For Music Lovers

Kudos to Jack Johnson on his 2008 eco-friendly summer tour. The Hawaiian-born Johnson, a former professional surfer, has been interested in the environment from an early age and is now using his star-power to make a difference. During his tour he will raise funds for environmental groups,use biodiesel in all buses and trucks, feature locally grown and organic foods and adhere to strict waste reduction and recycling guidelines. Also, $1 from each ticket sold will go to "offset the CO2 emissions produced by the concertgoers' travel to the show." For more information check out his online community, "All at Once," or his website for tour dates.

Sustainababy Turns 1 Month Old

Sustainababy is one month old today and we have received almost 1000 unique hits from all over the U.S and the world! Visitors have come from as far away as Japan and Indonesia. Thanks for visiting and telling your friends. Please keep coming back and emailing us with suggestions!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Happy Earth Day, everyone! What a wonderful day to teach children (and other adults) about their impact on the planet. Why don't you celebrate by calculating your ecological footprint? Take this fun quiz on the Global Footprint Network. The quiz is fun and interactive and in the end you can view recommendations for how to decrease your footprint. You can check out the video below for more info:

BPA Controversy- Q&A

With the findings of the latest BPA research all over the news, lots of people are left asking questions. "Do I need to throw out all my plastic containers? What do I really need to be concerned about?" If this sounds familiar to you, then check out a handout that was recently published by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy here. The good news out of all of this is that more U.S. retailers are giving BPA the boot. Canada's government is moving forward with a proposed ban on BPA in baby bottles; we can all hope that the U.S. will soon follow their lead.

More Products I Love- Baby Soy

My girlfriend just bought Miss C a beautiful blanket and bib from a company called Baby Soy. The blanket and bib are made of 50% soybean fiber and 50% cotton. In addition to being adorable, the fabric is super soft and environmentally friendly. I will definitely check out more of their products in the future!

Tax Day Blues?

Did tax day leave you in a funk because you owe money to Uncle Sam? Get a head start on next year's taxes by making a charitable donation to our charity of the month, Stop the Spread. Stop the Spread team members are gearing up to head to Zambia for the summer to work on a variety of projects in the Copperbelt Region. For more information, check out their website at www.stop-the-spread.com
Donations may be sent by making a check payable to "Stop The Spread, Inc" and sending it to:
72 East McNab Rd.
PMB 174
Pompano Beach, FL 33060-9133
Please include your full name, mailing address, and email address in the envelope with the check or email it to mary@stop-the-spread.com.

You're Never too Young (or Old!)

You are never too young to make a difference. Our little princess, Miss C, has been organizing a shoe drive to raise awareness for the charity of the month, Stop the Spread. Ok, so maybe she got a little help. But it makes for a cute picture. Next time you get involved in a charity or environmental project, try to get your kids involved even if it's by just telling them what you're doing and why. Something as simple as explaining to a child why you're turning the lights out when you leave a room can make a big difference.

More Natural Products

Check out Baby Universe's Eco-Friendly section for all sorts of natural and organic baby needs. They feature cleaning products, bedding, stroller, etc. Pretty cool! As a bonus for all you Sustainababy readers, you can get free shipping off orders of $99 or more by clicking on the graphic below!

Play a Game and Help Others

Someone just passed this along to me and I had to add it right away because I think that it's super cool. A non-profit called Free Rice has a fun game online where you can match up words with their definition to donate rice to the UN World Food Program. This is a great way for stay-at-home moms to keep their brains from turning to mush, as well as anyone else! The game adjusts the skill level based on how many you get right. My husband and I just played and in a matter of a minute or two we donated 200 grains of rice. Not bad. Thanks for the tip, Susan!

Food Bank Theft & How You Can Help

This goes under the label of "things that make me very sad." A food bank in the Washington, DC area was recently robbed and over 1000 pounds of canned food were stolen! The food bank is run by an organization called Alexandrians Involved Ecumenically (ALIVE) and serves some of the neediest people in the area. If you live in the DC area please look into your pantries and consider donating. ALIVE volunteers will be accepting food donations from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at their main headquarters at 2723 King St. The organization shares space with Alexandria First Christian Church. Volunteers also will be accepting donations on Monday. The greatest need is for canned meats and fish. If you're in North Arlington then I can arrange to come pick up the canned goods at your house. Please email sustainababy@gmail.com for more info.

BPA-free pacifiers

One of our astute readers pointed out that the adorable Bling pacifiers aren't BPA-free. Shame on me for not realizing that! Luckily Miss C uses the Gerber silicone NUKs, which are indeed BPA-free. My dentist said that the orthodontic pacifiers are also much better for her forming teeth and should help her avoid the nasty overbite that I had from sucking my thumb for too long. Zrecs also recommends the Playtex binky as a low-cost BPA-free pacifier. If your child is addicted to another type of paci, then don't fear! You can limit their potential exposure to BPA by replacing pacifiers frequently and not heating the plastic. For more info on the topic, check out one of my favorite blogs, Zrecs, article on the subject.

Natural Toys

Sick of worrying about whether the toy that your little one desperately wants contains lead paint? Check out Toys R' Us' new natural wood line. There currently aren't that many toys in the line, but the reasonable price makes it very attractive. Thanks to Amy S. for letting me know about this. Does anyone else know about another reasonably priced natural toy line? If so, shoot me an email at sustainababy@gmail.com.

