Canada Bans BPA

While the FDA is still declaring Bisphenol A (BPA) safe here in the United States, Canada has banned BPA in baby bottles. BPA which is currently found in polycarbonate plastic bottles and epoxy can linings, is linked to breast and prostrate cancer, diabetes, hyperactivity, low sperm count, and early puberty in girls. Wal-Mart Canada is pulling all baby products containing BPA from its shelves and the chain said it plans to stop selling products containing BPA in U.S. stores by next year. Also Nalgene, the maker of reusable water bottles that are popular among athletes, is planning on discontinuing production of bottles made with the BPA and will recall existing products already in stores. Canada's bold move puts pressure on U.S. regulators to reexamine their positions on BPA.

Do you have a green hero?

Do you have someone who inspires you to live a little greener or be kinder to animals? The best thank you they can receive is for you to pay it forward and encourage others to make changes in their life that will make the world a better place. However if you are looking for another way to say thanks, enter them in Kind Green Planet's Pay It Forward Push. By making a small tax-deductible donation to Kind Green Planet, your hero will be entered in four drawings for gorgeously green, animal-friendly prizes. Simply visit www.kindgreenplanet.org and donate $10 and input the name and email address of your kind green hero. Kind Green Planet will send your hero an e-card letting them know that you consider them a kind green hero and that you have entered their name into our fabulous prize drawings. Don't delay the contest ends tomorrow and the winners will be announced on May 1st.

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.

TV Turn Off Week Update

Well my family just completed a week without television and you know what it was no big deal! When I told people about it they couldn't believe we were going to go "a WHOLE week" without TV. It doesn't seem like we watch a lot of television around here - during the day when we are doing school it is off, then we head out for the afternoon activities, really it's just on in the evenings after dinner - so I was shocked when I saw our DVR recorded 25 hours of shows!! Could we possibly watch this much television a week? Well after I deleted the stuff I knew we wouldn't watch I was still left with 15 hours of television. I certainly am not going to watch all that this week, so it's time to evaluate which shows we really enjoy, which ones we watch just for background noise while doing other things, and which ones we watch just because they are there. If I survived last week without any television and actually accomplished more - read three books, organized my daughter's school portfolio, cleaned out some clutter, had my daughter help with cooking dinner, had some game nights, researched some really cool stuff for upcoming school projects, and had some fun family time - do I really want to go back to all that television? I am planning on pairing it down to 10 hours worth of shows, which is even less when you fast forward through the commercials. I am also going to edit how many shows we record a week and just record those we really enjoy. A week of no television every so often is a great way to keep your family's TV time under control. The next TV Turn Off Week is scheduled for September 20-26th.