Non-Toxic Kids

The crayon rocks seem like a great addition to any...

2010-03-19T12:45:19.600-07:00

The crayon rocks seem like a great addition to any eco-kid's art set. The colors are bright and the kids would love to color with something shaped differently than the every day crayon.

Ava Anderson Non-Toxic has received "0" NonToxic r...

2010-03-18T10:49:11.191-07:00

Ava Anderson Non-Toxic has received "0" NonToxic rating (the best)on ALL the product line. Skin Care - makeup - baby. Check our website! VERY affordable! You CAN have beauty AND health inside and out!
www.AvaAndersonNonToxic.com/BeMadeWhole
Amazing products for an Amazing You!

Flynngal, you are sooo right! I just watched some...

2010-03-17T17:45:30.382-07:00

Flynngal, you are sooo right! I just watched some of King Corn (before I fell asleep) and know that we are eating too much corn-- especially genetically modified corn in all sorts of products. Thanks for the reminder. I am a grocery store marketers dream, though. I must control my impulses for salty treats!

I love these Ergo baby carrriers and other sling c...

2010-03-17T11:48:27.242-07:00

I love these Ergo baby carrriers and other sling contraptiond for carrying your baby around. So somfortable and easy to use....cant be better !

I loved this book too! I especially like how she g...

2010-03-16T21:23:31.357-07:00

I loved this book too! I especially like how she gives different options for greening the same thing because things don't always go the same way twice at my house!

We should always buy product for our kids that com...

2010-03-16T08:25:39.909-07:00

We should always buy product for our kids that come in non toxic packing to be on the safe side.

Excellent and exciting news. Kudos to Fritos! I ...

2010-03-16T08:02:32.756-07:00

Excellent and exciting news. Kudos to Fritos! I support another brand of all-natural skin care products - LifeLogic that packages their antibacterial wipes in a box made from recycled materials and that they are biodegradable/compostable/flushable.

Yes the technology is here and its about time!!

Great blog. I will connect on Twitter.

I am all for reducing waste especially plastic, bu...

2010-03-15T20:51:57.490-07:00

I am all for reducing waste especially plastic, but I am worried about an unintended side effect of these compostable "plastics". I had been so excited about an organic coffee shop which opened near us and applauded their use of biodegradable utensils and cups, but they are made from corn as are many many products. My concern is two fold: 1 my son has a corn allergy, 2 we are still subsidizing corn in this country. I think you're intention to not buy packaged snacks is best...and hope the industry can find a different source than corn for our biodegradable products.

I'm just starting to compost! I am so excited! I...

2010-03-15T19:53:32.552-07:00

I'm just starting to compost! I am so excited! I can buy chips!

Pretty Cool!

Not only support, I think that students' fee shoul...

2010-03-15T19:32:02.858-07:00

Not only support, I think that students' fee should be cut down for 20 %. If so poor students can learn better

I recommend reading the following letter from the ...

2010-03-15T01:00:44.721-07:00

I recommend reading the following letter from the CEO of Melissa and Doug over at Z recommends, which explains a lot.

Short story is that the Canadian government uses a much stronger agent to leach out the barium from the paint to measure it than the US/Europe (an 22x-80x higher concentration of acid, depending on when the testing was done). So of course the levels measured are higher. The actually allowed levels are the same in the US and Canada, but the different methodology obtained a different amount of barium.

http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/exclusive-melissa-doug-answer-recall-questions-pledge-new-standards/

I have to agree with Gloria. My little guy was di...

2010-03-14T14:02:09.540-07:00

I have to agree with Gloria. My little guy was diagnosed with autism in April of last year, and we have been doing our best to rid out home of toxic chemicals, buying only organic foods, using handmade vegan soaps, etc. We have been looking to replace our floors with laminate, and this article put a big halt in that. Thank you so much for sharing this. I find your information most helpful!

Katy, I appreciate your willingness to approach th...

2010-03-10T21:07:52.722-08:00

Katy, I appreciate your willingness to approach this with an open mind.

The report I read on the leaks said the ground water is moving toward the Connecticut river, which is normal for ground alongside rivers. Understand, we're not talking about major water flows and so when the tritium-contaminated water mixes with river water the concentration would be so low as to be undetectable. Compared with the natural radioactivity in the water, of all the pollutants in the river the tritium is the last one we should be concerned over.

