“Thank you for your collaboration, for the wonderful work you’re doing, [and] for your contribution to  communications and the eternal values you’re successfully conveying to other people,” said the Forum’s Media Manager Helen Brandt . “We highly appreciate your work.”

(You can see more Big Green Purse honors here.)

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I’m in neither camp.

Though I still canvas, and phone bank, and vote for candidates I support, I’ve come to terms with the limitations our political system imposes on any candidate who is “lucky” enough to be elected. The reality is, we live in a polarized world run by people who are convinced that creating more polarization is more important than creating civil society or protecting the planet. Yes, it would be grand if our political leaders could collaborate and compromise, not in the name of power, but in the name of the people. But is that going to happen? As we have been reminded, ironically, ever since the last major “candidate for change” was elected two years ago — and repudiated yesterday — not any time soon.

Nevertheless, we are not helpless. If anything, yesterday’s elections have reinforced how important it is for you and me to continue to make meaningful changes that offer direct and measurable benefits. I’m talking about turning off our own lights, or insulating our own homes, or buying products that save energy or contain no toxic chemicals, actions which may seem insignificant, but are not.

Can we make a difference, even if our elected officials don’t?

In a 2009 interview with National Public Radio, Harvard University Professor Michael Vanderbergh reported that the individual actions we take, like weatherizing our houses, changing the way we drive, moderating thermostat settings, and focusing purchasing on the greenest products available, can significantly help reduce climate change.

The co-author of “Household Actions Can Provide a Behavioral Wedge to Rapidly Reduce U.S. Carbon Emissions,” Prof. Vanderbergh noted, “Household behavior in the U.S. makes up about eight percent of the world share of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s larger than any country other than China. We estimate that [consumer behavior changes] could reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 123 million metric tons or seven percent within 10 years…That’s equivalent to the total emissions of France. It’s also equivalent to the emissions of the petroleum refining, iron and steel and aluminum industries combined.

“One of the largest problems we face is getting over the presumption … that individual behavior or household behavior doesn’t matter. But when you aggregate it across 300 million individuals and 100 million households, it has a very large impact on total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.”

In other words, whether politicians take action or not, what we do matters, and in a big way.

Don’t get me wrong. I would love to see Congress pass sweeping climate change legislation and the Safe Kids Act while building more mass transit systems and transferring agricultural subsidies to organic farmers rather than those who douse their fields with pesticides.  And I’ll continue to lobby my Congressional Representative and Senators to tow those lines.

But  on a grand scale? If significant legislative achievements didn’t happen when a sympathetic political party controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, they’re sure not going to happen now.

I’m going to keep doing the things I can do because I know they make a difference to me, my family, and my community.

I hope you will, too.

The post Politics Shmolitics. You Can Still Make a Difference Based on How You Live and What You Buy. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The stay-at-home mother of three young boys lives with her family in Raleigh, North Carolina. She writes The Conscious Shopper blog, where her motto is “Go Green. Live Better. Save Money.” She’s also the newest member of our One in a Million campaign, joining almost 5,000 other folks who have shifted at least $1,000 of their household budgets to the greenest products and services available.

One thousand dollars sounds like a lot of money. But since we’re talking about shifting our spending, rather than adding to what we already spend, it’s something most of us can afford. Plus, if a million people do it, we could send a message worth a billion dollars to manufacturers that we want them to make our health and the environment a priority.  Here’s how Erin made the shift:

Every month I spend about $600 on local and/or organic groceries for my family of five. Over the past year, I’ve also spent:

$400 on a winter CSA membership
$60 on Charlie’s Soap laundry detergent
$54 on Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent and dish soap
$16 on recycled paper towels
$10 on trash bags made with recycled content
$45 on recycled toilet paper
$72 on Tom’s of Maine toothpaste
$30 on Preserve toothbrushes
$60 on organic make-up
$7 on Crystal deodorant
$173 on thrift store clothing and Simple Shoes
$27 to set up a worm bin
$52 on recycled printer paper

$1606 – Total

Erin’s shifts did not happen overnight.

“For a long time, I had a misconception that living green was expensive and therefore out of reach for my family,” she said. “Then one day, I got frustrated with the feeling that I was buying inferior and unhealthy products and that I wasn’t spending my money in accordance with my values. I decided just to go for it and see if I could buy organic, non-toxic, and fair trade products without blowing my family’s budget.

“At that time, our budget was extremely tight, but I found that by living more frugally and doing the green things that save money, I was able to shift our savings to our food and clothing budget. Without affecting our overall budget at all, I was able to go green!”

