Butting In For Child Safety (spreading the word on BPA)

It was a classic "eve-moment" in the baby isle of the grocery store.  An unsuspecting mother-to-be, heavy with child, anticipation and protective instinct holds a sippy cup in her had with intent to purchase in preparedness for her unborn...

"Excuse me," I always begin, knowing that my interjection could punture her trusting world view "have you heard about the recent research on plastics containing BPA?  Those sippy cups you're holding were the poster-product of the recall suggestion. (They were Nuby brand.)"  Experience has prepared me for a range of responses at this point.  While most mothers are happy to hear information pertaining to the direct safety of thier child, another common response annoyance at my interuptive, know-it-all attitude. 

"No, I haven't.  What's BPA?" Relieved to have a receptive audience, I begin my discourse on the harmful affects of Bisphenol-A, along with suggestions of BPA free products that can be found in the same isle.  On this occasion, the encounter ended with me escorting this pregnant woman across the store to the sporting goods isle to show her the Thermos brand stainless steel sippy cups called Foogo (read product review).

There are many informative and detailed blogs about BPA.  The summary is that BPA is an estrogen disruptor.  It's use is banned in Europe and Canada but it is still currently being used in the US.  BPA is found in #7 plastics (polycarbonate), canned food and some plastic toys.  Polycarbonate water bottles including the popluar Nalgene bottles made prior to year 2008 contain BPA.   Some baby bottles and formula can liners contain BPA.  Actually, the liners of most canned foods contain BPA.

Vitamix containers made prior to 2008 contain BPA, although the company has begun selling new containers that are BPA free (called the Tritan) and are available for sale through the company's website for about $150. 

As in the case of BPA, I wonder how many other toxins will be finally exposed in the media as being harmful to humans after we have been exposed to them for many years already.  For this reason, I feel compelled to interupt pregnant mothers during the joyful project of making a shower registry, to let them know that there is sometimes a safer alternative. 

My eco tip for the day is: Speak out.  I happen to know a little bit of useful information.  You might also know things that can help others make safer decisions for their children and planet. It's important to remember that information is power.  We can empower ourselves and each other by being open and communicating about the world we have found ourselves in.  So much seems out of our control. Who, exactly is putting toxic chemicals in our children's food, food containers and toys?  Talk to strangers about how we can improve our world.  Start small, like I did that day, with a useful tip to help someone protect their loved ones.  Eventually, the light of truth will make our world transparent!  We can help it along!

Garment Industry Practices

From the day my oldest son was born 4 years ago, I had not ever needed to purchase clothing for him.  He was the lucky (for me) recipient of clean, cute, brand name hand-me-downs from my friend's two boys.  We were being green and saving green!  Then one day, I decided that I would like to start picking out and purchasing his clothes myself.  "Okay," my husband said "just make sure that what you buy was not made by children."  

Child labor, sweatshops and other human rights issues has always been in the back of my mind when shopping for clothing especially, however I felt uneducated on the subject and not confident enough to make that promise to my husband.   So, I began searching websites and calling companies to find out what policies they inforce to protect their workers basic human rights and how closely they monitor the factories where their garments are made.  

This will be an extensive and ongoing post, but I'm happy to provide compassionate shoppers with the information I've gathered in my quest for an acessable, affordable, fairly traded wardrobe.

Clothing and goods that are truly "Fair Trade" are becoming more widely available in eco-friendly shops and online.  My goal, however was to find out as much as possible about the brands that we are all familiar with and that can be easily bought at a local store.  By contacting major brand companies and voicing my concerns for their garment factory workers, I also hoped to raise the awareness that their customers do care and that the demand for fairly traded goods to become the norm is on the rise. 

My first stop was at Gap Inc. (the parent company of Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Piper Lime.)  I chose to begin my search here because Gap Inc. was the poster-child for child labor and sweatshop practices after media reports exposed them to the public some years ago.  However, what I found out at GapInc.com is that the company currently has the most transparent factory monitering reports available to the public (on the internet) since 2004.  Does this mean that all of the Gap factories are compliant with the companies statement of ethics?  Well, it's a start.  As a blogger, I'd like give my summary of the company's 2006 social responsibility report. 

