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Essential Oil OTC Drugs Frankincense Neosporin, Tylenol, Motrin, wrinkle creams, calming and stress drugs Lavender Neosporin, Motrin, Aleve, Tylenol, Pepto-Bismol, Imodium A-D, Solarcaine, ear drops, Desitin, Claritin, Unisom, Simply Sleep Lemon Tylenol, Motrin, Children’s Motrin, Children’s Tylenol, Tums, ear drops, Imodium A-D, Pepto-Bismol, Mylanta Melaleuca ear drops, dandruff shampoo, Denorex, acne scrubs, Chloraseptic, DayQuil, NyQuil, [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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Here is a list of 10 items, or categories, that need to be cleaned regularly and are often neglected:

1. Those wonderful green, reusable shopping bags which, if we do not wash them every other month or so, can be teeming with bacteria. I throw mine in the washer on gentle with some detergent and hang dry.
2. The steering wheel, door handles, shifter and wiper and directional controls in our cars are things that get used almost every day and can get unbelievably grimy.
3. Our keys, talk about something we use every day that we often don't wash, can be easily washed in soap and water. I always remove my remote-key-fob before washing so I don't ruin it. I wipe that down with a lightly vinegared rag.
4. Our purses, briefcases and tote bags need to be regularly cleaned because more often than not they wind up on the floor or ground. We would not want to see the swab from one of these puppies under a microscope. Follow the recommended cleaning instructions--leather cleaner for leather etc.-- and do this fairly often. This goes double for kid backpacks!
5. Our vacuum cleaner and its attachments, yup that's right, get dirty beyond dirty. I wash the brushes and tools on mine about once every other month. The vacuum body itself should be wiped down as well.
6. Switch plates and doorknobs need regular wiping down for obvious reasons, we sneeze, we eat, we work in the garden, need I go on? I use a rag with diluted vinegar on mine.
7. Dog and Cat toys and beds should be cleaned regularly to help insure our pet's health. Pets need clean living and sleeping areas just as much as we do. My dog sleeps on white sheets--easier for me to spot fleas and ticks--that get washed once a week. Our pets have a much better sense of smell than we do and they do not like to be dirty. I always wash my pet's bedding and toys in fragrance-free detergent.
8. Toaster oven shelves and crumb trays, microwave ceiling, walls and trays and ye olde toaster should all be cleaned regularly according to manufacturer suggestions. They can be a wonderland of rotting, yeasty detritus. Reusing a soiled toaster oven shelf is like taking out a dirty dish and serving food on it, mine gets rinsed every time I use it.
9. Laundry baskets should be washed inside and out in order to keep them sanitary. Dirty clothes leave an invisible residue on the sides of baskets and then we dump warm clean clothes in. I wash both my plastic and natural wood and reed baskets outside in the yard with a hose and mild detergent, I then dry them in the sun.
10. And last but not least, computer keys and mouse should be cleaned often according to manufacturer suggestions.
11. OK I fibbed, here is one more: sink sponges should be tossed in a dishwasher basket and washed every time we do a load of dishes. This keeps them fresh as a daisy.

September is right around the corner, and the yearly ritual of back-to-school shopping has already begun. School supplies run the gamut from the utilitarian to the ridiculous and, oftentimes, the toxic. Here is some basic advice about shopping for and greening our children this fall.

1. Let's begin by talking about backpacks. A backpack is usually a "must have" for kids these days. It is important to choose a non-toxic style that won't ruin their backs. Choose a small to medium-sized pack with lots of specialized, convenient compartments. The bigger the backpack, the more kids will stuff into it. Wide, padded straps will distribute the weight of the pack better as well as make it much more comfortable. Try to buy a pack made from simple natural or recycled materials. Always encouraging our children to use both straps when carrying a full load will help to safeguard their backs.
2. Greening our child's clothing can be quite easy. First off, let's talk about used clothing. Children grow so fast that they rarely get a chance to wear out their clothing. Rummage sales or second-hand shops are often really great places to find almost-new and stylish clothing. Collectives of parents who pass used clothing along are also becoming more popular, just like in the good old days. If you are in the market for something green and new, shopping locally is always a good idea, or consulting the Green Pages can be a helpful.
3. Greening our child's lunch is important on many levels. Teaching our children about sustainability and about what constitutes "real food" is crucial if we are going to teach them to be responsible stewards of the environment. Sending them off with a healthy--not overly processed--lunch is simply the right thing to do. Packing their lunches in no-waste, reusable, BPA and phthalate free wrappers and containers is best. Send them drinks in reusable bottles as well.
4. Go PVC free! Consult the Back-to-School guide to PVC-Free school supplies from The Center for Health, Environment and Justice before purchasing book bags, binders and any other school supplies.
5. Last but not least, teaching our children proper etiquette and responsible use of cell phones, computers and gaming devices that use energy guzzling vampire chargers is crucial for green minded parents everywhere.

Once again, we are living in a great age for canning. Not since the "Of Course I Can!" poster days of World War II has there been such a broad nationwide campaign in favor of canning. Home canning then was a natural outgrowth of Victory Garden initiatives all across the U.S., where homemakers were encouraged to grow and "put by" as much food as possible so that the bulk of our nation's food supply would be available to feed our troops and allies.

Well, it's a new day, and though the groundswell of this current canning movement--similar to the one in the '40's and '50's--cuts across all demographics, there is nothing conventional about this group. I'm talkin' 'bout a Canvolution, and it doesn't sound like whispers. Canning Across America appeals to a very vocal nationwide collective of professional and home cooks, gardeners, farmers, socialites and foodies committed to "putting food by." Their mission is "to promote safe food preservation and the joys of community building through food."

At this time of year especially, canning parties are occurring all across the country. Neatly fitting in with the locavore and slow food movements, Canning Across America's message is simple: "Think of us as a one-stop resource for events, recipes, inspiration and safety how-to on anything under the canning, preserving and pickling umbrella that will continue throughout the year."

On the fringes of this movement are people like my sister Ceil--she has been canning from her own organic garden for more than 40 years--who is now passing on her know-how to her daughter Clare. They have been canning up a storm for months now.

Canning techniques and supplies, such as BPA free lids, are evolving based on the needs and desires of this new generation of canning enthusiasts. The time is right, the crops are ripening. Why not join in?

Here are a few more helpful links: National Center For Home Food Preservation, BPA-free Weck canning supplies, Tattler BPA-free reusable canning lids, and Putting Food By by Ruth Hertzberg, Janet Greene and Beatrice Vaughan.

(Photo credit:ohmeaghan, creative commons, flickr)

In a world where news is noise and there is plenty of it to go around, it is important to practice discretion.

Global warming, climate change, environmental innovations, gains and disasters... I could go on all day, but I won't. Suffice it to say that it is important to find and distill reliable green news, so that we can be informed and act effectively on behalf of our beleaguered environment.

As a lean, green society of eco-advocates it is essential that we band together to make a loud green noise.

Here is a list of helpful green-focused websites and resources:

1. Yale Environment 360 is an online magazine "offering opinion, analysis, reporting and debate on global environmental issues."
2. Environmental News Network--ENN's mission is to "inform, educate, enable and create a platform for global environmental action."
3. World Wildlife Federation--WWF's mission is the conservation of nature. "Using the best available scientific knowledge and advancing that knowledge where we can, we work to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth."
4. Global Green USA, "is Global Green is working to address some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. In the United States our work is primarily focused on fighting global climate change by creating green buildings and cities."
5. Environment and Sustainable Food at Change.org highlight the latest news and actions pertaining to sustainable food and the environment.
6. Treehugger, which declares itself "a media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream."
7. Grist, "a beacon in the smog, seeks to draw out the real meaning behind green stories and to connect big issues like climate change to daily life."
8. The Environment and Health division of the nonprofit news organization Mother Jones is a great up-to-the-minute resource.
9. Worldchanging's mission is "to inspire readers around the world with stories of new tools, models and ideas for building a bright green future."
10. Green blog at The New York Times seeks to "introduce us to many of the central figures in the environmental landscape, asking them questions on our behalf.

Created by an act of Congress in 1971, the President's Cancer Panel is charged with monitoring the National Cancer Program and reports directly to the President in a report every year. This year the 240-page report was primarily focused on the environmental causes of cancer.

The two-member panel is comprised of LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S. and Margaret L. Kripke, Ph.D, both were appointed by former President George W. Bush during his tenure.

The report opens with "Dear Mr. President, Though overall cancer incidence and mortality have continued to decline in recent years, the disease continues to devastate the lives of far too many Americans. In 2009 alone, approximately 1.5 million American men, women, and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died from the disease. With the growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer, the public is becoming increasingly aware of the unacceptable burden of cancer resulting from environmental and occupational exposures that could have been prevented through appropriate national action."

The panel also states that "the true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated" and strongly urged action to reduce people's widespread exposure to carcinogens. The in depth report deals specifically with contaminants related to Industrial and Manufacturing Sources, Agricultural sources, exposures related to Modern Lifestyles, hazards from Medical Sources, hazards from Military Sources and hazards from Natural Sources.

According to an article in the New York Times, the report blames "weak laws, lax enforcement and fragmented authority, as well as the existing regulatory presumption that chemicals are safe unless strong evidence emerges to the contrary."

In its overview the report strongly urges President Obama: "to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation's productivity, and devastate American lives."

This is a watershed, consciousness raising report with gravitas, that will not only inform the public but will also, no doubt, cause a great hue and cry from the commercial and industrial sector. It's about time.

(Photo credit:chego101)

Where you exercise turns out to have measurable effects on physical and mental health. Exercising in a healthy, green environment significantly lowers blood pressure, increases self-esteem and has a positive significant effect on 4 of 6 mood measures, according to new research published in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research. Subjects who watched pleasant rural images while running on a treadmill experienced greater health boosts than runners who saw negative urban images.

Treadmill runners were shown one of four different types of scenes—"rural pleasant," "rural unpleasant," "urban pleasant" or "urban unpleasant"—before being screened for blood pressure and mood factors. Researchers noted the environment's clear effect on subjects' health:

Exercise alone significantly reduced blood pressure, increased self-esteem, and had a positive significant effect on 4 of 6 mood measures. Both rural and urban pleasant scenes produced a significantly greater positive effect on self-esteem than the exercise-only control. This shows the synergistic effect of green exercise in both rural and urban environments. By contrast, both rural and urban unpleasant scenes reduced the positive effects of exercise on self-esteem. The rural unpleasant scenes had the most dramatic effect, depressing the beneficial effects of exercise on three different measures of mood. It appears that threats to the countryside depicted in rural unpleasant scenes have a greater negative effect on mood than already urban unpleasant scenes.

Looking ahead, the researchers pointed out the implications of green exercise on society as a whole, noting the importance of such projects as healthy walking projects; exercise by prescription; healthy school environments; healthy travel to school projects; green views in hospitals, city farms and community gardens; urban green space; and outdoor leisure activities in the countryside.

Our prescription for a great weekend? A long walk, taken with a heaping spoonful of "rural pleasant." To your health!

(Photo credit:a2td, SXC)

There was once a village along a river. The people who lived there were very kind. These residents, according to parable, began noticing increasing numbers of drowning people caught in the river's swift current. And so they went to work devising ever more elaborate technologies to resuscitate them. So preoccupied were these heroic villagers with rescue and treatment that they never thought to look upstreams to see who was pushing the victims in.

Living Upstream is a walk up that river.

Author, environmentalist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., was raised in a family that seemed prone to cancer. She was diagnosed with bladder cancer at age 20. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when Steingraber was in high school. Her aunt died of the same form of cancer that Sandra had, and many of ther close family members also struggled with the disease. But there is no question that cancer does not run in Steingraber's genes—she was adopted. Clearly, this family was struggling with toxic influences surrounding them in their daily lives.

Living Downstream, first published in 1997, both tells the tale of Steingraber's ongoing battle against cancer and her life's work linking the effects of our toxic environment on cancer and our health. A documentary film adaptation of the book coincides with last month's release of an updated edition of the book, tracking recent scientific revelations in the connection between a healthy environment and human health. Find a public screening of Living Downstream, the movie, or purchase a DVD at LivingDownstream.com, and follow Steingraber's ongoing search for answers and journey of cleaning our environment of carcinogenic influences in Walking Upstream.

(Photo credit:Steingraber.com)

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." John Muir

"I still find the day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see." John Burroughs

The very first step in greening our lives is to green our attitude, the way we think about and embrace life.

