1. Keep the house cool and dry to reduce the presence of dust mites and mould, as they thrive in warm and humid conditions

2. Wash bedding once a week in hot water and tumble in a hot dryer for at least 30 minutes to eliminate dust mites. Wash blankets monthly, and quilts and pillows every two months.

3. Use exhaust fan when showering.

4. Limit the number of places dust can gather by replacing curtains with vertical blinks, and storing books and ornaments in glass cabinets.

5. Ensure all carpets, rugs and upholstered furniture are vacuumed once a week.

6. Remove soft toys from your child’s bedroom or wash weekly, as they are perfect breeding grounds for dust mites.

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” Douglas Adams

Not a new book, but a classic in terms of relevance and delivery. I am still grieving the death of this oddly colorful and weirdly hysterically funny author. I resisted the Last Chance to See, a book Douglas Adams co-authored with Mark Carwardine – I couldn’t imagine how he could handle the dreadfully serious topic of what is happening to some of the rarer species on the planet.

In reading this book, I came to realize that my greatest humorist inspiration was also an environmental activist.

Mr. Adams managed to convey an important story in that fabulous voice of his that inspires moments of hysterical laughter followed by a stunning desire to cry. He and Mark stumble through this important piece of environmental journalism to help illustrate the sometimes catastrophic effects of the human impact on the natural world.

How could you not love a book that references Bob Dylan in a chapter titled – ‘leopard-skin pill box hat pg. 51′!

Read it!

Green Diva Meg is living, always learning, and loving the practical sustainable lifestyle. She shares her experiences and relevant resources through her website, www.RelevantTimes.com, and her blogs, Green Diva’s Guide to Delicious Living and Green Divas.

I swear my little Benjamin has been teething since he was born. We call him ‘Ben the Beaver’ because he just gnaws on everything he gets his hands on. So my dilemma for the past 10 months has been finding safe stuff for him to chew on.

The process of researching this has become pretty overwhelming, but I’ll try and share some of what I’ve found.

The Chemicals

Some chemicals are used in the manufacture of plastics including baby products. The concern: that they can leach when touched or chewed on and have a toxic effect on the human body.

Phthalate – Phthalates, or Phthalate Esters, are a group of chemical compounds that are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility). They are chiefly used to turn polyvinyl chloride from a hard plastic into a flexible plastic.

Bisphenol-A - Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high production volume chemical used in the production of polycarbonate plastic and several types of resins.

Lead – well you should know about that one.

August 2007 – the National Institutes of Health concluded that there is ‘some concern’ that bisphenol A or BPA could have neural and behavioral effects on fetuses and young children. Not good.

November 2007 – Terry Gross of NPRs Fresh Air interviewed March Shapiro , editorial director of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting and author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007). In the book he explains that toxic chemicals exist in many of the products we handle every day – including toys. Apparently, the US does not require businesses to minimize them or even list them so that consumers can evaluate the risks – unlike the European Union. More than not good.

Listen to the interview.

Resources for Information & Action

The Environmental Working Groups Skin Deep – an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products. The database provides safety ratings for over 27,000 products with 7,000 ingredients.

Sign their petition to Congress demanding product safety testing.

Resources for Safe Products

The Soft Landing – a wonderful website and blog devoted to providing information to parents about safe plastics, etc. and resource for purchasing safe teethers, pacifiers, bottles, sippy cups and other feeding utensils.

A line-up of safe sippy cups from The Soft Landing.

EcoPiggy – an online store also devoted to selling only safe items for your little one including organic cotton clothing but also where I found my EcoBinky for Benjamin.

Zrecs Blog – A blog, not necessarily devoted to baby issues, but happens to have a wonderful report on BPA in infant care products. Check it out:

The Green Divas are living, always learning, and loving the practical sustainable lifestyle with their families. They share their experiences and relevant resources through their website, www.RelevantTimes.com, and their blog, www.RelevantTimesDiva.blogspot.com.

Aside from gathering the freshest, healthiest, most nourishing locally and responsibly grown food for our pantries, we have some sustainable habits we find help not only minimize the waste, but maximize the output of yummy and fun food.

Here are a few ‘Fresh Ideas’ for your sustainable kitchen:

• Recycle

This may seem elementary, but a lot of people don’t realize how much they throw away that could be recycled.

