Commentary from any of the woman in green moms carnival are always resourceful, thoughtfully written and enthusiastic…please enjoy: 

Tiffany of Nature Moms could not just single out one title, I was fascinated by her topics of interests, I bet you will be too.

Micaela of MIndful Momma, Abbie Of Farmers Daughter, and Diane of Big Green Purse ALL shared reviews of our fellow green mom and author Deanna Duke’s new book Non-Toxic Avenger.   This book shares a personal journey of relieving one’s own personal toxin burden. The reviews are all mighty positive.  I know I too enjoyed this book very much!

Amber of Strocel.com shared five compelling green book titles and how they inspired her. She shared how books convince her that she too can make a difference.

Lori of Groovy Green Livin shares ten green books just for kids, as a seasoned mom, I had to say her suggestions made me smile with memories long gone now of reading at the library.

Beth of A Plastic Free Life’s book review is about someone who takes a well researched journalistic perspective about the topic of plastic, be sure to consider Beth’s very own call to action book Plastic Free  

Anna Of Green Talk reviews a book about greening your teen to change our world, simply put our teens are our next leaders, they will take us into the future of green!

Alline of Ecovillage Musings, and someone who hasn’t joined in on the carnival in awhile ( good to have you back Alline!!)  is a devoted book pusher, her love of books is about sharing them  Books were part of her decisions to live in an intentional community, click on to investigate her impressive list of favorites

Harriet Of Climate Mama focuses her title selections on books about Climate Change especially those that can start conversations with kids about that topic.   Harriet also pointed to all the impressive authors we have on our Green Moms Carnival.

Betsy Of Eco-Novice shares five of her favorite and rather intensive green guides, with a lovely and gently reminder how overwhelming and stressful it can be.  A bit like read with caution and only if you are really ready to know.  I appreciated that.

This past week I shared about the author Sandra Steingarber at my blog Best Of Mother Earth and how she inspires me. She is highly regarded for her voice on many environmental issues, hydro-fracking beng one.

Sandra Steingraber,  is an author known as  ”the new rachel carson” says Sierra Magazine.  

Her most recent book is titled:  Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children In An Age Of Environmental Crisis

I first heard of and experienced Sandra at a local screening of her documentary Living Downstream in 2010.

I am sharing her here and loving her again because her continued pioneering and forward path inspires me. This is a one woman make a difference machine!

Sandra is a scholar in residence at Ithaca College, a biology major from IWU, she obtained her Masters in English from ISU, and a doctorate in Biology from U of M, she is an author of three books, each having a focus on cancer in relationship to the environment. She herself is a bladder cancer survivor.  With adopted parents and cancer in her family she felt the cancer wasn’t in her DNA but from the world around her.  She set out to prove it.

Sandra’s voice is soothing, methodical and strident.  Her message strong and determined, she continues to break the silence around the country urging parents to demand government policies that ensure the healthy development of children and the eco-systems on which all of our lives are dependent on.

One roomful of listeners at a time she will speak, large or small, in times of mothering she’d pull out a jar of freshly expressed breast milk  ”This is the most chemically contaminated food on the planet,” she says. “It has more dioxin, more PCBs, more DDT and fat-soluble pesticides than any other food. It is also absolutely unsubstitutable.” 

Oh my god, I nursed my children!  I was devoted to the idea that breast milk was the best thing for them. I didn’t know!  Most mom’s don’t.

She speaks to the harms of Fracking.  At a hearing recently she used a different maternal and earthy prop and passed around a local loaf of artisan bread.  Bread from her baker.  She said, the bread – wholesome and pure – hand made, is mostly water, This bread is at risk – fracking leases surround the acreage that this natural organic  bread comes from.

Voices like Sandra’s help more people understand serious environmental concerns.

Having Faith:  An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood 

Living Downstream – the book

Living Downstream – the documentary

Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children In An Age Of Environmental Crisis 

My work is prevention, and my belief is to take a proactive approach. I am not delusional in thinking that taking vitamins and cleaning green will emphatically protect me from cancer, but I do believe in giving my body the tools to give it fighting chance. Improving immune function can not harm me.  Cleaning green certainly is more pleasant than something chemically.  Reducing exposure to harmful foods is another choice I can make, supporting my local farmers another pro-choice regarding my personal journey on this planet. I speak to these things and sell products that make a difference on this planet and for our well being because this speaks to who I am.

Read Sandra’s books, learn from them and share this message.

