A Bicycle Built For School

For the first time in 23 years, I have no child attending school. My sadness about this caught me off guard. Believe me, I do not miss those monthly tuition payments, but I do miss how the back-to-school time marks the end of summer and sweet new beginnings. It's the rhythm of parental life.

Melancholy melted away when I saw this school bus over at Inhabitat:

“Attending school everyday has never more eco-friendly and fun! Dutch company De Café Racer developed a pedal-powered school bus that turns going to school into a happy, healthy and cooperative experience. This friendly and bright vehicle can accommodate up to ten kids and an adult driver, and even features a music player to blast all those sweet school bus tunes. The bus also comes equipped with an auxiliary electric motor just in case kids get tired. And if it starts raining, a sailcloth roof can easily be mounted to ensure the kids arrive at school nice and dry.”

Can I just say, I LOVE THIS!

I first uploaded the post onto Econesting’s Facebook page (you all “Like” Econesting’s FB page, right?) and received a comment from FB “Friend” Katja:

“Actually here in the Netherlands there are loads of those things - mostly for adults, there are groupbikes equipped with a bar and fridge, biketrains that you can use in offroad routes trough the woods and more. After all, the distances here are a good deal less then in the USA.”

Hey, do you think we could do this here in the States? I’m game. How cool would it be to grab a few friends and head off-road with that bar and fridge! OK, we could leave the bar and fridge out for the school kids and add helmets. But really, what a fun and ecological idea for areas where climates could accommodate an open-air school bus. Plus, it might wake up a few high schoolers when they hit the pedals at 6 AM.

Credit: Inhabitat via De Cafe Racer

3 DIY Eco-Friendly Hand Soaps

I could not let my recent rant about what kids are being asked to bring to school whiz by without offering up a few alternatives. Don't you just hate people who complain about the state of things without giving any suggestions? In my book, that just makes them part of the problem. For someone who cares about our environment like I do, if I didn't provide a suitable option to make things better - it's just…well, ranting.

So, I’m going after the biggest defender of evil on that back-to-school list which included: zip-lock bags, toilet paper, garbage bags, cotton balls, anti-bacterial soap, detergent, paper plates, paper towels and tissues.

ANTI-BACTERIAL SOAP tops the list for eco-unfriendliness.

Why? Because it is unhealthy.

Check out my recent post about how nasty the main ingredient in anti-bacterial soap is. Studies show triclosan alters hormone regulation in laboratory animals, and can cause antibiotic resistance, along with an increase of allergies. The F.D.A. says soap with triclosan is not any more effective than ordinary soap. So, why the hell are we asking kids to bring it to school???

Consider these 3 DIY Eco-Friendly Hand Soap alternatives:

1. Here’s a tutorial for ditching the Dial Complete (bad, bad soap with triclosan) and making your own eco-friendly Liquid Hand Soap.

2. Each year I buy handmade felted soaps at the Wool and Sheep Festival. They are a true luxury. Here are directions to make Felted Soap. I’m going to try!

3. What could be better than shea butter soap? Not much. Here’s the how to’s for making your own Shea Butter Soap.

I believe we can change our future, teach our children well, and protect our precious planet if we continue to think and act creatively…and collectively. Let’s not muck it up.

Credit: Craft

Back-To-School: BYO Surprise

Surprise! It’s back-to-school time. Well, that’s no surprise. What totally surprises me are the lists of school supplies kids are being asked to stuff into their backpacks on the first day of school. According to a Today show segment, some schools are asking their students to bring zip-lock bags, toilet paper, garbage bags, cotton balls, antibacterial soap (!!!), detergent, paper plates, paper towels and tissues.

Along with the obligatory backpack, pencils and paper, parents are also asked to check their eco-consciousness on the school steps, and wave good-bye to their babes while their child wades through a landfill of required stuff.

I met lots of mommy bloggers when I represented the Moms Clean Air Force at BlogHer. I spoke to green moms who were sending their kids back to school with stainless steel water bottles and packing their lunches with DIY lunch bags and reusable napkins. But, most parents take their cues from these school lists that require them to consume rather than conserve.

Don’t get me going on plastic bags…why would a parent who is trying to cut down on using a substance made from a nonrenewable resource (petroleum), continue to perpetuate the problem?

Can you imagine sending your child to school with toilet paper? No joke.

This New York Times article sets the case, “Schools across the country are beginning the new school year with shrinking budgets and outsize demands for basic supplies. And while many parents are wincing at picking up the bill, retailers are rushing to cash in by expanding the back-to-school category like never before.”

Not only is it unfair to ask financially strapped parents to provide such items, it downright stomps all over our environment. Maybe even worse than laying the burden on parents is the message we are sending our kids. One minute we’re telling them disposable products are destructively evil for the environment, and in the next breath, we’re literally buying into school requirements.

