Art | Resources
Worthy Goods Textile
Some unusual GOTS Certified organic fabrics such as organic cotton fleece, terry cloth, flannel in patterns, and more.
FruitShare Organic Fruit Delivery
“The most delicious and nutritious farm fresh fruit in season all year long…A beeline from the farm to your door… Picked fresh, shipped fast, always organic. At FruitShare, we know what fruit should taste like. We know that farm fresh fruit is the best because it is almost as fresh as picking it yourself – resulting in flavorful, juicy fruit packed full of nutrients. With FruitShare, you’ll know where your food comes from. We send an eco-friendly e-newsletter to you with every box, detailing stories from the farms, plus tips for handling your fruit, health and wellness information, and recipes. We’ll connect you to the farmers, whether they’re local or all the way across the country.” Fruit clubs, gift boxes, fundraisers.
The Old White House
“Almost 5 years ago I decided to give making my own laundry soap a try, as a family of seven at the time we did a lot of laundry… a LOT of laundry! I had seen recipes floating around the internet, and gave a few a try. I didn’t find one that I thought did the job that I wanted it to, so I went back to the drawing board, and came up with a product that not only cleaned our laundry, but also made it naturally soft, and smelled amazing…Our lavender cleaning products include the following… soft, non-sudsing lavender laundry soap, organic lavender dryer sachets, lavender linen & room spray, lavender kitchen & bath cleanser, lavender carpet freshener and lavender soy candles. Our natural earth friendly and vegan lavender laundry and cleaning provisions are made with great care by my family and I. We make sure to use only earth friendly ingredients, pure lavender essential oil, organic lavender buds, natural cotton for the sachets that are stamped with waterproof ink, glass jars made in the USA, all packaged in a reusable cotton bag with a love of the earth and great pride in our products.”
Eco Party Time
Plant-based disposable tableware, particularly for parties, but can be used anytime. Lots of colors and materials to choose from, including these wooden forks and spoons hand-painted with nontoxic inks. Read material descriptions carefully as the criteria for this website is “eco” rather than nontoxic. There are a lot of nontoxic products here that would make your party fun, just choose carefully.
PBS Honors Rachel Carson on TV Show “American Experience”
Tonight, your local PBS station will air a new episode of “American Experience” about the life of Rachel Carson. Check your local television listings for the time. Here on the east coast it will be airing at 8:00 pm.
I highly recommend watching this to learn more about Rachel Carson’s life, her viewpoints, and how her book Silent Spring acted as the catalyst for our current awareness of toxics, the environmental movement, and the founding of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I’ll be watching.
In conjunction with this, the New York Times ran an article yesterday: Rachel Carson, DDR and the Fight Against Malaria. It has a 12 minute video that also is well worth watching.
This video gives a good picture of why it’s so difficult to get toxic chemicals banned. Toxic chemicals are generally in use for a reason. In the case of DDT, at first it was to kill mosquitoes that cause deadly malaria. DDT was so effective with mosquitoes, it soon became used widely. Carson documented the health and environmental effects and soon DDT was banned.
But without DDT to control disease-carrying mosquitos, malaria soon again became epidemic.
This video shows how we can think beyond using toxics for a quick-fix and come up with more lasting sustainable solutions.
Polar Bear Cubs (and Humans) at Hight Risk from Toxic Industrial Chemicals, Despite Bans
A new story in Scientific American reports levels in polar bear cubs are 1000 times the acceptable level for humans.
“These persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, come from industry and reach the Arctic via air or ocean currents. The compounds include older chemicals like PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), whose production peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and relatively newer ones including perfluorinated chemicals, which are used in water-resistant fabric coatings and firefighting foam. The pollutants have been linked with reproductive and immune problems in the bears as well as cancer, and their chemical structures make them nearly impossible for organisms to degrade.”
Bears accumulate high levels of the chemicals because they are top predators (just like we are).
Chemicals accumulate in both bears (and humans) because they build up through the food chain, in plants, fish and, for bears, finally seals—the bears’ main food source. Many of the compounds concentrate in the seal blubber, giving bears a hefty dose of chemicals when they eat seal blubber. The pollutants are then transferred to cubs via their mothers’ milk.
(And the same happens with humans.)
The study notes that between 1985 and 2010 the overall risk in cubs declined by 30 percent because many of the older chemicals were banned. Despite this progress, however, chemicals produced more recently are keeping the risk high. And these new chemicals, as well as the replacements for banned chemicals, are now being found in polar bear cubs in the arctic, thousands of miles from industrial civilization.
(It’s just interesting to me that this article, which is an environmental piece, makes no connection to the similar human exposure. The references to humans in this post are all mine.)
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: Polar Bear Cubs at Hight Risk from Toxic Industrial Chemicals, Despite Bans
Scientists Prove Link Between Aluminum and Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
We already know that aluminum is present is many consumer products, and that it builds up within our bodies rather than passing through.
Though a link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s Disease has been suspected for many years, even as recently as 2014 the link was largely unproven.
Now things have changed. Read more at…
GREENMEDINFO: Scientists Prove Link Between Aluminum and Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
Detoxing Aluminum Through Your Skin In A Simple Way At Home
My guests today are Elizabeth and Michael Fessler, Founding Partners of Herbalix Restoratives. They make exceptional skin and hair products, some of which detox aluminum from your body as you sleep. Their products are designed to support skin functions with pure, natural and organic ingredients that cleanse and revitalize, while feeding the skin and hair vital nutrients. Today we will be focusing on their detox products. We will be talking about how aluminum enters your body and affect body function, and how topical detox can free the body from aluminum so it can function properly.
Audio + Transcript:
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO: DETOXING ALUMINUM THROUGH YOUR SKIN IN A SIMPLE WAY AT HOME
HoBo Ties
A delightful collection of natural fiber bow ties, neckties, pocket squares, cummerbunds and suspenders for men and boys. “All of our products are created with carefully chosen materials. We source professional hardware to use on our products that are made right here in the USA. Our fabrics are almost always cotton I saw a natural linen tie and sometimes we make specialty silk bow ties.
Bohemian Beetnik
Handcrafted cosmetics and skin care made with botanical colors like beets and hibiscus. “So natural, you could eat it! All handcrafted and made in my own kitchen. I use my own recipes, not from a pre-made base. Our products do not contain chemical preservatives, artificial fragrances, or synthetic chemicals. No mineral colorants here either! Only pure fruits & vegetables, herbs & spices, and oils & butters. Organic ingredients used whenever possible!”
Groundwork
Organic, fair trade coffees and teas from a popular Los Angeles coffee spot. Chose from single origin, signature blends, limited reserve and decaf coffees—every coffee has a story. Honey-processed coffee anyone? You’ll get a whole different view of coffee here. Flavors are described like poetry. “Groundwork was one of the first certified organic coffee roasters in Southern California and a pioneer in sustainable, relationship-based, and organic coffee sourcing.”
