my daughter captured this shot
At the park nearby were several families of new goslings!
I have way too many images as they were just the cutest things ever!
I’ll let this one image be the token adorableness here.
Love how the parents hiss if you get too close.
I guess I’d be that way too around my newborns.
I remember the first teflon skillet my mom bought. It had rules. We were never supposed to use metal utensils when preparing food in it. Or immerse the pan while hot into cold water. It was officially the skillet we made eggs in. I also remember that somehow my younger brother or someone started not following the rules and the pan started to peel. I thought to myself, I don’t think pots and pans are supposed to peel. I personally didn’t like making my eggs in that pan because they just didn’t taste right.
When I moved out I was supposed to be grateful for whatever someone gave me along the way, but the teflon stuff – uh – uh – I wasn’t going to use it.
I was teflon phobic even 30 years ago.
Teflon is a so called heat resistant plastic. Discovered by accident ( hmmm not by design ) by a Dupont chemist in 1938. They began using the stuff in the 50′s as a low-friction coating for bearings and gears. In the 60′s it was approved by the FDA for use in cookware. Not the EPA, the FDA. A chemical coating used in manufactoring was now going to make pots and pans slippery and easy to clean was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Does that make sense to you? Things we were going to cook/heat food in and then and eat, are now coated in plastic. Plastic that as far as I know melts when it gets hot.
Don’t mind me if I am simplistic in my thoughts here.
A small detail was later discovered – gee, if we get the pan hot enough it will release a lovely chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA – The fumes of which are fatal to pet birds. The company also further acknowledged that in humans there is a flu like condition called polymerfume fever, mostly noted in the company’s labs. In animals the lovely chemical can cause cancer, immune system damage and oh – I especially like this one – death.
Death by Teflon!
Here’s an absolutely amazing statistic: 95% of all Americans have traces of this chemical in their blood.
Excuse me? Ninety Five Percent?
Dear EPA and FDA,
What is it about langauging like — fatal, cause of illness, cause of cancer, damaging to the immune system and death, don’t you understand?
Dear Consumer,
WHY are you continuing to consume these harmful chemical products ?
While no study actually proves that Teflon is harmful to humans, wonder who would actually pay to conduct a study like that. Dupont paid out a 107.6 million dollar lawsuit in 2005 brought to their attention by 50,000 people along the Ohio River near it’s West Virginia Plant. These people claim they had health challenges and birth defects from PFOA contamination. While the company admits no liabilty they did pay for 8 EPA based violations, one of which was failure to disclose what they knew about the harm this chemical could cause.
Non-stick users from 15 states have similar concerns and an EPA advisory board labels PFOA as a likely carcinogenic
Hmmmm carcinogenic
EPA has asked Dupont to phase out the chemical.
I don’t understand this request.
Whatever happened to stop making this stuff?
Dupont won’t.
Although by 2015 (that’s 5 years from now folks) they say they will reduce the amount of PFOA used, and they will guarantee that the chemical won’t be released into the environment from it’s manufacturing plants. In the mean time it is being released into the environment just loads.
It’s OK to do that now but won’t be OK in 5 years?
Further the EPA says, oh go ahead and use these carcinogenic pots and pans, under normal use there is really little harm. Forget the the part where it says in microscopic print on the teeny tiny sticker label on the plastic you rip off— promise not to heat an empty nonstick pan to high heat and do not put a hot pan in cold water cuz if you do it releases Dupont from any liability?
Wonder how many people actually read their packaging labels ?
I have this image of mass production of these slippery convenient carcinogenic cooking items, enough to fill warehouses across the country from floor to ceiling. So that when someday when the EPA has the gumption to actually enforce some real action and regulation. Dupont will have made enough to last an eternity.
That along with marachino cherry’s banned ever so long ago for it’s carcinogenic red food dye – duh – again when supplies run out. That’s the thing – they will never run out.
There are secret tunnels all over the world filled with jars and jars of these harmful cherries, it’s some sortof hot fudge sundae with a cherry on top plot.
above sourced partly from an article in Time – June 2006 ( not the cherry part – ha! )
Regarding which pots and pans to use, and what’s safe?
I personally choose glass, stainless steel and cast iron.
retro teflon ad flickr image credit
How do you celebrate Earth Day?
If you’re not cleaning green – what’s stopping you?
In addition to sharing the natural approaches to health via nutritional supplementation, I devote additional advocacy to the wellness of this planet.
There are many substances around us which can affect a person’s behavior and ability to focus and learn. Some affects are believed to be transient and some are known to be permanent.
Obvious examples of substances include:
heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium
alcohol of all types
nicotine
caffeine
drugs – both legal and illegal
solvents and glues, such as airplane glue
and then there is petroleum.
Petroleum??
Who thinks about petroleum, except when we fill our gas tanks? Few people are aware that thirty seven percent of the crude oil used in the United States goes into the manufacturing of other products with which we come in contact everyday.
