Like most children, Halloween is one of my kids' favorite things about the month of October. However, it is a holiday that's celebration can have a real negative impact on the environment. From the disposable costumes and plastic candy wrappers that are littered throughout the neighborhoods, to the electrically lit pumpkins and blow up lawn decorations that are kept inflated night after night, Halloween can have a SCARY effect on our planet. Luckily there are many simple steps we can take as parents to make Halloween an eco- friendly holiday.

Costumes - I know this is a difficult one with all the commercialism and cartoon bombardment our kids get at every turn, but avoiding brand new store bought costumes each year can significantly reduce our carbon footprint. Costume ideas that are more eco friendly include renting a costume, passing on your older costumes to someone else’s kids or have someone else’s kids pass down their costumes to your kids. You can also make cute and simple costumes out of old sheets and clothing. September and October are also times of the year when thrift stores carry many costumes. These eco-friendly costume ideas not only promote recycling but will also save you a lot of money.

Treat bags - Instead of buying a new plastic bucket every year for your kids to collect their treats in, try using a cloth bag, a bucket from home, a pillowcase or a basket which you can decorate to match your kid’s costume. In September and October, you will likely find recycled Halloween buckets/baskets for sale at your local thrift store as well.

Treats - Try to buy treats that use as little packaging as possible or treats that use eco-friendly packaging. We as parents can also remind our kids and neighborhood trick-or-treaters to keep plastic wrappers and all other garbage off the ground and in the garbage. Some chidlren may even feel inspired to pick up wrappers found on their trick or treating route.

Pumpkins - If you are able to purchase your pumpkin from a local farmer instead of a large supermarket, your local farmer will receive a larger portion of the food dollar supporting endangered family farms and ensuring that healthy, flavorful, nourishing and abundant food will be available for future generations. Buying local keeps your dollars circulating in your community and builds a stronger regional economy. When your pumpkin has lost its Halloween flair, you can compost it in your yard waste bin and save precious space in our landfill.

As I was looking for eco-friendly ideas for birthday party games and favors, I found this great blog post on the website ecochildsplay.com.

I love this mom's ideas on low impact birthday parties and thought I would share here :

In our family, summer time is a full of birthday party celebrations. If your experiences are like mine, your children have attended some extravagant birthday parties that leave a heavy footprint on the Earth. Large blowup, bouncing jump rooms, corporate character disposable dinnerware, paper hats that don’t even last until the end of the party, dollar store junk for party favors, balloons and excessive decorations, etc. seem to be the norm in children’s birthday parties. For my children’s birthdays, I am always looking for ways to lighten our impact during these grand occasions, while giving them the special celebration they desire. Below are a few suggestions for lightening the impact of your child’s birthday celebration.

1. Use digital invites: By creating your own digital invitations, you can email them to your friends and family and reduce the amount of paper involved in the celebration. You may need to print a few invitations to mail for those families not connected to the web, but this will still lighten the impact. A homemade invite also becomes a keepsake to document the day, and you won’t be supporting the corporate characters targeted at children. You will also save time and money by creating your own digital birthday invitations.

2. Pick a natural location for the party: By hosting your party in a natural location, such as a beach or park, you will be combating nature deficit disorder and eliminating the need for jumping rooms, extravagant decorations, etc. Every year, we have our party on a neighbor’s beach. The river provides the entertainment and increases our attendance of distant friends who look forward to a day of river fun in the mountain sun! Also, if the party is located away from your home, you are less likely to go overboard with party favors, decorations, etc., as you will have to pack it in and pack it out of the location.

3. Use reusable plates, napkins, utensils, cups, etc.: I am always amazed at how much garbage is created from even a small birthday party. By using reusable plates, utensils, etc., you are lightening your party’s impact greatly, as well as teaching your children an important lesson about disposables. The clean up after the party will be greater if you use reusables; however, the benefits to the planet certainly outweigh a little of your time. If you must use disposable products, look for paper products that are made with recycled, post-consumer materials and corn plastic utensils that are compostable.