Join all of us from Green Moms Carnival Monday February 13th as we collectively share Green Authors And Books We Love

Donations Critical to the Success of this first ever Public/Private Partnership for HHW in McLean County

Dear Friend of the EAC:

It’s been four long years since McLean County saw its last Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Event. Since the fall of 2007 area residents have patiently waited for a safe way to dispose of their old herbicides, fertilizers, oil-based paints, chemicals, and other hazardous materials. We are fortunate that many in our community are aware of the risks of improper disposal of HHW items. The threat of polluting our drinking water supply is real—conventional landfills are not designed to contain hazardous wastes.

Unfortunately the budget crisis at the state level has taken its toll. No Illinois EPA funded HHW collection events are being scheduled. The state’s Solid Waste Fund was “swept” by the General Assembly for other purposes. I regularly check in with the IEPA, hoping for some indication that funding for HHW collection events will resume, but my inquiries always result in disappointment.

It’s high time we take matters into our own hands – so that’s exactly what we are doing. The Ecology Action Center, with a growing list of community partners, is planning for a HHW Collection event for September 2012 for McLean County residents. This first-ever public and private partnership for HHW has an ambitious goal of raising $125,000 to cover the necessary expenses of a one-day HHW event.

To make this event happen, we need your help. We are asking our members, friends, and supporters to consider making a year-end tax deductible contribution to the EAC’s HHW Fund. No contribution is too small or too large. For example, if each of the 2000 households that participated in the 2007 HHW event contributed as little as $10, we would be $20,000 closer to reaching our goal!

Please contribute to the HHW Fund. You may make an online contribution using your credit card or PayPal account at www.ecologyactioncenter.org.

Or you may make donation checks out to “Ecology Action Center” and mail to:

Ecology Action Center 

Attn: HHW Fund 

202 W College Ave 

Normal, IL 6171 

All contributions are tax deductible. All donors will receive an acknowledgment for tax purposes.

Businesses or organizations interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact me at (309) 454-3169 or mbrown@ecologyactioncenter.org.

Thank you for supporting safe disposal of hazardous wastes in McLean County,

Michael Brown

Executive Director

Head on over there …

I adore the florals, the bright colors and the feeling of vintage cotton hankies

I think they are just beautiful.

I started using hankies several years ago.

I had this collection and I thought gee I should really use them.

Ever think about how much Kleenex you use?

Kleenex use could be reduced simply by using a hankie instead.

A hankie is always in my purse. Another in the car.  Of course they are in the house or in all my pockets.

What great alternatives and green solutions hankies are!

If you ever leave one in your pocket it will never ever make a mess in your laundry. I promise.

Not into vintage hankies ?

Consider this local and handmade soft flannel source from MilkweedMercantile

This year Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day, a time that focuses the world’s attention on food,  something we all have in common.

The purpose of Blog Action Day is discussion.

In the past Blog Action Day has focused on such topics as Poverty, Water, Climate Change and The Environment

There is SOOOOOO much to say about food.

I think it’s true… we ALL have food in common.

We all have to eat.

Food for some is taken for granted and for others – they are starving.

The issues and concerns around the topic are vast, overwhelming and complicated

My personal “say” about food isn’t particularly the voice I want to have, but it’s a commentary that keeps finding me …an activist by accident.

Let’s talk about this fact  (sourced from blog action day’s site )  

It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger.

Think about this for a moment – For every burger you eat imagine 24 Liter bottles sitting on your table. TWENTY FOUR!

Ask yourself WHAT are you eating? And is it worth it?

Is depleting water, the most valuable natural resource we have worth what you just ate?

Water is something you can not give back.

Does the production of a hamburger make sense in the bigger picture of things?

All this for the convenience of something fast, salty, caloric and yummy tasting ?

What if that water was used to grow food, or quench thirst instead?

Doesn’t that make more sense?

Holy smokes  - it’s August.

It’s that back to school time.

Can you feel it?

Time to spend absolute crazy amounts of money for “Back To School” things.

Must all those back to school things be brand spanking new?

I know it’s time to stand in squeaky new shoes, fresh haircuts, have sharpened No. 2′s ready to write, color matching notebooks and folders.  We all gear up for the delicious smell of crayons, book day, committee work, making school lunches and car pooling. We are all beginning to endure the registration lines.

I get this ritual. I did this year after year. and i love the feeling of back to school.

