Healthy Living
How To Get A Sustainability Degree (Without Quitting Your Day Job)
I began working with brands and nonprofits — and writing about sustainability on EcoStiletto and Mommy Greenest — during what now feels like the dark ages. I was basically fumbling around, absorbing the wisdom of scientists like Arlene Blum, doctors such as Dr. Leo Trasande, and leaders including Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group and Annie Leonard of Story of Stuff. But things have changed since then. Now you can get an actual degree in sustainability, which can lead to a high-paying position. And guess what? Through asynchronous online programs, you don’t have to quit your current job to study. Want to learn more? Read on!
YSK: Clean Water
Clean water is critical to health — and nobody understands this better than parents. That’s the finding from a new survey of more than two thousand people in the United States conducted by Aquasana, which researches consumer behavior around water filtration on an annual basis (and sponsored this post). Was COVID-19 a factor? You betcha — but that’s not all. Read on!
Game Changing Natural Laundry Detergent Sheets
Editor’s note (12.2022): After I published this post, new analysis showed that plastic particles from PVA, a component of Earth Breeze laundry sheets, persist in the environment and do not break down in wastewater treatment facilities. Competitor Blueland has launched a formal petition to the EPA to prohibit the use of PVA in consumer products. The PVA in these sheets is different than the pods that were studied, and I have requested more information from the company to make sure that they don’t cause microplastics. I won’t use them until more information is available, which I will report back here. Loving these new zero waste natural laundry detergent sheets I…
Zero Waste Natural Deodorant Score
When it comes to natural deodorant, I’m kind of a slut. I’ve tried most brands on shelves, gave away a bunch and even developed a natural deodorant DIY! Realizing that potentially cancer-causing ingredients were in most deodorants — and that natural alternatives are competitively priced and readily available — set me on the natural beauty path in 2008. Because no one wants to put that crap next to your lymph nodes, especially now that breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women in their late 30s to early 50s — roughly the ages that I’ve been since I began writing as Mommy Greenest. (P.S. Just clicked through these…
Life Insurance 101
Life insurance seems like a scary thing, but — especially if you have kids — it’s something to think about. I never really thought about it until I had children. But it makes sense. If something were to happen to me or my husband, I want my children to still have the financial support that we give them now. That’s why I was interested in Fabric, the company that sponsored this post. In addition to a free will service, Fabric offers life insurance for less than $14 per month, and application takes just ten minutes online. It was started by parents and designed with us in mind. Want to learn more?…
Hard Seltzer: Too Good To Be True?
Since my daughter came home from college, there are always a few cans of hard seltzer in the fridge. Hard seltzer is the wine cooler of the 21st century, apparently. They’re low-calorie, sweeter than beer, and measurable (unlike vodka shots, another popular party drink for Gen Z). But until I looked into it, I had no idea what kind of crap can be in these cans! Want to know more? Read on!
Stop Junk Mail: It’s Fast, Easy, and Free
I didn’t request this junk mail catalogue. I didn’t order anything from this company or agree to be on their mailing list — yet, somehow, I am. Junk mail is the same thing as spam email — you buy or sign up for something and the company sells your information to another company, who sells it to someone else, and so on. And I’m sick of it. All that paper — those poor trees! Not to mention the carbon footprint of sending unwanted coupons, credit card offers, insurance solicitations, and catalogues to me and every other person who never asked for them. So I did a little research and discovered…
Natural Sleep Aid: Prima CBD Giveaway!
As I shared recently, night sweats wreak havoc with sleep. Because they wake you up. Two, three, four times a night. It’s like having a newborn all over again, but the baby is your own damn self. And once you wake up sweaty, it’s really hard to get back to sleep again. I’ve tried sheep. I’ve counted backward. I’ve experimented natural sleep aids like melatonin, which seem to wear off around 2 a.m. and can leave me with a headache. I’ve tried the mantra I was given by my yoga teacher: inhale on “so” exhale on “hum,” which roughly translates to “I am the universe and the universe is me.” (But…
