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m o r e (coming clean on chemicals)

Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things is a quirky yet ominous title for a book that will get you thinking. In it, Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, two Canadian environmentalists, give the lowdown on the ominous chemicals that have come to define our age and their impact in a quirky way: by exposing themselves to chemicals and then testing their bodies.

It may sound more extreme than it is though--after all, we're exposed to crazy toxics everyday in every way it seems. They just made a deliberate effort for a few days to do common acts that come with doses of synthetic substances like eating tuna fish, getting a carpet cleaned, drinking from cans, using personal care products, and eating from plastic containers. That kind of everyday stuff.

Both their personal experiment and their years of experience and research demonstrate this: There are chemicals lurking everywhere from socks and underwear to frying pans to baby bottles to sofas to light switches to food and food packaging to televisions to toys to deodorant and shampoo. And those chemicals show up later, in our own blood and urine, in arctic animals, in fish, in our land and water. 

And the most susceptible among us are babies and kids.

The seven deadly chems Smith and Lourie looked at:

Phthalates, Teflon, PCBs, Mercury (a non-synthetic metal), Triclosan, 2,4-D (the herbicide), Bisphenol-A (BPA).

I won't divulge the results of their tests, but it was an amazing read and ride tracking these pollutants and learning the true cost of chemicals. 

The news is not all bad!

The authors have super recommendations about keeping toxins out of your home, life, and bloodstream here. And I concur that small actions can make a difference. By not using antibacterial soap, for example, you're not exposing yourself or loved ones to Triclosan and you're, in your small way, telling the major soap companies you're not interested in those products.

But the fact is that these chemicals are so pervasive and in so much stuff that they simply need to be regulated or banned altogether. And chemical companies aren't hearing that--in fact, they're thinking of new ways to douse and spray and treat things with them. So we need to speak louder. By reading this book, by spreading the word, by making choices at the store, and by telling the government we care about the lasting, detrimental effects of deleterious chemicals in everything.

A few resources to get started:

Environmental Working Group

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Center for Environmental Health

Moms Rising

And now, for the giveaway!

Simply make a comment on this post by Monday, April 26th at 3:00 p.m. (PST) and I'll randomly pick a winner to get a copy of Slow Death By Rubber Duck. (I've read it once so it's not pristine, but it's in almost perfect shape.)

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m o r e (organic moms)

In honor of one of my dearest friends having a baby last week, I thought I'd share my favorite thing to get women when I find out they're pregnant: Mambino Organics.

Could come in handy for spring and summer baby showers...

The hottest ticket is the oh baby! belly butter. Like all Mambino's products, it's made from natural, soothing botanicals blended to perfection. This one's specifically used for softening skin, soothing itch, and restoring elasticity.

I can attest to the husband-wife-team behind the brand as my own main squeeze knows one half and I've visited the warehouse where the magic happens myself. Care and attention are put into every detail--like air purifiers running to make sure the products remain hygenic and pristine. (A true family business, on the day I was there, one set of parents was there helping out.) And the fresh, sweet citrusy scent is incredible!

Maki, the woman of the team who masterminded the line uses the wisdom from her childhood in Serbia combined with training as an esthetician. More on Mambino Organic's philosophy here.

And there's a whole roundup of products for mom and baby alike like nursing balm and little bottoms baby ointment.

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m o r e (nature-inspired young readers)

Last year, my husband told me about the only books he enjoyed reading as a kid. All of them were adventure/nature types. And then I read them and could see why they were so captivating to a kid in the Northwest who didn't like reading and writing but liked drawing and exploring and climbing and making. So, for boys of a certain age, even though they're not current, I think the earthy coming of age classics  A Day No Pigs Would Die and My Side of the Mountain just might pique some interest.

And then there are new Young Adult book creations, two of which I read last month. After all, I confess to have a love of books meant for fourteen year olds. They're like candy to me. It could be worse, my candy could be actual candy. Or reality TV. :)

Anyway, here they are.

First Light by Rebecca Stead is a magical story about a boy in New York and a girl in a fictional icey underground land who are fated to meet one day. The boy's father is a global warming scientist and when he goes on an expedition with Dad, the two young characters find out how inextricably bound they are, and we all are, to what's going on under the ice in Greenland. It is beautiful, moving, imaginative, and appropriate for our times.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jaqueline Kelly is a sure bet for any budding naturalist. The girl of the title, Callie Vee, lives in Texas on the cusp of entering the 20th century and the cusp of discovering herself. She is not a regular girl of the time. She is a girl who keeps a notebook about the natural world, catches butterflies and caterpillars and, eventually, gets to know her grandfather who is a real, honest to goodness scientist-type. In fact, he even knows the much talked about Darwin. She helps him catalog plants and distill pecans into liquor while he teaches her that perhaps there is a place for her outside the world of pinafores and pies. Perhaps in the new century...As he says at one point, "It is better to travel with hope in one's heart than to arrive in safety."

Got any sciencey, earthy, greeny young adult books to add to the shelf? I'm always on the lookout.

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m o r e (sincerely satisfying books)

I'm kind of obsessed with picture books. I read them. I write them. I thought I'd share a handful of them with you (and/or your kids) that inspire. After all, it's a very rainy week where I live and what better way to spend it than curled up with a beautiful, simple illustrated book that speaks volumes.

Wabi Sabi. Incredibly designed with collage art, this is a story of a cat named wabi sabi who journies to find out the meaning of his name. It's riddled with Japanese haiku that demonstrate the concept of beauty in the simple and imperfect as the kitty begins to figure it out.

The Trouble With Dragons. This book is so immensely clever and funny. It tells how troublesome dragons are with their noise and trash and it begins to sound very familiar and close to home (without preaching). Not to worry though, things get so bad that the dragons begin to listen to the other animals who need to save their home. After all, the earth doesn't just belong to dragons.

All the World. Such a positive, pleasurable book, one in which the illustrations (by Marla Frazee) truly tell half the story. It is a kind of poem praising the little things and you and me. So life-affirming with pictures of farmers' markets to boot.

All in a Day. This bold but tender book with papercuts by Nikki McClure is another that makes everything seem important, and possible. It follows a boy through a day that, like every day, is filled with hope and promise and could bring anything--rain, sun, chickens, wishes on dandelions, home. So make it count.

Ming Lo Moves the Mountain. This one's much older and the illustrations are not so dazzling, but I just love the story. Ming Lo and his wife want to move a mountain that causes trouble for them and their house. They do everything the wise man tells them to do, but the thing won't move. That is until the wise man instructs them to take down their house and bundle the sticks and do a special dance, eyes closed and facing the mountain and moving their feet behind one another, over and over. Miraculously, the mountain has moved at the end of the day and they can rebuild their home. Such a lovely lesson in how to solve problems--by moving ourselves.

Your turn--any favorite kids'/illustrated books to add to our less is more collection?

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m o r e (safe, made it yourself mood lighting)

I'm a huge fan of beeswax candles for their natural ability to burn clean as they're free of chemicals and lead wicks, and to actually make you feel better. (More on the major problems with paraffin, petroleum-based candles here.)

Now I can't wait to try my own batch.

Here's how to make your own beeswax candles (great for a gift or a party activity). 

Or, you can always buy them from my fave candle company, Sunbeam, where the candle-making activities are powered by the sun. (Gotta love those egg carton baby candles--pictured.)

Get the beeswax to work with at Beelite. And see why it says beeswax is better.