Erin said some shifts were pretty easy. “I love buying fresh foods from the farmer’s market and through our CSA. I love that my family is eating healthier, but I also enjoy meeting the farmers and hearing their passion. Knowing where our food comes from is such a wonderful feeling,” she says.

But there are still some challenges – like clothing. “In my past life,” Erin admits, “I was a Target-clothing addict. I’ve learned to enjoy thrift store shopping, but there are some items (like shoes) that I prefer to buy new and the price difference of eco-friendly clothing versus Target clothing is a hard one for me. Mostly, I get over that hurdle by not going to Target. Out of sight, out of mind.”

Erin is taking what she’s learned as a green budget shifter and launched a campaign to encourage others  to make small behavior changes, too. It’s called The Conscious Shopper Challenge, and it provides weekly goals to help people go green in a year without spending a lot of money. “We start with “trimming your waste-line” (reducing your trash production), then we work on energy, water, transportation, shopping, food, and finally looking “beyond your front door,” explains Erin.

“I think a lot of people have the same misconception that I used to have: that going green means big expensive changes like buying a new car or putting solar panels on the roof. But I’ve learned that there are so many small things each individual can do, and those small things add up to make a big difference.

“I hope The Conscious Shopper Challenge will show people how easy and affordable it can be to go green while providing a strong supportive community to go green with. But beyond that, I hope people will feel inspired to be conscious shoppers, aware of how their decisions in the marketplace affect other people and the planet.”

Feeling inspired? Check out even more inspiring One in a Million stories here. Why don’t you join us? It’s easy. Start here.

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The Precautionary Principle was hammered out at the historic Wisconsin Wingspread conference in 1998 by scientists, researchers, and citizens. The principle is grounded in the simple belief that we should not wait to protect ourselves or the environment until we have absolute proof that certain products or activities can cause us harm.

To the contrary, the principle declares: “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken, even if some cause-and-effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.”

Industries use scientific uncertainty as a way to avoid cleaning up their act. Companies often magnify the importance of uncertainty to persuade citizens, legislators, and regulators that they, too, should delay action. Think how much farther along we’d be at solving the climate change crisis if the energy industry hadn’t fought every proposed carbon dioxide regulation with the cry, “There’s not enough proof that CO2 causes global warming!”

At the same time, budget crunches and competing priorities mean that important studies that could document environmental impacts often are shunted aside. Ironically, the longer we wait to address a problem, the greater the costs become – to the environment, to our health, and to the economy.

The Precautionary Principle has four tenets.

1) We — consumers, governments, manufacturers — have a duty to respond to early warnings. We must act before harm occurs, not after the fact. We don’t wait for our child to get hit by a car to tell her to look both ways when crossing the street. People shouldn’t need to contract cancer or asthma to get access to safe ingredients, or for companies to remove products like Bisphenol-A from baby bottles or control the air pollution coming out of cars.

2) Consumers should not bear the “burden of proof.” Under our current system, you and I and, essentially, our environment, have to prove that we’ve been harmed before the government is willing to intercede on our behalf and before industry is willing to change the way it does business.  Under the Precautionary Principle, manufacturers would need to demonstrate safety.

Can this approach work for industry? It’s taken hold in Europe. Starting with chemicals already known to cause cancer and birth defects, cosmetics companies are being required to reformulate their products to contain safer ingredients. Here in the U.S., the nonprofit Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is urging manufacturers to follow suit. Putting the burden of proof not on you and me but on producers should become the law of the land.

3) It is our responsibility to explore alternatives to toxic substances and activities. What good does it do us to know, or even suspect, something will harm us if we don’t choose a safer alternative? Increasingly, we have real choice in the marketplace: more organic foods, more fuel-efficient vehicles, more recycled products, less plastic, less stuff overall. When we opt for the most environmenally friendly products and services available, we provide powerful incentives to manufacturers to shape up..

4) The Precautionary Principle requires democratic participation. Companies should not be allowed to decide our fate in their corporate board rooms. It’s up to us to provide guidance as well as accountability by participating in public hearings, writing letters to companies, voting on ballot initiatives, electing responsive public officials, and, of course, using our Big Green Purse in the marketplace to favor products that offer us the healthiest, safest options.

In fact, often, our first line of defense is the way we spend our money — or choose to keep it in our pockets. If you’re stymied by all the confusing green labels, start with products that meet independent standards for health and environmental sustainability. For suggestions of products to avoid and choices to make, read this month’s Green Mom’s Carnival on the relationship between the environment and cancer, hosted by Tiffany at NatureMoms.

