Mommy Greenest

Healthy Living, Less Judgment

  • Home
  • Book
  • Categories
    • Healthy Living
    • Mommy Greenest Approved
    • Eco Beauty & Fashion
    • Natural Parenting
    • Latest Buzz
    • Green News & Events
  • Mommy Greenest Guides
    • Guide to Going Green
    • Guide to Eco-Friendly Fashion
    • Guide to Healthy Eating
    • Guide to Natural Parenting & Pregnancy
    • Guide to Green Beauty
    • Guide to Healthy Cleaning
  • About
    • Standards & Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Book
  • Categories
    • Healthy Living
    • Mommy Greenest Approved
    • Eco Beauty & Fashion
    • Natural Parenting
    • Latest Buzz
    • Green News & Events
  • Mommy Greenest Guides
    • Guide to Going Green
    • Guide to Eco-Friendly Fashion
    • Guide to Healthy Eating
    • Guide to Natural Parenting & Pregnancy
    • Guide to Green Beauty
    • Guide to Healthy Cleaning
  • About
    • Standards & Disclosure
    • Privacy Policy
  • sarah jane morris headshot
    Eco Beauty & Fashion

    Sarah Jane Morris: Why I #ShopDrop2016

    January 26, 2016 /

    I first met Sarah Jane Morris when she rolled up to an EcoStiletto party in her biodiesel Mercedes—and confessed that she’d spent the morning dumpster diving for biofuel with her rock-star husband. I thought she was the coolest girl on the planet. Eight years and two kids later, the former star of “Brothers and Sisters,” soon to be seen on NBC’s “The Night Shift,” is even cooler. Especially now that she’s taking the Shop Drop Challenge with us! Sarah shared her philosophy on shopping, swapping and her favorite place to score preloved fashion in this Mommy Greenest exclusive.

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 3 Comments

    You May Also Like

    mommy greenest shop drop challenge woman in mall with shopping bags

    Mommy Greenest Shop Drop Countdown!

    January 12, 2015
    teacher rewards contest from thredup recycled upcycled preloved fashion

    Help me #RaiseAHand with @ThredUP for Teachers We Love!

    July 15, 2015

    Ask Mommy Greenest: My Daughter Wants A Sustainable Prom Dress – Help!

    March 18, 2022
  • gift bags against white background
    Healthy Living,  Mommy Greenest Approved

    #ShopDrop2016 Gift Bag Preview

    January 15, 2016 /

    On the fence about taking the Shop Drop Challenge? Perhaps the gift bag may convince you. What’s inside? Take a look!

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    reusable washable shopping bags

    Can You Avoid Plastic Pollution In A Pandemic?

    March 31, 2020
    open washing machine with red and orange detergent containers on top

    Natural & Homemade Laundry 101

    January 29, 2014
    natural sex guide

    Mommy Greenest Guide to Natural Sex

    February 3, 2016
  • Latest Buzz

    #ShopDrop2016 on thredUP

    January 13, 2016 /

    “Blogger-we-love Mommy Greenest (a.ka. Rachel Sarnoff) is kicking off her annual Shop Drop Challenge. What’s that, you ask? It’s a month-long commitment to avoid buying new clothes (like-new, consignment, and vintage are OK)…Here at thredUP HQ, a lot of us are joining the challenge, too.” Read the full story on the thredUP blog!

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 4 Comments

    You May Also Like

    brunette woman against white background

    MG Food Dyes on Kids in the House

    June 24, 2014
    Mommy Greenest nominated for Mommy Award

    MG Nominated for Mommy Award!

