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  • Book
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    • Healthy Living
    • Mommy Greenest Approved
    • Eco Beauty & Fashion
    • Natural Parenting
    • Latest Buzz
    • Green News & Events
  • Mommy Greenest Guides
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    • Guide to Natural Parenting & Pregnancy
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  • Green News & Events

    Could @EPA’s #SaferChoice Mean Dangerous Fragrance?

    June 26, 2015 /

    Talk about controversy. When the EPA’s new Design for Environment launched the “Safer Choice” certification program, it looked promising. But it seems to have inspired no end of headaches.

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    Rachel Sarnoff 0 Comments

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    January 20, 2015
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  • Green News & Events

    Fragrance Disclosure by @SCJGreenChoices: Does It Go Far Enough?

    June 17, 2015 /

    Want to know what’s in your air freshener fragrance? Now you can–up to a point. Last week, SC Johnson announced that they would disclose fragrance ingredients for the 200 candles, scented oils and air fresheners in product lines such as Glade. But there’s a catch.

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    Rachel Sarnoff 2 Comments

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    My Earth Hour Fail

    March 18, 2015
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    Chemical Movie Must See

    April 16, 2015
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    Campbell Opts For GMO Labeling, Against GMA

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    DIY Natural Bug Repellant Perfume

    July 28, 2014 /

    Tis the season for bugs. And although I happen to love the scent of citronella, others—I’m not naming names, but we could be married—hate it. So I whipped up a new recipe for DIY natural bug repellant perfume that employs three of my favorite scents, with no citronella in sight. Want to try? I’ll show you how!

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    Rachel Sarnoff 9 Comments

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    Helen Hunt Comes Clean

    May 5, 2015
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    Can Hemp Save the World?

    June 4, 2013
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    Eco Fashion Trend Alert: Upcycling

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  • Eco Beauty & Fashion

    Make Your Own Perfume for Spring

    May 16, 2014 /

    Want to avoid phthalates? Make your own perfume. Those pesky toxic chemicals have been linked to obesity, among other health problems. And because fragrance manufacturers don’t have to tell us what’s in their formulation there can be as many as 3,000 different chemicals in one bottle of perfume, many of which are phthalates. One way to make sure you know exactly what’s in your signature scent is to make your own perfume, as I started doing last year.  But after a few Mommy Greenest readers commented with worries about my vanilla-base perfume staining clothes and skin, I figured out a new recipe, a rose-scented number that’s perfect for spring. And it’s clear! Want…

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    Rachel Sarnoff 18 Comments

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    January 24, 2014
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    Upcycled, Recycled & Downcycled Defined

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    Mommy Greenest Approved

    Mommy Greenest Approved: Pour le Monde Natural Fragrance

    September 15, 2013 /

    Yes, I like to make my own natural fragrance. Currently, I’m rotating between Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter scents that I DIY as the seasons change. But as much as I layer in the essential oils, my natural fragrances tend to reflect one dominant note. They smell good, but there’s not a lot of subtlety. For that, you need a master perfumer. Wendi Berger came to the same conclusion, when she couldn’t find synthetic-free natural fragrances that provided the kind of layered scents she had previously found in conventional perfumes. So she engaged a master perfumer and set out to create a line of all natural eau de parfums that also serve…

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    Rachel Sarnoff 0 Comments

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    Mommy Greenest Approved: Lifesource Water Systems for Skin & Hair

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    March 17, 2014
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    Got A Rash? Check Your Fragrance

    September 5, 2013 /

    I love magazines. Ever since I was a little girl, I’d plop down on the floor with a pile in front of me, paging through articles and dog-earing their pages. These days, my two daughters join me on the carpet. But before I let them crack the covers, I follow a familiar ritual: Weeding through the pages, pulling out the fragrance samples and taking them to the outside trash. The magazines still smell faintly of the synthetic fragrance inserts that litter their pages, but at least the majority of scent is gone.

