugarcane by-products and 50 percent recycled paper content. "No new trees have been cut down to make these cards," claims the company.

Returnable Cards:

Then there are cards, like the National Wildlife Federation's Zero-Waste line, that are designed to be  returned so they can be recycled into a new card. Each envelope includes an integrated postage paid method to make it easy to return; materials are made from certified non-toxic plastic and printed with healthy UV cured inks.

Postcards:

Zazzle and many other "u print" companies let you customize your own postcards, but they're usually not printed on recycled paper or with soy-based ink. The only advantage to using a postcard is that it skips the envelope (and postage will be a bit cheaper).

Make Your Own:

If you can't find a card you like among these, why not make your own? It's easy to find recycled paper at any office supply store. Use non-toxic markers and crayons to personalize a design on one side of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, then fold it into thirds, tape the top closed, and write the address on the blank outside. No envelope necessary! Or, rather than buy paper new, recycle wrapping or cards you've received in the past. My mother and her cousin have sent the same card back-and-forth to each other for years, in a tradition that makes both of them laugh when they send and receive the card.

Recycle and Reuse:

I do try to make the most out of every card I receive. If it's a postcard, it eventually ends up in my recycling bin. If it's a regular greeting card, I often cut the card in half, recycle the signed part, and re-use the decorated part as a gift tag - it works like a charm.

If greeting cards have got you thinking about gift wrapping, check out theseenvironmental wrapping tips. 

House Cleaning? Use a Fly Swatter, Not a Sledge Hammer

  The way we're being told to clean our homes these days, you'd think we were all living in breeding grounds for small pox, typhoid fever, leprosy, or some other awful disease that practically kills on contact.

We're not.

We ARE living in a world that we share with billions of "germs," most of which are perfectly harmless. In fact, many doctors believe that living with germs keeps us healthier by helping us build up a resistance to their ill effects. 

This perspective seems to be routinely ignored by the cleaning products industry. A report by Women's  Voices for the Earth, a non-profit Montana-based research group, investigates the link between toxic chemicals found in disinfectants and human health. Disinfectant Overkill: How Too Clean May Be Hazardous To Our Health analyzes the impact of "cleansers" that commonly contain chlorine bleach, ammonia, triclosan and other anti-bacterials, ammonium quarternary compounds, and nano-silver. Their conclusion?

"Some of the most common antimicrobial chemicals used in cleaners could have
serious health consequences. This is especially true for cleaning workers, young children and women who, despite progress on gender roles, continue to do 70% of housework in the average home."

Furthermore, "The overuse of antimicrobials contributes to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which some scientists say could leave the public with fewer tools in the fight against infectious diseases."

WVE suggests this analogy to understand the impact today's common cleansers have on us and the environment: 

"Suppose you have a pesky fly in your house. One option is to reach for a flyswatter. Assuming you get a direct hit on the fly, your problem is neatly and efficiently solved. But imagine if all you have handy is a sledgehammer. Again assuming you get a direct hit, you will certainly take care of the problem fly. However, you are likely to put a hole in your wall in the process.

The sledgehammer might be supremely effective at killing flies, but are the side effects (i.e. holes in your wall) worth it?. The same is true for antimicrobial products; they are often too strong for the average daily need. Occasionally they may be warranted, just as a sledgehammer has its place and purpose. But on a daily basis, simple soap and water or other non-toxic cleaners will do the trick without causing potentially harmful side effects."

WVE does not argue we should stop cleaning. On the contrary, "Disinfectant Overkill" makes a convincing, science-based case for using safe solutions to keep germs at bay.

Wondering where to start? These eco-friendly tips will help keep your hands clean.

These DIY recipes for home cleansers are cheap to make and work effectively on any surface in your home.

New Book Highlights Environmental, Health Threats from Toxic Chemicals

Investigative journalist Nena Baker is the author of The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being (North Point Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux). I first met Nena when we both spoke at the Women, Health & Environment Conference sponsored by the Heinz Endowment in 2008. Since then, I've been a fan of her investigations into the impact that toxic chemicals have on our bodies as well as the planet. In the first of a two-part article, Nena explains why she tries to avoid one of the most common chemicals you're likely to find in your furniture, television, and kitchen blender.

"Ever since the publication of my book,  The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being, people ask me what I’ve done in my own life to reduce exposures to toxic chemicals.

One answer is: I vacuum a lot more. And one family of toxic chemicals is the reason for it. Called polybrominated diphyl ethers, or PBDEs, these toxic flame retardants were – beginning in the 1970s -- added to everything from furniture foam, mattresses, carpet padding and drapery backings, to car interiors, computers, TVs, fax machines and small kitchen appliances. 

Because of the way PBDEs were blended into foam and plastic – think of a baker stirring chocolate chips into cookie dough – they can easily escape from the materials into which they are mixed. As a result, PBDEs settle in the dust on the floors of our homes, where children and pets spend most of their time. Indeed, researchers believe dust is the primary route of human exposure to PBDEs.

