Posting will be light this week as I will be away for most of the week, so please bear with me. Thanks!

I have written about Envirosax before, and we still have our bag with us at all times. We keep it right in the car in case we stop to buy anything spur of the moment, making sure we can avoid the store’s plastic bags if we can! Well, the people over at Envirosax were kind enough to send along two of their new Kids line of reusable bags with the graphics shown here:

If you are interested in winning one of these Envirosax Reusable Bags for Kids, just leave a comment below along with why you think your kid should get one of these bags and which design you are interested in. I will notify you by email, so be sure to use a legitimate email address for your comment, and the contest ends on Tuesday May 6th at midnight. Good luck everyone!

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Over at My Supercharged Life, Jeff has a great post up about “virtual volunteering” that you should check out. You don’t necessarily have to travel to far away lands to make a difference!

If you have some time, a desire to make a difference, and access to a computer then you can become a virtual volunteer. Many organizations need individuals to share their time and talents to complete a wide variety of assignments via the Internet. According to some of the sites I visited, volunteers are needed in researching topics, editing documents, developing web sites, writing proposals, creating curriculum, tutoring students, designing graphics, and editing video just to name a few possibilities. In addition, organizations need online volunteers with legal, financial, environmental, information technology, and project management expertise. If you have skills in any of these areas, you might consider getting involved.

Check out Jeff’s post for tips on how to get involved and a list of sites that really could use your assistance!

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OK, not all of it - but a lot of it. She went in for a haircut and was talking with her stylist (who had just finished another haircut that went to the charity) and decided to go for it as well. So what started as a “few inches off” went to “a lot of inches off” in no time, and she is quite happy that she did it. She had thought about doing it before and thought she should finally do it this time - after all, her hair will grow back but those kids at Locks of Love don’t have any hair:

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. We meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. Our mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children. The children receive hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need.

If you feel like donating your hair, check out the website for more information. This is one of those times that I wish had more hair - but as you can see in my picture there isn’t a lot there to donate. So a big kudos to the teacher wife who gave up her head of hair for a kid who has none. You’re the best honey.

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photo by ogimogi

I get individual questions from readers all the time about being green with children, so I figured putting together a post could be of some assistance. Let me know if I missed anything, and add it to the comments!

1. Ditch the disposable diapers. Nearly 20 billion plastic diapers get thrown into landfills each year, and studies estimate that they each can take up to 500 years to decompose. Not something I like to think about! If you are not into using cloth diapers, there are always hybrid disposable/reusable diapers like the ones from gDiapers, Kushies Flushable Diaper Liners, or bumGenius.

2. Replace the plastic sippy cup. Although the plastic on it’s own might be inert, if the plastic heats up or gets cracked, the chemicals inside it could leech into whatever your baby is drinking. Bisphenol A is a culprit in these plastic baby bottles, and you can read about that chemical right here. There are plenty of glass, aluminum or stainless steel sippy cups available at places like ReusableBags and REI.

3. Switch to non-toxic cleaners. I know you have seen them - the bleach ads on TV telling you to wipe down all of your child’s toys with bleach. This is not a good idea as bleach is incredibly toxic. Besides, kids need germs - it helps to build their immune system up. Take away all the germs in the house and your kid might have a hard time fighting off a common cold! You can either use homemade products, or stuff from Seventh Generation or Method.

4. Buy organic and non-toxic soaps. Your typical bubble bath will have many chemicals in it, like methyl-parabens. You don’t want your child sitting in that for 20 minutes, do you? Same as we adults should use soaps without the chemicals, they are better for your kids as well. Aubrey’s Organics makes some natural baby and kids soap that is chemical-free and only about $8.00.

5. Buy only organic baby food. If it is time for your child to eat baby food (or adult food, for that matter too!), there are plenty of organic baby foods available at places like Wild Oats and Whole Foods. There really is no need to feed your baby that junk that our parents fed us back in the day now that we have healthy options. Also, when it comes time for them to eat regular food, feed them as much “made from scratch” food as you can, from fresh ingredients. Most “pre-made” meals are full of chemicals and preservatives that you might want to avoid.

6. Set a good example. For instance, you cannot really tell your kid that smoking is bad for you while you are puffing away. Adults are all that kids have to look up to for guidance; they have no other frame of reference. You know that quote “Be the change you want to see in the world”? Be the example you want your children to see.

