Goodbye, Junk Mail: Step 2 (Opt Out of Credit Card Offers)

If you missed Step 1, click HERE.

This is possibly the most important step in your journey to Junk Mail Freedom: opting out of credit card offers (as well as insurance offers).  That's because this is an identity theft issue.  We actually opted out several years ago.  If you currently get these credit card and insurance offers in the mail, I hope you are shredding them before you recycle them.

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Eco-novice's Guide to Reusable Produce and Shopping Bags

Happy Earth Day!

First, a few facts about single-use plastic bags:

• It is estimated that worldwide plastic bag consumption falls between 500 billion and 1 trillion bags annually. That breaks down to almost 1 million every minute.
• The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only 4 trips to the grocery store.
• Only  0.5% to 3% of all bags winds up recycled.
• Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts .
• A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
• When plastics break down, they don't biodegrade; they photodegrade. This means the materials break down to smaller fragments which readily soak up toxins. They then contaminate soil, waterways, and animals upon digestion.

I wrote about a few of my Earth Day Resolutions last week. One of my resolutions is to stop using single-use plastic produce and shopping bags. I've tested out a number of bags over the last year, and will now share my budding expertise with all of you.

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Don't Eat the Red Ones

Photo by Walt Stoneburner

Generally speaking, I do my best not to ingest synthetic chemicals. While that's probably not entirely possible in today's world, I definitely don't want a petrochemical listed as an ingredient in my family's food. Artificial colors, once derived from coal tar (yum), are now derived from petrochemicals (double yum).   If your family eats candy, fruit drinks, colorful breakfast cereals, or any of a host of packaged foods, you're eating them.

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Weekend Links (Double Edition)

Wow, so many interesting and disturbing reads in the last 2 weeks.  All the Plastic and Food links are followed by a short excerpt from the article or post.  

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Goodbye, Junk Mail: Step 1 (Save Your Junk)

It's embarrassing that I still get junk mail, it really is.  I even get the weekly grocery circular, even though I recycle it without even looking at it.  And I get an astonishing array of catalogs.  Thankfully, I don't get credit card offers.  I stopped those some years back, as those are an identity theft issue. (And with my hispanic surname, I am at greater risk of identity theft.  My husband actually suffered a bout of identity theft about a decade ago.)  In my defense, I have moved 4 times in the last 4 years, and each time I move, a new round of junk mail finds me.  So this time, I'm going to record how I get rid of my junk mail for the benefit of my future self as well as for the benefit of my readers.

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Earth Day Eco-resolutions

Inspired by Green Baby Guide, I would like to make some Earth Day Eco-resolutions:

• Make my own yogurt
• Stop using single-use plastic produce and shopping bags (I have a review in the works on this one)
• Stop my junk mail

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Green Cleaning - Laundry

Possibly the hardest part of switching to greener cleaners is deciding which ones to buy.  Once you have a tried-and-true cleaning favorite, it's hard to bother to switch to something new, even if you've read about the problems with conventional cleaners.  Luckily, I've done all that annoying research plus trial-and-error stuff for you.  In my Green Cleaning series, I introduce you to all of my favorite green cleaners.  There are definitely others out there that work.  These are just the ones that I've tried that have worked for me.  


My Laundry Cleaners

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Whole Grain "Cookies"

I am always on the lookout for a good homemade snack recipe that is easy to eat on-the-go. My son really likes granola bars, but I dislike all that packaging and the long list of ingredients. These "cookies" freeze extremely well, are 100% whole grain (whole wheat and old-fashioned rolled oats) and have about half the sugar of a typical cookie recipe.  This recipe is pretty darn cheap too. Whenever we are on our way out of the house, I pull a few "cookies" out of the freezer and put them in one of my reusable food bags. They are easy for both my toddler and preschooler to eat, and I love them too. I often catch my husband sneaking one out of the freezer as a snack at home.

[Update 30 June 2011: Check out my latest version of this recipe in this post.]

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Stainless Steel Sippy Cups

Can you find 3 stainless steel 

sippy cups in this photo?

I will be posting about all of my children's feeding gear soon, but I decided that the stainless steel sippy cups merited their own post.  My 2 kids (ages 3.5 and 1.5) use sippy cups for water and milk every day.  I have tried Klean Kanteen, Safe Sippy, and Eco Vessel sippy cups.

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Eat Less Plastic

Recent findings about plastics:

• Eating a diet of fresh foods for even a few days can significantly decrease the amount of BPA and DEHP (found in phthalates) in a person’s urine. 

• BPA is linked to infertility in women (fewer viable eggs). BPA has also been linked to low sperm count and motility. These studies show correlation not causality, but are consistent with effects demonstrated in animals. 

• Lest you feel content to simply avoid BPA and phthalates (both hormone disruptors and long-suspected of toxicity to humans, particularly fetuses and children), another recent study found: 

• Over 95% of all plastics, including BPA-free plastics, leach estrogen-like chemicals under real-world types of stress, such as simulated sunlight, dishwashing and microwaving.

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