(photo credit)

The post We Don’t Wait for Our Child to Get Hit By a Car Before We Tell Her to Look Both Ways When Crossing the Street appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The Wilderness Act, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on September 3, 1964, created a National Wilderness Preservation System so that wild lands, including national parks, national forests, and lands overseen by the federal Bureau of Land Management, would be managed “for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness…”

Today, 45 years later, this prescient legislation seems more essential than ever. Though 109 million acres of land in Alaska and the lower 48 have been protected under the Act, many exquisite regions of forests, prairies, coastlines, mountains, and wetlands remain threatened simply because they haven’t yet been classified as federal wilderness.

Fortunately, citizens and concerned members of Congress are working to protect as much of America’s remaining wild lands as possible. The Alaska Wilderness League (on whose board I served for six years) is striving to secure federal wildernesss status for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Campaign for America’s Wilderness is spearheading wilderness protection campaigns in a dozen states. President Obama recently declared September 2009 “National Wilderness Month” and signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which designated over 2 million acres of wilderness from coast to coast.

But that is not enough. Wild lands clean our air and filter our water. They protect open space from sprawl, and provide much needed wildlife habitat, especially for endangered species.  And increasingly in this shell-shocked, post 9/11 era, people are using wilderness to escape the stress of modern-day life.

Americans are losing 6,000 acres of open space every day, acreage we can ill afford to lose. If we want to protect the environment and the lands that restore our bodies and souls, we need to legislate more land as wilderness, and the sooner the better.

You can help.

* Make time to explore the nation’s wild lands. Become a strong advocate for the untamed nooks and crannies of our country that have helped define our natural heritage for centuries.

* All wilderness must be created by an act of Congress. Tell your local official to vote for wilderness legislation being proposed by the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, the Alaska Wilderness League, and other environmental and consumer groups.

*  Use your purse. Donate to local and national organizations like the Campaign for America’s Wilderness and Alaska Wilderness League that are working on your behalf to protect America’s wilderness.

For more essays on the importance of conserving our natural resources, read this month’s Green Moms Carnival conservation posts; you’ll find a directory to them at Mindful Momma.

The post “In Wildness is the Preservation of the World” appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Marketing hype and inadequate labeling entice consumers to buy bottled water even though it is far more expensive and usually not as healthy as tap water.

Bottled water also takes its toll on the environment. At least 3/4 of the millions of plastic water bottles produced each year are thrown away rather than recycled. Plus, producing bottled water actually uses more water and is far more energy intensive than providing the same amount of water to the public via the tap.

These are among the most damning conclusions reached by the U.S. General Accounting Office upon completion of a thorough comparison of the health, safety and environmental benefits of tap vs. bottled water.

The GAO attributes the dangers in bottled water to the fact that it is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), whose safety requirements are far less stringent than those of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates tap water. The GAO recommended that the FDA adopt EPA’s requirements within the year.

Consumers should not have to wait a year for plastic water bottles to be safe.

Take action on bottled water now:

* Stop buying bottled water, or any beverage sold in a plastic bottle. Remember the power of the purse: the way you spend your money sends a signal loud and clear to polluters that they will lose market share unless they provide you with safe products and services.

* Shift to healthier, safer reusable bottles. Aluminum and stainless steel bottles are better, as are bottles with filters that are free of the chemicals most throwaway water bottles contain.

* Contact manufacturers and tell them to pull bottled water off the market. Just because a company makes a bottle that uses less plastic doesn’t mean that bottle is a good choice.

Throwaway plastic bottles need to go.

Note: You can find more reusable water bottle options in our store. We earn a tiny commission on our store purchases; all our recommendations are based on our determination that the items suggested offer a cleaner, greener, safer alternative to what you may currently be using. Thanks.

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But what about keeping the car clean?

From washing off the grime that accumulates outside to cleaning up the dashboard inside, how you maintain your vehicle matters to both you and the environment. Why not choose the greenest options? In most cases, they’ll save you money, too.

Here’s how:

1) Window Cleaner: There’s enough road rage to go around these days. Don’t make matters worse by using commercial cleaning products whose chemicals leave you cranky or give you a headache. Keep things  cheap, simple and safe. Make your own window wash.

Recipe:

Mix 1/2 cup white vinegar with two cups water in a spray bottle.

Add a few drops of pulp-free lemon juice for fragrance.

Apply directly on a lint-free cotton cloth so the cleaner doesn’t spray all over the car.

Once you wipe the windows clean, buff them with a micro-fiber cloth for extra shine.

Air Freshener: My personal car pet peeve is those creepy little fragrance bobbles that hang from rear view mirrors and completely stink up the car with some sickeningly sweet odor. They give me an immediate headache that lasts long after the car ride is over. And no wonder: most commercial fragrances contain toxic chemicals like benzene and diethyl phthalate that can become particularly insidious if you’re inhaling them in a space as small and closed as a car interior.

