Though the dangers of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are increasingly well known (lead, hormone-disrupting chemicals, non-recyclable, offgassing for years, etc. etc.), it’s not always easy to source back-to-school stuff for our kids that’s free of the ubiquitous chemical. For one thing, it’s cheap to manufacture — making it a darling of dime-store back-to-school stuff. While you might see PVC stamped on various items (plastic pencil boxes, for example) it’s more likely you’ll find no evidence of what the item is made of. However, give it a sniff. PVC has a distinctive beach ball or shower curtain smell (I’m always reminded of the smell of my Barbie camper, Christmas morning circa 1973). If it smells, turn up your nose at it, figuratively speaking.
PVC is common in backpacks (the ones with plastic on them depicting cartoon characters are often culprits), running shoes (again, avoid plastic-y shoes), and raingear, among other things. To find out more, click here for a great guide to PVC-free school supplies.

Foods (or food products)…sheer volume and variety of brightly-colored packaging, flavors, colors and sizes are supposed to convince us of the abundance of our choices as consumers, when in fact all we’re really buying is agricultural surplus dressed up with chemicals, technology and marketing.

Click here for the whole article

There’s an incredible (bizarrely hopeful, if you can wade through all the depressing stuff) debate being waged in the U.K. press right now between George Monbiot and Paul Kingsnorth about whether we should simply wave our white flag and brace ourselves for civilization’s collapse (Kingsnorth and his Dark Mountain Project) or give saving the planet (or at least mitigating the damage) the ol’ college try (Monbiot).
Here’s an awesome quote by Monbiot:

Join up, protest, propose, create. It’s messy, endless and uncertain of success. Perhaps you see yourself as above this futility, but it’s all we’ve got and all we’ve ever had. And sometimes it works.

Click to read the whole thing.

My kitchen has been besieged by fruit flies. I’ve never experienced such a fruit-fly invasion. Loathe to implement any toxic remedies, I’ve been seeking out a cheap, green method of evicting/murdering them. Turns out it’s as simple as pouring them a glass of wine (they seem partial to white zinfandel…which makes them, perhaps, not the most sophisticated of bugs). Put the wine in a glass, along with a few drops of your favorite eco-friendly dish detergent. Within minutes, they’ll abandon swarming for swimming – in alcohol. Simple, effective…and, what the heck, pour yourself a glass while you’re at it! (A glass before dinner might soften the whine of out-of-school children. Or at least make you less likely to care…)

The word “activist” often conjures up images of marching, chanting, law-flaunting radicals. But being an activist is simply taking action to right perceived wrongs — whether writing a letter to a corporation whose products are contaminating our children or financially supporting organizations that share your values. I sometimes say that I may have learned to talk at 2, but I found my voice at 40 — which is when I stopped staying silent on issues of our environment, social justice and health.
If you’re interested in awakening your inner activist, start by visiting the Web site created by Body Shop founder Anita Roddick’s husband, following her death. Anita took strong stands on many issues and, as a result, created enormous positive change in the world. We should all follow her lead:
www.iamanactivist.org

More than six years ago, we moved into our current home. And for almost the entire time, we’ve talked of removing the 40-year-old broadloom and replacing it with wood floors. What’s taking us so long? Trying to find a flooring option that satisfies our sustainability requirements, our bank account, our lifestyle requirements (large dogs with large claws) and our taste.
What’s currently under consideration is:
Strand-woven bamboo: Looks good (though I don’t love it!), durable. On the downside, it’s generally from China (hardly local) and reputedly uses formaldehyde-based adhesives.
Forest Stewardship Council certified hardwoods: Specifically, we’re looking at tigerwood or hickory. Again, many of the hardwoods come from far-flung locales, though the FSC certification assures us the wood is from sustainably managed forests. It’s gorgeous. And not cheap.
Reclaimed flooring: I love the look, husband doesn’t. Also the wood is generally softer (pine, for the most part) so our dogs could do some serious damage.
Sigh… Like many “green” choices, there’s isn’t always a clear winner. It tends to be a lot of “one the one hand…but on the other…”
In the meantime, we’ll continue to research, discuss and, hopefully, install. At least before the carpet is completely condemned.