• Cardboard – we breakdown EVERY cardboard package and put it in a crate where ALL of our junk mail goes.
• Plastic – most plastic containers are recyclable. yes, another bin, but saves a lot in the landfills!
• Composting – there are a lot of inexpensive and easy products around to help set up a variety of kitchen composting scenarios. Meg has a stainless steel composting bin and she uses compostable bags to help gather all her food scraps to help create luscious soil for the gardens. NOTE: if you don’t have a garden, you can see if there is a local community garden who might be very happy to have your kitchen scraps.

• Reuse
  • Paper Towels – We can’t say we’ve successfully elminiated the use of these handy things entirely, but what we have found is a great local source for 100% recycled paper content paper towels THAT AREN’T OUTRAGEOUSLY PRICED. Check out Marcal. The amazing thing is that they’ve always used recycled paper! Who knew?
  • Sponges & Cloth – There are a mess (punn intended) of cool eco-friendly sponges out there, including the Casabella Faucet Sponge and we found these wonderful biodegradable (after several washes) bamboo kitchen towels!
  • Cloth Napkins – We’ve both collected a variety of cloth napkins and have trained our families to reach for them.

• Cleaning

We each have our favorites, but we both use almost exclusively non-toxic, earth-friendly cleaning products for kitchen as well as the rest of the house. See Meg & Jen’s Picks or our test comparisons for details on some of our favorites.

• Plastic Baggies – NO. Neither of us having plastic bags drying all over our kitchen! However, we did stumble upon an interesting product that helps clean them in the dishwasher! See Meg & Jen’s Picks for details on Bag-e-Wash.

Okay, well that’s just a start. Stay tuned for more Fresh Ideas for the Sustainable Kitchen from the Green Divas.

Meanwhile, we have some new recipes to share, so go to Relevant Delights and consider a warm, healthy Mexican style meal over this cold winter’s weekend!

About the Author

The Green Divas are living, always learning, and loving the practical sustainable lifestyle with their families. They share their experiences and relevant resources through their website, www.RelevantTimes.com, and their blog, www.RelevantTimesDiva.blogspot.com.

As part of their commitment to discovering cost effective, clean energy solutions for everyday living, BP is a proud sponsor of the 2007 BP Solar Decathlon event.

Twenty teams have been selected by the U.S Department of Energy to participate in this unparalleled solar competition. The teams, from colleges and universities from around the world, compete in this event to design, build and operate the most energy efficient and aesthetically appealing home powered by solar energy.

This event is a great opportunity to showcase young talents of clean and renewable technology. In this competition, the teams can only leverage the power of the sun to generate enough electricity to run a modern household. With that, they need to carefully choose the systems, products and appliances used in their solar-powered home.

I reckon this is an absolutely fantastic idea! Not only this competition can inspire many young and aspiring students for the new wave of alternative energy and green technology, it also shows us that BP cares about the future, and I must applaud initiatives like this.

Anyway, these homes will ultimately be transported to the “solar village” at the National Mall in Washington, D.c, and the public can visit this “solar village” from October 11 to 19.

If you simply cannot make it to Washington for this, you can still keep abreast with the happenings of this event at their blog – www.bpsolardecathlon.com. As part of their support for the competition, BP has specially created this blog in which all of the teams as well as their on-site reporter will write posts throughout competition.

Changing the world is simple. You can start by changing a small itsy bitsy things that you can do at home, and the changes you can make to your lifestyle. Like replacing your light bulbs with energy efficient ones, or perhaps taking the public transportation to school or work.

Today, a new Australian website – Change the World in 5 minutes launches !!! :)

Change the World in 5 minutes is about building a positive online community of people with ideas who want to make a change for the good. Visitors can create profile pages, and upload photos, videos and articles, as well as rate material submitted by other users.

What are you waiting for? It’s time to Change the World.

What is a genetically modified organism?

The general principal behind GMO is to insert DNA that has been taken from another organism and modified through genetic engineering techniques into an organism’s genome to create both new and enhanced traits and phenotypes. By being able to take genetic material from one organism and insert it into the permanent genetic code of another, biotechnologists have engineered numerous creations, such as pigs with human growth genes, fish with cattle genes and so on.

What were the first crops?