    August 19, 2014
    Mommy Greenest in Ecouterre

    Ecouterre Signs Up 2 Drop Shop

    December 12, 2013
  • Latest Buzz

    #ShopDrop2016 Inspires Dish Detox

    January 6, 2016 /

    “Fashion is environmentally toxic: the textile industry is the world’s second largest water polluter, after agriculture. Is that insane?! Meanwhile, 95% of the clothes we throw into the landfill are recyclable. Do you want to do something about this? Then take the 2016 Shop Drop Challenge, started by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, the founder of mommygreenest.com and the most fashionable eco-friendly mom I know…Working as a correspondent for Access Hollywood for eight years, I was so incredibly blessed to have a wardrobe department and three amazing ladies who helped me get dressed for red carpet events and award shows.  Now that I work freelance, as a TV host, it’s up to me to…

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    holiday traditions

    MG in Green Child Magazine

    November 19, 2013
    The Mommy Greenest Guide to Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond cover

    Mommy Greenest Pregnancy Book!

    April 17, 2015
    magazine article from food network

    MG on Food Network

    April 23, 2014
  • Eco Beauty & Fashion

    Shop Drop Challenge 2016

    December 14, 2015 /

    Need a New Year’s Resolution? Sign up for Shop Drop 2016! Take the Shop Drop Challenge and pledge not to buy any new clothes for 30 days, choosing like-new consignment, thrifted and swapped fashion instead. Shop Drop 2016 begins January 1st! Why? To break the fast fashion cycle. The average American woman spends $60 on clothes and trashes six pounds of textile waste each month. If the 160 million women in America took our 30-day shop-and-drop pause, we could save nearly one billion pounds of landfill waste. Yes, that’s billion with a b. Right now we have 213 people signed up, and our goal is 1,000… representing 6,000 pounds of landfill waste saved. Thanks to…

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 396 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Taylor Swift launches Wonderstruck perfume

    Hey Taylor Swift, Tell Us What’s In Wonderstruck?

    January 11, 2016
    mommy greenest shop drop challenge woman in mall with shopping bags

    Mommy Greenest Shop Drop Countdown!

    January 12, 2015
    love goodly subscription box

    Inside LOVE GOODLY Conscious Subscription Box

    August 3, 2015
  • Latest Buzz

    MG #SwapDrop2016 Featured in Organic Spa!

    October 13, 2015 /

    “To raise awareness, Sarnoff created the annual Shop Drop Challenge, now in its third year, which asks participants to put a month-long pause on shopping. ‘You commit for 30 days to not buy anything new, but instead to swap or thrift if you need something,’ she explains. ‘The idea is to encourage people to explore swapping and thrifting and perhaps change their habits for the rest of the year.’ Sarnoff calculates that if every American woman participates, that would save $10 billion dollars and one billion pounds of textile waste.” Read more in Organic Spa’s “A Fair Trade: Swap Your Way to a New Wardrobe” article. Thanks for sharing the…

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Spring Equinox Newsletter

    March 22, 2022
    woman on news set stands behind table covered in flowers with green tablecloth

    MG Earth Day on KTLA News

    April 24, 2014
    Mommy Greenest nominated for Mommy Award

    MG Nominated for Mommy Award!

    August 19, 2014
  • Two women laughing about eco fashion shopping
    Eco Beauty & Fashion

    Eco Fashion Solution: Shop Drop Challenge 2016

    August 26, 2015 /

    Can you give up clothes shopping for 30 days? I did. What if I told you that taking a month-long shopping pause could help save $10 billion and a billion pounds of textile waste? That’s why! We’re gearing up for the annual Shop Drop Challenge, which takes place each January to raise awareness about the fashion’s environmental problems and an easy eco fashion solution. Sign up for this year’s Shop Drop Challenge, and you could win a $250 shopping spree from thredUP.com!

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 327 Comments

    You May Also Like

    cardboard box filled with natural beauty brands spilling out against white background, tied with opened pink ribbon

    Natural Beauty, Delivered

    July 14, 2014
    j crew model wearing orange top and pink beaded necklace

    J.Crew is Fashion Porn

    April 14, 2013
    illustration of woman against black background with flowers trailing from her hand

    Shop Drop 2015

    December 4, 2014
  • shop drop challenge mommy greenest thank you
    Eco Beauty & Fashion

    Shop Drop Challenge Wrap

    February 2, 2015 /

    Editor’s Note: Check out the 2016 Shop Drop Challenge! Thank You. Seriously. The Mommy Greenest community rallied behind the Shop Drop Challenge and it was amazing! I started out just asking people to commit to a 30-day shopping pause—thrifting or swapping a preloved fashion fix instead—and this year the Challenge took on a whole new dimension! 

    read more
    Rachel Sarnoff 16 Comments

    You May Also Like

    sophie uliano and rachel lincoln sarnoff

    Sophie Uliano is Gorgeous for Good

    April 27, 2015
    brunette girl dying her hair with rubber gloves

    Does Natural Hair Color Really Work?

    April 25, 2013

    Oil Cleansing Skincare Miracle

    March 30, 2022
 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 and appeared as a sustainable lifestyle expert on "The "TODAY Show" and "CNN Headline News," among others. Oh, and have you checked out my TEDx talks: Trash is Ruining Recycling and Can One Straw Change The World? Today, you can find me here. Let's keep in touch! xoRachel

https://youtu.be/sOol1MIgois

rachellincolnsarnoff

Sometimes you have to just go climb a rock. #joshu Sometimes you have to just go climb a rock. #joshuatree #joshuatreenationalpark #amrelaxing #amnotwriting
What’s on your cookbook shelf? I usually go off What’s on your cookbook shelf? I usually go off script when it comes to meals (sometimes it works, sometimes not so much) but I do love reading these beautiful books. My stack started with The Joy of Cooking, which my aunt gifted me when I graduated from high school and is now held together with tape, next to the copy that I gave my daughter when she left for college (and may have inspired some of her @jujusdujour recipes). The newest addition is a truly gorgeous and inspirational cook/help/poetry/amazingness book by @julesbdavis #TheKitchenHealer out now from @soundstrue. It’s about cooking and healing and community and women and accessing our power both individually and communally. Plus a little bit of memoir from this amazing author and inspirational human. #AmReading #julesblainedavis #thekitchenhealer #cookbooks #books #bookstagram
These #vintage records include classic tracks like These #vintage records include classic tracks like “Lonely Little G-String” and inspire serious #MadMen vibes. Sadly missing the instructional booklet. You can’t make this stuff up! #amwriting #amlistening #60sstyle #60smusic
Late last year, I read an essay by @elizabeth_gilb Late last year, I read an essay by @elizabeth_gilbert_writer in which she described her process when she first began submitting stories for publication. It was like tennis: Every time a story was lobbed back to her she sent it back over the net to another potential publisher. One in, one out. I took that to heart and each time I received a no, I swung harder. I still haven’t placed a story, but last year I published three nonfiction pieces. More than 50 agents passed on my novel, but 11 requested the full manuscript and responded with detailed notes. (After enough time in the slush pile, querying writers like me gauge success by the detail of the rejection.) No, this work is not lucrative and yes, it is a privilege to carve out the time and attention that it demands. Last spring, I was inspired by @jamiattenberg’s #1000wordsofsummer to schedule hour-long writing sessions, often at 5 a.m. before work, in order to chip away at a new novel that just topped the 50,000-word mark huzzah! Cheers to all the creative people who can’t stop won’t stop trying to make sense of this reality through art. I am inspired by all of you.
#AmWriting #Memoir #Essay #Nonfiction #Fiction #WomensFiction #WritersOfInstagram #Writer #Writing #WritingCommunity #PacificUniversity #MFA
So excited for this double feature! @deshawncharle So excited for this double feature! @deshawncharleswinslow co-led our fiction workshop @pacificmfa in January and his insight was AMAZING. Can’t wait to read these books! #amwriting #amreading #deshawncharleswinslow #decentpeople #inwestmills #pacificmfa #writersofinstagram
Every year, it’s like a living painting outside Every year, it’s like a living painting outside my window. Lula likes it too. #losangeles #pearblossom #socal #spring  #dogsofinstagram
Who else is reeling from reading this incredibly p Who else is reeling from reading this incredibly powerful and terrifying book? Let’s discuss. #amreading #barbarakingsolver #demoncopperhead
My local dog park has been transformed into a pet My local dog park has been transformed into a pet cemetery. Spoiler alert: the duck dies. #onlyinla
Last week, my husband asked me what experiences we Last week, my husband asked me what experiences were on my bucket list. Today he surprised me by checking one off. #falconry #hawking #bucketlist #bucketlistadventures #valentinesday
Things I learned recently. 1. Ritual works. A r Things I learned recently.
 1. Ritual works. A room, a desk, a coffee shop. Paper and pen or antique typewriter. Someone changes his shoes like Mr. Rogers before he sits down at his desk, another does visualizations. For months, I switched into writing brain by exiting my office, where my work desktop lives, and sitting with my laptop (wifi off) in a chair next to the window in my bedroom. I now recognize this as a ritual.
 2. Quality, not quantity. Maya Angelou rented a hotel room and wrote in it for six hours a day. (She asked the staff to take all the art off the walls, so she wouldn’t be distracted. And she drank sherry.) But many of us are working writers - by this I mean working at something else while maintaining a writing practice. We squeeze it in where we can. Currently, I get up at five so I can write for an hour before starting work at seven, a luxury made possible by remote work. I rarely have a concentrated stretch of time, and yet I keep chipping away at my novel, one paragraph or page (on a good day) at a time. 
 3. It’s a practice. Until recently, I didn’t believe that writing every day was that important. I would sit down and write for eight hours and then not for weeks at a time. (I was also a working co-parent of three children. So there’s that.) Now I’m trying to write every day, even just for 30 minutes. And what that means is when I’m doing something else — working or driving carpool or yoga or walking the dog or cooking or watching television — a part of my brain is still with those characters and re-entering the scenes is easier. 
 4. Writing is a tap you can’t shut off. Waking up in the middle of the night to scribble in the dark. Dictating a note to Siri in the car. Pinching your arm in a dark movie theater so you’ll remember a word when the lights turn on. Today I realized that one of my main characters has freckles and another needs to find a credit card and a third is smelling vanilla. All of these realizations happened while I was doing other things (see above). That’s writing, too. 
Right? 
#AmWriting
Exiting the @pacificmfa womb and headed into the w Exiting the @pacificmfa womb and headed into the world, proud of brilliant graduates including @allisuuunshines and @krazykenzer14 and honored to be on this path with @kburmz_ and @katiesumers and @rwrowe21 and too many others to name “jumping and dancing and skipping” and writing and reading and listening and thinking. I am profoundly grateful for this community and fellowship that is truly life-changing, and I read this poem TODAY which is further proof the universe is listening.
THE DAYS (abridged)
If only I could live my life, not write it,
I’d have double the experience
and be better at nothingness, at being present.
The page, I once believed, offers permanence,
sanctifying time, making it longer,
but now I see my words as susceptible,
even if digital, to fire, flood, misplacement.
To misinterpretation. To accidental
download by enemy. I don’t yet want them 
to be lost, but I dread the possibility
that they won’t self-destruct at the end
of my life, or the end of my lucidity.
Maybe I’ve been using paper all wrong,
committing to ink what should live in my head,
which is part of my body, which will not last…
Each night, I had written Here is what happened
like a kid whose pen makes her small life exciting,
then gone on mistaking the plot for the story,
as if the point of writing were writing.
-Adrienne Su “The Days” published in the New Yorker January 2/9 2023 (abridged)
#AmWriting #Memoir #Essay #Nonfiction #Fiction #WomensFiction #Stories #Story #WritersOfInstagram #Writer #Writing #WritingCommunity #PacificUniversity #PacificMFA #MFA
Searching for the sleeper wave. #amwriting #amread Searching for the sleeper wave. #amwriting #amreading #fiction #writer #writersofinstagram #writingcommunity #mfa
After the recent announcement of the fusion breakt After the recent announcement of the fusion breakthrough at Livermore — where my grandfather once worked as a chemist, that’s him on the right — many messaged me that the “climate crisis was over.” At the lab, lasers fused two forms of hydrogen into helium, which released more energy than it took to make it. And yes, this is amazing: Nuclear fusion releases no greenhouse gases and the waste is less problematic than what’s produced by nuclear fission, which is what my grandfather worked on. But the Livermore experiment — among many others — was able to produce just a small amount of energy and scaling its ability will take a lot of time, which we don’t have. Here’s what we do have: Wind and solar and regenerative agriculture, which are all eminently scalable now. As my grandfather might have said, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Photo: Bonestamp