I guess if the choice were between nuclear energy and a completely natural environment, most people would choose natural. But that isn't the choice we get. Even the intermittent, unpredictable energy sources the greenpeacers are promoting affect the environment: pollution, land disturbance, toxic waste, greenhouse gases. In reality, people won't accept part-time energy sources, so the choice is between coal and some mix of nuclear and renewable. Coal plants release many times more radioactivity than nuclear plants do because the coal contains radon and radioactive minerals, some of which escape the particle-collection systems.

We do, in fact, know what to do with spent fuel, which you call waste. We've had the technology for recycling it for more than 60 years. And the money for recycling is already saved in a fund to which the utilities contribute. The residual waste left over from recycling is amenable to a number of solutions, all of them depending on technology which is well developed and awaiting implementation. My preferred solution is to bombard the waste with neutrons in special reactors: not only is the waste transmuted into different elements but the process yields energy--a win-win proposition. Some people advocate dropping it into tectonic subduction zones; the residual wastes lose their radioactivity in a few centuries and won't pop up somewhere else to cause harm. I'm OK with that, too.

You might be wondering why the spent fuel isn't being treated, since the technology and the funding are both available. Actually, you already know the answer. The political groups that complain the wastes aren't being treated also lobby against treating it. That's how democracy works and I'm OK with it. But as citizens we have to keep complaints like this in perspective.

I'm sympathetic to your last point. After eight years of watching the federal government abdicate its responsibilities for protecting the environment it's reasonable and appropriate to be cautious and circumspect. But that's a problem we have to deal with anyway. Nuclear energy is only one of a large number of environmental concerns that have to be watched and, in comparison to the others, it is one of the least threatening.

You can see the problem in the subject we're dealing with here. The air and the water are being polluted with toxic chemicals nature has never had to deal with, the soil and the oceans are being poisoned by heavy metals, and the climate is being changed. But a small leakage of tritium that could never cause harm is promoted to headline status, with individuals acting as though it's the worst possible threat to the environment and it proves the world has to give up the only full-time energy source that can effectively reduce CO2 emissions.

Such a concern should never be ignored, but it has to be considered in context. That's why you and I are having this dialog.

Thanks very much.
Red

Thanks for your comments! I must admit I need t...

2010-03-10T18:18:35.036-08:00

Thanks for your comments!

I must admit I need to learn lots more about nuclear power. But I do know a good bit about ecology, and how water travels through soil and into aquifers-- so I don't trust or agree that the tritium will not/ or has not posed a threat to human health through introduction into our waterways (in this case the Connecticut River). Thinking that leaks or pollutants released in one area of a watershed will not reach the areas around it where people live is a bit short sited. And the troubling thing about the claim of nuclear plants not harming anyone-- well, cancer is a tricky thing, with multiple causes, and that is why one could skew the data in that direction to make such a claim. I, for one, need to do more reading and research about nuclear power, but I am not interested in generating more waste that we don't know what to do with, and trusting massive corporations with our health. That hasn't gone so well in the past and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Anyway, this is a great dialogue and I appreciate your thoughts.

"But what makes anyone imagine that the right safe...

2010-03-10T05:53:56.574-08:00

"But what makes anyone imagine that the right safeguards could actually be developed and then maintained, day in and day out, for decades, if not eons."

There are 439 nuclear plants around the world and they don't all have problems. This particular plant was old (built in 1972) outdated and producing more power than it was designed to. It should have been shut down a long time ago and replaced with a newer, more efficient plant. I'd be willing to bet that safety wise we've come a long way since 1972.

Katy, thanks for taking the trouble to comment. M...

2010-03-09T20:35:41.270-08:00

Katy, thanks for taking the trouble to comment.

My comment was intended to challenge the author's information sources, not the author. I don't doubt she has the world's best interests at heart. The political groups where she got the information do not.

I think your question is rhetorical, but I'll answer it anyway. The tritium was not found in drinking-water wells, but in monitoring wells dug precisely for the purpose of detecting such leaks. The tritium being released will not find its way into aquifers.

The question of what to do about the leaks is being investigated. The leaks do not pose a threat to anyone, and the NRC is required by law to make sure that corrective action is taken to ensure they won't in the future.

The difference between nuclear and coal is that nuclear plants have these sorts of safety features. Coal plants don't have them, and the plants have clear and undeniable health effects on the areas around them.

