To most of my friends, I’m the crunchy, hippie, uber-green girl. To the real organic, super greenies, I’m a newbie. I understand and appreciate the reasons behind the green movement. I desire to provide a safer, healthier environment for my children and their future but I don’t have the knowledge or resources to succeed in all areas of our lives.
I do, however, have friends who try. My friends can be divided into two categories: the crunchy, granola buddies who still have much to teach me and everyone else. This month, I had the opportunity to review a book that will help them both!
When I first heard about the Smart Mama’s Green Guide
Jennifer Taggart understands that it is difficult for most people to eliminate all sources of toxic chemicals in their homes. It is often too expensive or time consuming to control everything, but she provides several simple, practical ideas to get you started. She breaks down each hazard, giving detailed explanations on how and why each poses a threat. For those of us who can’t quite grasp the acronyms or decipher the various chemicals, she gives real world examples. However, for those of you who thrive on the details that I can’t quite comprehend, she includes those as well.
Hachette Book Group has also offered additional books for me to giveaway to my readers! The books will be shipped directly from the publisher. To be entered into the giveaway, leave me a comment here, sharing simple ways you choose a greener life. You can also earn additional entries by blogging or tweeting about this giveaway (leave a separate comment with the link to each additional entry).
The contest runs from June 23rd to June 30th at 11:59pm. Two winners will be notified by email on July 1st (as selected by Random.org) and must reply with their mailing address within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen. Open only to residents of the U.S. & Canada and books cannot be shipped to PO boxes.
Oh I want to win! I can use all the help I can get! LOL
This year we started composting, using a homemade composting bin. I love the idea of less waste, and I feel an odd sense of satisfaction when trash day comes around and our trash bin is barely full because we’ve been recyling and composting.
I have traded in many of our plastic toys in favor of cloth, wood and rubber (ala Sophie la Girafe). Any plastics that we have purchased for Nate are completely BPA-free to reduce toxic exposure.
I tried my hand at homemade baby food but he preferred the smoother texture of the jarred stuff. Good intentions count, right? LOL
We also have our own vegetable garden and compost pile out in the backyard.
I tweeted: https://twitter.com/kris10chumley/status/2343228609
Just an FYI your giveaway was posted as ending 6/30/09. If I would have know it was actually the 23rd I would have popped by earlier. Sorry I missed it. thank for the great information though!
Among the many, many ways I live a green life, I do not throw away plastic bags (which can be recycled at many supermarkets in a special bin). I use an empty dry cat food bag to collect dirty litter and do not dispose of it until it is full (instead of using up one plastic bag per cleaning!). (The cat food bag keeps odor in as long as I roll down the top.) We don’t need to put out our garbage can on the curb more than once every 2-3 weeks since we compost, recycle and reuse so many things. I only use cold water to wash clothes, only run the dishwasher and laundry machine when there is a full load and hang everything to dry. The list goes on and on… 🙂 Thanks for this great giveaway!
I tweeted this giveaway: http://twitter.com/MamandeEDS/statuses/2399942921
We have started to make our own laundry detergent. It is really simple to do and it is great knowing what we are washing our cloths with. Thanks for the giveaway.
I’ve started line drying laundry on a make-shift clothing rack I made by taking the cover off my ironing board.
I’m pretty pleased about that 🙂 since we use a local laundromat, it really saves our quarters, too!
If everyone just does some basic things, I think the Earth could be a bit better. Like bring canvas bags, turning off the water when brushing teeth, unplug unused appliances, watch the lights, tv, computer, etc. Also can wash on cold, hang dry most clothes.