Moms against climate change is about taking action, it is about joining a community of women, it is about our children and it is about our future.

Upload a picture of your child with concerned moms in Canada and let the government know how important your child’s future is.

http://www.takeactiononclimatechange.com/

In Canada? In BC? On Vancouver Island?

Nope…that is how many plastic bags THREE Thrify Foods Grocery Stores went through in a year. Three Stores! Astonishing.

So folks, that’s why they decided to switch to paper bags. Now, of course there is some controversy on the use of paper bags, but I’d say it is a step in the right direction to reducing our plastic consumption.

Most importantly, this move is raising awareness about the outlandish amount of plastic we go through in a year, and  also solidifying the greater commitment by individuals and corporations to respect the environment and make changes happen.

So Kudos to Thrifty’s.

The best part is that now I am starting to see more and more people shopping with their own reusable bags…now that most of us can remember to take them out of the car!

List of ten little hazards that may be hiding under your kitchen sink. Some of just a few toxic ingredients in common cleaners.

These have been associated with hormone disruption, cancer, organ damage and tissue damages. All “Not Good” things.

• fragrance (if it is not essential oils, that “nice smell” is probably fragrance, or in other words, a toxic VOC)
• benzene
• toluene
• ethylebenzene
• xylene
• methanol
• bleach/sodium hypochlorite
• formaldehyde
• naphthalene
• phosphoric acid

Take this list, Print it off, stick it to somewhere! Then clear this stuff out of your cupboard. There are great natural alternatives out there - Stock up now

Take a peek at the Environmental Defence Canada website at www.environmentaldefence.ca for more details on toxic cleaning product ingredients, and what to watch for.

Or rather, spices are the antioxidants of life perhaps.

Surprise! Some spices have the same level of antioxidants as blueberries, pomegranate juice or tomatoes.

Here’s the facts

• 1 tsp of Cinnamon contains as many antioxidants as 1/2 cup of blueberries or 1 cup of pomegranate juice…so add some to your oatmeal, toast or muffin batter.
• 1 tsp Oregano contains as many antioxidants as 1 cup of red grapes
• 1 tsp of Thyme contains the same amount of antioxidants as 1 carrot or 1/2 cup of tomatoes

So make spices an integral part of your meal planning and up the antioxidants in your diet.

*Source: Nutrient Data Laborator USDA Nov 07, Centre for Phytochemistry and Pharmacology, Southern Cross University, Australia.

Enjoy a happy, healthy New Year full of life, love and laughter.

Enjoy the holidays, and make them eco-friendly for all your family & friends with these simple tips.

1. Holiday Glow - Use soy or beeswax candles. Longer lasting and are cleaner and more gentle on the environment. Beautiful and fragrant too. And use LED lights for your tree!

2. Holiday Scents - Avoid chemically based air fresheners and scented candles. Simmer some cinnamon sticks in water on the stove or use essential oils. Better yet…bake some gingerbread!

3. Holiday Wrapping - Get creative. Recycle old wrapping paper, use comic strips from the newspaper, paper grocery bags and ribbon, sheet music or colourful pages from magazines. Never can go wrong with reusable shopping bags!

4. Holiday Décor - Add natural elements to your place settings and arrangements. Pinecones, smooth stones for place cards, or locally made wreaths and living trees to be planted later.

5. Holiday Feast - Make just enough. Avoid waste by making and buying no more than you need. And if you end up with leftovers - send them home with your guests. Better yet, send them home with reusable containers! Save up those glass jars to share your feast.

May Your Holiday Season Be Full of Laughter, Light & Happiness.

ENJOY A GENTLE EARTH HOLIDAY

Facts from Food, Inc.

• In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today, the top four control more than 80% of the market.
• In the 1970s, there were thousands of slaughterhouses producing the majority of beef sold. Today, we have only 13.
• In 1998, the USDA implemented microbial testing for salmonella and E.coli 0157h7 so that if a plant repeatedly failed these tests, the USDA could shut down the plant. After being taken to court by the meat and poultry associations, the USDA no longer has that power.
• In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164.
• During the Bush administration, the head of the FDA was the former executive VP of the National Food Processors Association.
• During the Bush administration, the chief of staff at the USDA was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry in Washington.
• Prior to renaming itself an agribusiness company, Monsanto was a chemical company that produced, among other things, DDT and Agent Orange.
• In 1996 when it introduced Round-Up Ready Soybeans, Monsanto controlled only 2% of the U.S. soybean market. Now, over 90% of soybeans in the U.S. contain Monsanto’s patented gene.
• Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas was an attorney at Monsanto from 1976 to 1979. After his appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its seed patents.
• The average chicken farmer invests over $500,000 and makes only $18,000 a year.
• 32,000 hogs a day are killed in Smithfield Hog Processing Plant in Tar Heel, N.C, which is the largest slaughterhouse in the world.
• The average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year.
• 30% of the land in the U.S. is used for planting corn
• The modern supermarket now has, on average, 47,000 products, the majority of which is being produced by only a handful of food companies.
• 70% of processed foods have some genetically modified ingredient.
• SB63 Consumer Right to Know measure requiring all food derived from cloned animals to be labeled as such passed the California state legislature before being vetoed in 2007 by Governor Schwarzenegger, who said that he couldn’t sign a bill that pre-empted federal law.
• Corn products include: ketchup, cheese, Twinkies, batteries, peanut butter, Cheez-Its, salad dressings, Coke, jelly, Sweet & Low, syrup, juice, Kool-Aid, charcoal, diapers, Motrin, meat and fast food.
• Corn, which is the main ingredient in animal feed, is also used as a food additive. Those products commonly include: Cellulose, Xylitol, Maltodextrin, Ethylene, Gluten, Fibersol-2, Citrus Cloud Emulsion, Inosital, Fructose, Calcium Stearate, Saccharin, Sucrose, Sorbital, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Di-glycerides, Semolina, Sorbic Acid, Alpha Tocopherol, Ethyl Lactate, Polydextrose, Xantham Gum, White Vinegar, Ethel Acetate, Fumaric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Baking Powder, Zein, Vanilla Extract, Margarine, and Starch.
• 1 in 3 Americans born after 2000 will contract early onset diabetes; Among minorities, the rate will be 1 in 2.
• E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks have become more frequent in America, whether it be from spinach or jalapenos. In 2007, there were 73,000 people sickened from the E. coli virus.
• Organics is the fastest growing food segment, increasing 20% annually.