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    November 10, 2015
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    4 Steps to Natural Self Tanning Without Sun

    May 3, 2013 /

    Spring is here and with it bare legs and arms. And although we all know we should just accept the skin we’re in and eschew that sun-kissed look, there’s something about pale and pasty that’s just downright bad for the old self-esteem. Now, that doesn’t mean head up onto the roof with a bottle of baby oil and a roll of aluminum foil—that’s so junior year 1998. Nor does it mean slathering on some potentially carcinogenic self tanning chemicals that turn you orange. Actually, the active ingredient in most self tanning creams isn’t so bad. Known as DHA, dihydroxyacetone is a sugar that can be derived naturally from beets; it…

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    June 4, 2013
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    Natural Parenting

    Want a Natural Pregnancy? 12 Tips to Protect Your Baby for Life

    April 17, 2013 /

    Getting ready for baby—or pregnancy? Congratulations! Going green for your growing belly—or for when you bring that baby home—sounds good on paper, but is a natural pregnancy doable in reality? Yes! Here’s how: 1. Eat organic: The dangers of common pesticide exposure are equal to those of smoking during pregnancy: low birth weight and early labor. Studies have shown that eating organic for just five days can eliminate many of the pesticides—linked to cancer, among other health problems—in our bodies. Following the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen lists can reduce your family’s exposure by 80 percent.

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 Older Posts

Welcome! I created this blog in 2008 as a resource for healthier living with less judgment. I'm a mother of three, former journalist, and co-founder of the (shuttered, sniff) sustainable beauty and fashion site EcoStiletto. I was Executive Director of the nonprofits The 5 Gyres Institute and Healthy Child Healthy World, appeared on the "TODAY Show" and "CNN," among others, and shared two TEDx talks: Trash is Ruining Recycling and Can One Straw Change The World? Now, I work as a marketing and communications director at an environmental nonprofit while slow-boating an MFA in fiction and writing about a less dystopian, more hopeful world. Recent publications, talks, and more are here. Let's keep in touch! xoRachel