I learned that most clothing companies do not own the factories where their garments are made.  The actual factories are independant contractors and so who we think of as the clothing "manufacturer" is really just responsible for designing the garments, contracting out the construction of them, then distribution, sales and marketing, of course.  Some clothing companies, like Gap Inc., have a team of people responsible for monitering relationships with factories and enforcing (by threat of terminating the working relationship) basic human rights standards.  Some clothing companies just work with whatever factory will save them the most money and don't maintain relationships with the contractors at all. (Nike brand has been accused of such.)

  From what I have found, any company that is conscious enough to make attempts at enforcing basic human rights policies for the employees of their contracting facilities is going to have a public statement about it somewhere on their website.  I have foud this to be true for Columbia, Patogonia, Tommy Hilfiger,  MEC and others.  I have also found brands such as Carhardt who actually own some of their factories and also have what they call "union made" garments.  In this case it is the union overseeing the rights of the workers.  (More on this in future blogs.) 

Getting back to the Gap report, on page 30 there is a comprehensive list of a factory's potential violations as well as a chart revealing which countries have the highest rate of which occurences.   If using the Gap report as a snapshot of common factory practices in the country of occurence for all clothing companies, one can begin to make more educated shopping choices based on personal values.  For example: North Africa had the highest percentage of reported cases of workers proven to be under 14 years of age (a.k.a. child labor) although the actual percentage was fairly low, as in <10%. China was reported to have <1% of violations in this catagory. However, in the more vague catagory of "not in full compliance with local child labor laws" China, India, North Africa, South America and even Europe all recieved violations, but still relativly low at <10%.   The highest percentage of violations regarding the potential use of child labor was in the catagory of "poor age documentation" with China, India and Northeast Asia recieving the highest percentage of violations at up to <25%, and Africa, Europe and South America recieving violaions in this catagory on <10% of inspections.

Gap Inc. reported that no instances of violaitons concerning child labor were found in any of their factories in Mexico, Central America, the Carribean, Persian Gulf, the United States or Canada (per thier 2006 social responsibilty report.)

Based on this report and in attempts to keep my agreement with my husband about not supporting child labor,  I have been reading the labels on each piece of clothing I buy to check the country of origin.  I now feel more comfotable buying clothing "made in Guatamala" as opposed to the more common "made in China" option.  I've also discovered clothing brands made in the USA (American Apparel for instance.)  More on domestically made fashion in my next blog!

Gap Inc.'s 2006 social responsibility report can be found here: http://www.gapinc.com/public/documents/CSR_Report_05_06.pdf

Ants on a log…

The holidays can easily seem overwhelming.  As a mother of two small children I know how challenging it can sometimes be to keep a patient and cheerful attitude when your list of chores is longer than Santa's list of good little girls and boys.  However, I encountered a brief moment of that good-mom feeling when choosing for the children a healthy snack paired with a lively song over the less eco-friendly option of tossing them a kid sized package of some  processed health food imposter. 

"The ants go marching one by one hoorah, hoorah... the ants go marching one by one hoorah, hoorah... the ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to play his drum, and they all go marching down, to the ground, to get out, of the rain...the ants go marching two by two hoorah, hoorah..."  I sang while decorating peanut butter slathered celery with little ant-raisins.  They both lit up like tree angels and never questioned the green-ness of the celery. 

To continue the song, just make sure the little ant always does something that rhymes with the number you're on.  Maybe the song has traditional words, but I'm sure whatever you and your kids come up with will be more fun!

Make your own Waldorf play kitchen

This being the season of gift giving, I'd love to share with you some of my favorite eco-friendly gift ideas.  My son's are getting a wood play kitchen like the very wholesome looking ones in the waldorf style toy catalogs.  However, to save money and just for fun, I'm making it myself from mostly reclaimed materials.

First, I've used an old cutting board for the stove top.  I just turned on the burner of the stove (electric) on high and burned burner shapes on the cutting board by holding it upside down and pressing it on the burner for a few seconds.  Then I placed that on top of an old night stand and voila! instant stove top.  Next I attached a piece of wood cut to the shape of the front of the night stand w/ cabinet door hinges. You can also cut a little window out and add a small handle of some sort.

For the sink I used another piece of old furniture, an old tvstand and cut out a hole in the top to place a stainless steel bowl for the sink, then I cut a wooden dowl to the general shape of a spout and added two small drawer pulls for sink knobs.  Last, I used peel and stick floor tile for the "counter top" and put it all around the sink.  It's really cool!  Honestly, I spent less than $50 on this endeavor and it was a lot of fun to make.  I can't wait to give it to them at Christmas!