The alternative? If your car stinks, find out why. Usually, it’s from something like food scraps (from fast food or snacks) that have started to rot under the car seat or in the grooves of a floor mats.Solution?

2) Take trash with you. Whenever you leave the car, take a quick look to ferret out the smelly stuff.

3) Open the windows for a few minutes while you’re driving to let fresh air circulate through the car.

4) Use hot soapy water to wipe down interior doors, handles and vinyl seats.

5) Rinse off floor mats (which will force you to lift them up and out of the car, possibly discovering more stink bombs you’ll need to toss).

6) At a car wash, don’t let them spray the interior with air freshener when they finish vacuuming. If they’ve done their job properly, the car should smell just fine without it.

Seats and cushions: Keeping a car clean shouldn’t require the use of industrial strength chemicals.

7) Use a whisk broom or hand-held vacuum to remove dirt and dust from floor mats and seat cushions.

8) Keep a cloth napkin within reach so you can wipe up spills when they occur.

9) Dust surfaces with a damp cloth once a week to keep grime from building up.

10) For spots on the steering wheel or console, sprinkle a little baking soda on a wet towel and gently rub. Wipe with a clean damp cloth.

NEXT:  Getting a Green Car Wash

Excerpted from Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World

Want more Green Living Top Ten Tips? Check these out.

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I attempted some answers — as the keynote speaker at the Society’s recent conference, “Environmental Challenge Oman 2008,” in Muscat, the capital city. The conference drew almost a hundred representatives from the ruling royal family, government, industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations.

The situation is pressing and time feels like it’s running out. Oman, a clean and peaceful nation that hugs the southeastern tip of the Arabian peninsula, is a naturalist’s dream. Its extraordinary coastline stretches over 1,700 kms, from the Gulf of Oman and the petroleum-important Straits of Hormuz in the North to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean in the South. Flamingoes, sea turtles, spectacular coral reefs and hundreds of species of fish inhabit its waters. Stunning mountains 6,000 feet tall rim desert canyons and oases brimming with dozens of varieties of palm trees. Bedouin tribes still ride camels in the desert and weave rugs out of the hair sheared from the goats they also raise for their milk and meat. The capital city of Muscat (below) hosts a traditional souk filled with frankincense, silver and gold jewelry, and exotic fabrics even while modern business is carried on in the surrounding office buildings and cafes.

But because Oman also has modest oil resources (the country could run out of oil in as little as 20 years, according to some estimates) land development is accelerating at a worrisome pace as businesses cultivate alternative industries, including “eco” tourism. Two major beach-front developments are underway, and more could follow. Citizens worry about gobbling up the coastline and destroying habitat for the wildlife that dwell there.

In opening the conference, Her Highness Sayyida Tania Al Said (above, holding microphone), who co-founded the Environment Society of Oman, expressed her hope that more Omanis would gain an appreciation for their unique environment. It’s not just about recycling or saving energy, she noted, though both activities are extremely important to Oman. It’s also about the life and death consequences of our environmental behavior. Her Highness Tania Al Said reminded the audience about the devastation caused by 2007’s category 5 Cyclone Gonu. Gonu was the most powerful cyclone (another word for “hurricane” that’s more common in the Middle East) the country has experienced in over 60 years, with 40-foot waves destroying buildings and roads, uprooting trees, and in some cases, ending people’s lives. As with hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the U.S., many believe there’s a direct correlation between Gonu and human-induced climate change.

Conference attendees discussed ways to educate more children about the environment while encouraging their parents to begin recycling, using reusable cloth bags instead of plastic, and installing compact fluorescent light bulbs. I encouraged participants to visit www.myfootprint.org to calculate the “footprint” they leave on the planet. But clearly, as in any country, opportunites to do more abound. There’s little mass transit in the cities, no official recycling, and minimal solar energy technology – even though the country basks in over 300 days of sunlight a year.

People were too polite at the conference to suggest that His Highness Sultan Qaboos, who seems genuinely beloved by his people even after a reign that has lasted 35 years, issue a few royal edicts that would require people to trash less and conserve more. But in a nation that reveres the monarchy in general and its ruler in particular, a decree that citizens must replace plastic with cloth or install solar collectors on their very flat and exposed roofs seems like one of the most direct ways to jumpstart the burgeoning environmental movement in Oman. The United Nations has already declared Oman to be one of the cleanest and most peaceful countries in the world. Would that it would become one of the most environmentally progressive as well.

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