https://youtu.be/sOol1MIgois

rachellincolnsarnoff

Celebrations started on Friday with mind-blowing m Celebrations started on Friday with mind-blowing magic and concluded today at lunch with the family (missing two, but they were there in spirit) plus a bonus bike ride on the beach with my baby. I believe in doing on my birthday what I want to be doing all year so I started with yoga, did some writing, spent time with friends, loved on my family (missing the aforementioned), drank top-shelf tequila and ate good food (and cupcakes), stood on a corner and made some wishes, and sang a lot of Prince. Now that my birthdays have tipped past the halfway mark, the overwhelming feeling is gratitude. That I am surrounded by family and friends and community. That I have purpose and inspiration. That my body and mind can move without pain. I no longer take these things for granted. Thanks for all the birthday love — virtual and IRL, I felt it all. 
#birthday #birthdaygirl
These photos were taken 30 years apart. One is of These photos were taken 30 years apart. One is of me, one of my daughter. Who’s who? You decide. #mother #mothersanddaughters #minime #mom #momlife
I’m obsessed with the poetry of @katejbaer and n I’m obsessed with the poetry of @katejbaer and now I get to wear it. Here’s why:
“You can be a mother and a poet. A wife and a lover. You can dance on the graves you dug on Tuesday, pulling out the bones of yourself you began to miss.”
Right? And:
“You are not a ‘good girl.’ You are not 
somebody’s otherness. This is not a dress rehearsal before a better kind of life. Pick up your heavy burdens and leave them at the gate. I will hold the door for you.”
I will hold the door for you. I love everything about this idea. I may tattoo that on my body. And, finally:
“Let your life rest on what is already good.”
Yes, this. Already good. Thanks @polishedprints! (Not sponsored.)
#feminist #poetry #katebaer #alreadygood #amreading #amwriting #inspired #polishedprints #smallbusiness #womenowned #womenownedbusiness
It’s a complicated day for me and so many others It’s a complicated day for me and so many others. But this part is clear: “Oh, you love them like you never thought you could/Oh, you love them like the moon does love the Earth.” Happy Mother’s Day everyone. Lyrics (sort of) from @obadiah11 “Hey Little Mama” and always make me cry in the best way. #mothersday #motherhood #mother #mom
Start ‘em young. #morrisday #prince #dmsr Start ‘em young. #morrisday #prince #dmsr
This is my bff’s place and yes it’s every bit This is my bff’s place and yes it’s every bit as gorgeous as these photos! Message @foxhaven_lakearrowhead if you want to book for summer.  I can’t wait to go back! #arrowhead #lakearrowhead #retreat #weekend #family #girlsweekend #getaway #airbnb
I also feel this good after a bath. #dogsofinstagr I also feel this good after a bath. #dogsofinstagram #dogoftheday #doglife #doglover #dog
Great day celebrating the installation of UCBS’s Great day celebrating the installation of UCBS’s first book sharing library, which is the @ucsb_eli project of my fabulous mentee, Shoshana, aka @ucsb_littlefreelibrary! Students at San Nicholas residence hall can now swap and donate books thanks to her commitment and tenacity — and the generosity of @littlefreelibrary! (Also hoping we’ll get another Gaucho in the family.) #UCSB #EnvironmentalLeadershipIncubator #ELI #Gauchos
I love my book club. #AmWriting #WritingCommunit I love my book club. 
#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Writing #Writer #AmWriting #AmQuerying #Fiction #WomensFiction #UpmarketFiction #AmReading #Book #Bookish #BookClub #BookClubSelection #BookClubReads #AloneWithYouInTheEther
I read this book in high school, when I was sixtee I read this book in high school, when I was sixteen. Devoured it in days — gulped it down without chewing, belly full of words. As a girl without a mother, the passionate and painful relationship it depicted was everything that I imagined I was missing. That was when I began trying to write about my own family in order to make sense of it. Last night I had the privilege of hearing Mona Simpson read from her new book, Committed, and then she signed my battered old copy of Anywhere But Here. I didn’t tell her that she had inspired me to become a writer. But I think she knew. 
#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Writing #Writer #AmWriting #AmQuerying #Fiction #WomensFiction #UpmarketFiction #AmReading #Book #Bookish #BookClub #BookClubSelection #BookClubReads #MonaSimpson #Committed
My story is up on Bluedot! LA’s Westside Thrift My story is up on Bluedot! LA’s Westside Thrift Store Hotspots. What’s your favorite? Tell me about it in comments, please — round two coming soon! Photo: Bluedot, link in bio. Whee!
#Fashion #SlowFashion #FashionRevolution #Recommerce #Style #Motivation #MommyGreenest #thrift #thrifting #thriftstorefinds #poppintags
This is EXACTLY how refill could work. I went to @ This is EXACTLY how refill could work. I went to @petco to pick up dog food, asked the extremely helpful manager what was the least expensive, and she directed me to the refill machine. No hard environmental sell, purely economic. The bag is free, there are two flavors of nutritious food to choose from (Lula appreciates variety), the handles make it easy to carry, and then once it’s empty you bring it back and start all over again. This post is not sponsored, nor did I get free product from anyone. But of course I was so excited I documented the whole thing. Don’t you hate those giant, non-recyclable plastic bags of kibble? Or the humongous box (and associated ghgs) when you have food shipped to your house? Me, too. Now there’s a solution. Genius! #refillrevolution #refill #reuse #reuserevolution #reuserecycle #plasticfree #zerowaste #breakfreefromplastic #dogsofinstagram #dog #doglover #doglife #canidaecrew