A movie that EVERYONE needs to watch and recommend to 5 friends (and all facebook fans and twitter followers!)

How much do we really know about the food we buy from our local grocery store?

The film is startling and informative without being pushy. Important, not to mention engaging, shocking, intriguing and upsetting, documentary on what is going on behind the scenes with our food supply.

Each piece of the puzzle is meticulously put into place…from genetically modified food (GMO’s) and the Monsanto seed patrol, the true source of e-coli poisoning and the easy way to stop it (let the cows eat grass!) , to the root of obesity and the impact of this current system on our health, the economy, the planet, and our future.

Grab some popcorn with buttery goodness, throw on the movie, and become informed…then take a peek at your popcorn bag…Is this GMO corn???

We can make a difference with every bite.

To watch the trailer, click here

Film Overview:

In the movie Food, Inc., the veil is lifted on the food industry to expose the highly mechanized system hidden by the government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. These facts have been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of government and pressure from corporations. Filmmaker Robert Kennedy reveals how the nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, how GMO’s have entered our food supply, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.

We now see great things at the supermarket without a second thought - big chicken breasts, tomatoes that don’t go bad, perfect pork chops, and herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, but unknown to some of us, and painful reminders to others, we also have new strains of E. coli-the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually.

Society is now riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising-and often shocking truths-about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Read the press release: CLICK HERE

Chemical products at home and at work.

Here are just a few of the numbers we found interesting…

• 17,000: the number of petrochemicals available for home use, only 30 percent of which have been tested for exposure to human health and the environment.
• 63: the number of synthetic chemical products found in the average  home, which equates to roughly 40 litres of harmful chemicals.
• 100: the number of times higher that indoor air pollution levels can be above outdoor air pollution levels, according to US EPA estimates.
• 275: the number of active ingredients in antimicrobials that the EPA classifies as pesticides because they are designed to kill microbes.
• 5 billion: the number of pounds of chemicals that the institutional cleaning industry uses each year.
• 23: the average gallons of chemicals (that’s 87 liters) that a janitor uses each year, 25 percent of which are hazardous.

Climate Change.

This year marks yet another in the growing awareness and understanding of  climate change, global warming and the impact this is having on all of us.

When I think of climate change, the words mingle now in a daily landscape of what’s next?

Global warming. Arctic ice melt. CO2 emissions. Polar bears doomed. Ice caps. Ice shelves. Greener Greenland. Clean coal. Electric cars. Public transit. Methane gas. Deforestation. Storms. Erratic weather patterns. Drought. Desertification.

The stream continues on in an ocean of what to do?

So on Blog Action Day 09 - Climate Change. What is next? And what can we do?

Here are FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

1. Choose your mode of transport wisely - Make use of public transit, walk to the grocery store, carpool with friends or dust off your bicycle, or buy a more fuel efficient car
2. Eat Local Foods - Not only does this support your local economy (major plus!), but also reduces carbon emissions. Ingredients for North American diets typically travel 2,500 to 4,000 km. Learn more about the 100 mile diet.
   
3. Seal up your home - Reduce energy waste by weatherstripping your doorways and windows, adding some caulking or just turning fown your thermostat by ONE degree.
4. Reduce, reuse and recycle - The three R’s are classic and necessary. Get creative and find new uses for those things around your house. Click here for some crafty ideas for reusing household items! And buy recycled - recycled products save up to 90% of the energy and pollution than if the product came from virgin materials. Every bit helps.
5. Inspire friends, collegues, family and neighbours - Every small step you take impacts the larger circle of change. And if you can inspire, educate and involve others, you take that movement to the next stage. Blog Action Day is about this. Get involved and see what a difference you can make. Start a recycling campaign, watch movies together on climate change, organize a large gathering or just keep the discussion rolling.

The climate is changing, as things always change. Yet, the rate of change has been accelerated by us. And now is the time to take action and show what we can do as a global community to make a more positive impact on our environment.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi