Green Cricket

Today Eco Friendly Friday is a review of Green Cricket, an online store that offers green lifestyle and home products in the Toronto Area.

A few weeks back we made our first order with them, it was delivered to our home by Green Cricket itself in a reusable box that we are to give back at our next order. There was no shipping cost because our order was over $75 and local. The site is extra easy to use and our service was great.

We have decided to start using them regularly for a variety of items we purchase on a semi-regular basis but used to have to visit 2 or 3 store to find them all. Such as organic coffee, diapers, wipes, parchment paper, beauty products, muffin cup liners...

During our next order we plan on also picking up this extra cute car for Christophe:

Eco Friendly Fridays

It's been a while since I have done an Eco Friendly Friday.

Today, I am going to talk about "One Million Acts of Green", a project by the CBC, the Hour and Cisco. I think it's great when large corporations, media and famous people get involved in promoting green living.

Now for those of us that are already living an extra-green lifestyle, we don't learn much from this kind of press.  However, there are millions of people out there that still need to be convinced that our planet needs to be saved. Yes, there are actually people out there who do not recycle.

The idea behind the campaign is that one small act can make a big difference.

It’s not about overhauling your life; it’s about one act from each individual, amassing to a million. It can be as simple as switching to compact fluorescent lightbulbs, starting a recycling program, or walking to work. You can do one act – or you can do all one million! It’s up to you.

The way I look at this is if CBC and The Hour can convince even just half of Canada to commit to one act of Green we will be better off then we were yesterday.

Check out the acts of Green Completed by Me.

Earth Hour 2009

It's never to early to start planning for earth hour 2009 that will be held on March 28 at 8:30PM. What is earth hour you say it's one hour that we as a human race give a breck to our planet by shutting off all lights; if you want to take one step further you pledge to not use any for of electricity for that hour. Just as we did this year we will be participating in earth hour as a family in 2009. This is a great moment to take time to explain to your kids why the planet is so important and out energy conservation. If this is a concept your kids already know then you can take this time to bond as a family...

Eco Friendly Fridays

Pesticides:

Everyday your child under five consumes on average eight pesticides a day. You may not see an immediate reaction in your child but pesticides are know to have a cumulative effect, particularly in growing bodies and could cause health problems in the future. I will not explain all the negative effects they can have here but will share a few easy tips on how to avoid pesticides.

1. Use non toxic pest control options at home.
2. Wash and peel conventionally grown vegetables and fruits.
3. Remove an discard the outer peel of conventionally grown leafy vegetables.
4. Rotate foods so that you are not eating the same food every day. (different pesticides and amount of pesticides are used with different foods)
5. Purchase organic foods when available
6. Only purchase organic foods if you are consuming the peel or outer layer (i.e. berries, broccoli)
7. If you have the space start your own organic garden
8. When eating conventional grown foods stay away from the core of the fruit as pesticide then to accumulate near the seeds.
9. Try to only purchase organic pre-packaged goods as it is impossible to confirm what parts of the vegetable and fruits were used and how they were washed.
10. Only purchase organic dairy and meat products as conventional dairy and meat have a high percentage of pesticides.

Have a happy toxic free friday.

Eco Friendly Fridays

This one is a bit more about your families health, but is also about the environment. Get your water tested for lead if you have an old home. Many old homes have lead pipes leading into the house from the cities water main. In Toronto it's easy; if your home was built before 1955 all you need to do is send an email to waterqualityline@toronto.ca with the following information:

• contact person
• address
• nearest major intersection
• contact phone number

One of the city's Samplers will drop off a sample bottle with instructions in 6 - 8 weeks (from time of request). All you need to do is collect the sample as directed and leave it out for pickup on the date indicated on the instruction sheet.

In the meantime, if you suspect lead in your drinking water, you may filter your water (a filter certified to remove lead ie. Faucet-attached Brita Filters remove 90%+ lead) or drink bottled water, until test results are determined.

You may also contact a Public Health Inspector at 416-338-7600 for more information on the health risks associated with lead.

I strongly recommend anyone that has small children and an old home to do this.

If you do not live in Toronto I would recommend to contact your city all and ask what is the procedure for your city.

As it stands we are waiting for our sample bottle I will keep you posted on the results once we have them.

Eco Friendly Fridays

Plum Creek Bags Snack Bags

I am always looking at ways to reduce the use of plastic bags in my home. We are thinking of ordering these to try them out. I find it just seems like a sensible idea for snacks on the go. You can get these at Etsy, 4 bags for 14$.

Eco Friendly Friday

Minimize the amount of plastic bags you use...

I will never get to zero plastic bags as I don't think I will ever go bag-less for the garbage and our green bin. However all other plastic bags can be permanently banished from my home.

The first and easiest step to get rid of plastic bags is get some cloth shopping bags. We chose envirosax they are very compact when folded and do not attract pet hair. That second one is very important to me as the typical cloth bags you can buy at grocery stores just getter cat hair like there us no tomorrow.

Now that you have cloth shopping bags you can take the next step and replace other plastic bags, below is a list of great products to think about:

Garden bags : these are great to store leafy green vegetables in the fridge and actually prolongs there life. Just wash your greens and wrap them up in a cotton kitchen towel then pop in the bag. Voila you have salad green that are pre-washed and ready to eat.

Produce bags : these basically do not weight anything so they are great for buying produce at the grocery store, be warned do not use with string beans or peas as you will spend says picking them out of the mesh.

Trash bags: if you can buy biodegradable plastic garbage bags for your green bins and waste. If you can not get biodegradable bags make sure you buy plastic bags that are made from 100% post consumer recycle material.

Food Storage: Instead of grabbing a zip-lock bag use a glass or metal container in the long run this will save you money. We love the Glass Lock containers.