Based on the findings in animal studies, the EPA classifies PBDEs as a possible human carcinogen. Like other endocrine-disrupting chemicals I write about in The Body Toxic, PBDEs also are suspected of causing an array of negative health effects, including thyroid hormone disruption and permanent learning and memory impairment.

Because of their widespread use, PBDEs have built up at astonishing rates in the environment and in people. No one can say for certain how PBDEs are affecting humans, young or old. But research led by Dr. Linda Birnbaum, who was recently appointed director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, makes the case that house cats may be sentinels for humans, especially the littlest ones.

“Think about a cat’s behavior,” said Birnbaum. “They’re on the floor; they’re on the furniture. They get dust on themselves. They ingest it through grooming. Well, little kids are all over the floor and furniture, and they’re frequently mouthing things, including their hands.”

Read Part 2 of this article.

Environmental In-Box: Cast Iron Cookware

    For top-notch cooking without the worry generated by non-stick cookware, I turn to cast iron. Here's why:

What I Like:

* You get "non stick" without the nonsense of PFOA, the nasty chemical that makes Teflon easy to clean but also health threatening.

*Once cast iron is seasoned (a simple process), it cooks beautifully. I make lots of sticky stuff in my pans, like omelets, sautes, and stir fry. I use just a little bit of oil to lubricate the surface, then gradually heat the pan. It cooks like a dream.

*The pan can be cleaned with hot water and a scrub brush only. No soap, please - these pans need to remain "seasoned" to work properly, so you never want to try to remove all the oil that bakes into their surface.

*Finally, cast iron really holds the heat. If I'm cooking a soup or stew, I can turn the heat completely off ten minutes early and the heat in the pot will keep the ingredients bubbling along. That also makes it a great serving dish. You won't have to worry about food cooling down once it's put on the table if you serve it in a cast iron pot. NOTE: If you don't like the black hue of cast iron, you can pay a little more for enamel covered iron ware that will look very pretty on your table.

The downside? Cast iron is heavy. You'll need two hands and a little bit of muscle to lift a full cast iron pot. I'm no Amazon and I can manage it, so you probably can, too. Also, to avoid rust you should dry cast iron with a towel, rather than let it air dry.

Product and price comparison:

Lodge is probably the best-known cast iron manufacturer, as well as the cheapest. Several other brands sell enameled cast iron, including Le Creuset. Staub, and Mario Battali Cookware. Here's what several consumers had to say about the various enameled cast iron lines available. If you don't care about the color of the pans, the most economical choice is the plain cast iron from Lodge. Otherwise, shop sales (or ask for the fancier enameled cast iron for a birthday or holiday gift). NOTE: Scanpan now produces Green Tek, a PFOA-free cookware line it claims is environmentally friendly. This looks promising, but the manufacturer's claims have no third-party validation, and I haven't tried it myself yet. Stay tuned.

 How many purses? 

Three. No question.

Coffee Mugs Matter

In 2005, Americans used and discarded 14.4 billion disposable paper cups for hot beverages, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Vermont calculated. That’s so many cups that if put end to end they would circle the earth fifty-five times! Based on anticipated growth of specialty coffees, reports Green Mountain, that number will grow to 23 billion by 2010-enough to circle the globe eighty-eight times.

It’s one thing to pay two or three or even four dollars for a cup of coffee. It’s another to throw cup after cup away. If we do it every day, it amounts to almost twenty-five pounds of waste every year. The petrochemicals consumed in making the cups just one coffee drinker tosses could heat 8,300 homes for one year. Carting them to a landfill burns additional energy, never mind the fact that each one takes about five hundred years to decompose.

What good does it do if you buy the “right” coffee (i.e., organic, shade-grown, Fair Trade Certified) if you drink it out of a paper or Styrofoam cup you just toss in the garbage?

Beat the disposable rap by using your own mug. Every coffee shop sells them. Some places even give you a little discount if you use your own cup instead of theirs- if they don’t, ask for one. They’ll get the message after a while.

And if you forget your mug and need a take-out cup, ask the shop if they’re using the new ones made from recycled fibers that save trees. Do they make a difference? Starbucks’ recycled paper cup protects about 78,000 trees a year. Another option? Coffee cups you can compost.

Wondering what kind of coffee to buy? We've already figured it out!

And here are some suggestions if you're in the market for an eco-friendlier coffee pot.

Eco-Friendly Paint Keeps You & the Planet Healthy

Conventional paint contains many volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that "outgas" and escape into the air after they are applied. Indoors, these VOCs cause headaches, nausea, achey bones, and general discomfort. Outdoors, they contribute to smog and air pollution.

Whether for indoors or out, your best bet is to buy low- or no-VOC paint. You'll find it offered by more than a dozen companies in thousands of colors and in standard eggshell, glossy, and semigloss finishes. You can also select no-VOC water-based stains, finishes, and paint stripper.

For specific recommendations, check out the brands that have been independently certified for health and sustainabilityby Green Seal or EcoLogo.

To get the most out of the paint you use: