Category Archives: Eco Friendly Home

So Many Recalls

There’s a lot of talk right now about all the toy recalls going on. It really is amazing that so many unsafe toys are still being made.

I was watching my local news broadcast a story on this. They showed a toy executive talking a bit about why they make toys overseas. Lots of hedging of course, and avoiding admitting that it’s mostly a cost cutting measure. Apparently a toy that costs $1 to make overseas costs about $8 to make in the United States.

But I honestly don’t understand why anyone thinks it’s okay to use lead in paint, especially on toys. As noted on the Green Options blog, the damaging effects of lead have been know since about 100 BC. And it’s not exactly arcane knowledge. I don’t think anyone I know isn’t aware of that these days.

To me, the big question is why would anyone use lead in paint, anywhere? It’s not just that it’s making it here, it’s that it’s apparently so easy to use in places such as China, despite that the effects are so well known. I wish more countries wouldn’t let manufacturers use so harmful a chemical so easily. It’s not good for anyone.

I’m feeling quite fortunate right now that none of the toys my kids have are impacted by this recall.

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Office Depot’s Green Tips

I was reading over at TreeHugger about the work Office Depot is doing to encourage people to be more green. I’d noticed the campaign before, but hadn’t looked at it much. I buy office supplies so rarely.

They have a pretty good guide for buying green on their site, as well as other information for those wanting to consider the environment as they shop.

No matter where you do your shopping, having an idea as to how to keep it greener is nice. So much comes down to simply recycling and using recycled items, along with knowing how much you really need to buy.

At this time of year, I’m more interested in how to green my school supply shopping than anything else. In some ways that’s similar to how you shop for an office, especially as the kids get older. My daughter is entering kindergarten, however, so there aren’t too many similarities yet. She just has so few needs.

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Greening the Kiddie Pool

I have to admit that I love my kiddie pool. It’s a great way to allow the kids to cool off in the hot weather we get here without turning on the air conditioner.

We have a fairly large kiddie pool. It’s one of the ones that inflates through three rings, and the water gets a foot and a half to two feet deep, and about six feet in diameter. Part of our backyard is wood chips that the landlords put in. I destest these, as they’re the wrong sort for walking on, and give splinters like mad, but it means we can put up the pool on an otherwise useless section of yard.

kiddie pool

It’s a lot of fun for the entire family and it has really helped my kids to comfortably advance their swimming skills. My son, at 2-1/2 has gone from clinging when we take him in a big pool, to propelling himself around just a bit.

Some of that’s scary, since he thinks he can do more than he can. But we’re aiming for twice a week at a big pool so that he learns quickly.

It’s helped my daughter improve too. She’s 5 and it’s just deep enough that she can practice her swimming. In a big pool she seems to now be inventing her own sort of breaststroke. Given that we weren’t able to sign her up for swimming lessons this year, I’m pretty impressed.

But I do always feel a little bit bad about kiddie pools. They aren’t the most environmentally sensitive thing to have. But I do what I can. Continue reading →

No Detergent Necessary?

I’d love that, wouldn’t you? Assuming that the product is overall a green machine, this washing machine I saw over on EcoGeek sounds great. It doesn’t need any laundry detergent.

Instead, the Wash2O breaks the water down through a catalytic reaction so that it cleans your clothes, and makes it back into water at the end. And from the comments it sounds like it will be pretty energy efficient too.

Only trouble is that it seems to be in France, not the United States. Yet. Good thing I don’t need a new washing machine right now anyhow. Guess someone else gets to test these. I sure hope they work well.

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Making Green Fun for Your Kids

Childhood is a great time to learn about being environmentally friendly. It’s hard in many ways, as your kids see their friends live without thinking about how their actions matter, the toys they play with, the things they have.

The first step is to keep things age appropriate. You can teach children very young about some things. My 2-1/2 year old, for example, already knows the difference between the trash and recycle bins. He asks where to put everything.

girl with flower behind ear

My 5 year old is getting into reusing things. An amazing range of things are great for art projects. Old magazines, cardboard boxes, egg cartons and many other items have been saved for later projects. It saves a lot of shopping for ways to help my daughter be creative.

As they reach school age you can teach them by not sending lunches in disposable baggies or containers. At my daughter’s preschool, she was pretty much the only kid to bring her drink in a cup from home and snack in reusable containers. While these are still plastic, we’ll be using them for years rather than just once.

Some parts of green living are pretty easy on the kids. Throwing things in the recycle bin rather than the trash is pretty easy. Getting kids to reuse things, especially as they get older and more self conscious can be harder. The social pressures really add to the challenge.

Continue reading →