On the first Earth Day in 1970, the voices of twen On the first Earth Day in 1970, the voices of twenty million Americans were heard. As a result, the U.S. created the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. The occasion is now celebrated in 192 countries, where people plant trees and pick up trash and ride bikes to raise awareness about how we can tread more lightly on this earth. But do you know what makes the biggest impact? Voting for legislators that believe environmental protection. There are so many organizations doing great work on identifying these good legislators, including @sister_district and @environmentalvoter. Meanwhile, let’s all take care of our little corners with gratitude for all the earth gives us, even as we have taken so much from her. #earthday #earthdayeveryday #earthday🌎
I have a recurring dream, in which I float level w I have a recurring dream, in which I float level with the second story of my childhood home, high in the canyon above Los Angeles.
I can’t see myself, in the dream. I don’t know what my limbs look like. But I feel the muscles of my shoulders stretch as I soar, growing bigger, more powerful, expanding with flight. And then suddenly, I fall. 
And as I hurtle towards the earth, instead of being frightened, I’m calm. Like an inverted fishbowl, the sides of the yard rise up around me, thick layers of green plants shimmering, heavy with dew. I touch down and each blade of grass is in focus and I can see through to the root. Then, pure joy buoys me back up and into the warm rose glow of the sky. 
My father is an adopted member of the Lakota tribe. For four decades, he was a professor who wrote books about Native American literature and poetry. Throughout my childhood, he taught me to see significance in the natural world. Hawks, especially, are good luck — an indication of better things to come. 
Together, we watch two red-tailed hawks swoop and dive.
“Dad, I have to leave,” I say. “Just for a little while.” 
“That’s fine, Rachel. Take your time.” He smiles, beatific. “We’re like those two hawks, you know. We’re connected. I feel your love all around me.” 
“I love you too, Dad. I’ll be back soon.”
As I walk the mute and empty hospital hall, away from his room, I think again about the dream and my rust-tinged tail feathers, signaling good fortune to those who know how to look for the signs. 
#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Writing #Writer #AmWriting #EarthDay #Hawk #Signs #HawkOutsideMyBedroomWindow #EarthDayEveryday
Once the love story catches hold oh this book is s Once the love story catches hold oh this book is so beautiful and the prose is stunning. One protagonist is a bipolar woman who refuses meditation and processes her mania through creativity — for me, this was especially fascinating as I have experienced this with family members. It really allowed me to go inside of this in a completely different way and exploded my misconceptions. Who has read this book — and what did you think? Can’t wait to discuss in #BookClub this weekend! 
#Fiction #WomensFiction #AmReading #Book #Bookish #BookClubSelection #BookClubReads #MentalIllness #Bipolar #Mania
Oh, aging. For a while there, it was like my skin Oh, aging. For a while there, it was like my skin was perpetually in Palm Springs — dry and desiccated no matter what I put on it. But I recently developed a quick-and-easy, Trader Joe's sustainable skincare, anti-aging night hydration routine that really does work wonders — and together, these three products cost less than $25! Link in bio to the new story up on Mommy Greenest. This post is not sponsored, nor did I receive free products from Trader Joe’s. 
#Beauty #Style #Motivation #Health #Wellness #HealthyLifestyle #MommyGreenest
After two years, feels like I should be further al After two years, feels like I should be further along than 12 songs. Sigh. Just got a new strap that’s not made for a man’s shoulders so that should help. New resolution is to practice standing up instead of sitting on the floor. Will that one day include playing in front of someone other than my dog? Who knows. Meanwhile, I keep chipping away at it, one song at a time. Anyone else still trying to master their pandemic instrument of choice? #music #songwriting #americana
Back in the high life again. #yoga #yogalife #yoga Back in the high life again. #yoga #yogalife #yogainspiration #yogapractice #yogalove #namaste
What a joy to celebrate the amazing @laura.tremain What a joy to celebrate the amazing @laura.tremaine and her timely new book #TheLifeCouncil last night. I first met Laura when we were both newbie bloggers and she is a force!!! For this, her second book, she interviewed hundreds of people and although she will be the first to tell you she’s not a therapist, it really seems to be a game changer for friendship in the digital age — check out all those five star reviews from people saying they’re passing the book on to friends and using it to re-evaluate their relationships. Last night was the first stop on her book tour and the conversation between Laura and the super sweet and stylish @ohjoy took place @zibbysbookshop — the gorgeous and friendly new destination that’s bringing bookstores back to LA’s westside FINALLY WHOOHOO! What comes through with all of Laura’s writing is true honesty and vulnerability and refreshing practicality— I can’t wait to read this book!  #AmReading #Book #Bookish #BookClub #BookClubSelection #BookClubReads
This is it. All 270+ pages. I’ve been waking up This is it. All 270+ pages. I’ve been waking up at 5 am every morning to whittle away at it paragraph by paragraph, page by page, for nearly a year. And for the past 24 hours, I’ve held it in my hands, reading each sentence aloud and marking the whole thing up with a red pen. It’s a victorious feeling, to close a physical book on that last page, let me tell you. Now I just have to work in those edits, plus feedback from two amazing beta readers, and then it’s ready to head out into the world. Can’t wait! #amwriting #amediting #amquerying #fiction #womensfiction #upmarketfiction #writing #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #writer #omg
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