4. Provide natural, eco-friendly party favors: One of the things I dread about my daughter attending her friends’ birthday parties is dollar store, plastic junk and candy she receives as party favors. If you feel compelled to give out party favors, look for items that will not be easily tossed into the landfill and won’t break within a day. Crystals, polished rocks, geodes, etc. make wonderful party favors children’s cherish, and these natural items will contribute to children dramatic play at home. Several natural toy stores also carry party favors. These toys may be more expensive, but when placed in the larger picture of sustainability and climate change, the cost is irrelevant. Better yet, forego the party favors all together.

5. Serve a vegan, chocolate cake: Whether you make your own cake or buy one, think about the ingredients used in the cake and how you could improve this aspect of the birthday tradition. We are lucky to live near a bakery that makes the best vegan, chocolate cake filled with raspberry sauce. They will even make the cake with our own garden grown, organic raspberries. There are many great recipes available online for vegan cakes.

6. Make gifts optional: If your kids are like mine, they already have too many toys! The birthday party can be another contributor to this problem, and if you are like me and detest plastic toys, your child will inevitably receive annoying toys that you do not like. By making gifts optional, you will prevent families frohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifm feeling compelled to buy anything just to attend the party, and your child will not receive a gross amount of junk. Children already receive many gifts from their families, so eliminating a few toys from their friends will not impact the joy of their birthday. You could also request used toys and books or no gifts at all.

There are many ways you can lighten the impact of your child’s birthday, as well as teach them a valuable lesson in sustainability, conservation, etc. You can still have themed birthday parties without all of the commercial products associated with them, by asking families to wear homemade costumes, make your own decorations, etc. Keep it simple, and everyone will enjoy the celebration more, while doing a little bit to save the Earth from climate change.

In my search for ideas for eco friendly games and party favors for my son's upcoming birthday party, I found this great blog post on the website ecochildsplay.com.

I love this mom's ideas and thought I would share her great ideas on our blog.

In our family, summer time is a full of birthday party celebrations. If your experiences are like mine, your children have attended some extravagant birthday parties that leave a heavy footprint on the Earth. Large blowup, bouncing jump rooms, corporate character disposable dinnerware, paper hats that don’t even last until the end of the party, dollar store junk for party favors, balloons and excessive decorations, etc. seem to be the norm in children’s birthday parties. For my children’s birthdays, I am always looking for ways to lighten our impact during these grand occasions, while giving them the special celebration they desire. Below are a few suggestions for lightening the impact of your child’s birthday celebration.

1. Use digital invites: By creating your own digital invitations, you can email them to your friends and family and reduce the amount of paper involved in the celebration. You may need to print a few invitations to mail for those families not connected to the web, but this will still lighten the impact. A homemade invite also becomes a keepsake to document the day, and you won’t be supporting the corporate characters targeted at children. You will also save time and money by creating your own digital birthday invitations.

2. Pick a natural location for the party: By hosting your party in a natural location, such as a beach or park, you will be combating nature deficit disorder and eliminating the need for jumping rooms, extravagant decorations, etc. Every year, we have our party on a neighbor’s beach. The river provides the entertainment and increases our attendance of distant friends who look forward to a day of river fun in the mountain sun! Also, if the party is located away from your home, you are less likely to go overboard with party favors, decorations, etc., as you will have to pack it in and pack it out of the location.

3. Use reusable plates, napkins, utensils, cups, etc.: I am always amazed at how much garbage is created from even a small birthday party. By using reusable plates, utensils, etc., you are lightening your party’s impact greatly, as well as teaching your children an important lesson about disposables. The clean up after the party will be greater if you use reusables; however, the benefits to the planet certainly outweigh a little of your time. If you must use disposable products, look for paper products that are made with recycled, post-consumer materials and corn plastic utensils that are compostable.

4. Provide natural, eco-friendly party favors: One of the things I dread about my daughter attending her friends’ birthday parties is dollar store, plastic junk and candy she receives as party favors. If you feel compelled to give out party favors, look for items that will not be easily tossed into the landfill and won’t break within a day. Crystals, polished rocks, geodes, etc. make wonderful party favors children’s cherish, and these natural items will contribute to children dramatic play at home. Several natural toy stores also carry party favors. These toys may be more expensive, but when placed in the larger picture of sustainability and climate change, the cost is irrelevant. Better yet, forego the party favors all together.