#Climate #ClimateJustice #KeepItInTheGround #CleanEnergy #Motivation #MommyGreenest
I’m not big on resolutions, but I do believe in I’m not big on resolutions, but I do believe in ritual. Every New Year’s Day — and my birthday — I try to do the things that I want to be doing for the rest of the year. I spent the morning writing and then did some yoga and went for a walk with my family. I made posole for my son’s birthday party and ate said posole and it was delicious. I prepped a bit for work and played my guitar. All in all, an excellent start to another year. How about you? #happynewyear #newyear #resolutions #ritual
I have always been a writer. Published? Not so muc I have always been a writer. Published? Not so much. I published myself, obviously — MommyGreenest since 2008 woot! — but with other projects I tended to give up after a pass and internalize the rejection. But late last year, I read an essay by @elizabeth_gilbert_writer in which she described her process as tennis: Every time a story was lobbed back to her she sent it back over the net to another potential publisher. One in, one out. I took that to heart and each time I received a no, I swung harder. I still haven’t placed a story, but this year I published three nonfiction pieces — in the @washingtonpost, @nwreview, and @hippocampusmag. With encouragement from Kate McKean’s @agents_and_books newsletter, I submitted to over 50 agents who passed on my novel, but 11 requested the full manuscript and responded with notes (this will mean nothing to most people, but after enough time in the slush pile, querying writers gauge success by the detail of the rejection). No, this work is not lucrative and yes, it is a privilege to carve out the time and attention that it demands. Last spring, I was inspired by @jamiattenberg’s #1000wordsofsummer to schedule hour-long writing sessions, often at 5 a.m. before work, in order to chip away at a new novel that just topped the 50,000-word mark huzzah! Next week, I’ll join @pacificmfa peers in Oregon for my first in-person residency on the slowest train ever to an MFA. Cheers to all the creative people who can’t stop won’t stop trying to make sense of this reality through art. I am inspired by all of you.
#AmWriting #Memoir #Essay #Nonfiction #Fiction #WomensFiction #WritersOfInstagram #Writer #Writing #WritingCommunity #PacificUniversity #MFA
Finally c-positive, which is a negative, but the p Finally c-positive, which is a negative, but the plus side is a cozy blanket, knitted with love by a friend, and this amazing book, sent to me by my mother, which includes this wisdom: “…it strikes me as a particularly dangerous fantasy…that someone might be able to live without…heartbreak or sorrow. Which I’m pretty sure you only get to do if you have no relationships, love nothing, are a sociopath, and maybe, if you’re enlightened. I don’t know about you, but I check none of these boxes.” Love love LOVE. Who else is reading/has read? Let’s discuss! #amreading #rossgay #essay #nonfiction #inspiration
Los Angeles is full of magical places, especially Los Angeles is full of magical places, especially this time of year. We got dressed up and went to one of them. Highly recommended. Happy holidays, everyone!
When your daughter is doing the crossword puzzle a When your daughter is doing the crossword puzzle and you know both the answer and the person in the clue.
#JennaJambeck #Plastic #CircularEconomy #BreakFreeFromPlastic #Motivation #Health #Wellness #MommyGreenest
Obsessed. #Natural #NaturalBeauty #CleanBeauty #Be Obsessed. #Natural #NaturalBeauty #CleanBeauty #Beauty #Perfume #NaturalPerfume #HenryRose #NotSponsored
Slow and steady wins the race. #SlowAndSteady #Ha Slow and steady wins the race.
#SlowAndSteady #HappyHolidays #HappyHolidays2022 #AmWriting #WomensFiction #WritersOfInstagram #Writer #Writing #WritingCommunity
Load More... Follow on Instagram
©2023 Mommy Greenest
Ashe Theme by WP Royal.