I use to actually save the entire year for the volume of cash I laid out at this time. I had an envelope titled school and each month I put money away.  The three major cash outlays each year;  back to school, the holidays and summer activities.

I think it’s time to pause and re-think this marketing ploy.

I think that some of the back to school expenses are not necessary.

I’d love to suggest a bit of restraint.

A bit of anti-consumerism.

Ask ourselves do we really really NEED all of this stuff?

If the shoes we have now fit, and are in good condition – could we wait to buy the new ones until we need to ?   Is there someone in school noticing if your daughter’s hair has just been cut?  Perhaps there are pencils, markers and crayons from last year that still function?? How can we re-use the binders and folders from the year prior?

I ask this not only to have one save money, but also from an environment perspective too.  So much is just pitched these days.   Mass purchasing lead to more pitching.   Where does it begin and where does end?

Think about it.

Artist /Author Franke James, whom I admire tremendously,  lives there and had agreed to meet me.

One can’t even begin to imagine my “pinch me” delight at this opportunity!  I say pinch me because Franke’s an inspiration to me.

Prior to my leaving, Franke shared some very alarming news about the canadian government blacklisting her pending european art show. Her post sharing this news was written the night before I left.  All I could do with the time I had was share a tweet about it pointing to her post. Her headline spoke to being silenced.

WOW — I found myself wondering how that would feel?

Imagine having your voice or your art completely squelched!

In today’s day of free speech and expression that just doesn’t seem possible, yet we ALL know censorship happens all the time.

On her blog post I wrote this comment:

Franke James examples creative brilliance, powerful voice and female gumption. Blacklisting her or any artist just isn’t right. Governments rearing their ugly heads like this show who and what they really are. I agree social media will have a field day with this, to your advantage I hope Franke – you deserve better.

Just watch social media will take this ugliness and story to a level not possible in traditional mediums. It will be interesting to see what happens as the situation continues to unfold.

Our time together was amusing.

My getting way lost in Toronto ( ugh ) delayed my arrival terribly.  She, in the mean time, found herself in between a conversation with Huffington Post and a radio interview.

I had all kinds of questions prepared in my head, yet with my late arrival, her flurry of activity, her returning from being out of town the days prior, and everything else. I found myself unfocused and I have to admit a bit star struck.

She told me I looked exactly like she imagined.  I felt the same way  – her big warm smile, giggly personality, cute as a button outfit and her trying to just go with the flow and make it all work was positively endearing. She, her home, her husband, her daughter just arriving for a visit and again the absolute flurry of her life all still had me feel welcomed, treasured and exactly what I might expect from Franke James.

I spoke to her about being famous and what that might be like and she just said …you mean that we might be normal despite being famous??   Uh – I had to agree!!

Franke James green journey captured my attention in 2007.  I was a brand new and very naive blogger.  I left a way too gushy “fan” comment on her post about her giving up her SUV. The truth was I had never been exposed to such original expression or voice.  She impressed me.  Her visual essays exampled the amazing potential and unique opportunity blogging offers.  She also examples a very human and accessible person.   Not often found in fame.

Since, and purely because of the blogosphere I have felt an integral part of her green evolvement and fame!   This speaks over and over to why I love the connecting and power of blogging.

Thanks to social media her recent turn events will not go unnoticed.

I look forward to continuing to be part of the story.

P.S.  Thank you Franke for the signed copy of your book, My Green Conscious!!

Images below taken by karen hanrahan 

Images below taken by Franke and Bill James 

image by karen hanrahan

Last month I spent a day teaching kids how to make seed starter pots out of newspaper.

I was struck by several things.

What a simple fun project.

How easy it is for all ages to participate. Including myself who since has taken on planting her own seed starts!

The project involves being practical and using leftover newspapers, making something, planting a seed that one can watch grow, and growing something that is either beautiful or good to eat!!

The versatility of the project is also worth mentioning. Once the starts have sprouted a child can either plant it in their garden or in a pot on a porch or in a sunny window!! Very inexpensive also.

I was so struck by the pleasure that younger kids have in making, playing  in dirt and the idea that something will grow and become.  I was reminded of wonder and joy!!

One rather boisterous child exclaimed, “You mean it will grow and become a real flower? For real? ” His toothless grin really warmed my heart.

Make a starter pot out of newspaper or two. Plant a seed and watch it grow.  When it matures let’s say into some snap peas or radishes, or perhaps lettuce.  Eat it! And then do it all over again!!

Nature at your fingertips!

image by karen hanrahan