10 Ways to Give Green Gifts

The holidays are a time for wasteful spending and for just plain waste. Help the environment and your wallet by following these simple tips for greening your gifts.

10 Tips for a Green Christmas

Every year, between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, Americans create 25% more trash than during the rest of the year. Do your part by choosing gifts, packaging and decorations that are reusable, recyclable or compostable. Check out the following ten tips for having a green holiday.

Make Your Own Organic Yogurt

My husband and my son are huge yogurt lovers. Unfortunately, most yogurt comes in individually-sized plastic containers. These containers are bad for the environment and bad for your health. It doesn’t make much sense to me that companies put organic yogurt into plastic containers, which can leach toxins into the yogurt and totally cancel out the organic benefits. So I began to do some research on making my own yogurt.

My Green Halloween 2010

Happy “Green” Halloween! I would like to share all of the steps we have taken to green our Halloween – including a homemade costume, organic local pumpkins, and healthy treats.

What is Green Parenting?

What is green parenting, and how do I do it? Those were my first questions when I became pregnant and started thinking more about raising a healthy child. And I came to discover that they aren’t easy questions to answer. There are literally thousands of books, blogs and websites that deal with green parenting. So I am going to try to break it down for you.

Green Your Halloween Pumpkins and Jack-o-Lanterns

When choosing a pumpkin, one big consideration is whether to buy organic. Pumpkins fall at number 18 of 49 in the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides (with 1 being the produce with the least amount of pesticides).

Green Your Halloween Costumes and Face Paint

Halloween is one of those holidays that generates an insane amount of waste – landfills are full of everything from candy wrappers to cheap costumes and decorations. Even worse, most conventional Halloween costumes and treats are full of dangerous toxins, such as lead, cadmium, phthalates, and flame retardants. But there are steps you can take to green your Halloween.

Avoiding PVC and Other Toxins in Kids’ Rain Gear

Not all rain gear is equal. Conventional rain coats, boots and umbrellas commonly have toxins such as PVC, phthalates, lead, cadmium, dioxins and PFCs. Safer rain gear options can be found, such as natural rubber rain boots, polyester rain coats and nylon umbrellas.

Avoiding Toxins in Lunch Boxes for Kids

You take great care to make sure that your child has only the healthiest foods for her lunch and snack. But what about the lunch box and containers that you put that food in? It is important to choose food storage containers that are made of safe materials, are good quality and don’t cost a fortune. You can find safer options that are free from BPA, PVC, lead and phthalates.

Shopping Guide: Lunch Boxes, Bags and Kits

There are so many options for lunch boxes and accessories that we can’t possibly feature them all!  So we have put together a list of brands (to save you some…

Old Navy Selling a Pro-Formula Onesie

Old Navy is selling a new onesie with a tattoo-inspired design and the slogan “Formula Powered.” I can’t imagine what they were thinking. I am completely opposed to encouraging mothers to choose to formula feed their babies, and I think Old Navy should do the responsible thing and remove these onesies from their stores.

It’s Easy Reading Green

I used to be a bookstore addict. I would go in and spontaneously buy whatever book or magazine caught my attention. As I made my gradual transformation into a green mom, I started paying more attention to my book- and magazine-buying habits. Read on for some tips on how to cut down on cutting down trees.

My Safe & Natural Pregnancy Beauty Routine

Although I’m not pregnant yet, I have started my pregnancy beauty routine. If you are thinking about getting pregnant or think that you might be already, there is no better time than now to start cutting out things that could potentially be harmful to your unborn child. I already try to live a natural and organic lifestyle but even some green products can have harmful effects on an unborn child.

It’s Okay . . . Go Ahead and Breastfeed

Before I had my son, I knew I wanted to breastfeed him. It is healthier for him. It is cheaper. It’s a great weight loss tool for those post-pregnancy pounds. And I wanted to experience that bond with him. Little did I know that nursing in public is SCARY!

How I Conquered ANTS!

A war has been waging between ants and me for some time now. It seems like, no matter where I live or how clean my home is, I always have ants – crawling in the trash, marching across my kitchen counters, trailing along the floor. Since I really do not want to use harsh poisons or chemicals inside or outside of my home, dealing with the ant problem has been a frustrating battle.

Preparing for Baby #2

My husband and I have been talking recently about having a second baby. But all of this baby talk has me thinking about how I will do things differently this time around. Last time, I was clueless and just getting into the whole green mindset. But what about baby #2?

What’s on My Kid’s iPod

In keeping with the iPod app theme from a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would share my son’s favorite iPod games and applications. I know a lot of people would disagree with giving a preschooler an iPod, but I have found that you can find a ton of educational games for it.

How to Feed Your Baby

Many of you have probably played that baby shower game where everyone has to taste different flavors of jarred baby foods and then guess what you were tasting. And, if you were like me, the whole game was bordering on painful because jarred baby food is disgusting!!

Cool Green iPhone Apps

As an iPhone owner, I am constantly in search of new apps for my phone. There are some pretty amazing applications out there, including some tools to help you go green. Here is a short list of some green apps that I have found.

My Toxic Prius

I bought my Prius four years ago in an effort to be “green.” The Toyota Prius has become the status symbol of the green movement. I’m getting an amazing 44 miles per gallon. But is the Prius really green?

Let Me Know What You Think!