More Organic Finds

I LOVE chocolate. I actually consider myself a bit of a connoisseur. I think I've tried all kinds, which is why I wanted to share some of my favorite organic finds. My favorite organic chocolate (thus far) is Dagoba 75% dark chocolate. Dagoba is a company that practices full-circle sustainability to make quality and competetively priced chocolate. I can find it at my local Harris Teeeter and Whole Foods Market. They also have a great online store that features many items on sale.
Another chocolate find occurred today after we took the baby out for a stroll and ventured into a european bakery called Le Pain Quotidien . This place features organic coffee, tea, and my favorite- organic hot cocoa. I have to tell you, it's delish!

Baby Bling

Ok, so this really doesn't have anything to do with sustainability, but I think that I can tie it in loosely because it's a matter of health. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the use of a pacifier at sleep time starting at 1 month of age and continuing throughout the first year of life to help reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Knowing that, you'd be silly to not use a pacifier, but having a piece of plastic stuck in your baby's mouth isn't always the cutest thing. Enter Munchkin's Bling Pacifiers, adorable bejeweled paci's that come in baseball, crown, circles, or star patterns. I'm going to have to find a crown one for our little princess, Miss C. Too cute!

Carbon Offsetting Travel

This past week we took our first flight with baby. There were tons of things to think about- what to pack, whether she'd behave...I have to admit that the whole situation was a little overwhelming. Things were relatively uneventful though (whew!), leaving me time to think about the carbon emissions produced during our flights. I'd heard about online calculators that you could use to calculate your carbon emissions from travel and purchase products to offset the emissions, but admittedly had never used any. I figured that if I truly wanted to make an impact then I wouldn't fly, but with family throughout the country that really isn't an option.
I just did a search to see what products are out there and found far more than I'd imagined! Luckily Tufts University created a Voluntary Carbon Offset Information Portal to help filter through the information. They divided the evaluated companies into three groups: recommended, recommended with reservation, and not recommended. The 4 they recommend are: atmosfair, climate friendly, myclimate, and NativeEnergy. Most of these sites also allow you to offset things other than flight emissions, such as car emissions and home/office. Using climate friendly, it cost $36.33 to offset a trip for 2 from Washington DC to Tampa, FL; the same trip was $60 using Atmosfair, $40 using myclimate, and only $12 on Native Energy.
I decided that overall I like the sites, if for no other reason than to assuage the guilt I feel from flying; at a cost of upwards of $60 for a standard trip, it can be a bit pricey though.

Markmakers

I found Markmakers this past Christmas when I was trying to find something for my 7 year old niece who said she "didn't want more toys" because she already didn't "know what to do with all the ones she has." Yes, I realize that this is not a statement that normally comes out of kids mouths...I was originally thinking that I would get something in her name from an alternative gift fair and present her with a card explaining what it was for. Luckily I then found Markmakers, a website where you can purchase philanthropic gift cards for kids which they can in turn use to distribute funds to the charities of their choice. I browsed the website and was very impressed. The site is very easy to navigate, and she loved playing around on the main selection page which is set up like an amusement park. The charities are divided into different shops and include: Kids in Need shop, Disease Prevention & Health shop, Peace & Justice shop, Fight Hunger & Poverty shop, Protect Animals shop, and Protect the Environment shop. Once you choose a shop you can drill down and find out more about the charities and projects. On each page you can choose how much you'd like to donate (a minimum of $1 to your project of choice).
Overall my niece seemed to really enjoy the Markmakers gift card. The only downside is that it took a long time for her to select a project; she learned a lot during the process though. I love Markmakers and will definitely use it again!

Would You Feel Compelled to Action?

Our charity of the month, Stop the Spread, is gearing up to head back to Zambia. Volunteers from the organization will provide HIV/AIDs education, counseling, and education on the use of the moringa tree. The selfless volunteers are trying to raise money for their travel, estimated at $3000 each. Please consider supporting team members by making a tax-deductible contribution. You may do so by making a check payable to "Stop The Spread, Inc" and sending it to:
72 East McNab Rd.
PMB 174
Pompano Beach, FL 33060-9133
Please include your full name, mailing address, and email address in the envelope with the check or email it to mary@stop-the-spread.com.

Products I Love

As a breastfeeding mama, I am always thirsty; this can be a problem when I'm on the go. I hate buying water bottles (for the obvious environmental reasons), so as an alternative I use an adorable SIGG Hello Kitty water bottle. This durable 20 oz. water bottle is made of aluminum so that you don't have to worry about any leaching, and the sport top is perfect for those of us that are more than a little clumsy. Best of all, it's super lightweight and it fits perfectly in my BOB stroller cup holder. SIGG carries bottles in a variety of different sizes and colors and they also make some adorable 13 oz. kids bottles. Washing them can be a bit tricky unless you have a bottle brush, but I've found that my Munchkin brush works well. I think that I'm going to ask for a few more of these for my birthday, just so that I always have one around!

Have a Cow

Leave it to the guys at Stonyfield Farms, makers of my favorite fat-free organic yogurt, to come up with this idea. They have a fun educational program aptly called "Have-A-Cow", where you can sign up to "receive a photograph of a real cow that produces milk for Stonyfield Farm, her biography that tells about life on the farm and seasonal updates from "their" cow." What a great way to teach kids about organic farming! You can check out cow profiles on their website; kinda of like a cow match.com!