Our Writing Team is a key piece of the Savvy Women's Alliance; it gives our voice a "friendly face" as we simplify the nontoxic living learning curve. Our volunteer writers love to write, they are valued, and deep down, they know their heart's work is making a difference.
You make sure to buy the cleanest beauty products, food, and cleaning products but have you ever considered the chemicals you may be exposed to sleeping on your mattress?
If you ask Barry Cik how he entered the mattress business, he’ll tell you it was an accident. The long-time environmental engineer set out on the task of creating the perfect organic mattresses and cribs after searching for a crib for his first grandchild. He faced several options made with toxic chemicals he was inclined to avoid after years of experience in the engineering industry, and none of the organic cribs fit his liking. Frustrated but inspired, he set out on the valiant task of producing his own. If you ask us, Barry’s decision to found Naturepedic, a nontoxic, organic mattress manufacturing company, was more fate than accident.
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“Look, Mommy!” Your four-year old rounds the corner carrying a lit votive candle that had been scenting the room from a seemingly safe spot. Surprised by your immediate yelp, she drops the candle on the couch. Potential crisis now averted through quick thinking, you take the time to talk about fire with your child, and breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn’t worse. It brings to mind headlines you have seen recently on flame-retardant chemicals. The slow steady release of chemicals into the air, our homes and places where we sleep have been under heavy scrutiny for years, because of the long-term damage they may cause. Now, finally, they are coming to light in more mainstream media. As is often the case with products that contain multiple chemicals, from cleaners to pharmaceuticals, teasing out our understanding of the impacts on our health takes good scientists and sound science."
It's less about fire-fighting and more about fighting an industry.
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The days are longer, the birds are chirping and the trees are starting to bud. It can only mean one thing – Spring is here! While we all enjoy the extra hours of daylight and the warmer temperatures, not all of us look forward to another thing that happens around this time of year – spring cleaning.
But what if there was a way to make spring cleaning easier, fun and, best of all, nontoxic?
The Savvy Women’s Alliance is delighted to partner with Women’s Voices for the Earth to provide a Green Cleaning Party Kit. Our Gatherings embody Savvy’s heart – the belief that nontoxic living is easier and more fun to tackle when we do it together. Your job is to focus on your friends. Our job is to make this easy. Take a look at what can happen in your home...
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A question we hear often at the Savvy Women's Alliance. It's not easy, but it can be done. We see it happen often and when we do, it is worth celebrating. Mesmerized by Janna Said's safer wipes initiative in her school, we are delighted to share her success and approach.
Before Janna had her children, she was an elementary school teacher, educating little people. Her nontoxic journey began when she was pregnant with her first child. She stopped wearing nail polish and stopped cleaning bathrooms at her husband’s insistence. She bought organic milk and eggs. And now her journey has found roots in one of her biggest campaigns yet: a safer wipes initiative. Little things added up. Now, she’s educating adults.
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We’re indoors more than ever and in buildings that are sealed tightly for ultimate climate control. So that stretch and deep breath that we take each morning may not be quite as good for us as we assume. Our homes can be 2-5 times more polluted than the outside air and this pollution is created from everyday products. A single exposure, or exposure over time, can present a range of symptoms from irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat; headaches; dizziness; and fatigue. As many know, indoor air at home or work can aggravate chronic asthma or migraines.
The good news? This is an area where we can create an easy and positive impact.
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Everyone wants a clean and healthy kitchen. If you're looking to achieve both without introducing unhealthy chemicals, here are some simple Do’s and Don’ts.
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Happy Meat (adjective): Meat that comes from an animal that has been humanely raised in as close to its natural environment as possible without unnecessary antibiotics and hormones. Tasty and even more exciting when discovering a deal.
As we become increasingly aware of the environmental and health issues that come with commercially raised meat, there comes a desire to purchase 'better' meat (or “Happy Meat” as casually defined above.) If you choose to eat meat, we encourage you to find your Happy Meat source. Although, if only a lucky few have a farmer down the road to ask the hard questions, how does one find sustainably raised meat at a reasonable price?
Here are our four favorite starting points on how to choose wiser to bring Happy Meat to your dinner plate:
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Our Writing Team is a key piece of the Savvy Women's Alliance; it gives our voice a "friendly face" as we simplify the nontoxic living learning curve. Our volunteer writers love to write, they are valued, and deep down, they know their heart's work is making a difference.
Me: If I was to invest my limited time and actively support protective legislation that enforced transparency and restricted the worst-of-the-worst chemicals, wouldn't I want to focus on federal legislation? An across-the-country approach that applies to all?
Learning Moment: State legislation can be a powerful tool to directly protect local residents and to create momentum for other states, and ultimately federal change. Right now, federal progress is highly unlikely. Instead, our big sister nonprofits are working to defend current long standing protection such as the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, and many others.
In fact, it's highly likely that you have policy unfolding right now your state. Here is what we need to know and what we can do:
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I am fed up with bringing home deceptive groceries, possibly hiding unwanted antibiotics, pesticides, and hormones. Can I rekindle my love, trust, and simple enjoyment with quality, happy meat? Is it possible you are out there, not overpriced? Do you exist?
~ Signed, Ima B. Leever
With no one replying to my want ad, I headed out on my own. While shopping at my local Whole Foods market, a grocery store dedicated to “selling the highest quality natural and organic products,” I rounded the grocery aisle between dairy and seafood and gasped at what I saw in the meat section. With giddy excitement, I thought perhaps I might have found my soul meat.
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When you hear the word “dead zone” you probably have a flash back of that moment when you were in deep conversation with your girlfriend and she kept saying “can you hear me now”? That is a dead zone most of us are familiar with. There is a much more serious dead zone than having no bars on your cell phone, dead zones in our oceans.
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Pallas Dame answered the phone on a November morning, the muffled sound of wind and traffic playing into the receiver. As we introduced ourselves she apologized for the noise; she was out walking, she said. She maintained her brisk pace during our hour-long conversation. I learned that this was a new-found joy for her; she had spent many years trying to find her way back to health and vitality.
A combination of genetics and Lyme disease conspired to send her into a physical, mental, and emotional tailspin after the birth of her first child about ten years ago that left her confused by doctors diagnoses and treatment regimens, and struggling against her body while trying to find answers.
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My family is trying to eat less meat.
Not because we want to become vegetarian but because we’ve increasingly read about the impact that adopting a more plant-based diet can have on our health. Eating this way is also better for the environment. According to Nature: International Journal of Science, 20 servings of vegetables have fewer greenhouse gas emissions than 1 serving of beef.
What if your child is a picky eater, though? A whole-foods, plant-based diet does not include meat, dairy, eggs, or refined products like white flour, refined sugar, and oil, the staples of any kid’s diet, if given the choice.
Here are a few tips to make meat less of a centerpiece and more of a side dish on your family table, with the support of your kids:
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