Art | Resources
Purggo
A minimalistic and all-natural car air eco-purifier & freshener.”Filled with with 100% bamboo charcoal.” Lasts 1 year. Fragrance- and allergen-free.
Aplat
A “culinary tote collection” of bags and wraps designed simply and specifically for carrying food. I love their Grand Tote, which is wide enough to carry a variety of vegetables from the farmer’s market or garden, without piling them on top of each other. “Sewn by women in San Francisco, the Aplat collection of washable, reusable culinary totes is manufactured with empathy, applying a zero-waste origami design using 100% organic cotton.”
Wildkale.Com
“The first online farmers market where you can order your food directly from your local farmer, have it harvested/prepared on order and receive it the next business day. You save time driving to the farmer’s market and you get better quality food with more character that is much fresher than in the supermarket. And it’s always 100% local.” Great idea. There were no farmers on this service in my zip code.
Cusp Natural Products
A variety of reusable household textile products made from high quality hemp fiber, including coffee and tea bags, drink sleeves, table linens, washcloths and bath products, garden gloves, hats, yarn and twine.
Life Without Plastic — The Definitive Guide
Every once in a while I see a book that is written the way I would write it, and this is one of those books.
Life Without Plastic: The Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Avoiding Plastic to Keep Your Family and the Planet Healthy is an account of the first hand experience of Chantal Plamondon and Jay Sinha, founders of the website Life Without Plastic.
The website already has been a comprehensive resource of products you can use to replace plastic items around your home, but the book goes even further. After telling their story, Chantal and Jay give us
- a Quick Start Guide to removing plastic from your home
- a comprehensive review of plastics and their health effect (which everyone should read),
- instructions for removing plastic from your personal space and
- plastic-free living on the go.
This couple really knows and lives this subject.
So if you want to eliminate plastic from your life, this is the book to get.
Listen to my interview with Chantal and Jay on Toxic Free Talk Radio (or read the transcript) at TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO: Life Without Plastic.
Nontoxic Cleaning Products for Schools
Question from Cheryl
Hi Debra,
I am a School Nurse with very low immunity and subsequent severe chemical sensitivities. The chemicals used at school are destroying me. My body burns and itches the moment that I walk through the door. I need recommendations for products that both sanitize and clean floors, counter tops and rugs. Help, please!
Thanks.
Debra’s Answer
Well, we’re in luck today because the EPA just issued a whole new page just a few months ago on Cleaning Effectively for a Healthy School Environment.
This page tells why it’s important, what you can do, and gives a long list of resources and organizations that can help.
At the end there are three programs that are specifically about cleaning products for schools:
- The Product Review Database maintained by the Los Angeles (California) Unified School District offers a searchable database of over 6,000 products evaluated by the district’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety to determine their suitability for use in and around Los Angeles schools.
- New York’s Green Cleaning Program operated by the New York State Office of General Services presents best practices and a list of approved green cleaning products. A toolkit also describes five steps to a green cleaning program as well as online training courses and customizable documents and templates.
- Green Cleaning, Sanitizing and Disinfecting: A Toolkit for Early Care and Education, supported by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, helps programs use less hazardous cleaning products and practices while also reducing infectious disease.
But do check out the entire page and the entire list as there are many more resources.
With this page, there should be no reason why any school should us toxic cheaning products. Just show this page to the powers that be in your school and get them to take action. All the information is right here.
Consumer Reports Warns Not to Eat Romaine Lettuce
Late last week Consumer Reports issued a warning to not eat romaine lettuce.
“Over the past seven weeks, 59 people in the U.S. and Canada have become ill from a dangerous strain of E. coli bacteria, likely from eating romaine lettuce. In the U.S., the infections have occurred in 13 states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington state). Five people in the U.S. have been hospitalized and one has died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There has also been one death in Canada.”
The Centers for Disease Control confirmed that the strain of E. coli detected in the U.S. is “a virtual genetic match” with the one that has caused illnesses in Canada.
You have no doubt heard this news already from your usual news sources, but I just want to add my two cents.
A reader sent me a comment from an organic farmer. He said
They say “all romaine” and can’t figure out why that is. Well, they answer it in the third paragraph:
“Until the cause of the current outbreak is known and the implicated food is removed from the supply chain, CR’s experts say consumers should avoid eating any romaine lettuce.”
The problem is the supply chain, the global food system that mixes produce from dozens or hundreds of farms together, including lots of lettuce grown overseas. All it takes is one farm doing things wrong and all romaine lettuce becomes deadly.
Please buy locally grown romaine at the farmers market and eat it with gusto.
I wanted to comment on this because I usually don’t buy romaine lettuce from the supply chain. My number one source of lettuce is my local organic farmer’s market. All their lettuce comes from their own farm. It’s not contaminated.
If lettuce is out of season (as it is now) I eat other greens or buy organic lettuce at a local produce market that does get their produce from the organic supply chain.
I hardly ever buy romaine anyway. I prefer a mix of red and green leaf lettuces.
But Larry’s family (who we live with) always buys romaine lettuce in a plastic bag at the supermarket. I’m happy to report that this warning resulted in the purchase of red leaf lettuce. No plastic bag.
If you eat romaine lettuce, please take this warning as an opportunity to explore local organic sources and other delicious lettuces.
FOOD SAFETY NEWS: Consumer Reports warns against eating any romaine lettuce
Teance Fine Teas
Single Origin, Farm Direct, Whole Leaf Teas. I happened to walk by this store in Berkeley, California and loved it immediately. It completely changed my ideas about tea. “We celebrate this time-honored craftsmanship of the artisanal tea farmers of China, Taiwan, India, and Japan. Every harvest for the past 15 years we have traveled to the finest tea growing regions of Asia to visit family-owned farms to select our handcrafted teas. Each tea in our collection is carefully curated for its complexity, exceptional taste, and spirit. We do this because we are committed to helping sustain these traditional communities and to sharing the treasures of the tea arts with you. And we truly believe that tea can change your life.” Their mission is “to seek out the most skilled tea farmers and producers in each region, and support their craft by bringing their teas to the Western world.” You can meet each farmer on their website. Teas are picked during the peak season and sold as fresh harvests. They even have a questionnaire to help you choose the perfect tea for you. I wish I could live next door.
Honey Mama’s Chocolate
“Honey Mama’s bars are raw honey-sweetened cocoa treats made from five nutrient-rich ingredients. Each bar has a base of raw honey and virgin coconut oil, with the addition of cocoa powder, Himalayan pink salt, and either sprouted almonds OR shredded coconut. That’s it! We’re committed to sourcing the highest quality direct–trade, non–GMO, and organic ingredients we can find to make a product that naturally stimulates well-being and is out-of-this-world delicious! To learn more about the fabulous ingredients that go into our bars, click here. For more information on our suppliers, click here. These bars are simply delicious!
Zursun Idaho Heirloom Beans
“Founded in 1985, Zürsun Idaho Heirloom Beans is the original U.S. company to offer authentic heirloom beans and unusual legumes worldwide. The ultimate eco-friendly food, Zürsun heirloom beans are grown on small-scale farms in the Snake River Canyon region of south central Idaho known as the Magic Valley Growing Area. The area’s arid climate, rich, well-drained loamy soil, moderate temperatures and stable moisture level—internationally recognized as having ideal environmental conditions for bean growing—produce pure, distinctly flavorful beans, superior to common store-bought beans.”
