On Hiatus...

For any of you still following out there, you may have noticed there haven't been many blog posts this summer. I've noticed as well - and while I haven't been blogging, I have been thinking about it a lot! And all that thinking finally led me to a decision to take a break for a while.

I love what I've learned while writing this blog and so appreciate each and every one of you that followed Our Kids Earth and shared your questions and thoughts. It's been a great discussion and has challenged me to grow in my thinking and my actions. I am trying to focus more on my freelance writing and work on finishing a young adult novel I've been writing. Maybe I'll be back here again one day, but for now, I'll just say - go out and enjoy our great planet!

Open Your Eyes. Open Your Heart. Open Your Mind.

I just saw this video from TedxSF and I thought it was a great reminder for all of us to keep our heart, mind, and eyes open to the world around us. The video is 10 minutes, but has some great photography, and inspiring thoughts from both a young girl and a wise, old man. Enjoy!



If you haven't checked out TED talks or heard of the conference, you should check it out. TED originally stood for Technology, Entertainment, and Design and was about bringing these different people together. Today it has evolved into something much bigger, but with a simple mission: to spread ideas.

My Summer Leaf!

Yeah! My all-electric Nissan Leaf finally arrived!Eleven months after I made my reservation, I finally have my 100% electric car! I've been driving it for 2 days and here's what I've learned so far:

The gadgets are insanely cool, according to my children. 90 day free trial of XM satellite. GPS. Bluetooth. Rear-view backup camera.

Guys love it. My sons' swim coach wanted to sit in it, the parking attendant at the Mariners game was excited to see his first one, and my dad wanted to check under the hood.

It is virtually silent. I freaked someone out when I backed out next to someone in a parking lot and she didn't know it was on.

It seriously encourages good driving habits. Driving over 60 seems to be bad for battery life. There is this little "build a tree" video game-like console that shows you how efficiently you are driving. Very motivating since you know you only have 100 miles maximum that you can drive until you have to charge.

It's very fun to drive! After driving an SUV all these years, I'm happy to be back in something closer in size to my first Volkswagen.

I'm excited to be one of the early adopters of this technology and thrilled to have avoided the gas station all week (although I'll still go occasionally since I need a bigger car for longer trips and anything that involves more than 3 children).

Everyone keeps asking about the car so here are the basics. I can drive up to 100 miles on a single charge, but so far it seems more like 80. It depends on conditions including the outside temperature, elevation, air-conditioning, speed, etc. I have a charging station in my garage which will do a full charge in 8 hours. The Leaf can also be charged in a regular 110 outlet for 16 hours, and one day soon there will be Level III chargers on the I-5 and Highway 2 corridors that will allow for 26 minute complete charges.

I was initially excited to hear that Stevens Pass had a charging station, but now that I have driven the car, I don't think the car can actually make it that far (~70 miles) with that much elevation (~4000 feet). We'll hold out for some interim charging stations before we venture over the mountains.

Packing an Earth-Friendly Summer Lunch

I recently published an article in Parentmap magazine about packing an Earth-friendly lunch. Read below for the beginning and click through for the rest of the article. Happy Summer!

Summer’s coming, but packing lunches may still be part of your routine, as camps, picnics and family outings begin to fill the calendar. When the Seattle sun finally makes its appearance, the kids will be romping around the outdoors, and you can help protect that environment by packing an Earth-friendly lunchbox.

One of the biggest challenges — especially in parks, on beaches and at campsites — is feasting without leaving a trail of waste. Corporate America entices children with assortments of meat, cheese and crackers served in compartmentalized plasticware, but daily doses of these snacks will leave a pile of garbage taller than your child.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Moving to Glass

I blogged several weeks ago about the chemicals in plastic food containers and have found some replacements for my own plasticware. Here are my new favorites: Kinetic Go Green Glasslock. They are durable, stackable, washable, and microwaveable. I don't believe they are oven-safe, although there are other brands that are.

I bought mine at Sur La Table in Seattle where you can get a set of 3 for around $25 right now.