5. Serve a vegan, chocolate cake: Whether you make your own cake or buy one, think about the ingredients used in the cake and how you could improve this aspect of the birthday tradition. We are lucky to live near a bakery that makes the best vegan, chocolate cake filled with raspberry sauce. They will even make the cake with our own garden grown, organic raspberries. There are many great recipes available online for vegan cakes.

6. Make gifts optional: If your kids are like mine, they already have too many toys! The birthday party can be another contributor to this problem, and if you are like me and detest plastic toys, your child will inevitably receive annoying toys that you do not like. By making gifts optional, you will prevent families frohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifm feeling compelled to buy anything just to attend the party, and your child will not receive a gross amount of junk. Children already receive many gifts from their families, so eliminating a few toys from their friends will not impact the joy of their birthday. You could also request used toys and books or no gifts at all.

There are many ways you can lighten the impact of your child’s birthday, as well as teach them a valuable lesson in sustainability, conservation, etc. You can still have themed birthday parties without all of the commercial products associated with them, by asking families to wear homemade costumes, make your own decorations, etc. Keep it simple, and everyone will enjoy the celebration more, while doing a little bit to save the Earth from climate change.

I'm so excited about this! We are getting a wine barrel to collect rain water.  There is a gutter that leaks water onto the path to our kitchen door, so were going to fix that by collecting the water instead.

As for planting, right now just flowers and hopfully anything that deers and other animals won't eat.  We have no grass on the property. So nice cause then we don't have to use the electric lawn mower which we are letting my parents borrow for now.

We have natural A/C - TREES!!!!!  When we were having that heat wave a few weeks ago it was 104 outside and a cool 84 inside.

There is also lots of windows so no need to turn any lights on during the day.

We don't have a garbage disposal. Well, unless you count the cat that lives outside.  I hope to compost, but have to figure out where and keep it animal safe.

We are on well water and have a septic system. The well water is yellow. We have a filter, but the water still tastes gross. I know it's not green, but we are buying water for now.  When we moved in the owners had the well inspected and it needs to be fixed/replaced.  So for now we are drinking bottled water to stay safe until it gets fixed.  With the septic system, we really have to watch what goes down the drain now.  I'm using organic soap for the dishes and clothes.

I'm so proud of myself. The other day when I went food shopping, I brought all 10 of my reusable bags and used them.  Now I just need to remember to bring them all again.

And since today is "Bike to work day" Dan road his bike to work today! Woo Hoo!!!  We also have some nice walking trails, so I don't have to drive somewhere to go walking.

Since this is public, if you want to know where we are now, please e-mail me. Thank you!

I found this:

http://ecoadvantageusa.com/index.html 

They are also hiring. 

They’ve developed a washing machine that only needs 23 milliliters (a cup) of water per load—about 2 percent of the usual dose.

 Xeros

I just thought this was such a great image.  It sure is what I feel like sometimes!

From Ode magazine....probably my favorite mag at the time. Check it out if you are unfamiliar. I thought this article would be of interest to you all. Talk about, uhm...obsessed?!? But in a good way! But...don't expect to find this type of 'toilet' at this greenmommy's house!

Rebekah and Stephen Hren took a 75-year-old house and turned it into a model zero-carbon home. Here’s how.

This is how the "universe" always works....When I heard this story airing on NPR yesterday, I thought, ”Of course. That’s how the universe works when you are tuned in”…. and sometimes (only sometimes) I am tuned in. The timing seemed to be "cosmic" because I had recently dusted off my old VHS tapes from childhood and selected the movie Charlotte’s Web to share with my kids. After watching it with them, I felt really touched and moved by the character of Charlotte and told my friend Jen A. about it when she was in town about a month ago. Since then I have been thinking about Charlotte a lot.

I love Charlotte because she is caring but straightforward, she is hardworking and extremely loyal to her friend Wilbur. She is also wise and a little sassy.

