Eco-friendly Potty Training

Today in our local paper there was an article on an interesting effect of the current recession - a decline in the sales of disposable training pants. Parents analyzing their budgets are forced to rethink which products are essential and with a potential savings of $30-$100 a month, many parents are deciding that disposable training pants aren't a necessity.

Since disposable training pants like disposable diapers are made from petroleum byproducts and tree products, they have a huge impact on the environment. By choosing to avoid the use of training pants parents can see three benefits -

1. A more earth-friendly approach to potty training
2. Significant money savings
3. In many cases, faster toilet training.

The first two benefits seem obvious, but why would potty training go faster without training pants? Like disposable diapers, training pants have absorbent material to wick away wetness. When my daughter was potty training we let her run around the house naked or in underwear and she quickly learned to use the potty to avoid accidents in her pretty panties.

Smencils

My daughter got some Smencils from her grandparents for Easter and loves them. What are Smencils you say? They are scented pencils made from recycled newspaper. They are a fun and eco-friendly product. Smencils are manufactured from recycled newspapers, environmentally friendly fragrances, recyclable ferrules and biodegradable erasers. While pencils that come in a plastic tube wouldn't seem earth friendly, the tubes are made of recyclable plastic and in the near future the tubes are going to be made from biodegradable plastic. Smencils are available in these delicious scents - Cherry, Cinnamon, Bubble Gum, Pineapple, Orange, Grape, Fruit Punch, Root Beer, Watermelon and Peppermint. Visit www.smencils.com to see how you can save trees, one pencil at a time.

The 5 Minute Shower

The change to the 5 minute shower was an intimidating one for me since I loved a long, hot shower and I seemed to get all my brilliant ideas in the shower. However once I started timing my showers I found it was pretty easy to get squeaky clean in just 5 minutes. Now I will confess there are still a few times that my shower runs long - just recently I had a bad head cold and boy did a steamy shower really help that out. As far as my thinking goes I still have plenty of time in the shower to brainstorm and I've taken to carrying a notebook with me and letting my mind wander when I am stuck at traffic lights, doctor's offices, whenever I have a little downtime.

Why is shortening your shower so important? Even if you have a low-flow shower head a 5 minute shower will use 7-8 gallons of water. If you haven't installed a low-flow shower, put this on your must do list as a 5 minute shower without one can use an astronomical 20 gallons of water!

Getting my daughter to take a 5 minute shower is one of my family's green resolutions for 2009. As little as she is I'm not sure what takes so long in there, but I know it requires a lot of singing! To help her with her goal I got a Shower Coach timer. This great timer suctions on the side of the shower and has a 5 minute sand timer. The Shower Coach makes easy for her to see how much singing time she has left.

Waste Free Lunches

Now that school is back in swing, it's time to look at your child's lunch box and it's impact on the environment. Many typical lunch boxes contain a lot of waste in the form of single serving packages, juice boxes, and plastic baggies. It has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. How can you pack a waste free lunch? Start with your lunch box - check out Laptop Lunch systems www.laptoplunches.com. The Laptop Lunches are a lunch system which feature great containers that all fit together to help you pack a healthy lunch. By using the container system, you can reduce the waste of single serving packages and can save money by buying in larger packages. Instead of putting your sandwich in a plastic baggie, check out Wrap-N-Mats a reusable sandwich wrap and placemat in one. Put your child's juice or water in a reusable stainless steel bottle instead of packing a plastic water bottle or juicebox.

Want to make a bigger impact on the environment? Check out ways to encourage your child's school or your workplace to go waste free at www.wastefreelunches.org

Beach Clean Up

Yesterday my daughter and I participated in a beach clean up with her Girl Scout Troop. Last month we also did a beach clean up with a volunteer group to which we belong. Both times we found an alarming amount of fishing line, balloons, and other debris that can harm sea creatures, especially sea turtles. Our area has one of the largest concentration of sea turtle nesting sites in this country. Our county has been proactive in preventing sea turtle deaths by keeping lights out on the beach which can confuse turtles - instinct drives nesting, egg-laden female turtles and lure newly-hatched baby turtles from their nests on beaches towards the brightest horizon, ideally the waterline, but the bright lights of street lamps, illuminated parking lots, and buildings can disorient them towards artificial light sources. However the large amount of garbage found on the beaches can also contribute to sea turtle deaths. Discarded fishing line can become entangled around animals, balloons and plastic bags floating on the oceans surface can be mistaken for jellyfish a staple of the turtles diet. While we regularly participate in organized beach clean ups, we also do our part whenever we go to the beach. While wandering the beach searching for shells, we take two bags - one for sea treasures we find and the other for trash. At the end of the day the treasures come home and the trash is disposed of properly.

Eco Easter Eggs

For a fun experiment my daughter and I decided to color our eggs without the regular Easter egg dyes and to try a do-it-yourself alternative. We used free-range eggs from a friend's chicken farm which we hard-boiled. We used raspberries for pink, spinach for green, cumin for yellow, paprika for orange, and blueberries for blue. I used 1/2 a cup of berries or vegetables & 2 Tbsp. of herbs per cup of water. In a saucepan, bring the mixture to a boil and then add 2 Tbsp. white vinegar and simmer for 15 minutes. Submerge the eggs in the dye and allow to sit for 15 minutes or until your desired color is reached. Have fun experimenting with foods and spices in your home. :)

Great Green Gifts

Enjoy the luck of the Irish today! Remember when it comes time to give gifts to friends and family you don't have to use your whole pot of gold to give something green :)

For the home lover - give a clean burning soy candle. Check out - Naked Candle Company www.nkdpure.com

For the beauty queen - Peacekeeper Cause-Metics - all natural cosmetics whose company donates ALL its profits to women's health & human rights advocacy issues www.iamapeacekeeper.com

For the kids - Xeko a fun, new animal trading card game that's driving kids wild. The cards which are printed with soy ink teach kids about animals from far of lands like Madagascar, Indonesia, and Coast Rica. The company has a wrapper recycling program and donates 4% of its sales to Conservation International. www.xeko.com

For the sports lover - Sigg aluminum water bottles - these great refillable bottles allow you to quench your thirst without contributing to the mountains of plastic bottles we generate every day. www.mysigg.com

For the fashion plate - Check out Tees for Change. Their organic cotton or bamboo tees are printed with fun messages like - Laugh Often, Chase Dreams, Choose Happiness. www.teesforchange.com

For the outdoor lover - Help them protect themselves from the sun while avoiding the harmful chemicals found in typical sunscreens with Caribbean Sol www.caribbean-sol.com

For the brown bagger - keep tons of sandwich bags out of landfills with Wrap-N-Mat, a reusable sandwich wrap and mat. www.wrap-n-mat.com

For the pet lover - Give your pet treats so healthy and natural they're safe for you to eat from www.pawsativelydapper.net and for pet clean-ups check out Scoopies - biodegradable waste bags www.scoopies.com

For the shopper - a reusable bag. Eco-Bags have a variety of great bags to help you solve the paper or plastics debate - neither www.ecobags.com

Homemade Fun Dough

My daughter and I made some of this great dough today. It's homemade play dough with common kitchen ingredients. Enjoy :)

1 cup flour
1/2 salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. oil
1 cup water
Food coloring
Cinnamon extract (optional)

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in sauce pan. Add oil, water and cinnamon extract and mix. If you are making only one color, add in the food coloring. If you want to make multiple colors you can also separate the cooled dough and knead in the food coloring later. Cook over low to medium heat stirring constantly until mixture becomes dough like. Cool and knead until smooth. Store in an airtight container.