Stemming the Tide at the Gas Pump

Have you started driving less yet? They say the pain point for Americans at the pump seems to be in the $3.50 - $4.00 range. I don't know about your state, but it's been a while since I've seen prices even close to $3.50. For me, this was definitely pain:
And, given that I'm only getting 18mpg (on a really good day), that $66 tab will only carry me 300 miles. You can't help but think about using less gas with prices like these. Here are some of what I am doing or contemplating to conserve gas:

• Carpool (I think I've mastered this one. There was actually a point last year when I was in 3 carpools in one day - one for my kids' school, one for my kids' sports, and one for my own school. Crazy!)


• Take a bus or train (For some reason, I only seem to do this in foreign cities. Definitely something to work on...)


• Ride my bike or walk (another area ripe for improvement opportunities!)


• Change cars! (My electric Nissan Leaf is scheduled for delivery in 2 weeks!! Here's a picture of my newly installed charging station.)

What about you? What are you doing? Do you think you'll revert back to old habits when the cost of gas goes down again? Feel free to share in the Comments section!

Trashing Our Earth's Beaches

A trip to the beach is supposed to be filled with natural wonders--seashells to collect, rocks to skip, crabs to chase. But what about all the plastic that shows up on beaches? The bottlecaps, plastic bags, and bits and pieces of red, blue, and green too bright too possibly be part of nature. We tell ourselves we aren't the litterbugss, but is it possible our actions are indirectly polluting the beaches?



A friend of mine recently told me of her recent trip to Mexico and how appalled she was at the litter on the beach. She asked the locals where it came from and their response was: "cruise ships." I followed up on the issue for her because I was fairly certain it was illegal for cruise ships to dump their garbage in open water. I took an Alaskan cruise a while back and blogged about Norwegian Cruise Line's environmental policies. While I don't think these massive floating cities can claim to be green, I was surprised with how hard they worked to properly dispose of garbage.

It turns out that Caribbean dumping is illegal, but the law won't take effect until all the countries agree to report their garbage handling capacity. Unfortunately, many countries don't have sufficient ability to process the garbage created by thousands of tourists docking for a few hours each day, so to protect the tourism industry, they haven't reported. If they don't report, the law can't go into effect, and the cruise ships are free to dump away.

The plastics can strangle or choke sea creatures, work their way into our food supply, and litter the beaches. If you happen to be on a cruise in the near future, ask the tough questions. Where is the litter going? And keep asking the questions in your own neighborhood too. What about your own local beach? How clean is it? Where does that garbage come from?

Inspired...

I wrote an article this week on Packing a Green Lunch for Summer (I'll post the link here when it gets published in June).

One of the topics I focused on was packing zero-waste lunches. While I think I actually do fairly well with the lunches, I have a long way to go in other areas. A friend passed on a link to The Zero Waste Home blog that truly amazed me. I think what struck me is the way this family equates zero waste with simplifying their lives. And they are definitely not your average granola family.

While I'm nowhere close to where they are, I am inspired!

Check it out.

What Are You Doing for Earth Day?

Earth Day - actually the whole month of April - is great for learning more about the environmental issues in your own local region. To find a local event, check out Earth Day Network and their Billion Acts of Green campaign.

I found something close to home when I was invited to the 2011 Community Benefit for the Japanese Gulch Group. This group is working to save this urban forest in the Mukilteo/Everett area of Washington. While portions of the forest are city owned, nearly 100 acres of this space are privately owned and up for sale for industrial development. The natural space is currently home to wildlife (pileated woodpecker, great blue heron, and black-tailed deer) as well as wildlife-lovers (runners, mountain bikers, and trail walkers).

The Community Benefit is on Saturday, April 23rd. If you're local and interested in a night of jazz music, dancing, and learning more about the Gulch, tickets are only $20 - and kids are free!

There is also an Earth Day event being lead by the Japanese Gulch Youth that kicks off with a 2:00pm Nature Walk and finishes with a tree planting at 3:00pm.

Do You Hate to Iron?

Well, I do and I confess it has kept me in the paper napkin habit for way too long. I have gone out (more than once) to buy napkins with the idea of never using paper again, only to discover that I now have big balls of wrinkles that can only pretend to be napkins. I know there are people who iron there napkins, but I'm not one of them! Nor am I good at pulling them out of the dryer the instant the dryer finishes.