As a former teacher, I can see how some of these items may be helpful, but are they really necessary? I think not. And if we are ever going to create a culture of conservation, we better get started with our littlest learners

Mother Love Is A Force Of Nature

We launched! It's been a busy time for the folks at Moms Clean Air Force. We've been writing, designing, developing, and finally launching a shiny new website!

While I've been holed up with my computer for hours on end, the collaborative effort has been incredibly inspiring. Working with a team is something I've missed being a freelance writer/editor/blogger these past four years.

Once I corral the talented team of writers, and teach them how to use all the nifty new tools, I will have time to write again. Yay!

In the meantime, do you want to learn more about MCAF? Of course you do!

Below is the MCAF welcome note from founder, Dominique Browning. After you check out the website (just beautiful, huh?), please come back and tell me what your thoughts are about the site and our mission to clean up the air. Thank you!

Mother Love Is A Force of Nature

Moms Clean Air Force has a newly designed website, and I’m delighted to welcome you to our community. We’re creating a movement for people who see air pollution as a straightforward, urgently important health issue.

Our goals are simple: educate people about why air pollution is still a big problem; raise awareness about what’s at stake politically; inspire people to take simple, fast action to send Washington a message.

We know moms are busy. But moms are also extraordinarily protective of their children’s health. We specialize in Naptime Activism.

Our bloggers take our message into their communities, reaching millions of readers. We network on Facebook and Twitter. Our growing community includes nurses, doctors, scientists, politicians, novelists, journalists, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, knitters and bakers–concerned moms, dads, sisters, brothers, daughters, and sons. Air pollution is harmful to everyone with a beating heart.

Air pollution contains toxins that harm people’s brains, lungs, and hearts. It is affecting our food and water. Children are especially vulnerable to toxic pollutants; Latino and African American babies suffer disproportionately from poisoned air. While there are lots of things we can do, as individuals, to keep our children safe at home, no one can control the air they breathe. We need regulations for that.

We’re all for respecting reasonable, efficient government budgets. But we don’t want our babies thrown out with the bathwater.

President Nixon’s Clean Air Act of 1970, and the agency he founded, the Environmental Protection Agency, have accomplished a great deal in cleaning American air and water. But the work isn’t done. The sky might be blue, but that doesn’t mean it is clean. In forty years, we’ve learned much more about invisible pollutants that wreak havoc on our health, causing neurological and developmental problems. Asthma rates among children are skyrocketing.

Air pollution isn’t just dirty. It is poisonous. Polluters are fighting for the right to pollute!

The Clean Air Act and the EPA are facing an unprecedented attack by some politicians and coal and oil industry lobbyists. That’s because emissions from coal-fired power plants are the single largest contributor to mercury toxins in our air.

Many responsible coal plant owners have done the right thing and cleaned up their toxic air emissions. It hasn’t hurt their bottom lines at all–they’re making record profits. The EPA has created thousands of jobs for Americans in the last forty years–in sectors from research to enforcement to engineering to new technology development.

Air pollution can be cleaned up. Please join Moms Clean Air Force to make our voices loud and clear. Send politicians a forceful message: Strengthen and enforce pollution regulations!

Polluters have power, money and political influence. But moms have love. And that’s the strongest force of all. Now we have to use it.

PLEASE JOIN MOMS CLEAN AIR FORCE

Two Coasts, Wild Air

Did I mention I recently spent a few weeks on Martha’s Vineyard? Probably not. I don’t like to advertise my comings and goings online until I’m safely tucked back into my nest.

Last year, I summed up my beachy vacation in one word…Unplugged. It was an introspective post that was transformative in its theme. When I returned from the beach last year I shared about being unplugged:

Slowing down allows for more reflection…
More reflection provides for more space.
..More space gives way to a different intention.
..Different intentions delve deeper.
..Delving deeper blows the lid off everything.

When I reread this, it struck me that this summer has been anything but unplugged…and that’s been OK too. Being plugged-in sometimes has its rewards. In this case, it took me to the other coast. Within days of swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, I flew to San Diego to attend the BlogHer Conference…and I briefly gazed at the Pacific.

Wild Air

What’s BlogHer? It is a spirited gathering of more than 6,000 bloggers (almost exclusively women) who came together to “discuss, inspire and connect with each other.” If you’ve been hanging out at Econesting, you’ve no doubt read that I am part of a team of bloggers who write for the Environmental Defense Fund’s Moms Clean Air Force. MCAF was a BlogHer sponsor. You can check out photos from the event here.

There’s been something else in the air this summer. I’m now working in more of an editorial role with the MCAF. Along with writing posts, I will be helping to manage the new website that is about to launch. I am very, very pleased about this. For me it combines two things I am most passionate about: the environment and family. Don't worry, I will continue to bring eco-friendly design ideas, DIY projects and thoughts about living a sustainable life.

Wild, huh? So that’s what I've been up to. Where have you been?

Credit: Free People