Here are some simple tips:

1. Unplug our media mind once in awhile and get out on a walk or even a sit in nature. A study by University of Illinois scientists Frances E. Kuo and William C. Sullivan found that a canopy of trees and greenery cools more than the forest floor, it can help to cool mental anguish and unrest. Their findings clearly indicate that: "Exposure to trees and vegetation seems to reduce mental fatigue and feelings of irritability that come with it." Gardening is a great way to unplug from stress and connect with nature.
2. A green time-out is usually just the ticket for improving our kids mindset because children benefit greatly from immersion in the green world as well. Head on over to the National Wildlife Federation's Green Hour website for great info. and ideas about family green time.
3. Unleash your inner artist/writer by starting your own naturalist journal. Starting a nature journal is a great, simple, inexpensive way to deepen our connection with the natural world. Remembering that we are a part of and not separate from nature is key.
4. Practicing compassion for ourselves and all of our fellow beings as a daily ritual is incredibly rewarding. Compassion can color our world green faster than almost any other discipline.
5. Being ethical consumers of the bounty that our green planet affords us is also essential. Ethical, organic, humanely farmed or biodynamically farmed products will help to ensure a more sustainable future and give us some peace of mind. It is important to love and nurture, not disdain, neglect and fear what feeds us.
6. Get involved by supporting and volunteering at your local farmer' market or community clean up. This level of support and interaction with the green community helps us all to sleep better at night.

If humans have spent millions of years living lives inextricably linked with animals, what happens when we try to live without them? For children who've grown up without pets, we may be cutting their empathetic heartstrings. In her book "Made for Each Other," author Meg Daley Olmert examines signs that we may have broken the bond with animals that helped shape us into civilized humans in the first place. Pointing the way: the work of psychiatrist Aaron Katcher, who "sees the fallout from this sudden interspecies divorce every day in children who are too wild to participate in polite society."

Katcher treats children suffering from severe attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). The surprising star among his attempts to help them calm and focus their behavior have been programs that bring the kids into contact with animals. His zoo program, launched in the early 1990s, sends kids to the zoo to care for and handle small zoo animals. The program was the first controlled clinical trial of an animal therapy designed to treat a disorder previously addressed only with drugs—and it was a smashing success. Residential counselors and schoolteachers noted a significant decline in the boys' negative symptoms, as compared with the control group.

What's the positive connection? Katcher believes it's a number of factors:

• Novelty of the zoo animals as a safe, uncritical point of interest
• Increased oxytocin levels created by the act of caregiving
• Forming an emotional bond with the animals

As Olmert summarizes, "The sensory and behavioral delight experienced while caring for animals just happens to be one of the most potent mechanisms for unleashing the grain chemicals missing in children afflicted with ADHD. Pets may not be pills, but it turns out they are very strong medicine." Maybe Mom was right: more snuggling will make things all better.

(Photo credit:harrykeely, SXC)

The beginning of April is about the time that I start to plan my tick and flea avoidance strategy for the year.

There are so many downsides--for the environment, us and our pets--to using conventional pesticide remedies. There is also real danger for us and our pets from contracting tick borne illness such as Lyme Disease and let's face it, flea infestations are just plain horrible.

So how do we keep these unwanted pest insects out of our homes, off of us and our animals?

Here are a few great tips to green our flea and tick remediation:

1. For starters a clean, well groomed pet and pet environment is essential. Pet bedding should be washed regularly. During the flea and tick season pets should be brushed and checked for pest insects every day.
2. Vacuuming your home and carpets regularly helps as well.
3. Keep the areas just outside your home where you walk your dog well pruned and mowed. Short grass is less likely to harbor fleas and ticks. Trim flowers and grasses away from walkways where fleas and ticks hide just waiting to jump.
4. Walking and working outside in light colored clothing helps us spot ticks more easily.
5. Do regular "tick checks" on yourself and your family, check behind the ears and in the scalp and crevices behind the knees and under arms. Ticks like to hide away in sheltered areas of the body.
6. Keeping just a few Chickens can be a great help when it comes to cleaning your lawn and property of pesky ticks.
7. This simple blend of Almond oil and Rose Geranium is the remedy that I will be trying this year!
8. Check out this Natural Dog Health Remedies website for some great ideas.