I have been restless with ideas lately about feeling like I am not doing meaningful work, and maybe I need to go back "to work", and do something "important" instead of staying home with my kids. I like to think about Charlotte when I think about my role as mother (particularly as stay at home mother) because since having children 4 years ago, I often have had internal struggles about whether what I am currently doing is important or has meaning. Before I had children and decided to stay at home with them, my identity was largely wrapped up in my profession as social worker and I was reminded every day of my purpose and importance in making a difference to people and in the community. As a mother, that sense of purpose and importance is much more…subtle and gradual (at least for me).

I do have so much gratitude for the opportunity to be able to stay home with my kids and I know that it is often seen as a luxury. I also, however, cannot help struggling with questions like “is this work important?” and “is this work meaningful?” and “is this my ‘calling’ right now?”. I think those questions will likely always weave in and out of my life as I make certain choices. Watching Charlotte’s Web with my kids, though, has helped me to remind myself during those questioning times that Charlotte did many magnificent things like write on her web, rally a barnyard of animals around a cause, and ultimately save a life, but what she called her life’s magnum opus (her masterpiece) was her children and that gives me comfort.

So I appreciate (as Jen A. can attest to because I think I was pretty emotional when I told her this) and have learned to remind myself of the things I learned through Charlotte’s character. That being a parent is some of the most, if not THE most important work one can do. Raising the next generation. And as a GreenMommy, I am particularly proud to be a part of a group of woman who are not only raising children, but raising future stewards of the earth by the influence we have on them now and by raising consciousness.

So if you are interested in learning a little more about the character of Charlotte or haven’t read the book or seen the movie in a while, I would encourage you to check them out. I really enjoyed this piece that aired yesterday on the character of Charlotte. And when I listened to the many different people who spoke about Charlotte, it made me feel better that I am not the only one who is brought to tears by a spider.

I came across this through a mothers group and I wanted to share. We all have different expectations and goals around celebrations in our families, and I know I personally struggle with materialism and celebrations and how to best balance those. I found PROJECT BIRTHDAY that is a non-profit that does bday parties for homeless kiddos in shelters. Great idea, and they have various ways to help out. 

Stumbled upon this information..my plan is to put plants in the rooms I don't have one yet.

Though chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide are anathema to human health, plants can thrive on them, while also removing them from the air. Plants that top the clean-air list include peace lily, bamboo palm, English ivy, mums, and gerbera daisies, all of which are both easy to find and easy to care for, so even if you don’t have a green thumb, you can still have a green home or office.

I have been admittedly lazy when it comes to my cloth diapers. I think the winter weather, and not being able to hang them in the sun had a part in it, but really there is no excuse :)

I started out using cloth basically full time (still wore a disposable at night because my daughter pees a ton). Then I started wearing disposables when we went out, like to a friends house or to a park, not wanting to pack my wetbag and all that. Then pretty soon I was back in disposables full time while my adorable cloth diaper sat folded in a pile. Well, no more!

I am, as of today, recommitted to cloth!  It was a change I had made because I really believe in the concept of reusable vs. disposable. Over the last 2-3 months I have just slacked off. 

Is there anything lately that you ladies need to recommit too? Or is it just me :) 

There is a website for everything I tell ya!

I thought it would be helpful to post a site that I was told about on this blog. I know we are all trying to take small steps, and this site might help educate and inform in regards to laundry.

www.laundrylist.org 

Yesterday and today for May standards around here (Santa Rosa) have been incredibly HOT as most of my fellow bloggers know.

What are some ways you and your kids are staying cool while keeping your "carbon foot print" light? 

Here is a non toxic, low cost clearner recipe for your sink, tub, tile, toilet and floors:

1/4 white vinegar

2 tsp borax

32 ox hot water (to dissolve borax)

1/4 liquid dish soap (added last).....Method brand makes a dye and perfume free cleaner that I love and would begood in this "recipe, esp if you like the scent of your own essential oil or NO SCENT which is what I like....

20 drops of essential oil (optional) 

 Dissolve borax in hot water (otherwise the spray will be grainy). Add vinegar, borax and water to a 32 oz spray bottle. Add the liquid dish soap (and essential oils if desired). Shake ingredients to mix.