Derivatives of petroleum and crude oil are in our clothing, cosmetics, shampoos, detergents, perfumes, paints, plastics, pesticides, and – most significant of all, our FOOD.
We eat, breathe, and surround ourselves with the by-products of crude oil every day.
Some of us have a hard time coping with these powerful substances.
Like our kids.
Let’s take a look at the typical morning of a young boy with ADD as he gets ready for school…
(Every substance which is likely to be an irritant for a chemically-sensitive person is noted with an *.)
He wakes up between sheets, which have been exposed to scented fabric softening strips*. He walks down the hall on new carpeting*, which still retains the smell of the chemicals used in it’s manufacture. An air freshener* adorns the bathroom and complete with scented soap* and scented tissue*. The tub has been cleaned with a miracle spray* and the scented chlorine* clings to the tile floor. His toothpaste is green*.
Breakfast is a bowl of sugar frosted grains* and synthetically colored marshmallow bits*. All are treated with the preservative BHA* hidden within the added vitamin A. What looks like juice is a blend of water, sugar, and synthetic dyes*, plus artificial orange flavoring*.
An artificially colored, sweetened and flavored vitamin* tops off the meal. If Jeremy is having one of his frequent ear infections, his mother adds a spoonful of bright pink bubble-gum flavored medicine*. He grabs his homemade lunch that mom has prepared*** or puts his lunch money in hip pocket for the lovely flavorful meal served at his school******, runs past the fragrant potpourri*, out the door across the lush green lawn – treated with powerful pesticides* – across the newly paved asphalt* street.
He has forgotten his homework (for the third time this week) get agitated easily, has trouble focusing all the time and Jeremy’s mother wonders why her son simply can’t get his act together.
*denotes chemical or toxin exposure
sourced and rewritten from something someone shared with me via email
Shifting your lifestyle takes time and a commitment.
Start with cleaning green.
Replace your everyday personal care products with safer alternatives.
Eat clean. Organic. Shop local. Eat seasonally. Eat for health not for taste and convenience.
Stop purchasing petroleum derived products.
plastic utensils flickr image credit
How do you celebrate Earth Day?
If you’re not cleaning green – what’s stopping you?
Sept 2011 – our tremendous green heroine – Wangari Maathai passes after battling cancer.
Hey Mother Earth –
You are unfolding before my very eyes these recent days, trees that were bare weeks ago are now feathering with potential of leaves, and blossoms. It is just beautiful. Thank you!
I always thought I was treading lightly on you. I fear that my personal impact is more, much MUCH more than I ever knew. I am so very sorry that I didn’t know the harm that I was causing you. I want you to know that I am making changes, little ones, as best I can to have my footprint be less. I want to learn more so that I can do more, and so that I can advocate and be more of a voice. I am so grateful for you. The clean air you provide so that I can breath, the dirt smell that fills my nostrils as I run my hands through it, the regard I have for soils nutrient density and all that it gives back in the form of food. I am comforted at the warmth you give me through your reach of sunrays. They touch and warm my day and my heart. I am so delighted when you sprinkle all of us with drops of rain that hydrate all that I need to continue to grow and prosper. You are generous over and over.
I am reminded of a past Earth Day when one of my green heroines Wangari Maathai 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and founder of the Green Belt Movement ceremoniously planted a millionth tree. We had met Wangari in 2005, here in Chicago and just loved her, she embraced and tremendoulsy inspired our field. This film clip from Taking Root shares part of her passionate story. Inspired by Wangari our tree loving sales leader Ellie Rogers fostered the Million Dreams Million Trees Campaign
Below my mentor shares these loving comments about trees:
Trees and plants cool and cleanse the air, increase property values, break the harsh winds of winter, provide habitat for wildlife and recreation for humans. They keep waterways clean by holding riverbanks and lakeshores in tact. They help prevent mudslides. Trees and plants absorb and remove farm chemicals and other contaminants from the soil and ground water also.
Over the past decades, a huge numbers of trees have been lost due to urbanization, drought, hurricanes, tornadoes, housing and commercial development. Experts estimate we have a deficit of approximately 700 million trees for the environment needs they address.
Trees are the lungs of the planet, absorbing and breathing in carbon dioxide and exhaling pure oxygen to cleanse the air and help prevent global warming.
How We Can Help?
It takes ten trees to offset the carbon dioxide produced by each human that walks the earth each year. Simple math would suggest that just doing your part would be to kindly plant 10 trees a year, to offset your personal human footprint.
Here are some ways you can do that:
Consider making a contribution to the Million Trees. Million Dreams.™ campaign.
flickr image credit – stunning stain glass tree
If it’s been awhile perhaps it’s time to offset your personal carbon!
This is the carbon calculator that I use
It looks at your emission sources
things like electricity and natural gas
it can look at your annual usage personally or for your entire family
it looks at your household waste
and other things like –do you use lawn equipment?
finally, it looks at your mobility – are you driving a car, ever ride a train, plane travel or even a taxi
once you calculate your personal carbon you can offset it by planting trees!!
I do this annually and whenever I take a road trip.