Finally... I think I found a solution. i just bought these Evolution napkins at Bed, Bath & Beyond. They are 2 for $8.99 - less if you find one of those coupons they seem to always send in the mail. They don't wrinkle because they are made of...plastic bottles! How a plastic water bottle can be recycled into a soft, functional napkin, I have no idea, but I love them so I had to share.

Check Out the Moon Tonight!

Tonight is a full moon and it's supposed to be the biggest one of our kids' lifetimes. At least it will be the largest appearing one since 1993.

It's the proximity that makes it bigger. Since the moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical shape (remember those ellipses from math class?), it varies in distance from the Earth. Tonight it is at its perigee which is the closest point. When it is at its furthest point, it's called apogee.

Should be a good night to look for the Man in the Moon!

Image by Trypode via Flickr

BpA - More Than Baby Bottles...

I admit it. Sometimes I hear a news story and I'm just happy that it's about something I don't have to worry about. With all the hubbub about plastic baby bottles these past few years, I've been relieved that my kids were past that stage. Did they use plastic baby bottles? Sure, but that was in the past and worrying now won't change anything.

Image by Sameer Karmarkar via Flickr

A recent article I wrote about plastics made me stop and think though. While it may still be legal in our country to make food containers and chewable toys out of plastic, it is not in many countries and the science is starting to back that up. Check out Bad Plastics for more info on why you don't want the toxic chemicals like bisphenol A (BpA), PVC, and phthalates getting into your system. BpA is an endocrine disrupter and the health concerns are wide-ranging - including cancer, infertility, and diabetes.



While my kids might not be using plastic baby bottles, they do still drink out of plastic cups most of the time. Why? I don't know... habit, I guess. They've always been the ones stored on the low shelf that they can reach. I did stop microwaving with plastic several years ago (stop if you are!) because I knew heating plastic increased the potential for those chemicals to leach into the food, but my kids definitely used plastic cups.


Not anymore! I threw away all the plastic cups and bowls - and then moved up to the bathroom and tossed the rubber duckies sitting in the corner of the bathtub. By the way, those rubber duckies are actually all made out of plastic. No one said anything so I guess they weren't even missed.



If you're still using plastic in your home for eating (or chewing in the case of toddler toys), you may want to think again. Think about whether you really need that item to be plastic. Glass, ceramics, and tin are good alternatives, depending on the need. Toss what you don't need - some people say donate it, but I figure there's no need to foist my chemical-laden products on others. If you do need purchase plastic items, shop wisely and look for products free of BpA, PVC, and phthlates.

Are there good plastics? Well, some don't seem to be as toxic as the ones I've mentioned above, but my view is that you just shouldn't be eating or drinking out of them at all. The recycling numbers on the bottom can tell you something - #2, #4, and #5 are generally consider safer, and this is what you will typically find milk jugs, plastic bags, and yogurt tubs are made of. If there isn't a number, you can assume it probably isn't one of those.

A Better Refill

I needed to buy a refill for my handsoap the other day and was surprised to see Method's refill package is now a pouch. I don't advertise for them on this blog (or anyone else for that matter), but I liked it so much I had to share.

According to Method, the pouch has an 83% smaller footprint (measured in plastic, energy, and water) than a rigid plastic bottle. They also claim it is "more fun." I don't know about that - it is just filling the soap bottle after, but maybe it will keep their hands clean, which will, in turn, keep the walls and doors clean. I can dream.

The Electric Car is on Order!

Several months ago, I placed a reservation for a Nissan Leaf, an all-electric car. I wish I could say I've found a way to drive significantly less, but as the primary driver in this suburban family of four, that isn't going to happen any time soon so I'm trying to find a compromise.

The car will be able to go 100 miles before charging, so I won't be taking any long cross-country trips (until there is more of an electric-charging infrastructure in place), but since 99.9% of my days involve less than 100 miles of driving, I'm not too worried.

A full charge is estimated to cost about $2 in electricity in my location. I feel good knowing that Washington state is one of the cleaner producers of electricity, with three-fourths coming from hydro-electric sources. To find out the source of your state's electricity, click here.