The first commercially grown genetically modified food crop was the Flavr Savr tomato which was made more resistant to rotting. It was released into the market for sale in 1994. This tomato was found to cause damage to the stomachs of rats and was later taken off the market. This was followed by insect protected cotton and herbicide tolerant soybeans, which both were commercially released in 1996. Today the soybean is by far the world’s most cultivated GM plant, followed by corn, cotton and canola.

Foods that have been genetically modified

GM foods have been available to the public since the1990s, so the invasion of GMOs will continue in our grocery stores and in our kitchen pantries. The most common crops which have been modified and to watch for include:

* Maize.
* Soybean (Soy flour, soy oil, lecithin, soy protein isolates and concentrates).
* Oilseed rape – canola (Oil, fabric).
* Squash.
* Potato (Right now the only potato that has been genetically engineered is the Burbank Russet, but you still have to look out for potato starch and flour).
* Corn (flour, corn starch, corn oil, corn sweeteners, syrups).
* Cotton
* Dairy Products (Milk, cheese, butter, buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt, whey).
* Animal Products (Because animal feed often contains genetically engineered organisms, all animal products, or by-products may be affected).

Affects to human health and the environment

The GMO foods currently on the market have not undergone adequate testing to ensure their safety for human consumption and also to quantify what impact they have on the environment. Genetically engineered food can have a serious effect on human health, on wildlife and the environment. Human risks can include;

* Allergic/ toxic reactions (to hidden genes and combination)
* Antibiotic resistance
* Immune – suppression
* Increased cancer risk
* Unsuspected side effects

Environmental impacts can include;

* Uncontrolled biological pollution
* Threatening numerous microbial, plant and animal species with extinction.
* Potential contamination of non-genetically engineered life forms with novel and possibly hazardous genetic material.
* Increased use of and dependence on toxic herbicides.
* Harm to farming (deformed crops, increased pest resistance, increased farmer costs and debt).
* Crop failures.
* Biodiversity (implications for biodiversity, the balance of wildlife and the environment).
* Creation of GM “Superweeds” and “Superpests”.
* Damage to food quality and nutrition.
* Ethical Issues

How to avoid GMO

* The only guaranteed way to avoid eating GMOs is to buy fresh certified organic produce.
* Read labels – When buying a product check the ingredients on the label. GM soybean and corn make up the largest portion of GE crops. If they are listed then there is a good chance it is GM. Remember the label does not have to declare that it contains GM ingredients.
* Avoid processed foods – 70% of processed foods contain GM ingredients.

You probably never think about it – but have you ever considered how much energy is consumed by a phone charger when it’s plugged in and not in use?

Well, according to page 10 of this report from the Energy Saving Trust, each charger consumes about 1 watt of power even when it isn’t charging anything.

How you interpret the total power consumption of all of those chargers varies widely. Wikipedia’s figures indicate that there are over 70 million handsets in the UK alone.. and if you take the average power consumption per UK household as around 4000 kWh per year, then that’s a potential 153,000 household’s worth of electricity per year being used to charge mobile phones.. that’s a town the size of Swindon.

The Unpluggit Campaign comes up with a rather more modest figure of 33,000 households worth of electricity being wasted. That’s still a fair amount, the size of a small town such as Leighton Buzzard, Dover or Chorley.

Run in conjunction with Ben & Jerry’s Climate Change College (yes, the ice cream folks) and the WWF, the Unpluggit Campaign is an attempt to raise awareness about this issue and it also seeks to collect 10,000 signatures in support of the principle of powering off chargers when not in use. The site has some amusing video clips too, and there’s the chance to win some free ice cream.

Are we guilty at Mobile Gazette – yup.. we found 8 chargers plugged in and doing nothing apart from wasting electricity. This was followed by an argument over whether we preferred Cherry Garcia or Cookie Dough flavours of Ben & Jerry’s. And there’s always one who likes Chunky Monkey to put a spanner in the works.

The Unpluggit Campaign raises a serious issue in a lighthearted way and is a reminder to think hard about all those things that we leave plugged in when we’re not actually using them.

Rustle the Leaf aims to to encourage environmentalists, to facilitate the sharing of environmental views in an engaging, nonconfrontational manner, and to introduce and reinforce environmental education with people ages 6 to 106.

So if you support this environmental initiative, do place a link to their webpage. You can find further instructions here.