Cravens's book is decidedly one-sided. She was strongly anti-nuke and took part in some anti-nuclear protests. Then she had a chance to study the subject directly instead of taking information from political groups. She learned that everything she had been told was either false or at least distorted.

The air pollution from fossil fuels is a genuine threat to people's health, especially for infants. Thousands of Americans die every month from it. In contrast, no American has ever been harmed by a nuclear power plant. I know that's an unbelievable statement, but it's what the record shows.

You never would have guessed the truth if you rely on political groups. That's why I'm asking you to find better information sources.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your question.

Red

Hello Red Craig, FYI: This blog is not a "irresp...

2010-03-09T17:21:39.429-08:00

Hello Red Craig,

FYI: This blog is not a "irresponsible political group whose sole purpose is to lie about nuclear energy." It is blog run by a parent, for parents. This post was by an author and guest blogger. The book you cite sounds like an informative read, but has also been judged as a one sided view of the positives of nuclear energy.

And one question: would you want to have your children drink from a well where there are underground tritium leaks? Ones that the company lied about ever being there?

I grew up on cake mixes from a box. Since I know t...

2010-03-09T11:13:05.348-08:00

I grew up on cake mixes from a box. Since I know that I'll eat those things if I have them around, I don't buy them. Easy weight control :) That is, until I got a serious cupcake craving. I invited guests over for lunch which was the perfect excuse to make cupcakes. I didn't have a box mix but I did have the raw ingredients and The Joy of Cooking. An hour or so later I had peanut butter cupcakes with mocha frosting - something you can't make with a box mix. Yum!

I like this method bette because I don't have to buy anything extra when the urge hits - I already have it if I make it from scratch. The downside? I might have to invest in some stretchy pants if I give in to cupcake cravings!

OMG that is the funniest thing ever and totally re...

2010-03-09T10:53:38.261-08:00

OMG that is the funniest thing ever and totally reminds me of some of my own DIY disasters. Long ago I baked a cake and accidentally used Bisquick instead of flour. Even though it happened in the mid 90's, my friends will never let me live it down.

Glad you didn't give up!

that's a great story! it's nice to hear when peopl...

2010-03-09T09:58:45.633-08:00

that's a great story! it's nice to hear when people "fail" at the DIY thing--it helps to know other moms aren't always perfect (on the first try, that is:)

another idea for icing is to use yogurt. i read once that you could make yogurt cheese by straining yogurt. i added some vanilla and some cinnamon and voila! healthy icing. you could also puree some fruit for flavor.

here's a pick. i was super proud too!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/haphealyeverafter/3515605872/in/set-72157617817288893/

The world will not deal successfully with the real...

2010-03-09T09:58:07.430-08:00

The world will not deal successfully with the real threat of global warming as long as people absorb misinformation from totally irresponsible political groups whose sole purpose is to lie about nuclear energy.

For real information on this important subject, please read Power to Save the World by Gwyneth Cravens.

Well, I have been cooking from scratch for a while...

2010-03-08T08:53:21.894-08:00

Well, I have been cooking from scratch for a while, but my ingredient disasters come from living in England now and trying to convert my recipes to metric or from metric back to the imperial system. I also have had bad luck finding great-sounding recipes online, starting to measure ingredients and mixing together to find out the blogger or author of said recipe left out a measurement altogether and I have to guess. Trial and error. Once you find a great recipe, you'll memorize it! For now, I still read the pancake recipe from the back of my son's Curious George Makes Pancakes book!

ha..ha..i laugh as i almost gave up on making brea...

2010-03-07T20:29:44.872-08:00

ha..ha..i laugh as i almost gave up on making bread last week. my mom owned a bakery & me, being her daughter shud b able 2 bake a loaf of organic whole wheat bread, right? not so much, i had been trying 6 months & finally last week I had success. it wasn't pretty but it did rise! making things from scratch on your own is so rewarding!

Your recipe only said 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda ...

2010-03-07T19:24:56.106-08:00

Your recipe only said 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, How did you come up with 1 and 1/2 cup? And those items usually come in small boxes, might be a clue about amounts. Okay enough teasing and kudos for starting over and not running to closest grocery for store bought cupcakes!

The first time I made chocolate chip cookies I did...

2010-03-07T17:46:56.432-08:00

The first time I made chocolate chip cookies I did the same thing! Good job sticking with it!

My favorite "make-from-scratch" cake recipe is the on off the Hershey cocoa powder container. So yummy!