With my order placed, I still have another 4+ months to wait, but I'm excited to be in the first wave (Nissan accepted 20,000 reservations in 2010, but has halted that process until they can ramp up their production). I'm #30 with my local dealer and he's expecting to see his first cars next month.

What am I most looking forward to? No more $50 fill-ups at the gas station!

Energy Vampires in Your House

Have you ever wondered how your electric bill gets so high? You can reduce it by taking shorter showers, running full loads of dishes, and turning off the lights, but did you know that your house is consuming energy every minute of the day even if you have nothing turned on?

Standby power refers to the energy it takes to run electric devices even when they are turned off. Think of anything that has a display, remote control, or external power supply -- your microwave, TV, AC, alarm clock, and printer, just to name a few.

If you want to reduce your standby power usage, get your kids involved and have them count up how many devices you have plugged in. Then, think about what you could unplug. Maybe a rarely used phone? a VCR leftover from the dark ages? We actually do still have a VCR (not sure why...) but I was happy to find it already unplugged!

For more info on exactly how much each device uses, watt-meters, and suggestions for future purchases, check out Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories.

May the Farm Be With You

Today's blog is brought to you by Ryan, my 10-year-old, since we're both home sick today!

Grocery Store Wars is a cute spoof that features Cuke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Canoli, Darth Tater, Yogurt, C3 Peanuts, R2-Tofu, Chewbroccoli, Ham Solo, and Princess Lettuce in a battle against the Dark Side of The Farm (organic food vs. pesticides and chemicals).

Your kids should be entertained, but be forewarned it is a "war" so there are gun-toting characters from the supermarket. If you think Star Wars is too violent, you'll probably think this is too!

Win a Greenhouse for Your School

Washington State Potatoes is offering kids a chance to win a greenhouse for their school. Entries are due by 1/24/11 and it is open to kids in Puget Sound and Eastern Washington. Check out the website for all the details, but the basics are the child needs to tell them about their school, say what they would do with a greenhouse, and create a healthy potato recipe.

If you're wondering about how healthy the potato is, you should check out the recent experiment conducted by the Director of the WA StateImage via Wikipedia Potato Commission to eat only potatoes for 60 days. Apparently, the potato had been getting a bad rap in the vegetable world so he chose a dramatic way to demonstrate that potatoes can be a great source of nutrition after some federal low-income assistance programs announced that potatoes were no longer allowed to be purchased through the program. Seems some people couldn't see past the french fries to the baked potatoes.

2011: No Resolutions, Just Confessions...

If any of you out there are still reading this, you may wonder why I've taken almost two months away from the blog. It started with 'life is busy,' but eventually morphed into 'why am I writing this blog anyway?'

I like blogs and I like writing mine, but sometimes the subject matter makes me question myself. Is it too judgemental? Is it really necessary? Does it help anyone? Personally, I like funny blogs and this one just doesn't seem to lend itself to humor on a regular basis.

So, I decided to give up the blog.

But then I changed my mind. I was kind of missing it. And I kept finding ideas that I wanted to blog about, but then would remind myself that I wasn't blogging anymore. So, I'm back here again.

Some people start the new year off with resolutions, but I'm starting mine with confessions instead--mostly to reiterate that the point of this blog is to share ideas, but not to judge one another. There's certainly enough of that in the world!

So... here are my confessions of all the non-green things I've done lately. I try to protect the Earth, but I'll be honest and sometimes I just don't feel like it. What about you? Want to confess anything in the Comments? Remember - no judgement, we're just here to share ideas and pick the ones that work for us!

* I threw away all my old Christmas lights and bought new ones (despite the fact I'm fairly certain I blogged once about how to recycle old lights).
* I don't use any natural hair or skin care products or cosmetics.
* I subscribe to two daily newspapers (and a healthy dose of monthly magazines)
* I don't use all CFL light bulbs because sometimes I don't want to wait for them to warm up from their semi-dark starting point.
* I drive over 15,000 miles a year (in an SUV no less!)
* I like long, hot showers.

Do I feel guilty? Nope. There's enough of that in the world these days too. Happy 2011!