7. Buy green toys. I am a big believer in wood toys, and my wife always jokes about how the only toy I am going to give our kids is a wood block made from FSC-Certified wood with no sealants on it. Although that might be a little bit of a stretch, I do not like all the plastic toys that kids play with today. Millions and millions of these seemingly innocuous toys get recalled each year for such things as being coated with lead paint! Find a nice local toy-shop in your town and go check out the beautiful wood toys that they sell. These are better made, generally safer for your kids, and they last a long time - your kids might even be able to give them to their kids! Spend the money…buy that toy once instead of buying the cheap one that needs replacing every year! Check out Maine Toys or Nature’s Crib. And there is nothing wrong with second-hand toys!

8. Check your house for toxins. You can now have your home tested for lead, radon, carbon monoxide, mold, and a host of other toxins. Isn’t your child’s health worth the expense? We adults might not notice some of these toxins because our lungs/bodies are stronger and more developed, but to a child who is still growing these are even more dangerous. Hire a company to come out and check for all that bad stuff!

9. Check out hand-me-downs and second-hand stores. Infants and small children only wear clothes for a few months before they do not fit in them anymore. So why not buy second-hand baby clothes and/or trade with your friends and family who also might have small children? Save yourself a bunch of money and save some more discarded shirts from going in the landfill!

10. Teach them to be green. This could be the most important one of all. If you do everything you can to make your children green but you don’t teach them the hows and whys it will all be naught. We need kids to grow up being concerned about the world around them. I know I didn’t care all that much for most of my life…it was never important and I was not taught that it was. Teach your kids about global warming, toxins, pesticides, organic foods…take them to the Farmer’s Market and let them meet the people who grow our food. Be an example and do not drive them around in a 5,000 lb truck getting 11 MPG. Truthfully, the problems we have all created will rain the hardest on them - we should prepare them for what they might have to deal with.

What kind of tips would you give to someone looking to green their children? What have you done at home that I might have missed? Let us all know in the comments!

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News Target seems to think so. Now, I take most things I read on the internet with a grain of salt, but I (as did my wife) thought this new push to have women “get vaccinated” against cervical cancer to be a bit much to swallow - and we might have been right in our thinking. So just what has News Target uncovered in a new report?

- A company that manufacturers a DNA testing device that can detect the presence of HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) is petitioning the FDA (and suing the FDA) to get it to reclassify its medical device as a “Class II” device based on the revelation that the FDA has already adopted the position that HPV infections do not directly cause cervical cancer.

- This would mean that the FDA has been aware for years that HPV does not cause cervical cancer, which means that the FDA’s approval of the Gardasil vaccine — as well as the national push for Gardasil vaccinations — is based on a grand medical hoax that, not surprisingly, appears to be designed to exploit the fear of cancer to sell vaccines. The victims in all this, of course, are the young girls who are apparently being subjected to a medically useless (and potentially dangerous) vaccine.

-None of this information was apparently known during the more recent debates over the safety and efficacy of Gardasil, the HPV vaccine now in use. This means that the public debate over mandatory HPV vaccinations lacked key elements that now seem essential to reaching rational, evidence-based conclusions over the safety and efficacy of such vaccines.

In fact, on the FDA’s own website, it says “most infections (by HPV) are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer” - so why exactly is the government and pharmaceutical companies pushing young women to get vaccinated? If you are a young woman yourself or you have young children who are approaching the age that this will be pushed upon them, you might want to check out this report. Like I said, I usually take things I read very lightly until I can do background research to verify it, but these guys seem to have done their homework and even have documents from the FDA proving their point. You can read the entire report over at The Great HPV Vaccine Hoax Revealed.

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A blog that I read quite frequently, The Dough Roller, found a great site this morning called HealthyToys, which bills itself as The Consumer Action Guide To Toxic Chemicals In Toys.

We launched HealthyToys.org because children’s products should not contain toxic chemicals! No government agency is adequately assuring that children’s products do not contain harmful chemicals. Nor does any agency require labeling or disclosure to inform consumers about the chemical components of children’s products. HealthyToys.org was launched to address the failures of our current system to regulate chemicals in products. HealthyToys.org is a first step in providing parents, grandparents, and others who care about children with the information they need to make better choices when purchasing toys and other children’s products.

So if you have kids and/or planning on buying toys for any kids this holiday season, you might want to check out this site - HealthyToys. And thanks to The Dough Roller for pointing it out!

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